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Well, Look Who's Climbing Up the NWSL Table
Tyler Lussi and her Courage teammates set the doubters straight in win over OL Reign
Sure, the North Carolina Courage are in a rebuilding year. But those teams looking down at them from the upper levels of the NWSL standings are learning the hard way that they're not going to walk into WakeMed Soccer Park and walk out with an easy three points.
The defending league champions the Portland Thorns learned that when the best they could muster was a hard-fought 3-3 draw back on May 6. And while many teams might be happy to take a point off of Portland—who many picked to repeat as champions—the Courage were dissatisfied having held the lead three times.
Then, on Mother's Day, OL Reign came to Cary looking for a chance to leap-frog the Washington Spirit to the top of the table. The Courage put away three goals—only to have two called back for offside—and held the visitors from Puget Sound scoreless for a 1-0 win in the Sunday matinee game.
OFF TO A FAST START
The first half was arguably the best 45 minutes of football they've played all season.
The pieces are all starting to click together for North Carolina, with captain Denise O'Sullivan directing play through midfield like a seasoned traffic cop. Kerolin Nicoli continues to make opposing players look like they've tied their shoelaces together and her partnership with Tyler Lussi is creating all kinds of problems for opposing defenses.
Lussi seemed to have unlocked the Reign backline on Sunday. She forced goalkeeper Phallon Tullis-Joyce to make a big save early in the first half, then combined with Kerolin to beat Tullis-Joyce in the 14th minute. But the play was ruled offside, negating the goal.
But there was absolutely nothing wrong with North Carolina's go-ahead goal in the 34th minute. Rikke Madsen played through a perfect long ball to Lussi, who timed her run right down to the blade of grass. She took a couple of touches to get farther behind the Reign defense and waited for Tullis-Joyce to come out of her net before slotting the ball past her to make it 1-0 for the Courage.
Kerolin put away a stunning lob into the box from Narumi Miura in first-half stoppage time, and it looked like the Courage would take a 2-0 lead into halftime. Alas, the assistant referee's flag was up for offside, and the goal was disallowed.
HOLD BACK THE REIGN
The lone goal was all North Carolina needed as they held off OL Reign's leading goal scorers Bethany Balcer and Jess Fishlock. And Courage fullback Ryan Williams kept wily veteran Megan Rapinoe frustrated all afternoon, winning challenges and shutting down nearly every opportunity that opened up for the USWNT forward.
Rapinoe drew a foul and yellow card on Williams late in the game. But even with a free kick in just about her favorite spot on the field, Rapinoe skyed the attempt over the bar.
WILTING, BUT GETTING THE RESULT
We got our first taste of classic North Carolina summer heat and humidity Sunday afternoon with both teams wilting under the mid-afternoon sun.
Quinn made their first appearance since April for OL Reign coming back from a leg injury. Along with NC State alum Tziarra King, the second-half substitutes injected some energy into the attack for head coach Laura Harvey.
OL Reign's best chance to find the equalizer came in the 66th minute when Sofia Huerta's long ball found Jordyn Huitema at the far post, but Casey Murphy was right there to collect the header attempt and preserve the shutout.
The win gave North Carolina three huge points and moved them up the table into sixth place with 10 points.
LAST WORDS ON THE MATCH
Even with a bit of a let-up in the second half, the Courage did all they needed to do to collect all three points—and give the doubters a big wake-up call.
Head Coach Sean Nahas: "I thought it was a good, gritty performance; in the first half, I thought we were extraordinary. But the second half we were average; we let them back in and didn't take care of the ball enough.
"But I was really proud of the group. The one thing I told them at halftime was, we have to learn how to win. And, yeah, I think we did that today."
Tyler Lussi on her game-winning goal: "Rikke had a great turn, drove forward and saw the open space and slipped a perfect ball through to me. And then [I] just ran onto it, told myself 'be calm, cool, and collected and just pass it in the net, and it went in so that was really exciting. And then we were all just cheering and celebrating after that."
Lussi on the Courage mindset: "Don't underestimate the Courage. We are fierce. We are relentless. And all of us are ready to step up for each other."