NC Courage win 2023 NWSL Challenge Cup as Kerolin, Matsukubo put on a show

The Courage sure do love the NWSL Challenge Cup

The North Carolina Courage sure seem to love the NWSL Challenge Cup.

The Courage won the league’s cup competition for the second year running, posting a 2-0 win over a Racing Louisville who simply never had enough gas in the tank to keep up. Kerolin and Manaka Matsukubo scored in each half, and were the dominant forces sparking a comprehensive victory for the hosts.

Over the last three seasons, the Courage have amassed a 12W-6D-2L record in this competition, which will reportedly be scaled down to a one-game curtain-raiser in 2024. Few will mourn the end of a competition that the NWSL, its teams, and its broadcast partner never seemed quite sure what to do with. With an excellent track record in the tournament,  one can excuse North Carolina for any wishes to keep the Challenge Cup alive.

Heavy storms in the Triangle region soaked the field Saturday morning, and while conditions looked good at kickoff, a lightning strike in the area forced referee Alex Billeter to send the teams to the locker rooms after just 11 minutes.

Following a 139-minute delay, North Carolina — who had forced a good stop out of Katie Lund in the opening stages — got right back to work, with Lund tipping a Manaka Matsukubo shot off the post.

The danger kept coming from Kerolin attacking Louisville’s left flank, and the Brazilian finally produced a 28th-minute breakthrough with a powerful shot that somehow squeezed between Lund and the near post.

The stats backed up just how dominant the Courage were in the first half: the hosts had all seven of the game’s shots on goal, holding two-thirds of the possession. Louisville’s only modest look came seconds before the break, with Thembi Kgatlana (possibly from an offside position) poking a deflected cross wide.

North Carolina were still finding gaps as the second half got underway, and while the busy Lund made another big stop to deny Tess Boade, there was little she could do to deny Matsukubo in the 54th minute.

The 19-year-old, a July addition for the Courage, improvised brilliantly to lob Racing’s goalkeeper from the top of the box, capping off a superb performance  by becoming the youngest player to ever score in an NWSL knockout match of any kind.

Louisville finally generated a truly good look immediately after the goal, with the ball eventually skewing up and off the crossbar amid some chaos in the North Carolina penalty area.

That served as a preview for a 77th minute corner, in which Ary Borges’ half-volley forced Casey Murphy into a reflex save to fend off a comeback.

Set piece play was Louisville’s most promising path to opportunities in the game, and another ended with Kgatlana’s cross clipping two Courage players on the doorstep before somehow bobbling away without a finish.

To the team’s credit, Racing — who per CBS’s broadcast team endured a 15-hour travel day to arrive in North Carolina at 7:00 p.m. Friday night — kept battling, with Kgatlana and Uchenna Kanu both producing stoppage time looks.

However, there could be no mistaking who the better team was on the day, with the Courage hoisting the club’s seventh trophy.

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