Tag: Kerolin

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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Portland Thorns in another bananas 3-3 draw, this time at NC Courage

The Thorns are guaranteed entertainment these days

If you’re a chaotic neutral and want guaranteed entertainment, your best option right now might be to just watch the next Portland Thorns game.

For the second straight week, Portland found themselves in a bonkers 3-3 draw, this time on the road against the North Carolina Courage. The Thorns trailed three times, but kept coming back thanks to an ability to conjure up spectacular goals from Crystal Dunn — who had a brace — and Olivia Moultrie.

Not to be outdone, the Courage had tremendous strikes of their own, with Kerolin and Victoria Pickett (after scintillating footwork from Olivia Wingate) getting in on the action.

“Still just trying to wrap my head around how we went down three times in the game, but we’ve come back, so [I’m] proud,” said Thorns head coach Mike Norris in his post-game press conference.

Last week’s Thorns 3-3 draw involved the absurdity of a goalkeeper scoring an equalizer seven minutes into stoppage time, and this week’s picked things up inside the first minute. Ryan Williams’ cross clipped Emily Menges, sneaking in at the near post before Bella Bixby could dive over to claw it to safety.

That just set the stage for the first of Portland’s many equalizing goals. The Courage stood off of Sophia Smith in space on the left in the 22nd minute, and the U.S. women’s national team star patiently waited for a window to find Dunn (playing her first full 90 minutes since becoming a mom) for a simple finish.

The assist is Smith’s fifth in six league matches; no other player in the NWSL has more than two.

Just four minutes later, the Courage offered a perfect response. Kerolin fought through a challenge with Sam Coffey, then unleashed a pinpoint long-range shot that tucked into the bottom corner.

Somehow, that wouldn’t end up being the best goal of the night. Early in the second half, the Thorns authored a glorious team goal, winning possession in the Courage’s half and stringing together 30 seconds of possession before an unreal one-touch sequence between Meghan Klingenberg, Morgan Weaver, Christine Sinclair, and Smith pried open NC’s defenses.

Klingberg ended up crossing for Dunn, who guided home her second on the night.

“I think that second goal was a collective goal,” said Dunn after the match. “Players were able to penetrate the ball, some layoffs there. Soph obviously had an amazing backheel to Kling that continued her run in. Actually the joke was, [Klingenberg] was actually about to shoot it, but I had yelled, ‘Hey, Kling, you got me in the box!’ and she was able to find me.”

A goal like that can leave any team shook, but the Courage were totally undeterred. Rookie Olivia Wingate continued her impressive start to life in the NWSL, dragging Menges wide before nutmegging the veteran to set up Victoria Pickett — who only just barely got to North Carolina after being traded by NJ/NY Gotham FC — for a clinical 70th minute finish.

Somehow the saga continued, with Portland producing yet another brilliant goal. This time, it was just about all one player, with Moultrie — despite challenges from either side — curling home a 24-yard left-footed effort.

As good as the goal was, it came with some added drama, as VAR checked a possible foul from Dunn on Pickett. After a few tense seconds, the goal stood, which may have been why Courage head coach Sean Nahas jokingly started his post-game remarks with a request to not be asked about the refereeing.

“We knew we were going to need [resilience] coming back as the defending champs,” said Moultrie. “That’s kind of the momentum I was carrying in that moment. And yeah, then it’s just, [Natalia Kuikka] drove in and gave me a great pass, I saw the space and I was like ‘alright, I’m gonna go for it.'”

Given that mental strength, the raw entertainment value and the wildness of Portland’s last two games, and with their outstanding early-season results, it seems like they should be atop any sort of NWSL must-watch list right now.

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Do yourself a favor and watch every NC Courage game

For reasons we can (and cannot) explain, every Courage game is bonkers

Whatever your plans are for a given weekend of soccer viewing, you have to make sure the North Carolina Courage are on your schedule.

“Now wait a minute,” you might be thinking. “Pro Soccer Wire, are you telling me to watch a team currently sitting in last place? With so many things going on in soccer right now?”

Yes, we are! And here’s why: the Courage are guaranteed entertainment right now. This is a team that has, over its last eight games, scored and conceded 20 times. An average soccer match has somewhere between two or three goals. NWSL, as a league, has produced 242 goals in 89 matches this season, or an average of 2.72.

The average Courage match over these eight games? Five goals. They’re not just a team that scores and concedes more than most; they’re out on the fringes of what we even thought was possible.

Just look at their recent games all at once. It’s overwhelming.

Let’s talk about their latest game, Saturday’s 4-3 loss to the Kansas City Current that started out at 100 miles an hour, and then just never even remotely slowed down. North Carolina took the lead twice in a breathless first half, only for the Current to get level both times before the break. The Courage went in front again, only to watch Kansas City equalize for a third time. North Carolina never took a lead that lasted more than nine minutes before we’d be back in a tie game.

And then, to cap it off, a fully end-to-end second half was capped off with an absolute wondergoal from Kansas City’s Claire Lavogez, who surged up the middle and unleashed a nearly 30-yard rocket to take the three points:

This madcap, non-stop action is just what the Courage provide. Their last two games before this were 3-3 draws. One saw them come from 2-0 and 3-2 down against league-leading Portland while on the road, and the other saw them nearly replicate what Kansas City just did to them, pulling themselves level against the Washington Spirit three times.

This loss to Kansas City isn’t even their first 4-3 loss of the summer, as they did the same at home against the Houston Dash back in June. A 2-2 draw with the Chicago Red Stars about a month ago saw them lead 2-0 going into stoppage time, only to concede twice.

No lead, whether it’s North Carolina or their opponent, is safe when the Courage are playing.

How on earth is this happening?

Going forward, there are two main factors about why the Courage are scoring so freely. First and foremost, they’re just stocked with talented players. Debinha and Kerolin are, save for maybe Trinity Rodman and Ashley Sanchez, the most entertaining one-two punch in NWSL. They’re electric, and really this article could have the same headline if it were simply about watching those two combine on the break. You should have already been trying to watch them whenever possible.

Those two are playing off of Diana Ordoñez, who has emerged as a major Rookie of the Year contender. With a goal against Kansas City, the Mexican international took her goal total up to eight on the season, a new record for an NWSL rookie, and the Courage still have 10 games to play.

Secondly, North Carolina’s approach under Sean Nahas is generally built around high-pressing, transitional soccer. They sprint forward after turnovers, they stretch teams from touchline to touchline, and they overwhelm defenses with sheer numbers. That means a wide-open game, and the Courage seem to be able to force these terms onto just about anyone they play against.

All of that is very good, but their inability to slow opposing teams down is just as much of a factor in these bonkers results. The Courage are so committed to going forward at full speed that when things go the other way, there’s always space to attack.

Dovetailing with that in a way that benefits neutrals and absolutely shreds the nerves of North Carolina fans, the Courage haven’t been able to defend well. Numerous players are having down years on this side of the ball, with American Soccer Analysis’ Goals Added metric not reflecting well on U.S. women’s national team goalkeeper Casey Murphy (13th out of 14 goalkeepers with 300+ minutes played in the regular season) or normally dependable defensive midfielder Denise O’Sullivan (34th out of 40 central or defensive midfielders with the same minutes requirement).

Finally, there’s just a dash of the bizarre thrown in the mix here. North Carolina may have their strengths and flaws, but they’re also seeing some inexplicable wildness in their games. Expected goals totals should reflect their tactical tendencies towards opting for high-scoring track meets, right?

Nope. North Carolina has, on a per-game basis, NWSL’s fifth-best expected goals rate (1.42), and while their 1.50 expected goals against is 10th out of 12 teams, they’re closer to being a top four team in the category than they are to Gotham FC’s woeful 1.79 xGA.

And yet, there’s Lavogez going unchallenged to hit a banger. There’s a simple throw-in becoming a four-on-four that ends in Cece Kizer being wide open in the box to score. They keep generating point-blank chances for Ordoñez, even when Debinha and Kerolin were away with Brazil.

In other words, the fates have decided that we’re all getting a goal feast that defies explanation whenever the Courage play. The only rational choice is to fire up a stream and have a blast.

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