It’s difficult to talk about the NC Courage and Racing Louisville FC match without talking about the Sam Mewis return. The US International midfielder rejoined the Courage after spending a full season with Manchester City, of the Women’s Super League in England. Courage head coach Paul Riley wasted no time getting her in the starting lineup. The result was a 5-0 Courage victory against an expansion side that, for the first time, really looked like it.
After not scoring in three straight matches, going back to their final match of the Challenge Cup, they waited a whole six minutes on Friday. After Louisville goalkeeper Michelle Betos made a save on NC, the resulting corner turned into a headed goal in the top corner by defender Abby Erceg.
The goal wasn’t a surprise. In many of Racing’s matches in their inaugural year, teams have had early chances. Then Louisville can absorb and settle. It wasn’t the case Friday night. After the Courage went up, the match leveled out. North Carolina found some chances but Racing’s game of disrupting passes and opposition flow resurfaced.
Composure-wise, Louisville did seem to play slightly more erratic than usual. Playing Mewis. Debinha, Lynn Williams, and Jess McDonald can do that. It was evident in their final passes and counter attack attempts. Twice, Racing had an opportunity to break but crosses by midfielder Savannah McCaskill.
Before halftime, the Sam Mewis return almost had a Mewis goal. She found the ball at the top of the penalty area but shot just too high to get into the back off the net. At the end of the first half, North Carolina had the lead, and the momentum; up 1-0 against Louisville. For each team, it looked like a typical performance. Louisville gave up a lot of shots (14) and the Courage looked like the back-to-back NWSL cup winners.
Before the second half kicked off, the clouds opened and a downpour hit Cary, North Carolina. Thankfully for in-stadium supporters, and the Courage water bill, it only lasted till the start of the last 45 minutes. With the field freshly watered, things picked up where they left off.
Carolina’s first five minutes of the second half was full of chances. Mewis and McDonald both had shots towards goal that were inches away from increasing the lead. In the 51st minute, Courage midfielder Havana Soulan ripped a ball on net that hit the bottom half of the crossbar, before a clearance by Louisville got to the feet of Debinha. The Brazilian shot onto net and Racing cleared it off the line again.
Racing’s coach Christy Holly didn’t wait long to make changes. In the 53rd minute, he made two, one being Racing’s hero from last week in Emina Ekic.
The next ten minutes saw both sides with chances. Louisville fullback Emily Fox made Courage fullback Merritt Mathias earn an obvious yellow when she took down the rookie who saw daylight. Then, the Courage added another. Debinha sent a through ball into Williams, who after making one move was easily able to put the ball into the net.
The rain came in and out of the picture throughout the final half and its impact was evident. Players from both sides played unintentional slip-and-slide.
Then Debinha added a third in the 68th. A poor clearance by Louisville turned into a cross to McDonald. Instead of going for net on the far post, she headed in front of net for a waiting Debinha. That goal and the Courage second-half performance brought Racing down to earth from their spot at the top of the standings, before the midweek matches.
The 71st minute saw the Sam Mewis return end. Her minutes were limited after having time off after the Manchester City season. While she didn’t get on the scoreboard with an assist or goal, her presence was huge. It allowed her teammates to not have to do more than they have to. In the past two weeks, a lot was forced by the Courage. Not so on Friday.
North Carolina wasn’t done. In the 75th minute, Debinha added an assist to her night with substitute Hailie Mace scoring on a beautiful low shot that got just under a diving Betos.
After their fourth goal, Riley and the Courage began substituting players and looked to close the game out. Louisville took advantage and kept pressing for a goal. On the left side of the field, Fox and Yuki Nagasato were a bright spot for the expansion side. Nagasato did well throughout the night keeping possession and creating outlets for her teammates. Fox covered practically the entire field and did well to get past the Courage defense, although nothing substantial came from it.
In the 90th minute, Mace scored another. The Courage took advantage of a defense that had a lot of work to do all night. She scored the volley with a midair almost scissor kick, giving Louisville even more tape to learn from in the upcoming week.
When the final whistle blew, the Courage celebrated their first win of the early 2021 NWSL season and a successful Sam Mewis return. An emphatic win that will have many North Carolina supporters claim that their team is back to their NWSL championship form. It’s too early to tell, and the Courage have big matches against non-expansion sides in their remaining 21 matches. With that being said, the result gives them a lot of momentum and positives before a trip to Chicago next week.
Team Letdown
Post-match, Louisville standouts McCaskill and Fox spoke with the media, and both had a consistent message, best put by Fox: “I think as a whole, it was a team letdown. Each and every one of us can look at this game and reflect and think of what we could have done individually.” Fox was a bright spot on the field, but soccer is a team game and a 5-0 loss is a difficult place to find positives. McCaskill did point out one that Louisville can take into their next match.
“I felt we played pretty well in the first half,” said McCaskill before going into where it fell apart. “Going into the second half, we kinda lost our quality. We didn’t continue to defend as a unit.” Defending for as long as Racing did is tiring, and once Carolina scored their second, there were two more in a 12-minute timeframe. For coach Holly, an important lesson was learned.
“We got a good lesson in listlessness,” said Holly about how quickly the Courage added on in the second half. “We have to learn how to ride out the storm and calm things down a little.” The result of the match will turn into more work in training for the young Louisville side, but the message of the year stays the same.
“I think tonight’s game will be very very beneficial for us. We’ll be able to reflect and push forward,” said Holly. “The message stays the same. Last week, we didn’t get carried away with the win and tonight we won’t get carried away with the loss.
What’s Next
Both sides have tough away matches coming next weekend. The Courage take this momentum to Bridgeview, Illinois, as they take on the Chicago Red Stars who are coming off a strong performance of their own, in a 2-0 win against Kansas City.
Things don’t get much easier for Racing. On June 5, they travel to Portland to take on the Thorns with a 10:30 p.m. ET start.
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