Courage secure first point, draw 1-1 in Houston
Post-game Notebook: North Carolina Courage at Houston Dash | May 29, 2022 | NWSL Regular Season
The North Carolina Courage drew 1-1 in Houston, securing the team’s first point of the 2022 NWSL regular season.
While the Courage (0-3-1, 1 pt) held nearly 60% of the possession, the Dash (2-1-2, 8 pts) managed to outshoot the visitors 15-5. Diana Ordoñez opened the scoring in the 24th minute, but Rachel Daly’s goal in first-half stoppage time leveled things up heading into the break.
“I thought it was just inconsistency,” Courage head coach Sean Nahas said. “I thought we just had a lot of unnecessary turnovers in areas that maybe we tried to rush the game a little bit. A lot of one-touch turnovers. One-touch turnovers tend to lead to goals. No one's fault. It's what I've always said and what I’ve always believed. … I feel that to get a point on the road is a good a good point, especially given the situation we've been in and now it's something to build off of moving forward.”
Quick-hits:
Bigger than soccer
Nahas started his segment of the postgame presser with a lengthy statement about recent events. The following is his comment, in full, and the videos can also be found in this Twitter thread.
“If you guys don’t mind I would like to start off first. You’ll have to give me a few minutes. Obviously, this game, today, is not really about sport. There's a lot more important things going on. I've sort of kept to myself for the last week, just in my own thoughts. I wanted to make sure that whatever I said, I said it the right way. Obviously our thoughts and prayers are with the families in Uvalde and the state of Texas, but you know, everything that's going on, the senseless acts of you know, the senseless acts that happened at that school, at Robb Elementary. I'm not a dad, but I have two nephews and a niece and God forbid something happened. I don't know what I would do. But I know personally, I'm heartbroken about it.
“We have to start looking at the bigger picture here, especially as a country. I sit back and I'm watching the future of our country. These mass murders and these mass shootings in our schools and those are the moments that are preparing them for the future and we're letting it be taken away from them because of power, lack of understanding, lack of listening. We have people in power that are more interested in people not saying the word gay and taking sports away from people. I can tell you right now, I have a lot of gay players in our locker room and they are the most amazing people I've ever been around. They are not the problem. I have a hard time understanding what we're doing and if we don't learn from this now, when are we ever going to learn?
“We're at a point in our country's time and it's just, we need to be better. And if we don't open our eyes to something that's bigger than ourselves, then we're going to watch this thing crumble. And you know, yeah, there's mental illness out there. I get it, I respect it, no problem. But at the end of the day, those guns are available to the people that have mental illness. So at what point do we say enough is enough? At what point do we say you can't buy beer at 18? But you can buy it at 21, but you can go buy an AR 15 at 18. What are we doing? What in the world are we doing? If we don't wake up now, it's only gonna get worse. But I'm tired of hearing and people arguing and saying you can't say this. We're okay to say we have to protect player people from guns and all that. But at the end of the day, we don't want to protect people from saying a word that is no harm to anybody. And that's disappointing to me, because there's a lot of people that I get to be around every single day that are gay. And they are probably some of the most amazing people in my life.
“And it's getting to the point now where it's just looking more and more disgusting. We're talking about, yeah, protect, harden the schools, harden the schools, but there were 19 officers that stood in the hallway, or whatever amount of officers stood in the hallway, while these young kids are calling their parents and calling 911. They were outside the door. Waiting for a key. But yet they're trained. People say we need to have armed officers. You had them in the hallway, and they didn't act. And now we're going to complain about that and we're gonna blame it on mental illness. People failed these kids. They can't help themselves. We failed them and until we wake up, and until we do the right things, we're gonna continue to fail the future of our country. And that's the most disappointing thing. That's the most disappointing thing for me.
“Today was not about sport, but people are gonna forget, they're gonna try and forget and they think it's just gonna move on. We can't let it forget. As players and coaches that have a platform, we can't let people forget. We can't let this go quiet. We have to stay active. We have to stay on top of this. We have to do what's right for these young kids, who unfortunately lost their lives because of stupid politicians who don't want to do the right thing and change the guidelines and laws that can help protect people that need to be protected. Because the last place people should be unsafe is in a grocery store. The last place people should be unsafe is in a church. The last place people should be unsafe is in a school. That's the last place they should be unsafe. But we are okay with it because we always have an excuse. Enough of the excuses.
“Get your heads open and realize we are failing these young kids and we're failing people who are just trying to live their lives. I'm coming across as angry, but I am, just like many other people in this country. And like I said, I'm heartbroken by it all, just knowing and hearing the stories of these young kids and the heroism that they had. Some of these kids that were in that school, in those classrooms, showed more heroism than the people that are in power. That says something about what's going on. There was more heroism from 10, 11, nine-year-old than people that actually have an ability to make a difference. And I don't understand why we don't realize that.
“So I'll get off my little box here, but this has just been pent up inside of me and over the last couple of months hearing people say you can't say this word. You can't say that word. This is evil. That is evil. This player can't play a sport because of this reason. BS. BS. It's embarrassing. I love my players. I love who they are. I love everything about them. And Nick, I want you to post this video, because I want to make sure that everyone realizes, we have fans with the Courage that are gay. And I'll tell you right now, I'm disappointed in many aspects. We need you guys at our stadium. We need you guys cheering our players on. I get it. But at the end of the day let's not be a part of the problem. Let's try and get this thing back on track. And I hope, I hope, I hope that in the coming weeks there's change that happens that is powerful enough that we can continue to build a future and we stop making excuses for stupid things that go on in our country. So I'll leave it at that. I'm sorry, but that's just been in me since Tuesday.”
For the game against Houston, the Courage’s jersey featured a remembrance patch on the right sleeve as the team joined with the Dash, Houston Dynamo, Austin FC and FC Dallas in honoring the victims of the mass shooting at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas.
The patches were part of the United for Uvalde initiative, a combined effort of the professional soccer teams in Texas. In addition to the patches, the Texas teams made donations to the Robb Elementary School Memorial Fund. Additional information about the initiative can be found here.
First-round picks linking up
Ordoñez’s opening goal was the first regular season goal of her career and while Houston isn’t close to her hometown of Prosper, Texas, Ordoñez had 40 family members in attendance.
“It was a good feeling after, especially having all my family there,” Ordoñez said. “This is a lot of their first time seeing me play, or at least play professionally. So to be able to have that moment with my teammates and be on top for a little while, and also in front of my family, was really rewarding.”
The rookie showed a lot of composure to take an extra touch before tucking the ball under Houston goalkeeper Jane Campbell.
“I feel like she’s done everything that’s been asked of her,” Nahas said. “It’s still going to take time, and the kid is only what? 10 games into her career and only a couple of starts. I was really happy for her. She did well on the goal, to create space for herself. I never felt we could get her into the game as consistently as we wanted. I felt like on the services, we were a little bit stretched. I’m really happy for the kid. She’s only going to get better. Wonderful kid. Wonderful attitude. Wants to be the best she can be. She’s a baby, there’s no doubt that she’ll get there and we’ll continue to push her to get to that stage.”
Fellow first-round pick Emily Gray, who made her first start since suffering a knee injury in the Challenge Cup final, set Ordoñez up for the goal. The assist was Gray’s second of the season.
Casey Murphy
While Casey Murphy was only credited with two saves, the Courage shot-stopper had a busy evening. The Dash rattled off 15 shots and 14 crosses, so there was plenty of traffic in front of Murphy.
Daly did round Murphy for her equalizer late in the first half, but the keeper can’t be faulted on the goal. Faced with a one-on-one, Murphy did well to come off her line and cut down the angle, forcing Daly to make a play. Daly did just that. It happens.
Match Facts:
Starting XIs:
NC Courage (4-4-2): Casey Murphy; Merritt Mathias, Abby Erceg ©, Kaleigh Kurtz, Carson Pickett; Denise O’Sullivan, Malia Berkely, Debinha, Emily Gray; Diana Ordoñez, Jaelene Daniels.
Dash (4-4-2): Jane Campbell; Haley Hanson, Ally Prisock, Katie Naughton, Allysha Chapman; Sophie Schmidt, Kelcie Hedge, Maria Sánchez; Shea Groom; Nichelle Prince, Rachel Daly ©.
Subs:
45’+4’ HOU Kelcie Hedge out, Marisa Viggiano in.
56’ NC Emily Gray out, Brianna Pinto in.
74’ NC Jaelene Daniels out, Taylor Smith in.
82’ HOU Shea Groom out, Michaela Abam in.
83’ HOU Maria Sánchez out, Emily Helena Ogle in.
83’ NC Malia Berkley out, Meredith Speck in.
83’ NC Diana Ordoñez out, Rylee Baisden in.
Goals (Assists):
24’ NC Diana Ordoñez (Emily Gray)
45’+6’ HOU Rachel Daly (Nichelle Prince)
Discipline:
80’ NC Kaleigh Kurtz (YC)
This was a herky-jerky game for the Courage! They may have set a club record for most poor passes! But my biggest concern is two-fold: 1) The game/time management was really poor, especially at the end of the first half. 2) Our defenders are simply not defending!
For a lot of the game, the Courage seemed to be in a 2-2-6 formation. At times, there are simply too many "forwards" and not enough "passers!" But, I'm happy for a point! Dennis