Kaleigh Kurtz gives Courage all three points with stoppage-time goal
Post-game Notebook: North Carolina Courage at Washington Spirit | June 11, 2022 | NWSL Regular Season
The North Carolina Courage secured their second win in a row on Saturday, beating the Washington Spirit 3-2 thanks to a stoppage-time winner from Kaleigh Kurtz.
Kerolin Nicoli opened the scoring in the sixth minute and Abby Erceg doubled the visitors’ lead shortly after the halftime break, but the Spirit (1-3-5, 8 pts) erased the Courage’s (2-3-1, 7 pts) lead with two goals in five minutes.
The Spirit had the Courage on the back foot, but Kurtz’s stoppage time goal gave the Courage all three points.
“I thought the game was a little chaotic to be honest,” said NC Courage assistant coach Nathan Thackeray. “It’s a difficult field to play on, it doesn't allow for much rhythm and for you to settle the ball. … Not a real pretty soccer game from where I stood anyway, but it was well fought, well battled. Quite happy with what we produced to be honest. A difficult place to come against a good team, so all smiles.”
Quick-hits:
Set piece success
Both Erceg and Kurtz’ goals came from set-piece opportunities, with Erceg connecting on a corner and Kurtz finishing from close range after Erceg got on the end of a Debinha free kick.
“[Set pieces are] the one time we have a presence in the box and around there, we obviously want to make as much of an impact as we can,” Erceg said. “We’re glad that we could do that today, fortunate enough to actually score the goals ourselves this time, so that’s nice.”
On the corner where Erceg scored, the Courage put a lot of traffic in front of Washington goalkeeper Aubrey Kingsbury. Malia Berkely screened the keeper and multiple other players from both teams were in the area as well. Carson Pickett delivered the ball right on the edge of the six and Kingsbury wasn’t able to effectively challenge Erceg in the air because of the traffic.
“It’s something that we’ve looked at,” Thackeray said. “When you have someone like Carson who has such good delivery from set pieces anyway, as she’s shown throughout the game tonight, it allows us to try something different, do something different. For us to put numbers inside their defensive shape or their defensive structure, which didn’t change for the set piece, was big for us. It was something that we looked at, something that was designed. Thank goodness it was well executed.”
Kurtz’s late winner was her second goal in as many games, with the center back also scoring the opener in last weekend’s 3-0 win at Racing Louisville.
“I don’t think we’ve scored enough goals from set pieces this year, but I’ll certainly take those two out there tonight. That’s for sure,” Thackeray said. “[Kurtz] what is it, two in two for her? She’s becoming prolific, so good for her. She’s like a bus in London. You wait a long time for one of them and two come along at once.”
Kerolin and Brianna Pinto link up for stellar opening goal
Kerolin’s opening goal was excellent for multiple reasons. The run, the finish, the pass, everything was just pinpoint.
During his postgame presser, Washington head coach Kris Ward said, "No other player in the league scores that, probably. Not from that angle, not from that window."
Kerolin’s return from injury has been a big part of the Courage taking all six points from their last two games. The forward changes the way the Courage play and changes the way other teams have to prepare for the Courage.
In addition to her assist on Kerolin’s goal, Pinto almost added a second assist in the 40th minute. The midfielder slid the ball across the face of the goal, but Debinha barely wasn’t able to get to it.
Pinto has been a creative engine for the Courage all season and is continuing to improve her game as she gains more experience. Thackeray said that while Pinto’s on-ball ability is no concern, she is still developing her off-ball skills, something he said will come with time but was impressive against Washington.
“I think you’ve seen it tonight, the discipline that she’s added to her game, her ability to close down, that’s big time for Pinto,” Thackeray said. “The more she adds to that, she’s going to be a top, top player. … Great ball in for Kerolin. It’s something that we’ve worked on tirelessly this week, our ability to send the runner in behind, create space for the 10 underneath to pick up the ball and get runners in behind. It was nice to see it come to fruition on the field so early in the game.”
Backroom stepping up
With head coach Sean Nahas in COVID protocols, Thackeray and the other coaches stepped up and received high praise from Erceg for doing so.
“I think it is the culture of the club, for them to step in and not really miss a beat,” Erceg said. “It was really nice for us. They did a really, really good job filling some of the roles that needed to be filled and it was the first time they’ve ever done it, so massive congratulations to them for doing that first of all and thank you to them as well, because it is not an easy thing to do.”
Thackeray also credited the entire backroom staff for stepping up and helping set the team up for success.
“A big shout out to the backroom staff that have been by my side as I’ve gone into a role that I’ve never been in before, so it’s new for me,” Thackeray said. “Emma Thomson has been fantastic, Mike Young, Brian Maddox, the athletic trainer, Molly [Dwyer], who deals with all of the player's needs. We have a young intern that’s stepped in for our equipment manager while she is out after surgery and the collective group of our staff and our backroom staff has been phenomenal. It’s allowed us to focus on the soccer piece and I think the team has noticed that.”
Momentum building
The Courage took seven of a possible nine points during their three-game road trip and will now return home for a rematch against the Houston Dash, who they kicked off the road trip against.
That game ended in a 1-1 draw, but the Courage have picked up some serious momentum since and will be looking to keep that going as they return to WakeMed Soccer Park.
Match Facts:
Starting XIs:
NC Courage (4-4-2): Casey Murphy; Merritt Mathias, Abby Erceg ©, Kaleigh Kurtz, Carson Pickett; Malia Berkely, Denise O’Sullivan, Brianna Pinto, Debinha; Kerolin Nicoli, Diana Ordoñez.
Spirit (4-2-3-1): Aubrey Kingsbury; Anna Heilferty, Sam Staab, Emily Sonnett, Camryn Biegalsk; Julia Roddar, Taylor Aylmer, Maddie Elwell, Ashley Sanchez, Trinity Rodman; Audrey Harding,
Subs:
46’ WAS Audrey Harding out, Ashley Hatch on.
60’ WAS Julia Roddar out, Bayley Feist on.
65’ NC Brianna Pinto out, Meredith Speck on.
66’ WAS Maddie Elwell out, Morgan Goff on.
76’ WAS Anna Heilferty out, Kelly O’Hara on.
80’ NC Diana Ordoñez out, Jaelene Daniels on.
80’ NC Malia Berkely out, Ryan Williams on.
90’ +4’ NC Kerolin Nicoli out, Frankie Tagliaferri on.
Goals (Assists):
6’ NC Kerolin (Brianna Pinto)
50’ NC Abby Erceg (Carson Pickett)
75’ WAS Ashley Sanchez (Bayley Feist)
78’ WAS Ashley Hatch (Penalty)
90’+ 2’ NC Kaleigh Kurtz (Unassisted)
Discipline:
89’ NC Denise O’Sullivan (YC)
90’ +1’ WAS Sam Staab (YC)
90’ +4’ NC Kerolin Nicoli (YC)
Thanks, Nicholas! Great summary.
The first 30 minutes or so, the Courage looked like the Courage of old. Their pressure was great and most of their passes were spot on. While it's obviously good to release a forward into space (Kerolin!), the Courage's passing game - think Denise O'Sullivan - was fun to watch.
And every Courage player played good defense (for most of the game!) with double-teams coming almost every time the Spirit moved into a dangerous place.
Thanks,
Dennis