April 30, 2022 – National Women’s Soccer League (NWSL) – North Carolina Courage News Release
LOS ANGELES, CA – The North Carolina Courage fell 2-1 to Angel City FC on the road Friday night in their first match of the regular season. Vanessa Gilles and Jun Endo tallied a goal apiece for Angel City, while Debinha added the lone goal for the Courage. 2022 NWSL Draft pick Emily Gray recorded the assist, also collecting her first appearance in the Courage starting lineup in tonight’s contest.
“I thought we did a good job of feeding off [the energy in the stadium],” said Courage Head Coach Sean Nahas following the match. “Once that first goal gets in, we’re chasing the game now, and when you’re playing in this type of environment, it’s difficult. But I thought we responded well in the second half, we got an early one and I felt the game tipped on its head a little bit…we had momentum, but we could never muster up that second opportunity [to score]. We had a few good chances – Didi made a great save on Emily in the first half, and Kerolin hit the crossbar. We had some really good moments and then moments where we let them out a little bit. If anything, we’ll learn from this. Having the first loss of the season knocks you down a little bit, but that knockdown allows for you to get back on your feet, move forward, and grow.”
Angel City opened the scoring in Friday night’s match, as Jun Endo fed a cross into the North Carolina box. On the receiving end of Endo’s cross was Vanessa Gilles, who headed home Angel City’s first goal of the regular season to give the home side a 1-0 advantage in the third minute of play. Later, in the 13th minute, Endo added a goal of her own to double Angel City’s lead. The 2-0 scoreline held as the half expired, though the remainder of the half saw several scoring chances from Gray and Kerolin Nicoli.
Just six minutes into the second half, the Courage were able to edge into Angel City’s lead, the scoring play beginning as Taylor Smith…