by Fran Stuchbury
April 29, 2024 – National Women’s Soccer League (NWSL)
North Carolina Courage
North Carolina Courage battle the Seattle Reign in front of a big crowd
(North Carolina Courage, Credit: Fran Stuchbury)
The North Carolina Courage defeated Seattle Reign FC 1-0 in front of 8,135 fans at WakeMed Soccer Park on Saturday evening. It was the fifth largest crowd in the team’s National Women’s Soccer League history. North Carolina is now 11-3-3 all-time against Seattle.
The Courage improved to 4-2-0, second in the NWSL standings, while Seattle, which made it to the NWSL Championship last season, sits at 1-5-0 and in last place in the NWSL standings.
“I thought we were poor,” said North Carolina Head Coach Sean Nahas. “It’s great to get three points, but I wasn’t pleased with the performance I just saw scared with the ball. We just weren’t good enough tonight, for the performances that we want to play, but you’re gonna have these. My job is to speak to it, so we just weren’t ourselves for some reason. We didn’t put the game away in the first half when we had two clear cut chances.”
The only goal of the game took place in the 37th minute by forward Tyler Lussi, her third of the season, assisted by Ashley Sanchez.
Casey Murphy made seven saves and recorded North Carolina’s third straight clean sheet at home.
“First and foremost, the crowd was amazing tonight,” said Murphy. “Playing in front of our home fans is always a bonus, and they came up big for us. They gave us energy when we needed in the final extra time there. We had a game plan going in, and we had to remind ourselves a lot to stick to the game plan. In the end, we got the job done. So three points, and we’re happy about that.”
The Courage’s next game is Wednesday on the road against the Orlando Pride. Their next home game is Friday, May 17th against the Utah Royals at 8 pm est.
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