North Carolina Courage Vs Portland Thorns: 3 things we learned
By Drew Hubbard
On Saturday, the North Carolina Courage defeated the Portland Thorns 2-1 to start the NWSL Challenge Cup. Here are three things we learned.
This weekend, soccer returned to the United States. The NWSL Challenge Cup’s first match saw the defending champion North Carolina Courage defeat the Portland Thorns in a 2-1 victory. It took until the 75th minute for the goals to flow when Debinha got on the end of a Hailie Mace cross to take a 1-0 lead.
The Thorns responded quickly, though, equalizing in the five minutes later with Simone Charley getting her first career NWSL goal. But the Courage pulled away and earned all three points with an added-time winner by Lynn Williams who headed in a perfect Sam Mewis cross to finish the match 2-1.
With the beautiful game back in the states, here are three things we learned from the competition’s debut.
3. Shaking off the rust
With this being the first match back since late October, it was expected that there would be more miscues than what fans would normally see between these two teams. The North Carolina Courage started the game on their usual attacking foot, forcing Thorns goalkeeper Bella Bixby into several saves.
It looked as if this may be a repeat of the last time these teams met when the Courage won 6-0. Lynn Williams had the best chance of the game, skying a shot over the crossbar when she had Kristen Hamilton right beside her. She would later get her goal, but her missed opportunity shows a little rust on a chance she would almost never miss.
Williams’ goal came from a perfect Sam Mewis cross. It also took her a while to get into the game. The eventual game-winner was a result of Williams being wide open in the box from the Portland defense. If she hadn’t headed it in, Mace was right behind her with plenty of space. Leaving two players wide open in the box is an error that Mark Parsons and the Thorns coaching staff will have to address for the coming matches. It was a bitty, mistake-riddled game as both teams looked to settle back into competitive play.