Fighting Reign wrestle on knife’s edge with Kerolin and Carolina
Reign work Courage to draw, make a bumpy start to final stretch
The OL Reign and the North Carolina Courage both fought tooth and nail on Sunday, and both walked away from the game with one point and no change in the standings. The game was played on the knife’s edge, and ultimately did not tip either way.
North Carolina started off the game with two amazing chances that they botched at the last second. In the 2nd minute, Courage forward Tess Boade stole the ball from the Bold around midfield, maneuvered forward for a few seconds, and then Boade and fellow forward Kerolin Nicoli charged upfield. Boade crossed it to Kerolin right in front of the goal, but she bounced it off the post. It was a similar story with different characters in the 11th, as Narumi Miura’s shot from similarly good position went just left.
The Reign didn’t quite make an opportunity for the first twenty minutes, but they pounced on the first real chance they did have. As the 21st minute began, Rapinoe’s corner kick soared right to Balcer, who headed it in for the first goal of the game. 1-0 Reign.
The two teams didn’t threaten much for the following twenty minutes. But where the Reign’s first goal came from a methodical attack, North Carolina’s equalizer came from a royal screw-up on positioning. Kerolin broke away and received the ball before weaving past a wildly upfield Claudia Dickey. Lauren Barnes and Alana Cook tried in vain to buy time for Dickey to get back in front of the net, but Kerolin spun around them and then tapped the ball into the goal. The refs spent the next couple minutes deciding whether Kerolin was offside or not, but in the end, the goal stood. Tied at 1.
In stoppage time in the first half, the Reign nearly went down 2-1, as Kerolin again broke free, this time with a nearly empty field ahead of her as she charged towards the goal, only Dickey standing between her and a Courage lead. However, Alana Cook slid to trip her just before she entered the box, intentionally sacrificing herself via a clear red card in order to give the team a chance to block a free kick. The gambit worked: the Reign defense walled off the goal and knocked the free kick away to end the half.
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In the second half, the Bold readjusted and focused on keeping a fortress against North Carolina. Dickey avenged her previous mistake as she turned into a machine, racking up six saves on the day. Her best save came in the 82nd minute off a kick by Tess Boade in the middle of the box. Dickey kicked her foot out in the way of the ball just in time to deflect it out of bounds. She then caught the following corner on the fly to end North Carolina’s threat.
The Reign also got help from Lady Luck, as all of North Carolina’s clear shots ended up hitting the crossbar or going just wide or high. Despite the Courage holding possession 68.9% of the game, having twice as many passes as the Reign, and rattling off five times as many shots as the Reign, the game ended with the score tied 1-1.
Harvey explained that her plan initially was to have the Reign drop back a little without giving up the ability to create chances on offense.
“We made the choice that we weren’t going to drop into sort of a 4-4-1, we were going to try and keep [Balcer] and Pinoe, and then Jordyn and Pinoe with a slight ability to stay a little higher, obviously [as] the game went on, we fell deeper and deeper,” she noted. “But I just think, again, you have to give something up when you’re down to 10, and we gave up space to let their center backs have it a little bit.”
Balcer expressed pride in the Reign’s ability to fend off the Courage while down a player for the whole half.
“I think that was the first time we’ve ever been down a player since I’ve been here, so [I am] really proud of our resilience, just to be defensively tight, obviously it was challenging,” she said. “They were getting lots of shots off, but I thought we just did the job we were supposed to.”
As Harvey left the press box after the interview was officially over, she gave a comment that indicated her annoyance at the onside call on North Carolina’s goal.
“Glad you didn’t ask me about that goal, I’d probably get fined,” she said.
This draw keeps the Reign in the playoff hunt, as they currently hold the last playoff spot with two games remaining. However, they will probably need at least one win in those matches to make the dance. Here are the top six in the table as it stands today:
1. San Diego Wave FC: 10-7-3, 33 points
2. Portland Thorns FC: 9-6-5, 32 points
3. NJ/NY Gotham FC: 8-6-6, 30 points
4. North Carolina Courage: 8-7-5, 29 points
5. Washington Spirit: 7-5-8, 29 points
6. OL Reign: 8-8-4, 28 points
The Reign’s next game takes place this Friday at home against the Washington Spirit. It will be Megan Rapinoe’s last home regular season game.
