**CARY, N.C.** – The North Carolina Courage and the Chicago Red Stars drew 1-1 on Sunday afternoon in an end-to-end encounter that saw the Courage first go ahead before the Red Stars worked their way back in in the second half. Tess Boade sent North Carolina in front after 14 minutes, but a strong header from a corner kick in the 63 ^rd minute by Chicago’s Tatumn Milazzo ultimately settled the match.
The hosts North Carolina moved forward early and would end up breaking the deadlock after just 14 minutes when forward Tess Boade produced a fine finish to send her side ahead. The Courage were in possession through fellow forward Kerolin, who was making her return from the Women’s World Cup, about 30 yards from goal just to the right of the center of the field. Boade was just outside the penalty area running ahead when Kerolin clipped a lofted ball over the top of the defense and into Boade’s path where she latched onto it just inside the box. Boade then did very well to lift her effort over Chicago goalkeeper Alyssa Naeher, and despite the best efforts of the Red Stars’ defense, the ball crossed the line and North Carolina were in front.
However, the Courage were then dealt a blow when defender Emily Fox was sent off after VAR review for the denial of a goalscoring opportunity on Chicago defender Bianca St-Georges. St-Georges had been played down the right side of the field when Fox began to grapple with her in an attempt to gain ground. St-Georges was judged to have been brought down, though, and despite being shown an initial yellow card the center official returned to Fox to nullify that and send her off via a straight red in the 21 ^st minutes.
North Carolina then produced a goalline block via midfielder Narumi in the 22 ^nd minute before forward Tyler Lussi strike the post on the other end in the 31 ^st minute as the match played out. An extremely good challenge by Chicago defender Kayla Sharples on Kerolin in the second minute of stoppage time prevented the Brazilian from going goal side alone in the last chance of the half, but North Caroling clung to a one goal lead at the break.
Into the second half, Chicago were far more present with forward Ella Stevens testing North Carolina goalkeeper Casey Murphy with a snapshot in the 62 ^nd minute that led to a corner for the Red Stars. Stevens had received a ball in the box after a square pass saw her in space to the left of the penalty spot. Opening up her body slightly, Stevens attempted to find the bottom nearside corner with a low effort, but Murphy was able to palm the chance away and out for a corner kick.
On that ensuing corner, though, Chicago would find their goal on the night through defender Tatumn Milazzo, who powered a header past Murphy dead center of goal to bring the visitors level. Midfielder Julia Bianchi swung in a curling cross from the corner flag that landed squarely on the head of Milazzo just left of the penalty spot, and Milazzo crushed the ball on impact to give Murphy little chance of stopping the eventual equalizer.
Just as the match looked to be headed for an even draw though, the Courage were awarded a spot kick in the 83 ^rd minute as forward Kerolin was judged to have been brought down by Milazzo in a bit of an unfortunate twist. Up stepped Kerolin in the 84 ^th minute, but though she sent Naeher the wrong way, she sent her penalty attempt wide to the right and in doing so missed her first penalty of the year.
The Courage would continue to press for a goal, but in the end, the Chicago defense did enough to see the match out and the points were shared at WakeMed Soccer Park. The result leaves North Carolina at least temporarily in 2 ^nd place with 27 points from 17 games played, while Chicago remain bottom of the table in 12 ^th with 17 points from 17 games played.

Match Highlights

Match Highlights