**Cary, North Carolina** – The North Carolina Courage kept their playoff hopes well alive on Saturday night as they defeated Gotham FC, 3-0, behind a trio of goals from Debinha and a clean sheet on the other side for Casey Murphy and the Courage defense.
The first half saw the Courage jump out to a more aggressive start with midfielder Debinha heavily involved in the early proceedings. First, in the 12 ^th minute, the playmaker received a pass and pulled up from just outside the box as she aimed for the bottom right corner. However, Gotham goalkeeper Michelle Betos was able to hold the effort and snuff out the chance.
Two minutes later, Debinha was released down the left flank where she took the ball and cut inside onto her right foot. From a similar position as her chance earlier, Debinha again fired low toward the far post only to see her shot blocked and redirected across goal, eventually rolling out for a corner kick.
Then, a third chance in 16 minutes came for Debinha as a scintillating one-two with teammate Carson Pickett resulted in the defender’s backheel slipping Debinha in on goal in the left side of the box. The midfielder then attempted to curl an effort around Betos, but the shot pinged off the post and back into play where Gotham eventually got the chance clear.
Not to be held off much longer, though, Debinha would open the scoring in brilliant fashion in the 27 ^th minute with a slick finish from a tight angle on the left side. The defender Pickett played a curling through ball ahead for Debinha down the left again, and as the Brazilian rounded the goalkeeper Betos, she then finished off the move with a poised finish as she neared the endline. The goal is Debinha’s 10 ^th on the season, putting her as the second Courage player to break the 10-goal mark with forward Diana Ordoñez having accomplished that feat earlier in the season.
Then, in the 34 ^th minute, Debinha stunned the visitors’ defense by scoring her second goal inside seven minutes as she buried a cross from the right side to put her side two goals up and in control in the first half. Receiving the ball on the right side, defender Ryan Williams looked up and spotted Debinha marked by one player in the middle of the box. Lifting in a cross, Debinha raced to be the first to meet the ball and produced an excellent volleyed flick toward the far post and past Betos as the Courage doubled their lead.
In the third minute of added time in the first half, Gotham was able to force Courage goalkeeper Casey Murphy into action as forward Taylor Smith saw a chance saved just in front of goal. Racing down the right side of the field, Smith did well to create separation with a pair of Courage defenders and beat a ball across goal for an onrushing teammate. However, Murphy leapt off her goalline and smothered the chance to preserve the lead going into the halftime interval.
Into the second half, both sides were created a few chances within the opening minutes of the restart with North Carolina appearing to have little desire to take their foot off the proverbial pedal. However, just past the hour mark, Gotham threatened to cut the hosts’ lead in half when midfielder Kristie Mewis drew a good save from the goalkeeper Murphy with an effort from close in. With teammate Midge Purce splitting lines with a forward pass for Mewis, the midfielder stood just a few yards out from goal on the left side but had her left-footed shot pushed over the bar by Murphy as the Courage eventually got the chance clear.
On the flip side, one of the better looks for the Courage in the second half came in the 78 ^th minute for substitute Brianna Pinto. As North Carolina was attempting to build and find a third goal to put the game officially to bed, Pinto received a pass from teammate Denise O’Sullivan and was on the ball in the box on the right side. Firing toward goal, though, Pinto’s effort was saved by Betos and the chance ended.
However, in the 81 ^st minute, Debinha would give the Courage the goal they were looking for as she completed her hat-trick with a dink over Betos having been played clean through on goal. Forward Tess Boade spotted the run of Debinha down the right side, and this time as Betos came out to meet her, rather than rounding the netminder the Brazilian simply lifted the effort over her for both hers and North Carolina’s third goal of the evening.
In the end, an incredible performance from Debinha helped the Courage to a fifth win in the last six games as they defeated Gotham FC, 3-0, thanks to the Brazilian’s hat-trick. The goals lifted Debinha to second in the Golden Boot race with 12, while North Carolina sits temporarily in the sixth and final NWSL playoff spot on 31 points and could stay there pending results in Los Angeles and Chicago tomorrow night.

Match Highlights

Match Highlights