**CARY, N.C.** – The North Carolina Courage relied on a 73 ^rd minute goal from forward Tyler Lussi to knock off Racing Louisville FC, 1-0, at WakeMed Soccer Park on Saturday night. The win pushes North Carolina to 2 ^nd place in the standings, level on points with the Washington Spirit (22) but ahead on goal differential (NC +8, WAS +4). Meanwhile, Racing Louisville remains in 8 ^th place with 15 points from 13 games played.
It took until near the half hour mark for either side to test the other, but Louisville came close to opening the scoring in the 28 ^th minute via midfielder Jaelin Howell. Attacker Wang Shuang was on free kick duty from the right side of the field, and the ball in landed on the head of Howell, who forced a good save out of North Carolina goalkeeper Casey Murphy with a redirected header toward the bottom left corner of the goal.
Then, just four minutes later, midfielder Savannah DeMelo had a brief look on goal closed down well by the North Carolina defense to prevent the on-fire playmaker from finding the back of the net. A bouncing ball in the box was latched onto by DeMelo just above the penalty spot, but a good block by a Courage defender repelled the ball out of play and the move ended.
Despite the early looks for Louisville, the two teams went into the halftime break scoreless.
Two early chances in the second half for both sides first saw midfielder Denise O’Sullivan eventually put her shot high in the 50 ^th minute. However, the buildup that produced the chance for O’Sullivan from just outside the box was the best of the evening for the hosts as they showed promising signs out of the break. Then, two minutes later, Racing forward Thembi Kgatlana nearly scored for the second straight game when she put an effort narrowly wide following a recovery deep in the North Carolina half. However, her shot rolled across goal missed the inside of the far post by inches.
North Carolina then turned up the heat with a chance for forward Olivia Wingate in the 70 ^th minute as fellow forward Kerolin sent her teammate ahead with a slipped pass into the box on the left side. Wingate then lined up a shot with her left foot, but it careened wide as she was left disappointed with the effort in the end.
However, the Courage would see the fruit of their hard work in the second half as forward Tyler Lussi produced nothing but hustle to scrap an opening goal for North Carolina as she bunded the ball over the line. A ball from the right side into the box saw Lussi’s first attempted blocked, her second attempted from three yards away saved, and her third attempt sneaking in at the far post to put her team confidently in front.
Louisville’s best chance to equalizer came for forward Parker Goins in the 88 ^th minute, who was sent forward down the right side of the field with an aerial through pass. Opening up play with her forward run, Goins got free and was able to collect the ball and work her way into the penalty area. Lining up a shot from about 12 yards out, Goins turned away in agony as she drug her shot just too far to the left and wide in what was the visitor’s best look of the second half.
In the end, the Courage held on for what was their third straight league win (fourth straight in all competitions), while Louisville saw a three game unbeaten run snapped with the loss.

Match Highlights

Match Highlights