**Orlando, Florida** – The North Carolina Courage defeated the Orlando Pride on Wednesday night, 3-0, at Exploria Stadium with Debinha’s second-minute goal opening the scoring and goals either side of the half from forward Tess Boade, assisted by Debinha, in the first minute of added time in the first half coming on top of Debinha’s second of the night in the 53 ^rd minute to secure the victory.
The action started early with Courage midfielder Debinha converting on her team’s first look at goal after just two minutes, with the visitors taking advantage of a ball over the top in the face of a high press from Orlando to help open up the chance. A long ball from inside the Courage half over the top toward Debinha’s run down the middle actually took a bit of a freak bounce off the head of an Orlando defender, which redirected Debinha’s run and helped neutralize the position of Pride goalkeeper Erin McLeod, who had rushed off her line to help her defense. After the bounce, Debinha found herself in on goal with an open net and she tapped it home to give her side an early confidence boost.
North Carolina continued to put pressure on the Pride goal as the half grew on as well, with Courage forward Tess Boade having a shot blocked in the 12 ^th minute that was goal bound before defender Merritt Mathias’s effort from outside the box in the 24 ^th minute was saved as well.
However, a hustle play from the forward Boade just on the edge of halftime would help propel the Courage to a two-goal lead and deflate Orlando’s spirits again. Boade was helping North Carolina attempt to win the ball back high up the field and would pick up a misdirected pass nearly 30 yards out from goal to begin a quick move. Boade then found the playmaker Debinha just a yard or two outside the penalty area, and Debinha did so well to flick the ball over a defender to complete a one-two with Boade to put the forward in very good position inside the box. From there, Boade exuded her confidence as she slowed the move down and finished with poise past McLeod to double her side’s advantage.
Into the second half, Orlando carved out the first opportunity in front of goal as attacker Ally Watt had a shot in the 50 ^th minute. The forward was found via a cross from fellow attacker Darian Jenkins and was in position inside the right side of the box. From there, Watt attempted to curl a left-footed effort toward the top left corner but was denied by Courage goalkeeper Casey Murphy.
Three minutes later, North Carolina put their third goal on the board to all but complete their mission and be able to see the game through. In an overall interesting move, the Courage had a corner on the left side and saw the ball in cleared to the right side of the box where Debinha was standing. Adding her third goal contribution of the night, Debinha then clipped a cross-cum-shot that found the far side netting as the visitors went three goals to the goad before the hour mark.
In the 61 ^st minute, the forward Boade then nearly put North Carolina up a fourth goal as she pounced on a short back pass just a few yards from goal, but her curled effort was saved well by McLeod to prevent the score. Three minutes later, it was Orlando who had a shot saved as goalkeeper Casey Murphy collected a slow roller from Jenkins at the other side.
Orlando would create a few more opportunities the rest of the half, but in the end were unable to convert any of those chances as the visiting North Carolina Courage earned a huge three points. The result puts North Carolina just two points off sixth-place Chicago (30 points) with both teams having played 20 games.

Match Highlights

Match Highlights