**Louisville, Kentucky –** The North Courage defeated Racing Louisville FC, 3-0, thanks to a pair of first half goals and a late second half stoppage time addition to earn the club’s first win of the regular season.
The North Carolina Courage were off to the races early and ended up bagging the game’s first goal just inside the fourth minute of action. Following a corner kick that was initially cleared, defender Carson Pickett picked up the loose ball and played a simple cross into the penalty area. Awaiting in the penalty area was fellow defender Kaleigh Kurtz, who rose above the Louisville defense and powered home a headed goal from just a few yards out.
A few minutes later, the Courage had another opportunity through attacker Brianna Pinto, though Louisville goalkeeper Katie Lund was soon equal to her effort. Played in by forward Kerolin after a giveaway by the Racing netminder, Pinto cut down toward goal once before trying to place a shot to the far post. Lund was quick on her feet though and able to stop the effort to prevent a two-goal deficit.
As the hosts attempted to climb back, they had a great look on goal in the 24 ^th minute that stood as their best chance of the first half. Moving past the Courage defense and into free space, Louisville forward Jessica McDonald collected the ball and took it toward the endline as she fired a low shot toward Courage goalkeeper Casey Murphy that ricocheted off the post and back into play. Unfortunately for the hosts, the follow up cross produced nothing and their chance went missing.
Turning momentum back in their favor, though, right as the halftime whistle was about to come North Carolina was able to then double their advantage through forward Diana Ordoñez. Midfielder Debinha produced a beautiful switch of play to the far side for defender Merritt Mathias to jump onto. Delivering a perfect cross toward the back post, Mathias found Ordoñez in between defenders. Ordoñez then placed her header back across goal to beat Lund and dig a two-goal hole for the hosts to have to fill heading into the second half.
The first chance for Louisville in the second half came in the 51 ^st minute actually saw McDonald put the ball into the back of the net as she blazed past the Courage defense onto a through ball. Beating Murphy in the 1v1 opportunity and scoring, McDonald could only laugh as the flag went up on the near side to negate the goal.
The hosts came close again just after the hour mark after a set-piece situation led to Louisville’s Alexandra Chidiac forcing a very good save from North Carolina’s Casey Murphy. Punching the first ball clear, Chidiac rose in front of a defender to drive a strong header at goal. However, Murphy dove to her right and made an impressive save to preserve her side’s clean sheet and only further frustrate the Louisville attack.
Still pressing ahead, Louisville created another opportunity in the 68 ^th minute as midfielder Savannah DeMelo drove through the midfield area and set her sights on goal. Lining up a left-footed effort still from some way out, though, DeMelo’s shot was blocked out for a corner that Louisville could not turn into a scoring opportunity.
Instead, North Carolina put a cherry on top of the match through a stoppage time goal via midfielder Debinha to secure the three points. Holding her run to perfection, Debinha sprinted onto a through ball that put her onto an open road toward goal. Closing in on Lund, Debinha opened her right foot and calmly slotted the ball past the goalkeeper for her team’s third on the night.
In the end, North Carolina was able to able to win their first game of the season in a dominant display that saw them overpower Racing Louisville FC in Louisville on Saturday night. For the hosts, the loss was their second straight as they returned to Lynn Family Stadium for the first time since mid-May.

Match Highlights

Match Highlights