Welcome to this week’s edition of The Lion’s Pitch. Thanks for reading, and we are really putting up numbers with the podcast, so thanks for listening as well!
I’m on vacation this week and next (Katie will have some guest co-hosts on the pod), so we’ll keep the newsletter short and sweet, and return to regular form May 8. Thanks for your patience, and let’s dive in!
Recap: Courage v. Angel City FC
Another West Coast game was met with another West Coast loss. The Courage put up a solid fight against Angel City, but ultimately walked out with a 2-1 defeat.
Some games just feel like you’ve at least earned a draw, but fate isn’t on your side, and this was one of them. The Courage dominated many stats, with 63% possession, 15 shots and 513 accurate passes (85%). A lot of time was spent attacking. Still, goals were elusive.
Angel City scored first on a foul called on Kaleigh Kurtz, who received a questionable yellow card. Claire Emslie took a difficult free kick directly at our line, but arced the ball perfectly for a goal.
The Courage were doing a great job building moments with patience, including a great pass from Hayley Hopkins to Tyler Lussi, who put a lot of heat on the finish kick and the ball sailed over the frame. Manaka had a heartbreaker that hit the goalpost in the second half.
Angel City was much quicker in attacking during transitional moments than last season. This worked effectively against the Courage squad, who were playing defenders high. For their second goal, Alyssa Thompson kicked a long pass to Claire Emslie. Emslie hit a monster kick that soared over Casey Murphy ~and~ dropped in time to hit the back of the net.
Ashley Sanchez had a goal just minutes later, which would have retained some momentum for the Courage. Unfortunately, the refs called the Courage offside and the goal was reversed.
On a free kick for the Courage, Feli Rauch kicked a perfect cross to Lussi, who scored the team’s single goal. The Courage noted this was Rauch’s first NWSL assist since arriving from Wolfsburg.
All in all, the Courage showed patience and were creating many opportunities. We lacked precision in our finish, plus had more than a little bad luck. The game felt like it was missing some of the controlled chaotic energy that was creating options in the press than we’ve had in other matches this season (more time with Bianca St-Georges, who subbed in at ‘63, might have done us wonders).
Look ahead: Courage v. Seattle Reign
Thankfully, this time the West Coast team comes to the Triangle to face the Courage. Seattle Reign are sitting at the bottom of the table alongside Utah, having only won their first game this season.
Reign lost a lot of talent in 2023. Manchester United paid the world’s highest women’s goalkeeper fee to secure Phallon Tullis-Joyce. USWNT members Rose Lavelle and Emily Sonnett went to Gotham FC. Elyse Bennett and Alyssa Malonson got picked up by Utah and Bay FC, respectively, in the expansion draft. And of course, Megan Rapinoe retired.
Perhaps their biggest pickup was attacking midfielder Ji So-Yun from Korea, who has also played with Chelsea in the past.
Midfielder Jess Fishlock just tied Megan Rapinoe for most goal assists in club history. And that was to forward Tziarra King, who had a banger Sunday that was voted NWSL Goal of the Week, around the 1:25 mark in NWSL’s tweet:
How the Courage rebound from last week will make all the difference, with both teams looking to improve on the pitch heading into this match.
Around the league and beyond
- We mentioned before that the USWNT will play an Olympic send-off match in Washington, DC on July 16, but the opponent was TBD. They announced we will face Costa Rica in that game.
- María Sánchez got her wish at the trade deadline, heading to San Diego Wave. Houston received $300,000 in transfer money, $200,000 in allocation money and an international slot (2024 and 2025) in return (Sandra Herrera, CBS).
- Herrera also reported Houston turned around and paid $500,000 in transfer fees for Brazilian defender Tarciane, the third-highest international transfer fee paid by the NWSL this year.
- Theo Lloyd-Hughes reported Angel City traded Paige Nielsen to Houston in exchange for $50,000 in allocation money and $50,000 in transfer fees.
- The other big NWSL news last week essentially was the number of high scoring matches. As we can attest from last season, goal differential can make all the difference at playoff time in the NWSL.
- Racing Louisville won their match over Utah 5-1, finally giving them their first win of the season.
- Kansas City, who only had 37% possession, somehow put 5 goals on Bay FC, winning 5-2.
- Portland beat Houston 4-1, also earning their first win of the season.
That’s it for this week! As always, you can get in touch with tips, suggestions, corrections and more: contact@lionspitch.com.
Next match: Saturday, April 27, 7:00 pm ET
North Carolina Courage v. Seattle Reign
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