Cary, N.C. (June 15, 2019) – The North Carolina Courage rallied in the second half to tie Portland Thorns FC 1-1 in the second portion of North Carolina Football Club’s Pride Night Doubleheader Saturday night at Sahlen’s Stadium at WakeMed Soccer Park.

Julia Spetsmark scored in the 59th minute to tie the game for the Courage, which fell behind to Portland in the first half on a goal from Midge Purce.

With the result, the Courage improved to 3W-2L-4D on the season.

“We dominated the second half,” Courage head coach Paul Riley said. “First half, to be honest with you, was our own fault. We were slow-tempo, we gave the ball away.”

Portland found the first goal of the match in the 26th minute when Purce put the ball in the back of the net after Celeste Boureille chipped a pass, playing her in on goal.

The remainder of the first half continued with the same rapid pace that it started out with, but the Courage went into the break down a goal.

The Courage came out of halftime by dominating control of the ball, allowing them to get many quality shots off.

The breakthrough finally came in the 60th minute, when Spetsmark, a second-half substitute, was able to give the Courage the goal they needed to tie the game up.

Defender Merritt Mathais made a high pass up the middle to Spetsmark, who was able to use the bounce on the ball to get a lofted shot past Eckerstrom. The goal was Spetsmark’s second of the season, and for Mathias, the pass was her second assist on the year.

The Courage continued to pressure Portland by taking a plethora of shots, some of which were close to giving the them the lead. The Courage outshot Portland 18-1 in the second half.

In the 66th minute, Spetsmark was almost able to get her second goal of the night when she took a shot from the edge of the box, but the ball hit the left post and ricocheted away.

For the rest of the half, the Courage came close, but nothing was able to fall their way. In stoppage time, Spetsmark got one final look to score in the box, but was not able to get the ball into the back of the net, forcing the Courage to settle for a tie.

Notes

— McKenzie Meehan made her Courage debut in the 90th minute. Meehan, formerly of Sky Blue FC, was acquired in a trade on Tuesday.

— Head coach Paul Riley named the same starting lineup from the Courage’s 3-0 win at Orlando on June 1.

— Goalkeeper Samantha Leshnak made her home debut and second consecutive start.

— The Courage had twice as many shots on target as Portland (6-3).

Box Score

NCC (4-2-3-1): Sam Leshnak; Ryan Williams (Julia Spetsmark, 46’), Cari Roccaro, Kaleigh Kurtz, Jaelene Hinkle; Merritt Mathias, Denise O’Sullivan; Kristen Hamilton, McCall Zerboni ©, Lynn Williams; Leah Pruitt (McKenzie Meehan, 90’)

Subs not used: Katelyn Rowland, Ally Haran, Shannon Horgan, Meredith Speck, Lauren Milliet

POR (5-2-3): Britt Eckerstrom; Meghan Klingenberg ©, Gabby Seiler, Katherine Reynolds, Elizabeth Ball, Kelli Hubly (Marissa Everett, 84’); Ana Crnogorcevic, Celeste Boureille; Madison Pogarch (Emily Ogle, 73’), Midge Purce, Simone Charley (Tyler Lussi, 62’)

Subs not used: Katy Byrne, Bella Bixby

Score:
NCC: 1
POR: 1

Goals:
NCC: Julia Spetsmark (Merritt Mathias, 59’)
POR: Midge Purce (Celeste Boureille, 26’)

Cautions:
NCC: Kaleigh Kurtz 19’
POR: Tyler Lussi 63’

Ejections:
NCC:
POR:

Attendance: 6,172