Match Recap: Courage Earn Point on the Road in Houston

HOUSTON, TX (May 29, 2022) — The North Carolina Courage earned their first point of the season on the road Sunday night, drawing 1-1 with the Houston Dash. The match featured goals by Diana Ordoñez, assisted by Emily Gray, to give the Courage the edge in the 24th minute, followed by Houston’s equalizer by Rachel Daly in the sixth minute of first-half stoppage.

“Something we wanted to focus on was getting our press right, so in that moment we had good pressure from Emily [Gray] and Jaelene [Daniels], and that’s eventually what got the ball out to my side,” Diana Ordoñez shared about her goal. “I took the extra touch to open up that space and have the window to score. It was a good feeling after, especially having so much family here. This is the first time many of them have seen me play in person and as a professional, so it was really rewarding.” Diana Ordoñez put the Courage up early in the 24th minute, the scoring play initiated by a cross from Carson Pickett off the left flank. Inside the box, Emily Gray deflected the ball onto the feet of Ordoñez, who cut it across the Houston backline, and slid a shot past the diving attempt by Jane Campbell. This was Ordoñez’s first professional goal, which she scored in her home state in front of over 40 of her close friends and family members in attendance. “I went up to Diana before the game and told her ‘just be free, enjoy yourself and don’t worry about errors,’” Head Coach Sean Nahas said following the game. “So I was really happy for her. She did well on the goal to create space for herself. I felt like we couldn’t get her in the game as consistently as we liked but she’s young, there’s no doubt that she will continue to grow and progress.” Rachel Daly equalized for Houston in the final moments of the first half, receiving a slotted ball in off her run, splitting the Courage defense and pushing a shot past Murphy to add a goal for the home side just before halftime. The second half saw a series of key substitutions for the Courage, reinforcing an offensive presence with Brianna Pinto, Taylor Smith, Rylee Baisden and Meredith Speck all entering the match throughout the second half. Despite a 62% possession rate for the visiting side throughout the second 45, the Courage were unable to find the winning goal, and the final whistle blew ending the match in a 1-1 draw. The match also featured a moment of silence ahead of kick-off in remembrance of the 21 lives lost in the shooting in Uvalde, TX, earlier this week, with both teams wearing remembrance patches on their game jerseys for the match. Sean Nahas spoke to the media about the importance of the initiative: “With everything going on — with the senseless acts going on in our country — I know, personally, I am heartbroken about it. I am not a dad, but I have young nieces and nephews and I cannot imagine what I would do if anything happened to them. We have to start looking at the bigger picture here as a country, these mass murders that are happening — we are failing these children. … At what point do we say enough is enough? Until we wake up and start making actual change, we are going to continue to fail the future of our country. Today was not about sport. As players and coaches that have a platform, we cannot let this go quiet, we have to keep pushing for change. The last place people should feel unsafe is in a grocery store, a church, a school. Some of the kids in that school showed more heroism than the people in power, with the ability to make a difference. And that says something about the state we are in in this country.”

Up Next: The North Carolina Courage continue their road stint as they head to Kentucky next weekend to take on Racing Louisville FC on Saturday, June 4, at 8 p.m. ET. The match will be streamed live on Paramount+ and Twitch.

Match Notes:

• NC Courage out-possessed Houston 60%-40% throughout the match, and connected 518 total passes with a 81% accuracy rate
• Diana Ordoñez scored her first professional regular season goal tonight in the 24th minute
• The Courage snapped a three game losing streak with tonight’s draw, earning their first regular season point

Box Score:

NC (4-4-2): Casey Murphy, Kaleigh Kurtz, Carson Pickett, Abby Erceg, Merritt Mathias, Malia Berkely (Meredith Speck – 83’), Denise O’Sullivan, Debinha, Emily Gray (Brianna Pinto – 55’), Diana Ordoñez (Rylee Baisden – 83’), Jaelene Daniels (Taylor Smith – 74’)

Subs Not Used: Katelyn Rowland, Ryan Williams, Katie Bowen, Brittany Ratcliffe, Jorian Baucom

HOU (4-5-1) Jane Campbell, Allysha Chapman, Katie Naughton, Ally Prisock, Haley Hanson, Sophie Schmidt, Kelcie Hedge (Maria Viggiano – 44’), Shea Groom (Michaela Abam – 83’), Maria Sanches (Emily Ogle – 83’), Nichelle Prince, Rachel Daly

Subs Not Used: Julia Ashley, Bri Visalli, Ryan Gareis, Makamae Gomera-Stevens, Joelle Anderson, Ella Dederick

Score:

NC: 1 HOU: 1

Goals:

NC: Diana Ordoñez (Emily Gray) – 24’ HOU: Rachel Daly (Nichelle Prince) – 45+6’

Cautions:

NC: Kaleigh Kurtz – 80’ HOU:

Ejections:

NC: – HOU: –