The North Carolina Courage continue to dominate the start of the NWSL season, earning a 1-0 win over the Seattle Reign in front of an announced crowd of 3,011 at WakeMed Soccer Park Wednesday night.
Seattle goalkeeper Michelle Betos held her own while North Carolina put up seven shots in the first half, but she couldn’t maintain the clean sheet as the Courage attack picked up the pace in the second half.
Kristen Hamilton delivered a high arching ball to Jessica McDonald, who slipped behind the Reign’s back line and made the most of her one-on-one opportunity against Betos. McDonald fired a shot past Betos to the bottom right corner in the 70th minute.
With strong defense led by goalkeeper Sabrina D’Angelo, North Carolina (4-0-0, 12 points) held on for the win over Seattle (2-0-1, 6 points).
The Courage remain the only undefeated team in the league and sit atop table, while the Reign slipped to fourth.
“The second half was a great second half. We created three or four wide open breakaways, and we kept everybody here in their seats until the end as we do normally,” Courage coach Paul Riley told reporters after the match. “The first half was OK … but the second half was really really good.”
Seattle was playing without star forward Megan Rapinoe, who was a key spark for the Reign attack before suffering a hamstring injury during the weekend.
The Courage will host the Utah Royals Saturday at 3:30 p.m., while the Reign have the weekend off before playing on the road against Orlando on April 28.