The Utah Royals didn’t notch a road win, but they were the first National Women’s Soccer League side to stop the North Carolina Courage from claiming a victory.
The Courage (4-0-1, 13 points) needed a goal from U.S. women’s national team standout Crystal Dunn in the 80th minute to tie the match 2-2 and avoid North Carolina’s first loss Saturday.
“It’s my first point against North Carolina in all of my games against them,” Utah coach Laura Harvey said. “It’s a difficult place to play. We played them at a good time with all of the games they had this week, and we train at altitude, so coming to the east coast is actually good for us. I just said to the girls that if we keep that work rate, and work ethic up, but better the quality, we will be a difficult team to play against.”
North Carolina’s Merritt Mathias opened the scoring with a bullet from 28 yards out in the sixth minute.
The Courage held a 1-0 halftime lead before the Royals (0-1-3, 3 points) tied the match in the 52nd minute when forward Katie Stengel headed in a goal.
Utah’s Brittany Ratcliffe added another score from outside the 18-yard box in the 66th minute.
“I was happy that it went in,” Ratcliffe said. “It felt great to be up in the match. We need to keep the ball better and come away with a win next time, but it was good for us to be up and score some goals this time.”
After a poor clearance, North Carolina’s Dunn recovered the ball and fired into an empty net to tie the match at 2-2.
“I give the players a lot of credit,” Courage coach Paul Riley said. “They showed a bit of character coming back. You know, [Royals FC] picked us up on two diagonal balls, really. Other than that, we dominated the game.”