Louisville 1 North Carolina 2 Post Match Thoughts
Courtesy USA Today Sports Images
Louisville's (brief) winning streak ended in a rather underwhelming performance that highlighted the team's shortcomings. This team still has a chance to turn things around, but the gap between Louisville and the playoffs is still significant.
North Carolina decided that Savannah DeMelo was not going to beat them and did a good job of making sure she was marked by multiple players at times. She still had an opportunity on a nice run from Lester from defense, but the finish proved too tough. She also picked up a yellow card on a challenge that showed her frustration by going in late and high. She was able to manage her game after that showing that she probably learned her lesson on her red card. Louisville needs at least one more reliable goal-scoring attacker. This a a match where you could imagine Nadia Nadim finishing off Monaghan's chance and possibly DeMelo's. The transfer window opens back up on June 28th and it's hard to imagine that center forward isn't on the top of the list. You don't win many matches when your best attacker on the night is your right back.
Even though Louisville had the better attacking chances in the first half, they didn't really impose themselves as much as they did in the previous 3 matches. This is probably down to their opponent on the night, but the press still worked well at times. Unfortunately they were not able to capitalize. The most disappointing was Monaghan's shot wide when she had done most of the hard work. Monaghan also left Ryan Williams too much space on her cross leading to the opening goal. It was not her best night for Louisville.
North Carolina's first goal was just one of those goals. Even though Monaghan was out of position, the looping header from Madsen was nearly impossible to defend especially given Lester's lack of height. The counterattacking goal down 0-1 is the cost of doing business when you fall behind in the second half. It's pretty easy to see that the Courage were the better team on the night and 3 points for them was a fair result.
Milliet was Louisville’s best player on the night with Howell a close second. She was credited with a goal in the stadium, but Baggett actually got her head on it. Regardless, the cross was great and she was good in attack all night. It was good to see her play well, but disappointing that the club didn't run a player of the match poll for her to get recognized. I also don't remember her ever having her own poster, at least not one recently. She remains the club’s most underrated player in my opinion.
Overall the team didn't look at sharp or as hungry for 3 points as they had in the past week. That little drop in intensity was all that it took for the Courage to make them pay. Ultimately, if they are to make a playoff push they will have to handle future winning streaks a bit better in order to extend them past 3 matches.
