THERE WAS DISAPPOINTMENT overnight for Republic of Ireland duo Denise O’Sullivan and Diane Caldwell, as their North Carolina Courage side bowed out of the top-flight title race in the United States.
An extra-time Washington Spirit goal broke Courage hearts in the quarter-final round of the National Women’s Soccer League [NWSL] play-offs, and ultimately brought the curtain down on their turbulent season.
Cork star O’Sullivan played the full game – and was typically excellent – while Diane Caldwell was an unused substitute as the reigning champions from 2019 relinquished their crown.
Also winners in 2018, North Carolina put on a remarkable fight but fell just short, with Ashley Hatch’s 113th-minute goal ultimately the difference. Washington now face the OL Reign in the semi-final match.
The 1-0 defeat comes after a difficult few weeks for North Carolina; the club rocked by “very serious allegations of misconduct” which saw manager Paul Riley sacked. O’Sullivan and Caldwell’s side was at the centre of a storm as fresh allegations of abuse and sexual coercion swept across the NWSL after an in-depth investigation by The Athletic in which Mana Shim and Sinead Farrelly spoke out against Riley.
Courage players touched on that in their post-match comments, reflecting on a tough end to the season as they put the result into context.
“I think it’s just been survival, to be completely honest,” captain Abby Erceg conceded when asked about her takeaways from the season.
All season long, you've been by our side. To the Courage faithful, thank you. We'll be back 💙 pic.twitter.com/I59GkCXHVr
— NC Courage (@TheNCCourage) November 8, 2021
“It’s just been game to game, week to week, I think it was always going to take a bit of a tall order for us. We all knew that. We were just here to give it all that we could and then go as far as we could. But like I said, it’s a tall order with everything that was going on.
“Taking away from the past six weeks, I think, at this point we just survive. We’re survivors. We just know we can fight. We can get through pretty much anything at this point. We’ve got a bit of resilience.”
“The group is devastated, obviously,” Amy Rodriguez added. “With the type of experience and history that this team has, that this club has, we set a really high standard and today we just didn’t meet it. I know that we are proud to represent the Courage and we have to go back and revamp, recollect and then get our eyes set on 2022.”
Head coach Sean Nahas commented: “In my mind, I’m sort of breaking the season up into two [parts], pre four weeks ago and post four weeks ago. And the team I saw at the end is the team that I know.
“First of all, this was an unbelievable football match. If you’re a fan of the game, and you didn’t enjoy that, then you shouldn’t be a fan of the game. I thought we were really good tonight, I thought we were so good. I just saw one of the stats, I think we have close to 600 pass attempts and 460 connected passes in a really high level game. I’m in awe of [the players]. I’ll repeat it until I’m blue in the face. I am in awe of this group.”
Our friends @brushandflossnc stay bringing the XI smiles 😁#WASvNC pic.twitter.com/O6pJ1pglhr
— NC Courage (@TheNCCourage) November 7, 2021
Meanwhile in North America’s Major Soccer League [MLS], the New England Revolution and the Colorado Rapids clinched the top seeds in their respective conferences on the final day of the 2021 regular season.
The Western Conference Rapids and the East’s Revolution also earned first-round playoff byes.
Colorado secured the top spot by eliminating Los Angeles FC, Real Salt Lake qualified with a late goal in a 1-0 win over Sporting Kansas City and the Vancouver Whitecaps punched their ticket with a 1-1 draw with the Seattle Sounders FC.
In the East, Orlando City booked their spot with a 1-0 win over CF Montreal 2-0 and Atlanta United FC – with Jake Mulraney on the bench – rallied past FC Cincinnati 2-1.
New York City FC striker Valentin Castellanos scored his 19th goal in a 1-1 draw with Philadelphia Union to win the Golden Boot award as the top scorer. Castellanos also had eight assists.
The Revolution won their first Supporters’ Shield as the team with the most regular season points. They also set an MLS record for points in a single season with 73, surpassing the 2019 LAFC’s previous mark of 72.
San Jose Earthquakes striker and all-time MLS leading goal scorer Chris Wondolowski announced his retirement following the Quakes’ 1-0 win over FC Dallas. Wondolowski scored the game’s only goal to extend his MLS record to 171.
Despite wrapping up their season with a victory, the defending MLS Cup champions Columbus Crew did not make the postseason.
While other Irish players also featured Stateside, Derrick Williams played the full game for LA Galaxy in their 3-3 draw with Minessota United.
- MLS reporting by © – AFP, 2021
