Week 4 of the NWSL Regular season kicked off Wednesday night with two midweek matches. The first match of the night saw the top two teams of the league face off, with the North Carolina Courage hosting Seattle Reign FC. The second match saw the Chicago Red Stars take on the Houston Dash in blustery Bridgeview, Illinois.
The North Carolina Courage continued their excellent start to the season on Wednesday night with a 1-0 win over Seattle Reign FC, thanks to a 70th minute goal from Jessica McDonald. Both teams came into the night as the top two teams in the league, having easily disptached their opponents over the weekend, with Seattle defeating Sky Blue FC 1-0 on the road and the Courage beating the Washington Spirit 3-0 at home.
In the end, the quick turnaround proved more difficult for Seattle than it did for North Carolina. The first half was an end-to-end battle for the go-ahead goal, but neither team pulled ahead. The Courage had the better of the looks in the half, having a sure goal cleared off the line by Seattle in the 18th minute. Reign FC had a few decent looks on goal, but couldn't make anything of it.
The second half is where the Courage pulled away with relentless pressure on Seattle's backline. Their go-ahead goal finally came in the 70th minute from a long ball over the top that saw Jessica McDonald slot home a finish into the corner of the net, a near-identical chance to one she had minutes before that Reign FC goalkeeper Michelle Betos saved. The floodgates opened for the Courage after their goal, but they were unlucky to not put more goals in the back of the net after wasting multiple chances.
Seattle came into the night knowing that they'd be without star forward Megan Rapinoe, due to a hamstring injury she suffered against Sky Blue FC. Seattle's injury woes compounded when defender Christen Westphal was forced off in the 18th minute. Carolina's midfielder Samantha Mewis returned as a subsitute after missing the first 3 games of the season due to injury.
The Chicago Red Stars cruised to a 3-0 win over the Houston Dash on Wednesday night in Bridgeview, Illinois. This result moved the Red Stars to a record of 2-1-1 overall on the season and was Houston's first defeat on the year, which brings the Dash to a record of 0-1-2 overall.
Chicago's first two goals came from two defensive mistakes from Houston. In the 7th minute of the first half, Red Stars left back Sarah Gorden crossed in a ball from the edge of the box, only to have it deflect into the net for an own goal by Houston defender Kristie Mewis. Chicago doubled their lead just four minutes later, when the Red Stars took advantage of more mistakes from Houston. After Chicago collected a weak clearence from Dash goalkeeper Jane Campbell, midfielder Sofia Huerta put a shot on goal that Campbell dealt with poorly. Chicago midfielder Lauren Kaskie was able to put a rebounded shot on target that deflected off of Campbell and into the corner of the net.
The second half was much of the same, as Chicago continued to apply pressure on Houston. Chicago put the match away with a 74th minute headed goal from Sofia Huerta. Midfielder Danielle Colaprico served in a perfect cross to the darting Huerta, who was able to beat her defender to the ball to put it past Campbell. Huerta continued to pepper the Dash with chances in the second half, but was unable to put the Red Stars up by 4.