Sunday, July 05, 2020

Courage downs Red Stars while Thorns, Spirit battle to draw in Sunday Challenge Cup action

By Robert Kelly
Copyright 2020 All Rights Reserved

HERRIMAN, UTAH (July 5, 2020) On Sunday, July 5, the NWSL Challenge Cup had two matches at  Zions Bank Stadium in Herriman, Utah. The first match of the day saw the North Carolina Courage down the Chicago Red Stars by the score of 1-0. The second game had the Portland Thorns and the Washington Spirit battling to a 1-1 draw.

The win keeps the Courage at the top of the Cup standings with perfect 3-0 record with nine points. The Red Stars dropped to 0-2-1 (one point) in the standings which places them seventh in the eight-team tournament. North Carolina and Chicago battled back-and-forth during the match, with neither team able to find a hole in their opponent's defense. The lone goal came in the 81st minute when Abby Ercig headed in the ball from the center of the box, off a assist from Jaelene Daniels following a corner kick.

In the second game, Portland scored first when Lindsay Horan  was fed the ball Morgan Klingenberg  in the 69th minute to push the score to 1-0. The Spirit answered nine minutes when Sam Staab scored the equalizer in the 78th minute, with the assist from  Ashley Sanchez. Portland moves to 0-1-2 (2 points) and  while Washington goes to a 1-1-1 record, with four points.





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