78' 1-0 Debinha left ck, to 6m right post. Ertz backs up low into Gilliland jumping, bounces off her chest and goes down. McDonald jumps straight up behind both, heads a bloop toward 1/4 right, Naeher dives and blocks wide right. Foul -- on McDonald Ref saw Ertz go down and assumed -- that Boxx did it 80' 1-0 Debinha crosses (a tad too far) over Ln.Williams at 6-top right. Ln.Williams retrieves, crosses high to 12m mid-left. Debinha tries a bicycle, muffs it wide left. Good show! Worth a shot, right @Debinha7?#NCvCHI | #NWSL | #NWSLPlayoffs pic.twitter.com/jruNFaiTb6— National Women’s Soccer League (@NWSL) September 19, 2018 81' 1-0 Hinkle(?) hits Debinha cutting up centerline through box top center. Debinha finds a seam, gets clean through to 13m 2/5 left, shoots left foot roller directly to Naeher.
The referee again breaks up a Chicago attack leading to another goal by NC. The ref seems to be a great defender.
86' 2-0 McDonald cuts through 12m box left, chips a cross, Ertz heads away through arc top. Dunn taps back to S.Mewis way out at 32m mid-right, Mewis takes one big touch to 25m mid-right and chases it. 2nd touch fast chip across mouth, beats Naeher's dive, off left post 4/5 high, banks into 1/4 left back. And Naeher lands heavily on her right shoulder, and thereafter is hobbling in some discomfort. +4'. .@sammymewy with a 🚀 and @TheNCCourage are up 2-0 late in the second half!#NCvCHI | #NWSL | #NWSLPlayoffs pic.twitter.com/SxkmcUHxOx— National Women’s Soccer League (@NWSL) September 19, 2018 Go field level on that @sammymewy 🚀#NCvCHI | #NWSL | #NWSLPlayoffs pic.twitter.com/QcMXHsmWUY— National Women’s Soccer League (@NWSL) September 19, 2018
That's alright. The ref has given two Courage corner kicks as Red Stars goal kicks instead this half.
I looks like the "fans" in Portland will get another chance to boo Hinkle as 2-0 seems to have put it away.
Game over 2-0. A just result NC was by far the better team and Chicago self destructed on most attacks.
90+3' (of +4') 2-0 Nagasato jumps to block at arc top left, just as Hamilton volleys right roundhouse -- and delivers laces under the short rib Nagasato gamely tries to resume, but can't even stand up straight ... 90+5' (of +4') 2-0 Ln.Williams right throw-in at 6m, they try to hold it in right corner, lose it over. Before Chicago's gk ... FT 2-0. Portland fans resume chanting "P!T! F!C!" Valiant effort by Chicago. North Carolina keeps producing, and finishing chances.
Can't wait until Saturday. Apparently the booing gets to Hinkle and I'm sure all 22,000 fans will be booing her to the fullest extent than today.
I get why they boo her, but I wish they'd own it. They boo her because of her tweets after the Supreme Court made marriage equality the law of the land, and her 700 Club interview on why she declined a USWNT callup during pride month. And I have no problem with them booing for those reasons. Go for it. There's something visceral, and part of being a sports fan is the ability to pick a target and be merciless. But the other part is owning it. But when called on it, you see tons of posts and tweets trying to reframe the booing as some noble "getting one's back" instead of what it is. The visceral channeling of frustration and hatred. It's a large imbalance of charge finding a lightning rod. Nothing wrong with that - as long as you admit what is really going on. It is not some higher moral calling. Responding to perceived hate with hate isn't the moral high ground. I'm guessing nobody was ever convinced of the error of their ways while being heckled and badgered and stalked online for their beliefs. If they want the "high ground" they'd embrace Hinkle and show her that what she's been indoctrinated with is wrong. I know a lot of people from very religious backgrounds that have made that transition during their lives. None of them were professional women's athletes, though. I think her take on homosexuality is wrong, but I also have spent two years at games and practices watching her interactions with her teammates and club staff. A fair portion of which are gay. I take my lead from them. I see no cliques within the team. The Courage are a team. They are one for all and all for one. I don't see any difference in the interactions with her and other players. I have seen one a local college team (five or six years back) greatly underperform when the team basically split into two cliques. That has not happened here. I'll never ask fans to stop booing. I do it all the time when I'm a ticket buying fan. It's part of the game. But I don't lie to others or myself as to why I'm booing. If they're booing because it feels good to be the one with power for a change, fine. Go with that. Keep on booing. Just don't try to tell me it makes you a better person. It doesn't. It just makes you a fan who can't own up to their own behavior.
That might have been the goal of the year by Mewis. A rocket. I've never seen a ball struck better than that. Mewis is imposing physically. I think she is taller and and heavier than her teammate, Jess McDonald, who is sometimes listed as 6 feet. Speaking of McDonald, she doesn't get the recognition she deserves. For me, she's a best XI forward. A valiant effort by Chicago. With a little luck they might have won.
I would like to thank both teams for playing as clean and fairly as possible. And the ref let the game flow as much as he could.
I'm starting to wonder if Rory Dames is the right coach to get Chicago over the semifinal hump. He's had 4 chances to win a semi (and this year was probably their best ever chance) and they've failed each time. If they get to the postseason next year and lose the semi again, will the front office consider trying someone new?
Actually I believe that booing because of something that happened in the game or an earlier game is understandable BUT booing in sports because of a political viewpoint is both stupid and cowardly. I do NOT agree at all with what she said or her reasons for saying it also I think she showed cowardice by making her views so public instead of just refusing the call up to the national side. But I also think the USSF was wrong for politicizing the uniforms and not in some way making that political statement optional. The fans booing her for her views are simply stupid but, in this country, we all have the right to be stupid no matter what side of the political fence we sit on or even if we sit on said fence. Lastly it was quite clear she was affected by the boos but that impact was overcome by her and her teammates and the cowardly behavior by the fans actually caused me to root for NC more than Chicago. I dislike prejudice in any form and the booing showed prejudice and intolerance just as bad as those that hate for skin color, gender, religion, economic status or any other reason that we use to excuse the hatred of one or another group or individual just for being a member of a group we disagree with.
Very disappointed, but thought the game was superb. Open and fairly clean. Kerr was marked with 2-3-sometimes 4 players and no one else stepped up by the Red stars to score. NC shots on goal hit goalpost and go in, Chicago shots hit goalpost and go out. It is what it is. I'm proud of this team and love watching them but It's hard for a season ticket holder like me who has been passionately supporting this team for 10 years to never win a Championship. Putting more money in will be a tough decision for me this year. I'm tired.
Eh, they paid their money. Do you have problems with people booing Michael Vick (dog fighting) or Ray Rice (domestic assault)? Being booed is part of being in the public eye. I have no problem with her being booed. I do have problems with fans misrepresenting why they're doing the booing.
Some fans bood at the beginning because guys wearing Hinkle jerseys stood at the rail and blocked people’s view of the game. It just sort of picked up from there.
There is a HUGE difference between a viewpoint and criminal activities. Being booed may be a part of being in the public eye BUT doing the booing because you disagree with a person's viewpoint simply exposes the stupidity of those doing the booing. In the case of the two people you mentioned they should NOT even be playing. It is their league that should be booed. Criminal activity at the felony level particularly should bar the perpetrator from sports in general BUT if the league or team chooses to ignore the act the I will often withdraw my support from at least that team. Actually I do not think that the public gains a "right" to be rude just by buying a ticket. I strongly believe in free speech but hurtful speech, which is what this kind of booing is, is not free speech it is speech with intent to cause harm is just bullying which is actually a criminal act placing the people booing at the level of the two criminals you mentioned.
She was being hurtful to the gay community and Portland has a strong community at that. She has a right to believe her extremist views on the community but they are controversial views that aren't very welcoming to west coast or PNW culture. We aren't the bible belt.... Hinkle needs to ignore the boos and play professionally as she has been doing. Quite frankly, it's quite amusing to see Hinkle getting booed. It shows that the majority of us don't accept bigotry and limitations on civil rights and we don't want people like that representing us. Whether you like it or not, heckling culture is very much ingrained in football/soccer and has been in the men's game for decades. I fully expect to hear her boo'ed even more at the Championship match on Saturday.
Having been at the game, some thoughts: I wish the game had been in NC with 10,000 of their fans going crazy. It was weird being there without a team to root for. It would have been a different game if Chicago had scored on either of their two off-the-woodwork shots. But, North Carolina out-willed them. At the end of the game, with NC up 2-0, it looked like some of the Chicago players simply had given up. McDonald's goal was very poor defense. Come on, NC scores on break aways. How can you get caught with so few defenders, especially no one to match McDonald's speed? Mewis' goal was a fantastic shot. Chicago's offense was uncreative. The same was true last year. The NWSL top teams' defenses are too good for Chicago to rely on one person to score goals. The boo-ing was really bad, stupid, and counter-productive. We have a gay daughter and both my wife and I disliked it big time. We sat next to a gay woman (never met her before) who doesn't like what Hinkle has said but didn't like the boo-ing either. It was a very sad commentary on where we are in this country right now. Of course, people have the right to boo, as they've done with kneeling NFL players, but then maybe that comparison says something. There were both Chicago and North Carolina fans at the game, but in small numbers. Most of the fans were Thorns fans who came purely to support women's soccer. Like us, they didn't want to have an NWSL semi-final played in front of an empty house. I think the reported attendance was 4646 or something like that. I hope those NWSL fans who in the past have ragged on Portland recognize how many Portlanders came out simply to support women's soccer. From a Paulson tweet I saw, I gather the attendance meant the game was not played at a financial loss and has resulted in the NWSL making some money to support its efforts. But I repeat, I wish the game had been in NC with 10,000 of their fans going crazy.
I don't think he has the resources of Portland or North Carolina and has done pretty well. Also, getting to the postseason four straight years in this league is really saying something. I think Laura Harvey's brilliant, and she couldn't get a Utah team built on the core of a terrific Kansas City team into the playoffs. The Triangle is in the Bible Belt but not of the Bible Belt. It's just as welcoming as any other progressive area. Courage fans have to weigh their consciences, and it's not easy. I'm not sure I completely understand what you're referring to, but I may have a general idea. A whole bunch of women's soccer fans on Twitter are sanctimonious and judgmental. You can never be "woke" enough for them, and they'd rather do the Church Lady's Superiority Dance than actually work toward social progress. So the irony is that the Courage aren't cliquey, but the WoSo community tears itself asunder on a daily basis. For a lot of people (including some in the media), their idea of diversity is to exclude everyone who ever questions the gut, emotional response anyone has or the howling mob that rises after it.