North Carolina Courage Pour In Four Second-Half Goals to Rout Chicago Stars 4-0

For 45 minutes on Saturday night in Cary, the North Carolina Courage looked like a team staring at a locked door. They had chances, they had the crowd, and they had nothing on the scoreboard.

Then someone found the key. Evelyn Ijeh headed in a goal two minutes after halftime, and the Courage poured in three more over the next 39 minutes to beat Chicago Stars FC 4-0 in front of 10,023 fans at WakeMed Soccer Park. Four different scorers, three players with a goal and an assist, and a second half that felt less like a soccer match and more like a highlight reel set on autoplay.

A First Half of Almosts

Nothing about the first half suggested a blowout. Chicago actually threatened first, with Jordyn Huitema forcing Kailen Sheridan into a save in the second minute. Ashley Sanchez answered a minute later with a shot that Alyssa Naeher pushed away.

The night changed shape for Chicago early. Play stopped for Naeher in the 16th minute, and five minutes later she was replaced because of an injury by Halle Mackiewicz. Chicago's recap noted it was Mackiewicz's first appearance of the season; she had played in four regular-season matches for the club in 2024.

North Carolina spent the rest of the half pressing on the new goalkeeper without much to show for it. Manaka Matsukubo sent one over from the left side of the six-yard box in the ninth minute. Dani Weatherholt headed just over in the 11th. Ijeh missed to the left in the 36th and had a header blocked two minutes later, and Natalia Staude headed over from close range in the 43rd.

Chicago was not exactly hiding, either. The Stars put up six first-half shots, per their own count, with Aaliyah Farmer heading high from close range off a corner and Ryan Gareis firing just over from distance. At halftime it was 0-0, and the most dramatic development was the goalkeeper change.

The Turning Point: Two Minutes After the Restart

Both coaches made a halftime move. North Carolina sent on Ally Schlegel for Chioma Okafor, and Chicago brought on Micayla Johnson for Jenna Bike.

It took the Courage two minutes to make the difference count. Sanchez swung a cross into the middle in the 47th minute, and Ijeh rose in the center of the box to head it into the bottom left corner. That goal was the crack in the dam, and everything after it came rushing through.

Chicago had its best response in the 53rd minute, when Kathrin Hendrich headed a ball toward the top of the net and Sheridan made the save. It was one of only three Chicago shots on target all night.

In the 61st minute, Ijeh returned the favor from the first goal, setting up Sanchez for a right-footed finish from the center of the box. Four minutes later, Matsukubo fed Schlegel, and the halftime substitute slotted her first shot of the night into the bottom left corner for a 3-0 lead.

The final blow came in the 86th minute. Off a corner, Shinomi Koyama found Matsukubo in the middle, and Matsukubo finished with her left foot into the bottom left corner. At that point Chicago's back line was just trying to get to the final whistle.

Star Power

Evelyn Ijeh: One goal, one assist and three shots before she came off in the 73rd minute. Her header broke the match open, and her pass to Sanchez widened the gap.

Ashley Sanchez: A goal and an assist, four shots, two on target. She was involved in both of the first two goals and kept Chicago's defense honest all night.

Manaka Matsukubo: A team-high six shots, plus a goal and an assist. She was the Courage's most persistent threat from the opening minutes, and her late finish was a deserved reward.

Ally Schlegel: One shot, one goal, 45 minutes off the bench. It does not get more efficient than that.

Kailen Sheridan: Three saves and a clean sheet. The early stop on Huitema and the one on Hendrich came at moments when Chicago could have changed the story.

One more name on the Chicago side: Mallory Swanson came on in the 76th minute. Chicago said it was her first appearance since a postseason match at Orlando on Nov. 8, 2024, which made for a bright moment on an otherwise rough night for the Stars.

Stats That Matter

• Shots: North Carolina 18, Chicago 13. On target: six to three.
• Finishing: The Courage scored four times on six shots on target.
• Possession: Nearly even, 51.7 percent to 48.3 for North Carolina. The difference was what each team did in the box.
• Tackling: Chicago won 16 tackles to North Carolina's 10, a sign the Stars competed hard in midfield even as the scoreline got away from them.

What It Means

North Carolina improves to 3-3-3 with 12 points and snaps a two-match losing streak, after falling to Kansas City at home and at Orlando in its previous two outings. It was also the Courage's first win since late April, and it came with the kind of collective scoring a team can build on.

The Courage travel to face Racing Louisville FC next Saturday.

Chicago falls to 2-0-8 with six points. The Stars have now lost four straight without scoring, to Gotham, Portland, Kansas City and North Carolina, and have been outscored 11-0 in that run. Ten matches into the season they have yet to record a draw, which is a strange stat until you realize how many of these games get away from them in a hurry.

The Stars finish their three-match road trip at Bay FC on May 24.

Final Whistle

The first half was a buffering wheel. The second half was the whole season dropping at once. North Carolina showed what happens when a team that has been creating chances for weeks finally gets the first one to go in: the rest come in bunches. Chicago, meanwhile, needs its first goal since April 25 before it can worry about anything else.

Stats from ESPN's match data. Additional match details from Chicago Stars FC.