Courage v Bay quick dive - defensive mishaps
Last week versus Gotham, Sydney Schmidt became the youngest player ever to suit up for the North Carolina Courage, breaking the mark set by Riley Jackson in 2024.
This week, she became the youngest player ever to start a match for the Courage. But just forty minutes later, she was pulled off in the ultra-rare non-injury first half substitution, as NC was at that point down 3-0 to Bay FC.
Let’s dig in and see what went wrong.
Goal #1: Alex Pfeiffer (20') #
Alex Pfeiffer with the powerful left footer to slip it between the keeper and the post 😱
— NWSL (@nwslsoccer.com) March 28, 2026 at 7:41 PM
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Of the goals that happened, this one is probably the one that Schmidt most wants to forget.
The ball is poked away from Shinomi just past midfield. Bay manages to ping it around midfield, and then lays it off to former Courage player Sydney Collins as she charges up from defense.
Entering the final third, Collins plays it wide to Alex Pfeiffer. While Schmidt has dropped back to keep a defensive line, she has taken a position oddly close to Maycee Bell, leaving Pfeiffer in acres of space.
By the time Schmidt catches up, Pfeiffer is already at the edge of the box. Pfeiffer is able to wrong-foot Schmidt and cut inside.
Maycee Bell leaves a runner to shuffle in front, but Pfeiffer is able to take an early left-footed shot that beats Kailen Sheridan at the near post.
From a positioning standpoint, the reverse angle shows the initial issue - Schmidt drops straight back to the defensive line, not tracking the run of Pfeiffer to the outside.
Pfeiffer’s first goal of the season involved a cut to the inside to finish far post. In any case, getting beat sometimes happens.
Goal #2: Keira Barry (31') #
Keira Barry scores her first NWSL goal in her first start for @bayfc.com 🏴
— NWSL (@nwslsoccer.com) March 28, 2026 at 7:56 PM
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The Courage turn Bay over, and the defenders work the ball around the back to start their buildup. Maycee Bell plays the ball wide to Schmidt, who takes a heavy touch under pressure as she’s closed down from behind by Sydney Collins.
But note when the pass is played: Schmidt has five Courage players behind her on the pitch.
Even if Collins was able to poke it away from Schmidt, there should be enough defensive cover to stop the attack. Instead, three touches puts the ball in the back of the net.
First, note directly after the turnover - Talia Staude, in the center of the pitch, is at least five yards deeper than any other defender.
While Staude’s position may be part of the buildout, what it means is that Bay is free to immediately turn and run in behind. Girelli is first to react, getting her away from Carly Wickenheiser as Maycee Bell shifts to Pfeiffer.
As Girelli is now freely running at goal, Staude must rush over to cover, abandoning the middle of the field.
Staude cuts off Girelli’s ability to cut inside, but not the passing angle.
With Staude out of the middle, it is left to Riley Jackson centrally and Uno Shiragaki from outside to try and catch Barry to affect the shot. Neither gets there.
While the play started with a turnover from Schmidt, unfortunate positioning and slow reactions led to the wide open shot.
Goal #3: Dorian Bailey (35') #
AIR DORIAN ✈️
Goal scorer Alex Pfeiffer finds Dorian Bailey in the air to put up @bayfc.com 3-0!
— NWSL (@nwslsoccer.com) March 28, 2026 at 7:56 PM
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After a foul on the Courage, Bay has a restart in their own half. Aldana Cornetti bypasses the midfield to play the ball into Girelli, who is backing into Maycee Bell.
Alex Pfeiffer, who initially dropped deep as if to receive the pass, immediately turns to run off of Girelli.
Schmidt leaves her marking of Collins to chase, and Jackson turns from midfield, but both are too late and are beaten for pace. As Bell was on the back of Girelli, she also cannot turn fast enough to cut off Pfeiffer.
Pfeiffer takes one touch ahead before lofting in a cross. The Courage did have three people bracketing Dorian Bailey, so in theory they will able to defend the sh… well, no.
Wickenheiser follows towards Pfeiffer, Staude never checks her shoulders behind her, and Uno cannot get there from behind.
In eight seconds from a free kick in Bay’s own half, the Courage have given up a goal on a wide open shot. That shouldn’t happen.
The aftermath #
At that point, the Courage are down three. Mak Lind looks for a way to get more attacking and also likely to shake up the team’s mentality on the pitch. Sydney Schmidt is subbed off, Manaka comes in, the Courage switch to four at the back, and Maycee Bell slides out wide.
Schmidt was obviously not happy after being subbed off after only 40 minutes in her first start. First Lind, and then Hannah Betfort, took the time to talk to her.
Hannah Betfort spent a good 10 minutes encouraging and supporting Sydney Schmidt after she got subbed off.
#nwsl #woso
— It's me, Brian! (@qebrian.bsky.social) March 28, 2026 at 8:12 PM
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It’s not clear what was said, but I’d suspect the discussion was that while Schmidt was the the one sacrificed, she was not the sole problem in that fateful fifteen minute period where the Courage gave up three goals.
Across all three goals, the same things stood out.
Unclear positioning #
Whether it’s Schmidt dropping right next to Bell, or Staude lagging the defensive line and having to rush over to cover space, or multiple people bracketing a runner without any of them getting tight, the Courage seemed to not always be on the same page as to where they were supposed to be starting from in defense.
Slow reactions #
In every goal, Bay was first to react to the situation, giving them key time to move before a Courage player started to recover.
Lack of recovery speed #
The slow reactions became fatal, as none of the Courage defenders & midfielders were quick enough to recover when chasing backwards against Pfeiffer, Barry, and Bailey.
Excellent execution from Bay #
The final cross was right to Bailey’s head. And while the three shots only totaled 0.43 xG, they totaled 1.74 post-shot xG. Tip your cap, they finished well.
An end to the five-back experiment? #
While the Courage can only do so much about opponent finishing, they’ll need to account for the rest.
One way to do this could be to go back to a four-back system.
Some of the same spatial confusion was on display when the five-back first rolled out against Gotham; it just didn’t amount to much because Gotham appears to have an allergy to actually attacking.
By reverting to their normal 4-2-3-1, the Courage move back to a system that everyone has had more time and experience positioning themselves in.
Being more confident and practiced in their system also can help solve their slow reactions; the more comfortable you are, the more you’re able to read and react without thinking. Unless there is a sudden infusion of speed on the team, they’ll need that clarity.
They can also keep a more persistent defensive line during buildout; if they want a middle-of-the field fulcrum, they can do so by having Riley Jackson drop between split center backs rather than having a third centerback drop centrally.
We’ll see this weekend whether Lind returns to his 4-2-3-1 in an attempt to get the team back on track. Meanwhile, as long as Feli Rauch appears to be on some sort of fitness or minutes restriction, Schmidt will be needed. She’ll likely have a chance to put this sub in the rear view mirror very soon.