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\nCAROLINA ASCENT
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\nMeaghan Nally and her Carolina Ascent teammates will try to notch their second win of the season when they take on Brooklyn Saturday.
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\nCAROLINA ASCENT
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\nMeaghan Nally and her Carolina Ascent teammates will try to notch their second win of the season when they take on Brooklyn Saturday.
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<\/p>\n
The Ascent travel to New York to face Brooklyn FC at Maimonides Park, which is on Coney Island, an ironic homage to a roller coaster season so far. The match will be streamed on Peacock. Kickoff is 6 p.m.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s been an odd start to year two of the Gainbridge Super League. Five teams have won three matches, while three, including the Carolina Ascent, have won once. Only last season\u2019s tournament champions, Tampa Bay Sun, have yet to win a game.<\/p>\n
After seven matches, the Ascent (1-2-4) have moved up to sixth place, level on seven points with Brooklyn (1-3-4) but ahead on goal differential (minus-1 to minus-3). A win would move them into fifth place over Dallas.<\/p>\n
Only Lexington SC, which atop the table with 14 points (3-0-5) has yet to lose a game. They should have suffered that humility at home last Friday when a game that was given six minutes of added time went to eight, which allowed Addie McCain to score the equalizer at the 97-minute mark. Audrey Harding put the Ascent ahead 1-0 72 minutes into the match, and the visitors fought hard to defend that lead until a slow whistle denied them all three points and a second straight win.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s not an official stat, but if a seven-minute highlight package can be considered a barometer of a game, the match was dominated by Carolina. Of the eight offensive moments emphasized, six belonged to the Ascent.<\/p>\n
Carolina had the best opportunities to open the scoring with Harding shooting just wide left in the 29th minute and Rylee Baisden one-on-one with the keeper, Kat Asman, who came up with a big kick-save two minutes into the second half. Harding had another shot, a waist-high rebound strike off a corner kick from just behind the penalty spot, cleared off the line by a defender in the 51st minute.<\/p>\n
Riley Parker did get it into the net on a flicked header from Baisden in the 66th minute, but was ruled offside. The Super League does not have Video Assistant Referee capabilities.<\/p>\n
Signs of what is possible<\/p>\n
Harding\u2019s goal was reminiscent of the Ascent\u2019s collective chemistry last season. It started with a throw-in on the left side about ten yards into the Ascent half. Fourteen passes over 42 seconds later, with ten different players getting touches, the ball had moved forward, then back and across the defensive line, including goalkeeper Meagan McClelland, and up the right touchline, with one interruption by a Lexington player, before the home team failed to clear Mackenzie George\u2019s cross to the middle. Harding picked up the ball about 16 yards straight back from the left goalpost, took one touch towards the center, and laced the ball with a slight deflection inside the left post.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was great to get on the board for the team considering the chances we had,\u201d Harding said, \u201cand I had myself all game that should have gone in, so that was a relief to get one.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
That the one Ascent player on the pitch who wouldn\u2019t get a touch on a build-up like that was Mia Corbin might have been a fortuitous wager to make, though one no regular observer of this team would have conceived.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Time bandits<\/p>\n
The equalizer by Lexington would have hurt had it come earlier. That it came just over 30 seconds after the final whistle should have blown was particularly painful for Ascent players and fans.<\/p>\n
A lofted ball from the left was headed away by Jill Aguilera, but intercepted before crossing the endline, where a corner would have been awarded. Crossed back in from the right, McClelland tipped it away. Hannah Johnson\u2019s frantic shot from the left was way off target, but found the foot of Hannah White, who knocked it into the path of McCain, who tapped it past McClelland.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s obviously difficult coming away with one point instead of three and conceding in extra time,\u201d Baisden said. \u201cWe had a lot of opportunities to put the game away, but we are taking the positives from this game into next week. I\u2019m really proud of our group. We never back down from a fight, and we are ready to go again next week.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m really gutted for our players,\u201d said head coach Philip Poole. \u201cThey put their heart and soul into that performance. They did everything they were asked to do and ultimately fell short in the end. They executed the game plan really well. In that last minute, the ball falls the wrong way and we get punished for it.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWe dominated them the whole game and unfortunately, a weird goal happened for them,\u201d Harding added. \u201cWe just have to be better at closing the game, but I\u2019m super proud of us for how we played, and we take a step forward and look ahead to Brooklyn now.\u201d<\/p>\n
It\u2019s a Maddie world<\/p>\n
It didn\u2019t help that just before the team left for Kentucky,\u00a0 the Ascent announced that their top scorer, Maddie Mercado, was recalled from her loan by the NWSL Seattle Reign. To say she made an instant impact would be a massive understatement.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Forty-three seconds into her first match with last season\u2019s Players\u2019 Shield winners, Mercado knocked in the first goal of this season. She would score three more in her six total games. At the time of her departure, that was second most in the league.<\/p>\n
The Ascent had a league-leading 12 goals at the time. Her abilities will be missed. Mercado\u2019s 15 shots ranked third in the league, while her chances created landed her tied for sixth.
\u201cMaddie has been great for us,\u201d said Carolina Ascent Head Coach Philip Poole. \u201cFrom day one, she came in and embraced everything we asked of her. We wish her well as she returns to Seattle for their playoff push. Football is a small world, and I\u2019m sure our paths will cross again.\u201d<\/p>\n
George leads the team with three goals and is the most influential player on the attack with her ability to take a ball under pressure and turn past defenders with a burst of speed, which can create opportunities for herself and teammates.<\/p>\n
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