— A nearly two-hour weather delay pushed kickoff of Wednesday’s match between the NWSL-leading North Carolina Courage and visiting Chicago Red Stars until the wee hours of Independence Day. Indeed, the postgame fireworks were moved to halftime to accommodate kids and families who didn't feel like waiting until nearly 11 p.m. for their fix of fire in the Cary sky.

Those who stuck around were also treated to another emphatic victory by the Courage, 4-1 over Chicago. It’s the third consecutive match in which North Carolina has scored three or more goals, allowing a total of just two goals over that span.

“Great support tonight,” manager Paul Riley said. “Thanks to the fans for coming out tonight. July 4th at 11 o’clock, and we still out on the field. You gotta thank them—they were awesome tonight.”

Despite playing three days ago, the Red Stars came out looking to play the Courage toe-to-toe and nearly clipped a couple of early goals, the result of a steady diet of long balls forward to striker Sam Kerr. Kerr got in behind the Courage back line in the 9th minute, but she skimmed her open shot off the crossbar. Kerr got in behind again in the 16th minute, but her shot attempt was deflected wide.

Riley quickly saw that adjustments need to be made to combat Kerr and her Red Stars enablers.

“Rosie White was causing the problems,” Riley diagnosed. “So we dealt with Rosie White first of all. We talked to Jae Hinkle and Merritt [Mathias] about tucking in on the outside of their two 10s, and allowing McCall [Zerboni] or O’Sullivan to mark Rosie White on the weak side. That enabled Abby [Dahlkemper] and Kiwi [Abby Erceg] to come closer together, and once they did that [Kerr] didn’t have as much room.

“I said to the back line, we need to shape up a little bit,” Riley continued. “I think Abby and Kiwi got a grip on [Kerr], and once we got a grip on her that was really it. We didn’t really give too much away after that.”

Meanwhile, North Carolina’s Crystal Dunn had seen enough and found her seventh goal of the season in the 16th minute. Jessica McDonald centered the ball to Dunn, who did the rest, driving direct before finding space 19 yards out and finishing into the lower right corner for a 1-0 Courage lead that held until halftime.

Dunn’s goal moves her into a tie with Portland’s Christine Sinclair for the most in the NWSL this year.

“Jess McDonald made a good tackle, the ball went through the defender’s legs, and I ran onto the ball,” Dunn said. “I remember Lynn [Williams] and Debinha peeled out, leaving a lot of space for me to continue taking the ball in. I just took a chance and shot it.”

“We can’t make the mistake we made there against this team and where they want to trap, and we knew that,” groused Red Stars manager Rory Dames. “We made the mistake, and we deserved to get punished for it. If we’re going to turn the ball over there trying to get cute against this team, we’re going to get scored on.”

The Courage broke the match open in the second stanza. In the 67th minute, Debinha played a pass ahead to Merritt Mathias overlapping down the right wing. Mathias delivered a cross that bounded to Williams, who fired her shot off the underside of the crossbar and across the goal line.

Two minutes later, Sam Mewis, who came on just a minute earlier, took possession and charged across the midline before delivering a left-footed, seeing-eye through ball ahead to an onside Debinha. The Brazilian poked her shot past Chicago goalkeeper Alyssa Naeher to extend the lead to 3-0.

“What a goal by Debinha, whoa,” Riley gushed. “My god, that was a special goal. It was a great pass from Sammy; I think it was her first pass of the game, right in the slot.”

The loudest ovation of the evening was reserved for the 75th minute, when Heather O’Reilly made her return to the NWSL, coming on for Debinha. After the match, O’Reilly’s codeword for the occasion was “special.”

“It’s so much fun to be home,” O’Reilly said. “Great crowd, and I love that people stuck around even through the weather. It’s really special for me to be back. This is a special field for me: I won the [NCAA] national championship here in 2006. Tonight was an unbelievable win. This team is special, the coach is special, the group is special.”

The Courage made is four for the fourth in the 87th minute off a bit of a broken play against a gassed Red Stars defense. Williams accepted service atop the box, chipped the ball over the Chicago back line, and then caught up to the loose ball along the end line before Naeher could reach it. Williams sailed a cross into the goalmouth that second-half substitute Kristen Hamilton obligingly nodded home.

Chicago got their lone goal back in the final moments of added time, when Abby Dahlkemper was whistled for a tripping penalty. Yuki Nagasato converted her kick from the spot to account for the final 4-1 scoreline.

When Chicago last visited North Carolina in May, the match came during a bit of schedule congestion for Chicago. Dames said then that was looked forward to facing the Courage with a fresh squad. It was a wish that wasn’t granted Wednesday, as Chicago was coming off a Sunday home win, en route to a road match this Saturday at Sky Blue.

“The schedule we have this week is a little unfair to [my] players, but you gotta deal with what it is,” Dames said. “If you’re going to make us play on Sunday, at least let us play at home on Wednesday. But, we played Sunday, we recovered Monday, we traveled Tuesday, and we played today. So we haven’t touched the ball since we played Sunday. [The Courage] played Saturday, got the extra day and got to play at home.”

That said, Dames acknowledged after the match that given the schedule and squad rotation, Wednesday’s result was almost a fait accompli, with his focus more on the road trip to New Jersey on Saturday.

“In the first half we were able to play through the midfield more, and in the second half we got pushed,” Dames said. “Morgan [Brian] and Vanessa [DiBernardo] were always going to hit walls between 50-55 minutes, fitness-wise. So, as soon as we made the decision to start Vanessa, Morgan, and Rosie [White], knowing they’d have to come off, it wasn’t a game that we were necessarily chasing the win all-out. We could have gotten ahead, and if we had chances we would have taken it. But we used the game to get some fitness for some players, we got Brooke [Elby] a full 90 minutes to get her going, and we were able to hold some players off for Saturday.”

The Courage (12-3-1, 39 pts.) pushed their lead atop the NWSL table to a whopping 16 points. Wednesday was just North Carolina’s second home match since early May, but the Courage stay in Cary next Wednesday, July 11 to host the Washington Spirit before returning to the road for two straight.

In the meantime, the Courage are flying high, and they just added another happy, high-profile passenger for the ride.

“When North Carolina Courage announced they were going to have a team last year, it was right as I was deciding to go to Arsenal,” O’Reilly said. “I knew that was opportunity I couldn’t pass up, but I knew in my heart that I would be back here. I feel real privileged to be here.”

BOX SCORE

LINEUPS

NC: Rowland, Hinkle, Erceg, Dahlkemper, Mathias, Debinha (O’Reilly, 75’), Zerboni, O'Sullivan, Dunn (Mewis 68’), McDonald (Hamilton, 79’), L. Williams

CHI: Naeher, Elby, Gorden, Naughton, Gilliland, Brian (Stanton, 68’), DiBernardo (Green, 74’), Ertz, Colaprico, White (Nagasato, 60’), Kerr

GOALS

NC: Dunn, 20’ (McDonald); L. Williams, 67’ (Mathias); Debinha, 69’ (Mewis); Hamilton, 87’ (L. Williams)

CHI: Nagasato, 90+3’ (PK)

CAUTIONS

NC: ---

CHI: Ertz, 32’

EJECTIONS

NC: ---

CHI: ---

ATTENDANCE: 5,295