— It’s easy irony that the North Carolina Courage’s opponent tonight at WakeMed Soccer Park was “Sky Blue FC.” The twilight cloud cover was anything but, as the rain that cascaded down this afternoon managed to give way to an overcast canopy in time for the teams to make their appointed 7:30 kickoff.

The Courage avoided that most perennial of Carolina soccer traditions: the multi-hour lightning delay. Their luck continued into the match, as the Courage snapped their two-game losing ebb with a 2-0 victory over Sky Blue.

“Our energy coming in was a lot different,” said Courage manager Paul Riley. “We had to recenter ourselves this week and get back to the basics, get back to what we’re used to. I think we did a good job coming off two losses to play like ourselves and have a whole lot of fun.”

While the visitors rested couple of regulars, like Raquel Rodriguez and Samantha Kerr, between weekend matches, the Courage were looking to make amends for their 3-1 home loss last Sunday to the Chicago Red Stars.

“We looked at it and thought maybe give some players a rest like Jess and Kawamura,” Riley said. “We said nah, we’ve got to get these three points. We’re at home, let’s worry about Saturday on Saturday when we get there.”

After not leading a game since the Boston Breakers match over two weeks ago and netting just two goals over their past 438 minutes of play, North Carolina got back to their leading ways in the 20th minute. After knocking at the door to open the match. Lynn Williams received a feed from Taylor Smith outside the area, then maneuvered into space before uncorking a clinical finish from 20 yards out for the 1-0 lead.

The home side doubled their advantage 42nd minute. A Courage corner kick was headed by Jessica McDonald but parried away by Sky Blue goalkeeper Kailen Sheridan. The ball dropped to the boot of Sam Mewis, whose initial poke was also blocked by Sheridan. The rebound returned to Mewis, who finally netted the sitter for the 2-0 lead entering intermission.

“We worked a lot on set pieces this week,” Mewis said. “We know that’s something we can be really dangerous on. The ball was bouncing around and I shot it, it got blocked, it bounced back to me, and I just kicked it in.”

That’s all the Courage needed, with a few more second-half chances by Debinha and substitute Ashley Hatch left on the turf. North Carolina outshot Sky Blue 21-2 for the match and held the majority of possession, even as Sheridan made 11 saves in a loss.

“We were really surprised they dropped off,” Erceg said. “Most teams that play us are looking to press. I think that was really good for us to have a bit more composure and a bit more of the ball to get our confidence back. After giving up the six goals, that’s what we needed. So we’ve got to thank Sky Blue for that.”

The Courage supporters awarded their player of the match to Katelyn Rowland, who earned a clean sheet for her first start in goal this year. But Riley issued special commendation to Mewis, McCall Zerboni and Jaelene Hinkle, who he said controlled the midfield and carried the outcome.

“It was much more characteristic of us tonight,” Riley said. “The pressure was good in the first half; I think we had 13 shots in the first half. Lynn and Jessica did a great job up front closing them off, and Jae Hinkle was brilliant in the midfield.

“I don’t think it was a particularly exciting for the fans tonight. The second half kind of drifted away. But it was a good, professional performance for the players.”

Lurking in the Courage’ consciousness coming into this evening were the two consecutive 3-1 losses the team suffered after running out to four wins to open the NWSL season. Some of tonight’s turnaround was due to the return of defender and team captain Abby Erceg, who was sent off in the second half of the defeat at Orlando and missed last weekend’s home loss to Chicago with the requisite red card suspension.

“After letting in the six goals in two games, we really wanted to get back to basics and make sure defensively we were real tight,” Erceg said. “It was obviously really good for me to get back in there to play, so it was good to get the cohesion back again.”

“The field held the water unbelievably well; you wouldn’t even know it was raining,” Riley added, dabbling in hydrogeology. “It had just a little bit of slickness to it, and I think that slickness helped us tonight, too. It kept the tempo of the game up, especially in the midfield and forward areas. [Sky Blue] didn’t pressure high on us, so we were able to play out of the back and almost kill the game at our feet.”

The Courage (5-2-0, 15 pts.) remains atop the NWSL table. They travel to Bridgeview, Illinois this Saturday for a rematch against the Red Stars.

“We got a bit shaky after two losses,” Riley said. “I keep telling them to forget where we are in the table. Forget saying we have to win games. It’s not a big or important win for us. It’s just another game on the ladder. Now we have to go to Chicago and put in a good game plan and make it difficult for Chicago, because we made it very easy for them last weekend. I don’t think we’ll make it as easy for them this time.”

BOX SCORE

LINEUPS

NC: Rowland, Erceg, Dahlkemper, Kawamura, Hinkle (Witteman, 77’), Mewis, Zerboni, T. Smith (Doniak, 65’), Debinha, L. Williams, McDonald (Hatch, 70’)|

NJ: Sheridan, Pearce, Skroski Mills, Freeman, Killion, Stanton (Hayes, 73’), Corboz (Rodriguez, 65’), O'Hara, Galton, Meehan (Kerr, 55’)

GOALS

NC: L. Williams, 20’ (T. Smith); Mewis, 42’

NJ: ---

CAUTIONS

NC: Erceg, 27’

NJ: Killion, 47’; Stanton, 59’

EJECTIONS

NC: ---

NJ: ---

ATTENDANCE: 2,383