Gianna Paul

So I think we should just start there and then we can dig into the playoff recap.

and one final thing to mention we have an interview this week with gianna paul the new forward for the courage so we're very very excited about that we had a great conversation keeping in line with all the other courage players we've interviewed this year she's very open she's very engaging it's definitely worth a listen so that'll be later in the episode okay playoff picture here's what i decided katie because we were in an audio format i'm gonna keep it simple There are many scenarios and paths forward for The Courage, but I think keeping it simple since people are listening is easiest.

And then in the newsletter, we will detail a couple other scenarios.

So for folks who subscribe to that, you can find that in yesterday's newsletter.

Ali Schlegel gets injured.

Lauren Thompson's dealing with an ankle injury.

And so we have Gianna Paul, who's been looking great, and Bia Gomes over there, both of whom saw minutes in this.

But their relative limited experience is showing, right? Because they haven't had a lot of minutes with this team.

It's moving numbers on a spreadsheet.

But we got another young player, somebody that this team, like Gianna Paul, looked at, had their eyes on when they were coming out of college, didn't get, but always kept an eye on, had an opportunity to get and went out and got.

So they obviously see something in-

Yeah

Yeah.

Just, yeah.

I said like, like Gianna Paul.

Yeah.

to create some separation and a win over Seattle.

And I know former Kansas City current player Gianna Paul with the game winner in that one.

So those are the two big results that I was keeping an eye on.

And North Carolina to have Ashley Sanchez score 20 goals and not make the postseason would be absolutely shocking.

It looks to me like the pass is intended for Jackson, but Jackson gets kind of hamstrung by two defenders.

And Gianna Paul lines up right behind Jackson, right where she needs to be at the top of the box, ready to be the second person in that line, and she gets the shot off.

It gets deflected.

It takes this kind of weird wobbly sailing arc over Claudia Dickie, but it is a goal.

And I think that's what they did is they just turned the brain off, and they just played soccer.

With this goal, everybody was involved in multiple different phases of it.

But what I really liked is watching Gianna Paul run in and stop her run because she saw Jackson making the same run.

And we don't have a lot of players crash the box very often.

So not only do you get experience back there, you get leadership back there when, when she has the armband on.

And we, we talked about it as well previously with this team, Gianna Paul was a steal.

Getting her-

Oh, yeah

I mean, from the first practical seconds of the game, she was... or minutes at least, she was hitting the crossbar and, and getting involved, and then she ultimately got the goal.

So I mean, good on them to get a player who's not only hungry, but in good enough shape and has the talent to really jump in this late and make a difference immediately.

And it was the perfect trade because as we can see, Kansas City really doesn't need Gianna Paul at this point.

Right.

But yes, it's like if you know you can't score, then at least defend like freaking animal monsters.

And I think, you know, leaving Gianna Paul wide open in the box, it, it's just, it...

Seattle has a hard time scoring.

So then, okay, tie your last four games, get four points, something to climb up that ladder, and you just do that by being defensively locked in.

It just felt, I mean, that ball was so perfectly passed.

And of course, Gianna Paul uses her speed and out-hustles the defender, and with that hustle she was also losing the ball, but didn't matter.

She got clipped.

Just a straight hustle play by both of them, by both Riley and Gianna.

Moving into next year gives a little bit of roster flexibility.

But, I mean, from what we've seen so far, I guess it's moving forward.

It seems to be, appears to be Gianna Paul's position to lose.

Max put a lot of faith in her early.

I also nearly forgot to mention, we did get a chance to talk to Riley Jackson after the match, and I was very curious about how things were going with Erica Mig Parkinson, because she's had pretty limited minutes with her.

Now she has Gianna Paul also to connect with on that right side, which is so critical, as we know, for the Courage.

So I did ask her, like, what's the plan for these [chuckles] last four matches to make sure those connections are happening.

Here's what she had to say.

It's just a matter of timing at this point.

And yeah, I, I...

even if we're gonna talk about the penalty that leads to the goal, that pass from Ryan Williams was such a beautiful pass 'cause it had this arc sort of out and almost, like, bending on the ground to the right to land right at Gianna Paul's feet.

And then Paul does this incredible touch to redirect it back towards the box.