Evelyn Ijeh gets on the scoreboard
On Saturday, Evelyn Ijeh scored her first goal as a member of the North Carolina Courage. something something something
Yet when you look at the numbers, she’s already one of the highest producing forwards in the league.
Looking at American Soccer Analysis’ metrics, here is where she ranks on a per-96 minute basis in the entire league:
- Shot quality taken (expected goals): 4th¹
- Shot quality taken and assisted (expected goals + expected assists): 4th¹
- Overall goal creacting contributions (g+): 4th among strikers
How is she doing it? By getting in position to get great shots.
There are a few common ways that Ijeh’s had success.
Linking to start play and find teammates #
Between both dropping to connect play, and when operating inside the box, Ijeh utilizes her frame to redirect balls to teammates. Even if her first touch wasn’t the cleanest, she’s able to use her reach and both feet to link play.
Using superior movement to get herself open #
What’s clear from these examples is that Ijeh excels in making slight adjustments to her runs as she attacks the goal to get herself in an open position. When she drops deep to link it gives her extra opportunities to choose the run that will get her the best opportunity.
Using her body to pin defenders on headers #
Especially when attacking with her head, Ijeh has shown strength and craftiness to maximize opportunities. When the cross gives her the chance to prepare, she will both adjust her run for extra power, and utilize her strength to pin the opponent so she can’t be directly challenged.
Unselfish in the box #
When she is facing goal, she attacks for the shot. When she’s facing and moving away from the goal, she looks for (and finds) the open player for a better shot.
Let’s go through the games so far and dig out some examples of what Ijeh has been doing.
Gotham #
Ijeh’s first appearance for the Courage was as a second-half sub against Gotham. In that appearance she nearly sealed a victory.
She makes herself available for the pass, and deadens it for Ashley Sanchez. As Sanchez brings the ball is worked to the wing, she drifts behind the first center back into space. When Williams prepares the cross, she sees Ann-Katrin Berger playing very aggressively on the near post. With a wide open goal, she drifts off the back of the second defender.
She just can’t quite meet the ball at the right height, and her header goes over. But her movement got her open against a very good defensive team for a high-quality chance.
Bay #
In her next game, Ijeh got the start. Late in the first half, the Courage press allowed Ryan Williams to pounce and intercept a pass. Ijeh calls for the ball immediately – she is wide open, and I wonder what would have happened if Williams would have been able to hit a first time-cross.
Williams takes a touch ahead to set up the cross. Ijeh takes up a position where she can pin the defender on her shoulder so she can attack the ball. However, the cross is just slightly behind and she can’t strongly direct it on frame.
Portland #
Against Portland Ijeh had a short cameo, coming on in the 80th minute. Still, she had two notable moments.
First, she again dropped to receive. Despite popping the ball up under pressure, she retrieved it and was able to play it wide to Ashley Sanchez to continue the attack.
Later, she was the first to pounce on a deflected Sanchez pass in the box. She was able to win the ball, and then leave it for a Sanchez curler that narrowly missed the far post.
Houston #
Ijeh started against Houston and again showed good instincts in the box. Early in the game, a pass to her was deflected, but she was first to react to the ball, was able to body off the defender, and get off a good shot that was saved.
A few minutes later she was able to corral a looping pass wide of her body, and drop it to Manaka, whose shot was blocked. Rather than small movements in tight spaces, she works to use her full reach to play the ball.
Boston #
Limited video due to NWSL+ not having the replay of this game for whatever reason, but Ijeh helped start the comeback. On a high arcing corner, she was able to move into position and wall off the defender to win the header. The deflection fell to Uno, whose shot was saved right into the path of Weatherholt to score NC’s first.
Kansas City #
Against Kansas City, Ijeh came on in the second half as the Courage were chasing the game.
In the 77th minute, she again dropped to receive the ball. Despite a slightly heavy first touch, she was still able to control it to Manaka. Her reception allowed her to lose her defensive marker, and as she attacked the back line Ijeh was able to drift away from the midfielder watching her. As the cross came in, Ijeh both holds up her run and uses her arm to fend off the defender. This allows her to attack the header with power. Lorena ends up making an excellent reaction save.
She created another good chance in the 81st minute with movement. When Ryan Williams gets the ball wide, Ijeh starts to drift to the back of her defender. When Williams prepares to cross it in, Ijeh makes a sudden movement to cut in front of her defender on a near post run. This gets her open, but she ends up just a tiny bit ahead of the ball, and she is unable to get good contact on the shot.
Her next work leads directly to a goal. As Riley Jackson picks up the ball, Ijeh makes a swim move to duck behind her marker towards the througball. As soon as she sees Williams have a better angle to it, she pivots back to the inside. She is free for a high quality, first-time shot. While Lorena makes the saves, it eventually deflects to Manaka to bundle it over.
She then both has a chance of her own and creates another one. Again, dropping to recieve, she directs the ball to Jackson. She then immediately loses both the midfielder that stepped to her drop, and the defender that was originally marking her. Her header is deflected, but as the ball bounces back to her in the box, she drops it for a better Manaka shot, which unfortunately is deflected wide.
Chicago #
Finally, against Chicago Ijeh got onto the scoreboard with both a goal and an assist.
Before that, she did something that’s been missing from the Courage attack; getting in behind. By first drifting away from her marker, and then timing her run, she’s able to break the offside trap to get to a lofted, bouncing ball. She attempts to first-time chip the keeper, but Halle Mackiewicz is able to get just enough of the ball to slow it, and the defender clears it away.
In the second half, Ijeh starts the Courage scoring bonanza. Again, as the play develops, she drifts between defenders to gain space. Again, as the cross is prepared she cuts across the defender to make a near post run. She times her run to attack the ball, wards off the defender with an arm, and is able to beat the keeper with a clean header for her first NWSL goal.
Less than fifteen minutes later Ijeh helps create the second goal. She splits the defenders during the build, giving herself plenty of space. Manaka finds her with a first-time pass that Ijeh chests forwards, and then controls around the defender. As she moves to pick it up, she sees Ashley Sanchez running in with a better angle on goal and leaves it for her to take a touch before finishing.
Going forwards #
Ijeh has been tremendously productive in terms of getting good shots and combining in the box, and it shows up in her statistical profile.
However, you’ll note that getting and creating scoring chances is the only thing showing up in her profile. She’s not been an outlet like Banda or Chawinga who will take the ball 40 yards from goal and drive at opponents. She’s not been a huge part of the Courage’s ball progression and doesn’t get that many touches on the ball. She’s not as active defensively, and when she is, she’s been a bit foul prone (as shown with her two yellow cards).
Because of that, it does mean that while she’s shown she can get open in good positions, her production is dependent on her teammates being able to get her the ball once she’s there. This is borne out in her results against the better defensive teams; one good chance against Gotham, not much against Orlando. It also means that if the Courage have injury issues to their better crossers such as Ashley Sanchez and Ryan Williams, we may see a drop-off.
But the goal of the #9 is to get chances and score goals; if she’s going to excel in one area of forward play, that’s the one. Courage fans should be excited about what the future will hold, given what Ijeh has done after just eight matches at this level of competition. Last weekend against Chicago was Ijeh’s first time hitting the back of the net. It won’t be her last.