There are moments in sports that make all the hard work worth it and for Olivia Wingate, Saturday night’s late equalizer against Angel City was one of those moments.
Wingate was sidelined for much of the early part of the 2024 NWSL regular season with an injury, delaying the start of what has looked like a strong sophomore season jump for the second-year player out of Notre Dame. In just 246 minutes, Wingate has two goals and two assists, playing a key role as a late-game impact player off the bench.
Despite the difficulties presented by her injury, Wingate credits the closeness of this Courage roster for helping her get back on the field.
“It was hard at times for sure, because I couldn’t really see a finish line but having this great group of girls around me, being present at practice, trying to remain connected to the team. Our group does a great job of making players who are sidelined with injuries feel like they are still a part of this team,” Wingate said following the game.
Coming off the bench in the 89’, Wingate and the Courage had a tough task to keep the unbeaten streak at home alive after Christen Press, scoring her own storyline goal, put Angel City up 0-1 in stoppage time. The Courage, however, bucked the narrative for a USWNT great with their own story to tell for a second time this season.
“We didn’t put our heads down. We got right back into the game. We didn’t give up. People kept making runs, kept making tackles, just like it was 0-0,” Wingate said.
The 2024 Courage are a team without quit and Head Coach Sean Nahas was pleased with his team’s response to the late adversity.
“I was really proud of the group for their response that they had. I thought it was brilliant,” Nahas said.
Substitutes like Wingate have been a major part of that no-quit attitude for the Courage, with no team benefiting from their substitutes than the Courage this season with 10 goals coming from players off the bench.
Nahas has preached to the group the importance of taking your moments, whether you’re starting or coming in with just a minute to go before stoppage time.
“We always tell our players, ‘When you go in, it only takes one moment.’ If you get five minutes of time, make the most of it,” Nahas said.
That message has been felt by the group and has contributed to the culture of the team.
“Our bench and our culture is amazing. We root for the players that are on the field at all times and then you’re ready when your name is called. It is our job as players on the bench to remain ready and focused. When your name is called, you make the most of your opportunities. Our team does a fantastic job of that,” Wingate said.
It isn’t just the players who enter the game who can make that impact. A week earlier, it was a player who didn’t come into the game that gave the best insight into the Courage’s crucial culture.
Against San Diego, a late goal from the Wave forced Nahas to bring in Haley Hopkins over Meredith Speck, who had been slated to enter the game.
“We put Haley on for set piece dynamics and Merry was the biggest cheerleader and supporter. She understood it. That is what our team is made up of. That is important. It is not about one or two players, it is about us. That goes to show the collective that we are and the leader that Merry is and why she is such an important piece of our puzzle. She could have sat and sulked, but she did the complete opposite. Those are the types of players we want here in our club,” Nahas said following the team’s win over San Diego.
In the home stretch of the season and in the playoffs where it is win or go home, it isn’t just the starters who make the biggest impacts, it can often be the players subbed in late, or even those who don’t enter the game at all.
“It is individual efforts for collective rewards. The one final thing I had on my pregame notes was: take care of your individual responsibilities and collectively we will have success. So many people are so worried about the individual accolades. Social media talks about the individual accolades, but that is tennis. That is golf. That is not football. Players that earn individual honors, that is fantastic. But we still have to get back to the collective. We have 26 plus players that are unbelievable here and that is what it is about,” Nahas said.
Every moment matters and every player on the roster contributes to every one of those moments, especially in crunch time.
