Catarina Macario, who replaced another player in the second half, scored a goal three minutes after coming on, securing Chelsea’s place in the FA Cup semi-finals with a 1-0 win against Everton at Walton Hall Park.
Despite her ongoing recovery from an anterior cruciate ligament problem, the American player joined the Blues last summer. However, she made a strong initial impact by scoring on her maiden appearance in the Women’s Super League win against Leicester last week.
Emma Hayes implemented six alterations to the lineup following Chelsea’s triumph over Manchester City in the Conti Cup semi-final. However, Chelsea was unable to score a goal in the cautious first half, with their best chance being a header by Nathalie Bjorn that struck the crossbar. Unfortunately, Bjorn sustained an injury and was substituted by Niamh Charles in the 14th minute.
Kathrine Kuhl of the Toffees created opportunities, with a powerful shot that required Zecira Musovic to make a commendable save. However, the Toffees were unable to capitalize on a sequence of set-pieces.
Chelsea missed a great opportunity to score before halftime as Jelena Cankovic shot wide from a favorable position after Johanna Kaneryd set up the Serbian player.
Macario, one of the four replacements made by Chelsea in the second half, scored the first goal in the 66th minute by cleanly striking the ball into the net after receiving a pass from Aggie Beever-Jones.
Katja Snoeijs came very close to equalizing the score, but Chelsea managed to hold on, keeping their prospects of achieving a quadruple alive. Arsenal is the only other English team to have accomplished this feat, doing so in 2007. Chelsea, the current leaders in the WSL, will discover their opponents for the FA Cup semi-final in the draw on Tuesday morning. They will be facing Ajax in the quarter-finals of the Champions League later this month, followed by a match against Arsenal for the Conti Cup on March 31.
In the second match of the day, Tottenham and Manchester City played to a 1-1 tie, and Tottenham advanced to the next round after winning in a penalty shootout.
