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Everton 0-1 Chelsea Women, 3 standouts: Macario key as Blues punch ticket into FA Cup semifinals

For the fourth campaign running, Chelsea Women have reached the last four of the FA Cup. Similar to the last round, a second-half finish from a new Blue sent the west Londoners on their way.

By Caden Charpentier

Everton v Chelsea - Adobe Women's FA Cup Quarter Final
Everton v Chelsea - Adobe Women's FA Cup Quarter Final / Matt McNulty/GettyImages
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3 Standouts from Chelsea's third triumph over Everton this season

Erin Cuthbert, Catarina Macario, Aggie Beever-Jones
Everton v Chelsea - Adobe Women's FA Cup Quarter Final / Matt McNulty/GettyImages

3. Catarina Macario

The Chelsea men's team wishes it could find a player this efficient in the final third that donned the No. 9 kit.

We thought six minutes after coming onto the pitch was pretty good. Three minutes, well that sounds improbable. Until it's not. In just her second appearance since coming back in over 640 days, USWNT attacker Macario found the back of the net against an English opponent. She defines the words, "difference-maker", providing a spark to a side that needed it with a resilient home resistance on the other end.

Per Harry Edwards, the unofficial stat man of Chelsea Women, the Blues' new No. 9 is averaging four goals per 90 minutes. Her calm finish was top-class, but the movement to provide Beever-Jones with an option was incredibly clever. The success on the pitch is no surprise, but the fact that she is finding it so quickly upon returning is remarkable. Chelsea needs every bit of it with the injury list adding another player to it yesterday afternoon.

The Blues' manager had nothing but good things to say about the American star.

"She's such a good player, you can see that already," stated Hayes, "It was a really good bit of play from Aggie down the side. She found Cat in a good area and it was enough."

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