North Carolina Courage

NC courage
Basic data
Surname	North Carolina Courage
Seat	Cary , North Carolina
founding	2017
owner	Steve Malik
president	Curt Johnson
Website	nccourage.com
First soccer team
Head coach	Paul Riley
Venue	WakeMed Soccer Park
Places	10,000
league	National Women's Soccer League
2019	Reg. Season : 1st place play-offs: Winner
home Away

North Carolina Courage is a women 's soccer franchise based in Cary , North Carolina and has played in the National Women's Soccer League , the top division in women's soccer in the United States, since the 2017 season .

history

At the turn of the year 2016/17, Steve Malik, owner of North Carolina FC , acquired the playing rights of the NWSL participant and reigning champions Western New York Flash and founded the North Carolina Courage . The name, as well as parts of the logo, are based on the former women's soccer franchise Carolina Courage , which competed in the WUSA from 2001 to 2003 and played its home games in Cary.

In addition to the actual playing rights, the previous team of Flash players and part of the supervisory staff were also taken over.

The first season of 2017 was very successful: the team finished the regular season as the best team with 16 wins from 24 games and thus won the NWSL Shield . In the play-offs, the team won the semi-finals over the Chicago Red Stars, but lost 1-0 to Portland Thorns FC in the final.

In the 2018 season, North Carolina was able to secure the NWSL Shield as the best team of the regular season with 17 wins in 24 games . In the play-offs, the team first won against Chicago and was able to prevail in the new edition of the previous year's final against Portland 3-0 and won the first championship title.

In the 2019 season , the franchise secured the NWSL Shield for the third time in a row . In addition, wins over Reign FC and the Chicago Red Stars in the play-offs , which the team was able to secure the second championship in a row.

Stadion

• WakeMed Soccer Park ; Cary (since 2017)

The North Carolina Courage and North Carolina FC play their home games at WakeMed Soccer Park in Cary, North Carolina. It has a capacity of 10,000 spectators. WUSA participant Carolina Courage played in this stadium from 2002 to 2003 .

Trainer

• since 2017: Paul Riley

Players

Current squad

As of October 29, 2019

No. position Surname 0 TW Katelyn Rowland 1 TW Stephanie Labbé 3 FROM Kaleigh Kurtz 2 ST McKenzie Meehan 5 MF Samantha Mewis 6th FROM Abby Erceg 7th MF McCall Zerboni 8th MF Denise O'Sullivan 9 ST Lynn Williams 10 MF Debinha 11 FROM Merritt Mathias 12 ST Leah Pruitt 13 FROM Abby Dahlkemper

No. position Surname 14th ST Jessica McDonald 15th FROM Jaelene Hinkle 16 MF Julia Spetsmark 17th MF Heather O'Reilly 19th ST Crystal Dunn 20th FROM Ryan Williams 21st FROM Cari Roccaro 23 ST Kristen Hamilton 25th MF Meredith Bacon 26th FROM Hailey Harbison 26th MF Lauren Milliet 37 TW Samantha Leshnak

Coaching staff

Trainer Paul Riley (2017)

• Paul Riley (Trainer)
• Scott Vallow (Assistant Trainer)
• Sean Nahas (Assistant Trainer)
• Nathan Thackeray (Co- and Goalkeeping Coach)
• Bill Paladino (Assistant Trainer)

successes

• American champion 2018 , 2019
• NWSL Shield 2017 , 2018 , 2019

Season statistics

year	league	Regular season	Play-offs	Average audience 1	Most successful goalscorer 1
2017	NWSL	1st place	final	4,389	Lynn Williams (9)
2018	NWSL	1st place	winner	5,129	Lynn Williams (14)
2019	NWSL	1st place	winner	5,875	Lynn Williams (12)

¹ Regular season only

Web links

• official website

Individual evidence

1. ↑ 2019 Season Roster. In: nccourage.com. Retrieved October 29, 2019 .