Courage Crushes Houston in Opener, Honors Mewis
by Fran Stuchbury
March 18, 2024 - National Women's Soccer League (NWSL)
North Carolina Courage
North Carolina Courage Honor Sam Mewis
(North Carolina Courage, Credit: Fran Stuchbury)
The North Carolina Courage won its opening game of the 2024 National Women's Soccer League season with a 5-1 victory over the Houston Dash in front of 5,878 fans, a club record for home openers, at WakeMed Soccer Park on Saturday evening.
The Courage had possession of the ball 58 percent of the time. Newcomer Bianca St-Georges became the first player in the NWSL with a brace in her team debut since 2014.
"First half you could tell it was the first game for us, we just couldn't really get into a flow," said Courage Head Coach Sean Nahas. "They made it really difficult for us, going man-to-man in the middle and dropping players in certain spots. We told them what they needed to change at halftime and they did it. That's where the spaces were and had some different movements in the areas you want the players to pick up. The players performed it brilliantly, and to be fair they did it sort of naturally and our style started to kick in towards the middle part of that half towards the end, and we took hold of the game. Proud of the way they performed. It's always good to get a first result of the season."
The Courage scored first in the 19th minute on a penalty kick by defender Malia Berkley.
"I think I'm just thankful that I was able to step up and just place it," said Berkley. "We do penalty kicks in training, and it's just as easy as putting it where the keeper isn't. That's all you really needed to do. So I'm glad that it kind of got the ball rolling for us. It kind of settled us into the game and allowed us to really start playing."
Berkely has been with the Courage since the 2022 season. She led the NWSL in passing accuracy (89.8%) last season.
In the second half, the flood gates opened for North Carolina with four goals. The first came in the 55th minute by Haley Hopkins. Hopkins played at Virginia, and the Courage selected her in the first round, 11th overall, of the 2023 NWSL Draft.
The Dash cut their deficit to 2-1 in the 65th minute on an own goal with a cross from Dash forward Maria Sánchez that was deflected into the net by Courage player Kaleigh Kurtz.
The Courage then pulled away with two goals from St-Georges who came in as a sub and scored just two minutes later in the 76th and then again in the 86th minute.
St-Georges cited what led her to North Carolina: "The winning culture. In my mind, I'm a winner, but I can't do it by myself. I need people to come with me and we need to level up. There's no other place to me to be in a winning culture than Courage Country. It was obvious to me and I was lying to myself to convince me otherwise. So I knew I had to be here."
St-Georges played at West Virginia before being drafted by the Chicago Red Stars in the third round, 20th overall, in the 2019 NWSL Draft.
On January 8th she signed a two-year contract with North Carolina that also includes a mutual option for the 2026 season.
The final Courage goal came in the 99th minute by newcomer Dani Weatherholt.
She played with the Orlando Pride from 2016 until 2019, then OL Reign from 2020 until 2021. She joined Angel City FC in 2022 after being selected in the expansion draft. On January 16, 2024 the Courage signed her to a two-year contract.
After the game North Carolina inducted former player Sam Mewis into the newly-formed Courage Ring of Honor.
Mewis was a member of two Courage Championship teams in 2018 and 2019 as well as three NWSL Supporter Shields for finished with the best record in the league in 2017, 2018 and 2019. In 53 appearances with the Courage, Mewis scored 11 goals.
"When Sam announced her retirement, I contacted President and General Manager Curt Johnson and the club immediately said, 'We need to do this,' and they responded really quick and said we're doing it," said Nahas. "It's what she deserves, she never got a proper send off here for many reasons. The fact that we can bring her home and honor her the way we did, let her feel that applause from our fans and, yeah, it was emotional. Proud of her, what she's doing with her career and how she's handling herself. She's a massive reason why we're having the success is based on the foundation she created for us."
North Carolina's next game is on the road Friday evening against the Utah Royals. Their next home game is Saturday, March 30th, against defending NWSL champion NJ/NY Gotham at 7 pm est.
Images from this story
 North Carolina Courage Take on the Houston Dash (Fran Stuchbury) |
 North Carolina Courage Take on the Houston Dash (Fran Stuchbury) |
 North Carolina Courage Honor Sam Mewis (Fran Stuchbury) |
National Women's Soccer League Stories from March 18, 2024
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- Chicago Red Stars Appoint Kay Bradley as Chief Marketing Officer - Chicago Stars FC
- Courage Crushes Houston in Opener, Honors Mewis - OSC Original by Fran Stuchbury
- Courage Crushes Houston in Opener, Honors Mewis - OSC Original by Fran Stuchbury
- Courage Crushes Houston in Opener, Honors Mewis - OSC Original by Fran Stuchbury
- Seattle Reign FC Acquisition by Seattle Sounders and Carlyle Nears Completion - Seattle Reign FC
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