Courage Drop Regular Season Finale, Prep for Playoffs
by Fran Stuchbury
November 4, 2024 - National Women's Soccer League (NWSL)
North Carolina Courage
North Carolina Courage vs. the Washington Spirit
(North Carolina Courage, Credit: Fran Stuchbury)
Having already secured the fifth seed in the National Women's Soccer League playoffs, the North Carolina Courage saw their 21-game streak at home without a loss snapped in a 1-0 setback to the Washington Spirt in front of a sold out crowd of 10,026 fans at WakeMed Soccer Park Saturday evening. The Courage will play at the four-seed Kansas City Current on Saturday at noon est. on CBS. With the victory the Spirit capture the second spot and will host the seventh seed Bay FC on Sunday at 12:30 pm est. on ABC.
"Tough loss... I didn't think we were ourselves in the first half," said Courage Head Coach Sean Nahas. "We talked to them about the transition moments; that was where we would be punished if we don't take care of the ball. That's exactly how the scored. But in the second half we had a really positive response. I thought we were really good in the second half; we just couldn't find the back. We had a couple of key chances. It's been a great year from a regular season standpoint. With a roster that was sort of in and out, we didn't have a consistent roster with injuries and things of that nature. Proud of the group; I thought the overall response of the group was positive."
"I think we had a good second half," said North Carolina forward Ashley Sanchez. "I think the first half we started off a little bit slow and we went down and it was kind of hard to dig us out, but I think overall we're proud of how we performed in the second half."
The only score of the game came in the 37th minute by Washington Spirit forward Ashley Hatch, her fifth goal in the last seven games. She now has seven goals during the NWSL season.
"It was a hard fought game; this is a really hard place to play," said Hatch. "The Courage are a really good team. We said from the beginning of the game it was going take everyone to get the W tonight."
Hatch started her career with North Carolina as the second overall pick in the 2017 NWSL Draft. On January 18th, 2018 she was traded to the Spirit with Taylor Smith for the rights for Crystal Dunn.
With the sellout, North Carolina set a new all-time regular season attendance mark with 82,702 fans.
"I have said it for two years, the crowd is the most important piece of what we do," Nahas added. "We think this place is a special place when its packed. I give credit to the front office putting in the work behind the scenes to make these last couple of games special. If anything, there is momentum now and hopefully we can see that going into next season. We couldn't be more appreciative of the fans and the support they give us through it all. Hopefully they enjoy coming here and are entertained when they see our players play."
Defender Kaleigh Kurtz has played in every minute of the NWSL regular season for the third consecutive season. Goalkeeper Casey Murphy was able to play every minute this season as well.
Images from this story
 A fan's sign at the North Carolina Courage game (Fran Stuchbury) |
 North Carolina Courage bid goodbye to their fans following the season finale (Fran Stuchbury) |
 North Carolina Courage vs. the Washington Spirit (Fran Stuchbury) |
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National Women's Soccer League Stories from November 4, 2024
- Kansas City Current Launch "Teal Time" Campaign Ahead of 2024 Postseason - Kansas City Current
- Courage Drop Regular Season Finale, Prep for Playoffs - OSC Original by Fran Stuchbury
- Courage Drop Regular Season Finale, Prep for Playoffs - OSC Original by Fran Stuchbury
- Courage Drop Regular Season Finale, Prep for Playoffs - OSC Original by Fran Stuchbury
- Kansas City Current Enter 2024 NWSL Playoffs, Presented by Google Pixel, as No. 4 Seed - Kansas City Current
The opinions expressed in this article are those of the writer(s), and do not necessarily reflect the thoughts or opinions of OurSports Central or its staff.
