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NWSL North Carolina Courage

Courage Host Gotham FC in Sunday Quarterfinal

October 22, 2023 - National Women's Soccer League (NWSL)
North Carolina Courage News Release


CARY, N.C. - The North Carolina Courage turn the page to the post-season as they return to the NWSL Playoffs for the first time since 2021 as the 3-seed in the bracket and host a quarterfinal against 6-seeded NJ/NY Gotham FC on Sunday, October 22, for a 7:00 p.m. ET kickoff at WakeMed Soccer Park. The first home Courage playoff fixture since the 2019 NWSL Final will air on CBS Sports Network.

The Courage grinded out a road win on CarMax NWSL Decision Day over the Washington Spirit 1-0 on a Tyler Lussi goal in the 24' mere moments after Trinity Rodman was shown a red card for a reckless challenge on Denise O'Sullivan. The Courage had a player-advantage for the third time this season and were able to capitalize in a matchup where a winner would clinch a home playoff match and a loser could be eliminated. The young Courage roster showed poise and toughness in the highest stakes bout of the season thus far; a great prelim for the knockout playoff bracket.

The Courage set NWSL single-season records in passing accuracy (82.5%), successful passes (9,479), and possession (60.04%), at least since 2016 when OPTA began tracking NWSL possessional and passing statistics. The Courage held at least 60% possession 11 times this season, matching the rest of the entire NWSL combined. North Carolina eclipsed 500 successful passes seven times while no other team did so once and the Courage passed at with at least 80% accuracy 18 times while no other team did so more than seven times. The commitment and buy-in to a new and different style has not only brought historic numbers, but on-field success and a brand of football that is a joy to watch.

This will be the first-ever meeting between the Courage and Gotham FC in post-season play, but the two sides are quite familiar with each other. They met four times in 2023 between NWSL regular season and Challenge Cup group play. The Courage earned a draw in both meetings at WakeMed Soccer Park, including a 3-3 thriller in the most recent match on September 2.

A reloaded team full of veterans and playoff experience, Gotham will be a difficult matchup for the upstart Courage. Led by a slew of emotion around the impending retirement of USWNT legend Ali Krieger, this is a Gotham team that has plenty of added motivation. Meanwhile, the Courage will look to pick up their MVP candidate after Kerolin Nicoli was placed on the Season-Ending Injury list this week. She tore her right ACL in the CarMax NWSL Decision Day win at Washington last weekend.

The winner of this matchup will advance to face the 2-seeded Portland Thorns at Providence Park in two weeks, following the FIFA international window. The Courage weren't projected to be in the playoff chase, let alone host a quarterfinal. They will look to continue to prove the doubters wrong and earn this team that is so strongly bonded -- both on and off the field -- two more weeks together.

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National Women's Soccer League Stories from October 22, 2023


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