Courage Shrug off Early Deficit, Super-Subs Lead Comeback Win

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NWSL North Carolina Courage

Courage Shrug off Early Deficit, Super-Subs Lead Comeback Win

by Fran Stuchbury
June 23, 2025 - National Women's Soccer League (NWSL)
North Carolina Courage


Sunset over First Horizon Stadium at WakeMed Soccer Park, home of the North Carolina Courage
Sunset over First Horizon Stadium at WakeMed Soccer Park, home of the North Carolina Courage
(North Carolina Courage, Credit: Fran Stuchbury)

After trailing early, the North Carolina Courage won their second straight game as they came back in a 2-1 victory over the Houston Dash thanks to first-time goal-scorers Jaedyn Shaw and Hannah Betfort in front of 6,642 fans for at First Horizon Stadium at WakeMed Soccer Park Saturday evening. Both Shaw and Betfort came off the bench.

North Carolina's record is now 5-5-3 for 18 points this season, while the Dash fell to 3-8-2 for 11 points.

"I said to the team at halftime we were really poor in the first phase of the game," said North Carolina Courage goalkeeper coach Nathan Thackeray, filling in as head coach for Sean Nahas. "It was a sloppy first goal to give away; we were not ready for it. We made some tweaks at halftime. I thought the second half performance was really positive: it was wave after wave. It was nice to see the belief keep growing."

Houston opened the scoring just 52 seconds into the match on a goal from defender Avery Patterson, her third of the NWSL season. Patterson returned to the Dash lineup after being out last week with a thigh injury. It was the fastest goal in team history. The previous record was held by defender Natalie Jacobs, who scored in the 54th second at home against the Washington Spirit on April 12, 2024.

"I think one of our big goals is to come out quick and strong," said Patterson. "I wanted to be aggressive in the final third so I saw an opportunity and took it."

Avery played at North Carolina and was selected by Houston in the second round, 19th overall, in the 2024 NWSL Draft.

The Dash went down to 10 players when midfielder Sarah Puntigam was given her second caution of the match in the 69th minute.

The Courage tied the game in the 71st minute on a goal from midfielder Jaedyn Shaw.

Shaw entered the game just five minutes earlier.

"I was so happy; it's been a long time coming," said Shaw. "Honestly I am happy it's home and I can make the fans proud tonight. It's obviously not easy to come off the bench, but I think we'll all do it for the team. We want to succeed in the season. I think we all fight for each other and that starts in training. We fight for each other; we fight against each other in training. Ultimately that shows up on the weekend. I am proud of this team for the two back-to-back comebacks and we move forward from here."

On January 14th, the Courage acquired Shaw from the San Diego Wave. She has played with the United States Women's National Team since 2023.

"With those expectations comes pressure," said Thackeray. "She's 20 years old, and there is a lot of pressure. Sometimes those moments are difficult to deal with. She puts a lot of expectation on herself. There's a lot of expectation from fans, coaches, the National Team and the other players that are on the team. So sometimes that can build up. I spoke to her during the week, and I felt like she put a lot on top of herself. Last week when we pulled her out of the lineup, it was not performance-related, it was just to give her a break. So when she comes in the game she can play freely. There are things she has to continue to work on, mainly without the ball. With the ball she's very gifted. With that goal, she had an immediate impact in the game. She's a wonderful person, she has a bright future ahead of her."

The Courage scored the game-winning goal in the 81st minute from forward Hannah Betfort who entered the game with Shaw in the 66th minute.

"I'm really tired of defenders having the save of the century on me," said Betfort. "I'm really happy. I just want the team to be successful. I think you can tell between all of us and the team, what it means to us. I'm very grateful and proud of that moment."

Betfort played at Wake Forest before joining the Portland Thorns from 2021 to 2023. Then spent last season with the Utah Royals. On January 17th she signed a two-year contract with North Carolina.

"This is my third team, my sixth head coach in five seasons," said Betfort. "So I have seen some systems. I think this one is definitely the most technical, in terms of what we want to do in tight spaces. So I think its been a real growth opportunity for me to experience something just a little bit different, but also just something just a little different for this squad."

"It's always advantageous when you play against one player (down) especially with what we do, trying to manipulate spaces and how they have to cover almost double the distance from player to player," said Thackeray. "What I said to the group, for me the game has already changed. We have taken over the game. We were completely dominant; it was wave after wave of pressure. They (the Dash) didn't create much at all in the second half, if anything. It does change the game, but I felt the game was swinging in our direction. I felt we were pretty close to scoring or creating something if they had ten or eleven players."

It was a homecoming for Houston Head Coach Fabrice Gautrat who served as an assistant coach with the Courage for the 2023 and 2024 seasons.

"He changed some things today, it caught us a bit by surprise," said Thackeray. "I watched the gameday warm up, and what we do with ours, and the two were almost identical. He obviously taken some things with us the last two years and implemented it there. Fabrice is a standup guy and phenomenal coach. He has a work ethic almost unmatched by anybody. He will be successful. He has to keep his head up, keep grinding and keep doing it his way. I have no doubts he will be a phenomenal coach in the future."

"Obviously frustrating, the one thing I will say is I'm very proud of the players," said Gautrat. "They absolutely emptied the tank, they gave us everything. A lot of things were outside our control tonight, I think it's easy to focus on those things. All we can do is focus on what's in our control, but I felt everyone performed extremely well under the circumstances."

Courage Defender Ryan Williams and midfielder Ashley Sanchez both made their 100th NWSL regular season appearance in the match.

Defender Kaleigh Kurtz reached 9,000 consecutive NWSL regular season minutes in the 38th minute of the game.

The National Women's Soccer League is on a midseason break. During that break North Carolina has scheduled two exhibition matches at home against Tigres Femenil on July 9th and Chivas De Guadalajara Femenil on July 25th.

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Images from this story

Sunset over First Horizon Stadium at WakeMed Soccer Park, home of the North Carolina Courage
Sunset over First Horizon Stadium at WakeMed Soccer Park, home of the North Carolina Courage
(Fran Stuchbury)		   



National Women's Soccer League Stories from June 23, 2025


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