Courage Winning Streak Ends in 2-0 Setback to Washington
NWSL North Carolina Courage

Courage Winning Streak Ends in 2-0 Setback to Washington

by Fran Stuchbury
Published on July 13, 2026 under National Women's Soccer League (NWSL)
North Carolina Courage


Crystal Dunn is honored by the North Carolina Courage
Crystal Dunn is honored by the North Carolina Courage
(North Carolina Courage, Credit: Fran Stuchbury)

The North Carolina Courage's four-game winning streak came to an end with a 2-0 loss to the Washington Spirit in front of a 8,726 fans at First Horizon Stadium at WakeMed Soccer Park in Cary, N.C., Saturday evening. It was the ninth-most attended match in Courage history.

The Spirit, 8-2-3 for 27 points, extended their winning streak to three games and have now won eight of their last nine. Goalkeeper Sandy MacIver recorded her seventh clean sheet of the year.

"It was two different halves," said North Carolina Courage Head Coach Mak Lind who saw the team's record fall to 6-4-3 for 21 points. "Of course, I'm disappointed in the first half and the way we started the game. I feel like I've been saying that a couple of times this season and in these press conferences. Happy for the response from the halftime talk. We go out and try to give us a chance to get back into the game. Honestly, I feel like there were a couple of times we should at least have scored one goal. We were a different team in the second half. That's something we have to continue to look into and see how we can start more on the front foot.

"We played against a good team, good players, but I felt that we gave them that chance and both scoring the first two goals. I mentioned last week when you're down two goals in this league, the last three seasons the team that are up two goals have a 93 percent chance to win the game. So again the odds against us, and we need to be better in how we start the game and especially how we play the first half."

Washington opened scoring in the 38th minute with a goal from midfielder Leicy Santos, her fifth of the NWSL season.

The Spirit extended their lead to 2-0 in extra time of the first half on forward Trinity Rodman's sixth score of the NWSL season. It was her third goal in two games after having a brace against the Houston Dash last week.

"I think defensively we can still improve a lot," explained Rodman. "First half I think we did really well. Second half I think North Carolina had way too many chances in comparison to the first. So being more disciplined, especially when we make those changes. To just get messages across and communicate the roles to the people, because I do think it gets a little bit disorganized when you're switching people around. So just like honing them up for sure."

"I think once we realized that we needed to be a little bit more aggressive with penetrating runs and and also some crosses, I think then the chances came and yeah, really good, also scoring," said Washington Head Coach Adrián González "We knew it would be tough today. It's a team that they've won the last four games in the league, and also playing here it's always difficult."

Courage forward Ashley Sanchez scored a goal in the 50th minute on a free kick, but it ended it up being disallowed by VAR.

"The goal was ruled out because an attacking team player #20 (midfielder Shimomi Koyama) was less than 1 m (1 yd) from a 'wall' formed by three or more defending team players," stated a release from the Pro Referee Association. "During the setup of the wall, the referee marked the 1m distance from the defenders' wall using the spray and indicated to #20 of North Carolina to not encroach."

"We started the game that you saw in the second half like being very aggressive and forward leaning and brave," explained Lind, "That is how it is, the way I believe we should play, more aggressive and forward leaning. I believe we're good when we do it. We show that we can be very good in that, and the turnovers from their side was many and we could have scored goals and created even better goal-scoring opportunities. I'm happy to see that and show that we can be on the front foot and be aggressive and win balls and our high press and be intense that's the important ingredients when we play."

"I think we had a tough start to the game obviously," said Courage defender Ryan Williams. "I thought we played a lot better in the second half, which shows our resilience. I think we're still just like looking to start stronger and kind of just take control of the game from the start. I think sometimes we wait a little too long to get going and to try to fight back. I think we had some really good moments, and I don't think that although we lost 2-0, I think that there were some really positive things coming out of today's game."

After the game former North Carolina star Crystal Dunn was inducted into the Club's Ring of Honor in a post-match ceremony. She was the third player inducted into the Ring of Honor, joining Sam Mewis (2024) and Jessica McDonald (2025).

Dunn helped the Courage win back-to-back NWSL Championships in 2018 and 2019.

"I think for me it was the training days, and how completely difficult they were," said Dunn on what made playing for the team special. "We pushed each other to be our best, and I think that's ultimately what helped us be as successful as we were. It's that fight we had in each other every single day. The starters versus the non-starters was probably the hardest scrimmages of my entire life and then come game time I was like, 'Oh, this actually feels easier,' but it really was getting a great group of girls together who believed in our passion and our achievements. That everything was going work itself out (and) we just kind of push each other throughout the week."

"It's really fun to see Crystal," added Williams. "I played with her when I was first drafted here back in 2018, which feels like so long ago. I'm definitely very honored to have played with her. She is such an amazing player and also was always such a fun person to be around. It's really good to have her back and she's very deserving of being inducted to the Ring of Honor. I'm happy for her and congratulate her on an amazing career for sure."

North Carolina's next match on the road is Saturday, July 18th against Bay FC. The team's next home game is Saturday, July 25th against the Utah Royals FC at 7:45 pm est.

Check out the North Carolina Courage Statistics

Share: Facebook | Twitter/X | LinkedIn | Reddit | Email



Images from this story

North Carolina Courage vs. the Washington Spirit
North Carolina Courage vs. the Washington Spirit
(Fran Stuchbury)		 Crystal Dunn is honored by the North Carolina Courage
Crystal Dunn is honored by the North Carolina Courage
(Fran Stuchbury)		  



National Women's Soccer League Stories from July 13, 2026


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.

OurSports Central