North Carolina Courage

Team information

Inaugural season: 2017

Home field: WakeMed Soccer Park

Owner: Stephen Malik and Naomi Osaka

Team colors: blue, red, and gold

Overview

The North Carolina Courage is a professional women’s soccer team based in Carey, North Carolina. The team started in 2017 when owner Stephen Malik bought a professional team from New York and moved the franchise to North Carolina. The North Carolina Courage started its career as a professional team with a winning record, and the team became the first in the National Women’s Soccer League (NWSL) to earn a championship win on its home field. The team had winning seasons in 2018 and 2019, and won league championships those years too. By earning these wins, the Courage cemented their place as one of the most competitive teams in the league. The team’s roster has included Olympic and World Cup champions, and it has produced multiple NWSL Championship MVPs.

The team welcomed another owner, tennis player Naomi Osaka, in 2021 when she invested in the team to help invest in other female athletes. The 2020 and 2021 NWSL seasons were interrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic, and the Courage did not win the tournaments played in those seasons. In 2021 the team also experienced upheaval when the long-time coach was accused of sexual abuse and was fired.

History

Owner Stephen Malik was the owner of North Carolina FC, a men’s professional soccer team located in Carey, North Carolina, since 2015. Malik was interested in creating a women’s team in the same area. He purchased the Western New York Flash, an established NWSL team that won the league’s championship in 2016. At the time, all the teams in the league were fairly young as the league was established in 2012. Malik wanted to relocate the team to North Carolina because he already had the men’s team established there. Furthermore, Malik and others cited the long tradition of women’s soccer in North Carolina as another reason for the team’s move. Numerous elite players and coaches have hailed from the state, and college and universities there have won numerous soccer titles. Malik believed that the history of soccer in the area would also attract more fans to the game if the team moved.

Malik purchased the Flash and rebranded the team the North Carolina Courage in early 2017. On January 9, 2017, Malik and NWSL Commissioner Jeff Plush announced that the Courage was the NWSL’s newest team. Players relocated and began practicing. The team began its inaugural season in in April, with its first game on the road against the Washington Spirit, a game the team won. It also won its first home game, played at WakeMed Soccer Park, which they shared with North Carolina FC. The team earned a total of sixteen wins during the season, and the players were awarded the NWSL Shield, which is presented to the team with the best regular-season record in the league. The team lost the championship game against the Portland Thorns, but it also set a bar for high achievement in the future and showed that the Courage was a team that would be an important player in the league.

In the 2018 season, the Courage again had a winning record, with seventeen wins during the regular season. The team also earned the NWSL Shield for their record that year. During the semifinals, the Courage won against the Chicago Red Stars, which again put them into the league championship against the Portland Thorns. During this matchup, however, the Courage won with a score of 3 to 0. The next season, the Courage again proved their playing ability by capturing fifteen wins during the regular season, earning themselves another NWSL Shield. They played the Chicago Red Stars in the 2019 championship game and, again, won the title.

The 2020 and 2021 seasons of the NWSL were greatly affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. During 2020 the pandemic prevented many regular-season games from happening, so the league created a modified schedule and tournament it called the NWSL Challenge Cup. The team made it to the quarter-finals of tournament, but lost in that phase to the Portland Thorns. In 2021, the league again used the NWSL Challenge Cup as a tournament. The Courage lost to the Gotham FC and did not make it to the championships that year.

The Courage made headlines in 2021 for events that happened off the field. In early 2021, Japanese tennis star Naomi Osaka—a three-time Grand Slam champion—invested in the team and became an owner of the club. In statements at the time of the investment, Osaka stated that other female athletes had invested in her and helped her find success, and she wanted to show the same support to other female athletes.

That fall, the team’s head coach, Paul Riley, was accused of sexual harassment and coercion in an article from the sports publication The Athletic. The Courage fired Riley soon after publication of the article, but the fallout from the report continued. The National Women’s Soccer League Players Association (NWSLPA) sent out a statement indicating that players should have been better protected. NWSL commissioner Lisa Baird announced that the league would take part in further investigations of Riley and the allegations. Malik announced that the Courage supported the former players who accused Riley of misconduct, and he announced that the team was committed to providing a safe and respectful environment for players. Sean Nahas was named the team’s interim coach for the remainder of the year and was appointed head coach for the 2022 season. The NWSLPA provided the league with a list of requirements that it expected the league to follow to help ensure the safety and security of its players.

The team was in last place for the first half of the 2022 season but managed to finish the season in seventh place. The Courage finished the 2023 in third place. The team won the NWSL Challenge Cup in both 2022 and 2023.

Notable players

The Courage has seen numerous players win league-wide awards for their contributions to the team. During the team’s inaugural 2017 season, Abby Dahlkemper was voted the NWSL’s defender of the year. Dahlkemper also helped her former team, Seattle Rein FC win a championship, helped her team achieve twelve shutouts in the 2017 season. She also helped the team win two championships before leaving in 2021.

Jessica McDonald is a forward for NC Courage, and she won the NWSL Championship MVP title in 2018 after the Courage won the title. Before joining the Courage, McDonald played for various other professional teams, including the Portland Thorns. In the 2017 season, McDonald had four goals and three assists. In 2018, she scored ten goals and had eight assists. McDonald helped her team achieve another championship in 2019. During that season, she scored six goals and three assists. She scored one of those goals during the championship game.

The Courage again had the NWSL Championship MVP in 2019. Debinha (Débora Cristiane de Oliveira), who joined the team during its first season, won the MVP title that year. In 2017, Debinha earned four goals and two assists, and in 2018 she earned nine goals and two assists. In 2019, she scored ten goals and had seven assists, the most on the team that year. In addition to winning the MVP title that year, Debinha scored the team’s one hundredth goal of its time in the NWSL.

Heather O’Reilly, who was an Olympic soccer player before joining the Courage, was also an important player for the team. O’Reilly, a midfielder, joined the team in 2018 and helped her team win back-to-back championships. O’Reilly retired from the game in 2019, after a seventeen-year career that included three Olympic medals and a World Cup title.

Brazilian forward Kerolin Nicoli joined the team in 2022 and in 2023 was named NWSL MVP. She was the first member of the team and the first Brazilian to receive this honor. Nicoli scored the winning goal in the 2023 UKG NWSL Challenge Cup final, leading the team to the seventh league trophy in club history.

Bibliography

“2024 NC Courage Home Opener.” NC Courage, www.nccourage.com. Accessed 19 Mar. 2024.

Bailey, Analis. “North Carolina Courage Fires Coach Paul Riley, Players Association Demands NWSL Investigation into Abuse.” USA Today, 30 Sept. 2021, www.usatoday.com/story/sports/soccer/2021/09/30/nwslpa-calls-investigation-north-carolina-coach-paul-riley/5929288001/. Accessed 19 Mar. 2024.

Brito, Christopher. “Naomi Osaka Becomes Co-owner of Women’s Soccer Team North Carolina Courage.” CBS News, 28 Jan. 2021, www.cbsnews.com/news/naomi-osaka-ownership-nwsl-north-carolina-courage/. Accessed 19 Nov. 2024.

“History of Women’s Soccer in North Carolina.” NC Courage, www.nccourage.com/wosotriangle. Accessed 19 Mar. 2024.

“Jessica McDonald.” NC Courage, 2019, www.nccourage.com/mcdonald. Accessed 19 Mar. 2024.

Linehan, Meg. “Amid Institutional Failure, Former NWSL Players Accuse Prominent Coach of Sexual Coercion.” The Athletic, 30 September 2021, theathletic.com/2857633/2021/09/30/this-guy-has-a-pattern-amid-institutional-failure-former-nwsl-players-accuse-prominent-coach-of-sexual-coercion/. Accessed 19 Mar. 2024.