Finally, a home match after a final road loss

Courage fans! We’re finally done with our grueling three-game road trip. After suffering some tough losses, the Courage return home to face the Utah Royals for our second matchup this season.

We have some interesting rumors this week, along with some good broadcast news!

Here we go!

Recap: Courage v. KC Current

The Courage had its fifth road loss this season in Kansas City, and the Current remain unbeaten.

Haley Hopkins, Tyler Lussi and Manaka all were in the starting XI, with Dani Weatherholt continuing to fill in for the injured Malia Berkely – and doing a good job of it!

The Courage played a solid first half, heading into the locker room with a 0-0 game, heads held high from a solid number of chances and in return, keeping Kansas City at bay.

But Kansas City wore down our team over time, looking increasingly in control during the second half of the match.

Turnovers by the Courage were a killer, preventing us from getting any sort of momentum.

The goal came at the 52’ minute mark after an awkward pass from Feli Rauch to a well-covered Ashley Sanchez resulted in a takeaway by Claire Hutton, who passed the ball to Chawinga, who passed it back to Hutton. The defenders were frantically trying to figure out which player to mark. It gave Chawinga just enough of an edge that Hutton passed it to her again and she got a shot off. Murphy blocked it but … it was a simple bunt for none other than former Courage player Debinha to pop it into the net.

Shortly after that, Denise O’Sullivan sustained what looked like a nasty injury at the 57’ mark, with Brianna Pinto subbing in. We haven’t received official word on Sully’s injury at the time of publication.

The Courage showed some good form in the final minutes of the match, but weren’t able to come up with an equalizer, walking away with yet another loss.

In terms of highlights, Ryan Williams continues to be outstanding, creating some chances and using her speed to help box out Chawinga. Dani Weatherholt is holding her own playing out of position, and Casey Murphy put up seven saves in the match, all helping us keep the score low. Sanchez continues to be serving the Courage well, building creative opportunities and getting off the most shots.

It’s yet another game where we showed good form, but some of the fine tuning just wasn’t there to come away with at least a point. Yes, the NWSL is fiercely competitive, but this squad has expectations of finishing in the top third of the league, and to get there, they’re going to have to grind out some points on the road.

Standout stats

Stats via FotMob and NC Courage twitter account.

Look ahead: Courage v. Utah Royals

As we all remember, expansion side Utah beat the Courage 2-1 in a road game in March. It was irksome then, and that irritation has only grown as Utah have fallen to the bottom of the table. The game also foreshadowed a Courage theme this year: Even though we dominated possession by holding the ball 67% of the time, we still came up short.

This time, Utah comes to our turf, and undoubtedly the Courage will be better prepared. There’s more tape to review, and other teams have exposed weaknesses in Utah’s side.

We have yet to see Sully’s availability, but our bench is deep. If we can move the ball and not let Utah get set in its defensive lines, and if we can continue to bring some positive energy to the pitch, this is a winnable match.

Courage news and updates

• Midfielder Clara Schilke announced her retirement to spend time with family, the Courage announced. She’d made three appearances, but her season ended early last year after rupturing her achilles tendon. She remained on the Season Ending Injury list into this year. We wish her all the best.

• David Ornstein at The Athletic published a piece saying the Courage made a major offer to Manchester United’s Nikita Parris (subscription required). But the Courage wanted her immediately, and she wanted to compete in the FA Cup, so the deal fell apart. But the news was important for two reasons. First, it shows we’re not just waiting on Kerolin to heal to consider another “big name” forward; and second, it begs the question of what the Courage will do now that the Parris deal fell through.

• And speaking of the NWSL rumor mill … The Daily Mail reports that Manchester United is interested in captain Denise O’Sullivan once her contract expires at the end of the season. That’s a ways off, and we’ve been down this road before, but it’s worth keeping an eye on.

• Nice! CBS Sports expanded its deal with NWSL to carry 21 additional games across Paramount+ and CBS Sports Golazo Network. It’s a good sign the new media rights deal, inked ahead of the 2024 season, is working out for everyone. This affects three specific Courage matches, which previously were relegated to NWSL+:

  • Sun. June 23 | Chicago Red Stars | Paramount+

  • Sun. Sep. 8 | San Diego Wave | Paramount+ and CBS Sports Golazo Network

  • Sun. Sep. 29 | Chicago Red Stars | Paramount+

• In related news, ION hit a season high NWSL viewership with the Courage / Gotham matchup. I know Chicago (from the CBS deal) and New York are major media markets driving some of this, but broader exposure for the Courage can only be a good thing.

Around the league and beyond

• The USL Super League team in Dallas will be the Dallas Trinity and play in the Cotton Bowl.

• Former Courage player Rylee Baisden has joined the USL’s Carolina Ascent.

• We were all charmed by Paige Nielsen scoring in 90+8’ to beat Angel City after they traded her to Houston. Glorious. If you haven’t seen it, she addressed her adjustments moving to Houston, as well.

That’s it for this week! As always, you can get in touch with tips, suggestions, corrections and more: [email protected].

— Trevor

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