Louisville loss, home match against the Spooky Spirits, Murphy likely headed to Boston

Hello Courage Country!

It’s a week of big news as playoff season nears.

First up: former USWNT keeper Casey Murphy has reportedly signed a deal with Boston Legacy FC to join the expansion side’s inaugural season. Murphy was traded to the Courage from Seattle in late 2020, and played in the majority of matches from 2021-24, recording 32 clean sheets in that run. In 2024, she played every regular season match, earning Iron Woman status alongside teammate Kaleigh Kurtz.

For the USWNT, after starting for the under-20 team, Murphy began rotating in periodically with Alyssa Naeher in senior team friendlies, and was rostered as a sub in the 2023 World Cup and 2024 Summer Olympics.

This year, and perhaps even late last season, some of the nuances of Murphy’s game have been off. She’s played well on the whole, but she’s made a few errors on the pitch. Coaches have taken notice. She hasn’t been called up for recent USWNT friendlies by new head coach Emma Hayes. And in the last few club matches, Marisa Jordan has gotten the start over Murphy.

The move to Boston might be the right thing for all parties. A new environment might help Murphy shine again, and it allows the Courage to focus on Jordan’s development and continue to build their enviable keeper pipeline.

In any case, we will miss Murphy, who has seemed so integral to the team these past few seasons, and wish her the best.

Recap: Courage v. Racing Louisville

This was a rough one.

The first half was everything this matchup promised: a fantastic back and forth that showcased the strengths of each team. The Courage showed a lot of excellent ball control and ability to move through the midfield, while Louisville relied on veteran players to make a few sneak attacks. Both teams tended toward one side of the pitch, so it took awhile for the match to open up.

On the Courage side, Hannah Betfort became the obvious starter, given her excellent goal in the previous match, and because Payton Linnehan was questionable as she overcomes a minor injury. We also saw Natalie Jacobs get her first start with the Courage (you can hear her quick thoughts about the team on this week’s podcast), which moved Ryan Williams up to a winger role. This setup felt like a nice balance between and attacking and defensive positions against a Louisville side that likes to catch teams in transition. The Courage executed well against that for awhile, owning a lot of momentum leading up to the halftime break.

Coming back, Louisville showcased what they do best. During a transition, Kayla Fisher got a long, quick pass off to Emma Sears on an attack run. Sears got one good touch to move the ball past Dani Weatherholt and scored.

Just seven minutes later, Manaka Matsukubo countered. Shinomi Koyama got a beautiful pass through the midfield to Riley Jackson, who kicked the ball through four defenders to Manaka. At this point, Manaka is essentially 1:1 with Jordyn Bloomer and got a great shot off to the far post for a goal.

And … four minutes after that … Fisher scored for Louisville. Jordan was trying to start a build, but kicked the ball straight up the middle of the pitch. Katie O’Kane was first to react, kicking the ball to Fisher, who had an easy goal.

The final goal for Louisville came during a set piece, which they excel at and the Courage struggle with. Louisville kicked a long, high ball, with a header touch from Bethany Balcer. It landed at the feet of Sears, who got the brace.

My biggest note from the match, and probably obvious to anyone who watched it, is that long, direct kicks from Jordan were not a useful tactic for the Courage. Louisville won those volleys again and again. The Courage are not a tall or overly physical team, and Racing are a very physical team, as we pointed out last week. It favored Louisville repeatedly.

Next up, the Courage will play an on-fire Washington Spirit at home this Saturday night at 7:30p.

Look ahead: Courage v. Washington Spirit

The Spirit are easily the toughest matchup in the tail end of the Courage schedule. They currently sit at 2nd on the table. They haven’t lost since an away match in Portland on June 15. The week before that, they beat the Courage 3-1 in D.C.

The Spirit roster is both deep and intimidating, with superstars Croix Bethune and Gift Monday up front. Two weeks ago, Monday set a record for the fastest hat trick in NWSL history against Houston. Trinity Rodman has also returned to the mix. Last week, Rosemonde Kouassi got a goal and a brace in 2-1 victory over Seattle. That’s a lot of creative firepower that will be difficult to contain; the Courage tend to do better when they have a single lead goal scorer to isolate.

The defense features Tara McKeown, Esme Morgan and keeper Aubrey Kinsgbury. All of that, and we haven’t gotten to former Courage midfielder Narumi Miura, who has been an impact sub on recent rosters.

In theory, the Spirit can take their foot off the gas a bit; they were the second team to lock in a playoff spot. So it’s possible the Courage pull off an upset, given they have more to fight for, and it’s a home match.

Games are increasingly becoming “must win” for a post-season spot. If the Courage were to take all three points from this match, they’d be tied with San Diego, but remain in 9th place, because goal differential is the first tiebreaker in the NWSL and the Courage are at -6. So they’d have to outright win one of their final two matches as well to have a shot at moving up the table.

Courage news and updates

• The Louisville match earned the 10th highest attendance in club history at 7,218.

Around the league and beyond

• After making it to the playoffs in 2024, Bay FC was eliminated after their loss to Portland this week. They become the second team eliminated after Chicago. Utah is still hanging in there, third from the bottom of the table.

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

Find us on BlueSky: @lionspitch

For the podcast, subscribe at: Apple | Spotify | RSS