Match Week 2: Huge victory at home; Utah Royals next

plus the Challenge Cup and San Diego sold for $$$$$

Author

Trevor Knoblich
March 20, 2024

Hello Courage Country! Welcome to Issue #4 of The Lion’s Pitch.

It’s hard to imagine a more eventful NWSL opening weekend. We saw the Courage post a victory against Houston Dash, a great Challenge Cup match, ample week 1 highlights across the league and San Diego Wave being sold for a mountain of money. 2024 promised to be a level up for the NWSL, and this weekend delivered.

Recap: Courage v. Dash

It doesn’t get any better than a 5-1 dismantling of your opponent for a home opener. While the start of a season always includes shaking off a bit of rust, the Courage showed great form. We also saw some promising moments from many of the newcomers, including goals from Dani Weatherholt and two from Bianca St-Georges.

Defender Malia Berkely scored on a penalty shot to get the momentum going before the half, followed later by this incredible steal from Denise O’Sullivan to set up Hayley Hopkins. If you’ve kept up with our archive issues, you know I love nothing more than a midfielder GETTING US THAT BALL.

And setting up quick transitions like this is why:

Houston’s lone goal came from a María Sánchez penalty kick that ultimately resulted in an own goal as Courage members swarmed the ball at the goal line.

Houston came into this game with so many question marks, from a new system under head coach Fran Alonso to a shaky back line. Some were more self-inflicted than necessary, including a nail-biting wait for the team to ~finally~ sign second-round draft pick Kiki Van Zanten late Friday, who made her debut during the match.

It’s always difficult to draw sweeping conclusions from a single match in the NWSL, but we couldn’t be off to a better start for the 2024 season.

Standout stats

Stats via FotMob, Opta Sports and NC Courage

Courage news and updates

  • The newsletter/blog Courage Country has returned in a new form; photographer Greg Ng wrote a beautiful love letter to local soccer (free subscription required).

  • The Six Point Weekend podcast has also returned to cover both NCFC and the Courage; they did a preview of this week’s match, with Courage coverage starting around 27:20.

  • Ya’ll !!! We hit 50 newsletter subscribers before the first match. We’re climbing rapidly in just a scant few weeks. Thank you so much! Feedback is always welcome at [email protected].

  • In a similar vein, we’ve had a great response to our podcast teaser. The first full episode hosted by Katie Cleary and I will release tomorrow. Here are a few links to get you connected.

Look ahead: Courage v. expansion side Utah Royals

Utah Royals are back with an all new team and staff after initially folding in 2020. There was near universal excitement at the announcement of head coach Amy Rodriguez, who formerly played for the USWNT and the original iteration of Utah’s team. This is her first head coach position, so there’s a lot for this team to pull together in their first season.

The Royals also have a lioness as a mascot, so I’m just going to start calling them rivals based on that alone.

They lost their first match at home 2-0 to a Chicago Red Stars team reinvigorated by Mallory Swanson’s return. They’ll have something to prove this week against a Courage squad riding high from its first week win.

Utah’s starting XI showcased #1 overall draft pick and UNC alum, forward Ally Sentnor; defender Kaleigh Riehl acquired from San Diego; and goalkeeper Mandy Haught, acquired from Gotham. Former Courage player Frankie Tagliaferri started, with Utah’s other first-round draft pick, Brecken Mozingo, subbing in for her at minute 69.

Around the league and elsewhere

  • Fast Company named NWSL the fifth most innovative company of 2024.

  • We weren’t the only team with a banger of a home opener. Kansas City had an exciting and convincing 5-4 win over Portland to welcome fans to their fancy new stadium. ESPN is reporting the match had 614,000 viewers, the second-most viewed regular season NWSL match.

  • The San Diego Wave sold for more than $113 million. This is a massive deal, considering their expansion fee just 3 years ago was $2m. It’s worth lifting up this point from Sportico’s article: “Of the league’s 15 teams, all but one (North Carolina Courage), is either a new franchise or has a new principal governor in the past four years.”

  • Two days later, Angel City announced it would put its club up for sale. They also joined the league in 2022 with San Diego, and are widely considered to be the most valuable team in the league given their passionate fanbase and many celebrities involved as minor shareholders. Sportico values Angel City at $180m.

  • Speaking of the Wave, they beat Gotham in the Challenge Cup 1–0 in a fun matchup showcasing the new kits.

  • The USWNT will finally have their Olympic draw later today, before the final two African teams are set. Meg Linehan screen capped the pots; the US will be paired with Germany no matter what.

  • Dan Lauletta said that of all the broadcast partners, Amazon Prime was best in terms of broadcast talent, graphics and stream quality (subscription required). André Carlisle made the case for Ion, which included a post game show with Darian Jenkins and Ambassador Jessica McDonald.

  • Jeff Kassouf, founder of The Equalizer, announced he’ll be leading ESPN’s NWSL and USWNT coverage, a new position created for him. He made it clear The Equalizer will also continue.

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

Next match: Friday, March 22, 9:30 pm ET

North Carolina Courage v. Utah Royals

Away

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