✅ Preseason roster locked ✅ schedule out - the preseason is HERE

Good morning! Just seeing the phrase “preseason roster announced” brings me unbridled joy and anticipation, even if changes are inevitable. Things are getting official. The season is nearly here. And there’s plenty to discuss, so let’s check out this week’s news!

Roster surprises

The Courage this week announced their full preseason roster. It includes the new signings, and six non-roster invitees (NRIs), for a total of 35 players. The team will need to pare that back to 27 before the season starts, so cuts will come. But knowing the team is giving a hard look to a variety of talented players is exciting.

NWSL teams are capped at 26 players and need to declare their final roster by Wednesday, March 12. Defender Sydney Collins, who is recovering from an ankle injury, remains on the Season Ending Injury list. So for now, the Courage can technically carry forward 27 players. If last season is any indication, this is the approach the Courage will take, making a decision about Collins’ spot when she’s ready to rejoin.

Here is a quick rundown of the new faces. It’s worth noting the Courage have signed only one college player, contracting with USC’s Brooklyn Courtnall, but all the NRIs are college players or recent graduates:

GK Katie Cappalletti – a goalkeeper out of St. Joseph’s University in Philadelphia. She’s tied for third in the Atlantic 10 for all-time career shutouts (15); she was also 3rd in the A-10 for saves per game.

Emerson Elgin – UNC senior who has played a mix of midfield and defense; the Courage is evaluating her as a defender. Elgin started 25 of the 26 games in UNC’s National Championship run last year.

Grayson Lynch – Washington State University forward who overcame a couple bouts of medical injuries for some impressive stats.

Heather MacNab – Princeton forward and co-captain who started 17 games last season and was named first team all-Ivy.

Jillian Martinez – Midfielder out of Texas Tech who started in 23 games last year.

Amber Nguyen – Midfielder that played with Vanderbilt and the University of Georgia. She started in 19 matches last season, with a couple of great goals.

We also had one departure, with Estelle Johnson exiting the team after wrapping up her maternity leave. Under the CBA, she had the right to an invitation to preseason training, and the Courage say she waived that right.

2025 Courage schedule released!

The Courage, in concert with the rest of the league, released their 2025 schedule last week.

First match: Saturday, March 15 at 5 p.m. ET the Courage have an away match against Racing Louisville, to be streamed on NWSL+, the league’s free streaming service.

First home match: Saturday, March 22 at 7 p.m. ET against the Seattle Reign at the newly renamed First Horizon Stadium at WakeMed Soccer Park. It will also be streaming on NWSL+.

Similar to last season, the Courage will play each team in the league twice: once at home, and once away.

The NWSL site lists the complete league schedule, including broadcast partners, if there’s a specific matchup you are interested in.

The most exciting change is that the league brought back Decision Day, in which all the final matches are slated for Sunday, Nov. 2. The league spread these out over several days last season due to broadcast licensing deals, which diluted the excitement of finding out which teams clinched a playoff spot in real time.

Courage news and updates

• Here’s a great case study on the Courage’s use of full-backs.

• Naturally, hours after I sent last week’s newsletter, several outlets confirmed Kerolin had signed with Manchester City through 2028. I mentioned there was a lot of noise about the deal, but it’s good to know the original reporting was confirmed.

• Julia Dorsey will finish the 2024-25 season with USL Super League team Dallas Trinity FC; she’d been on loan with them through December, and was released by the Courage at the end of the year. Great to know she will continue with Dallas!

Around the league and beyond

• The Houston Dash are evaluating options, including a potential sale. Sportico cites a note to employees saying the effort could result in new investors, a control sale, or no change at all.

• NWSL broke another record, with Chelsea and San Diego Wave agreeing to a $1m transfer fee for defender Naomi Girma, the first to break the million dollar mark for the league.

• NWSL is still considering expansion. They’re planning to officially announce Denver this week, but league commissioner Jessica Berman hinted there may be more to come during a press conference this week. From a home team perspective, this is probably a good thing. I didn’t love the choice of Denver given how brutal the Courage travel schedule can be. Further expansion on the East Coast could eventually allow for more rest and fewer travel hurdles for the team.

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

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