2021 North Carolina Courage season

North Carolina Courage's fifth season

North Carolina Courage 2021 soccer season
North Carolina Courage
2021 season
Managing ownerSteve Malik
ChairmanSteve Malik
Head CoachPaul Riley (until September 30)
Sean Nahas (interim; from September 30)
StadiumSahlen's Stadium at WakeMed Soccer Park
NWSL6th of 10
NWSL Challenge Cup2nd of 5, East Division
Top goalscorerLeague: Lynn Williams (7)
All: Lynn Williams (11)
Highest home attendance7,064
(October 17 vs NJ/NY)
Lowest home attendance2,300
(April 10 vs Washington)
Average home league attendance4,986
Biggest win5–0
(May 28 vs Louisville)
Biggest defeat1–4
(October 10 vs Houston)
Home colors
Away colors
← 2020
2022 →

The 2021 North Carolina Courage season was the team's fifth season as a professional women's soccer team. North Carolina Courage plays in the National Women's Soccer League, the top tier of women's soccer in the United States.

Background

North Carolina had finished the previous two regular seasons as champions of the National Women's Soccer League, along with winning the NWSL Shield by maintaining the league-best record in 2017, 2018, and 2019. The 2020 regular season was canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and the team was eliminated in the quarter-final round of the 2020 Challenge Cup.[1]

During the off-season, tennis star Naomi Osaka joined the team's ownership and the team unveiled new home and away kits.[2][3]

Competitive matches

Challenge Cup

Group stage

Standings

Pos Team
  • v
  • t
  • e
 Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification
1 NJ/NY Gotham FC 4 2 2 0 5 3 +2 8 Qualification for the Championship
2 North Carolina Courage 4 2 1 1 9 8 +1 7
3 Orlando Pride 4 1 2 1 3 3 0 5
4 Washington Spirit 4 1 1 2 3 4 −1 4
5 Racing Louisville FC 4 0 2 2 4 6 −2 2
Source: NWSL
Rules for classification: Tiebreakers

Regular season

Matches

OL Reign v North Carolina Courage
May 15 1 OL Reign 0–0 North Carolina Courage Tacoma, Washington
19:00 PDT
Report
Stadium: Cheney Stadium
Attendance: 2,104
North Carolina Courage v OL Reign
June 19 5 North Carolina Courage 2–1 OL Reign Cary, North Carolina
16:00 EDT
Report
Stadium: WakeMed Soccer Park
Attendance: 5,026
Orlando Pride v North Carolina Courage
July 4 8 Orlando Pride 0–2 North Carolina Courage Orlando, Florida
18:00 EDT Report
Stadium: Exploria Stadium
Attendance: 3,926
Washington Spirit v North Carolina Courage
July 10 9 Washington Spirit 2–0 North Carolina Courage Washington, D.C.
19:00 EDT
Report
Stadium: Audi Field
Attendance: 4,929
North Carolina Courage v Houston Dash
July 17 10 North Carolina Courage 1–2 Houston Dash Cary, North Carolina
19:00 EDT
Report
Stadium: WakeMed Soccer Park
Attendance: 5,229
NJ/NY Gotham FC v North Carolina Courage
August 7 13 NJ/NY Gotham FC 0–1 North Carolina Courage Harrison, New Jersey
19:00 EDT
Report
Stadium: Red Bull Arena
Attendance: 2,179
Washington Spirit v North Carolina Courage
August 29 16 Washington Spirit 0–0 North Carolina Courage Washington, D.C.
17:00 EDT
Report
  • Williams Yellow card 55'
 Stadium: Audi Field
Attendance: 4,554
North Carolina Courage v Portland Thorns FC
September 12 18 North Carolina Courage 0–1 Portland Thorns FC Cary, North Carolina
15:00 EDT
Report
Stadium: WakeMed Soccer Park
Attendance: 5,161
NJ/NY Gotham FC v North Carolina Courage
September 25 19 NJ/NY Gotham FC 3–1 North Carolina Courage Harrison, New Jersey
15:00 EDT
Report
Stadium: Red Bull Arena
Attendance: 2,887
Houston Dash v North Carolina Courage
October 10 21 Houston Dash 4–1 North Carolina Courage Houston, Texas
18:00 CDT
Report
Stadium: PNC Stadium
Attendance: 4,155
North Carolina Courage v NJ/NY Gotham FC
October 17 23 North Carolina Courage 0–3 NJ/NY Gotham FC Cary, North Carolina
14:00 EDT
Report
Stadium: WakeMed Soccer Park
Attendance: 7,064

Color key: Green = North Carolina win; Yellow = draw; Red = opponents win.

Standings

Pos Team
  • v
  • t
  • e
 Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification
1 Portland Thorns FC 24 13 5 6 33 17 +16 44 NWSL Shield
2 OL Reign 24 13 3 8 37 24 +13 42 Playoffs – Semi-finals
3 Washington Spirit (C) 24 11 6 7 29 26 +3 39 Playoffs – First round
4 Chicago Red Stars 24 11 5 8 28 28 0 38
5 NJ/NY Gotham FC 24 8 11 5 29 21 +8 35
6 North Carolina Courage 24 9 6 9 28 23 +5 33
7 Houston Dash 24 9 5 10 31 31 0 32
8 Orlando Pride 24 7 7 10 27 32 −5 28
9 Racing Louisville FC 24 5 7 12 21 40 −19 22
10 Kansas City 24 3 7 14 15 36 −21 16
Source: NWSL
Rules for classification: Tiebreakers
(C) Champions

Playoffs

Washington Spirit v North Carolina Courage
November 7 First round Washington Spirit 1–0 (a.e.t.) North Carolina Courage Washington, D.C.
17:30 EST Hatch 113' Report Stadium: Audi Field
Attendance: 5,379
Referee: Natalie Simon

See also

References

  1. ^ Negley, Cassandra (April 8, 2021). "NWSL 2021 season preview: Who to watch, new kits, key questions and more". Yahoo! Sports. Retrieved May 2, 2022.
  2. ^ Linehan, Meg; Kamrani, Christopher (January 28, 2021). "Naomi Osaka buys stake in NWSL's North Carolina Courage". The Athletic. Retrieved May 2, 2022.
  3. ^ "Mountains to Sea: The NC Courage 2021 Kit Embraces the Home State". NC Courage. Retrieved May 2, 2022.
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North Carolina Courage
  • Formerly the Western New York Flash
  • Established 2017
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