North Carolina Courage

The 11th season of the National Women’s Soccer League kicked off on Saturday with the N.C. Courage hosting and defeating the Kansas City Current 1-0 at WakeMed Soccer Park.

Danish international Mille Gejl scored the game’s lone goal with a strike from way outside the box in the 23rd minute.

Before you play this video just be sure that your volume is down. There were some extremely apparent issues with the microphones being used by broadcasters JP Dellacamera and Lianne Sanderson.

It didn't make much sense when EA Sports announced that women's club soccer was coming to FIFA 23 before launching with only the Women's Super League (England) and Division 1 Féminine (France) while omitting the National Women's Soccer League, but that's reportedly about to be remedied with a free March update ahead of the league's new season.

NEW YORK — An independent NWSL abuse investigation released on Monday showed misconduct "had become systemic" in the top-flight National Women's Soccer League and the governing body U.S. Soccer said it would move immediately to implement reforms.

Alex Morgan is once again calling out the nonsensical boys club that exists in the NWSL. Portland Thorns owner Merritt Paulson is once again being called out for failing to do the right thing.

Jaelene Daniels refused to play for the N.C. Courage on Friday night. 

Hours before the Courage were to host the Washington Spirit on their Pride Night featuring LGTBQ+ pride jerseys, the North Carolina club announced Daniels would not feature because she refused to wear a jersey that promotes equality and fights discrimination.

As many states ban abortion across the United States, soccer fans could find more than their reproductive freedoms disappearing. They might also lose their ability to watch top-flight soccer.

NWSL commissioner Jessica Berman said this week full access to healthcare — including birth control, in-vitro fertilization and abortion — is one of the league’s values. As the NWSL seeks to increase by two teams up to 14 by 2024, states that deny women and those who may become pregnant full healthcare rights could find themselves left out of the growing women’s soccer party. 

Carson Pickett made history on Tuesday during the USWNT’s 2-0 friendly victory against Colombia as the first player with a limb difference to play for the national team. Pickett is a fullback and had a quality 90 minutes against Colombia playing at left back.

For years, N.C. Courage attendance numbers were some of the best in the NWSL. In 2022, no one wants to go see the Courage play, even when it’s the Challenge Cup final. 

The reasons are pretty obvious. Well, they’re obvious to everyone but the owners, it seems.

For the last few years (discounting the pandemic season of 2020), North Carolina has averaged more than 5,000 fans per game, always in the top half of the NWSL attendance rankings. It wasn’t hard to see why: The Courage won three NWSL Shields and two NWSL Championships from 2017-19.