WASHINGTON (June 8, 2025) — The North Carolina Courage fell, 3-1, to the Washington Spirit Sunday afternoon at Audi Field. Manaka Matsukubo scored the lone goal for the Courage, her third straight contest on the scoresheet.

Washington scored twice in a matter of moments to spring ahead in the first half. Brittany Ratcliffe rolled an insert to Courtney Brown to finish for her first of the year, then four minutes later Ratcliffe headed home a an aerial service from Casey Krueger to put the home side up two just shy of the half-hour mark.

Manaka scored a worldy, lofting a long-range shot over Aubrey Kingsbury after a great lofted through play from Feli Rauch to pull one back a few minutes later and it would be a one-score game at the half. Washington added insurance from Gift Monday, capitalizing on a build off a corner kick to restore the two-goal advantage.

Shinomi Koyama was denied at the doorstep at the hour mark, nearly smashing home a corner insert from Riley Jackson if not for a sprawling save from Kingsbury and the Spirit back line cleared away a Cortnee Vine rebound try, somehow turning away a golden opportunity to get back into the contest. A few more chances went by the boards for both sides down the stretch as the rest of the day went scoreless.

Match Notes:

• Head Coach Sean Nahas missed the match due to an unforeseen medical reason. Assistant coach Nathan Thackeray assumed head coaching duties for the match.
• Defender Malia Berkely returned to the lineup after missing about a month due to a leg injury.

Up Next:

The Courage continue the road swing as they head west to visit Angel City FC on Saturday, June 14, for a 10 p.m. ET (7 PT) kickoff at BMO Stadium. The match will air live on ION.

Box Score

NCC (3-4-3)****: Casey Murphy; Malia Berkely (Maycee Bell - 53'), Kaleigh Kurtz, Talia Staude; Feli Rauch (Meredith Speck - 83'), Denise O’Sullivan ©, Riley Jackson (Jaedyn Shaw - 71'), Ryan Williams; Ashley Sanchez (Shinomi Koyama - 53'), Cortnee Vine (Brianna Pinto - 71'), Manaka Matsukubo

Subs Not Used: Marisa Jordan, Aline Gomes, Hannah Betfort, Tyler Lussi

WAS (4-3-3): Aubrey Kingsbury, Hal Hershfelt, Narumi Miura, Casey Krueger, Gabrielle Carle, Brittany Ratcliffe (Makenna Morris - 60'), Esme Morgan (Tara McKeown - 46'), Croix Bethune, Courtney Brown (Rosemonde Kouassi - 46'), Rebeca Bernal (Kysha Sylla - 60'), Gift Monday (Heather Stainbrook - 74')

Subs Not Used: Sandy MacIver, Kiley Dulaney, Meg Boade

Score:

NCC: 1
WAS: 3

Goals:

NCC: Manaka - 30' (Rauch)
WAS: C. Brown - 24' (Ratcliffe); B. Ratcliffe - 27' (Krueger); G. Monday - 58' (Narumi)

Cautions:

NCC: –
WAS: –

Ejections:

NCC: –
WAS: –

Venue (Location): Audi Field (Washington, D.C.)

Attendance: 17,625