CARY, N.C. (Oct. 11, 2024) – The North Carolina Courage, fresh off a playoff-clinching win, are back home to host Angel City FC this Saturday, October 12, with a 7:30 p.m. ET kickoff at WakeMed Soccer Park. The match will air on ION domestically with JP Dellacamera and Jill Loyden on the call.
The Courage will ‘Pink the Park’ for Play4Kay day with the Kay Yow Cancer Fund in a night designed to honor cancer warriors, survivors, and thrivers in the fight against cancer. There will also be a donation drive set up outside the gates to collect supplies for Western North Carolinians still struggling in the aftermath of Hurricane Helene. See the list of accepted items here. Get tickets here. Courage Head Coach Sean Nahas has spoken all season on performance mattering more than results, so expect a similar mindset for this weekend despite the team’s playoff situation being virtually set. The Courage are firmly in fifth place in the NWSL table with a 12-2-9 record for 38 points, eight behind fourth and six ahead of sixth with three matches left to play. The young stars shined bright last week with Aline Gomes scoring her first NWSL goal and Manaka Matsukubo making her triumphant return from the U-20 World Cup with a brilliant header finish that landed NWSL Goal of the Week honors. Kaleigh Kurtz won Save of the Week for her clear off the line in the waning seconds to preserve the win while Casey Murphy made six big saves of her own to keep the Courage on top in yet another brilliant performance since her return from the Olympics. Angel City is in desperation mode in their hunt for the post-season, sitting 11th in the table with 22 points, six behind the eighth-place playoff cut line. They’ll need all three points to keep their hopes alive while anything else opens them up to elimination. Alyssa Thompson has been involved in seven goals in her last seven games (5 goals, 2 assists), more than any other player in the NWSL since the league returned from its summer break in late August. Angel City has also won three of the last four on the road, coming off a 0-1 win at Seattle last week. The Courage are undefeated at home this year with nine wins and a pair of draws, bringing the overall home unbeaten streak to 20 regular season games. They enter this weekend two shy of the all-time streak set by Seattle in 2014-15, while one more win would match Portland’s 10 in 2017 for the most home wins in a single season. The clinched Courage home prowess will be tested by a road-ready hungry Angel City side. With the single-season attendance record set to be broken, the home field advantage will be crucial for the Courage to find the desired result to continue building momentum towards the playoffs.
