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CARY, N.C. (March 15, 2024) – The North Carolina Courage open the 2024 NWSL regular season this Saturday, March 16, as they welcome the Houston Dash to WakeMed Soccer Park for a 7:00 p.m. ET kickoff.

There will be even more reason to celebrate on Saturday, as the team welcomes back club legend Sam Mewis as the first inductee into the newly formed Ring of Honor. The induction ceremony will take place on the field immediately following the match. Mewis won five trophies with the Courage as a three-time NWSL Shield winner and two-time NWSL Champion. She helped the United States hoist the World Cup in 2019, but injuries forced an early retirement prior to the 2024 season. A bedrock of the Courage, Mewis will be celebrated throughout the weekend at WakeMed Soccer Park. Mewis will do an hour-long autograph session in FanFest prior to the match beginning when gates open at 5:30 p.m. ET. There is a strict limit of one brought item, plus the giveaway poster, to be signed per person per trip through the line. She will also be on field for prematch activities before the ceremony following the final whistle. Fans will be allowed to relocate to the west end seats for a clear view of the presentation after the match ends. The Courage look to build upon an impressive 2023, which saw them far exceed external expectations for a third-place finish in the table and winning their second consecutive UKG NWSL Challenge Cup title. The club added big pieces in the off-season, including international stars in midfielder/forward Ashley Sanchez (USA) and outside back Felicitas Rauch (Germany). They also signed NWSL veterans Bianca St-Georges (Chicago) and Dani Weatherholt (Angel City) through free agency. Their possession-based style made history a year ago, setting the league’s all-time single-season records for possession (60.06%), successful passes (9,483), and passing accuracy (82.51) in 2023. OPTA began tracking these statistics in 2016. The Courage allowed 22 goals last season, the second fewest, and pitched a league-high 10 clean sheets. The new pieces, and growth of the returning core that includes 2023 NWSL Second Best XI performers in captain Denise O’Sullivan and defender Kaleigh Kurtz, will be massive for the team early this season as they look to supplement the offense of 2023 NWSL MVP Kerolin Nicoli, who is still recovering from a torn ACL suffered last October. Houston, meanwhile, looks to jumpstart their offense under a new head coach after scoring just 16 goals as a team in 2023. They have plenty of firepower in the newly resigned Maria Sánchez and familiar foe Diana Ordóñez, who was an NWSL Rookie of the Year finalist for the Courage in 2022. They also added veteran Yuki Nagasato to their front line and just this week bolstered their midfield with the acquisition of Swedish superstar Elin Rubensson.
Defensively, the Dash were among the hardest to solve a year ago, conceding a league-low 18 goals with eight clean sheets. Jane Campbell was named the NWSL Goalkeeper of the Year after leading all keepers in saves (91), fewest goals conceded (18) and goals against average (0.83). She ranked third in the league in shots on target faced (108) and clean sheets (8) and second in save percentage (83.33%). After an impressive 2023 and an exciting off-season, there is plenty of excitement around this 2024 Courage squad entering the new year. Saturday is the first chance to see the next step in the evolution of this team as they build off the foundation set a year ago.