by Fran Stuchbury
March 18, 2024 – National Women’s Soccer League (NWSL) – North Carolina Courage
North Carolina Courage Honor Sam Mewis
(North Carolina Courage, Credit: Fran Stuchbury)
The North Carolina Courage won its opening game of the 2024 National Women’s Soccer League season with a 5-1 victory over the Houston Dash in front of 5,878 fans, a club record for home openers, at WakeMed Soccer Park on Saturday evening.
The Courage had possession of the ball 58 percent of the time. Newcomer Bianca St-Georges became the first player in the NWSL with a brace in her team debut since 2014.
“First half you could tell it was the first game for us, we just couldn’t really get into a flow,” said Courage Head Coach Sean Nahas. “They made it really difficult for us, going man-to-man in the middle and dropping players in certain spots. We told them what they needed to change at halftime and they did it. That’s where the spaces were and had some different movements in the areas you want the players to pick up. The players performed it brilliantly, and to be fair they did it sort of naturally and our style started to kick in towards the middle part of that half towards the end, and we took hold of the game. Proud of the way they performed. It’s always good to get a first result of the season.”
The Courage scored first in the 19th minute on a penalty kick by defender Malia Berkley.
“I think I’m just thankful that I was able to step up and just place it,” said Berkley. “We do penalty kicks in training, and it’s just as easy as putting it where the keeper isn’t. That’s all you really needed to do. So I’m glad that it kind of got the ball rolling for us. It kind of settled us into the game and allowed us to really start playing.”
Berkely has been with the Courage since the 2022 season. She led the NWSL in passing accuracy (89.8%) last season.
In the second half, the flood gates opened for North Carolina with four goals. The first came in the 55th minute by Haley Hopkins. Hopkins played at Virginia, and the Courage selected her in the first round, 11th overall, of the 2023 NWSL Draft.
The Dash cut their deficit to 2-1 in the 65th minute on an own goal with a cross from Dash forward Maria Sánchez that was deflected into the net by Courage player Kaleigh Kurtz.
The Courage then pulled away with two goals from St-Georges who came in as a sub and scored just two minutes later in the 76th and then again in the 86th minute.
St-Georges cited what led her to North Carolina: “The winning…