April 26, 2024 – National Women’s Soccer League (NWSL)
North Carolina Courage News Release
CARY, N.C. – The North Carolina Courage return to WakeMed Soccer Park for their sixth match of the 2024 NWSL Regular Season this Saturday, April 27, when they host Seattle Reign FC for a 7 p.m. ET kickoff. The match will stream nationally on NWSL+ and air locally on COZI-TV.
The night will celebrate sportsmanship as the 2024 NCFC Youth Shield Award winners are celebrated throughout the match in front of teammates, family, and friends. One of the largest crowds in club history is expected, but limited tickets are still available for the match here.
The Courage sit in fourth place in the NWSL table with nine points on a 3-2-0 record. They’ll look to bounce back from a head scratching defeat from last Sunday in which they dominated every statistical category and had a litany of chances, but fell on the road, 2-1, to Angel City FC. Tyler Lussi scored the goal, her third contribution in two weeks, while Feli Rauch notched her first point in the NWSL with the assist.
WakeMed Soccer Park continues to be a fortress for the Courage, who are undefeated in regular season home matches for over a calendar year, having last lost at home on April 15, 2023. They have since gone unbeaten in 12 straight home regular season contests (7W, 5D) including a perfect 3-0-0 home record to start 2024.
The Courage earned a home win, 1-0, over Seattle last Mother’s Day on a Lussi goal, then played to a 1-1 draw at Lumen Field in October. The Courage are 10-3-3 lifetime against the Seattle side with all 16 meetings coming in regular season play.
Seattle began the post-Rapinoe era with a win to open the 2024 season, but have fallen in four straight contests since, including a pair of 2-1 losses to the Chicago Red Stars. No team has lost possession more than Seattle, who’s done so 829 times despite ranking third in the league with 53.4% possession.
They have five goals and 14 shots on target this year, both of which rank third from bottom in the league. Bethany Balcer is the only multi-goal scorer so far with two while she and Ji So-Yun have combined for a quarter of the team’s total shots, taking 15 of the 61.
Seattle has plenty of veteran leadership that can right the ship and every match Seattle has played has been decided by one goal. There is plenty of reason for confidence that things will turn around as the season progresses despite the slow start.
WakeMed Soccer Park should be buzzing Saturday…