by Fran Stuchbury
September 16, 2024 – National Women’s Soccer League (NWSL)
North Carolina Courage
North Carolina Courage vs. Bay FC
(North Carolina Courage, Credit: Fran Stuchbury)
The North Carolina Courage played to a 1-1 draw in their first matchup against National Women’s Soccer League expansion team Bay Area FC in front of 6,837 fans for Star Wars Night at WakeMed Soccer Park Friday evening. The Courage extended their home unbeaten streak to 19 consecutive matches (12 wins, seven draws), the club record. They are now 8-0-2 at home this season sit in fifth place in the NWSL standings.
“I thought we were okay today,” said Courage Head Coach Sean Nahas. “To get out of here with one point we would take that with our first half performance. I thought we were really all over the place. We did a better job in the second half. In the first half, we were a little bit on edge: too many cheap giveaways, too many free possessions. We weren’t really ourselves; a lot of technical breakdowns. (We) found the resolve to get back into it. I’m happy to get a point, but I felt like, for average, as we played we could have easily lost, and then could have easily won. A couple of chances, but you can’t be great every day. You can have games like this, and they showed a fight and character about them, but there’s definitely areas we have to be better at.”
“People keep talking about the unbeaten streak at home,” Nahas added. “I don’t care about that stuff. I don’t wake up every morning and say, ’19 games unbeaten at home,’ at the end of the day. We need to do a better job of not giving away, allowing teams to be involved in the game as much as they were. They were really dynamic and fluid, and you we were a little bit more rigid. I think we have to be a little bit stronger.”
Bay FC is unbeaten in three games with two wins and a draw, holding eighth place in the NWSL standings. This season the top eight teams make the playoffs.
Bay FC opened the scoring in the ninth minute on a goal by forward Asisat Oshoala, her fifth of the season. Oshoala has played on the Nigeria National team since 2013. Former Courage forward Tess Boade assisted.
Boade was the third overall pick in the 2024 NWSL Expansion Draft by Bay FC.
“Huge point for us,” said Boade. “I think coming away to a team like this, that is probably deserving of being higher in the table, they are a super good team. Happy to get a point, huge progress for our team. Those moments we couldn’t hold on to a tie earlier in the…