2021 North Carolina Courage season

The 2021 North Carolina Courage season was the team's fifth season as a professional women's soccer team. North Carolina Courage plays in the National Women's Soccer League, the top tier of women's soccer in the United States.

North Carolina Courage
2021 season
Managing ownerSteve Malik
ChairmanSteve Malik
Head CoachPaul Riley (until September 30)
Sean Nahas (interim; from September 30)
StadiumSahlen's Stadium at WakeMed Soccer Park
NWSL6th of 10
NWSL Challenge Cup2nd of 5, East Division
Top goalscorerLeague: Lynn Williams (7)
All: Lynn Williams (11)
Highest home attendance7,064
(October 17 vs NJ/NY)
Lowest home attendance2,300
(April 10 vs Washington)
Average home league attendance4,986
Biggest win5–0
(May 28 vs Louisville)
Biggest defeat1–4
(October 10 vs Houston)

Background
See also: 2020 National Women's Soccer League season

North Carolina had finished the previous two regular seasons as champions of the National Women's Soccer League, along with winning the NWSL Shield by maintaining the league-best record in 2017, 2018, and 2019. The 2020 regular season was canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and the team was eliminated in the quarter-final round of the 2020 Challenge Cup.[1]

During the off-season, tennis star Naomi Osaka joined the team's ownership and the team unveiled new home and away kits.[2][3]

Competitive matches

Challenge Cup
Main article: 2021 NWSL Challenge Cup

Group stage
April 10 North Carolina Courage 3–2 Washington Spirit Cary, North Carolina
15:30 EDT
Report
Stadium: WakeMed Soccer Park
Attendance: 2,300
April 20 2 NJ/NY Gotham FC 4–3 North Carolina Courage Montclair, New Jersey
18:00 EDT
Report
Stadium: MSU Soccer Park at Pittser Field
April 26 3 Racing Louisville FC 2–3 North Carolina Courage Louisville, Kentucky
18:00 EDT
Report
Stadium: Lynn Family Stadium
Attendance: 3,742
May 1 4 North Carolina Courage 0–0 Orlando Pride Cary, North Carolina
19:30 EDT
Report Stadium: WakeMed Soccer Park
Attendance: 2,426

Standings
Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification
1 NJ/NY Gotham FC 4 2 2 0 5 3 +2 8 Qualification for the Championship
2 North Carolina Courage 4 2 1 1 9 8 +1 7
3 Orlando Pride 4 1 2 1 3 3 0 5
4 Washington Spirit 4 1 1 2 3 4 −1 4
5 Racing Louisville FC 4 0 2 2 4 6 −2 2
Source: NWSL
Rules for classification: Tiebreakers

Regular season
Main article: 2021 National Women's Soccer League season

Matches
May 15 1 OL Reign 0–0 North Carolina Courage Tacoma, Washington
19:00 PDT
Report
Stadium: Cheney Stadium
Attendance: 2,104
May 22 2 North Carolina Courage 1–2 Orlando Pride Cary, North Carolina
19:00 EDT
Report
Stadium: WakeMed Soccer Park
May 28 3 North Carolina Courage 5–0 Racing Louisville FC Cary, North Carolina
19:00 EDT
Report Stadium: WakeMed Soccer Park
June 5 4 Chicago Red Stars 1–0 North Carolina Courage Bridgeview, Illinois
13:00 CDT
Report Stadium: SeatGeek Stadium
June 19 5 North Carolina Courage 2–1 OL Reign Cary, North Carolina
16:00 EDT
Report
Stadium: WakeMed Soccer Park
Attendance: 5,026
June 23 6 Racing Louisville FC 0–2 North Carolina Courage Louisville, Kentucky
19:30 EDT
Report
Stadium: Lynn Family Stadium
Attendance: 6,334
June 26 7 North Carolina Courage 2–0 Portland Thorns FC Cary, North Carolina
19:00 EDT
Report
Stadium: WakeMed Soccer Park
July 4 8 Orlando Pride 0–2 North Carolina Courage Orlando, Florida
18:00 EDT Report
Stadium: Exploria Stadium
Attendance: 3,926
July 10 9 Washington Spirit 2–0 North Carolina Courage Washington, D.C.
19:00 EDT
Report
Stadium: Audi Field
Attendance: 4,929
July 17 10 North Carolina Courage 1–2 Houston Dash Cary, North Carolina
19:00 EDT
Report
Stadium: WakeMed Soccer Park
Attendance: 5,229
July 23 11 Kansas City Current 0–0 North Carolina Courage Kansas City, Kansas
19:00 CDT Report
Stadium: Legends Field
July 31 12 North Carolina Courage 1–1 Orlando Pride Cary, North Carolina
19:00 EDT
Report
Stadium: WakeMed Soccer Park
Attendance: 5,523
August 7 13 NJ/NY Gotham FC 0–1 North Carolina Courage Harrison, New Jersey
19:00 EDT
Report
Stadium: Red Bull Arena
Attendance: 2,179
August 15 14 North Carolina Courage 1–0 Chicago Red Stars Cary, North Carolina
18:45 EDT
Report
Stadium: WakeMed Soccer Park
Attendance: 5,002
August 21 15 North Carolina Courage 4–0 Kansas City Current Cary, North Carolina
19:00 EDT
Report
Stadium: WakeMed Soccer Park
August 29 16 Washington Spirit 0–0 North Carolina Courage Washington, D.C.
17:00 EDT
Report
Stadium: Audi Field
Attendance: 4,554
September 5 17 Kansas City Current 0–0 North Carolina Courage Kansas City, Kansas
18:00 CDT
Report
Stadium: Legends Field
Attendance: 4,583
September 12 18 North Carolina Courage 0–1 Portland Thorns FC Cary, North Carolina
15:00 EDT
Report
Stadium: WakeMed Soccer Park
Attendance: 5,161
September 25 19 NJ/NY Gotham FC 3–1 North Carolina Courage Harrison, New Jersey
15:00 EDT
Report
Stadium: Red Bull Arena
Attendance: 2,887
October 6 20 North Carolina Courage 3–1 Racing Louisville FC Cary, North Carolina
19:30 EDT
Report
Stadium: WakeMed Soccer Park
Attendance: 3,523
October 10 21 Houston Dash 4–1 North Carolina Courage Houston, Texas
18:00 CDT
Report
Stadium: PNC Stadium
Attendance: 4,155
October 13 22 North Carolina Courage 1–2 Washington Spirit Cary, North Carolina
19:30 EDT
Report
Stadium: WakeMed Soccer Park
Attendance: 3,742
October 17 23 North Carolina Courage 0–3 NJ/NY Gotham FC Cary, North Carolina
14:00 EDT
Report
Stadium: WakeMed Soccer Park
Attendance: 7,064
October 30 24 Portland Thorns FC 0–0 North Carolina Courage Portland, Oregon
19:00 PDT Report Stadium: Providence Park
Attendance: 17,584

Color key: Green = North Carolina win; Yellow = draw; Red = opponents win.

Standings
Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification
1 Portland Thorns FC 24 13 5 6 33 17 +16 44 NWSL Shield
2 OL Reign 24 13 3 8 37 24 +13 42 Playoffs – Semi-finals
3 Washington Spirit (C) 24 11 6 7 29 26 +3 39 Playoffs – First round
4 Chicago Red Stars 24 11 5 8 28 28 0 38
5 NJ/NY Gotham FC 24 8 11 5 29 21 +8 35
6 North Carolina Courage 24 9 6 9 28 23 +5 33
7 Houston Dash 24 9 5 10 31 31 0 32
8 Orlando Pride 24 7 7 10 27 32 −5 28
9 Racing Louisville FC 24 5 7 12 21 40 −19 22
10 Kansas City 24 3 7 14 15 36 −21 16
Source: NWSL
Rules for classification: Tiebreakers
(C) Champions

Playoffs
November 7 First round Washington Spirit 1–0 (a.e.t.) North Carolina Courage Washington, D.C.
17:30 EST Hatch 113' Report Stadium: Audi Field
Attendance: 5,379
Referee: Natalie Simon

See also

References
  1. Negley, Cassandra (April 8, 2021). "NWSL 2021 season preview: Who to watch, new kits, key questions and more". Yahoo! Sports. Retrieved May 2, 2022.
  2. Linehan, Meg; Kamrani, Christopher (January 28, 2021). "Naomi Osaka buys stake in NWSL's North Carolina Courage". The Athletic. Retrieved May 2, 2022.
  3. "Mountains to Sea: The NC Courage 2021 Kit Embraces the Home State". NC Courage. Retrieved May 2, 2022.
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