North Carolina Courage

2020 season
Owner	Stephen Malik
General Manager	Curt Johnson
Head Coach	Paul Riley
Stadium	Sahlen's Stadium at WakeMed Soccer Park Cary, North Carolina ( Capacity: 10,000)
NWSL Challenge Cup	Quarterfinals
Community Shield	5th place
Top goalscorer	League: N/A All: Lynn Williams (6)
Biggest win	2–0 (July 4th vs. Washington) 2–0 (July 8th vs. Sky Blue)
Biggest defeat	1–4 (October 4th vs. Houston)
Home colors Away colors
←  2019 2021 →

The 2020 North Carolina Courage season was the team's fourth 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.

Team

Coaching staff

As of October 1, 2020

Source: North Carolina Courage ^[1]

Position	Staff
Head coach	Paul Riley
Assistant coach	Scott Vallow
Assistant coach	Bill Paladino
Assistant coach	Sean Nahas
Assistant coach	Nathan Thackeray

First-team roster

As of September 30, 2020 ^{[2] [3] [4]}

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Pos. Nation Player 1 GK   CAN Stephanie Labbé 3 DF   USA Kaleigh Kurtz 4 FW   USA McKenzie Meehan 5 MF   USA Sam Mewis 6 DF   NZL Abby Erceg * 8 MF   IRL Denise O'Sullivan (loaned out) 9 FW   USA Lynn Williams 10 MF   BRA Debinha 11 DF   USA Merritt Mathias 13 DF   USA Abby Dahlkemper 14 FW   USA Jessica McDonald * 15 DF   USA Jaelene Daniels * 19 FW   USA Crystal Dunn * 20 MF   USA Ryan Williams 21 DF   USA Cari Roccaro 23 FW   USA Kristen Hamilton * 25 DF   USA Meredith Speck

No. Pos. Nation Player 26 DF   USA Hailey Harbison 27 MF   USA Lauren Milliet 37 GK   USA Samantha Murphy 99 GK   USA Katelyn Rowland — DF   CAN Lindsay Agnew (loaned out) — DF   USA Hailie Mace (loaned out) — DF   USA Addisyn Merrick — DF   USA Sinclaire Miramontez — FW   USA Ally Watt — FW   USA Rylee Baisden — FW   USA Danica Evans — FW   ALB Kristina Maksuti — MF   USA Peyton Perea — DF   MEX Arianna Romero — FW   JAM Havana Solaun

• Player opted not to participate in the 2020 NWSL Fall Series. ^[3]

Player transactions

2020 NWSL College Draft

Source: National Women's Soccer League ^[5]

Round	Pick	Nat.	Player	Previous Team
Round 1	6		Ally Watt	Texas A&M
Round 3	27		Sinclaire Miramontez	University of Nebraska
Round 4	28		Addisyn Merrick	University of Kansas
Round 4	36		Bri Folds	Auburn

Players in

Date	Player	Positions played	Previous club	Fee/notes	Ref.
June 19, 2020	Lindsay Agnew	DF	Houston Dash	Signed a one-year contract with one-year option.	[6]
August 31, 2020	Peyton Perea	MF	Santa Teresa CD	Signed through the 2020 season.	[7]
September 3, 2020	Rylee Baisden	FW	Brisbane Roar FC	Signed through the 2020 season.	[8]
September 3, 2020	Danica Evans	FW	Sporting de Huelva	Signed through the 2020 season.	[8]
September 8, 2020	Kristina Maksuti	FW	MSV Duisburg	Signed through the 2020 season.	[9]
September 9, 2020	Arianna Romero	DF	Houston Dash	Signed through the 2020 season.	[10]
September 30, 2020	Havana Solaun	FW	Klepp IL	Signed through the 2020 season.	[10]
October 22, 2020	Casey Murphy	GK	OL Reign	Acquired with $140,000 in allocation money in a trade for Crystal Dunn.	[11]
December 7, 2020	Taylor Smith	DF	OL Reign	Acquired with the NWSL rights to Jodie Taylor in a trade for Ally Watt.	[12]
December 7, 2020	Jodie Taylor (NWSL rights)	FW	OL Reign	Acquired with Taylor Smith in a trade for Ally Watt.	[12]

Players out

Date	Player	Positions played	Destination club	Fee/notes	Ref.
August 4, 2020	Lindsay Agnew	DF	KIF Örebro DFF	Loaned.	[13]
August 10, 2020	Samantha Mewis	MF	Manchester City W.F.C.	Signed; North Carolina retained NWSL rights.	[14]
August 14, 2020	Hailie Mace	DF	Kristianstads DFF	Loaned.	[15]
September 9, 2020	Denise O'Sullivan	DF	Brighton & Hove Albion W.F.C.	Loaned until December 31, 2020.	[15]
October 22, 2020	Crystal Dunn	MF	OL Reign	Traded for Casey Murphy and $140,000 in allocation money.	[11]
October 30, 2020	Rylee Baisden	FW	Unattached.	Contract terminated.	[16]
October 30, 2020	Danica Evans	FW	Unattached.	Contract terminated.	[16]
October 30, 2020	Kristina Maksuti	FW	Unattached.	Contract terminated.	[16]
October 30, 2020	Peyton Perea	MF	Unattached.	Contract terminated.	[16]
October 30, 2020	Arianna Romero	DF	Unattached.	Contract terminated.	[16]
November 4, 2020	Jaelene Daniels	DF	Unattached; North Carolina retained NWSL rights.	Retired.	[17]
November 12, 2020	Addisyn Merrick	DF	Racing Louisville FC	Selected in the 2020 NWSL Expansion Draft.	[17]
November 12, 2020	Lauren Milliet	MF	Racing Louisville FC	Selected in the 2020 NWSL Expansion Draft.	[17]
December 7, 2020	Ally Watt	DF	OL Reign	Traded for Taylor Smith and the NWSL rights to Jodie Taylor.	[12]

Competitions

National Women's Soccer League

Preseason

Source: North Carolina Courage ^[18]

On March 12, 2020, the preseason match schedule was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. ^[19]

Regular season

On May 27, 2020, the NWSL announced that the 2020 NWSL regular season and playoffs were canceled due to the pandemic, and that the 2020 NWSL Challenge Cup would mark the league's return to action. ^{[20] [21]}

Challenge Cup

Preliminary round

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
1	North Carolina Courage	4	4	0	0	7	1	+6	12
2	Washington Spirit	4	2	1	1	4	4	0	7
3	OL Reign	4	1	2	1	1	2	−1	5
4	Houston Dash	4	1	1	2	5	6	−1	4
5	Utah Royals FC (H)	4	1	1	2	4	5	−1	4
6	Chicago Red Stars	4	1	1	2	2	3	−1	4 [a]
7	Sky Blue FC	4	1	1	2	2	3	−1	4 [a]
8	Portland Thorns FC	4	0	3	1	2	3	−1	3

Quarter-finals

Fall Series

The Courage competed in the South "pod" of the NWSL Fall Series tournament, with the Houston Dash and Orlando Pride. ^[23]

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Portland Thorns FC (C)	4	3	1	0	10	3	+7	10	Community Shield
2	Houston Dash	4	3	0	1	12	7	+5	9	Runners-up
3	Washington Spirit	4	2	1	1	5	4	+1	7	Third place
4	Sky Blue FC	4	2	0	2	6	7	−1	6
5	North Carolina Courage	4	1	2	1	8	10	−2	5
6	Chicago Red Stars	4	1	1	2	7	7	0	4
7	OL Reign	4	1	1	2	6	8	−2	4
8	Orlando Pride	4	0	2	2	5	8	−3	2
9	Utah Royals FC	4	0	2	2	3	8	−5	2

References