Game 1 Preview: Racing at Courage
Bev Yanez brings her Grit Ball to North Carolina to face a revamped Courage side
For the second year in a row, the Courage kick off the season against Racing Louisville. Despite some key departures—most notably Janine Sonis—you can expect the same Racing team we saw last year. Big Purp wear their blue collar with an insolent pride. Not for them is the slow, intricate possession game the Courage played under Sean Nahas. Racing press hard and play direct, in-your-face soccer. It’s not pretty, but it’s Louisville. And it can cause a lot of problems.
The Courage enter 2026 after an offseason of upheaval. Stalwarts and club icons Denise O’Sullivan and Kaleigh Kurtz departed. Fan favorite Meredith Speck, the last player who moved with the club from the Western New York Flash, was not offered a new contract. Homegrown talent Brianna Pinto moved to Chicago. Casey Murphy is between the sticks in Boston. Tyler Lussi has moved the USL. In total, 10 players left the club in the offseaon.
In their place, the Courage have signed 11 new permanent players: GK – Kailen Sheridan, Madi White, Molly Pritchard; DEF – Sydney Schmidt, Cameron Brooks, Uno Shiragaki; MID – Carly Wickenheiser; FOR – Lauryn Thompson, Chioma Okafor, Evely Ijeh, Ashley Schlegel. That’s on top of late additions to the 2025 squad in defender Natalie Jacobs, midfielder Oli Peña, and forward Payton Linnehan. Oh, and the team hired a new coach. Mak Lind, who led B.K. Häcken to the Swedish title last season, takes over for Sean Nahas, who was sacked during the season for a “mulitude of factors.”
What can we expect from a Courage team that has parted ways not only with club legends but also with a coach who brought a distinctive style of play? According to Chief Soccer Officer Ceri Bowley, the club is committed to playing possession soccer. However, I doubt that means the sometimes glacially patient build-up of Nahas’s teams. Bowley has also noted—correctly—that the 2025 team lacked “stretchers,” players with pace to stretch the opponent’s back line, especially when they sell out to the clog the space the Courage want to build through. In short, I expect to see a team that wants the ball but also shows a willingness to play vertically when the space is behind the opponent’s back line. We’ll see if the Courage can do this effectively.
Projected Lineup
For Saturday’s game against Louisville, I expect to see a base 4-2-3-1 lineup. Out of possession I expect lines of 4-4-2 with a mid block. In possession, I think we will see a 3-2-5 with either Williams or Rauch providing width on the wing.
Importantly, the club’s new star and 2025 Midfielder of the Year Manaka Matsukubo is not available because she is with the Japanese national team. Sadly, Olivia Wingate opens the year still on the season-ending injury list.
My predicted lineup:
GK – Kailen Sheridan
DEF – Ryan Willams (RB), Maycee Bell (CB), Natalie Jacobs (CB), Feli Rauch (LB)
MID – Carly Wickenheiser (DP - double pivot), Riley Jackson (DP), Ashley Shlegel (AM - attacking mid/10)
FOR – Ashley Sanchez (LW), Lauryn Thompson (ST), Payton Linnehan (RW)
Once you get past the defense and the double pivot, my confidence in these calls drops considerably. Honestly, I have no idea what the forward line will look like. The only one I feel confident about is Linnehan at right wing. I am putting Sanchez at left wing due to reports she has been there in training and in a recent scrimmage. (I hate the idea of Sanchez on the wing. It was tried last year, and the results were… not great. I think she’s a pure 10. We’ll see.) No clue who we see at striker. Maybe Betfort?
Three Questions
I expect the the answers to these questions to determine the outcome of the game:
1. Can the Courage contain Emma Sears?
Sears burst onto the scene in 2024 when Racing signed her out of Ohio State. Bringing her amazonian physique and work ethic to the right wing, she fits Louisiville perfectly. She is strong, fast, and relentless. Her standout play for club has put her firmly in the mix of the USWNT while the “triple espresso” women have missed time due to injury and pregnancy. In fact, Emma Hayes said recently that Sears would be the first forward off the bench if the World Cup were being played now.
I expect the Courage to start Feli Rauch at left back. Rauch is an excellent footballer. She has a high soccer IQ which results in good positioning and enviable technical ability. She is not fast. If the Courage hope to keep Sears off the score sheet, it will take a team effort to contain her. Although I expect to see her at right center back more often, it’s possible that Maycee Bell will line up on the left for this game. She alone of the Courage back line has the pace to keep up with Sears. Also, I think it’s likely that Carly Wickenheiser will be part of the Courage game plan to stop Sears.
Bottom line, if the Courage can get through the game without Sears registering a goal or an assist, I expect them to win.
2. Can the Courage Handle Racing’s Press?
This new Courage team will get a stern test on Saturday in whether they can play through an aggressive and organized press. Louisville will press with speed and anger and try to win the ball in their attacking third. NC will need to be at their best to break the press and not turn the ball over in dangerous areas.
Two Courage players to focus on are Williams and Wickenheiser. Although Williams is one of the best right backs in the NWSL, teams tend to focus on her in the press. She is technical but sometimes uncomfortable on the ball. If she can consistently stay composed and find the right pass, the Courage should have success. If Wickenheiser starts in the double pivot, she also will be key to NC’s buildup play. Coming from Sweden’s Damallsvenskan (a wonderful name for a soccer league), can she handle the speed of play in the NWSL?
Pay attention to whether the Courage are willing—and able, I guess—to play vertically. If the Racing CBs push several yards into the Courage half to squeeze the space, can NC play long and make them pay the price for their aggression? In 2025, the Courage did try at times, even under Nahas, to play a more vertical game. But until Nahas was fired and Linnehan joined the team, they had little success. Again, you need “stretchers” to stretch, and the 2025 Courage were a team of “combiners.”
3. Can the Courage Avoid Goalie Gaffes and Defend Set Pieces?
The Courage missed the playoffs last year mainly due to goalie gaffes and poor set piece defending.
Despite a slow start, they finished fourth in the league in goals scored. They finished tied for ninth in goals conceded, with one more conceded than the eighth place team. Sadly, FBREF was forced to remove all of its advanced metric data, but I believe the Courage underperformed both their xG (expected goals) and their xGA (expected goals against). In other words, they scored fewer goals than expected, although I believe the numbers were close, and conceded more than expected. These numbers made them a borderline playoff team.
I hate to single out players, but if Casey Murphy had simply tipped Prisca Chilufya’s wild hit over the bar in minute 90+3 on May 10, 2025, the Courage would have taken all 3 points against the Pride. If Jaedyn Shaw hadn’t lost her mark—not for the first time that season!—on Utah’s corner kick in minute 90+4 on September 6, 2025, the Courage would have taken all 3 points. Those are only two of several examples, but they are enough. North Carolina missed the playoffs by 2 points.
Happily, the Courage signed one of the best goalkeepers in the world in Kailen Sheridan, so I expect the quality of play to improve over last season. The big question will be defending set pieces. Racing loves to rely on set pieces to score, and Taylor Flint is always dangerous. If Louisville can score on a set piece on Saturday, it will be difficult for the Courage to get the win.
Prediction
Racing 2 - 1 Courage
The Courage are competitive, but without Manaka they are not quite ready for a more experienced Racing team that plays a simpler, more direct style. Emma Sears scores in transition and Louisville gets another on a corner kick. Schlegel nets her first for North Carolina.