# 2017 North Carolina Courage season

The 2017 North Carolina Courage season was the team's first 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. The Courage finished the regular season atop the table, winning the NWSL Shield and earning a spot in the NWSL Playoffs. After defeating Chicago 1–0 in the semi-finals of the playoffs, it lost 0–1 to Portland in the final.

## Review

The team played its previous season as the Western New York Flash, which won the 2016 NWSL Championship. The owners of North Carolina FC purchased the Flash and moved them to Cary, North Carolina, in January 2017 to create the Courage franchise, and retained most of the Flash's roster and coaching staff.

## Team
### First-team roster

    As of August 13, 2017
    Source: North Carolina Courage
Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules; some limited exceptions apply. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.
| No. | Pos. | Nation | Player |
| 0 | GK | USA | Katelyn Rowland |
| 1 | GK | CAN | Sabrina D'Angelo |
| 2 | DF | NOR | Nora Holstad |
| 3 | FW | USA | Makenzy Doniak |
| 4 | DF | USA | Elizabeth Eddy |
| 5 | MF | USA | Sam Mewis |
| 6 | DF | NZL | Abby Erceg |
| 7 | MF | USA | McCall Zerboni |
| 8 | MF | IRL | Denise O'Sullivan |
| 9 | FW | USA | Lynn Williams |
| 10 | MF | BRA | Debinha |
| No. | Pos. | Nation | Player |
| 11 | DF | USA | Taylor Smith |
| 12 | FW | USA | Ashley Hatch |
| 13 | DF | USA | Abby Dahlkemper |
| 14 | FW | USA | Jessica McDonald |
| 15 | DF | USA | Jaelene Hinkle |
| 16 | FW | USA | Darian Jenkins |
| 20 | DF | JPN | Yuri Kawamura |
| 22 | DF | USA | Stephanie Ochs |
| 23 | FW | USA | Kristen Hamilton |
| 25 | DF | USA | Meredith Speck |
| 26 | MF | USA | Samantha Witteman |

## Transactions
### 2017 NWSL College Draft

    Source: National Women's Soccer League
| Round | Pick | Player | Pos. | Previous Team |
| Round 1 | 2 | Ashley Hatch | FW | Brigham Young University |
| Round 1 | 7 | Darian Jenkins | DF | UCLA |
| Round 2 | 20 | Claire Wagner | DF | Clemson |
| Round 3 | 27 | Jaycie Johnson | FW | University of Nebraska |

### In

| Date | Player | Positions played | Previous club | Fee/notes |
| December 23, 2016 | Rosana | MF | Houston Dash | Acquired while the franchise operated as the Western New York Flash. |
| January 5, 2017 | Debinha | MF | Dalian Quanjian F.C. | Acquired while the franchise operated as the Western New York Flash. |
| January 19, 2017 | Samantha Witteman | MF | Orlando Pride | Acquired in a trade for Alanna Kennedy. |
| April 4, 2017 | Yuri Kawamura | DF | Albirex Niigata Ladies | |
| April 10, 2017 | Ashley Hatch | FW | Brigham Young University | Signed college draft picks. |
| April 10, 2017 | Darian Jenkins | FW | University of California, Los Angeles | Signed college draft picks. |
| June 16, 2017 | Stephanie Ochs | DF | Houston Dash | Acquired off waivers. |
| July 26, 2017 | Nora Holstad | DF | FC Bayern Munich | |
| July 28, 2017 | Denise O'Sullivan | MF | Houston Dash | Acquired off waivers. |

### Out

| Date | Player | Positions played | Destination club | Fee/notes |
| January 19, 2017 | Alanna Kennedy | DF | Orlando Pride | Traded to acquire Samantha Witteman. |
| May 27, 2017 | Courtney Niemiec | DF | | Retired. |
| June 21, 2017 | Rosana | MF | | Waived. |

## Competitions
### National Women's Soccer League
#### Preseason

    Source: North Carolina FC

#### Regular season

    Source: National Women's Soccer League

#### League table

| Pos | Teamvte | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification |
| 1 | North Carolina Courage | 24 | 16 | 1 | 7 | 38 | 22 | +16 | 49 | NWSL Shield |
| 2 | Portland Thorns FC (C) | 24 | 14 | 5 | 5 | 37 | 20 | +17 | 47 | NWSL Playoffs |
| 3 | Orlando Pride | 24 | 11 | 7 | 6 | 45 | 31 | +14 | 40 | NWSL Playoffs |
| 4 | Chicago Red Stars | 24 | 11 | 6 | 7 | 33 | 30 | +3 | 39 | NWSL Playoffs |
| 5 | Seattle Reign FC | 24 | 9 | 7 | 8 | 43 | 37 | +6 | 34 | |
| 6 | Sky Blue FC | 24 | 10 | 3 | 11 | 42 | 51 | −9 | 33 | |
| 7 | FC Kansas City | 24 | 8 | 7 | 9 | 29 | 31 | −2 | 31 | |
| 8 | Houston Dash | 24 | 7 | 3 | 14 | 23 | 39 | −16 | 24 | |
| 9 | Boston Breakers | 24 | 4 | 7 | 13 | 24 | 35 | −11 | 19 | |
| 10 | Washington Spirit | 24 | 5 | 4 | 15 | 30 | 48 | −18 | 19 | |

#### Results summary

| Overall | Overall | Overall | Overall | Overall | Overall | Overall | Overall | Home | Home | Home | Home | Home | Home | Away | Away | Away | Away | Away | Away |
Last updated: September 30, 2017. Source: NWSLsoccer.com

#### Results by round

| Round | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 |
| Stadium | A | H | H | A | A | H | H | A | H | H | A | H | H | A | A | H | A | A | H | A | A | A | H | A | A | H |
| Result | W | W | W | W | L | L | W | L | W | W | W | L | W | L | P | W | W | W | W | P | W | L | W | D | W | L |
| Position | 4 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 |

## Honors and awards
### NWSL Team of the Month

| Month | Goalkeeper | Defenders | Midfielders | Forwards |
| April | | | Debinha Sam Mewis | Lynn Williams |
| June | | Abby Dahlkemper | Sam Mewis | Ashley Hatch |
| July | | Abby Dahlkemper Taylor Smith | McCall Zerboni | |
| August | Katelyn Rowland | Taylor Smith | Sam Mewis | |

### NWSL Player of the Week

| Week | Result | Player | Ref. |
| 16 | Won | Sam Mewis | |

### NWSL Goal of the Week

| Week | Result | Player |
| 1 | Nominated | McCall Zerboni |
| 2 | Nominated | Debinha |
| 3 | Nominated | Lynn Williams |
| 6 | Nominated | Lynn Williams |
| 7 | Nominated | Debinha |
| 8 | Nominated | Ashley Hatch |
| 9 | Nominated | Ashley Hatch |
| 16 | Nominated | Sam Mewis |

### NWSL Save of the Week

| Week | Result | Player | Ref. |
| 3 | Nominated | Sabrina D'Angelo | |

## Statistics

    As of June 18, 2017
    Source: National Women's Soccer League
| N | Pos | Player | GP | GS | Min | G | A | PK | Shot | SOG | SOG% | CK | Off | Foul | YC | RC |
| 1 | GK | Sabrina D'Angelo | 7 | 7 | 630 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | -- | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| 13 | DF | Abby Dahlkemper | 10 | 10 | 900 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 50.00% | 65 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| 10 | MF | Débora Debinha | 10 | 9 | 819 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 22 | 13 | 59.09% | 4 | 0 | 9 | 0 | 0 |
| 3 | FW | Makenzy Doniak | 10 | 9 | 657 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0.00% | 0 | 0 | 5 | 0 | 0 |
| 4 | DF | Elizabeth Eddy | 2 | 0 | 26 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | -- | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 6 | DF | Abby Erceg | 8 | 8 | 687 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 6 | 3 | 50.00% | 0 | 0 | 3 | 1 | 1 |
| 23 | FW | Kristen Hamilton | 5 | 1 | 154 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 100.00% | 0 | 0 | 6 | 0 | 0 |
| 12 | FW | Ashley Hatch | 8 | 2 | 266 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 12 | 8 | 66.67% | 0 | 0 | 5 | 1 | 0 |
| 15 | DF | Jaelene Hinkle | 8 | 8 | 694 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 4 | 1 | 25.00% | 1 | 2 | 8 | 0 | 0 |
| 16 | FW | Darian Jenkins | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | -- | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 20 | DF | Yuri Kawamura | 8 | 7 | 588 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 50.00% | 0 | 0 | 10 | 1 | 0 |
| 14 | FW | Jessica McDonald | 8 | 7 | 620 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 19 | 8 | 42.11% | 0 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| 5 | MF | Samantha Mewis | 10 | 10 | 900 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 16 | 7 | 43.75% | 7 | 0 | 11 | 2 | 0 |
| 17 | DF | Courtney Niemiec | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | -- | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 22 | DF | Stephanie Ochs | 1 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | -- | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 8 | MF | Rosana Rosana | 4 | 1 | 68 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 100.00% | 0 | 1 | 5 | 0 | 0 |
| 0 | GK | Katelyn Rowland | 3 | 3 | 270 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | -- | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 11 | DF | Taylor Smith | 10 | 5 | 553 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 100.00% | 0 | 0 | 13 | 1 | 0 |
| 26 | DF | Meredith Speck | 2 | 0 | 17 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | -- | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 9 | FW | Lynn Williams | 9 | 9 | 810 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 30 | 16 | 53.33% | 0 | 7 | 3 | 0 | 0 |
| 26 | MF | Sam Witteman | 7 | 4 | 305 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 100.00% | 0 | 0 | 8 | 1 | 0 |
| 7 | MF | McCall Zerboni | 10 | 10 | 900 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 10 | 5 | 50.00% | 3 | 0 | 21 | 4 | 0 |
| Team Total | Team Total | Team Total | 140 | 110 | 9867 | 17 | 12 | 2 | 131 | 69 | 52.67% | 80 | 12 | 110 | 11 | 1 |