# 2019 North Carolina Courage season

The 2019 North Carolina Courage season was the team's third 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.
On September 21, the Courage clinched their third consecutive Shield with a 3–0 victory over the Utah Royals.
On October 27, the Courage defeated the Chicago Red Stars 4–0 to win their second consecutive NWSL Championship.

## Team
### Coaching Staff

    As of May 31, 2018
    Source: North Carolina Courage
| 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 July 18, 2019
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 |
| 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 |
| 7 | MF | USA | McCall Zerboni |
| 8 | MF | IRL | Denise O'Sullivan |
| 9 | FW | USA | Lynn Williams |
| 10 | MF | BRA | Debinha |
| 11 | DF | USA | Merritt Mathias |
| 12 | FW | USA | Leah Pruitt |
| 13 | DF | USA | Abby Dahlkemper |
| 14 | FW | USA | Jessica McDonald |
| No. | Pos. | Nation | Player |
| 15 | DF | USA | Jaelene Hinkle |
| 16 | MF | SWE | Julia Spetsmark |
| 17 | MF | USA | Heather O'Reilly |
| 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 |
| 26 | DF | USA | Hailey Harbison |
| 27 | MF | USA | Lauren Milliet |
| 37 | GK | USA | Sam Leshnak |
| 99 | GK | USA | Katelyn Rowland |

## Player transactions
### 2019 NWSL College Draft

    Source: National Women's Soccer League
| Round | Pick | Player | Previous Team |
| Round 1 | 5 | Leah Pruitt | USC |
| Round 1 | 9 | Hailey Harbison | Pepperdine |
| Round 2 | 14 | Lauren Milliet | Colorado College |
| Round 4 | 36 | Kaycie Tillman | Florida State |

### Players in

| Date | Player | Positions played | Previous club | Fee/notes |
| January 7, 2019 | Julia Spetsmark | DF | Djurgården | Signed. |
| February 12, 2019 | Ally Haran | DF | UMF Selfoss | Signed. |
| February 22, 2019 | Stephanie Labbé | GK | Linköpings FC | Signed. |
| June 11, 2019 | McKenzie Meehan | FW | Sky Blue FC | Acquired in a Trade with Sky Blue FC in exchange for Elizabeth Eddy |
| July 18, 2019 | Sam Leshnak | GK | North Carolina Tar Heels | Signed. |

### Players out

| Date | Player | Positions played | Destination club | Fee/notes |
| October 1, 2018 | Yuri Kawamura | DF | unattached | Waived. |
| December 17, 2018 | Darian Jenkins | FW | Reign FC | Traded to Reign FC in exchange for Reign FC's 9th overall pick in the 2019 NWSL College Draft. |
| January 4, 2019 | Sabrina D'Angelo | GK | Vittsjö | Signed with Vittsjö. |
| April 4, 2019 | Morgan Reid | DF | Orlando Pride | Traded to the Orlando Pride in exchange for Orlando's fourth round pick in the 2020 NWSL College Draft. |
| June 11, 2019 | Elizabeth Eddy | MF | Sky Blue FC | Traded to Sky Blue FC in exchange for McKenzie Meehan. |
| July 18, 2019 | Julie King | DF | | Waived. |
| July 18, 2019 | Ally Haran | DF | | Waived. |

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

    Source: North Carolina Courage

#### Regular season

    Source: North Carolina Courage

#### League table

| Pos | Teamvte | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification |
| 1 | North Carolina Courage (C) | 24 | 15 | 4 | 5 | 54 | 23 | +31 | 49 | NWSL Shield |
| 2 | Chicago Red Stars | 24 | 14 | 2 | 8 | 41 | 28 | +13 | 44 | NWSL Playoffs |
| 3 | Portland Thorns FC | 24 | 11 | 7 | 6 | 40 | 31 | +9 | 40 | NWSL Playoffs |
| 4 | Reign FC | 24 | 10 | 8 | 6 | 27 | 27 | 0 | 38 | NWSL Playoffs |
| 5 | Washington Spirit | 24 | 9 | 7 | 8 | 30 | 25 | +5 | 34 | |
| 6 | Utah Royals FC | 24 | 10 | 4 | 10 | 25 | 25 | 0 | 34 | |
| 7 | Houston Dash | 24 | 7 | 5 | 12 | 21 | 36 | −15 | 26 | |
| 8 | Sky Blue FC | 24 | 5 | 5 | 14 | 20 | 34 | −14 | 20 | |
| 9 | Orlando Pride | 24 | 4 | 4 | 16 | 24 | 53 | −29 | 16 | |

##### Results summary

| Overall | Overall | Overall | Overall | Overall | Overall | Overall | Overall | Home | Home | Home | Home | Home | Home | Away | Away | Away | Away | Away | Away |
Last updated: October 12, 2019. 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 |
| Ground | H | H | A | H | A | H | A | A | H | A | H | H | A | A | H | A | H | A | A | H | H | A | A | H |
| Result | D | W | W | D | L | D | L | W | D | W | W | W | L | W | W | L | W | W | W | W | W | W | L | W |
| Position | 3 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 4 | 5 | 7 | 4 | 4 | 5 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 |

### International friendlies

As defending 2018 NWSL champions and defending 2018 Women's ICC champions, the Courage were selected to participate in and host the 2019 Women's International Champions Cup. They are scheduled to play English side Manchester City in the semi-final round.

## Statistical leaders

    As of October 12, 2019

## Awards

    As of October 19, 2019.

### NWSL annual awards

* Most Valuable Player: Debinha (finalist), Jaelene Hinkle (finalist), Kristen Hamilton (finalist)
* Coach of the Year: Paul Riley (finalist)

### NWSL Monthly Awards
#### NWSL Player of the Month

| Month | Result | Player | Ref. |
| April | Won | Crystal Dunn | |
| July | Won | Kristen Hamilton | |

#### NWSL Team of the Month

| Month | Defenders | Midfielders | Forwards |
| April | Abby Erceg | Crystal Dunn | |
| May | Merritt Mathias | | |
| June | | Kristen Hamilton | |
| July | Abby Erceg Merritt Mathias | Debinha | Kristen Hamilton |
| August | Abby Erceg Jaelene Hinkle | Debinha | |
| September | Jaelene Hinkle | Debinha | Lynn Williams |

### NWSL Weekly Awards
#### NWSL Player of the Week

| Week | Result | Player |
| 8 | Won | Kristen Hamilton |
| 12 | Won | Kristen Hamilton |
| 15 | Won | Kristen Hamilton |
| 22 | Won | Lynn Williams |
| 25 | Won | Jessica McDonald |

#### NWSL Goal of the Week

| Week | Result | Player |
| 1 | Nominated | Crystal Dunn |
| 3 | Nominated | Crystal Dunn |
| 6 | Nominated | Elizabeth Eddy |
| 8 | Nominated | Kristen Hamilton |
| 9 | Nominated | Julia Spetsmark |
| 11 | Nominated | Leah Pruitt |
| 12 | Nominated | Kristen Hamilton |
| 13 | Nominated | Debinha |
| 15 | Nominated | Kristen Hamilton |
| 16 | Nominated | Debinha |
| 17 | Nominated | Crystal Dunn |
| 19 | Nominated | Lynn Williams |
| 21 | Nominated | Crystal Dunn |
| 22 | Won | Heather O'Reilly |

#### NWSL Save of the Week

| Week | Result | Player |
| 4 | Nominated | Merritt Mathias |
| 7 | Nominated | Merritt Mathias |
| 11 | Nominated | Katelyn Rowland |
| 16 | Nominated | Stephanie Labbé |
| 17 | Nominated | Stephanie Labbé |
| 23 | Nominated | Stephanie Labbé |