

Jaelene Hinkle (right) tries to get by Celeste Boureille in the first ever home match for the North Carolina Courage (Photo copyright Lewis Gettier)
One consistent over the five seasons of NWSL is that one and only one team each year has opened with consecutive wins. This year it’s the North Carolina Courage, who knocked off the Thorns, 1-0, in their first match in front of the home folks. They join Sky Blue FC (2013), Seattle Reign FC (2014), Portland Thorns FC (2015) and Washington Spirit (2016) as clubs to open 2-0-0. None of the previous four won the NWSL Championship.
Here’s where we stand after Week 2.
W | L | D | GF | GA | PTS | |
North Carolina Courage | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 6 |
Seattle Reign FC | 1 | 0 | 1 | 6 | 2 | 4 |
Portland Thorns FC | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 3 |
FC Kansas City | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 3 |
Chicago Red Stars | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 3 |
Boston Breakers | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 3 |
Houston Dash | 1 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 5 | 3 |
Sky Blue FC | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 1 |
Washington Spirit | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 1 |
Orlando Pride | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 1 |
Results and Schedule
Orlando Pride | 1-1 | Washington Spirit |
D Evans (86′) | recap | Sigvardsen-Jensen (60′) |
att: 14,452 |
Chicago Red Stars | 1-0 | FC Kansas City |
Ertz (41′) | recap | |
att: 2,153 |
North Carolina Courage | 1-0 | Portland Thorns FC |
Debinha (81′) | recap | |
att: 6,298 |
Seattle Reign FC | 5-1 | Houston Dash |
Fishlock (18′) | recap | Poliana (84′) |
Rapinoe (27′) | att: 2,727 | |
McNabb (31′) | ||
Yanez (55′) | ||
Johnson (74′) |
Boston Breakers | 1-0 | Sky Blue FC |
Dowie (37′) | recap | |
att: 2,329 |
Week 3 Saturday
Chicago Red Stars at Portland Thorns FC, 4pm EDT (Lifetime)
Orlando Pride at North Carolina Courage, 4pm EDT
Seattle Reign FC at Boston Breakers, 7pm EDT
Houston Dash at Washington Spirit, 7pm EDT
Week 3 Sunday
FC Kansas City at Sky Blue FC, 6pm EDT
What they said
Story Lines or the Week
Here are some NWSL story lines we’ll be following this week:
-Injury updates on Katie Stengel, Jamia Fields, and Merritt Mathias
-Sky Blue gears up for home opener
-Dash looking to bounce back from poor outing in Seattle
