While we’re all patiently waiting for the pre-season and regular season schedules to be published for the NC Courage, it’s worth noting a few dates for 2019 that were published by the NWSL late last year.
January 10: 2019 NWSL College Draft
This one already came and went, with the Courage picking up a total of four players: forward Leah Pruitt, defender Hailey Harbison, midfielder Lauren Milliet, and midfielder Kaycie Tillman.
The Courage posted about the selections here.
March 4 | Preseason Begins
Less than a month from now, preseason begins. If anything like the 2018 season, the preseason matches will include playing a few NC collegiate squads including NC State, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and the University of North Carolina at Wilmington, among others. These matches typically are open to the public. Home games for the Courage tend to be on one of the fields surrounding Sahlen’s Stadium at WakeMed Soccer Park.
There isn’t any permanent seating at any of these fields, so plan on bringing chairs or blankets, and get there early. Last season, many of the fan’s sidelines were packed. Expect more of that with the success the Courage had in the NWSL in 2018.
April 13-14: NWSL Opening Weekend
Mark this weekend on your calendar. All the NWSL teams will be playing, and games will be streaming via Yahoo! Sports for 2019 for all those away games. Lifetime will continue to broadcast a game of the week.
June 3-14: Break for 2019 FIFA Women’s World Cup
To allow fans and players to focus on part of the 2019 FIFA Women’s World Cup, the NWSL will break for 11 days during the beginning of the group stage. Note that the NWSL does not take off the whole World Cup, so expect to see some of the players that often don’t get caps or a lot of playing time to get extra playing time in late June in July across all of the NWSL’s teams.
October 12-13: Regular Season Ends
The NWSL has spread the season out a bit more — partially because of the World Cup, but also to foster more weekend matches for teams to bolster attendance across the league. In 2018, the final regular season was on Saturday, September 22, making 2019’s regular season about three weeks longer.
October 19-20: 2019 NWSL Playoffs Semifinals
The semifinals will be hosted by the pair of highest seeds, with the two winners going to the NWSL Championship the next weekend. Hopefully, the weather won’t affect the playoffs for the Courage and/or other teams as it did for the Courage/Red Stars semifinal of 2018.
October 26: 2019 NWSL Championship
The location of the NWSL Championship will be announced mid-season, but the date is set. With it being a month later than the 2018 season, it’s likely to be in a location with warmer weather.
Ready for 2019 NWSL
We’re all chomping at the bit for the 2019 season, its schedule, and most of all — the Courage back on the pitch. It’s all coming soon, and these dates at least give us some guidelines and expectations.
Here’s to hoping the preseason schedule and regular season schedules are right around the corner.
