Courage Wins Finale but Misses NWSL Playoffs Again

The North Carolina Courage women's soccer team fell short of the postseason despite closing the regular season with a 1-0 victory over the Denver Summit on November 1, 2026.

The win came in shocking fashion.

An own goal by Denver defender Kaleigh Kurtz during the last minute of stoppage time sealed the result in front of a full home crowd at WakeMed Soccer Park.

The Courage finished the season with a record of 13 wins, 3 draws and 13 losses.

That put them in ninth place in the NWSL standings.

Only the top eight teams qualify for the playoffs.

The Courage missed the cut by two points.

Their fate depended on a result elsewhere.

To earn a playoff berth, the Courage needed the Orlando Pride to beat the Seattle Reign.

Seattle won that match.

The Courage were eliminated.

"Disappointed with the outcome and disappointed that we didn't make the playoffs," head coach Mak Lind said.

"Honestly, we did our job and that was not why we didn't make the playoff, it was earlier this season."

Lind pointed to the narrow margin.

"In the end it was about a couple of points, two points and I can find them in many games," Lind said.

The Courage set a historic attendance mark this season.

The team sold out five home games.

The match against Denver drew 10,803 fans.

That was the second-highest total in team history.

Defender Natalie Jacobs credited the crowd.

"These fans are awesome," Jacobs said.

"Definitely, they definitely helped us tonight."

"I could feel the energy every time they were making noise."

"It really helped us push even more and it's great."

"I love every single one of them, so I'm thankful to have them and their support."

Forward Ashley Sanchez closed the season with the NWSL Golden Boot.

She tied the league's single-season scoring record with 20 goals.

Sanchez appeared to score the record-breaking goal in the 15th minute.

The goal was called back for offside.

"For me, she's MVP," Lind said.

"She is a high quality player, I'm happy for her."

"At the same time, I feel a bit sorry that I couldn't make the playoffs with having a player that scores 20 goals."

Lind urged Sanchez to build on the achievement.

"I hope that she believes in herself and tells herself that this is not a one-hit wonder," Lind said.

"She is that type of player that can score goals in a season and many goals."

Goalkeeper Kailen Sheridan recorded her 700th career save during the match.

She became the third goalkeeper in NWSL history to reach that milestone.

Sheridan made four saves in the game.

Her stops cut off Denver offensive momentum.

"She's an incredible goalkeeper," Lind said.

"Those saves give us a chance to win the game in the end."

"I wished, of course, it would help to make the playoffs, but we didn't get that help from other teams."

During halftime, Lind checked the score of the Seattle-Orlando match.

At that point it was 0-0.

Lind told his players to focus on their own game.

"I did," Lind said.

"I said we have it in our hands."

"Let's go out and give us a really good chance to win it and we did."

Seattle scored in the 68th minute.

The Courage did not lose momentum.

"The players were so much more aggressive," Lind said.

"We were intentional when we had the ball, brave on the ball."

The winning goal came in the 94th minute of stoppage time.

Sanchez sent a cross into the box.

Denver defender Kaleigh Kurtz pushed the ball into her own net.

It was the decisive moment of the season.

The Courage will not play in the 2026 NWSL playoffs.

But the team sees reasons for optimism.

"We have more experience now with this year under our belt, and, yeah, we can always learn from these things moving forward," Jacobs said.

"Once you experience missing out on playoffs that close... Now a lot of us for next year know, now we know what that feels like."

Jacobs said the lesson is clear.

"So can we start from the very beginning and do everything we can in all those games just to get one more point here and there because at the end it all adds up."

The NWSL regular season runs from March to November each year.

Each team plays 26 games.