Courage Wins Finale but Misses NWSL Playoffs Again

The North Carolina Courage closed out the 2026 NWSL season with a 1-0 victory over the Denver Summit at home.

The win came in the last minute of stoppage time on an own goal by Denver defender Kaleigh Kurtz.

A full crowd of 10,803 fans watched the dramatic finish at WakeMed Soccer Park.

That attendance was the second highest in team history.

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.

They missed the playoffs by just two points.

The team needed the Orlando Pride to beat the Seattle Reign to have any chance of sneaking into the postseason.

Seattle won that game instead.

Head coach Mak Lind was blunt about the disappointment.

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

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

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

The Courage started the season with high promise.

They were among the top teams in the league for stretches.

But inconsistency across the full season cost them.

Lind pointed directly at earlier games where points slipped away.

This is the second consecutive year the Courage have missed the NWSL playoffs.

The team that won the NWSL Championship in 2018 and 2019 has now fallen short two years running.

Despite the disappointment, several individual milestones highlighted the season.

Forward Ashley Sanchez tied the NWSL single-season scoring record with 20 goals.

She matched the mark set by Sam Kerr in 2019.

In the first half of the season finale, Sanchez appeared to score the go-ahead goal in the 15th minute.

The goal would have broken the scoring record outright.

But the referee called it back for offside.

Lind defended his star forward.

"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."

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

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

Goalkeeper Kailen Sheridan also reached a historic milestone in the final match.

She recorded her 700th career save.

That made her just the third goalkeeper in NWSL history to reach that mark.

Sheridan made four saves in the game against Denver.

Those stops cut off several Denver scoring chances and kept the Courage in the match.

"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."

The Courage also set a team attendance record this season with five sold-out home games.

The final match against Denver drew the second-largest crowd in team history.

Defender Natalie Jacobs praised the fans.

"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."

During the game, Lind was monitoring the score from the other match that mattered.

Seattle versus Orlando was scoreless at halftime.

Lind told his players to focus on their own game.

"I did," Lind said when asked if he checked the other result.

"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."

"The players were so much more aggressive."

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

Seattle scored in the 68th minute to win that game.

But the Courage kept pushing for a goal of their own.

The breakthrough came in the 94th minute of stoppage time.

Sanchez sent a cross into the Denver box.