On the back of a five-game unbeaten streak (two wins, three draws), the North Carolina Football Club sits in 11th place in the Eastern Conference of the United Soccer League (USL) while the North Carolina Courage remains atop the National Women’s Soccer League (NWSL).
A 0-0 draw against the Charleston Battery on Aug. 4 snapped a two-match win streak but continued to keep NCFC (7-8-6) from adding on to the loss column, as the club has just one loss in the last 49 days, going 3-1-4 in that span.
NCFC’s strong play of late has catapulted the club from Eastern Conference bottom-feeder into playoff contention, as head coach Colin Clarke has his team sitting just three points back from the playoffs.
With the season almost two-thirds of the way complete, NCFC is hoping to continue its surge and make the playoffs in its first season back in the USL since leaving for the North American Soccer League after the 2009 USL season.
NCFC has been led by 23-year-old forward Daniel Rios, 27-year-old midfielder Kyle Bekker and 25-year-old goalkeeper Alexander Tambakis, all of whom are newcomers to the team this year.
Rios, a Mexico native, currently sits tied for third in the league in goals scored with 11. The Canadian Bekker is second in the USL in assists, creating nine goals for his teammates so far. Tambakis, who hails from Greece and came over to NCFC after spending the 2017 season with Atlanta United of the MLS and the Charleston Battery 9 (on loan) has saved the third-most goals in the league, rejecting 64 shots on goal.
The Courage (15-1-4), which has sat atop the NWSL standings the entirety of the season, has dropped just one match all year, a June 16th match against the seventh-place Utah Royals.
Following its Aug. 5 win over the 2017 NWSL champion Portland Thorns, the Courage clinched the NWSL Shield, awarded to the team that finishes with the most points in the regular season, with over a month left to play.
With 43 goals scored and only 15 goals conceded, the Courage has a higher goal differential than the second-, third-, and fourth-place teams combined.
With a star-studded roster consisting of six US Women’s National Team players in defenders Merritt Mathias and Abby Dahlkemper, midfielders Samantha Mewis, Heather O’Reilly and McCall Zerboni, and forward Crystal Dunn, the Courage guaranteed themselves the top spot in the league for the second year in a row following a 2017 season that saw the Courage fall in the NWSL Championship, 1-0, to the Portland Thorns.
Heading into the Aug. 5 match, forward Lynn Williams, Dunn and forward Jessica McDonald are all in the NWSL top 10 in goals scored with 10, 7 and 6, respectively.
Dunn, Williams and McDonald all sit in the top 10 in assists as well, with 5, 4 and 5, respectively, while forward Kristen Hamilton and defender Jaelene Hinkle each have created four goals for their teammates as well.
In goal, Katelyn Rowland (14 games started) and Sabrina D’Angelo (six games started) have combined to allow just 15 goals on 128 shots on goal, good for an 88.3 percent save percentage and fewer than one goal allowed per game.
North Carolina FC resumes action on Saturday, Aug. 11 when it hits the road to take on the Tampa Bay Rowdies at Al Lang Stadium in St. Petersburg, Florida, at 7:30 p.m. The NC Courage play the fifth-place Chicago Red Stars at 8 p.m. on Friday, Aug. 10, at Toyota Park in Chicago.
