Crystal Dunn to be 2026 Ring of Honor inductee
Hello Courage Country!
The biggest news this week is a report from The Cutback that the Courage are working to secure midfielder Erica Parkinson. With Manaka’s contract set to expire at the end of this season and no signs of renewal, it raises the question of whether Parkinson is intended to fill the same role, or whether there’s some plan to balance out Manaka, Sanchez and Parkinson. Last year, the Courage had difficulty balancing Manaka, Sanchez and Jaedyn Shaw, but hey, they already tried it once!
Also, we have exciting news on the Lion’s Pitch front. This week’s podcast features special guest Carly Wickenheiser, midfielder for the Courage and the senior Canadian Women’s National Team. She’s also played for Mak Lind’s former club, BK Häcken and other teams in the Swedish league, and was at Texas Tech before that. She offers great insights into soccer at a variety of levels, so you won’t want to miss that conversation. That podcast releases tomorrow, May 21.
What we learned: Courage v. Chicago Stars
Multiple goal scorers are emerging
A common critique of the Courage since Kerolin’s departure is that Manaka Matsukubo and Ashley Sanchez have had to shoulder the bulk of the team’s goal-scoring needs. This match brought us four goals from four different personnel.
Forward Evelyn Ijeh scored a terrific header off a serve from Sanchez at 47’, her first in the NWSL. She positioned herself perfectly inside the box and made the hit look effortless.
For the second goal, what you won’t see in the highlights was the brilliant midfield work that scattered Chicago and left Riley Jackson able to launch a brilliant ball to Ijeh. Some quick thinking from defender Aaliyah Farmer stalled Ijeh, who nearly recovered it, but showed some excellent patience and left it for a forward-facing attack by Sanchez.
Legendary keeper Alyssa Naeher had left the match early with a hamstring injury, and backup keeper Halle Mackiewicz came out too far on the play, leaving the net open for Sanchez to score at 61’.
The third goal is emblematic of what coach Mak Lind has been emphasizing. On a deep Chicago throw-in, Sanchez disrupted play enough that it forced a bad pass straight to Shinomi Koyama, who quickly dumped it to Manaka. She made a crafty spin move and a quick lateral pass to Ally Schlegel. That opportunistic, heads-up team play put the Courage up 3-0 at 65’, and Schlegel earned her first goal in a Courage uniform.
For the final goal, with Ijeh subbed out, Jackson served a smart short corner to Shinomi. She exchanged the ball once with Manaka, setting Manaka up for the goal at 86’.
A viable left-side attack is also emerging
One of the challenges of the season is the Courage have strongly preferred to play up the right side through Ryan Williams, who looks for opportunities to serve the ball to Ijeh or Sanchez. That’s great when it works, but it made the team fairly predictable for the last few matches.
Against Chicago, the Courage changed their preferred attack, repeatedly working the ball up the left with Dani Weatherholt, Manaka, Jackson and Sanchez finding paths to move it forward. This led to several serves in from Sanchez to Ijeh, one of which resulted in a goal.
“We train day in and day out trying to build more connections with each other, and today you could actually see the results,” Ijeh said after the match.
Olivia Wingate and Mallory Swanson returning to play
After missing all of the 2025 season due to a knee injury, Olivia Wingate subbed in late to the match, starting to work in some minutes of play. With Payton Crawford now out for the season, Wingate’s return couldn’t come at a more opportune time.
“She has been fighting for a long time to come back and be available to be selected,” Lind said after the match. “Now, she got the chance to come in at the end of the game, and she deserves to show that’s she’s a good player, I’m very happy for her.”
Chicago superstar forward Mallory Swanson also returned from maternity leave with some minutes in this match.
Standout stats
- The Courage outplayed Chicago in nearly all aspects of the game. They were efficient in goalscoring, with 4 goals out of 17 total shots. In the second half, the team conceded quite a few duels and tackles, but that’s reasonably explained by defensive positioning given the lopsided score.
- Most noteworthy was the Courage only giving up 4 corners, and hitting 144 passes in the opposition half, according to FotMob.
- Also noteworthy was Riley Jackson’s performance, with 4 chances created, 10 possessions won – 5 of which were in the final third – and achieved 84% passing accuracy in a largely offensive performance, according to the Courage / Opta.
Look ahead: Courage v. Racing Louisville
This is the first repeat opponent for the Courage in the 2026 season. The team won their first outing in March 2-1, thanks to a brace from Ashley Sanchez.
Louisville has struggled, having only won 2 of their last 5 matches. They put up a convincing win against Orlando, with a brace from Katie Milliet and a goal from Sarah Weber pushing Racing to a 3-2 victory, despite a brace from Barbra Banda on Orlando’s side.
Louisville specializes in frustrating opponents, intentionally pushing for aggressive holdup play and creative presses. This can sometimes be particularly frustrating for the Courage, who sometimes get rattled when they can’t run their usual game plan.
Racing is also tied for second in league on penalty kick goals, so it’s on the Courage to be smart defending in the box.
A victory is somewhat necessary, as it would push the Courage up the table into a more comfortable position in playoff rankings, prove they can get a needed road win, and continue to build on the confidence boost of the Chicago victory.
Courage news and updates
- Sports Illustrated named Ashley Sanchez NWSL’s MVP of the month, adding to the league naming her player of the month as well.
- The Courage earned their first back-to-back sellout in team history, with this week’s attendance of 10,023 serving as the fifth highest in team history.
- Full Time listed Ashley Sanchez as a dark horse candidate for the USWNT call-up.
- The Courage announced Crystal Dunn as the 2026 Ring of Honor recipient, with a ceremony slated for the July 11 match.
Around the league and beyond
- ESPN’s Jeff Kassouf is reporting that Racing Louisville is eyeing selling a partial stake in the club.
That’s it for this week! As always, you can get in touch with tips, suggestions, corrections and more: contact@lionspitch.com.
Next match: Saturday, May 23, 4:00 pm ET
North Carolina Courage v. Racing Louisville
Away
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