Murphy’s departure also official, and Atlanta joining the NWSL
Well, this was intended to be the final newsletter of the regular season … but with so much breaking news and plenty of post-season thoughts, I’m going to split it into three parts. You’re welcome!
After that, newsletters will be sporadic in the offseason when we reach critical mass of news about the Courage. The regular weekly edition will pick up again just ahead of the 2026 season.
For me, the dominant theme of this season was “unfinished business.” The Courage had so much difficulty navigating the battle for the 10 position with Jaedyn Shaw, Ashley Sanchez, and now Manaka Matsukubo all working as some of the best position players in the league. The head coach search still continues. And despite these setbacks, the team pulled together so well, and played such beautiful football in the last few matches (even in the draw against the Spirit), the playoff miss had an extra sting to it.
Related, it was also a season of young players coming into their own, with outstanding performances throughout the latter half of the year from Manaka, Riley Jackson, Shinomi Koyama, Maycee Bell and Payton Linnehan. In retrospect, missing the playoffs felt like shortchanging their development. In our final podcast of 2025, we featured a great quote from Meredith Speck, who mentioned the younger players are eager to learn what more they can do next year to advance to the post season.
2025 also felt like unfinished business with our newsletter and podcast. I think we leveled up this year, and hope you feel that way, too. We continue to learn so much, and grow our subscriber base, so thank you for reading and listening! But we have so much more we want to accomplish. On a personal note, it was a rocky season for all of us behind the scenes, so hopefully next year will bring better luck and allow us to focus more on bringing you the best stories on the Courage.
All of that to say I hope the 2026 season is a watershed year for the team, and the community of media and supporters like you that surround them.
It goes without saying a lot rests on the new head coaching hire, and the ability for the team to continue to attract investors. As the league grows and matures, the Courage will need to continue to find creative ways to attract and retain talent, but they are poised to so. Here’s looking forward to a phenomenal 2026.
Season highlights, or what needs to stay steady in 2026
Note: as I was writing, this started getting a little long for a newsletter. I’ve kept a quick summary here. If you are interested in more detail, I’ve written a more detailed blog post here!
Attendance
The Courage bucked league-wide trends and posted explosive growth start to finish this season. It bodes well for more people seeing the team as a valuable community asset, at the same level as the Canes. It’s even more remarkable given the Courage’s difficulty in racking up W’s this season, as well as going through a head coach change.
Developing young talent
It was a breakout year for several players, including Riley Jackson, Manaka Matsukubo and Shinomi Koyama. Adding in Sydney Schmidt and potentially Brooklyn Courtnall could be a solid based to work from. These players represent more than simply building for the future: they already compete at the top levels internationally. If the Courage can keep some veteran talent around to provide leadership and keep younger players steady in moments of frustration, 2026 could be something special.
Administrative focus
Dr. Ceri Bowley might quietly prove to be one of the best hires in the league. It’s obviously too early to make any final pronouncements, but he seems serious about his desire to build toward being “the best club in the world.” But more than that, he’s likely to put in the strategy and pipeline necessary to make serious progress. If the head coaching hire is just as sharp, you could potentially have two dynamic leaders steering the club to the next level.
Add to that our accolades for the marketing department, and the already highly respected trainers, and you have the bones of a great club.
Read the full post here.
Courage news and updates
- It’s official: long-time defender and four-time Iron Woman Kaleigh Kurtz and star keeper Casey Murphy are departing the Courage. ESPN already reported Murphy going to Boston, and it’s likely Kurtz ends up with one of the expansion sides as well.
- Manaka earned NWSL player of the month! She’s also up for league MVP and midfielder of the year.
Around the league and beyond
- The semi-finals are set. The Washington and Portland kickoff at noon on Saturday at Audi Field in DC.
- Asli Pelit at The Atlantic got the scoop of the year: the NWSL will expand to Atlanta (subscription required). Arthur Blank’s AMB Sports + Entertainment paid a reported $165m fee. Presumably, the league would add an 18th team for balance, though that’s unclear at the time of publication, and there’s no confirmation as to what city it might be. Regardless, it’s great news for the Courage to have another Southeastern team in terms of travel schedule.
That’s it for this week! As always, you can get in touch with tips, suggestions, corrections and more: contact@lionspitch.com.
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