This weekend’s NWSL matches saw big moments from the North Carolina Courage, who managed to completely shut out the Orlando Pride, as well as from the San Diego Wave, who braved the rain and held off the Washington Spirit 1-0.
But one of the more notable wins is unlikely to cause a lot of motion in the standings: Racing Louisville eked out a 2-1 win over the Chicago Stars. The game moved Racing up to the 15th spot in the league, which isn’t great—but probably felt good to a team that’s navigated quite a few challenges this season.
Here’s a closer look at some of the stories from the NWSL this weekend:
North Carolina Courage completely trounced Orlando Pride
The Courage pulled off a fierce 5-0 win over the Pride at First Horizon Stadium on Friday, bringing the team’s record to seven wins, six losses, and three draws. The win is also the largest this season for any team, and saw quite a few big moments for the North Carolina football club.
Those highlights included the fact that captain Natalie Jacobs started a match for the first time since March, Lauryn Thompson scored her first-ever professional goal four minutes into the game, and newcomer Vilde Bøe Risa (who only signed with the team this week) landed her own debut goal at the 84th minute.
Evelyn Ijeh scored two goals with the help of Ashley Sanchez and Lauryn Thompson at the 26th and 35th minutes before adding on a fourth goal at the 70th minute.
As much as the night was a great one for the Courage, it was a tough loss for the Pride. The team’s coach Seb Hines told reporters after the match that the Pride were their own worst enemies.
“It is always a tough place to come play and it is even more difficult when you allow teams like North Carolina to get involved in the game,” he said. “We killed ourselves in the first half. They took an early lead and then we got into some good areas but weren’t really threatening in those situations.”
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Racing Louisville caught a break
It’s no secret that Racing isn’t having the 2026 season they’d hoped for, but the team managed a 2-1 win over the Chicago Stars this weekend and caught a tiny boost as a result. The team is still ranked 15th in the league (of 16 teams), which has them squarely out of contention this season.
There’s plenty of speculation out there about what might be keeping the team stuck in place, and most point to a lack of the type of investment a NWSL team needs to thrive as the culprit. Even with this win, any expectation that Racing will find a way to make it to the playoffs this season is unlikely, though not entirely impossible. No matter what, this weekend’s victory offered a welcome respite to a season that’s likely felt like a bit of a slog for the team and for fans.
San Diego kept Washington at bay—in the rain
Conditions were less than ideal when the San Diego Wave and Washington Spirit met Sunday, as the two teams battle things out through a rainstorm that required patience from both teams.
The Wave made two solid attempts early in the game, but they were thwarted by Sandy MacIver; Trinity Rodman took a shot that proved too wide. Both teams were scoreless as the second half began. And, as the rain thumped on, the Wave finally made contact with the net at night’s 60th minute.
The rain proved to truly be a third team in the game and caused a few injury timeouts in the 80th minute, but San Diego ultimately prevailed.
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Utah Royals handed Thorns their worst loss in years
The Utah Royals came away from this weekend with a big 5-1 win over the Portland Thorns, the latter’s worst loss since October 2023.
The Thorns began the match strongly with a goal from Sophia Wilson in the first minute, but seemed to lose some momentum at the 18th minute, when the Royals’ Kate Del Falva blocked the ball and, as a result, appeared to stymie their progress.
While speaking to reporters after the game, the Royals’ Cece Delzer said that the half made all the difference for the team. “We just said we needed to come out flying.”
The match was played in hot weather at altitude in Sandy, UT. “And then obviously, we can use the excuse of the midweek game for us,” Delzer said. “But we just knew that if we can come out on the front foot and really get after them, we knew that we had great players coming off the bench, and would keep it going for us.”
