In the previous five seasons of the NWSL, no team had won both the Shield and the Championship trophies in the same year. Well, leave it to the 2018 North Carolina Courage to rewrite history. In a season of broken records and history setting achievements, the Courage came out and dismantled the Portland Thorns 3-0 in route to their first league championship.
The Courage opened up the scoring in the 13th minute on a goal from Debinha. Courage forward Lynn Williams broke down the left side of the field and ripped a shot off before getting to the end line. Her shot wound up rattling off the post and the rebound fell to an unmarked Debinha running through the box.
Jess McDonald, the MVP of the match, would later double the lead for the Courage in the 40th minute. Jaelene Hinkle played a ball into the box and over the backline to an on running McDonald. The Portland Thorns failed to pick up McDonald running in behind the backline and ended up paying the price just before the half.
In the 64th minute, it would be McDonald again. Off a corner kick, Merritt Mathias received the ball about 25 yards out and was able to play a one-time ball into the middle of the box where McDonald was once again running onto the ball. She was able to rise up and head home the nail in the coffin for Portland.
“Jess [McDonald] is getting better with her age,” North Carolina head coach Paul Riley said after the game. “She’s a phenomenal person, a phenomenal player. To see her get the MVP for the final, what a script.”
That would end up being the story of the game. The Courage managed to send in attackers all across the box on well timed runs that the Thorns backline struggled to contain. On the other end of the pitch, the Thorns failed to make any penetrating runs, mainly because the Courage defense clogged up the space in between lines. That prevented Portland from building up in the attack and ultimately caused turnovers that allowed North Carolina to go on the counterattack.
The game also set the record for attendance in a U.S. women’s professional soccer championship game. Providence Park in Portland, Oregon was packed with 21,444 people to see the match. The attendance figure beat out the previous record of 21,078 from the 2001 WUSA Championship.
“I think it’s just a huge day for women’s soccer,” Thorns midfielder Christine Sinclair said after the game. “I think this is hopefully what the future of the game is going to look like in this country. Here in Portland, we have the honor and the privilege of playing in front of this crowd week in and week out. My only hope is that other cities and other clubs in this league start to get this opportunity as well.”