NC Courage 2017

She normally didn't have to deal with Lavelle, it was more Pugh she held in check. Not sure if that's more flattering or not considering Pugh's youth. Think she only got by Bronze for one of Mal's endline drives once. Otherwise dominated Pugh.

& if I'm remembering correctly, Bronze had the initial rocket that put the US out of sorts on the winner.

 

I lasted about an hour and a half at practice in the freezing rain yesterday. Brutal day to start.

 

The NC Courage Pre-season Roster

Goalkeepers (3): Katelyn Rowland, Sabrina D’Angelo, Bryane Heaberlin (invited)

Defenders (10): Jaelene Hinkle, Courtney Niemiec, Meredith Speck, Taylor Smith, Abby Dahlkemper, Abby Erceg, Elizabeth Eddy, Claire Wagner, Yuri Kawamura (invited), Tina Iordanou (invited)

Midfielders (9): Michaela Hahn, Sam Mewis, McCall Zerboni, Samantha Witteman, Rosana, Debinha, Carly Gould (invited), Maria Lubrano-Lavadera (invited), Megan Lindsay (invited)

Forwards (8): Makenzy Doniak, Lynn Williams, Jessica McDonald, Kristen Hamilton, Ashley Hatch, Darian Jenkins, Jaycie Johnson, Ashley Clark (invited)

I've created a list for twitter accounts, missing 8 players who don't have twitter that I can see: Clark, Niemiec, Speck, Lindsay, Kawamura, Iardanou, Rosana, & Debinha.

https://twitter.com/babranski/lists/courage-players

The NC Courage still have two international slots to fill (any internationals on preseason roster don't count against until final roster). Yuri Kawamura is the only player on the preseason roster who would count against the 2 open international slots the Courage had coming in. Kawaura has 17 caps for Japan & was a part of their 2015 WWC squad. She's listed as a defender (both for Japan & the Courage), but has played holding midfielder in the past. She's an averaged size defender, at least compared to other Japanese players. She comes in at half-time (#5 at holding mid) in the USA vs Japan tilt on June 2, 2016.

This was supposed to start at 55:29 with (with sub).

 

Impressions? It was cold and wet. I left before they got into real ball kicking. There were at least a couple of Tar Heel trialists there. Bryane Heaberlin and Mariano Lubrano were both practicing with the team.

My persistence is driven by my need to learn who everyone is as I will be working the home games as the NWSL photographer.

Please note: These images are not in the public domain and must be properly licensed (for actual money) to be used anywhere else. Full set at www.andymeadphoto.com

 

@babranski Niemiec is on Twitter. Her handle is @ CourtneyNiemiec.

 

good looking out, must have spelled her name wrong in the search.

 

These are some interesting news: I met her at Algarve Cup last week (and also had an autograph from her ), but I had no idea that she was trying to be signed by an US club. She would need this kind of experience, because you're right that she's still quite rough at the international level (as a CB is not a Kumagai for sure, nor a Sakaguchi as an holding midfielder).

She's anyway a quite versatile player: I confirm that her main roles are CB and defensive MF. She started her career at Albirex Niigata Ladies as a CB, then transitioned more and more to the midfield during her stints at JEF United Ichihara Chiba and Vegalta Sendai Ladies (her current club). Meanwhile, she was called for NT and she became more or less of a fixture of the group since 2015, although not always as a starter.
She was also played as a Full-Back at Algarve 2013, but the less is said about that experiment, the better (she was ridiculed by Norway's Caroline Graham Hansen on that occasion).

It can be quite noticeable that in Nadeshiko League she scored her fair share of goals, despite her mainly defensive role, especially headers on Corner Kicks, although I am not sure if this can be much of a factor in NWSL, given the average height of the players compared to Nadeshiko League.

 

At first quick glance I figured this was D'Angelo, but then I thought "wait, no, that's Rowland." She's looking really trim.

 

Steve Malik was not at training. The second bald dome at training was Bobby Hammond, NCFC's director of operations

Edit: I really need to get a three dome photo next week at the luncheon of Clarke (NCFC head coach), Malik, and Riley together.

 

I had to. I've been getting nagged at by my editor to have more than just a generic avatar for my social media/message board stuff. And she can be..... rather persuasive when it comes to things like this.

 

Please note: These images are not in the public domain and must be properly licensed (for actual money) to be used anywhere else. Full set at www.andymeadphoto.com

 

You can take the @WNYFlash out of New York, but apparently not w/o their hotdogs #NWSL @TheNCCourage pic.twitter.com/NgBAVnAKVg

— Andy Mead (@theAndyMead) March 22, 2017

 

Team Press Release:

All preseason game times and locations are subject to change. Matches will be free and open to the public. The preseason game schedule is as follows:

Saturday, March 25 vs. University of Tennessee- 5:30 p.m.- Queens Sports Complex
Saturday, April 1 vs. Wake Forest University- 1 p.m.-WakeMed Soccer Park, Field #3
Wednesday, April 5 vs. Duke University- 6 p.m.- WakeMed Soccer Park, Field #3
Saturday, April 8 vs. UNC-Chapel Hill- 6 p.m.- WakeMed Soccer Park, Field #3

My note: Field 3 at WakeMed is the professional international practice field and completely unsuited for spectators. "Field 1" is the stadium field, just below it is "Koka Booth Field" which now has 500 or so permanent bleacher seats built on the hillside down from the main stadium. Field 3 is actually a continuation of Field 2 - it's one massive plot, but there are no seats, and no good places to put bleachers. There are also no real lights to speak of, so those 6pm games should be pretty dark by the end.

 

I drove myself to the game in Charlotte yesterday with a grumpy & uncooperative dog. Keeping an eye on him made me miss some moments in the game, but I still answered a few questions being there.

I was certain PR was going to come out w/ a 433 to start. He didn't. What I saw in the first 60 minutes played like a 4-1-flat 3-2 with Lynn & Jess up top, Zerboni, Debinha, & Doniak across the 3 front, Sam Mewis sitting deep in the midfield, & Hinkle, ?, Dahlkemper, and Witteman along the back. I was never able to identify the other CB, #17. That's Kristen Hamilton's number from last year, & it did kind of look like her, but I'm still not sure.

Rowland replaced D'Angelo at half-time and was the busier of the two goalkeepers. She had 2 strong saves at the end of the game. I couldn't help but notice Katelyn looked leaner & more athletic than she has in previous seasons. I almost didn't recognize her, & if it wasn't for the shouts of "Kate" from the bench after her saves I'd still have doubts.

The player that impressed me the most was Samantha Witteman. She was a terror attacking up from her right back spot, & she whipped in some incredible straight rope crosses through the six.

Debinha looked fantastic on the ball but her shots were wild & her height really worked against her in the direct game WNY... I mean NC... was trying to play. She had a really good look at one of Wittemans stellar balls in, but in the end she was probably the only player on the feild who couldn't reach it.

The subs all came in at once, maybe 8 players total, just before the 60 minute mark. Hatch had a few good moments on the right wing. I had a ton of trouble identifying some of the new players. Here's hoping the Courage update the roster & #'s soon. Too many blondes on this team. XD

 

Actually it was 10. All the field players switched at once. I left shortly afterwards due to failing light. As you'll see from my photos, the PK was a crime.

Speaking of photos.

Please note: These images are not in the public domain and must be properly licensed (for actual money) to be used anywhere else. Full set at www.andymeadphoto.com

 

Oh Thank you, Andy... that gallery really helped ID some of the players.

The other CB, #17, was Courtney Niemiec according to these photos. Super blonde now. Between this & missing her twitter account, I seem determined to over look her. XD

 

Any news about the Yuri Kawamura's situation? Since I didn't hear anything from you here, I had assumed that she had been just invited to pre-season camp, but then she hadn't received any offer for an actual signing...

Meanwhile, though, Nadeshiko League Division 1 started today and Kawamura wasn't on the pitch for her Japanese team. So I wonder if she's still in USA: does anyone have news?

 

Yeah, if you look at the Courage website, they have #17 and #23 reversed from what the players were wearing yesterday.

 

If only someone had already mentioned that in this thread, then you wouldn't have had any problems recognizing her...

 

er, sorry?