NC Courage 2017

They did turn the flood lights on. Played @ 7:30 & final score was 1-0 NC with a scrum goal from Eddy after Doniak (I think) struck the post.

 

Sean Nahas makes five on the technical staff.

I'm not sure what the relationship is (brothers, cousins, father/son), but Damon Nahas used to coach the U16 GNT and is now on Anson Dorrance's staff at UNC. Sean, apparently has also worked in the GNT WYNT system.

It'll be interesting to see which bench Bill Palladino is on tonight.

 

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

 

The 20 player roster:

GK- Sabrina D'Angelo, Katelyn Rowland
DEF- Abby Dahlkemper, Elizabeth Eddy, Abby Erceg, Jaelene Hinkle, Yuri Kawamura, Courtney Niemiec, Taylor Smith, Meredith Speck
MID- Debinha, Samantha Mewis, Rosana, Samantha Witteman, McCall Zerboni
FW- Makenzy Doniak, Kristen Hamilton, Ashley Hatch, Darian Jenkins, Jessica McDonald, Lynn Williams

 

Well this was a lot of fun:

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According to a local source, Yuri Kawamura left Japan yesterday, headed to North Carolina.
She says she is eager to play and to face the challenge of an adventure in a different country; anyway, the article mentions that, just in case, "she is bringing along a trunk filled with Japanese rice (2 kilos) and all kinds of other ingredients and daily necessities".

 

Not necessary. There are at least two full sized Asian-centric groceries, and numerous smaller ethnic markets in the Triangle.

Li Ming's is where I go when I want to shop. If I know what I want, there's a few hole in the wall markets I go.
http://lm-globalmart.com/

 

One of my favorite images from portrait day has shown upon on the Courage's Instragam feed:

https://www.instagram.com/p/BSwoJNyFuwK/

 

Another one on their Twitter feed. At least you can embed tweets.

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Preview of the Courage: http://backlinesoccer.com/flash-forward-to-the-courage-2017-north-carolina-courage-preview/

And Riley is suspended for the opener, because the league decided that one game wasn't enough, apparently.

 

Two of my favorites on the club.

 

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Dean Linke was the USMNT press officer during WC94. He's been around. He also does a ton of Olympic Sports work for the Big Ten Network.

Bill Palladino needs little introduction. He's been at Anson Dorrance's side longer than I can remember. He moonlighted as an assistant coach for the WNT during the April Heinrichs era. He's married to WNT legend and broadcaster Wendy Gebauer

Sean Nahas has worked with the WYNT and GNT organization. He's the younger brother of former GNT head coach Damon Nahas (who is now on the bench at UNC - Last year's U20WNT was Damon's as U15s photos here)

Don't really know anything about Thackery.

 

Another fun shot from the portrait day on Instagram:
https://www.instagram.com/p/BS1ZFCwl5uD

Actually they're using the same photo on Twitter

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I have no clue. I can't see that I've seen any local marketing whatsoever. But then, I'm not the demographic they're chasing. I don't listen to local radio, and I don't watch local TV, and I don't get the paper anymore.

I will say that the RailHawks were getting 2500/3000 when I was team photographer in 2010-11. Traffic professionalized the front office and rebalanced the budget from all players to making sure the front office had marketing and sponsorship marketing dollars. By the time the FIFA hotel was raided a couple years ago, attendance was in the 5-6k range. Steve Malik has continued the gains made by Traffic.

They're definitely pushing for an MLS team, and making many changes to be ready. I shot the NCFC/Atlas game and it appeared that they had three people in the press box working social media during the game. I've noticed the Courage social media efforts are already in full sprint.

Until next Saturday, we really have no clue. Yeah, it looked like at least 500 people showed up for the UNC scrimmage last weekend, but then, 500 would've shown up if the Spirit had come down to scrimmage UNC here. And 500 people showing up for free doesn't mean 500 will want to pay parking and for a ticket.

I'm more interested in attendance in August/September than I am in April/May. But that won't stop premature teeth-gnashing if it's 3,000 or premature celebration if it's 7,000.

Based on nothing other than years of doing this. I would guess the team is targeting a stable 4-5k. Below 4k, and they'll have some work to do, above 5k and the challenge will be to not get too far ahead of themselves.

The positive signs are that the NCFC organization is definitely tying the two teams together as much as possible. They're creating a "club" with two teams. Love one, love the other. Sponsor one, sponsor the other. It's pretty shrewd.

The Courage are inheriting the RailHawk's jersey sponsor, while the newly renamed North Carolina FC bring in new revenue with Circle K.

*note for ease, I plan to continue using "RailHawks" as it is much easier and less clunky than "North Carolina FC". Additionally, I reserve "NCFC" for the organization as a whole - except when it's obvious in context I mean the NASL team.

Short version: I think 5k is a decent guess, but it's not based on anything I know.

 

http://www.nwslsoccer.com/videos/15867912

Well, I had said that Kawamura could have been dangerous with headers from CKs and set pieces, and indeed she was.

General considerations about the match and defense in particular?

 

Oh, ok, not familiar with how the info is normaly parceled on this NWSL boards. I thought "Week 1 Discussions" was more for general chat about the games, while the club-dedicated thread was for a more supporters-oriented talking (a little as: in general-chat thread I talk as a neutral soccer fan, in club thread I wonder about the chances we have to beat others and reach play-offs ).

 

I just watched the game. Hard to say anything about the defense. With the injuries, Washington was completely on the back foot. I will say that the few times she was asked to get involved, Kawamura looked really solid.

I think this team is going to go where Debinha takes them. From early preseason to today, she is absolutely a force of nature in the midfield. If she gets on the same page as our attackers, we could put up some big goal scoring totals.