Kaleigh Kurtz made her National Women’s Soccer League debut on April 18, 2018, as a fill-in for Abby Dahlkemper. At the time, Dahlkemper held the league record for most consecutive games played, games started, and minutes played. Her absence that night against the Reign ended those streaks.

“I remember that whole week I was with the opposition scout [team], so I was pretending to be Seattle,” Kurtz said in a recent interview with The Equalizer. “The day before the game, Paul [Riley, Courage head coach] made anyone who wasn’t rostered do extra running on the side while the starters and a few others on the side did set pieces.”

It was a normal week for the then 23-year-old, undrafted free agent who was sitting behind two of the best central defenders in the world, Dahlkemper and Abby Erceg. Little did she know that Dahlkemper was going to miss the Reign match due to a clerical mistake involving use of a therapeutic drug. Riley called Kurtz at 3 o’clock on game day.

“He said, ‘Hey KK, how are you feeling?’ I said, ‘I’m feeling okay. A little tired from the sprints yesterday, but not too bad.’ He said, ‘Okay, good, because you’re in the starting lineup in four hours.’ So that was how I found out about my debut.”

The Courage beat the Reign 1-0 that night, and Riley named Kurtz the player of the match.

Gotham FC has officially acquired Jaedyn Shaw from the North Carolina Courage for a record-breaking intra-league transfer fee of $1.25 million, the teams announced Thursday. 

Per Gotham, “Gotham and Shaw are now working toward an updated and extended contract.” Founder of The Equalizer Jeff Kassouf originally reported for ESPN that Gotham was looking to sign her through the 2029 NWSL season. Her contract with the Courage was through the 2026 season. 

The $1.25 million fee is the largest of its kind in NWSL history, the previous record having been set in August when the Kansas City Current acquired Ally Sentnor from the Utah Royals for $600,000. The league’s inter-league record was set last month by the Orlando Pride, who acquired Mexico forward Lizbeth Ovalle for $1.5 million from Tigres.

Earlier Thursday, Shaw told reporters that being the subject of a record-breaking intra-league transaction isn’t something she thinks much about. “It’s the club showing that they’re investing in me and they see my potential and they see my value, and that’s something that I’m really grateful for,” she said.

The $1.25 million fee would set an intra-league record for a National Women’s Soccer League trade, more than double the previous record set in August when the Kansas City Current acquired Ally Sentnor from the Utah Royals for $600,000. The fee, which “would be paid over multiple installments and entirely in NWSL intra-league transfer funds,” would also rank among some of the most expensive transfers globally.

The NWSL’s secondary transfer window closed on Aug. 25 for incoming international transfers, but intra-league trades can still be made until the league-wide roster freeze on Oct. 9.

Gotham currently sit in sixth place in the standings with a 7-6-6 (W-D-L) record and were looking to add a creative player to their squad. The club plans to sign Shaw through the 2029 NWSL season. She was previously signed through 2026 with the Courage.

The move will be Shaw’s second of this calendar year as she joined North Carolina in January after requesting a trade from the San Diego Wave. That deal involved the Courage sending $300,000 in allocation money, an international spot for the 2025 and 2026 NWSL seasons, and $150,000 in intraleague transfer fees to San Diego.

Shaw, 20, is one of the brightest young American attacking talents. She signed for the Wave in the summer of 2022 as a 17-year-old and scored in her first three NWSL games. Shaw shone as she helped San Diego make the playoffs as an expansion team that year, then win the NWSL Shield and be named to the NWSL Best XI in 2023.

She has eight career goals in 26 appearances for the senior USWNT and won the Golden Ball as the tournament’s best player in the Americans’ first-place finish at the Women’s Gold Cup in 2024. However, Shaw admitted she struggled to meet high expectations since joining the Courage. The Frisco, Texas-native started 10 NWSL games this season, recording three goals and one assist for the 11th-place Courage.

It isn’t immediately clear where Shaw fits into a stacked Gotham roster that boasts Esther Gonzales, Geyse, Ella Stevens, Gabi Portilho, Midge Purce, Katie Stengel, Rose Lavelle, Sarah Schupansky, and Josefine Hasbo, among others, as attacking options. Given Lavelle’s injury history, however, and the similar role she and Shaw can play, Shaw could slot in well when Lavelle is unavailable or playing restricted minutes.

The playoff field has its first confirmed guest, and transfer rumors are swirling over Angel City. Meanwhile, the Sphere of Mediocrity grows ever larger.

Here’s how they shape up after most of Week 18:

Cream of the Crop

x-Kansas City Current (15-2-1, 46 pts; vs Courage, 2-0):  Temwa Chawinga did not score against the North Carolina Courage, but neither did the Courage. That leaves Chawinga with 11 goals while the Current have conceded only 10. Kayla Sharples continues to stay in the discussion for Defender of the Year, and even as it has taken Ally Sentnor some time to fully integrate into the attack, the defense has become a well-oiled machine, and the win over the Courage made the Current the first team to secure an official invite to the 2025 playoffs. The only bad news is that Esther Gonzalez scored for Gotham to edge ahead of Chawinga in the Golden Boot race.

“The termination stemmed from a combination of compounding performance issues, culture issues, and a perceived lack of fit, that created an environment that club leadership felt was untenable to the point that change was necessary at the head coaching position,” a team spokesperson said.

It was then opened up to questions with an acknowledgement that there would be some about the coaching change. The tone marked a stark contrast to the previous day when sporting director Dr. Ceri Bowley stonewalled every effort to suss out even the most minor detail about why Nahas was fired.

“Definitely a tough week for the team,” Courage captain Denise O’Sullivan said. “We all found out Wednesday. We all got phone calls, and that’s how we found out. There (were) obviously some different reactions.”

On Thursday, Bowley refused to address when or how the players found out about the change.

O’Sullivan went on to thank Nahas, whose tenure at the club predated her arrival in 2017. She added that her relationship with Nahas has always been strong.

The Courage lost 2-1 to the Dash on Friday in Nathan Thackaray’s first match as acting head coach. Thackaray led the team for three weeks before the summer break when Nahas was away from the team for medical reasons. That absence was not related to his termination as head coach.

Coach firings generally require little context. Any professional coach will tell you that getting axed is practically part of the job description. So it was not the change in on-field leadership that got the Courage tripped up, but the way it was presented on Wednesday and defended on Thursday that has raised alarm bells.

When a team releases a statement like this…

As everyone who follows women’s soccer in America now knows, North Carolina Courage head coach Sean Nahas was fired Wednesday evening “effective immediately.”

We might know less about the reasons for that firing than we did when it was first announced, thanks to a terse and combative press conference conducted Thursday morning by Courage sporting director Dr. Ceri Bowley and director of communications Jake Levy.

Whatever the reasons for Nahas’s firing, he leaves behind a complicated legacy as a head coach. He served for nearly five seasons as assistant coach under Paul Riley, and assumed the head coaching job in the wake of Riley’s firing for sexual misconduct. Nahas often spoke about the long process it took for the club to heal itself after that, noting that only by 2025 had the club returned to “level ground,” where you could see “smiles on the players’ faces” again. He went to great lengths to paint a portrait of himself as a players-f

The Courage media relations staff opened the press conference Thursday morning by stating that the focus was on Friday night’s match against the Houston Dash. However, Dr. Bowley was met with a myriad of questions about the coaching change.

“Multiple factors go into such a decision,” Dr. Bowley said. “We’re looking to finish the season strong. We’re on the cusp of the playoffs. So, our primary focus is to finish the season strong, and, hopefully at the end of it, achieve our goals.

“In situations like this, there’s always a multitude of factors that are considered,” Dr. Bowley, continued. “And a multitude of factors were considered in this situation. The standards of this club are extremely high. It was felt that there were reasons to make a change to uphold the standards we expect of the North Carolina Courage.”

When asked if the decision to fire Nahas was solely performance-based, or there was additional information that could be given, Dr. Bowley — who has been in his position for three months — repeated that the decision was made for a “multitude of reasons.”

When asked if the players were notified before the statement was released on social media, Dr. Bowley and Courage Director of Communications Jake Levy repeated that “internal process” would not be discussed. At the time of publishing, the Courage’s statement is not on the club’s official website.

Nahas was 36-34-19 in the regular season for the Courage. He went 0-3-0 in the playoffs. The 47-year-old coach led North Carolina to back-to-back NWSL Challenge Cup wins in 2022 and 2023.

Nahas was officially named the Courage’s head coach on Decmeber 1, 2021. He had finished the 2021 season as interim coach after the firing of Paul Riley.

According to the Courage, Nathan Thackery, goalkeeper and assistant coach, will serve as acting head coach. The team has not made any inquiries about a new head coach, stating the focus is on Friday’s tilt with the Houston Dash.

“Right now, my only thought is on tomorrow’s game,” Dr. Bowley stated. “Then, we’ll give some proper thought into what the next steps look like. Nathan will lead the team of staff and players. They will do everything they can to deliver the right performance tomorrow night.”

The statement was released at 7:45pm local time on Wednesday, with no explanation given for Nahas’s termination.

Nahas made an appearance Wednesday morning on 99.9 The Fan, a local North Carolina sports radio station. He also posted a story to his Instagram page at about 4:30pm local time on Wednesday, posing with Courage coaching staff after training. Neither media appearance made any indication that Nahas was aware he was to be fired.

Nahas was an assistant coach with the Courage under Paul Riley for nearly five seasons, before sexual coercion allegations led to Riley’s termination in late September 2021. The Courage made the postseason under Nahas in three out of four attempts, never advancing past the first round.

This story is being updated.

9.) North Carolina prove progress is impossible without change

The Courage endured a nightmare start to its 2025 campaign, earning just two points from an available 15. The early crisis in Cary prompted tweaks to North Carolina’s trademark playing style. Under head coach Sean Nahas, the Courage has become famous for its silky, dynamic, possession-dominant play. But with such a style failing to yield results, North Carolina has since swapped its obsession with possession for pragmatism. It adjusted its formation to a three-back system to enable more stability in midfield and wide areas.

The changes have paid off. The Courage have accrued an impressive 5-2-1 record in the interim, and are tied on points with the current eighth place holders Gotham. Courage forward Manaka Matsukobo has particularly profited, scoring a team-leading four goals and notching four assists in the last five matches. 

North Carolina’s late comeback win over the Houston Dash in the final matchday before the summer break symbolizes its first half of the season. It overcame an early deficit to score two unanswered goals in the closing 20 minutes. Forwards Jaedyn Shaw and Hannah Betfort both broke their goal-scoring ducks with the vital goals. According to the sports analytics service Opta, the Courage now lead the league in points gained from a losing position, with eight.  

10.) Bay FC find themselves in the messy middle

So close, yet so far. Bay FC feel like a protypical mid-table club in that they often outplay opponents this season, yet they do not have the points to show for it. Only once has Bay conceded more than two goals in a match and lost by more than a two-goal margin — and that was away at imperious Kansas City. Bay FC often hangs tough in games but simply cannot deliver the goods when it matters most. They own the third-worst big chance conversion record, per Opta. Asisat Oshoala remains mired in ‘bust’ territory with zero goals or assists on the season.

Bay FC are on a quest for consistent form, as Albertin Montoya’s side has not yet strung together consecutive wins or draws this season. Bay FC will need to discover another missing piece to its jigsaw to return to the playoffs. 

11.) Can Angel City discover its mettle?

Head coach Alexander Straus officially joined Angel City from Frauen-Bundesliga giants Bayern Munich on June 1. In the three matches Straus has overseen, Angel City have lost twice and drawn once. For context, Straus only experienced two Bayern Munich league losses in the entirety of the three seasons in which he helmed the club. Perhaps it is a culture shock, a deficient squad, or a glaring symbol of the parity absent in other global leagues. Regardless, Angel City has yet to benefit from a new manager bounce and currently sits three points outside the playoff position. 

Notably, since Savy King’s horrifying on-field medical event on May 9, Angel City has yet to pick up a win or keep a clean sheet. Straus is tasked with helping Angel City strike a more even balance between attack and defense. Led by rookie Riley Tiernan and starlet Alyssa Thompson, Angel City are the only team outside the top four with 20 goals to its name. However, they have conceded the third most goals in the league, with 58% of its shipped goals occurring in the second half. It has certainly been a tough go, but Angel City will need to emerge from the international break with resolve and resilience. 

12.) Houston Dash fail to launch, again

The Houston Dash has been plagued by mediocrity through the entirety of its existence. Only once in its 11-year history has the Dash qualified for the postseason. Based on results and performances at the midway point, the Dash appear to remain on that turgid trajectory.

Despite several splashy off-season pick-ups such as Yazmeen Ryan, Delanie Sheehan, and Messiah Bright as well as a spate of promising early performances, Houston has reverted to the mean. They are now seven points adrift of a playoff spot. Matchday 13 saw Jane Campbell return to the net and reclaim her captaincy after a five-match stretch that saw her dropped in favor of Abby Smith. However, it did not spur a positive result, as the Dash failed to protect a lead against North Carolina and came away with zero points following another late collapse. Similarly, in early June, the Dash were seconds away from securing an impressive point away at Orlando before capitulating in 90’+9. Houston now dubiously lead the NWSL with most points dropped from a winning position, with 8. 

Though avoiding another last place finish would technically be an improvement from 2024, more was expected from Houston.

13.) Has Chicago already hit its ceiling?

Despite losing taliswoman Mallory Swanson to maternity leave, few could have foreseen the depth of Chicago’s despair in 2025. Chicago’s 6-0 mauling at the hands of the Orlando Pride in the season opener appears to have been a harbinger for the poor season ahead. The 2024 playoff side have been seemingly locked in 13th place thus far this season, with just a single victory and three draws through the halfway point. 

The dismissal of head coach Lorne Donaldson after an abysmal 1-6-1 start was met with mixed reaction, as some observers believed Donaldson was the scapegoat for an insufficient squad. Since the promotion of former assistant coach Masaki Hemmi to an interim role, the Stars have shown scant signs of life. Despite some positive passages of play, the Stars have only picked up six points of a possible 33. It appears Chicago is in need of a meaningful roster upgrade in order to avoid a lost season.    

14.) Will Coenraets survive the summer?

The Utah Royals sit bottom of every statistical category — fewest points, fewest goals scored, most goals allowed, and worst XG difference. Its lone win of the season came against fellow cellar dwellers the Chicago Stars back in April. While a brutal injury list has contributed to the Royals’ underperformance, the team’s lack of any forward momentum and management’s stubborn insistence on a particular style of play is concerning. 

Last year Utah endured a similarly turgid start to the season, collecting just four points through the opening 14 matches of its inaugural season. It cost then-head coach Amy Rodriguez her job. Jimmy Coenraets helped right the ship, as Utah went on to snatch 17 points out of a possible 27. The 30 year-old was rewarded with a contract that would make him permanent head coach through 2027. 

However, Utah currently lay claim to even fewer points than it had when Rodriguez earned the sack last season. The climb out of last place after the international break does not get any easier. Utah will face a thankless run-in at the restart, as four of its next five opponents currently occupy playoff positions. Will Utah’s ownership show Coenraets grace, or opt to make a second successive mid-season coaching change?