In the third week of NWSL play, Rose Lavelle and the Boston Breakers will face Lynn Williams and the North Carolina Courage. The Courage are undefeated so far in their inaugural NWSL season. They will travel to Boston to take on the Breakers at Soldiers Field on Sunday at 6:00 pm. The two teams are currently the leaders of the NWSL with the Courage holding that number one spot with nine points, and the Breakers locked in second place with six points. If the Breakers take down the Courage, they have the potential to slide into the number one spot.
Historic start for Boston
The Beakers have never won three consecutive games, but hope to change that this weekend. In last week’s game against the Seattle Reign, the Breakers got out of a rut that they had been in for two years. The Breakers 3-0 win over the Reign was the first time since April of 2015 that the club had scored three goals in one game. Also monumental for Boston has been the rookie, Rose Lavelle. Lavelle was the no.1 draft pick in this year’s NWSL College Draft. She became the first player to be named the NWSL Player of the Month in the first month of a rookie season. Lavelle was also named to the NWSL best XI, among three opponents for this weekend: Lynn Williams, Sam Mewis, and Debinha. The rookie, Lavelle, has one goal and one assist through the first three games of play.
Four in a row for the newcomers
After relocating from western New York, it seems that the Courage have a had a bit of beginner's luck in North Carolina or maybe it’s the same NWSL Championship winning Flash, just under a new brand. Either way, if the Courage come out on top this weekend they will be only the second team in NWSL history to start the season with four consecutive wins. Jessica McDonald, Mewis, and Williams will all look to add to the scoreboard this weekend after they each found the back of the net last week against the Orlando Pride.
Battle of goalkeepers
Abby Smith of the Breakers and Sabrina D’Angelo of the Courage have both had spectacular starts to this 2017 season. Smith has 15 saves on the season and two clean sheets. D’Angelo has only had to make five saves this season, also having two clean sheets on the seasons. D’Angelo was nominated for Week 3 save of the week for her save against Brazilian superstar, Marta of the Orlando Pride. D’Angelo was able to dive and keep the ball from the back of the net, but it was ultimately Abby Dahlkemper who was able to get a foot on the ball and kick it out before it bounced into the back of the net.