Cary, N.C. – NWSL Decision Day. The final matchday of the 2026 regular season. Simultaneous kickoffs and chaos. Denver Summit FC came into the day with a chance to make the playoffs, a rarity for expansion teams. They had already become the highest scoring expansion team in league history.
Summit traveled to North Carolina Courage. It was a matchup of 10th vs 9th. Elsewhere, 8th seed Seattle Reign hosted Orlando Pride, who were already eliminated. Summit needed and and needed Pride to upset Reign, a tall task indeed.
Nick Cushing’s lineup was not surprising. Ayo Oke returned to starting at right back and Natalie Means on the bench. It was Devin Lynch and Delanie Sheehan at holding midfielder. The lineup was otherwise as expected. Kaleigh Kurtz started in her first game back in North Carolina, having left the club to join Summit in the winter.
MVP candidate Ashley Sanchez started up top for the home side.
The match was a game of two halves. Summit was the better side in the first half. They had a bit more of the ball and used their possession to create half chances. The game was a lot of getting into good areas but crosses were off or intercepted. Courage on the other hand had fewer looks but higher quality, playing through Sanchez.
Aye found Tash Flint at the penalty spot for a shot right at the goalkeeper in the 10th. NC had a ball cleared off the line by Eva Gaetino with Sanchez taking a tumble. The best chance of the game was a Sanchez chip of goalkeeper Abby Smith but she was called offside. It would have been the goal of the day. Smith had another play where she got a yellow card for a slide tackle playing sweeper keeper.
Summit dropped off in the second half. Courage were more energetic. They won second balls and recycled possession. Summit had trouble breaking out and getting into the final third.
Smith made a fantastic save in the 79th, denying Sanchez the goal record on a set piece. Melissa Kössler led a 3-v-3 counter attack in which she passed to Sheehan with Heaps covered, but the pass was off. With a better angle, it’s a tap in.
By this point, Seattle had taken the lead with a goal on a corner by Jordyn Bugg. With that result, Seattle were in the 8th seed no matter what happened in Research Triangle. In the final minute of stoppage time, the ball bounced around in the box. Kurtz reacted to a loose ball even with Smith coming off her line. The former Courage defender put it into her own net.
The match ended 1-0 on that Kurtz own goal.
“Another game that got away. Another that game that we should win. We faded at the end. Overall, really positive in the sense of foundation. That was the bare minimum of this season. Not have to repeat the year because we didn’t have a clear identity. There’s really clear areas we have to improve,” Cushing told Burgundy Wave.
“I have a long list of things that I’ve learned this season. I’m really grateful for those sessions. In this league, it really does take top to bottom everyone being bought in,” Janine Sonis said, speaking big picture.
In a way, it was a fitting way to end the season. Summit had a good start. They were on top of things. Couldn’t convert. They drop off. An established team finds a way to win the game off a defensive mistake in a tight game.
“When we didn’t beat Seattle in March, if we’re still having these games come September, October, we probably won’t be above the line. And we’ve just had one at the end of October. Which is why we’re not above the line,” Cushing responded.
It’s a disappointing end. But there’s so much good about where Summit are at. They got the Head Coach right. They have multiple star players to build around. The identity is clear and quality. They play entertaining attacking football. There is another level to reach in games like this though. Do that, and the team will be competing for a home playoff game, as Cushing has said.
To the WoSo fans who discovered BW this year, thank you for reading and watching our content. We look forward to covering Summit in 2027.
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