North Carolina Courage defeats Paris Saint-Germain Féminines in International Champions Cup Women’s Tournament

The North Carolina Courage won the first International Champions Cup Women’s Tournament match Thursday night, defeating Paris Saint-Germain Féminines 2-1 at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens.

The Courage got on the board first, after North Carolina forward Jessica McDonald took a ball in the box and placed her shot on the inside of the right post, knocking it in to give the Courage a 1-0 lead in the 19th minute.

PSG evened the match in the 40th minute thanks to an own goal from Courage defender Kaleigh Kurtz. Perle Morroni sent in a beautiful ball destined for Jordyn Huitema. However, Kurtz’s attempt to clear wound up beating keeper Katelyn Rowland and found its way to the back of the net.

After a balanced second half, the Courage broke the deadlock in the 84th minute, when a low ball from Lynn Williams found Darian Jenkins, and Jenkins was able to side-foot it in.

The Courage now advance to the ICC Women’s Tournament Final on Sunday, where the team will face either Manchester City Women or Olympique Lyonnais Féminin.

The significance of the first ICC women’s match was not lost on the players or coaches involved.

”To show [children] that things like this are completely possible, it’s a nice feeling for us as players,” Courage forward Jessica McDonald said after the match. “As long as we set a good example and put on a great show for them.

“For them to sort of witness history, they can also be here. And this is the type of message that we need to send out to them.”