The 2017 North Carolina Courage season was the team's first season as a professional women's soccer team. North Carolina Courage plays in the National Women's Soccer League, the top tier of women's soccer in the United States. The Courage finished the regular season atop the table, winning the NWSL Shield and earning a spot in the NWSL Playoffs. After defeating Chicago 1âÂÂ0 in the semi-finals of the playoffs, it lost 0âÂÂ1 to Portland in the final.
The team played its previous season as the Western New York Flash, which won the 2016 NWSL Championship. The owners of North Carolina FC purchased the Flash and moved them to Cary, North Carolina, in January 2017 to create the Courage franchise, and retained most of the Flash's roster and coaching staff.