The Replay: N.C. Courage resumes play as investigations begin
A soccer league and franchise under question, Duke’s new policy for basketball spectators and UNC football’s rivalry win highlighted sports in the Triangle last week:
NC Courage back on the pitch as fallout continues
The National Women’s Soccer League resumed play on Wednesday in the aftermath of allegations of sexual coercion and abuse levied against former N.C. Courage coach Paul Riley by two of his former players.
Riley was fired by the Courage on Sept. 30. The NWSL’s board of directors voted to remove its commissioner Lisa Baird and general counsel Lis Levine on Oct. 1. The NWSL Players Association then called for weekend games to be put on pause.
When the Courage took the field against Racing Louisville on Wednesday, players from both teams stopped competing six minutes into the game and joined each other in the middle of the pitch. They stood in solidarity, forming a circle with arms around each other’s shoulders, for a 60 second moment of silence.
Fans stood with signs that read, “Protect the players” and “No more silence,” as the Courage won 3-1 in their first game back since Riley was fired. The players, so far, have elected not to speak publicly.
Courage owner Steve Malik released a statement Wednesday that said he supported three new investigations by the league, U.S. Soccer and FIFA and he included this passage:
“Following the news of last week, many of you were left with a key question — what did we know? When we bought the Western NY Flash in 2017, we conducted due diligence to continue with Mr. Riley and the coaching staff. We were made aware of an investigation into Mr. Riley’s behavior in 2015 and were subsequently assured that he was in good standing. During his employment with the Courage, we had no knowledge of allegations of sexual harassment or coercion. When we learned of the horrific allegations in last week’s reporting, we took those seriously and immediately terminated Mr. Riley.”
Not that crazy after all
Duke announced that spectators wanting to attend basketball games in Cameron Indoor Stadium — and there will be a groundswell of folks trying to catch a glimpse of coach Mike Krzyzewski’s last season — must provide proof of full vaccination against COVID-19. Certain exceptions will apply for anyone age 12 and up. A mask mandate will also be in place and that’s for men’s and women’s basketball games this winter.
Fans 12 and older who are not fully vaccinated can show proof of a negative test for COVID-19 that is 72 hours prior to the game they attend. Duke is also providing a rapid COVID-19 antigen test at Blue Devil Tower, across the plaza from Cameron Indoor at Wallace Wade Stadium the day of the game for a $45 fee.
News of Duke’s policy comes as LSU announced it will no longer require proof of vaccination or a negative COVID-19 test in order to attend home football games in Baton Rouge. The school had announced a similar protocol before football season began.
Victory Bell meets Bell Tower
Back in 1989 during Mack Brown’s first stint as the Tar Heels head football coach, Then-Duke coach Steve Spurrier once had his team take a photo in front of the Kenan Stadium scoreboard after a shutout victory over UNC.
Brown hasn’t lost to the Blue Devils ever since, including last week with the Heels’ 38-7 win last week to keep the Victory Bell in possession for a third straight season. The win helped UNC rebound from its disappointing 45-22 loss at Georgia Tech on Sept. 25.
“We’ve still got all the goals out there as possibilities because of college football so crazy,” Brown said. “There’ll be some more crazy upsets today before this is over. So what you can’t do is just shut it down.”
The win stopped the Blue Devils three game winning streak. It also marked the first game of Carolina’s Big Four schedule as Wake Forest (Nov. 6) and N.C. State (Nov. 26) await next month. UNC is the only state school that will face all three of its traditional rivals this season. The game against the Demon Deacons was scheduled as a non-conference game.