The North Carolina Courage are going to look different this NWSL season.
For the first time since 2017, the year the team began playing in Cary, N.C. after moving from Western New York, they’ll play without Denise O’Sullivan.
The Courage announced Saturday that they have transferred the Irish midfielder to Liverpool FC of the Barclays Women’s Super League for an undisclosed fee.
Calling O’Sullivan a mainstay for the Courage would be a massive understatement. She arrived to the club during the summer of 2017 looking for a fresh start after being waived by the Houston Dash. Across the nine seasons since, she would become the club’s all-time leader in appearances, featuring in 186 games in all competitions.
“It’s hard to put into words what this club has truly meant to me. North Carolina will always be my home, and I’m forever grateful to the club, my teammates, and the incredible fans who supported and believed in me every step of the way,” O’Sullivan said in a statement. “I’m on to a new challenge now, but I’ll always be a part of Courage Country. From the bottom of my heart, thank you for everything.”
With O’Sullivan on the pitch — mostly as a stout box-to-box defensive midfielder with a knack for winning balls, earning the nicknames “junkyard” and “Savage Sully” for her aggressiveness — the Courage won seven NWSL trophies: three Shields, two Challenge Cups, and a pair of NWSL Championships in 2018 and 2019. The Courage also won the International Champions Cup in 2018.
O’Sullivan tallied three goals and 12 assists in her tenure with the Courage. She made the NWSL’s Best XI team in 2019 and the Second XI in 2023, and has been named one of the “100 Best Female Footballers in the World” by The Guardian.
“Denise has been an integral part of this club since the beginning, and she has helped define the Courage way,” Ceri Bowley, chief soccer officer for the Courage, said in a statement. “She’s been a leader, both on and off the field, and the standard of excellence she set for herself, her teammates, and everyone at this organization will be her legacy. She will be missed, but we understand her desire to be closer to home and wish her all the best in her next chapter.”
A native of Cork, Ireland, the 31-year-old O’Sullivan has 126 caps for the Republic of Ireland national team and has 22 goals for her country. She started in all three games for the Irish in the 2023 World Cup.
With O’Sullivan moving to Liverpool, Kaleigh Kurtz signing with the expansion side Denver Summitt, and Meredith Speck still an unsigned free agent, just one player remains on the Courage’s roster who was part of the club’s last championship team in 2019: defender Ryan Williams.
Nathan Thackeray, the 2019 squad’s goalkeepers coach, also remains. He was promoted to acting head coach last August after Sean Nahas was fired.