Seattle Reign FC W v North Carolina Courage W — prediction, stats and goal analysis

NWSL (W) · Saturday, 3 October 2026. Final score 0–1 (half-time 0–0). Before kick-off we rated it 50% over 2.5 goals — the match finished with 1, so that call missed. That rating was frozen into a version-controlled ledger before the game and has not been touched since.

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Our ratings for this match

MarketYesNoOur call
Over 2.5 goals51%49%Over
Over 3.5 goals27%73%no pick
Both teams to score53%47%Yes

The result model puts Seattle Reign FC W at 45%, the draw at 27% and North Carolina Courage W at 28%, from expected goals of 1.44 and 1.06.

How we got this number

The league sets the starting point. NWSL (W) has produced over 2.5 goals in 48% of its matches, and that is where a team with no record of its own would sit.

Each side's own record. Seattle Reign FC W have 13 in 26 this season (4 of 13 at home), North Carolina Courage W 20 in 26 (9 of 13 away). Those records are pulled toward the league rate with the weight of about 24 matches — enough that two or three unusual games cannot swing a rating — giving 49% and 63%.

Last season still counts, briefly. With 26 and 26 games played this season, last season's rates are still blended in and fade out entirely by game 40 — the point at which our testing showed they stop adding accuracy. A single season is part luck, so each club's record is first pulled toward the league average by 34 games' weight. That moves the two figures to 47% and 59%.

The mix. Weighted 40% home side, 40% away side and 20% league — the split that beat every alternative across 30,582 matches of testing — that gives 52%.

Head to head. These sides have met 5 times in three years, producing over 2.5 goals in 60%. That nudges the number 5% of the way toward the head-to-head pattern — deliberately small, because fixtures change more than reputations do — landing on 52%.

Goal expectation. Separately a Poisson model built from attack and defence strength — using real expected-goals data where the league has it — puts this match at 46%, from expected goals of 1.44 for Seattle Reign FC W and 1.06 for North Carolina Courage W. Folding in 30% of that view gives 50%.

Calibration. Tested against 97,729 past matches, our ratings below 55% have run consistently too pessimistic — a figure in the high 30s, for instance, has come in about four points higher. So ratings in that range are lifted part-way back, giving 51%.

This breakdown is generated from the same inputs the rating uses, so it cannot describe a calculation we did not perform. The full model is set out in the methodology.

Season form

TeamGamesO2.5O3.5BTTS
Seattle Reign FC W2650%19%46%
North Carolina Courage W2677%42%62%

Head to head

5 Jul 26North Carolina Courage W 3–1 Seattle Reign FC WO2.5
29 Sept 25Seattle Reign FC W 2–1 North Carolina Courage WO2.5
22 Mar 25North Carolina Courage W 1–2 Seattle Reign FC WO2.5
26 Aug 24Seattle Reign FC W 1–0 North Carolina Courage WU2.5
28 Apr 24North Carolina Courage W 1–0 Seattle Reign FC WU2.5
2 Oct 23Seattle Reign FC W 1–1 North Carolina Courage WU2.5

More: Seattle Reign FC W season stats · North Carolina Courage W season stats · NWSL (W) table and form. Ratings are calibrated probabilities, not tips — a 60% call is expected to miss two times in five.