— The 2018 NWSL Champion NC Courage returned to North Carolina Sunday and the team was greeted by a group of fans eager to congratulate.

"I think it means a lot, to Triangle sports and women's sports in the Triangle too," Lindsey Damour, who came from Johnston County to meet the team, said. "It gives the youth soccer players a group of women to look up to."

"This (win) wasn't for the Courage this weekend," manager Paul Riley said. "This was for the hurricane victims and this was for North Carolina. they play for a city, but we played for a state this weekend.

Fans traveled from all over North Carolina, and one mother-daughter came down from Virginia.

"North Carolina Courage are really nice to the fans," they said. "So you kind of feel the joy the feel when they win they won the championship."

The players felt a part of the community because of the number of fans who spent their day waiting to celebrate the team's accomplishment.

"You couldn't ask for anything better than this," NC Courage forward Jessica McDonald said. "I'm sure people had things to do, instead they came here to support us."

The Courage clinched the title Saturday, with a 3-0 win over the Portland Thorns in Oregon.

"It's always so cool when you come home, especially when you're been somewhere like Portland, when there's 20,000 fans going against you," said Abby Erceg, NC Courage captain. "Yo come back and have that much support is just cool."

Now it's good to be back on home turf, especially with this welcome, one fit for the hometown champions.