Match facts:

After three losses to Gotham FC last season, North Carolina beat their New Jersey foes, 2-0, to open this year’s Challenge Cup. Now, the Courage travel to face a Gotham team that is playing its first home game of this year’s tournament after opening with three straight away matches.

Players to watch:

Gotham FC forward

Margaret Purce

opened her Challenge Cup account in Wednesday’s 1-0 win in Orlando and may be relied on again for the bulk of their attacking output on Sunday. Purce is the only Gotham player to have scored in open play thus far this season, with midfielder

Kristie Mewis

scoring from the spot as the only other player to have tallied a goal in their three games played. The well-balanced Courage have done well to take advantage of defender

Carson Pickett

’s chance creation and ability to beat a player on the ball thus far. Through three games, Pickett leads her side in assists (2), passes attempted (196) and interceptions (11) and is a consistent threat to the opposition defense. Five different players have scored for the Courage in their three games as well, proving they have plenty to offer against any side they face. Match facts: After three losses to Gotham FC last season, North Carolina beat their New Jersey foes, 2-0, to open this year’s Challenge Cup. Now, the Courage travel to face a Gotham team that is playing its first home game of this year’s tournament after opening with three straight away matches. Gotham has slowly turned its results around in its three games played, losing its first before drawing its second and winning its third match of the Cup. To keep positive momentum going, the hosts have the odds in their favor when they get on the scoresheet at least once. In seven games in which they have scored at least one goal, they have only lost once. In addition, Gotham has never lost in Challenge Cup history after scoring first (W4 D1). North Carolina did let a two-goal lead slip in their last time out, a 2-2 draw with Washington on Wednesday. However, the side remained unbeaten in this season’s Challenge Cup (W2 D1) and have only lost one of their 11 all-time Challenge Cup group stage matches with the lone defeat coming against Gotham last year. The Courage rank in the top three in almost every offensive category through their three games played and sit high up in most defensive categories as well. One area that they may use their advantage most, though, is in the duels department where the contrast between the two is highest. Gotham is in the bottom three in total duels and last in percentage of duels won, while the Courage are second in the same categories. Ways to watch: Fans in the

United States

can watch the match on Paramount+ while fans in

Canada and abroad

will be able to watch on Twitch .