Following the 2018 USL season, Johnson made his second NCFC coaching change, as the club announced the hiring of former U.S. Men’s National Team Manager Dave Sarachan on Dec. 17, 2018. With Sarachan in charge, NCFC finished seventh in the USL Championship Eastern Conference and reached the playoffs for the second time in three years in 2019. Meanwhile, the Courage made history by becoming the first team in NWSL history to win a league championship on its home field, as it defeated the Chicago Red Stars 4-0 in front 10,227 spectators, the largest crowd in North Carolina Football Club history.