A Brazilian soccer star has gone on a tear to power her NWSL team from last place to an improbable playoff bid

• With 1 week left in the NWSL regular season, the NC Courage have improbably moved into playoff position.
• The 30-year-old Brazilian star Debinha has led the way, scoring five goals in the last two games.

The race for a spot in the National Women's Soccer League playoffs is heating up down the final stretch.

And nobody wants it more than Debinha.

The 30-year-old Brazilian superstar is doing absolutely everything in her power to lead her North Carolina Courage on a remarkable journey from dead last in the NWSL standings to an improbable playoff berth. Debinha has scored five goals over the Courage's past two games — and at least a brace in three of North Carolina's last five — to propel her squad from 12th to sixth on the NWSL table in five short weeks.

Debinha kicked off her other-worldly tear on September 10, when the Courage hosted Racing Louisville FC at WakeMed Soccer Park. Debinha netted two of North Carolina's five goals in the lopsided affair, then offered an assist on the Courage's lone goal to beat Angel City FC four days later.

A week later — after a tough home loss to Megan Rapinoe and OL Reign — Debinha and company traveled south to Florida to face the Orlando Pride. The 5-foot-1 midfielder contributed to all three goals in the shutout; she won a footrace against Orlando's defenders to tap one in just two minutes into the contest, delivered a beautiful chip into the box to assist on Tess Boade's first-half stoppage-time goal, and lofted a shot from the corner of the box into the side netting of the goal to notch a brace mere minutes into the second half.

And on Saturday, in the Courage's penultimate game of the regular season, Debinha put on an absolute clinic. Her hat trick — featuring goals in the 27th, 34th, and 81st minutes — was enough to lead Sean Nahas' squad past NJ/NY Gotham by itself.

Now, with just a week remaining in the regular season, North Carolina finds itself among the teams vying for one of two remaining playoff spots — thanks in large part to the late-season heroics that have catapulted Debinha into the league's golden boot race.

The Courage will fly across the country to face Alex Morgan's San Diego Wave — a team that's already clinched its postseason berth — Friday night for their final game of the year. And with a current one-point lead over the Chicago Red Stars for the sixth and final spot in the playoffs, North Carolina will look to control its own destiny.