Racing Louisville is preparing for a critical road match at 8 p.m. ET Saturday against the Chicago Red Stars at SeatGeek Stadium with three games to play in the 2023 NWSL regular season.
The match will be streamed on Paramount+.
Playoff implications abound in the final stretch of the campaign, with the league set to return to play after a week off for international action. Louisville occupies ninth place in the NWSL standings but is only two points out of sixth place, the last spot above the playoff cutline. A mere 11 points separate first place from last – and 12th-place Chicago is just five points out of the playoff picture.
Racing (5-5-9, 24 points) is hoping to bounce back from a frustrating 1-0 loss to the Houston Dash at Lynn Family Stadium two Fridays ago. Louisville has the opportunity Saturday to complete a four-game sweep of Chicago this season after beating the Red Stars twice in the UKG NWSL Challenge Cup group stage and in a May 12 regular season game.
Parker Goins and Wang Shuang scored in the 3-0 May victory over Chicago, with Savannah DeMelo’s penalty counting as an own goal after it bounced in off Red Stars goalkeeper Alyssa Naeher. It was only the second three-goal regular season win in Racing Louisville’s short club history.
Chicago (6-10-3, 21 points) is 3-1-2 in its last six regular season matches, including wins over second-place San Diego and sixth-place Washington. The Red Stars tied Angel City the last time out, twice rallying from a one-goal deficit en route to a 2-2 draw.
Follow along …
• For Starting XI and in-game updates, follow @RacingLouFC on Twitter and Racing Louisville FC on Facebook. You can also find us at @racinglouisvillefc on Instagram.
• The game will be streamed live on Paramount+, and international viewers may watch for free on NWSLSoccer.com.
Storylines …
Attacking options: Across three meetings between Racing and Chicago in 2023, six different Louisville players have scored: Jordan Baggett, Uchenna Kanu, Parker Goins (twice), Paige Monaghan and Wang Shuang were all directly credited with goals. In the May 12 win, a Savannah DeMelo penalty caromed in after bouncing off the post and then the the back of Red Stars keeper Alyssa Naeher. Alternatively, Chicago has not scored on Racing this year.
Career years: Several Racing players have already put up career-high numbers this year. Paige Monaghan (4) and Kirsten Davis (4) both have career-best goal outputs across all competitions, while Monaghan’s two assists also mark a career-high. Katie Lund’s 10 clean sheets across both the regular season and NWSL Challenge Cup also set a new high mark. Savannah DeMelo’s banner year also includes setting a new mark for goals (eight across all competitions) and assists (three).
Ary’s starry turn: Brazilian midfielder Ary Borges has emerged this year as one of the top young midfielders in the NWSL. The 23-year-old has two goals across all competitions, in addition to 60 progressive passes, 53 shot-creating actions and four goal-creating actions. She has won 20 tackles and blocked 24 shots this year, too, pairing well with young midfield standouts Savannah DeMelo and Jaelin Howell.
Marathon Milliet: One of the league’s remaining iron women, defender Lauren Milliet has played every minute this regular season (1,710 minutes) – along with fellow defender Abby Erceg. Milliet has been a mainstay for Racing over the past three seasons, playing a variety of positions before shifting to full-time right back this year. She leads all outfield players in the NWSL in ball recoveries (177) while ranking second in fouls won and 10th in interceptions.
Global Racing: Racing Louisville is the first club in NWSL history to feature players from six different continents on its roster, and four different confederations were represented by goal involvements in the Sept. 2 regular-season win over first-place Portland. The signings of Nigeria’s Uchenna Kanu and South Africa’s Thembi Kgatlana as well as Brazilian midfielder Ary Borges pushed Racing’s roster from four continents on the roster to six this past offseason.
