To kick off a season-long away swing, Racing Louisville FC was forced to share the points with the reigning NWSL champion Orlando Pride Saturday night at Inter&Co Stadium, giving up a late equalizer in a 1-1 draw.
It was clear in the end, however, the night belonged to one person — Louisville goalkeeper Jordyn Bloomer — who kept her side in the match with two crucial penalty saves. The 27-year-old made history, becoming the first player in club history to save a regular season penalty and the first in league history to save two in one game.
Her heroics paved the way for Marisa DiGrande to fire the visitors ahead in first-half stoppage time. Louisville would maintain its advantage for nearly the entire second half until Orlando found its response through an unlucky own goal from Ary Borges in the dying minutes, leaving the match all square.
For head coach Bev Yanez, while the result was disappointing, she left the match with “a lot of positive takeaways” as Racing earned its first regular season draw at Orlando since 2022.
“Obviously, unfortunate to get the late goal,” said Yanez. “I thought the group worked very hard this game. … I think you can go down the row in reference to what each player contributed tonight. … I thought players were moving, players were getting on the ball.
“… I want to just straight up say, that’s … unbelievable from Jordyn Bloomer — saving two PKs in a game, keeping your team in it mentally. It’s unbelievable from her. … Obviously, we wanted three points out of the match. I still believe one point on the road at Orlando is a good point. … Points, in general, mean a lot, especially this time in the season, so we’ll take it.”
Racing (6-6-3, 21 points) holds onto seventh place above the playoff line after the draw and will remain there regardless of this weekend’s other results. For now, 21 points positions it just three points outside of the league’s current top five.
Bloomer, in her ninth start of the season, produced a career display away from home. First, she denied Julie Doyle from 12 yards out in added time of the opening period. Then, the shot stopper did it again to Angelina five minutes before the clock hit 90. It was a bit of déjà vu from the emerging star between the sticks, who kept two penalties out in The Women’s Cup final just a few weeks ago.
“It definitely doesn’t hurt that we had two rounds of PKs in Brazil (at The Women’s Cup), right?” Bloomer said. “So, I guess you can say (it was) fortunate timing to have that much practice on them. I’m just thrilled they went the way they went. … After I made the first one, I just had a feeling that they’re probably shaking a little bit, so I was excited to have an opportunity to take on a second.”
The Racing defense, led by Bloomer, limited the Pride to just one goal from 2.96 xG — the club’s second-highest single-game total of the campaign. That performance completed the season series in which Louisville took four points off the defending champions. Racing previously beat Orlando, 2-0, on home soil on June 20, just before the summer break.
“We’re definitely upset to not get the three points, especially with just how hard we fought for 90-plus minutes,” DiGrande said. “I think there’s a lot of good to take away from today. We’ll obviously go back and look through film and kind of see areas maybe we can clean up and areas that we can continue to push forward with.”
Louisville’s tough road swing rolls on next week as it heads to the nation’s capital for a 7:30 p.m. Friday meeting with the second-place Washington Spirit. It’ll be the second and final match between the two sides this season. Racing fell by a 2-0 score at Lynn Family Stadium back on April 12 to the Spirit in the opening clash.
Game Summary: Orlando Pride vs. Racing Louisville FC
Date: August 9, 2025
Venue: Inter&Co Stadium
Kickoff: 7:30 p.m.
Weather: 81 degrees, cloudy
Scoring
Orlando Pride (0, 1, 1)
Racing Louisville FC (1, 0, 1)
Goals:
Orlando Pride
90’+3 Ary Borges (own goal)
Racing Louisville FC
45’+4 Marisa DiGrande (Janine Sonis)
Lineups
Orlando Pride: 1 – Anna Moorhouse; 19 – Carson Pickett, 3 – Kylie Nadaner (c), 6 – Emily Sams, 12 – Cori Dyke (61’ 4 – Rafaelle); 16 – Morgan Gautrat (71’ 18 – Simone Charley), 2 – Haley McCutcheon, 30 – Ally Lemos (71’ 15 – Angelina), 20 – Julie Doyle (61’ 35 – Simone Jackson); 9 – Prisca Chilufya (61’ 11 – Ally Watt), 22 – Barbra Banda
Subs not used: 40 – McKinley Crone; 10 – Marta, 21 – Oihane Hernández, 28 – Summer Yates
Head Coach: Seb Hines
Racing Louisville FC: 24 – Jordyn Bloomer; 11 – Courtney Petersen, 3 – Arin Wright (c), 5 – Ellie Jean, 16 – Janine Sonis; 26 – Taylor Flint, 14 – Marisa DiGrande (61’ 20 – Katie O’Kane), 7 – Savannah DeMelo (75’ 8 – Ary Borges); 6 – Ella Hase (89’ 29 – Uchenna Kanu), 13 – Emma Sears (89’ 88 – Bethany Balcer), 42 – Sarah Weber (75’ 9 – Kayla Fischer)
Subs not used: 33 – Cristina Roque; 19 – Jordan Baggett, 31 – Katie Scott, 32 – Avery Kalitta
Head Coach: Bev Yanez
Stats Summary: Orlando Pride / Racing Louisville FC
Shots: 17 / 12
Shots on Goal: 5 / 4
Expected goals: 2.96 / 0.77
Possession: 60.6% / 39.4%
Fouls: 11 / 10
Offside: 2 / 0
Corners: 7 / 2
Discipline Summary
Orlando Pride:
35’ Ally Lemos (yellow)
Racing Louisville FC:
55’ Savannah DeMelo (yellow)
Match referee: Iryna Petrunok
