Racing Louisville FC closes out a wildly successful month of August with a little “NWSL After Dark” action, as it travels to the West Coast for a 10 p.m. ET Friday clash with the sixth-place San Diego Wave FC at Snapdragon Stadium.
San Diego is the only opponent Racing has yet to meet this season. Over the next month, the two sides will clash twice in 28 days — once in California Friday, followed by a contest at Lynn Family Stadium on Sept. 25.
Racing (7-12-2, 23 points) aims to get back to winning ways Friday. Last weekend, Louisville’s club-record winning streak came to an end at four, as it fell 3-2 at Chicago Stars FC in a back-and-forth affair on the shores of Lake Michigan.
The visitors equalized on two occasions in the second half, but a late strike inside the final 10 minutes from Canadian Julia Grosso gave the Stars their first win in nearly 50 days.
Despite the defeat, Racing, now in 13th position, is still just five points back of the eighth and final playoff place. A win Friday would move Louisville up at least one place heading to the league’s weekend slate.
Currently, Racing is the only team outside the playoff picture with at least 30 goals scored. That is of note considering the Wave have conceded multiple goals in three of their last four home contests.
Louisville was winless (0-2-1) in San Diego until last year, when an Emma Sears goal lifted Racing to a narrow 1-0 win in late August. Overall, Friday’s visitors are 2-3-3 all-time versus the Wave.
San Diego (11-7-3, 36 points) picked up a critical three points last week in a 4-2 win against another fellow top-half NWSL outfit: Utah Royals FC. The Wave are now just a point back of Washington Spirit and Portland Thorns FC in second and third place, respectively.
San Diego hopes to maintain pace with those just ahead of it in the table with a result in the finale of a three-match homestand Friday. Its form, however, hasn’t been the most consistent since the beginning of July. The Wave had just one win in six games ahead of topping Utah last week at home.
The Wave were recently sitting top of the table through 15 games, helped by a red-hot start to the campaign where it won five of its opening six matches.
Follow Along
- The clash out West will be streamed on the free NWSL+ app or via plus.nwslsoccer.com. Fans can also listen to the match on Sports Talk 790AM or 790louisville.com.
- For the starting lineup and in-game updates, follow @RacingLouFC on Twitter and Racing Louisville FC on Facebook. You can also find us at @racinglouisvillefc on Instagram.
Story Lines …
A near-immediate impact: A mere 28 seconds. That’s how long it took between Makenna Morris stepping onto the pitch for her 50th NWSL appearance and scoring her first Racing goal last Sunday versus Chicago. Morris found herself at the right place at the right time, slotting home an equalizing strike after a failed clearance came to her in the middle of the box. Not only was it Morris’ first goal for Louisville, but it was also her first goal in general since the opening game of the 2025 regular season when she played for the Washington Spirit.
Back on the scoresheet: In her 100th career NWSL start, Taylor Flint, the NWSL’s current leader in interceptions (60), found the back of the net for Racing’s opening goal against the Stars. Flint headed home a Lauren Milliet cross at the near post past former Louisville goalkeeper Katie Atkinson inside the opening five minutes of the final period. It marked Flint’s fourth goal of the campaign, but first in open play. Of Flint’s 17 career NWSL regular season goals, seven have interestingly been by way of a header.
Coming out with real intention: The headed finish by Flint was Racing’s ninth in the first 15 minutes of the second half — tied for the most such finishes in the NWSL. The only other side with nine goals across that period of play is the Kansas City Current. For context, nine goals in this specific 15-minute span equates to 28% of Louisville’s total goal output.
SoCal returnees: Louisville’s roster features three players who once played for the Wave: Rachel Hill, Quincy McMahon and Flint. McMahon most recently played for San Diego, making seven appearances last year during her rookie campaign with the Wave before a trade brought her to Racing in January. Hill and Flint were both members of the 2023 San Diego team that lifted the NWSL Shield. Flint made 34 appearances in two seasons with the Wave, while Hill recorded 1,074 minutes in her lone 2023 campaign in San Diego.
Fit and firing: San Diego’s Trinity Byars spent the majority of her rookie season last year on the season-ending injury list, having suffered an ACL injury at the end of her collegiate career with the University of Texas. Byars’ NWSL regular-season debut just came earlier this season. A few months later, the 23-year-old Texas native is the Wave’s current leading scorer with eight goals in 16 appearances. She particularly starred last week, contributing to all four of San Diego’s goals versus Utah. Byars scored and assisted twice in 71 minutes on the pitch. She is now one of two Wave players with four goal contributions in a game, joining Alex Morgan, who did it in May 2022.
