Racing Louisville kicks off the second half of the National Women’s Soccer League regular season on a big platform, hosting NJ/NY Gotham FC in a nationally televised matchup at 4 p.m. Sunday at Lynn Family Stadium.
CBS will carry the national broadcast, with the game showing on WLKY-32 locally in the Louisville area, and the stakes are high for the home team.
Racing (2-3-6, 12 points) is six points out of a playoff spot but still in the thick of the race to be one of the league’s six teams to reach the postseason. And Sunday’s contest marks the first of six games in the second half of the campaign against teams in playoff position, with Gotham currently a playoff team in fifth place.
This is Racing’s third home game in nine days, and the Louisvillians are aiming to maintain their recent good form. Coach Kim Björkegren’s team is 5-1-2 in its past eight games across all competitions, but the Louisvillians have particularly been stumped by draws in league play. Racing’s six ties this season are the most in the league.
Louisville enters Sunday’s game in good defensive form, having only allowed one goal in its last four matches. Racing drew league-leading San Diego, 0-0, in a regular-season game two Fridays ago and followed that up with a 3-0 UKG NWSL Challenge Cup win over Houston on Wednesday. Goalkeeper Katie Lund and Racing’s stout defense have posted four shutouts in the last six starts and three straight.
Gotham (5-3-3, 18 points) started hot in league play, winning four of its first five matches across all competitions, including three shutout victories. Led by top scorer Lynn Williams and her six goals, the New Jersey-based squad has been particularly dangerous in transition.
Coach Juan Carlos Amorós is hoping his team can bounce back from a three-match winless stretch that includes last Sunday’s 1-1 draw at Houston.
This is the first meeting this year between Racing and Gotham and the seventh all-time across all competitions. The two teams have each beaten each other once and tied the other four times.
Follow along…
• For Starting XI and in-game updates, follow @RacingLouFC on Twitter and Racing Louisville FC on Facebook. Also find us at @racinglouisvillefc on Instagram.
• The game will be CBS (WLKY-32 in the Louisville area), and international viewers may watch for free on NWSLSoccer.com.
Story lines …
An MVP campaign in the making: Halfway through the season, Savannah DeMelo has to be considered one of the leading candidates for the hotly contested NWSL MVP award. The star midfielder has seven goals and three assists across all competitions and ranks 10th in the NWSL in chances created in regular-season games. The 25-year-old leads the league in fouls won and fouls won in the attacking third, but she’s not just an attacking weapon, either. DeMelo rates in the top 20 in tackles won.
Howell’s hustle: In the thankless position of defensive midfielder, captain Jaelin Howell has put together an NWSL Best XI-worthy season so far, ranking among the top 20 in the league in a variety of categories, from interceptions (seventh) and successful tackles per 90 minutes (10th) to accurate long balls per 90 (20th). The 23-year-old is seventh in the NWSL in tackles won and duels won, anchoring one of the league’s brightest young midfields.
Lookin’ out for No. 1: Racing goalkeeper Katie Lund just keeps churning out shutouts, with the 3-0 win over Houston Wednesday marking her third clean sheet in four games and the fourth in six. The Texas native consistently ranks among the best in the world at her position, according to Opta stats, rating in the 99th percentile in post-shot expected goals minus goals allowed, a metric that measures a goalkeeper’s shot-stopping ability. She’s also in the 93rd percentile among goalkeepers in the world’s top leagues in save percentage over the past year, with her 79.3% save percentage ranking third in the NWSL this season. She is second in the NWSL regular season in saves per 90 minutes, averaging 4.2.
Young goals galore: Wednesday’s UKG NWSL Challenge Cup win over Houston included three goals from players 25 and under, with Kayla Fischer (23), Parker Goins (24) and Savannah DeMelo (25) finding the net for the Louisvillians. Racing now has 16 of its 20 goals from players who are 25 and under, including seven from DeMelo and three from Goins, who is second on the team in scoring despite playing the fourth-fewest minutes on the squad.
Global Racing: Racing Louisville is the first club in NWSL history to feature players from six different continents on its roster. The Louisvillians already had an international flavor last year, with four continents represented. But the additions of Brazilian midfielder Ary Borges as well as Nigerian forward Uchenna Kanu and South African forward Thembi Kgatlana nudged Racing to six continents. Abby Erceg, who made 146 appearances for New Zealand’s national team, reinforced Australian midfielder Alex Chidiac as a second representative from Oceania.
World Cup year: This is a big year for women’s soccer, with the 2023 FIFA World Cup set for Australia and New Zealand from July 20-August 20. Racing should be well-represented at the planet’s biggest competition. There are nine current internationals on Racing’s roster, and seven of their countries have qualified for the World Cup, in addition to the young American talent hoping to feature for the U.S. Women’s National Team. The NWSL will only play one regular-season game in the World Cup window, instead scheduling half of the NWSL UKG Challenge Cup matches for that period.
