
Racing Louisville FC suffered a 2-1 road defeat at the hands of the Houston Dash in its NWSL Challenge Cup finale on Sunday, but the young team is leaving the Lone Star State with a sense of optimism as it now turns focus to the impending regular season.
“We showed a lot in the Challenge Cup, but we’re not satisfied,” said rookie Racing midfielder Jaelin Howell, who was the second overall pick in the NWSL Draft. “Not moving on to the semifinal and not getting this win at the end, we’re not satisfied. We’re going to come together as a team and really show what we’re capable of. We’ve seen spurts of it. Now it’s just the consistency part.”
Neither Racing nor Houston had the chance to advance to the Challenge Cup semifinals entering the game, giving both teams the opportunity to rotate their lineups. First-year goalkeeper Jordyn Bloomer and recent Racing signing Sh’Nia Gordon, a wide forward, made their first career NWSL starts.
The loss was Racing’s second in the league-wide preseason competition, against one win and three draws. Despite losing both matches to Houston and tying with the Dash in overall points, Racing finished ahead of them because of a better goal differential over the six games.
Racing opens the NWSL regular season on Saturday at Chicago.
“I’m extremely happy with the group overall,” Racing coach Kim Björkegren said. “When it’s five minutes after a game, of course you can be disappointed and the energy in the body is not the best. But overall, I’m super happy with the group. They work hard, and I think our performances in games 3, 4 and 5 have been really good. We made some rotation today, and maybe that’s affected why our performance was not in the direction of the other ones, but that’s normal.”
All the games came in the first half, though Racing looked much more threatening on the attack in the second 45 minutes.
Howell’s goal in the 30th minute tied Racing with Houston. A set-piece cross from midfielder Savannah DeMelo was knocked down into Howell’s path 12 yards from goal, and the young U.S. Women’s National Team player coolly slotted home her one-timer over three Houston defenders standing on the goal line.
“It was a good ball in from (DeMelo),” Howell said. “(Racing defender Gemma Bonner) fought for the ball hard, and it just kind of landed in front of me. I knew I had to take my time on the volley – there was a lot of traffic in front of me. I just knew I had to get it on frame, so I hit that shot.”
But that moment of joy was canceled out five minutes later when Houston scored on a corner that deflected off Dash defender Ally Prisock as she boxed out Racing goalkeeper Jordyn Bloomer. The goal was 11 minutes apart from the 24th-minute go-ahead strike from Houston forward Nichelle Prince.
Racing pushed for an equalizer in the second half.
First-year attacker Parker Goins, making her professional debut, forced a reaction save from Houston goalkeeper Lindsay Harris on a one-timer from 12 yards out. Another substitution, Kirsten Davis, narrowly missed connecting on a volley at the far post after losing her marker.
The biggest moment of the game was when Lauren Milliet’s game-tying finish was ruled out for offside. The broadcast replay showed the call to be very close.
Still, the midfielder blamed the result to her team’s inconsistency.
“It was a bit disappointing,” Milliet said. “In the first half, we definitely could’ve worked a little bit harder together. It was a difficult game, for sure. We had some calls that didn’t go our way, but that is the game. It’s just putting together a full (90-minute) performance again.”
Tap-ins
Rookie goalkeeper Jordyn Bloomer and new signing Sh’Nia Gordon, an attacking winger, made their first career NWSL starts on Sunday. Bloomer was a second-round draft pick out of Wisconsin, where she was an all-conference selection. She made three saves.
Gordon, who attended West Virginia, recently signed from Russian power CSKA Moscow and had previously appeared in two games.
Rookie attacker Parker Goins made her NWSL debut, coming on in the 57th minute.
The average age of the starting lineup on Sunday was 24. Gemma Bonner was the only player over 25 on the field for Racing.
Game Summary: Louisville City FC vs. Houston Dash
Date: April 24, 2022
Venue: PNC Stadium (Houston)
Kickoff: 6 p.m.
Weather: 83 degrees, partly cloudy
Player of the Match: Jaelin Howell
Attendance: 3,073
Scoring
Racing Louisville (1, 0, 1)
Houston Dash (2, 0, 2)
Goals
Racing Louisville FC:
30’ Jaelin Howell
Houston Dash:
24’ Nichelle Prince
35’ Ally Prisock (Maria Sanchez)
Lineups
Racing Louisville FC: 24 – Jordyn Bloomer; 11 – Emily Fox, 4 – Gemma Bonner (c), 15 – Julia Lester, 17 – Nealy Martin (69’ 3 – Erin Simon); 6 – Jaelin Howell, 7 – Savannah DeMelo (83’ 19 – Taylor Otto); 13 – Emina Ekic (57’ 22 – Kirsten Davis), 2 – Lauren Milliet, 23 – Sh’Nia Gordon (57’ 5 – Cece Kizer); 9 – Ebony Salmon (57’ 21 – Parker Goins)
Subs not used: 1 – Katie Lund, 18 – Hillary Beall; 26 – Addisyn Merrick; 14 – Taylor Malham
Head Coach: Kim Björkegren
Houston Dash: 20 – Lindsey Harris; 19 – Elizabeth Eddy, 23 – Ally Prisock, 25 – Katie Naughton, 2 – Allysha Chapman (81’ 21 – Ryan Gareis); 15 – Marisa Viggiano, 10 – Shea Groom (56’ 13 – Sophie Schmidt); 3 – Rachel Daly (c) (81’ 26 – Makamae Gomera-Stevens), 7 – Maria Sanchez, 8 – Nichelle Prince (64’ 22 – Michelle Alozie); 34 – Michaela Abam (56’ 29 – Joelle Anderson)
Subs not used: 1 – Jane Campbell; 9 – Haley Hanson, 12 – Julia Ashley, 14 – Bri Visalli
Head Coach: James Clarkson
Stats Summary: Racing Louisville FC / Houston Dash
Shots: 11 / 14
Shots on Goal: 3 / 5
Possession: 43.9% / 56.1%
Fouls: 7 / 9
Offside: 3 / 1
Corner Kicks: 5 / 3
Discipline Summary
Racing Louisville:
11’ Lauren Milliet (yellow)
67’ Nealy Martin (yellow)
Houston Dash:
29’ Elizabeth Eddy (yellow)
61’ Joelle Anderson (yellow)
Referee: Brad Jensen