For only the second time this season, Racing Louisville made no changes to its starting lineup, with Kim Björkegren picking the same 11 Louisvillians from last weekend’s win for tonight’s 8 p.m. tilt at Lynn Family Stadium against the North Carolina Courage.
Racing is trying to build on a club-record three-game winning streak, coming off back-to-back wins against Kansas City last week, including a 2-0 win at KC last Saturday. Louisville is on a six-match unbeaten run at home, a stretch that extends to last fall. A win would nudge Racing into playoff position, albeit with a long way to go in the 2023 campaign.
Tonight marks a nice round number of consecutive regular-season starts for Lauren Milliet, who will make her 40th straight start in lavender. She has played every minute of the regular season, logging 720 minutes over the first eight matches.
Goalkeeper Katie Lund is also in line to continue her consecutive starts streak, hitting 35 in a row as Louisville’s No. 1.
Familiar faces Carson Pickett, Abby Erceg and Julia Lester join Milliet, from left to right, to round out Racing’s defense. Erceg and Pickett have played every minute this season, including the full 90 of last week’s UKG NWSL Challenge Cup win over Kansas City.
Jaelin Howell will once again wear the captain’s arm band and anchor the midfield alongside Ary Borges and red-hot Savannah DeMelo, who has been involved in eight goals over her last five appearances. The young midfield trio has been in excellent form since Howell returned from a hamstring injury that kept her out of the starting lineup the first two games of the year.
Up front, Kirsten Davis hopes to add to her goal total after scoring at Kansas City last Saturday. She’ll be joined by Paige Monaghan and Wang Shuang in the front three.
Jess McDonald, Nadia Nadim, Emina Ekic and Jordyn Bloomer were all previously listed as out.
Racing Louisville Team Sheet vs. North Carolina Courage
1 – Katie Lund
16 – Carson Pickett
20 – Abby Erceg
15 – Julia Lester
2 – Lauren Milliet
6 – Jaelin Howell (c)
7 – Savannah DeMelo
8 – Ary Borges
5 – Paige Monaghan
22 – Kirsten Davis
77 – Wang Shuang
Substitutes: 99 – Olivia Sekany; 3 – Zaneta Wyne, 4 – Elli Pikkujämsä, 9 – Kayla Fischer, 11 – Thembi Kgatlana, 19 – Jordan Baggett, 25 – Rebecca Holloway, 27 – Alex Chidiac, 29 – Uchenna Kanu
