Racing Louisville puts its longest unbeaten streak in club history to the test on Sunday with a 6 p.m. ET kickoff against the red-hot Orlando Pride at Inter&Co Stadium.
A rematch of the season-opening 2-2 draw in Louisville, Sunday’s game pits two of the NWSL’s three remaining undefeated teams against each other.
Sunday’s match will be streamed on NWSL+ for free with a sign-up. Fans can access NWSL+ online at plus.nwslsoccer.com or via the app on Apple, Fire or Roku services. News Talk 1080 AM or online at talkradio1080.iheart.com, and the iHeart Radio app will carry the radio broadcast.
Racing Louisville (1-0-5, 8 points) is coming off a 1-1 draw at reigning champion NJ/NY Gotham FC, a result that maintained Racing’s unbeaten history in New Jersey. The Louisvillians have yet to trail in a match this season in 540-plus minutes of game action, helping them move into sixth place in the very early stages of the race for one of eight spots in the NWSL Playoffs.
For coach Bev Yanez, Sunday’s difficult game against an Orlando squad that has won four consecutive games and thrashed a good North Carolina Courage team, 4-1, on Wednesday presents another opportunity to grow as a team.
“Like I’ve been saying, it’s going to take time for us to continue to build what we are trying to build,” Yanez said, “but I definitely think the group’s bought in and it’s headed in the right direction.”
Orlando (4-0-3, 15 points) started its win streak with a pair of 1-0 wins over Utah and San Diego, but the past two games have seen an explosion of Pride offense, with seven goals. Zambian forward Barbra Banda has three goals, two assists and one penalty won in two sensational starts.
Coach Seb Hines’s team has not trailed in any of its past five matches, climbing up the NWSL standings into a tie for second place with Washington, one point off the Kansas City Current.
In the first meeting on March 16, Louisville sprinted out to a 2-0 lead on Orlando with goals from Elexa Bahr and Uchenna Kanu, but the Pride scratched back one goal via a first-half own goal and equalized through Summer Yates in the game’s waning moments while playing with just 10 players.
The game continued the trend of high-scoring games between the clubs: The teams have produced 26 goals between them in the past eight clashes.
Follow along …
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.
The match will be streamed on NWSL+ for free with a sign-up. Fans can access NWSL+ online at plus.nwslsoccer.com or via the app on Apple, Fire or Roku services. News Talk 1080 AM or online at talkradio1080.iheart.com, and the iHeart Radio app will carry the radio broadcast.
Storylines …
Are you Searsious? Rookie forward Emma Sears is racking up the impressive performances in her first year, and Sunday’s match at Gotham was no different. Sears beat six defenders while dribbling more than 100 meters across the field at Red Bull Arena before her pass was deflected to fellow rookie Reilyn Turner, who scored off a backheel. Through six games, Sears ranks first in the NWSL in dribbles completed, goal-creating actions per 90 minutes, shot-creating actions per 90, shots on target per 90 and successful dribbles per 90. She’s tied for fourth in progressive carries and ranks 22nd in the league in total carrying distance despite having 40 fewer dribbling attempts than anyone else in the top 25.
Rei of sunshine: Much like Sears, California native Reilyn Turner has been a revelation as a rookie. The UCLA grad has two goals and two assists in her six appearances, ranking sixth in the NWSL in combined goals and assists. She’s second in shots on target per 90 minutes and tied for seventh in goal-creating actions. The sixth pick in the 2024 NWSL Draft has played 320 minutes in four starts and two stints off the bench as a substitute.
Never Go Out of Style: Taylor Flint has been a colossus for Racing, providing a towering, commanding presence in the midfield while playing every minute of the first six matches. Known for her aerial presence, Flint has proven she is much more than just that. She ranks first in the NWSL in duels won, interceptions and tackles won; second in possession recoveries; and third in aerial duels won. Compared to her positional peers in the top nine women’s competitions around the world, Flint ranks in the 99th percentile in aerial duels won, blocks, clearances and interceptions.
DeMelo sets record book pace: Racing Louisville’s history is obviously short, with just three full years of NWSL play. Nevertheless, Savannah DeMelo put her stamp on the club record books against Utah, surpassing Nadia Nadim as Racing Louisville’s all-time leading scorer with her 10th and 11th career goals. It was the California native’s first regular-season brace and second of her career, with the other coming against Kansas City in group stage play of last summer’s NWSL Challenge Cup. The goals ended DeMelo’s 10-month scoring drought in league play, with her last goal coming on June 18, 2023, against this weekend’s opponent, NJ/NY Gotham FC.
Kanu believe this? Racing Louisville forward Uchenna Kanu is off to a blazing-hot start, with four goals in six matches to rank second in the NWSL golden boot race. The Nigerian international added to her scoring haul with a towering back-post header to open Racing’s account in the 5-1 win over Utah on April 20, slotting home her second headed goal of the season. It’s the first time in club history a Racing player has four goals in six regular-season games.
Bahr none: How about that for an NWSL debut? For the first time in eight years, a player registered an assist and a goal in their NWSL debut, with Racing’s Elexa Bahr matching Houston’s Rachel Daly in 2016 with the feat. Bahr scored a magnificent opening goal in the season-opening draw vs. Orlando on March 16, chipping the goalkeeper from the edge of the box. She added an assist a few minutes later on Uchenna Kanu’s well-taken goal in transition. Bahr, who grew up in Georgia and starred collegiately at South Carolina, joined Racing this winter after helping Colombia reach the FIFA Women’s World Cup quarterfinals for the first time in the nation’s history.
Key NWSL experience added: Louisville has grown into an experienced squad over the past two years, and that process continued in the offseason with the additions of Taylor (Kornieck) Flint, Marisa (Viggiano) DiGrande, Ellie Jean and University of Kentucky legend Arin Wright. The four accomplished NWSL veterans bring league shields and championships, Best XI selections and multiple playoff appearances between them.
Global Racing: Racing Louisville became the first club in NWSL history to feature players from six different continental confederations on its roster in 2023, and that hasn’t changed despite roster turnover this offseason. Louisville’s 26-player roster consists of two players from Oceania Football Confederation; one from Asian Football Confederation; two from Confederation of African Football; one player from Union of European Football Associations; two from CONMEBOL (South America); and the remaining 18 from the U.S. (Note: Forward Elexa Bahr was born and raised in the U.S. but competes for the Colombian national team.)