Racing Louisville FC produced chances aplenty but failed to finish them Saturday in a streak-snapping, 1-0 home loss to Seattle Reign FC.
The defeat — Racing Louisville’s first in four games — happened even as the hosts controlled most every statistical category at their home Lynn Family Stadium. Well, just about all of them but goals.
Seattle struck on a 39th-minute sequence that saw Sam Meza thread a pass through Racing’s defense to Maddie Dahlien, who knocked in the winning shot.
“I think we deserved more out of the game,” said Racing’s head coach, Bev Yanez. “From an identity perspective … I think we lived the majority of the time in the opposition’s half. I think we created a lot of opportunities. We just didn’t put any in the back of the net.”
Racing vs. Seattle was originally scheduled to be played Friday night, but a line of severe storms prompted a postponement to Saturday afternoon. Yanez said she saw her squad open a bit flat, but Racing eventually put the Reign under consistent pressure.
Louisville hit season-highs in both shots (20) and passes (404) while controlling 62% of the game’s possession. Racing also tallied 12 corners won to Seattle’s 1 and numbered 40 crosses to the visitors’ 2.
For all of those opportunities, however, the home side put a lone shot on target when Katie O’Kane struck a driven shot straight to the Reign’s keeper deep into first half stoppage time.
Said team captain Arin Wright: “It (stinks) to walk away from a game like that where you know you’ve had most of the possession, you’ve got all the momentum, and you think, ‘Wow, we should have won that game.’ But that’s soccer, right? We’ll learn from it. We’ll grow from it. And we’ll work on those final chances.”
Seattle needed just one quality look to net its winner Saturday after Racing turned the ball over in the midfield. The ball quickly moved to Meza, who played in Dahlien for the game’s lone goal late in the first half.
Louisville continued to threaten until the end, seeing substitute forward Uchenna Kanu earn a free kick near the edge of the box to set up the game’s final moment. Savannah DeMelo went straight for goal from the left flank as her shot hammered off the near post and out.
“It’s just one of those games where we should have put it away earlier,” DeMelo said. “Put away our chances so they aren’t allowed to do the things they wanted to do, which is defend low, keep the ball out and kind of stop our momentum.”
Racing dropped to 3-4-2 on the season with Saturday’s loss to remain in ninth place — one spot outside of a playoff position at the season’s one-third mark. The club heads west next weekend for a 10 p.m. Saturday kickoff at Angel City FC.
Game Summary: Racing Louisville FC vs. Seattle Reign FC
Date: May 17, 2025
Venue: Lynn Family Stadium
Kickoff: 1 p.m.
Weather: 72 degrees, sunny
Attendance: 3,039
Scoring
Racing Louisville FC (0, 0, 0)
Seattle Reign FC (1, 0, 1)
Goals
Seattle Reign FC
39’ Maddie Dahlien (Sam Meza)
Lineups
Racing Louisville FC: 24 – Jordyn Bloomer; 11 – Courtney Petersen (72’ 29 – Uchenna Kanu), 3 – Arin Wright (c), 5 – Ellie Jean, 2 – Lauren Milliet; 26 – Taylor Flint, 20 – Katie O’Kane (81’ 14 – Marisa DiGrande), 7 – Savannah DeMelo; 16 – Janine Sonis (58’ 6 – Ella Hase), 13 – Emma Sears, 9 – Kayla Fischer (58’ 42 – Sarah Weber)
Subs not used: 71 – Maddy Anderson, 4 – Elli Pikkujämsa, 12 – Allie George, 15 – Ángela Barón, 32 – Avery Kalitta
Head Coach: Bev Yanez
Seattle Reign FC: 1 – Claudia Dickey, 3 – Lauren Barnes (c), 21 – Phoebe McClernon, 23 – Jordan Bugg, 25 – Shae Holmes (75’ 14 – Emily Mason), 20 – Sam Meza, 8 – Angharad James-Turner (85’ 16 – Ainsley McCammon), 24 – Madison Curry, 5 – Maddie Dahlien (75’ 2 – Maddie Mercado), 9 – Jordyn Huitema (85’ 7 – Ana-Maria Crnogorcevic), 6 – Lynn Biyendolo (90+4’ 31 – Hanna Glas)
Subs not used: 18 – Sally Menti, 47 – Emeri Adames, 91 – Ji So-Yun, 99 – Maddie Prohaska
Head Coach: Laura Harvey
Stats Summary: Racing Louisville FC / Seattle Reign FC
Shots: 20 / 4
Shots on Goal: 1 / 3
Expected goals: 1.02 / 0.85
Possession: 62.3% / 37.7%
Fouls: 7 / 11
Offside: 1 / 3
Corners: 12 / 1
Discipline Summary
Seattle Reign FC:
90’ Emily Mason (yellow)
90+5’ Jordan Bugg (yellow)
Match referee: Irina Petrunok
