Things are beginning to heat up in the NWSL playoff race. With just seven matches left, every point from here on bears significance.
That reality comes into sharp focus as Racing Louisville FC kicks off its final west coast swing of the campaign against the team just ahead of it in the standings — Seattle Reign FC — at 8 p.m. Sunday at Lumen Field.
Seattle, currently in seventh position, has totaled the same number of wins as Louisville (7) through 19 games, but its one extra draw sees it hold a one-point edge over the visitors heading into the weekend.
A win would vault Racing above the Reign, or even higher depending on the Orlando Pride or Gotham FC results.
Louisville (7-7-5, 26 points) saw its four-match unbeaten run come to a close last week at Lynn Family Stadium, as a late own goal gave the Portland Thorns the 2-1 win. It was the fourth instance in the previous five contests that Louisville has conceded a goal in the 90th minute or later. Over the course of the season, 30% of the goals Racing has conceded this season have been in the final 20 minutes of matches.
Bev Yanez’s team met Seattle for the first time in 2025 back on May 16. A first-half strike by rookie Madeline Dahlien was all the Reign needed to take all three points back to Washington state.
The history between the two has been defined by draws, with six of the 10 meetings across all competitions ending all square. With playoff positioning on the line, a draw would likely leave both teams feeling like they missed an opportunity.
Louisville’s only win over the Reign wasn’t even in league play, as it came in the 2023 NWSL Challenge Cup semifinals. Though, that match did occur at Sunday’s venue: Lumen Field.
Seattle (7-6-6, 27 points), led by veteran head coach Laura Harvey, returns to its home Sunday following a visit to the nation’s capital, where it fell by a 2-0 score to the Washington Spirit. The defeat extended Seattle’s winless stretch to five games, dating back to Aug. 10. The club’s most recent win came over a month ago against Angel City FC on Aug. 1.
Adding on, Sunday’s hosts own the league’s second-worst goal differential (-4) since the beginning of August. After tallying 15 goals across six games from the start of June to Aug. 18, Harvey’s team has scored just one goal in its last 270 league minutes.
Follow along…
- The match will be streamed on the free NWSL+ app or via plus.nwslsoccer.com as well as Paramount+. Fans can also listen to the match on Sports Talk 790AM or 790louisville.com.
- 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.
Story lines…
Okayyy O’Kane: Katie O’Kane hadn’t been in the starting XI since Aug. 1 before last week. In the absence of Taylor Flint, the University of Utah product seamlessly stepped in. O’Kane, who first joined Racing as a non-roster invitee before inking a contract, scored Louisville’s lone goal against Portland in the 22nd minute — the first of her professional career. In the 23-year-old’s 10th start of 2025, the club’s third rookie to reach that total, she also finished tied for the team lead in chances created (3), alongside Savannah DeMelo.
Bloomer says no … again: Penalty kicks typically favor the kicker — unless Jordyn Bloomer is standing between the posts. The shot-stopper saved yet another penalty against the Thorns, her third of the campaign. That’s the most in the NWSL this year and just one away from tying the single-season record held by Houston Dash keeper Jane Campbell.
The Bev connection: A visit to the Emerald City means Louisville head coach Bev Yanez is set to return to the place where she spent six seasons during her playing career. Laura Harvey, her former head coach, will also be her counterpart on the Seattle sideline Sunday. Yanez played under Harvey, a three-time NWSL Coach of the Year, at the Reign from 2014-2019, where she helped the club to two NWSL Shields (2014, 2015).
That elusive final action: Racing’s meeting with Portland was one of those frustrating affairs where dominance doesn’t translate to goals. Racing accumulated 24 total shots, with just six on target. The sheer volume, however, produced a 2.83 expected goals tally — their second-highest mark of the season. Defender Courtney Petersen kept it simple after the match: “We were really threatening. We just have to put the ball in the back of the net.”
Want it? You can have it: Sunday’s game features two teams in the NWSL’s bottom three in terms of average possession per game. Louisville controls roughly 42% of the ball each time out — the lowest in the league — while Seattle ranks third from the bottom at just over 45% on average. This season has, in fact, seen the Reign accumulate its lowest possession share since Opta began recording the statistic in 2017.
Not too bad for 19: At the young age of 19, Seattle forward Emeri Adames is already making a name for herself at the professional level. In total, 12 teenagers have found the back of the net in 2025. None have been more clinical than Adames, who has six goals in 16 matches (nine starts). Predominantly a left winger, Adames has shown the ability in her second year with the Reign to flex into multiple attacking positions. She’d stand alone as the new single-season record holder for goals by a teenager with her next finish.
