Racing Louisville FC welcomes the current league leader and reigning NWSL champion — Gotham FC — for a 6:30 p.m. ET Friday night clash at Lynn Family Stadium, hoping to snap its three-game losing streak.
It will be Racing’s Pups at the Pitch Night in Butchertown Friday. Fans are permitted to bring their dogs to the stadium, and proceeds from tickets will benefit the Kentucky Humane Society. For Pups at the Pitch rules, promotional information and tickets, visit RacingLouFC.com/pups.
Louisville (7-14-2, 23 points) is searching for its first win since Aug. 19 ahead of a trip out to Northern California to face Bay FC next week. Racing, in 13th position with seven games remaining in the season, lost 2-0 to Angel City FC last Saturday in a game that was won thanks to two second-half goals from 21-year-old Evelyn Shores.
It was a rare power outage for a Louisville attack that has been among the league’s best over the last month. Racing has 15 goals in its last seven games — the second-most in the league over that stretch.
Prior to last week’s loss, Louisville had not been shut out for 57 days, when it fell to Bay on July 10.
The run of three-straight defeats for Racing has it now 11 points off the eighth and final playoff spot. The road continues to get tougher too, with three of Louisville’s next four games, including Friday, against teams in the NWSL table’s current top-five.
It’s been quite a while since Racing last saw GFC this season. The two first met back on May 3 in Harrison, New Jersey — a game Gotham narrowly won, 1-0, with the lone goal coming from Jaedyn Shaw in the opening 20 minutes.
It hasn’t been the smoothest of sailing recently for Gotham (13-4-6, 45 points), which is two points clear at the top of the table amid a tight NWSL Shield race. Its gap at the top was seven points at the conclusion of Matchweek 18 (Aug. 19-23).
GFC is winless in its last three games, having suffered a 3-0 defeat last week at Denver Summit FC. It was just the sixth time Gotham has conceded multiple goals in a game this year and the first instance it has allowed three or more since Nov. 2, 2025 at the North Carolina Courage.
The bedrock of Gotham’s success over the past few seasons has undoubtedly been that defense. As of the start of 2024, excluding the expansion teams, Gotham FC has conceded the fewest goals in the NWSL, with a total of 62. This season, Gotham has allowed only 17 goals in 23 games, resulting in a league-best 0.70 goals conceded per match average.
Follow Along
- The Friday game will be streamed on the free NWSL+ app or via plus.nwslsoccer.com. 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 …
Fusco is in the house: Earlier this week, Racing brought in midfielder Jordan Fusco on loan from San Diego Wave FC through the rest of the 2026 calendar year. Fusco has made nine appearances for San Diego this season, registering one assist. She joined the Wave originally as a non-roster trialist during the 2025 preseason. The second-year professional is a native of Olmsted Township, Ohio, and played collegiately at the University of Tennessee for three years before finishing at Penn State University.
Step forward defensively: In the defeat last Saturday, Louisville held Angel City to four shots on target — and just one throughout the opening period of the match. It was the second time since the beginning of July that Racing has limited an opponent to fewer than five shots on goal, with the latest instance prior being the 2-1 win over Chicago Stars FC on Aug. 1.
Checking out the past: In recent matchups against Gotham at Lynn Family Stadium, Racing has found success. Louisville is 2-1-0 in the last three home contests versus the current league leaders, having won the most recent game in Louisville by a 1-0 scoreline on May 9, 2025. Overall, the series history is evenly divided across all competitions, with both teams winning three matches each, along with seven draws. The goals are also dead even at 11 apiece.
Yet to find a rhythm up front: While Gotham sits at the top of the table heading into the final seven games, it has scored the fewest goals of the teams in the current top-eight, along with Seattle Reign FC (27). The reigning league champions are among just four teams with fewer than 28 goals scored this year. Gotham has scored multiple goals in seven regular-season games this season, while Racing has produced 11 such performances.
Gotham is blue: Across the last few seasons, four players have traded West London for northern New Jersey, moving from Chelsea Football Club to Gotham. All four players — Jess Carter, Guro Reiten, Ann-Katrin Berger and Sam Kerr — have been in GFC’s starting lineup during the last five matches. The Australian great, Kerr, recently joined Gotham on June 29 after a record-setting six-and-a-half-year tenure with Chelsea, which included five Women’s Super League titles. Despite Kerr playing in just 10 games to date, she and Reiten have combined for eight goal contributions (three goals, five assists).
