Racing Louisville’s grit and determination place them squarely in the playoff hunt.
There are 26 matches in this NWSL season, so the six most recent league matches comprise the “third quarter”. However, this review contains bonus coverage of Racing Louisville’s summer friendly/tournament results. Racing headed into the summer league break as hot as any team not named Kansas City.
Their play continued at the same level, for the most part, even in the results didn’t entirely meet expectations. Racing has been in a bit of a holding pattern in the point collection department, so they will need a good run in the last seven matches to make the playoffs and hopefully avoid Kansas City in the first round.
Before we dive in, check out the first two recap pieces from the season.
But first: Racing Louisville 2nd Quarter Review
And also: Racing Louisville 1st Quarter Review
The Matches
Summer Friendly:
Racing 1 – Lexington SC 1
Best Bit: Fans get a look at some rarely used players.
Worst Bit: It’s a friendly match so the intensity was fairly low key.
Takeaway: Everyone escapes healthy which is the most important thing, even if the performance was lackluster.
The Women’s Cup (Brazil):
São Paulo 1 – Racing 1
Best Bit: It was a pretty dull match that almost nobody saw. Is that good or bad? Savannah DeMelo scores on a rebound so I will go with that.
Worst Bit: In a match full of poor soccer, the worst bit is when Lauren Milliet goes down with a shoulder injury. Ultimately she will miss her first Racing match ever in the subsequent game.
Takeaway: Racing advances to the final on penalties (4-2), but Milliet’s injury is the story.
Palmeiras 1 – Racing 1
Best Bit: Sears scores a great goal on a long assist from Arin Wright.
Worst Bit: Racing Louisville again has a lead and then lose it. You will notice a theme developing.
Takeaway: Racing wins the trophy on penalties (3-2), but in all honesty it’s a pretty lame tournament.
League Play:
Racing 0 – Current 2
Best Bit: Racing play well and go into half at 0-0.
Worst Bit: The attack is fairly anemic and after Kansas City scores its first goal, the match is pretty much done and dusted.
Takeaway: There is no shame in losing to Kansas City, but Racing needs to finish their chances better.
Pride 1 – Racing 1
Best Bit: Jordyn Bloomer saves two penalties, a league first.
Worst Bit: Borges own goal late lets Orlando snatch a point.
Takeaway: Yet another late goal means Racing drops 2 points, despite another good performance.
Spirit 2 – Racing 2
Best Bit: Racing overcome a 1-0 deficit to lead 1-2 on DeMelo’s converted penalty.
Worst Bit: Ary Borges loses the ball late in stoppage time allowing the Spirit to equalize and salvage a point.
Takeaway: All of the goals in the match pretty much come from errors by the opposing team, so the result is pretty fair.
Wave 0 – Racing 1
Best Bit: Racing scores on an Emma Sears goal, but Ella Hase’s effort and assist are the key.
Worst Bit: Sears has plenty of chances to shoot left-footed in the first half, but her natural right-footed shot drags them all wide. It’s nit picky which demonstrates how well Racing played.
Takeaway: Racing finally get over the hump having faced the 2nd place team in three consecutive matches.
Racing 1 -Dash 1
Best Bit: Flint’s Header in the 71st minute shocks a dull match to life.
Worst Bit: Racing once again squander a lead, but this equalizer is really the result of Houston’s good play more than Racing’s poor play.
Takeaway: Racing’s injuries mean that they don’t quite have enough match closers to put on in the final minutes and it cost them here.
Racing 1 – Thorns 2
Best Bit: Sarah Weber and Katie O’Kane combine for a beauty to put Racing up 1-0.
Worst Bit: The Thorns pull ahead late on an own goal, when they likley would have settled for a draw.
Takeaway: Racing’s inability to protect leads costs them once again.
Assessing Racing’s playoff credentials
Heading into the Portland match, I would say that my confidence in Racing making the playoffs was about 95%. After the Portland loss I would place my confidence at around 75%. It’s still good, but I am more concerned than I was a week ago. I think the issue is that Racing did “well” in the portion of the schedule that “seemed” toughest.
The problem with that is it’s tough to know how good teams ultimately are until you reach the end of the season. I do think Racing are pretty firmly in the “Group of Six” behind clear leader Kansas City and maybe less clear, but let’s say “Perennial Top 4 Team” Washington. However, Racing is at the bottom of that list currently. Six teams are separated by four points. Racing currently sits three points ahead of Houston (but Houston leads on goal differential at the moment). Racing has to start getting points from the winning positions in which they are consistently finding themselves.
The squad does see the schedule turn more favorable for them in the last seven matches. They play only two teams currently ahead of them in the standings. However, every match is tough, and Racing Louisville doesn’t have the best history of “taking care of business”. Nonetheless, they are in control of their own destiny, which is the position in which you want to find yourself. They are also within striking distance of moving into more secure territory. I am not in the business of making predictions, so all that I will say is that the mission is clear and there can be no excuses.
The positive thing for Racing is that they have earned a reputation as a team that nobody wants to face, and I expect that reputation to follow them in the playoffs if things go well. Other than Kansas City (and even that is arguable) I think “Racing” is the team that every other team would least like to see on the other side of the pitch in a playoff match.
Changes: enforced and discretionary
Lauren’s Millet’s injury sent ripples throughout the club. The team definitely misses her, but learned some other things as a result. Milliet’s injury has forced Sonis into her spot. Janine Sonis has had matches where she has done well as a replacement and others (specifically Portland) where she struggled some. All in all, her performances have had more positives than negatives. As a result, Ella Hase has found more playing time on the left wing and has shown indications that she is going to be a very good player for Racing. Her performance in San Diego was fantastic, but in the last couple of matches she hasn’t been able to quite hit those highs, while still performing well.
Every line has had its fair share of rotation. The backline has seen injuries dictate most of its rotation, but once everyone is back to full health, there are some options at left and right back for either rotation on substitution. Racing’s acquisition and ultimate extension of Makenna Morris through 2028 gives the team even more flexibility. Morris started her first match, but might be seen as more of a utility option this season. I think that she was always going to be here in 2026 to fight for a starting role, and the deal just brought her in early out of necessity.
The midfield has experienced some rotation that has been split between enforced and possibly tactical. Racing has 5 midfielders that have seen at least 500 minutes of action. DeMelo and Flint are almost always going to start when healthy. However, they have combined to miss five starts through injury and suspension (DeMelo could miss another soon as she sits on 4 Yellow Cards). O’Kane is preferred sometimes, but Borges seems to have been preferred more recently. Marisa DiGrande makes plenty of substitute appearances with the odd start. DiGrande has tremendous value as a sub due to her experience. Racing could likely use a clone of her to help close out matches. Borges runs hot and cold, but her performance as a replacement for Flint was probably her best performance of the season. The Borges/O’Kane competition gives Coach Bev Yanez a nice selection headache to have.
Upfront, it has been Sears as the only ever-present starter. Kayla Fischer played herself into the center forward role and then behaved herself out of it (through multiple suspensions), giving Sarah Weber the chance to show what she can do. Ella Hase seems to have made the left attack hers until Sonis is available to play upfront again. Morris can play here too and was subbed in at right winger late in the Portland match, switching Sears to the left side. Uchenna Kanu can’t seem to stay healthy and wasn’t playing all that much when she was. Bathany Bacler has been relegated to a late sub in recent matches, but Racing probably needed to sub on a midfielder or extra defender in most of those cases. The goals have not been coming all that freely recently, so more is needed from this group.
Greater than the sum of their parts
For almost all of Racing’s history the teams have been less than a sum of their parts. They have had some really talented players take the pitch in the Racing kit and most have ended up with little success. I will own my early season skepticism. in that I didn’t see much in this team at the beginning of the year. I attribute that to realism and past evidence, not pessimism.
On paper, I am not sure that this team should be as good as they are. There are definitely bigger names on other teams. However, Racing has made good moves in the last twelve of so months. Those moves have just taken time to fully evaluate and for the most part, time has made them look better. The three top rookies are all solid signings and there is the ability for one of more to turn out to be really good. Ellie Jean is better as a full-time starter this season. Courtney Petersen had provided so much more this season compared to last when she only played at the tail end of the season after a move from Houston. Sonis has been really good in all roles for Racing this season. Morris looks to be an excellent signing.
There is one player that I have barely mentioned and that is Jordyn Bloomer. When Katie Lund finally succumbed to a lingering injury that many of us believe she had been playing through for a very long time, I was a little skeptical of Bloomer. Her personality is infectious, but we had virtually no match film at the professional level on her. If anyone says they knew she was going to be as great as she turned out, they are clearly lying. Many thought she would be good. I don’t know how anyone outside of the team staff knew that she would be this good, and I bet she even surprised them to a degree. She made the most recent Team of the Month for August and was Player of the Week in week 15.
What has surprised nobody, at least nobody who has spent more than two minutes with her, is her contagious desire to win. Katie Lund mostly cut a cool, calm, and collected figure on the pitch. Some teams need that. Racing, as it turned out, needed a fiery screamer of a keeper behind them. I could look at the difference in stats between the two, but I won’t bother. They don’t really matter. The team has taken on Bloomer’s personality and it has adhered this group together even more that they already were.
I have barely mentioned Bev either. She won’t win Coach of the Year due to Racing’s market and place in the table. I don’t think she will care. I like to think of achievement as its own reward. Her internal validation is all that she needs, but I will give her some external validation, too. She is the right coach for this team. I don’t think there is any higher praise that can be given. At some point, hopefully not very soon but it always comes, she will stop being the right coach for this particular club. Until then, we should all savor this team and their coach who still have a very good chance to take us into uncharted but exciting territory.
Also Read on State of Louisville
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