Racing Louisville concluded their best season ever with heads held high and raised expectations
There are 26 matches in this NWSL season, so the seven most recent league matches comprise the “fourth quarter”. However, since Racing Louisville made the NWSL Playoffs, their season was extended by a match. Racing needed every last point to make the playoffs and ended up in 7th place, avoiding 9th place for the fourth time in four years or existence.
While that match in Washington ended in disappointment, the team can be proud of its accomplishments this season, especially considering the adversity that they faced.
The Matches
Reign 1 – Racing 0
Best Bit: Nothing.
Worst Bit: Savannah DeMelo had a medical emergency during the first half and the match ended up being suspended and played over multiple days.
Takeaway: The NWSL gets it right this time after botching a similar situation earlier in the season with Savy King where the match was allowed to continue.
Royals 3 – Racing 2
Best Bit: Racing shows grit and determination after a short turnaround where they stayed out west and had to watch a teammate deal with a serious medical issue.
Worst Bit: Going down 3 goals in the first half, somewhat due to the accumulation of events from the previous several days.
Takeaway: The results of the last two matches are understandable and justifiable, but the margin for error is now decreased
Racing 1 – Angel City 0
Best Bit: Sarah Weber score’s her first professional goal on a fine instinctual finish.
Worst Bit: For about 15 minutes during the match, fans had their olfactory senses assaulted with “eau de Butchertown” from the nearby pork production plant.
Takeaway: Racing protects a late lead through a ridiculously long 12 minutes of stoppage time and shows that they are capable of protecting a late lead for once.
Courage 1 – Racing 3
Best Bit: Emma Sears scores a brace for Racing and ultimately Racing cruises to a victory against an old nemesis.
Worst Bit: The Courage equalizes on a great goal by Manaka Matsukubo but a couple of Racing defenders are ball watching instead of defending.
Takeaway: Racing gets its first ever win in North Carolina and ultimately, this match kept the Courage out of the playoffs.
Racing 1 – Stars 1
Best Bit: Bethany Balcer comes on as a late sub and rescues a point in a match that Racing really should be winning.
Worst Bit: A late goal for Chicago could have easily been avoided with better poise defensively.
Takeaway: A win would have clinched a playoff berth, but a point ultimately proved valuable enough.
Gotham 2 – Racing 2
Best Bit: Racing overcomes an early deficit and Weber’s second goal of the season is the result of Racing’s pressing philosophy in a nutshell.
Worst Bit: Flint concedes an unnecessary late free kick, and Rose Lavelle scores a worldie.
Takeaway: Racing bunkers in again, but this time can’t prevent another late goal.
Racing 1 – Bay 0
Best Bit: Two rookies, Katie O’Kane and Ella Hase combine to give Racing the vital goal that ultimately sends them to the playoffs. The real best bit is the jubilant celebration with fans after the match.
Worst Bit: Racing concedes another late free kick, but Bay doesn’t have anyone as capable as Rose Lavelle and the kick sails high into the Waterfront End.
Takeaway: Racing secures its first ever Playoff berth, but made things nervier that any fan would have liked.
NWSL Playoffs
Spirit 1 (3)– Racing 1 (1)
Best Bit: Kayla Fischer scores in second half stoppage time to equalize and ultimately sends the match to penalties.
Worst Bit: The Spirit penalty takers prove deadly while Racing’s lineup is lacking in clinical finishers.
Takeaway: The team does the city proud with its effort but are just short on quality in the end.
A sense of accomplishment
Here are some of the accomplishments that Racing team achieved this season:
- Racing’s first ever playoff appearance: This didn’t seem possible, let alone likely when the season started. Credit is due across the board, but Bev Yanez tops the list. I mentioned in my Third Quarter Review that I didn’t think she would win “Coach of the Year” due to Racing’s small market, but she has been nominated and is officialy the winner.
- Win or lose that dumb award, (all awards are dumb in my opinion) she has accomplished a minor miracle this season.
- Highest points total: The 2025 version of Racing amassed 37 points which is nine points higher than the previous high last season and a 32% increase.
- Highest goals scored in a season: Racing scored 35 goals, but this one is just a numerical accomplishment. They should have scored more and need to score more next season.
- First player with double-digit goals: Emma Sears set this as a goal at the beginning of the season and met it fairly easily ending the season with 10 goals and 2 assists. Her goal next season should probably be 15-20 goal contributions if she is going to continues her arc of ascendency.
- Not losing in Cary, NC: Cary is the worst place on the face of the earth according to me and to continue lose to the Courage in that joke of a stadium was really starting to stick in my craw. Racing slayed that dragon thankfully.
- Has beaten every NWSL team: This record will have to be broken again next season when Denver and Boston join the league, but Racing had yet to play a decent match against Bay FC until the last match this season.
- Didn’t finish in 9th place: This was a statistical anomaly that didn’t really bother me but seemed to bother a large section of the fan base. I think most fans would rather have finished this season in 12th place than in 9th again. Bizarre…but it doesn’t matter anymore.
There are probably more that I missed, but it is hard not to see this season as a success and a massive step in the right direction.
I will write about what still needs to be done on my site, likely before this is published.
The sentiment in the last press conference of the season was a mix of disappointment and pride, but with pride in the season winning out. Looking back at the last several matches of the season, it is really impressive what this team accomplished. Playing without Savannah Demelo hurt Racing emotionally as much as it did tactically.
That the team was ultimately able to plug the hole and not let the season go in the tank from there when nobody would have blamed them, showed character. Racing seemed to be plugging leaks across the pitch all season, having Sonis step in at right back for Milliet who returned very quickly to play in the last few matches, and having Bloomer step in for an injured Lund in goal.
Many players missed the odd matches here and there with only Emma Sears and rookie Katie O’Kane appearing in all 27. There were many changes that occurred during the season, planned and unplanned, and how Racing dealt with them may be the most impressive accomplishment of all.
No crystal ball
I cannot predict the future, especially when it comes to this Racing Louisville team. I don’t make match predictions and I thought a 13th or 14th place finish in the table seemed about right for Racing heading into this season and things could still go horribly wrong next season.
However, if you are a person who uses experience and evidence you would have to be hopeful going into next season. For the first time, Racing has some roster stability and most (but not all) key players are on multi-year deals that go until at least the end of 2026.
There will be roster movement, but hopefully in the positive direction. Bev is signed through the end of next year, but if she does win “Coach of the Year”, that contract is even less likely to mean anything other than to dictate her salary. There are no indications that she wouldn’t want to stick around, but deeper pockets and flashier accommodations have a way of turning people’s heads.
There is no word one way or another yet on Savannah DeMelo’s status for next year, but you think the prudent thing would be to not plan for her being able to play. It is also hard to imagine that the team will have another 9-point leap in their points total. It isn’t as hard to imagine a leap to 5th place since that would have only taken an additional 3 points this season and the team dropped many more than that from leading positions late in matches.
The expectations will be raised next season and fairly so. Racing will be returning a good roster and a proven coach. Then again, no other club exists in a vacuum, and all will be looking to make improvements. Therefore, I think this season always should and will be looked upon fondly. Racing accomplished much, even if there is still room to grow.
