What’s New? Checking in on Racing Louisville’s Offseason

What’s new?

Since you asked, my site Fleur-de-lis-FC.com got a new look courtesy of Anne Evans, I got a cool new Racing ping pong table, and a Yuki Nagasato original painting (see below) for Christmas, and I dared Benton Newman to dump a bowl of Skyline Chili on his head.

Now…the results of this dare are still being sorted out. You might ask yourself, “how can I help facilitate the dumping of a bowl of ‘chili’ on Benton’s head?” Well, I guess you could cheer for the Bengals in the upcoming “big game”. Before the playoffs started, I asked Benton if he would dump a bowl of Skyline Chili on his head if the Bengals won the Super Bowl.

Here’s some context: I used to be a Bengals fan. I gave up on them for a few reasons, but the main reason being their disgustingly cheapskate, taxpayer robbing owner, Mike Brown. Regardless of that dirtbag (I am sure that the internet is full of redemption stories about that guy since his team made the Super Bowl, but that stadium deal definitely hamstrung the ability for vital city services to run effectively), on the field the Bengals had never given me any recent indications that they might be good.

I jokingly asked Benton about the dare mentioned above, thinking that the Bengals would lose in the first round. However, here we are, and a Skyline Chili shower may be in Benton’s future.

If that makes you want to cheer for the Bengals if you were on the fence, so be it. Don’t cheer for the Rams. Their owner might be a bigger dirtbag due to the sheer scope of his terribleness.

But, you didn’t click on this article to hear me complain about NFL owners.

What’s new with Racing Louisville?

A lot. If you read any of my pieces with Zach Allen-Kelly last year, you may remember that he predicted over 50% roster turnover for 2022.

As it stands right now, Racing retained 14 of their total of 25 players from their inaugural season for a turnover rate of 44%. I think that number is likely safe. If Racing decides to carry 25 players this year (NWSL teams can carry 24 players on their regular roster with an additional four spots on a supplemental roster) that means that there are 4 or 5 more players that need to be signed.

There have been 5 key signings so far. Here they are in the order of their squad number:

#6 Jae Howell: Jaelin is one of the most decorated collegiate players of all time. She is a two-time Hermann Trophy winner at National Champion Florida State. She has already been capped by USWNT and was a fixture in the youth teams. She definitely fills a need at holding/defensive midfielder, where Freja Olofsson did an admirable job playing out of position. In fact, expect her to have as much influence as Emily Fox did last year, potentially more, due to her central position.

#7 Sav DeMelo: “New Sav” is another highly regarded midfielder but of the attacking variety. She also had a distinguished NCAA career that was slightly abated an Achilles injury that caused her to miss her junior year. With midfield being a point of weakness last year, Racing spending their top two picks in the draft this year on midfield wasn’t a surprise. Of course, “New Sav” is taking “Old Sav” McCaskill’s roster spot and squad number. Poor “Old Sav” never quite found her best position on the field at Racing and now joins Angel City where she will have to endure another expansion season.

#14 Jess McDonald: Racing basically used a couple of trades to turn McCaskill into Jessica McDonald, which is an upgrade in anyone’s book. Jess holds the NWSL career record for assists with 27 (she is 4th all-time in goals with 51). Nobody on last year’s team had more than 3 assists, but to be fair Jess only had 3 for North Carolina last year as well. Maybe just as importantly, McDonald will be expected to take on a leadership role that is missing after Racing parted ways with its captain, Michelle Betos, and vice-captain McCaskill. She might have a shot at being named team captain, although I am hearing that Gemma Bonner may take that role. Regardless, Racing will need her experience on the field, with the team still being very young.

#22 Kirsten Davis: Davis was drafted in the second round of the 2021 NWSL draft and returned to her senior season at Texas Tech where she scored 14 goals and provided 4 assists. Racing is crowded at forward, but they think highly enough of Davis to protect her in the expansion draft and to sign her early. Another player from last year’s draft, Parker Goins, is in camp, but has not been officially signed. I personally think she will be the next priority from a signing perspective. Goins has 11 goals and 14 assists as her Arkansas Razorbacks made a trip to the regional finals. With Nadia Nadim still recovering from injury, Kirsten might have a few more chances early in the season to show what she can do.

#24 Jordyn Bloomer: Racing started their year off with only 1 rostered goalkeeper after parting ways with Michelle Betos. Bloomer was selected at the end of round 2 and was the 2nd goalkeeper taken. She is almost a shoo-in for the backup job. The fight for the 3rd keeper will probably come down to non-roster invitees Gabby Kouzelos from U of L and Hilary Beall of Michigan.

A new coach and CBA

Racing also has a new coach in very tall person Kim Björkegren. Think of a certain Icelandic popstar smiling and you get a Björk-y grin. That’s close enough on the pronunciation, and all of the players just call him “Coach Kim” anyway.

Coach Kim has coached in his native Sweden, China, and most recently in Cyprus where he led the Apollon Ladies to an undefeated season.

Several of the players were involved in the selection of Björkegren, which is a good sign based on last year’s much-publicized issues. Björkegren favors a high-energy attacking style, that should be familiar to Lou City fans. Racing couldn’t quite pull off that style last year despite their stated intentions to do so. Hopefully, he will have better luck.

One last thing that is new is that this year the players will be playing under a collective bargaining agreement for the first time. The highlight of the league’s first CBA are higher minimum salaries, better benefits, free agency starting in 2023 for certain players, and more protection (hopefully) from the issues that plagued the league last year.

Of all of the things that are new, there will hopefully be a few more. Racing has a plethora of international spots available, and it would be hard to imagine not adding one or two international players during the season after the other leagues across Europe and elsewhere end. Technically, if Racing signed all of their players at preseason camp, there wouldn’t be enough room for any more players on the roster, so expect a few and maybe surprising late cuts.

Who is gone?

After all of the talk of what is new, Racing will also be missing 3 very key veterans from last year’s team.

Michelle Betos: In a different universe, Betos retires a Racing player and ultimately joins the organization in some capacity. However, in this crummy universe with its never-ending onslaught of terribleness, Betos still gets the chance to play for her “home” team in NJ/NY Gotham. Betos was my favorite player on last year’s squad, and I will miss her even if I understand the decision to go with Lund. I am not a big autograph fan, but I have 4 things autographed by her, which is way more than I have of any other person.

Yuki Nagasato: I hope Yuki starts in her return to Louisville, and I hope in lieu of announcing her, they play the recording of her name pronunciation recorded by Yuki herself. She was definitely the most fun player on the team last year. Read more about Yuki in my brief tribute here.

Savannah McCaskill: She was a square peg in a round hole. However, she gave everything she could to make herself fit. It just ultimately didn’t work out. It’s not as if she ever played poorly or that it eventually couldn’t have worked out, but instead, she and the club agreed on a mutually beneficial parting of ways. Jess McDonald can be that assist providing forward in a way that maybe Savannah couldn’t. Either way, I wish her the best of luck at Angel City FC (who are the new contender for everyone’s least favorite team).

All of the players that moved on will be missed. Racing still hasn’t filled the Kaliegh Riehl shaped hole in the defense in my opinion. Brooke Hendrix, Katie McClure and Jorian Baucom scored memorable goals. Other players like Ashley, Miramontez, and Kara never quite got their chances, but I think any impartial observer will agree that the roster has been upgraded, and there are still spots left.

The Challenge Cup kicks off in a few weeks on March 18th with Racing hosting the Kansas City Current at Lynn Family Stadium. I will return with a season preview hopefully around that time. In the meantime, here are a few links to check out:

Bekki Morgan of the Beautiful Game Network has a really good roster tracker. Check it out.

If you are not part of a supporter’s group, check out these options.

Bekki Morgan and Tom Benson are starting a podcast called Butchertown Rundown. You can listen to the first episode here.

As always, check out the State of Louisville podcast Vamos Morados with questionable chili enthusiast, Benton Newman and oft-injured box-to-box midfielder, Zach Allen-Kelly.