Lots happened last weekend! Just about all of it was good! Let’s talk about it:
Racing Louisville 2, Washington Spirit 0
The numbers on this match would easily lead you to conclude that the above scoreline is erroneous, but the aren’t. Emina Ekic scored an absolutely phenomenal goal to open Racing’s NWSL account after subbing on for Katie McClure at about 60′. Several more substitutions later, Ekic capitalized on a Savannah McCaskill through ball toward the right corner, turned her defender, cut across the top of the box and curled a left footed strike to the far post past Aubrey Bledsoe to put Racing ahead. Ekic kept it going a few minutes later when she had the assist for CeCe Kizer to put the game away for good.
Ekic was absolutely the difference in the match for Racing offensively, but if not for captain Michelle Betos, our women in lavender might have been in a very deep hole. Washington nearly scored in the opening moments of the match, and kept the Louisville keeper on her toes for the entire contest. The Spirit totaled 26(!!!) shots in the match, ten (TEN!) on target, many of which required some heroic efforts by Betos to keep out of the net. She was the most deserving Woman of the Match I’ve ever seen.
The Spirit also had 60% of the ball and attempted 476 passes to Louisville’s 317. Racing isn’t really set up to be a high-possession team, but that’s a pretty wide gulf. Christy Holly was probably very happy with the win, but most of the time data like that support the direct opposite result.
We’ll take it, though!
Racing sign defender Sinclaire Miramontez
From the Racing presser:
Having trained with the club since before the preseason NWSL Challenge Cup tournament, Miramontez put pen to paper Friday in the hours leading up to Racing’s second regular season game, a 2-0 victory over the Washington Spirit, on a contract running through the 2022.
Miramontez was immediately needed as a reserve after team doctors diagnosed rookie midfielder Taylor Otto with a knee injury that will require time off.
Otto is hurt. GAHHHHHH.
A 23-year-old native of Lenexa, Kan., Miramontez has featured mostly in central defense, including a four-year University of Nebraska career highlighted by multiple All-Big Ten Conference honors and a spot on the 2019 MAC Hermann Trophy Watch List.
“Once I got to the pro level it was brought to my attention that I could develop into a defensive midfielder,” Miramontez said. “I’m starting to transition more into the midfield but still have the ability to play as a center back. Right now I’m splitting time at both and ready for wherever they need me.”
Okay. Yet another injury to a kind-of thin team already. Miramontez is likely to be thrown into the fire quite soon, as Racing’s next match is this Friday against her old team, North Carolina Courage. I’m happy to have additional central defensive depth in the squad, but less happy that the reason we have it is an absolute rash of injuries to some of our most high-potential players. Hopefully that all rectifies itself soon and these players get healthy, and meanwhile, welcome to Louisville, Sinclaire! GO CRUSH THE COURAGE.
Louisville City 2, San Diego Loyal 1
This is more of a game that went the way it should have, albeit not quite in the manner we might expect. Can Lancaster scored in the waning moments of the first half on a rebound off a missed penalty, and brand-spankin’-new forward signing Kyle Grieg hit a spinning back heel past Trey Muse late in the second period that proved to be the game winner. San Diego almost immediately hit back of a Jack Blake wonder-strike right after play resumed, but the rest of the match was more or less well in control.
Morados had 60% of the ball, completed about 84% of their nearly 500 passes, created 15 chances and one “big” chance, outshot Loyal 20-10 (16 in the box!) and had ten shots on target. City completed 50 more passes in San Diego’s end than they did their own, something you don’t see very often. Yeah, I’d have liked to see more “big” chances created by our boys in purple, but San Diego sported one very tall center back in Thomas Vancayezeele, and the ref whistled Napo Matsoso for a foul nearly every time he was within five yards of the ball, so it is what it is. Pat McMahon was FotMob’s Man of the Match, something I heartily agree with, as he probably had the best game I’ve ever seen him play. Master class stuff, IMO.
Danny Cruz got his first win, Landon Donovan got himself thrown out of the game for some reason, and City find themselves third in the Central with two games in hand and a point behind Atlanta, and two points and one game behind Tulsa. Right on schedule.
Lynn Family Stadium to open to full capacity on June 12
They’re calling it the home opener, and I think that’s about right! I fully expect this match to be a sellout. Memphis feels like a good team to absolutely shout out of the building, as their 0-1-1 record thus far suggests.
Concerns: Saturday night’s game against San Diego featured some long lines at nearly every vendor at Lynn Family Stadium. The bathrooms seemed fairly worry-free, but if there are lines 10-20 deep for pizza and snow-cones at 50% capacity, it’s going to obviously be much, much worse at 100%-plus. Hopefully the events staff at AEG, which runs operations at the stadium, are apprised and ready to go in a couple weeks. Fingers crossed.
JoGo to train with Mexico ahead of CONCACAF Nations League
Here’s a link to the USL release, but you probably already knew this was afoot. This is a very good thing for JoGo, for the USL, and for Louisville City. No, Gomez won’t feature in any matches, but he’ll get to train under a great manager for a few days in Tata Martino, and alongside some really good players. It also probably puts him a little bit higher on Gregg Berhalter’s radar for the US, where he’s played some youth national team matches in the past.
For LouCity and the USL, they get to brag that Mexican national team players are playing in their league now, which is just good, and also good for visibility of the club and the league. Win, win, win, except now we have to figure out what to do about left backs while Oscar’s hurt. Ayoze might be licking his chops, only to find that perhaps they’ll be full of Akil Watt’s foot. LIPAFC IS THIS WEEK, ICYMI.
