Racing turned in another heroic performance, but didn’t have enough in the tank to stop Washington’s Trinity Rodman and Ashley Sanchez in the waning minutes of their second Challenge Cup match on Thursday night. The loss to Washington Spirit drop Louisville to 0-1-1 and bottom of the Cup standings after two matches.
Racing had several chances to go ahead in the match but squandered several good chances in the second half before conceding late. Yuki Nagasato almost opened up the scoring in the 49′ but scuffed her shot just wide of the goal. Savannah McCaskill had a golden chance in stoppage time just before Racing conceded, too.
All of the pre-match concerns about Washington opening Louisville up in the midfield didn’t come to fruition, however. Washington were probably the deserving winners as they amped up the attacking pressure late in the game, but it was by no means a dominant performance by the Spirit or a disheartening one from Racing. Yes, the Spirit outshot Louisville 14-4 in the second half, but the only ball that gave Michelle Betos any trouble was the final one.
The match also featured club debuts for Taylor Otto and Vanessa Kara. I was particularly impressed with what Otto made of her performance, adding a lot of energy in a slowly flagging midfield, good 1v1 defense, and some nice passes in transition moments.
My WOTM for Louisville was Freya Olofsson. She did a great job being a target for the Racing back line in transition, and did a good job breaking up Washington’s attacks. She was instrumental in Racing’s succession the first half. Nealy Martin also had a nice comeback performance after a bit of a shaky start against Orlando Pride last week.
Racing is obviously still a club trying to embrace its identity, but this result isn’t one that should leave fans discouraged. Despite the short turnaround, the team delivered a committed performance and made the Spirit work hard for the result. Louisville had several chances to have turned things the other way that didn’t quite come off. Hopefully those shots start finding their target in the next couple of matches.
