Katie O’Kane scored a pair of goals and Racing Louisville won its second match of the NWSL season with a 3-1 victory over the first-place Portland Thorns. Emma Sears also scored for Louisville (2-5-1), which snapped a two-game losing streak with the win at home. Sophia Wilson scored for the Thorns (6-2-1) in the sixth minute. Barbra Banda scored her league-leading eighth goal of the season to give the Orlando Pride a 1-0 victory at home over the North Carolina Courage.

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Ashley Sanchez scored in the 76th minute and the North Carolina Courage rallied in the second half for a 2-2 tie with the Boston Legacy, preventing the National Women’s Soccer League expansion team from winning its first match. The Legacy did earn the first point in club history, but they remain at the bottom of the standings. Elsewhere, the San Diego Wave lost 2-0 at the Portland Thorns; Gotham FC beat the Chicago Stars 2-0; and Racing Louisville fell to the Washington Spirit 1-0.

Lauren Milliet scored a pair of goals and Racing Louisville held off the Orlando Pride 3-2 for their first win of the season on Friday night. Barbra Banda scored a pair of goals for the Pride to take the league lead. In the night’s other match in the National Women’s Soccer League, the Washington Spirit blanked the visiting Kansas City Current 4-0. The games were the first after a two-week international break. Leicy Santos scored twice for the Spirit.

Columbus was awarded a National Women’s Soccer League franchise on Tuesday that will begin play in 2028 and bring the league to 18 teams.  An ownership group led by the Haslam Sports Group paid an expansion fee of $205 million, a person with knowledge of the deal told The Associated Press. The person spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to disclose the financial details. The Columbus NWSL team will join the league in 2028 along with an expansion team in Atlanta, which was awarded the league’s 17th franchise in November.