LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) — Not every coaching clinic happens on a field. Bev Yanez ran one this week in hospital hallways, on countless phone calls and in quiet hotel huddles. She was the right coach for the wrong kind of moment.
Two days after Racing Louisville’s match was halted when Savannah DeMelo suffered an on-field medical emergency, the teams came back to an empty Lumen Field and finished the second half before rows of empty seats.
In that setting, the score (Seattle won, 1–0) mattered far less than the scene. And Yanez and her staff met this one with courage and compassion.
Even looking back at what Yanez called “a blur” — that instant when DeMelo sat down, then fell backward, and medics rushed in — it was visibly difficult for her to speak.
“I know for me personally, it hit some strings that were very difficult to process,” Yanez said. “Because I can't imagine what it would be like to watch the TV screen as a mom and as a dad and to see that many people around my daughter and an ambulance on the field. I can imagine it is very highly emotional. So, yeah, it's look, it's been tough on so many. I'm just speaking from my perspective.”
DeMelo remains in a Seattle hospital, alert and in good spirits, undergoing tests with her parents by her side. That was Racing Louisville’s north star. Everything else — tactics, standings, the schedule — fell behind it.
What struck me most was what Yanez chose to name.
She listed the logistics — rebooking travel, shielding players from the chaos, coordinating hospital visits, keeping everyone informed. But then she allowed something more personal to surface.
“Look, it’s raw emotion … which is why I don’t have many words,” she said. “I’ve tried to be the leader the group needs and be whatever that is for them, however I can. I’m here to tell you, it’s been a very emotional time for everybody, and it’s … yeah, it’s difficult.”
Yanez didn’t put her own story on the table. But it was there in the room. Over the past two seasons, she’s endured two miscarriages. The most recent was just over two months ago. Last year, she spoke publicly about “an indescribable hurt” in hopes of helping others feel less alone.
She didn’t revisit that this week. She didn’t need to.
But it's important to know this: Trauma doesn’t sort itself by type. One teammate motioning to the bench and collapsing can bring any wound back to the surface.
That’s not weakness. That’s wiring.
And this is a league where the past isn’t ancient history. Coaches and players carry very real things — public and private — into every locker room, every game day.
On Sunday, the answer came quickly. Yanez and Seattle coach Laura Harvey embraced in the tunnel. The doctors shared the only update that mattered: Savannah was stable in the ambulance. The game was called. Later, Harvey and an assistant drove Yanez and Racing GM Caitlyn Milby to the hospital. On Monday, visits continued — with snacks and a coloring book. On Tuesday, Seattle’s captains reached out to ask if they, too, could wear wristbands for DeMelo.
“You just realize how quickly football becomes the bottom of the list,” Yanez said. “You're in a match, you're coaching the match, you're looking at their tactics, you're assessing what you would normally do every game day. And then it just becomes — it becomes nothing. It becomes not important. Nothing about it was important anymore, and it became all about what's best for the people.”
Yanez said it plainly. But I don’t know that every coach would have realized it so quickly — or responded with such grace. Her ability to shift from competitor to counselor, and to do it without ego or drama, mattered.
And so did her recognition of what the moment meant for her players.
“I understand from a human being perspective, that there's a lot of emotion right now, and it's not something that I would like to ignore,” she said. “...It's just the human being piece of it all, like in reality. At the end of the day, no matter what we do, what we do is not who we are, right? Our jobs do not define us.”
Maybe not. But they do, on occasion, call forth a kind of character that can steady the people around us.
And Racing Louisville was fortunate to have such a coach — when it needed one most.
The Last Drop
"It's been a lot the past few days. I think we were just trying to process what's happened to San and be there for her the best we could, and also be there for each other, and then also figure out how to come out and play this match. How do you switch gears from that? So I think that is probably something that we were all dealing with out on the pitch today."
Racing Louisville defender Ellie Jean
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