LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) – With an NWSL-leading six players on the other side of the globe for the FIFA Women’s World Cup, a bit of a lag from Racing Louisville FC might have been expected.
But in the club’s return to play in an NWSL Challenge Cup match against the Chicago Red Stars Friday night in Lynn Family Stadium, the club’s recent momentum continued unabated – as did its dominance in Challenge Cup play.
The home team got first-half goals from Jordan Baggett and Paige Monaghan and cruised to a 2-0 victory, improving to 4-0 in Challenge Cup play to put itself in position to wrap up a spot in the $1 million summer tournament’s semifinals.
Racing has outscored opponents 10-2 across its four Challenge Cup matches. It has two games remaining in group play, at Houston next Saturday and at Kansas City on August 5. Louisville is the league's only unbeaten team in Cup play this season. The tournament wraps up with semifinals on Sept. 6 and championship on Sept. 9.
The season-long event was timed with the bulk of its games to coincide with the World Cup, when most NWSL teams are missing key players.
Chicago was playing without its goalkeeper, Alyssa Naeher, a starter for the U.S. Women's National team, as well as former Racing player Cheyna Matthews, who is playing for Jamaica.
But nobody is missing more than Racing Louisville, but coach Kim Björkegren’s club continues to prove it has plenty left. Many in the crowd of 5,499 stayed around to watch Racing star Savannah DeMelo get her first USWNT start in Friday night's World Cup opener.
“Our team came out really strong, and we just kept building off the last couple of games,” Racing forward Kirsten Davis said. “We were able to create a lot of chances and defend really well. They didn’t really have that many dangerous chances, and we put ours away.”
Davis assisted on Baggett’s goal in the 11th minute, sending cross into the box which Baggett put into the far corner. Just eight minutes later, Monagahan took a deflected cross and scored from 12 yards out. The NWSL veteran was a menace all game, with 7 total shots and 4 on target – twice the number of Chicago’s entire team.
Monaghan’s goal was her third in three games, and gives her a career-best four goals on the season, with two assists (also a career high). Her four chances created were a game high. She also became the first player in NWSL history to start 20 Challenge Cup games.
“She’s doing so many good things right now,” Björkegren said. “She can dribble on both sides. She can finish with her right and left foot. She’s scoring some great goals, so I’m happy for her.”
Louisville took 25 shots to Chicago’s 8, and put 8 shots on target to 2 for the visitors.
“Our focus the whole time has been to try and play in the semifinals and try to be in the final and win the whole tournament,” Racing coach Kim Björkegren said. “Right now we have put ourselves in a great position. We probably still need to win one more game, but of course I’m happy with 12 points out of 12.
“I think the start of the game was really good,” Björkegren added. “The first 30 minutes, we played really good football, created chances, scored goals. After that, I felt like we gave away a little bit in the buildup, but in the second half we had better control. Overall we are the better team . . . it shows we are doing good things right now.”
The game marked the first start for Parker Goins, playing in Wang Shuang’s spot on the right wing. Björkegren noted that because of Goins’ size, the club played more directly to her.
For Racing Louisville, which won 7 of 8 heading into the league’s two-week midseason break, to recapture momentum coming out of that was a significant thing, and showed off the club’s depth. When you can send out a half-dozen international call-ups and still feature players like Jaelin Howell, Abby Erceg, Carson Pickett, Nadia Nadim and others, it speaks to overall quality.
Racing sits in seventh place in the league table, just 2 points out of a playoff spot. But its form over the past six weeks has been playoff-worthy, and it appears poised to continue that.
“Jaelin made the point of, ‘We’ve had time off – what are we going to do with it?’” Monaghan said. “The group reset but also just remembered what we want to do and what team we want to be. . . . I think one thing unique about our team is our depth on the bench. And I just think everyone sees it as an opportunity every day, that if they're starting or coming off the bench, if they played a lot of games or if they haven't, they're going to bring them their best selves. So that's one thing I'm just so happy for the group. And I think that really sets us apart from the other teams.”
Copyright 2023 WDRB Media. All Rights Reserved.
