Racing Louisville FC

Courtesy of NWSL

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- While an NWSL Challenge Cup final is new territory for a young club in Racing Louisville FC, it is a familiar place for one of its veteran players.

Defender Abby Erceg captained the North Carolina Courage last season, which is the team Louisville will face on the road on at 12:30 p.m. Saturday for the tournament trophy. Erceg, now a vice captain for Louisville, helped the Courage win the competition last year as part of a decorated five years with her former club.

Abby Erceg

Courtesy of NWSL

"You just go out and play the best football that you can," Erceg, a three-time NWSL Shield and Championship winner, said when discussing how to approach motivation for a title match. "In a final, you don't have to motivate players. Pro athletes want to play in finals and they're motivated enough. 

"It's just about doing a job, performing and enjoying it. These moments are so rare in your career that I think if you just get so worked up about it and worry about, 'I need to do this and I need to do that,' instead of enjoying that moment, it can be a bit overwhelming."

The thought of the third-year club hoisting a Challenge Cup is overwhelming in the sense that it would be Racing Louisville FC's first NWSL trophy. But it isn't when considering Racing's 4-2-0 record in group play for this year's tournament and the team's recent form.

Louisville has notched back-to-back wins against perennial NWSL contenders in the Portland Thorns and OL Reign, coming back from an 1-0 deficit in the regular season game vs. Portland to win 2-1 and then holding an 1-0 advantage in the Challenge Cup semifinal in Seattle.

"We're a team now that knows how to win games," Racing Louisville FC midfielder Savannah DeMelo said. "In the past, we've grinded out the games, but we've always kind of let up a goal, which obviously led us not to win.

"But in these last couple of games, we really found ways to win, which is huge. It just shows how much we've grown as a team."

That will be put to the test against a Courage club that has already beaten Racing in two regular season meetings this year. North Carolina, which features former Racing star Emily Fox thanks to a trade that brought Erceg and fellow defender Carson Pickett to Louisville, also currently sits in third in the NWSL regular season standings.

Louisville is four points behind in seventh, which is two points behind the sixth and final NWSL playoff spot currently occupied by the Washington Spirit. The club returns to regular season action and a tight playoff race on Sept. 15 with a home match vs. the Houston Dash.

"I think you need to be here and now, focused on the next game," Racing Louisville FC head coach Kim Björkegren said. "We need to try to do everything we can to win the final right now. We can't be worried about what happens in one week with the Houston game. Then, we're going to miss this opportunity."

"It's just keeping us sharp and it's really fun to be competing for a trophy for our city," DeMelo said. 

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