Racing Louisville FC

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- On a night when the club needed it most, Racing Louisville FC delivered its most inspired performance.

The club earned a 2-1 win over the Portland Thorns, who came into the match at the top of the NWSL standings. Louisville is now in an NWSL playoff spot because of it, sitting in sixth place in those standings.

"It shows the potential that we can beat multiple teams," Racing Louisville FC head coach Kim Björkegren said. "That shows we're getting closer to the best teams."

"We showed a lot of grit," Racing Louisville FC forward Thembi Kgatlana said. "We said in the changing room, ‘No matter what happens today, when that last whistle blows, we need the three points.’ It showed that we are a team."

Racing fought for it while missing four key players: star midfielder Savannah DeMelo, captain Jaelin Howell, veteran Nadia Nadim and standout left back Carson Pickett. The shorthanded club even fell behind early despite getting off to a fast start, as Morgan Weaver gave the Thorns an 1-0 lead in the sixth minute and Louisville trailed by a goal going into halftime.

"We still have to win," Björkegren said, adding the team talked about keeping up its performance in the second half. "And that was the only thing we had in our mind to keep pushing towards the points today, even if it was a tough situation."

Louisville answered the challenge, delivering a hard-fought effort to rally for a comeback. Abby Erceg headed in an equalizer off of a corner kick in the 60th minute before Kgatlana lifted Racing with an outstanding goal for a 2-1 lead just four minutes later.

"We knew what was on the line," Erceg said. "I haven't seen that from this club yet. Sometimes, we put in really good performances and give up two goals just because we don't have that grit and we don't have that fight."

"We were talking about even if you play maybe the best team in the league, we still got to push and go for it today," Björkegren said. "They did an amazing job and three points was super important to come closer to the top six."

"I haven't seen us play with that much grit and that much heart," Erceg said. "You can tell that the girls really wanted it.

"I said to them before we went out, 'Our season is on the line. How many games do you want to play? It’s up to us.' They came out and they showed up.”

The club has a chance to get another milestone victory in its next match: an NWSL Challenge Cup semifinal in Seattle vs. OL Reign at 10 p.m. on Wednesday. A win would move Louisville to one within winning the competition and its $1 million prize.

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