Racing Louisville FC looks to keep momentum going against Chicago

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- There was a part of Kim Bjorkegren that wouldn't have minded skipping the two weeks between games that Racing Louisville FC has had during the club's break for international play.

"Of course, when you're doing good things, you just want to keep going," Bjorkegren said. "But I'm sure that we will do a good performance in the next game coming up."

Racing Louisville hasn't played since one of its most impressive performances as a club. They beat the Kansas City Current, 3-0, on April 2, the second consecutive clean sheet. But as they get set to host the Chicago Red Stars this Saturday, they believe progress was made in the last couple of weeks.

"It's definitely nice to be able to work on some details when we have time, in between games, because usually, when we have games, it's more based on the other team and what they're gonna do versus what we're gonna do," midfielder Savannah DeMelo said. "But I think with some time in between games, we were able to focus more on us and how we were going to adjust."

"When you've not necessarily got a game on the weekend you can push a little harder in training," added defender Gemma Bonner. "So we could push physically, but I also think we worked tactically as well and got a lot more repetitions in. Obviously, the vibe was great coming off the back of a couple of days off and getting the win we had in (Kansas City). It was a little less pressure during the week, but definitely, the girls have put in an incredible amount of work in the buildup to this game, and I think we'll be in a good place Saturday."

Bonner and fellow Racing captain Nadia Nadim are also encouraging people to join them in supporting millions of Ukrainians displaced by the ongoing Russian invasion through the social media platform "Game of our Lives" and its "Humane Ukraine Campaign".

"For us, we're trying to help as many people as possible," Bonner said. "There's so many children out there and mothers. They've literally maybe only got a bag. For us to see them in that state, they were like us just a few weeks ago. So it's a platform that allows people to sign up so easily but come together and give a little bit of their time to kind of empower everybody together to make such a big difference."

Those interested can visit gameofourliv.es/HumaneUkraine.

Saturday's 7:30 p.m. start at Lynn Family Stadium is the second-to-last in the Challenge Cup, with the regular season set to start April 30 in Chicago.