Match Forecast: OL Reign Ready for 2022 Regular Season Home Opener Against Louisville

OL Reign are ready to take on Racing Louisville at Lumen Field today, in their 2022 regular season home opener. The Reign are undefeated at Lumen Field and will be be looking to continue that run against Racing today.

WHEN AND WHERE: Kickoff is at 3:00 p.m. PT on Sunday, May 8 at Lumen Field in Seattle, Washington 

WHERE TO WATCH: The match will be available Paramount+ in the U.S. and Twitch internationally

2022 REGULAR SEASON RECORD AND STANDINGS (W-L-D): OL Reign: 0-1-0 (0 points), Racing Louisville 0-1-0  (0 points)

Key Points Ahead of the Match:

1. LAST MEETING – OL Reign and Louisville last met in September 2021 in a regular season match. The two teams battled to a 1-1 draw, after OL Reign defeated Louisville earlier in the season. OL Reign maintained the majority of possession throughout the match but struggled to find the back of the net.

Racing Louisville found the opening goal on the match in the 23rd minute when Nadia Nadim got on the end of a ball played through and finished her shot from inside the box. The Reign took several shots before the first half was over, but none accurate enough to beat Louisville’s goalkeeper.

In the second half, OL Reign made a double substitution bring on Quinn and Jess Fishlock and the tone of the match changed. The two midfielders brought new life into the Reign team that was playing their third game in a week and second consecutive game on the road. In the 74th minute, OL Reign found the goal that they had been chasing for over 50 minutes. Sofia Huerta got up the field from her position at right back and put a perfectly placed cross into the box. Bethany Balcer got her head on the end of it to beat the goalkeeper and equalize the game.

All time, the teams have met twice. Both matches were regular season matches. OL Reign won the first match and drew the second, maintaining an unbeaten record against Racing Louisville.

2. SCOUTING LOUISVILLE – Louisville is coming off a 2-1 defeat against the Chicago Red Stars. The Kentucky based team finished third place in their Challenge Cup group, not advancing to the semifinals with a record of one win, two losses and three draws. Their one win came against the Kansas City Current. In their regular season opener, Racing and Chicago scored all three goals in the first half of the match. Chicago opened the scoring in the first minute, but Racing quickly equalized in the tenth, thanks to an Emily Fox goal. However, Chicago found the game winner in the 25th minute.

3. BACK-TO-BACK GAMES – OL Reign and Louisville have not met this season and are both hungry for their first regular season win. Though the teams look different than they did last year, they share similar philosophies.

“They’re a different team than what we played when I was back here last year. I think they went a little bit more direct against us last year. They’re a high pressing team. They like to go and press people. They definitely try to play through teams a little bit more. Bringing in Jaelin [Howell] and Savannah DeMelo has helped with that,” said OL Reign head coach Laura Harvey.

“We’re expecting two teams that have similar sort of philosophies. They’ve played some decent games and had some decent performances. Like I said, they’re just a different Louisville than we played at the back end of last year,” said Harvey.

4. REFLECTING ON CHALLENGE CUP – OL Reign faced a plethora of challenges during the 2022 Challenge Cup, but each of those challenges made the team stronger.

“One thing that was nice about this Challenge Cup is we had to overcome a wide variety of scenarios – we scored early and had to hold onto the lead. We had a moment where we scored at the very, very end. I think going through those experiences, we learned a lot about ourselves as a team and those things will help us later on,” said OL Reign defender Sam Hiatt.

Hiatt also reflected on the way that OL Reign’s last Challenge Cup ended, making it clear that the team was fully focused on the regular season and picking up three points today.

“I do think the nice thing is that we do get play another game so soon, because when something happens like that, you can't do anything about it except look towards your next game. Luckily, for us it was only a couple days away. We have a chance to go back out there and try and get a different result, but I think that will definitely be motivating us for some time,” said Hiatt.

MultiCare Injury Report:

OUT

Megan Rapinoe (right calf)

QUESTIONABLE

None