Match Preview: OL Reign Set to Take on Racing Louisville in The Women’s Cup Final
OL Reign are ready to take on a familiar foe in The Women’s Cup Final today at 4:00 p.m. PT. Racing Louisville, the hosts of the tournament, are the defending champions, after defeating Bayern Munich in penalty kicks during the 2021 Women’s Cup final. Today’s match will stream on Paramount+ for fans in the U.S. For a full list of streaming options, click here.
How each team made it to the final:
OL Reign defeated Club América 2-1 in the semifinal to advance to the final. After a scoreless first half, OL Reign went down a goal in the 60th minute of the match. The Seattle based team failed to clear the danger on a set piece and Club América capitalized to take the lead.
However, the Reign fought back, not content to accept defeat. The comeback was kickstarted by an absolute banger of a goal, from the foot of Tziarra King in the 79th minute. After a cross into the box from forward Veronica Latsko caused some chaos, the ball popped out to the top of the box, where King was waiting to hit it with one touch into the back of the net.
Now tied, OL Reign took advantage of their momentum, netting the game-winning goal just a few minutes later. It was Latsko again, serving a ball into the box. Club América scrambled to clear the ball off the goal line, but OL Reign midfielder Olivia Van der Jagt was there to tap it in and secure OL Reign’s place in The Women’s Cup final.
On the other side of the bracket, Racing Louisville FC played their semifinal match against AC Milan. Louisville was the dominant team early on, finding the opening goal just 13 minutes into the match. midfielder Savannah DeMelo whipped a freekick into the box, where forward Nadia Nadim got her head on the end of it.
Continuing to dominate, Racing found a second goal 11 minutes later, when new signing Wang Shuang volleyed the ball into the back of the net from the top of the 18-yard box. The home team continued to dominate the game, but as time went on, AC Milan found a few chances of their own, but none threatening enough to make a comeback in the match. Racing Louisville claimed the 2-0 victory, earning their spot in The Women’s Cup final against OL Reign.
Head-to-head history:
As both OL Reign and Racing Louisville play in the NWSL, the team are familiar foes. Already battling twice in the NWSL regular season, there is a level of familiarity between the two sides that neither club had in their semifinal match.
In the regular season, the teams most recently met at the beginning of this month and played to a 1-1 draw. OL Reign got on the board first, with forward Megan Rapinoe and midfielder Jess Fishlock connected to find the back of the net before Racing Louisville had the opportunity to take a competitive touch on the ball. However, in stoppage time of the first half, Louisville pulled a goal back, after forward Kirsten Davis gained possession of the ball and dribbled into OL Reign’s half until she was able to get a shot off. The second half of the match went scoreless, and the two teams split the points.
The teams also met in May, where they once again battled to a draw, this time scoring two goals apiece. Forward Jess McDonald gave Louisville the lead when she was played the ball in the box and only took one touch before nailing a shot into the back of the net.
OL Reign equalized in the 33rd minute, compliments of forward Tziarra King. Angelina served a beautiful ball through to King, who made no mistakes as she received the ball and played it low to Louisville’s goalkeeper. Just four minutes later, King found a second goal to put the Reign ahead 2-1. She was in position to follow up on a saved shot from midfielder Rose Lavelle and blasted the ball into the back of the net. In the 60th minute of the match, Louisville pulled level with the Reign on a deflected freekick, forcing the teams to split the points.
With the two draws this season, OL Reign remains undefeated against Racing Louisville in all competition.