Match Forecast: OL Reign Travels to Kentucky to Take on Racing Louisville FC
OL Reign is on the road again, this time at Lynn Family Stadium in Louisville, Kentucky to take on Racing Louisville FC at 4:30 p.m. PT today. The team will be looking to continue their current unbeaten streak, as well as their unbeaten run all-time against Racing Louisville FC.
WHEN AND WHERE: Kickoff is at 4:30 p.m. PT on Saturday, April 29 at Lynn Family Stadium in Louisville, Kentucky
WHERE TO WATCH: The match will be available on Paramount+ and TSN+ with a local watch party at Rough & Tumble Pub in Ballard.
2023 NWSL RECORDS AND STANDINGS (W-L-D): OL Reign: 3-1-0 (9 points, 2nd place), Racing Louisville FC: 0-1-3, (3 points, 8th place)
Key Points Ahead of the Match:
1. LAST MEETING – The last time OL Reign and Racing Louisville FC met was August 2022. The teams ultimately battled to a 1-1 draw, but OL Reign was on the front foot to start the match. Forward Megan Rapinoe had just returned to the lineup after international duty and suspension and made an immediate impact on the field, lofting a corner kick into the box, where midfielder Jess Fishlock was waiting to direct the ball on target and give her team the early lead before Racing Louisville had the opportunity to take a competitive touch on the ball. Racing Louisville FC found an equalizer in stoppage time of the first half, when forward Kirsten Davis gained possession of the ball and dribbled into OL Reign’s half until she was able to put the ball on target.
2. SCOUTING LOUISVILLE – In the regular season, Racing Louisville FC have yet to find a win in the regular season. Most recently, the team suffered a 2-0 loss to the Portland Thorns, but prior to that the team tied the opening three matches of the season, becoming the first team in NWSL history to tie three straight matches to start a season.
Racing Louisville FC joined the NWSL in 2021, meaning the history between the Reign and Racing Louisville is short. Across all NWSL competitions, the teams have only met four times – twice at home and twice away. Today’s meeting at Lynn Family Stadium will mark the fifth meeting between the two teams and the third time the Reign has clashed with Louisville on the road.
“I think we want to continue to build off what we accomplished the last week. Obviously, the schedules are so crazy right now with travel and three-game weeks and stuff like that. Right now, we’re focusing on being healthy and continuing yet to build off what we had last week,” said OL Reign defender and captain Lauren Barnes.
“Obviously, we’ve played Louisville in preseason in the Portland tournament, so we got to see them there. I think they are a good side. I think that they are hard to play against. I think we need to be at our best to get a result in this game,” said OL Reign head coach Laura Harvey. “I think we’ve tried to look at the really good things we did against Chicago, push on with them, but you know, being very clear that we need to make sure that we don’t give our opposition anything easy, I think, is the key for us, which we tend to do a good job of. So, the Chicago game was one that we didn’t, but we obviously scored the goals when we needed to, which made a big difference.”
3. DEFENSIVE POWER – Between the two teams, there are only four players that have played every minute of the four all-time meetings. Three of those players are OL Reign players and are all part of the Reign’s top-level backline – Lauren Barnes, Alana Cook and Sofia Huerta. Additionally, there has only been one clean sheet earned in the series and it was recorded by OL Reign on July 31, 2021.
It’s no secret that OL Reign’s backline shines throughout the entire season, but the squad has had a great start in 2023, allowing only three goals in five games and earning three clean sheets. In addition, OL Reign has yet to concede a goal beyond the 54th minute of the match.
“I think, historically, any team that I’ve coached, that’s the premise of who we are. I think we have to be really hard to beat. We want to be free-flowing and we want to create opportunities and score goals, but I believe that in this league you have to be really hard to beat, we have to be hard to score against. Yeah, we’ve done a good job of that, so we were disappointed to let that up a little bit against Chicago. So, we always have that as a mindset, no matter what. It’s not sort of looking at it differently, but happy with the way that we’ve been doing things. I think we believe that our defending is our biggest attacking threat when we get that right, so we will continue on that moving forward,” said Harvey.
MultiCare Availability Report:
OUT
Angelina (SEI - knee)
Quinn (leg)
Rose Lavelle (leg)
Phoebe McClernon (back)
Veronica Latsko (excused absence)
Olivia Van der Jagt (excused absence)
QUESTIONABLE
None