Match Forecast: Seattle Reign FC Takes on Racing Louisville FC in Annual Pride presented by Starbucks
Seattle Reign FC is home at Lumen Field for a second consecutive match. One of the marquee matches of the season, Pride presented by Starbucks, features a matchup between the Reign and Racing Louisville FC. Coming off a draw with Cascadia rival Portland Thorns FC, the Reign will look to pick up points once again this weekend.
WHEN AND WHERE: Reign FC kickoff is at 3:00 p.m. PT at Lumen Field in Seattle, Washington.
WHERE TO WATCH: Fans can get tickets to the match HERE or tune in on CBS Sports Golazo Network, Paramount+, NWSL+ or KING5+ or KONG locally to catch the action.
2024 NWSL REGULAR SEASON RECORDS AND STANDINGS (W-L-D): Seattle Reign FC: 2-9-2 (13th place), Racing Louisville FC: 3-4-6 (8th place)
Key Points Ahead of the Match:
1. LAST MEETING – Seattle Reign FC and Racing Louisville FC last met in the 2023 Challenge Cup semifinal at Lumen Field. In a frustrating match, the Reign fell 1-0 to Racing Louisville. The goal scored by Kirsten Davis in the 28th minute made all the difference for the visitors.
Prior to that meeting, Racing Louisville had never beaten the Reign. In regular season competition, the Reign has one win over Louisville and five draws. Three of the draws the Reign has earned against Louisville have been come from behind draws, featuring a cumulative three goals scored in the final ten minutes of the match. The only fixture in league history to play to a draw in six straight regular-season meetings is Seattle vs. Orlando from 2017-19.
2. SCOUTING LOUISVILLE – Racing Louisville FC are currently in eighth place in the NWSL standings, with 15 points from 13 games played. The team played a midweek match against Angel City and lost 3-2. Louisville initially went down two goals, conceding in the 17th and 32nd minutes of the match, before flipping the temp on Angel City and equalizing. It wasn’t until the 85th minute that Angel City found a game winner, exploiting Louisville in transition.
The loss marked Racing Louisville’s second consecutive defeat and fourth defeat of the season. Louisville has conceded eight goals in those four defeats while allowing a total of nine goals in its other nine matches this season.
“"Yeah, I think they do have a lot of great attacking threats. So I think for us, it's making sure that we're nullifying their transition, especially they are a team that can transition quite well,” said Seattle Reign FC midfielder Quinn.
“I think it's really important for the holding midfield role to be able to nullify their threat and making sure that we're connected with our backline to make sure that we're maintaining our numbers and trying to keep them locked out so they can't exploit us on that transitional piece,” they said.
Louisville currently has five players out for the match – Ary Borges (knee), Jordyn Bloomer (ankle), Elli Pikkujämsä (SEI – knee), Olivia Sekany (D45 – knee), Kirsten Wright (D45 - knee) and one player questionable – Uchenna Kanu (knee)
3. FOCUSED ON US – After picking up a point last weekend, the Reign are fully focused on their own play and picking up points in every match possible. The team is also looking forward to another match at Lumen Field. In the head-to-head series, the Reign has scored six of ten total goals at home.
"Honestly, we've focused on ourselves a lot. I think we know we've faced that a lot this year. We've faced that in multiple games - Orlando, Kansas, the list goes on - and we've always felt that when we do the things that we know we can do and we limit the mistakes or opportunities that we give to them easily, we manage the game pretty well. So, it's been a lot of focus on us, I would say,” said Seattle Reign FC Head Coach Laura Harvey.
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