Match Recap: OL Reign Earns Comeback Draw Against Racing Louisville FC

OL Reign (3-1-1, 10 points, 2nd place) pulled off a second half comeback at Lynn Family Stadium in Kentucky against Racing Louisville FC (0-1-4, 4 points, 9th place). After going down 2-0 in the first half, the team mounted a comeback to start their three-game week with a point on the road.

From the first whistle, the home team applied quick pressure to the Reign, forcing them to stay pinned in their own half for the majority of the opening minutes of the match. OL Reign struggled to string together quality touches early in the half, not quite achieving the sharpness they usually play with.

The Reign conceded their first goal of the night seven minutes into the match, when Louisville created an attacking opportunity close to OL Reign’s 18-yard box. Midfielder Ary Borges slotted a ball from the top of the box into the middle toward goal, where forward Paige Monaghan took one touch before passing it to the far post to put Louisville up 1-0.

The Reign continued to spend the majority of the first half defending, but forward Megan Rapinoe found some of the Reign’s first offensive action in the 28th minute, when her shot toward goal hit the crossbar.

As the half was wrapping up, OL Reign conceded a second goal, this time from the foot of midfielder Savannah DeMelo. A Racing Louisville corner kick was punched out of the box by goalkeeper Phallon Tullis-Joyce, but DeMelo hit a rocket of a shot from outside of the box to double Louisville’s lead.

After the halftime break, the Reign flipped the tempo, starting the half on the front foot. They immediately pressed forward and earned an early freekick in a dangerous position, but Rapinoe’s service went just over the bar.

Continuing to bring energy to the match, the Reign held Louisville in their own half as they searched for a goal back. As OL Reign was attacking, Louisville’s goalkeeper Katie Lund took Jordyn Huitema out in the box, resulting in an OL Reign penalty kick. There was never any doubt that it would be Rapinoe to take the kick. Per usual, Rapinoe was cool, calm and collected as she stepped up the spot and played the ball low to the right, beating Lund to begin OL Reign’s comeback.

In the 73rd minute of the match, things took a turn for Racing Louisville, as DeMelo received a second yellow card for kicking the ball away after a foul was called, the hosts had to play down a player for the rest of the match.

With the player advantage, the Reign continued to press on and look for the equalizer to split the points with Louisville. Finally, OL Reign broke through Louisville, finding the all-important equalizer. In the 90th minute of the match, defender Alana Cook lofted a ball into the box, perfectly placing it for Huitema to get her head on the end of it and direct it into the back of the net to tie up the match and earn a point for the Reign on the road.

Key Facts:

·       The draw brings the all-time series to 1-0-4 between the Reign and Racing Louisville FC

·       OL Reign is unbeaten in its last four games, two at home and two on the road, earning a total of 10 points (3-0-1).

·       Defender Lauren Barnes made her 194th appearance (190th start) in the regular season all-time. Barnes has appeared in 19.4% of the league’s regular season games since the inaugural season in the 2013 and 92.8% of the Reign’s games in the regular season.

·       Forward Jordyn Huitema scored the team’s game-tying goal in stoppage time of the second half, helping secure a point on the road. Huitema now has three goals in her NWSL career since she first signed with the club on June 18, 2022.

·       Forward Megan Rapinoe made her first start of the 2023 season. In the 69th minute, Rapinoe converted her 13th penalty-kick all-time, setting a new league record for most penalty-kick goals.

·       Rapinoe now has 48 goals all-time, giving her the sixth-most goals in league history.

·       Goalkeeper Phallon Tullis-Joyce recorded a season-high six saves in tonight’s 2-2 draw.

·       Tullis-Joyce now has 80 career saves all-time, which ranks fourth in club history. The goalkeeper is nine saves away from moving up to third all-time for the Reign.

UP NEXT: OL Reign has another midweek game this Wednesday, May 3 at Lumen Field in Seattle, Washington. The team is set to take on Angel City FC in a UKG Challenge Cup match at 7:00 p.m. PT. Tickets are available HERE.

MATCH SUMMARY

2023 NWSL Regular Season

Racing Louisville FC 2 – 2 OL Reign

Date/Time: Saturday, April 29, 4:30 p.m. PT

Location: Lynn Family Stadium, Louisville, Kentucky

Weather: 64, Sunny

Scoring Summary

RGN: Rapinoe – 69’, Huitema – 90’

LOU: Monaghan – 7’, DeMelo – 45’

Discipline

RGN: Huerta (Caution – 71’), Stanton (Caution – 87’)

LOU: DeMelo (Caution – 35’, Second Caution – 73’ (Red Card)), Milliet (Caution – 46’)

Lineups

RGN: GK Tullis-Joyce, D Huerta, D Cook, D Hiatt, D Barnes ©, M Sonnett (Athens 82’), M Fishlock, F Balcer, F Bennett (Stanton 46’), F Huitema, F Rapinoe (King 70’)

Unused substitutes: GK Ivory, M Canales, D Malonson, D Brown, D Holmes, M Luany

Total Shots: 10 (Huitema, Rapinoe – 3)

Shots on Goal: 4 (Four tied with – 1)

Fouls: 14 (Stanton– 4)

Offsides: 1

Corner Kicks: 2

Saves: 6 (Tullis-Joyce – 6)

LOU: GK Lund, D Milliet, D Pickett, D Erceg, D Lester, M Howell, M DeMelo, M Borges, M Wang (Baggett 90+1’), F Monaghan (Holloway 84’), F Davis (Kanu 76’)

Unused substitutes: D Wyne, M Fischer, F Goins, Chidiac, D Murray, GK Sekany

Total Shots: 16 (Monaghan – 4)

Shots on Goal: 8 (Monaghan – 3)

Fouls: 10 (Howell – 4)

Offsides: 1

Corner Kicks: 7

Saves: 1 (Lund – 1)

Player of the Match: Phallon Tullis-Joyce

Referee: Eric Tattersall

Assistant Referee 1: Joe Suchoski

Assistant Referee 2: Jessica Carnevale

4th Official: Nabil Bensalah

Var: Carol Anne Chenard

Avar: Maggie Short