Sudden Drops
At the risk of sounding hackneyed, being an expansion team in the NWSL is a lot like riding a rollercoaster. There are long, slow climbs upwards followed by sudden heart-wrenching drops. And, if you’re lucky, there are thrilling, unexpected twists thrown in, too.
Racing started August by going undefeated in four games across all competition. This is the first undefeated streak for Racing ever and it took a long, slow climb to get there. This past weekend, in a twist almost no one saw coming, they beat Bayern in the Women’s Cup championship and earned their first trophy. And, now, they’ve followed that up with a loss to the tenth-place team in the league in one of their worst performances ever. That, unfortunately, was the inevitable sudden drop.
Racing Louisville fell to Kansas City NWSL 1-2 on Wednesday in Kansas. After an incredibly flat first half, Racing was able to rally somewhat in the second half, but it wasn’t enough to overcome their hosts. A large number of games in short succession plus the high of winning a tournament had clearly taken a toll on the team.
Immediately after the match, I tweeted that this game felt like a hangover. I was only slightly surprised to find out that Coach Christy Holly used this exact language in his post-game press conference.
“We entered the game with what looks like a hangover — a bit of a mist or a fog from the busy schedule we’ve had,” said Holly. “You could tell right away we weren’t ready from the very first kick of the game. It was a question of how long we could absorb it.”
Unfortunately, that question was answered fairly quickly. In the first 16 minutes of the match, Michelle Betos was forced to save or block five shots from five different Kansas City players. Racing could barely get the ball out of their own half. In the 17′, disaster struck as Erin Simon mishit a clearance and scoring an own goal that put Kansas City up 1-0. Then, in the 40′, a run from Kristin Hamilton…
Click Here to Read the Full Original Article at Kansas City NWSL – Beautiful Game Network…