Racing Louisville travels to Seattle to take on OL Reign tomorrow at 6 PM. This is a game that actually came very close to not happening at all. On Wednesday night, OL Reign was only narrowly defeated by the Washington Spirit in a penalty shootout in the Challenge Cup semifinals. Had the Reign won, they would have played the final on Saturday and this match would have been delayed.
To say the Challenge Cup has wreaked havoc in the league would be an understatement. Teams have been operating on uncertain schedules as they waited to see how the semifinals would pan out. For example, Racing didn’t know for certain they’d be traveling cross country to Seattle on Friday until nearly midnight on Wednesday. As a result, there are a lot of variables for this match that could throw the results in one direction or the other. Let’s take a look at some of them.
Rest versus Revenge
The Reign will enter Sunday’s match on only three days’ rest. This will also be their third game in just eight days. Additionally, they’ve been away from home for the better part of the week as their previous two matches both took place in Washington, D.C. Therefore, it’s safe to say that the Reign are unlikely to be at full power on Sunday. Racing, on the other hand, has been rested since returning from Chicago last Saturday. Although they won’t have the home field advantage, this might be one of their best opportunities to get a result against a top team in the league.
Racing won’t be completely fully powered either, however. Emily Fox is out with a left leg injury. Although I haven’t been told details, it doesn’t seem to be anything major that should affect her in the long run. However, her loss in this match is an unquestionable blow to Louisville.
Both Racing and OL Reign are coming off tough season opener losses. In Racing’s case, they played a mostly dominant game against Chicago but lost due to mistakes in small moments. They broke two league records for…
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