The Best Laid Plans
Before he could even begin discussing Racing Louisville’s Saturday night match against the Houston Dash, coach Kim Björkegren had to make one thing clear: “I’ve been a coach for 15 years. It’s probably around 600 games. But today was the most difficult one.”
The match’s game plan was completely blown apart only hours before kickoff when one player tested positive for Covid and three more came down will fevers. According to Björkegren, the first ill player was identified around 2 P.M. on Saturday and the last somewhere around 6 P.M – only two hours before kickoff. What’s worse is all four players – Rebecca Holloway, Gemma Bonner, Freja Olofsson, and Julia Lester – were planned starters. Losing nearly 40% of your starters mere hours before the match was set to start is a very hard blow to absorb. And, yet, Racing Louisville did just that and even pulled a point from it.
Racing held the Houston Dash to a scoreless draw for the first 45 minutes. Despite Louisville having the best chances in the early second half, the Dash got on the board first. In the 77′, a corner kick was initially blocked but Nichelle Prince was there to head in a rebound. Instead of folding, Racing found a quick equalizer. In the 82′, Lauren Milliet sent in a ball from the top of the box to Jessica McDonald who headed it home past the arms of Houston keeper Jane Campbell. Despite Racing’s Ebony Salmon getting the only remaining shot on goal all match, the game stayed level at 1-1.
“Normally, I want to win a home game against Houston,” said Björkegren, “but their fighting spirit, everything they [did] today…I’m extremely proud of them.”
📼 Late but great 📼#LOUvHOU presented by @nationwide pic.twitter.com/Sh4J1DRHWA
— National Women’s Soccer League (@NWSL) May 15, 2022
By the Numbers
After the match, Björkegren said that despite their huge losses, Racing was the better team today. Game statistics do bear that out to…
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