A little devastating
“It’s a little devastating because I think we felt like we could have gotten that three points,” admitted Savannah DeMelo after Racing Louisville gave up a two-goal lead in Los Angeles to draw Angel City 2-2 on Saturday.
Racing went up in the first moments of the match when DeMelo drew and then converted a penalty in the third minute. Approximately 30 minutes later, Jaelin Howell won the ball back in midfield and passed to DeMelo who played a through ball into Kirsten Davis who sent a banger in from outside the box. In the second half, however, Racing came out okay but ultimately couldn’t keep up the aggressive high press they maintained in the first half. Angel City’s Katie Johnson scored off a set piece in the 68th minute and Savannah McCaskill found the equalizer in the 87th minute to pull back a point for the home side.
“I think that’s just the last step for this team is just winning games and not just being okay tying,” continued DeMelo. “We are a winning team and we want to be a winning team and have a winning culture. So I think we’re right there.”
This is Racing’s third draw in three games which leaves them with a still-undefeated record. But of all games played, despite the fact that all matches ended the same way with the same number of points, there’s no question this one felt the most like a loss.
In many ways, this game was an almost complete mirror image of Racing’s previous match against the Washington Spirit. In addition to both being 2-2 draws, Louisville scored a goal in the first minutes of their good half followed by an absolute banger from outside of the box for the second goal. The only difference is they charged back to score against Washington to earn the point while they gave up to goals and dropped points to Angel City instead.
“In the end, they put a lot of pressure on us,” Racing coach Kim Björkegren said. “They scored a goal from a free kick with almost no angle. It’s way too easy for us to give them that kind of energy. That’s not good enough from us. We need to do better there.”
Gets fouled.
Gets up.
Gets the goal. @Savannah_DeMelo‘s 2023 scoring account is open! 💪 pic.twitter.com/sCMapfW49j— Racing Louisville FC (@RacingLouFC) April 16, 2023
By the Numbers
If there was ever a game that could be called a tale of two halves for Racing this is the one.
The match ended with Racing having a total of 13 shots and Angel City having 25. Eleven of…