Racing Louisville thrash the Dash 3-0 to stay perfect in the Challenge Cup

Racing Louisville continued their Challenge Cup winning streak when they topped the Houston Dash 3-0 Wednesday. As a result of this win, Racing continues to sit firmly atop the Central Division standings and is now the only team in the entire league to have remained unbeaten across the first three group stage matches in the tournament.”

“We played really good football tonight,” head coach Kim Björkegren said. “We worked in our attack and created a lot of chances. The only thing I can complain over is to maybe kill the game off a little bit earlier, but overall I’m happy with our performance.”

Racing got off to a slightly slow start with Houston getting their two best chances within the first twelve minutes of the match. However, after that, Racing took almost complete control of the game and peppered Houston’s goal with chances. They finally broke through in stoppage time when rookie Kayla Fischer scored her first professional goal off an assist from Ary Borges. Just a minute later, before the smoke had even cleared from the field from the first goal, Savannah DeMelo toe-poked a second one into the upper right corner with the outside of her foot in true, flamboyant DeMelo style.

If Racing had a strong first half, they utterly dominated in the second. Houston could barely find their way out of their own half as Racing picked off passes regularly and continued to go for goal as if it was still a 0-0 draw. A set piece taken by Carson Pickett in the 73rd minute found the head of Parker Goins who nodded it effortlessly into the back of the net for Racing’s final goal of the night. Racing fans were also given a treat when hometown hero Emina Ekic returned to the pitch for the first time this season after suffering a broken ankle playing in Australia this winter. She was subbed in for DeMelo in the 79th minute.

Of course, it’s important to mention that, as this was a Challenge Cup match, Houston had rotated their squad heavily, including their entire back five. This may temper the win a bit, but for a young team still learning how to win games, every opportunity to get three points is a big one.

“I think it was just a really good team win,” said Fischer who won Player of the Match accolades. “We still have some things to work on, playing faster, but I think we came out with the energy. When you’re not playing your best soccer, if you can have the energy and be on your front foot the whole game, I think that’s what we did…