“Ready to Compete”
Racing Louisville punched their ticket to the Women’s Cup South America final after beating home team América de Cali 2-0 on Tuesday night. This was the best possible outcome for a preseason match with a lot of anticipation surrounding it considering how much the team has been overhauled between seasons.
“I’m very proud of this group,” said Racing coach Bev Yanez after the match. “We talked about it coming into the game, being ready to compete and understand where we’re at in preseason, giving us an opportunity to play a very good opponent. What are we doing well? Where can we continue to improve? For us, it’s about starting on the right foot come the start of the season and how we continue to progress through the year. I’m proud of them controlling what they could control.”
The first goal came early with Jordan Baggett scoring a beautiful volley off a clearance in the fifth minute. This goal plus an overall solid performance in the center midfield earned Baggett Player of the Match accolades as well. Early in the second half, Racing put the game away when Savannah DeMelo earned a penalty and converted it expertly to put Racing up 2-0.
Although América de Cali did start the game with a great deal of energy and played a considerably physical game, they didn’t provide too much trouble for Racing and generated only a couple of real chances to test keeper Katie Lund.
This is Racing’s third trip to a Women’s Cup championship in three tries with Racing winning the inaugural edition of the tournament in 2021 and coming in second to OL Reign in 2o22.
Key Takeaways
A Fresh Update
Fans of Louisville have been restless waiting for this match because it would feature the debut of some big new additions to Racing Louisville’s roster as well as the first real glimpse at first-time head coach Yanez’s tactics and style of play.
In terms of style, there have been hints that Yanez would strive for more fluidity on the pitch and that’s definitely what was seen. In particular, Carson Pickett was free to move all the way up the sideline and cut in centrally at times as well. This is in contrast to last year where she was mostly confined to playing up and down the sideline and typically stopped around midfield. Considering one of Pickett’s greatest strengths is precise service into the box, this greater fluidity should benefit…
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