March 16, 2024 – National Women’s Soccer League (NWSL) – Racing Louisville FC News Release
Elexa Bahr of Racing Louisville FC
(Racing Louisville FC, Credit: Chris Humphrey/Racing Louisville FC)
Elexa Bahr and Uchenna Kanu scored goals inside the first 20 minutes of Racing Louisville’s 2024 NWSL season opener at Lynn Family Stadium, but the Orlando Pride rallied to a 2-2 draw in front 6,123 fans on a sunny day in downtown Louisville.
It was yet another high-scoring, chaotic affair between Racing and Orlando, two teams that have played each other eight times and produced 26 goals in their meetings.
“I told (our players) afterward that there’s no question how hard they worked today and what they put in on the pitch today, and I’m proud of them for that,” said first-year Racing head coach Bev Yanez, who made her professional coaching debut. “Obviously we wanted to walk away with three points, but I want to acknowledge how hard the group worked, and I told them from the get-go it’s not going to be perfect on Day 1, but our effort is controllable, and I thought we controlled that very much so today.”
The result did bring back not-so-fond memories of the 2023 campaign in which Racing built two-goal leads on three separate occasions only to settle for draws. But Yanez re-emphasized her focus on growing and progressing week-by-week through the course of the eight-month season, saying Racing needed to work on “continuing to push in every aspect” and finding ways to “get that momentum tank being filled back up again.”
Racing (0-0-1, 1 point) opened the 2024 season in grand fashion, with two newcomers combining for a beautiful goal to start the scoring in the 13th minute.
Rookie forward Reilyn Turner showed why she was a collegiate All-American and national champion, lacing a perfectly-weighted pass into Bahr’s path to open up a quick-strike counterattack. The 25-year-old Bahr took one touch and chipped Orlando goalkeeper Anna Moorhouse from 20 yards out.
“Honestly, I am at a loss of words,” said Bahr, who also plays for the Colombia national team. “The only thing I can actually remember right now is the fact that I took a big touch, which beat the defender, and I just saw the goalkeeper out of her box. I was like, ‘You know what? I’m just going to chip it and see where it goes.’ And surprisingly, it went in. But honestly, I just want to give thanks to God for even having the opportunity to be here. It’s my first goal. I’m just so excited.”
Six minutes later, Turner and…