July 19, 2024 – National Women’s Soccer League (NWSL)
Racing Louisville FC News Release
Racing Louisville defender Carson Pickett
(Racing Louisville FC, Credit: USA TODAY Sports Images)
Racing Louisville kicks off the inaugural NWSL x LIGA MX Femenil Summer Cup at 8 p.m. Saturday against CF Monterrey at Lynn Family Stadium.
The Louisvillians’ first match against Mexican opposition will be broadcast live on Paramount+.
For Louisville, Saturday begins an extensive stretch on home soil, with six of its next seven games across all competitions set at Lynn Family Stadium.
First up, Racing shifts its focus to the new Summer Cup, a 33-match tournament featuring 20 teams from the two North American women’s soccer leagues – 14 from the NWSL and six from Liga MXF. The teams are split into five groups of four, with three matches for each team in the group stage. The four top group winners will advance to the semifinals set for Aug. 6 in Kansas City. The final is scheduled for Oct. 25 in San Antonio.
Drawn in Group E alongside Monterrey and two fellow NWSL foes, North Carolina and Orlando, the Louisvillians will host two its three group stage matches at Lynn Family Stadium. In NWSL play, Racing is one of four clubs with double-digit goals scored and fewer than nine goals conceded in home matches, and it’ll aim to replicate that success in the Summer Cup.
Monterrey, nicknamed Las Rayadas, is one of two teams with at least three Mexican league titles along with Tigres UANL. Rayadas won the 2024 Liga MXF Clausura title for the second half of the 2023-24 season before falling to Tigres in the Campeón de Campeones, the league’s new final.
Led by Amelia Valverde, the former Costa Rica women’s national football team coach who took over last December, Las Rayadas captured the Clausura title over Club América in late May. They began Apertura 2024 on July 7 with a 1-0 win over Club Puebla Femenil thanks to a goal from former Orlando Pride forward Christina Burkenroad.
Rayadas has a multitude of attacking talents, with Burkenroad being just one of them. The team can also rely on record goal scorer Katty Martínez and South African international Jermaine Seoposenwe to make an impact in the attack. Martínez, who joined the club on June 19, scored 15 goals for Club América in Clausura 2024. Seoposenwe converted a team-high eight goals in that same tournament to help Las Rayadas secure their third title.
The club is captained by defender Rebeca Bernal, who has been with Monterrey since…