August 1, 2024 – National Women’s Soccer League (NWSL)
Racing Louisville FC News Release
Racing Louisville’s Taylor Flint in action
(Racing Louisville FC, Credit: Alex Corrie/NWSL)
ORLANDO, Fla. – Reilyn Turner’s 67th-minute goal gave Racing Louisville hope of a late win to advance to the NWSL x Liga MX Femenil Summer Cup semifinals, but the visitors left Florida with a 1-1 draw against the Orlando Pride on Thursday night at Inter&Co Stadium, just falling short of an appearance in the tournament’s knockout round.
Racing won the ensuing penalty shootout, 4-3, to finish the inaugural Summer Cup’s group stage with six points, one shy of group-winning North Carolina.
“We wanted to put two goals in and win the match to be able to advance,” Racing coach Bev Yanez said. “A big takeaway for us was winning the PK shootout – two big saves from (Jordyn Bloomer). Last match, we weren’t able to win the PK shootout, so for us, that was a positive moving out of this. Our focus now becomes regrouping, getting a proper week in of training and preparing for The Women’s Cup.”
Yanez lauded her team for going unbeaten in the group stage of the tournament created to keep league teams active while a record 56 NWSL players compete in the Summer Olympics, including Racing forwards Milly Clegg (New Zealand) and Uchenna Kanu (Nigeria).
Racing Louisville (1-0-2, 6 points) topped Mexican power Monterrey in the opener and drew North Carolina before Thursday’s result in Orlando. Racing needed to either beat Orlando by multiple goals or beat Orlando and score more than one goal – either would’ve triggered a favorable tiebreaker for the Louisvillians.
After Evelina Duljan opened the scoring in the 38th minute for Orlando, Racing came out firing in the second half and almost equalized through Turner in the 47th minute. Twenty minutes later, Turner took her second opportunity, nodding in a cross from fellow rookie Emma Sears to bring the score level at 1-1.
It was Turner’s fifth goal across all competitions, tying her for the team lead with Savannah DeMelo.
“This game, we knew what we needed to do going into it,” Turner said. “Our energy in the second half really picked up, and we were able to create more chances and get that goal. It was obviously a great ball by Emma. We needed one more goal, but I feel like our momentum really picked up. Now it’s just that final piece and finishing what we know we can finish.”
Racing pushed for a second over the game’s final phase, coming close on several…