Match Forecast: OL Reign and Racing Louisville Meet for the First Time This Saturday

OL Reign are back home at Cheney Stadium this Saturday after two matches on the road. They will be playing their first ever match against Racing Louisville FC, who joined the NWSL in 2021.  

WHEN AND WHERE: Kickoff is at 7:00 p.m. PT on Saturday, July 31 at Cheney Stadium in Tacoma, Washington 

WHERE TO WATCH: The match will be available on Twitch 

2021 RECORDS AND STANDINGS (W-D-L): OL Reign: 4-6-1 (13 points, eighth place), Racing Louisville FC: 3-5-2 (11 points, ninth place) 

Key Points Ahead of the Match: 

1. LAST MEETING – This game will be the first time that OL Reign and Racing Louisville FC meet. Louisville joined the NWSL in 2021 as an expansion team. Following this match, Louisville will have faced all nine other NWSL teams at least once in all competitions. 

2. SCOUTING LOUISVILLE – Racing Louisville FC are currently in ninth place in the NWSL standings with 11 points and a 3-5-2 record. Most recently, Louisville squared off with the Washington Spirit at Lynn Family Stadium in Louisville, Kentucky. Washington picked up three points on the road, while Louisville suffered another loss at home. The team conceded goals in the fifth and 58th minutes, scored by Ashley Hatch and Sam Staab of the Washing Spirit. Louisville had plenty of chances of their own to level the game, taking 17 total shots, but were unable to do so. The match featured Danish national team star Nadia Nadim’s debut for Louisville and return to the NWSL.  

After being held scoreless in each of its first four away matches as a club (Challenge Cup and regular season), Louisville has scored four goals in its last two away games. Louisville will be looking for a third straight road result against the Reign this weekend. Ebony Salmon has scored in both regular season away matches she has played in with goals at Orlando and Chicago. Salmon is looking to become the second NWSL player ever to score in each of her first three away matches in the league. 

“We are not comfortable with settling in any way,” said OL Reign forward Tziarra King. “We still have an uphill battle here and so we are doing whatever we can to improve every day. We’re working on the things we need to work out so we can come out tomorrow and get it poppin’.” 

3. KEEP THE MOMENTUM GOING – The Reign have won two of their last three games and will be looking to carry that winning momentum through the rest of the season as things begin to fall into place. “Our standards keep going up each game and we just have to keep matching that and continuing to grow. I think that’s really important,” said veteran defender Lu Barnes. “We’re always hungry. This team is hungry. We always have been, but we know that we haven’t been hitting our full expectations and our full potential.” 

For the Reign, it is important to keep scoring goals throughout the entire game, as they have scored eight of their ten goals in the first 30 minutes of past matches and just one past the 55th minute. Playing smart and earning shutouts is also a team goal going forward. 

“Each game, the more wins, the more shutouts, we’re obviously going to get more comfortable and confident. We need to keep using that momentum into each game. We have young ones out there, but each game they are getting more experience. You can just tell they are getting more comfortable,” said Barnes. 

4. CONTINUING TO IMPROVE – Though the Reign picked up a win over the weekend, there is always room to improve, and they must continue to make progress in order to move up the table each week.  

Interim head coach Sam Laity said, “Even though we created a couple of opportunities with [pressing], I felt that there we missed, so yeah on appearance it looked like we did well because we created a number of opportunities, but we could have created triple the amount of opportunities, had we really believed in what we were doing.” 

He continued to explain that there are some important details to focus on, like moving the ball quicker and moving off the ball quicker. “We have to be spotless at home. This place needs to be a venue that teams do not want to come and play in. Hopefully that will start tomorrow,” said Laity. 

MultiCare Injury Report: 

OUT  

Ally Watt – Right Knee  

Rosie White - Illness  

QUESTIONABLE  

None  

INTERNATIONAL DUTY  

Nicole Momiki  

Quinn 

Rose Lavelle 

Megan Rapinoe 

Angelina