July 15th @ Torero Stadium
Records:
San Diego Wave 6-3-3 (1st)
Racing Louisville FC 2-5-4 (10th)
Last Match:
San Diego Wave FC Lost vs. Angel City FC 1-2
Racing Louisville FC Lost vs. NJ/NY Gotham FC 1-2
The Midwest Goes West
Racing Louisville FC travels to San Diego this week for the second regular season meeting between these two teams.
Bounce Back Game
Both clubs are coming off a loss (oddly, by the same exact score, 1-2), but only one team was in the midst of a winning streak: San Diego. With last week’s heartbreaking loss to in-state rivals Angel City FC, San Diego snaps a five-game winning streak yet still retains the top spot in the league. Now if tie streaks were a thing, then Racing would count for two as they tied both the Spirit and Pride (good names for racehorses, if you ask me) prior to the Gotham loss. If Racing Louisville FC wants a spot in the playoffs, they need points at this, well, point in the season.
The last time these two clubs met back in May in the regular season, Racing actually won 1-0 and that was against a “full” Wave team (i.e. with regular starters not away on international duty). This time around, the likes of Alex Morgan (USA), Taylor Kornieck (USA), Naomi Girma (USA), Sofia Jakobsson (Sweden), and Kailen Sheridan (Canada) are not available for this match (due to the aforementioned international duty). Consider this game a payback match for San Diego since there’s not a lot of history here. These teams did not face each other in the 2022 Challenge Cup (a seemingly regional tournament), for example.
Racing will also be without some key players spread across FIFA’s footprint, including: Emily Fox (USA), Nadia Nadim (Denmark), Thembi Kgatlana (South Africa), and Rebecca Holloway (Northern Ireland). These teams are approximately evenly matched in this regard of international absences. Nadim and her Denmark teammates are scheduled to play Spain tomorrow, by the way, and she’s also featured in this week’s Hustle Rule podcast.
Expansion Energy
Last year, in their first season in the NWSL, Racing Louisville FC won the Women’s Cup trophy. This season, San Diego Wave FC are looking to christen their trophy case in similar fashion with their first league championship. The first-year California club is surprisingly on track and can regain their momentum back with a home win. These teams don’t have much else in common when looking at the current standings, though. In fact, Wave has one more game under its belt (twelve matches played vs. Racing’s eleven), so it has a slight mathematical advantage when calculating win-loss percentage.
Final Thoughts
San Diego will aim to tighten its grip on the league’s top spot. Racing will aim to gain some points on a team that is without its league-leading scorer in Alex Morgan (and other valuable starters). The Kentucky-based team is technically traveling west for this one, but figuratively heading uphill in a bid for the playoffs. They are currently sitting in the tenth spot in the league table at the midway point and are eleven points behind.