Racing Falls on Late Goal at Seattle, as Team Honors DeMelo
NWSL Racing Louisville FC

Racing Falls on Late Goal at Seattle, as Team Honors DeMelo

Published on September 16, 2025 under National Women's Soccer League (NWSL)
Racing Louisville FC News Release


Racing Louisville FC show support for midfielder Savannah DeMelo
Racing Louisville FC show support for midfielder Savannah DeMelo
(Racing Louisville FC, Credit: NWSL)

Racing Louisville FC fell at Seattle Reign FC on Tuesday night 1-0 at Lumen Field, in the continuation of a game suspended Sunday after a medical emergency to Racing midfielder Savannah DeMelo.

Seattle's Jess Fishlock won it for the hosts in the 90th minute, slipping the ball past Louisville goalkeeper Jordyn Bloomer to give Seattle its first win since August 1.

The result leaves Racing (7-8-5, 26 points) in eighth place, the final playoff spot in the NWSL,. It's the fifth time in the last six games that Racing has conceded a goal in the 90th minute or later to drop points, and it was the club's second straight loss.

The two sides contested the second half of the game Tuesday night, with the first half played to completion on Sunday.

Over the course of the 90 minutes - between Sunday and Tuesday - many of the statistics indicated a strong Racing performance. Racing finished with 2.56 expected goals, the third-highest output of the season, and with more shots than Seattle, 17 to 14.

"We could have and should have finished some chances early on to put us in a better position, and that's just the reality of the match itself," Racing head coach Bev Yanez said.

"I think we had plenty of chances to put the game in our favor, and when you leave it late like that, under these circumstances, anything can happen," Racing co-captain Janine Sonis said. "Safe to say it's been a weird couple of days and we are very disappointed to walk away with no points."

In the end, though, the result didn't go Louisville's way, but to the players and staff the result of the game was more than secondary. Tuesday's action on the field capped off 48-hour period that Yanez described as a "blur."

"Football becomes very quickly completely irrelevant," Yanez said. "The concern for her and her family, everybody that cares for her very deeply, was really, really high. It's inexplainable to go through something like that and be so scared."

Players from both teams wore purple wristbands with the initials "SD7" written on them, in honor of DeMelo, who remains hospitalized in Seattle, undergoing evaluation. She remains in stable condition.

"Our priority is Sav and her health and her well-being," Sonis said. "It's a very difficult circumstance to think that soccer is at all important or carries any weight when someone that's a part of the family is in a position like that. It's been a emotional couple of days for sure."

Racing will remain on the road, heading to Sandy, Utah, for the club's final meeting of 2025 against Utah Royals FC at 10 p.m. ET Friday.

"We're a team that bounces back quick. We're a team that relies heavily on each other and will show up for each other," Racing defender Ellie Jean said. "We want to compete. We want to do well. We want to make Louisville proud and we're going to do our best to do that for the remainder of the season.

"And now we really want to make Sav proud," Jean added. "We want to support her as much as we can and hopefully we can do that also by also winning some matches on the pitch."

Game Summary: Seattle Reign FC vs. Racing Louisville FC

Date: September 14 & 16, 2025

Venue: Lumen Field

Kickoff: 8 p.m. ET (both nights)

Scoring

Seattle Reign FC (0, 1, 1)

Racing Louisville FC (0, 0, 0)

Goals:

Seattle Reign FC:

90' Jess Fishlock (Maddi Dahlien)

Lineups

Seattle Reign FC: 1 - Claudia Dickey; 21 - Phoebe McClernon, 3 - Lauren Barnes (c) (85' 10 - Jess Fishlock), 23 - Jordyn Bugg, 11 - Sofia Huerta, 18 - Sally Menti (90'+5 8 - Angharad James-Turner), 20 - Samantha Meza, 24 - Madison Curry, 30 - Nérilia Mondésir (90'+5 14 - Emily Mason), 19 - Mia Fishel (72' 5 - Maddi Dahlien), 9 - Jordyn Huitema

Unused substitutes: 7 - Ana-Maria Crnogorcevic, 16 - Ainsley McCammon, 25 - Shae Holmes, 47 - Emeri Adames, 99 - Maddie Prohaska

Head coach: Laura Harvey

Racing Louisville FC: 24 - Jordyn Bloomer; 11 - Courtney Petersen 3 - Arin Wright (c) (84' 4 - Makenna Morris), 5 - Ellie Jean, 16 - Janine Sonis, 8 - Ary Borges, 26 - Taylor Flint, 7 - Savannah DeMelo (2nd half: 20 - Katie O'Kane, 84' 14 - Marisa DiGrande), 6 - Ella Hase, 13 - Emma Sears, 42 - Sarah Weber (90'+5 88 - Bethany Balcer)

Unused substitutes: 33 - Cristina Roque, 77 - Madison White; 2 - Lauren Milliet, 9 - Kayla Fischer, 15 - Ángela Barón, 32 - Avery Kalitta

Head Coach: Bev Yanez

Stats Summary: Seattle Reign FC / Racing Louisville FC

Shots: 15 / 17

Shots on Goal: 7 / 4

Expected goals: 2.6 / 1.78

Possession: 54.8% / 45.2%

Fouls: 9 / 8

Offside: 0 / 0

Corners: 5 / 2

Discipline Summary

Seattle Reign FC:

64' Samanth Meza (yellow)

88' Laura Harvey (yellow)

90'+7 Jordyn Bugg (yellow)

Racing Louisville FC:

31' Ellie Jean (yellow)

90'+2 Taylor Flint (yellow)

Match referee: Jaclyn Metz

Check out the Racing Louisville FC Statistics

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Images from this story

Racing Louisville FC show support for midfielder Savannah DeMelo
Racing Louisville FC show support for midfielder Savannah DeMelo
(NWSL)		   



National Women's Soccer League Stories from September 16, 2025


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