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NWSL Racing Louisville FC

Racing Opens UKG NWSL Challenge Cup with 3-2 Win Over KC Current

May 18, 2023 - National Women's Soccer League (NWSL)
Racing Louisville FC News Release


Savannah DeMelo's run of outstanding play continued Wednesday night, with the star midfielder scoring two fantastic first-half goals in leading Racing Louisville past the Kansas City Current, 3-2, in its UKG NWSL Challenge Cup opener at Lynn Family Stadium.

Ary Borges scored an 86th-minute insurance goal that proved to be the game-winner, giving Racing a critical three points early in the group stage of the league-wide tournament, which will run concurrently with the NWSL regular season through the summer.

The win extended Racing's home unbeaten streak at LFS to six matches, now including back-to-back wins and stretching to the end of last season.

"We've just been doing a great job on the details - finishing our opportunities, getting numbers in the box," DeMelo said. "It's just been a full team effort and a full 90 minutes in both (wins)."

The victory represented a few milestones for Racing: It was the first time Louisville has won its Challenge Cup opener, and it was only the second time Louisville scored three goals in a game in the tournament. DeMelo's brace stands now as the second in club history, matching Nadia Nadim's two-goal performance last year against Washington.

Still obviously early, Racing (1-0-0, 3 points) is level on points with Kansas City atop the Central Division, which is one of the three four-team groups in the Challenge Cup. The winner of each group advances to the semifinals, along with the top second-place team. Beating last season's runner-up in the NWSL Playoffs was a key first step in the competition.

"It was really important (to win the first game)," Racing coach Kim Björkegren said. "We were talking about that before the game - it was necessary to win the home game against Kansas City today. We're really happy with the win, and to build the culture that we can win was maybe even more important for us."

Racing rotated its squad after Friday's regular-season win over Chicago, changing four starters and giving midfielder Jordan Baggett her first start with her new club after acquiring her in a trade in April. Midfielder Alex Chidiac and defenders Satara Murray and Zaneta Wyne started for the first time this year.

Baggett recorded her first assist for Racing on DeMelo's first goal, and substitute Thembi Kgatlana registered her first assist for Louisville on the Ary Borges goal.

"It was a good opportunity for a few of us to get some minutes," Chidiac said. "A few of us have been really pushing in training for that, especially for (Baggett) to come in and get her first start for the team. She did a great job. A lot of us felt like we wanted to bring a little bit of extra energy."

Louisville wobbled a bit out of the gates, with Kansas City rookie Michelle Cooper putting the visitors ahead in the 17th minute. But Racing grabbed control of the game shortly after that, first thinking it had tied the match through Uchenna Kanu only to have the goal waved off because Kanu was called offside.

On the ensuing restart, Baggett intercepted KC goalkeeper AD Franch's pass, played a ball square to DeMelo, who turned and curled in a 20-yard goal with the outside of her right foot.

Five minutes later, DeMelo struck again, this time pouncing on a loose ball after Kanu's low cross deflected into her path.

Ary Borges's goal almost an hour later gave Racing the cushion it needed to hold off Kansas City, which nabbed a late goal from substitute Debinha but didn't threaten after that.

The teams don't have much time apart: Kansas City will host Racing Louisville in a regular-season match at 8 p.m. ET Saturday.

Game Summary: Racing Louisville FC vs. Kansas City Current

Date: May 17, 2023

Venue: Lynn Family Stadium

Kickoff: 7:30 p.m. ET

Weather: 73 degrees, sunny

Attendance: 4,303

Player of the Match: Savannah DeMelo

Scoring

Racing Louisville (2, 1, 3)

Kansas City Current (1, 1, 2)

Goals

Racing Louisville

25' Savannah DeMelo (Jordan Baggett)

30' Savannah DeMelo

86' Ary Borges (Thembi Kgatlana)

Kansas City Current

17' Michelle Cooper (Alex Spaanstra)

88' Debinha (Spaanstra)

Lineups

Racing Louisville FC (4-3-3): 1 - Katie Lund; 16 - Carson Pickett, 20 - Abby Erceg, 44 - Satara Murray (63' 4 - Elli Pikkujämsä), 3 - Zaneta Wyne (63' 2 - Lauren Milliet); 6 - Jaelin Howell (c), 7 - Savannah DeMelo (74' 11 - Thembi Kgatlana), 19 - Jordan Baggett (84' 8 - Ary Borges); 5 - Paige Monaghan (63' 9 - Kayla Fischer), 29 - Uchenna Kanu, 27 - Alex Chidiac

Subs not used: 99 - Olivia Sekany; 21 - Parker Goins, 25 - Rebecca Holloway, 77 - Wang Shuang

Head Coach: Kim Björkegren

Kansas City Current (4-3-3): 21 - AD Franch (c); 8 - Kate Del Fava (46' 4 - Hallie Mace), 24 - Gabrielle Robinson (46' 23 - Croix Soto), 26 - Addisyn Merrick, 19 - Jenna Winebrenner; 6 - Rylan Childers (77' 5 - Cece Kizer), 14 - Chardonnay Curran, 18 - Izzy Rodriguez; 9 - Mimmi Larson (64' 10 - Lo'eau LaBonta), 77 - Alexa Spaanstra, 17 - Michelle Cooper (64' 99 - Debinha)

Subs not used: 35 - Cassie Miller; 16 - Vanessa DiBernardo, 25 - Kristen Hamilton

Head coach: Caroline Sjöblom

Stats Summary: Racing Louisville / Kansas City Current

Shots: 20 / 8

Shots on Goal: 4 / 2

Expected goals: 2.33 / 0.75

Possession: 54.9% / 45.1%

Fouls: 13 / 14

Offside: 4 / 0

Corner Kicks: 11 / 5

Discipline Summary

Racing Louisville:

20' Abby Erceg (yellow)

70' Kayla Fischer (yellow)

83' Thembi Kgatlana (yellow)

Kansas City Current

61' Hallie Mace (yellow)

Referee: Alex Billeter

VAR: Christopher Spivey

Check out the Racing Louisville FC Statistics



National Women's Soccer League Stories from May 18, 2023


The opinions expressed in this release are those of the organization issuing it, and do not necessarily reflect the thoughts or opinions of OurSports Central or its staff.

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