Racing Louisville FC Takes Big Step, Former Red Stars Key Road Victory!

Bridgeview, IL-First-ever meeting between Chicago and Racing Louisville FC was a wait longer than expected with inclement weather that delayed the match two in a half hours.

It really didn’t bother former Chicago Red Stars players, Yuki Nagasato and Katie McCaskill as each scored goals along with Ebony Salmon that made a big difference leading Racing Louisville past host Chicago 3-0 at SeatGeek Stadium on Saturday afternoon. While, Louisville keeper Michelle Betos had a clean sheet with 3 outstanding saves.

Louisville (3-3-1, 10 pts) entered the match with just three goals in six matches and doubled its output in this one and it was the third match in six days. That included getting 6 points in two of them

First goal occurred by Ebony Salmon scored in the 38th minute off a pass from Cecelia Kizer, which she was able to get the kick that skipped past Red Stars goalkeeper Alyssa Naeher for a 1-0 advantage.

In the second half, the Red Stars lost Danielle Colaprico to a second yellow in the 55th minute and they had to play the rest of the match with 10 players.

Nagasato scored her first goal of the season unassisted in the 56th minute followed by another Louisville goal in the 62nd minute by McCaskill that was deflected by the Red Stars defender Tierna Davidson.

“That was the first time we put together 90 minutes,” McCaskill said.  “It was the best team performance we’ve had so far. I love Chicago and the time here, coming here and seeing my friends. Right now, we’re building something special.”

For Louisville, being a new club in the NWSL, the team is coming together fasting than what they expected.

It’s been a long week, seeing what we did and the direction that they’re going,” Racing Louisville coach Christy Holly said.  “So proud of this group. You have to make it difficult, you have to fight and win those 1 v 1 battles. We did everything we could to get a clean sheet.”

Chicago (2-4-2, 8 pts) has seen a lot of frustration through 8 matches this season. Even though, the Red Stars seemed to be playing at a good pace, they got hurt, gave up some goals and had a tough loss.

“I actually thought it took some time to get going, we looked pretty good in the first half.” Chicago Red Stars coach Rory Dames said. “They just broke out and scored on us. Second half, we took a red card. Off that red card, you can see what happened  It was the most disappointing loss in my time with the club. We know and everyone knows that we don’t have a goal scorer. We will continue to look for one.

“Happy for Yuki (Nagasato) and Savannah (McCaskill) and not happy for us. We have to do something different at this point. Every time we make a mistake we get punished. Frustration can come my way and not for the players.”

Chicago next hits the road to play the Washington Spirit on Friday, July 2nd at 6:30 CT and Louisville will host Portland on Saturday, July 3rd at 7:30 p.m. ET.