Lynn Family Stadium | Louisville, Kentucky – Friday, June 9 at 8:00 PM ET
Players to watch:
Racing Louisville midfielder NWSL Player of the Month for May Savannah DeMelo – who was named NWSL Player of the Month for May earlier this week – has continued her tear through recent games and has now contributed on six of Louisville last nine goals scored in all competitions. DeMelo’s four goals and two assists since May 17 lead the way in that time, with no other NWSL player having more than three goal contributions in all competitions in that time.
San Diego forward Makenzy Doniak scored the game-winning goal for the Wave in their 1-0 victory over Gotham FC on Sunday. Entering as a halftime substitute, Doniak then put the ball in the back of the net after just 44 seconds. The goal was the third-fastest by a substitute from entering a match in the league’s regular season history.
Match facts: Racing Louisville FC hosts San Diego Wave FC to begin a full slate of regular season games across the weekend in the league. Racing enters off a 1-1 draw at Washington last weekend and currently sits in 8th place in the league table with 11 points from 10 games. Meanwhile, San Diego comes in having beaten former league leaders Gotham FC, putting the Wave in 2nd place in the league with 19 points from 10 games. Top of the table Portland is level with San Diego on points but is currently besting them by +8 goal differential.
Louisville played to a 1-1 draw with Washington despite finishing the match a player down after Elli Pikkujämsä received a red card just 1 minute, 25 seconds after coming on as a substitute. It was the first straight red card in NWSL this season and the first ever shown to a Louisville player. The club has now collected seven points from its last four games (W2 D1 L1), tied for its best four-game stretch of the season.
On the other side, San Diego has won a club-record three straight away matches, keeping clean sheets in all three, including a 1-0 win at Gotham on Sunday. No team has ever recorded four straight shutout wins in NWSL history. On a four-game unbeaten run, San Diego has also won three out of its last four (D1).
Just one goal was scored in the two all-time games between Louisville and San Diego with Savannah DeMelo scoring in the first half of Racing’s 1-0 home win in May last season. Racing Louisville has never shut out a single opponent in three straight games.
Noted (via Jen Cooper, The Keeper):
- San Diego forward Alex Morgan is two goals away from 60 career regular-season goals. Only 3 players have reached 60 (Sam Kerr 77, Lynn Williams 62, Christine Sinclair 61). Next assist for Morgan will be her 25th. Only 5 players have recorded at least 25 regular season assists.
- Louisville midfielder Savannah DeMelo is one goal shy of the club record for all-time regular season goals. She has 8, and Nadia Nadim has 9.
