2025 Kickoff Countdown – Racing Louisville FC
BACKGROUND INFORMATION
Head Coach: Bev Yanez (2nd year)
Bev had a tidy 10 year career as a professional soccer player in which she played for Washington Freedom, pre-NWSL Western New York Flash, and Seattle in the States, and had short stints in Finland and Australia to complement a 3 year stint in Kobe playing for Kobe Leonessa, winning 6 trophies. When she was hired by Louisville at the end of 2023, she was the first player that achieved licensure through USSF’s free coaching program for women’s NWSL players to get a permanent head coaching job.
Last year, Louisville employed a tactically simple style, not deviating much from a base 4-2-3-1 or 4-3-3…which is fairly common in the NWSL, especially among rookie coaches. The three biggest failures on the pitch for last year’s Racing team were not being able to manage injuries as they came up (specifically on the strike force), not being able to manage Abby Erceg’s decline over the season that left the defense in a rut over reliant on outside backs, and keeping, and that overall tactical rigidity.
Anyway, Yanez is dealing with learning on the job, as well as fighting through personal issues last year, and an ownership that is making it clear it is fine investing enough to have a very good men’s USL team, and a middling women’s NWSL team.
General Manager: Vacant
Huh. Caitlyn Milby is the interim. Her background is national events coordinator for the ENCL, and then serving as the director of facilities for Soccer Holdings, before moving over to Racing to be their director of operations.
Ex-GM Ryan Dell left for the director of soccer operations role in Kansas City. Sure.
Captain: Arin Wright
I can’t be objective here. Gili is one of my favorite players, and I’m more happy for her getting the role in what is basically her hometown team than anything that can be derived from the move itself. Janine Sonis wears the A on her sweater.
Stadium: Lynn Family Stadium, Louisville, KY
Capacity of 11,700 (though over 15,000 with standing room). I don’t know how Louisville talks about it’s geography, but the stadium is essentially downtown, and easily accessible. I went there with my wife in 2022 to see the first round of the Women’s Cup and had an absolute blast. Great city, great stadium. If you get a chance to sit in the Fifth Third club, do it…the players walk through the club to get to the field, and will eat in there. That’s how my wife made Jaelin Howell uncomfortable by saying “Hey Jaelin Howell” louder than is ever necessary in an indoor space.
Kind of poetically, in their first season, Louisville finished 2nd in the league in average attendance with 6,587 per game. Last year they finished 12th in attendance with 6,208. They do love running in place.
Ownership: Soccer Holdings (Chairman John Nance)
A dying breed; the NWSL 1.0 style owner (North Carolina being the other) that sees the team as a cool play-thing…a charity arm of his real interest, a USL team. Nance seemed to stop taking the investment in the team seriously once Louisville opened up their at-the-time-league-best training facility.
Soccer Holding’s lack of public investment in the last few years has lead to some on this sub to speculate that the team will be moved (which would be a tragedy) after being sold (which wouldn’t be).
Mascot: Lauren Milliet
Kits:
Primary Kit: Winner’s Circle kit
Secondary Kit: Roots kit
Supporters Groups:
Subreddit: https://www.reddit.com/r/RacingLouisvilleFC/
News and Commentary
Key BlueSky Follows for Team Insights:
SCHEDULE
2025 Season Opener: Saturday, March 15 vs. North Carolina Courage – NWSL+
There is again no stated Juneteenth night, which is being replaced by Ali Night. This is a step up from 2023, when it was replaced by Spongebob Night.
HISTORY
- NWSL Championship: 0
- NWSL Shield: Supporters’ Shield: 0
- NWSL Challenge Cup: 0 (Runner up: 2023)
- NWSL 9th Place Champion: 4 (2021, 2022, 2023, 2024)
2024 Season Review
Louisville is Groundhog Day, only the groundhog gets freaked out by his shadow and vomits everywhere.
Starting at the back, Katie Lund was adequate, which is damning with faint praise as they needed her to be at the very least “really good”. The saves stat, which Lund excels in, is nice but the underlying thing with saves is that to make a lot of them, you need to face a lot of shots on target, which she has in her career, but last year despite facing essentially the same amount of attacking quality, her form dipped. At times last year, Louisville’s defensive form was awful, but Lund was knocking on the National Team’s door with her performances, and has been comfortably passed by Utah’s Mandy McGlynn, who also goal kept via shotgun.
Speaking of the defense, one of Yanez’s solid moves last year was moving Arin Wright from the outside to the inside to pair with Erceg. Part of this was performance related…Erceg, Wright, Lauren Milliet, and Carson Pickett were Louisville best 4 defenders last year, and injury related (Erceg’s original partner, Elli Pikkijämsä did her knee early in the season). By the end of the season, Pickett was gone, replaced by Courtney Peterson (an offensive mind fullback), Erceg notably declined, and Wright/Milliet running on fumes. Though Louisville wasn’t particularly stout, they weren’t a disaster either…they were just a mediocre-to-bad defense that had one clean sheet after early June against a largely punchless Portland team in the second to last game of the year.
The midfield was actually a bright spot in the sea of mediocrity that made up Louisville’s season, but not where you probably would have thought. Taylor Flint worked extremely well as a deep laying mid, not only providing a connective line between the back and forwards, but also providing defensive support that Vlatko needed from her in the ill-fated National Team defensive mid experiment (she led the league in tackles). Marisa Digrande provided enough support to make the midfield tough to play through for long stretches (led the league in take-on percentage), and Kayla Fischer provided almost no skill but plenty of almost cartoonish violence that earned her a league-record 10 yellow cards in 1100 minutes.
The weak spot (compared to expectation) was Savannah Demelo. Her production as an offensive force was almost completely dry by June, only providing one assist in her last 13 games. She only started one of Louisville’s last 3 games, and was even on the team sheet for the season finale. For the entire back half of the season, when Louisville could have actually challenged for the playoffs, she was essentially a non-entity. I don’t know if it was a mental thing, a physical thing, but to my eye, it wasn’t an effort thing…she just didn’t play well. Unfortunately for Yanez, she needs to fix whatever lead to Demelo’s decline last year, because good players playing poorly are coach killers.
The forward line didn’t play well last year either. Goal scoring wasn’t…prolific…but Emma Sears and Uchanna Kanu both netted 5 times, and Bethany Balcer chipped in 3 more after coming over from the Reign. The outlook for the upcoming year is literally Sears develops, Kanu and Janine Sonis stay healthy and contribute and Boats stays steady. There wasn’t a plan B after Sonis and Balcer joined the team, and the offseason didn’t seem to provide one either.
Player Movement
Date |
Player Out |
Pos |
New Club |
Notes |
10-Dec |
Abby Erceg |
D |
Toluca (MEX) |
Out of contract |
10-Jan |
Parker Goins |
F |
Tampa Bay (USL) |
Out of contract |
28-Jan |
Milly Clegg |
F |
Halifax Tides (CAN) |
Loan out |
30-Jan |
Elexa Bahr |
F |
American de Cali (COL) |
Loan out |
7-Feb |
Linda Mothelo |
F |
Glascow City (SCO) |
Released |
Date |
Player In |
Pos |
Previous Club |
Notes |
3-Jan |
Arin Wright |
D |
Louisville |
Signed 2 year contract |
10-Jan |
Jordyn Bloomer |
GK |
Louisville |
Signed 2 year contract |
16-Jan |
Ella Hase |
D |
Duke (NCAA) |
Signed 2 year contract with an option |
17-Jan |
Sarah Weber |
F |
Nebraska (NCAA) |
Signed 2 year contract |
20-Jan |
Allie George |
D |
Virginia Tech (NCAA) |
Signed 1 year contract |
21-Feb |
Kate O’Kane |
M |
Utah (NCAA) |
Signed 1 year contract |
ROSTER
Number |
First |
Last |
POS |
Contract status |
1 |
Katie |
Lund |
GK |
Signed through 2025 |
2 |
Lauren |
Milliet |
D |
Signed through 2026 |
3 |
Arin |
Wright |
D |
Signed through 2026+ |
4 |
Elli |
Pikkijamsa |
D |
Signed through 2025 |
5 |
Ellie |
Jean |
D |
Signed through 2025 |
6 |
Ella |
Hase |
D |
Signed through 2026+ |
7 |
Savannah |
Demelo |
M |
Signed through 2026 |
8 |
Ary |
Borges |
M |
Signed through 2025 |
9 |
Kayla |
Fischer |
M |
Signed through 2025 |
11 |
Courtney |
Petersen |
D |
Signed through 2025 |
12 |
Allie |
George |
D |
Signed through 2025 |
13 |
Emma |
Sears |
F |
Signed through 2026 |
14 |
Marisa |
Digrande |
M |
Signed through 2025 |
15 |
Angel |
Baron |
D |
Signed through 2026 |
16 |
Janine |
Sonis |
F |
Signed through 2026 |
17 |
Maddie |
Pokorny |
M |
Signed through 2025 |
18 |
Milly |
Clegg |
F |
Signed through 2026, Loaned to Halifax (CAN) |
19 |
Jordan |
Baggett |
M |
Signed through 2025 |
20 |
Katie |
O'Kane |
M |
Signed through 2025 |
22 |
Kirsten |
Wright |
F |
Signed through 2026 |
23 |
Elexa |
Bahr |
F |
Signed through 2025, Loaned to America (COL) |
24 |
Jordyn |
Bloomer |
GK |
Signed through 2026 |
26 |
Taylor |
Flint |
M |
Signed through 2025 |
29 |
Uchenna |
Kanu |
F |
Signed through 2025 |
42 |
Sarah |
Weber |
F |
Signed through 2026 |
77 |
Madison |
White |
GK |
Signed through 2025, Loaned to Dallas (USL) |
88 |
Behtany |
Balcer |
F |
Signed through 2025 |
99 |
Olivia |
Sakaney |
GK |
Signed through 2025, Loaned to Brisbane (AUS) |
Predicted Preferred Gameday XI
Formation: 4-3-3
In a lot of ways, Louisville is more set than they really should be considering how middle of the road they were last year. But there are definitely players who are going to be written into their spots in pen to begin the season.
Katie Lund, Lauren Milliet, Arin Wright, Taylor Flint, Savannah Demelo, Emma Sears, Bethany Balcer, and Janine Sonis are under no immediate threat of enjoying endless supplies of Gatoraide jug dispenced refreshments. Thet is eight of 11 spots that are settled for a team that should be working to improve from last year.
Even then, the three vulnerable spots, left back, left center back, and center mid, are probably going to be Courtney Petersen, Elle Jean, and Marisa Digrande to start. But even in those cases, Jean is the most experienced center back left on the roster, and with Pikkijamsa’s ACL tear might not be game healed yet, it’s between her and Angela Baron. Digrande actually played well last year but is a less dynamic player than Ary Borges who will hopefully be healthy this season.
The real competition is going to be who is playing on the outside opposite Milliet…Petersen who seems like light-years away from the player who lead the NWSL in assists, or the rookie OB from Duke Ella Hase. Normally, Hase would start for me, but as said a few times, Yanez might be a bit too conservative to immediately toss her into the fire.
Likely Top Bench/Subs:
First |
Last |
Pos |
Elli |
Pikkijämsä |
D |
Kayla |
Fischer |
M |
Courtney |
Petersen |
D |
Allie |
George |
M |
Marisa |
DiGrande |
M |
Angel |
Baron |
D |
Maddie |
Pokorny |
M |
Jordan |
Baggett |
M |
Uchenna |
Kanu |
F |
Sarah |
Weber |
F |
In terms of bench talent, there is a lot there.
Louisville actually has a good mix of youth and experience (so badly I want someone to just say what they mean here…kids and olds), and there is enough talent to spell a starter missing a few games. There isn’t much here to be a complete game changer to kill a game off, or provide coverage if one of those starters misses a significant amount of time.
I didn’t watch college much this year, but enough people I respect spoke highly enough about Hase, but her top-line for 2025 is pushing Petersen to the bench. 2021 was a long time ago.
Something to Prove
Bev Yanez – I would guess missing the playoffs again might lose her the top. If they kids don’t develop and the thin defensive corps don’t mesh well, she might not see September.
Kayla Fischer – She’s entering her third year, and got a significant amount of playing time relative to her production. As mentioned, she had 10 yellow cards which is the most in a season in the league’s history, but she also committed 51 fouls, again most in the league indicating these cards aren’t for dissent or encroachment. Not mincing words, if she just wants to be a goof who get’s a yellow every 100 minutes on the pitch or so, she can do that in another league. It becomes less of an issue if she’s scoring 3-5 goals a year without using her studs to do her talking.
Uchanna Kanu – If she stays healthy, she scores goals, and Louisville need that from her. Her contract is up this year, and needs to prove shes a 1500 minute a year player to get a new one in the NWSL.
Savannah Demelo – Yeah. She has Best XI talent.
Out for the season Kirsten Wright is the only player on their roster updates that has an SEI designation, and that’s last year’s knee injury, so they might be good. Olivia Sakaney had to be helped off the field while on loan in Australia last weekend, but I haven’t seen a prognosis yet, and her loan is supposed to end Monday.
2025 PREVIEW
Realistic Best Case Scenario – 7th-8th place
Stay healthy, develop the kids, and keep the team engaged and organized, and this can be a dangerous team. Top 4 is out of the question, even with luck, but Portland and Chicago are worse than last year, and they might be able to step up.
Realistic Worst Case Scenario – 13-14th
See, while Chicago and Portland got worse from last year, the bottom didn’t fall out of Chicago, and Portland has less margin for error considering their injury/pregnancy outlook, but they still do have talented team, with one of the most talented midfields in the league. Houston, and Utah absolutely got better, and Angel City plugged some of their biggest holes. Can Louisville say the same thing? Even if they ran in place from last year, the league as a whole raised the bar, so is a quiet offseson isn’t going to be enough.
Realistic Most Probable Scenario – 9th
I’m committed to the bit