Notes from the Racing/Youth Academy Scrimmage

First of all, let me apologize for not getting any photos of the scrimmage (thus the lack of a photograph above). I watched the 90-minute scrimmage and it never occurred to me to take a photo. The normal photographers for the team were given a well-deserved day off after a very long shoot for media day on Tuesday. If you are a “photos or it didn’t happen” type person, you are just going to have to trust me. However, there was a decent sized crowd to watch the scrimmage, which I assumed to be family and friends of the academy team that participated. The academy team in question was a Louisville City academy team. My guess is that is the team was comprised of high-school aged kids. I will update the article if I can clarify the exact age range. Regardless, the main purpose of the scrimmage was for the team to get 90 minutes. Here are the highlights:

• I debated whether or not include the starting XI for this match in this post, but since Coach Björkegren told me after the match that this group was not necessarily the starting XI we will see for the Challenge Cup, I will share it.

  • G-Lund

  • LB-Fox

  • CB-Emily Smith

  • CB-Bonner

  • RB-Martin

  • Holding Mid (6)-Howell

  • B2B Mid (8)-Olofsson

  • CAM (10)-Kizer

  • Left Winger-Ekic

  • Central Striker-McDonald

  • Right Winger-Kirsten Davis

  • As far as subs, Merrick came on for Martin, Otto for Howell, Milliet for Kizer, Salmon for Ekic, and Goins for Davis.

• Kizer scored the goal for Racing. Racing did concede a late goal, so the scrimmage ended at 1-1.

• The game started off a little ragged, but Racing played much better as the game progressed. To probably nobody’s surprise, the early action came down the Fox/Ekic side on the left. As the game progressed, the attack became more balanced.

• Olofsson played in her more natural 8 position. When asked about not playing in the 6 position, she said “I’m relieved.” On Jae Howell, Freja said that she was “excited to have her as the 6.” On Coach Kim, Freja shared that he is very clear on what he wants. A couple of times during the match he gave immediate, specific instructions to players. When I asked him about this, he shared that these instructions are almost always technical in nature (the specific example was telling Davis which way to turn her body so that she is ready to attack) and are about the details.

• Emily Fox, who was fresh off a SheBelieves Cup victory for the USWNT, looked a sharp as ever. When I asked her if she saw the time with the USWNT as a disruption to the preseason, she said “Any time that I get the opportunity to go to (USWNT) camp I see it as an advantage.” She did however share that she did feel a little “exhausted”, but I think that was shared more tongue-in-cheek than any actual cause for concern. She played the full 90, which was a bit of a surprise to her since she just returned to Racing, but she is used to that.

• Finally, I wanted to say that I enjoyed getting to spend another 90 or so minutes with Bekki Morgan. She works tirelessly to cover this team and it is much appreciated by me. If you don’t know by now, one of Bekki’s greatest strengths is as an interviewer. The club asked us which players we wanted to talk with after the match about 20 minutes before the match ended. Bekki always asks what I want to know (more eloquently, too) and had great questions prepared on such short notice. If you haven’t already, check out Bekki’s interviews for BGN and her “Extra Cuts” for Butchertown Rundown.