Racing v Reign -1
The Reign provides the next barrier in Racing’s march up from the bottom of the table. The media talked to Ellie Jean and Arin Wright on Tuesday afternoon. They spoke about said rise from the netherworlds of 16th place. The best part was this bit from Arin on what she told the team when they were at that nadir:
“We’re in last place…but you know what? F$%# it…and f$#@ you. So, that was our motto. When we were going into those games, you’re bottom of the table, but there’s nothing to lose, so F$%# it…and then we’re gonna go right back at you. That stuck with the group. They understood it and were like ‘you know what? Yeah.’”
She went on to add that Louisville’s inherent environmental challenges were part of the deal, but that it was something that just had to be accepted and dealt with.
While that was the most soundbite worthy piece, Arin and Ellie also spoke about not having a bad attitude or a defeatist attitude get them down during the tougher periods of the season.
They both spoke highly of rookie, Mirann Gacioch and her contributions during these last few matches. I asked about how much warning Bev gave them to know that the team was going to start using a three center back look and Arin did say that Bev kind of just sprang it on them, but because the players have so much flexibility there wasn’t any real concern about being able to adapt quickly.
I asked Bev about the particular challenge that Seattle presents. Racing has a terrible record against Seattle, with their only win coming in the semifinals of the Challenge Cup in 2023. She said that Seattle is so good at making in-game tactical adjustments that they always pose a challenge.
I didn’t ask Bev about sticking with a three center back system for this match, but if there is a match where they might revert to a different system, it could be this match. If she wants to rotate the back line to some degree, we could see Petersen and Jean paired together to give Wright and Gacioch a night off. This would likely move things around up front as well, and one could imagine more of a 4-3-3 with Kayla as the 9 in this formation. As ever, Bev keeps things close, so we will have to see.
Winning four in a row would be a huge accomplishment, but neither the players nor Bev were ready to say anything about being in the playoff hunt. According to Wright, the focus was to get as many of the 33 points still available, regardless of the opponent.
