It’s fall, so bye-bye AC! Racing 1-Angel City 0
Racing defends their goal late in the 12-minute stoppage time.
When Jordan Rivers, the Lynn Family Stadium game announcer, shared that this particular batch of incompetent referees had used their mad math and spelling skillz to determine the length of stoppage time would be twelve minutes, the little faith that I had left in this crew went on its merry way. It went to the Land of Lost Hopes and Dreams of NWSL fans everywhere, where Racing fans have a permanent tailgate set-up because we spend a lot of time there.
Stoppage Time is our arch nemesis in the LLHD. It rears its ugly head at the end of each game in an effort to steal points away from Racing. It simply does not want Racing in the playoffs, and so it whispers in the ear of the tired players, “it’s almost over, you can relax” and while the players are trying to brush off the persuasions of Stoppage Time, the opponent finds the Racing goal. Stoppage Time cheers, and Racing learns another valuable lesson but says goodbye to more valuable points.
Last evening, Stoppage Time whispered in the ear of the ref with the IQ of 90, “it may have seemed like six minutes, but we actually need to give Angel City twelve minutes to tie this match,” and so she complied. But this time, Racing was ready. They set up a line ala Red Rover and dared Angel City over. Racing was coordinated, level-headed, and strong. At one-point Ary Borges seemed to beg Angel City to try to score again, but they simply could not. Racing’s defense prevailed! And they did so by embracing Stoppage Time as a welcome challenge, an old friend who used to throw some points their way. And then they stabbed her in the back.
On a lighter note, enjoy some fun pictures and commentary on the best* moments of the match.
*As defined by my camera
Lauren Milliet, Racing Louisville’s nominee for the Lauren Holiday Impact Award, raises the roof with her community partners from Trees Louisville, where they rescue earthworms who are pushed up from the ground after the rain and left as breakfast for the birds. Okay, they actually plant trees to help improve Louisville communities.
Lauren Milliet & Trees Louisville Gallery (not pictured, trees)
It was Pups on the Pitch night, and there were adorable doggos everywhere including the pre-match line-up, where Janine Sonis colluded with Jordyn Bloomer on an exit strategy that would allow them to bring the pretty choco dog home. Lucky for us, they decided to stay and play.
Here is Racing’s first goal, which turned out not to be a goal, because somewhere, someone was allegedly offside. It was still a fun picture of the Angel City Keeper on the ground, looking back at the ball in the net and questioning some of her life decisions.
After that first goal that was erased by the incompetence of the refs, 15 decided she was going to keep a close eye (and hand) on Taylor Flint for the rest of the match.
Ella Hase brings the ball back to Angel City’s half, maintaining control while letting 2 AC players go first so that there’s no confusion about offside, onside, or on-the-side, which is how the NWSL refs view their jobs since they are actually full-time mall cops.
Makenna Morris attracts the attention of three AC players who heard that she might have an extra ticket to the Everclear concert in Louisville Sunday night. Wouldn’t that be Wonderful?
Sonis and friends take another fast run at the goal, the closest they can come to making the referees run laps.
Taylor Flint wins a header unopposed for obvious reasons. 12 is already walking away, defeated.
Emma Sears has a solid chance for a goal but the Keeper downed this like a Pumpkin Spice latte. Doesn’t she know a) you’re supposed to sip hot coffee and b) those are gross?
Katie O’Kane finds an opening and puts AC back on their heels.
Sweb (Sarah Weber) does a fabulous job keeping the ball in play and AC out of her face. AC’s face was an unfortunate casualty. Guess she’s never heard of personal space.
Look who’s back and ready to help Racing score! Lauren Milliet entered the match to a welcoming roar from the crowd.
What’s that? A ball from Sweb in the back of the net? No excuses from the referees? A goal for Racing? Yes, yes, and yes!
2nd-goal-this-season-from-Sweb-and-Emma-Sears’-second-ever-NWSL-assist-give-Racing-a-1-0-lead Gallery
Sonis is giving I-dream-of-Jeannie with this second half header.
Courtney Petersen clears the ball into the crowd, one of many.
Fan Gallery featuring my adorable and polite stadium neighbors, and my friends Cheryl & Josh
Katie O’Kane schooling center referee on use of cards. According to center ref, hair pulling is just a yellow card, so we’ve already dealt with that nonsense, but with calmness of a cucumber, Katie reminded center ref that she needed to dig out her cards, find one the same shade as a banana, and hold it the air after Ary Borges was fouled for the 74th time (not including the aforementioned hair pulling). And I think, because of Katie’s confident but unassuming approach, the ref complied. Gold star for Katie.
And here comes the defense, led by Ellie Jean. It started to look like man-on-man coverage during an NCAA basketball game the way Racing stuck to the AC players and confined them to tiny patches of the pitch.
Ary is so confident in her ability to stop AC that she can play defense with her eyes closed. Thankfully she doesn’t, this is just my camera catching her blinking.
Also playing a defensive role when she’d rather be scoring is Kayla Fischer, who wisely put her hair in a bun when she realized that hair pulling was only a yellow card. Kayla is somewhat of an expert on yellow cards.
Ary is prepared to give that ball a great big hug before she lets it past her into the net.
Now that’s a Red Rover line I would not want to try to cross.
What-a-great-game-for-Taylor-to-Flint-to-celebrate-her-100th-NWSL-appearance Gallery
Post-match-discussions-and-pups Gallery
