Never say die: Racing tops the Courage for the first time in huge comeback win
Louisville retakes a playoff berth after rallying toa late 2-1 win over their longtime rival
Chasin’ the clouds away
Do you remember the 21st night of September? Racing Louisville fans certainly will because it’s the night their team finally slayed the dragon that has tormented them throughout their entire existence. It’s the night Racing Louisville finally beat the North Carolina Courage
“They were our white whale. The whale is less white now,” defender and Racing Louisville original Lauren Milliet joked post-game. “It feels really good. To grab a late win feels awesome.”
Racing has never won or drawn against the Courage in four years of regular season play and Challenge Cup play. The only result Racing has ever earned against the Courage came in this year’s Summer Cup when the teams played to a draw but Racing fell in penalty kicks.
Saturday originally felt like it might be the same old song for Racing after they went down a goal just before the end of the first half. The Courage are the most possession-focused teams in the league and kept Racing on the back foot for much of the match including well into the second half.
But it’s not the same Racing Louisville this year, according to Milliet. And it’s evident in how the game played out. “For us this year,” said the defender, “it's the ‘never say die’ mentality. We have to fight until the final whistle regardless of the result, and I think that’s starting to bleed through the squad, and you can see that.”
Around the 70th minute, Racing truly started playing themselves into the match and creating enough chances to change the momentum. An equalizer felt like it was coming and finally did in the 79th minute when Emma Sears picked off a poor back pass, beat the keeper, and scored. Bethany Balcer clinched it soon after with the game-winning penalty kick two minutes into stoppage time. The Courage made a frantic push in the final ten minutes of stoppage time to find an equalizer, but Racing held firm to earn the victory and move up to eighth place—a playoff spot.
“I'd like to reiterate that we came from behind now twice at home,” Milliet said, referencing last week’s win against Angel City, “and I feel like that's a testament to our character for the last couple weeks and our resilience and our belief in the group.”
Goalkeeper fellow Racing Louisville original Katie Lund and also spoke on the team’s mentality and how the belief has grown within the squad.
“I think it's just the belief,” Lund said of the team’s ability to come from behind to eke out the win. “Look at the group that we have here—everyone believes in each other, and everyone's willing to work hard. I think our defensive effort is there, and that's how you win games. It might not be pretty, but we're gonna grind it out, and that's what we did this game and the last game. And so for us to come back twice now, I think the group's really gelling, but we're gonna take it one game day at a time and keep working.”
By the Numbers
To some, it probably looked like Racing got run over by the Courage. Statistically, that’s not totally the case.
In possession and passing, the Courage clearly dominated because, to be fair, that’s what North Carolina does. Overall possession for this match was 66% in the Courage’s favor. They had 51 final third entries to Racing’s 30 and 89% passing accuracy. That seems dire.
However, Racing had a solid 84% passing accuracy when they had the ball so they seem to have been able to stay calm and not get frazzled the way they did with Bay a few weeks ago. Or the last time they played North Carolina in the regular season just before the Olympic break.
The most telling thing about the performance is the fact that the Courage had all that possession and didn’t do very much with it at all outside of that one goal. They had five shots and two on target for 0.38 xG in the first half. Racing with 5 shots and none on target had more xG with 0.44 in the same half. In the second half, Racing generated a whopping 1.93 xG thanks to the incredibly high amount generated from Sears’ uncontested goal (0.884!) and Balcer’s penalty kick (0.732) plus a few other scattered half chances from a total of eight shots with three on target. The Courage could only generate four shots with none on target, although one did go off the crossbar, in the second half for a total of only 0.28 xG. In the end, Racing generated a full 2.37 xG and the Courage only created 0.66.
Racing also collectively had 22 interceptions with Taylor Flint earning a game-high seven and Abby Erceg coming in second with four. Erceg also made a game-high number of clearances with seven.
On the attacking side, Bethany Balcer took more than twice as many shots as anyone on either team with five herself and earned 1.12 of Racing’s total xG on her own.
Racing has now scored 10 goals in the last 15 minutes of the second half – most in the NWSL this season. Louisville also scored seven goals via substitutes this season which is second only to the Courage who have scored eight.
Racing has earned four penalties this season which is more than any team in the NWSL. Balcer has scored three penalties this season, but only one for Racing. This puts her tied for first in the league for penalties scored in 2024 with Kansas City’s Lo LaBonta.
Key takeaways
Sharpening the blade
One of the very first lines I ever wrote covering soccer was, “The thing about growing pains is they hurt.”
It was, of course, about Racing’s very first regular season loss to the Courage, a very painful 5-0 drubbing that was an awful experience in an already bruising year. And after that game, I remember thinking, “Oh lord, what have I gotten myself into?”
Over the last four years, it’s been a bumpy ride with a lot of great ups to temper some of the downs, but never beating the Courage has been a huge white whale, as Milliet put it. It was the dragon the team just couldn’t slay.
The most frustrating thing about Racing this season has been that they were so clearly a better team in so many ways. That growing I’d talked about all those years ago was happening structurally and tactically, but they were missing that edge they needed. They’d play well and have a very excellent half or so, but then they’d collapse like a punctured balloon if they lost momentum. That edge, that sharpness and ruthlessness, just wasn’t there even if the skill was visibly building.
Forgive the sloppy comparison, but watching it was kind of like trying to buy a nice chef’s knife. You buy one and it can feel great, be the perfect balance, perfect weight, and be everything you want, but if it doesn’t have the edge you need, it’s not going to perform to your standards. And to get that edge, it can take some time, effort, and elbow grease.
Luckily, it seems like Racing has found that edge. They’ve come from behind twice in a row to cut down teams they’ve struggled against in the past. They were finally sharp enough to slay their last dragon. In fact, ever since they’ve returned from the Olympic break, they’re not drawing teams anymore. They’re winning and losing and, with this result against the Courage, they’ve won more than they’ve lost. They’ve won six games this season. Half of those wins have come in the five games since the Olymic break and all three of those wins have been against teams in playoff position or playoff contention.
As Lund said, this wasn’t Racing’s prettiest game. They didn’t dominate the Courage and they got fouled a lot, but it doesn’t matter. They had the grit to grind out a win. They held onto the mentality and the belief they needed to win and that is the edge this team has been missing. Remember, the Courage are a team that has beaten them 5-0 and 5-1 in the past. Just a few months ago, they came from behind to beat Racing 3-1 in a humiliating loss. For Racing to hold on and continue chopping away against the pressure the Courage put on them to eke out this win, is a huge accomplishment and a massive sign of growth. And the chip it’ll take off the team’s (and fans’) collective shoulder probably equals the size and weight of a redwood.
As we’ve discussed in the pod and in this publication several times, the margins are so fine in this league that the team that holds on, stays clear-headed and makes the fewest mistakes wins. After four years, it still feels almost surreal, in retrospect, to see a game that ended with North Carolina scrambling to beat Racing Louisville in the dying minutes and not the other way around but here we are. And now that it’s happened, the board is forever reset.
New kids on the block
In the last episode of our podcast, I suggested the song Hangin’ Tough by the New Kids On The Block for our Mint Mix playlist in honor of Janine Beckie and Balcer’s goals against Angel City. It’s a cheesy suggestion that was meant half in jest, but there’s no question that Racing’s new kids do continue to hang tough and make all difference for this squad. This week, the game changers were once again Balcer, plus Sears and Courtney Petersen.
Balcer’s contribution is obvious, as the player who stepped up and scored the gamewinning penalty. This is her seventh goal of the season and her second goal in two games for Racing. Her kick was taken like an absolute pro, sending the ball into the side right side netting with the inside of her foot while sending keeper Casey Murphy in the exact opposite direction. Murphy is a U.S. women’s national team keeper and one of the best in the world and Balcer had her completely fooled. For a team that’s struggled to find consistent goal scorers and consistent pentalty kick takers, Balcer is living up to everything the team needed.
Sears may have been on the squad longer than Petersen or Balcer, but she’s still very much a new kid on the squad. Her equalizer this week ties her for the team record on goals scored by rookies (4) with Reilyn Turner. Coach Bev Yanez has said for some time that she wants substitutes to be impact players who can change results. Sears was exactly this against the North Carolina. Her pressure on backline spooked Courage center back Feli Rauch. The defender glanced over her shoulder and even though she saw Sears coming still was worried enough to mishit her backpass and allow Sears to run up on it, bypassMurphy, and take it into goal unimpeded. Sears’ composure in this play to not only read the situation, but execute it properly is the sign of a fast-maturing player. Although she might be the immediate starter with Beckie, DeMelo, and Balcer, on the pitch she’s about as deadly a super sub as any team can have. Her speed and dribbling skills are murder on tired defenders and, if she’s willing to take this role, she can be a hero for Racing late in matches.
Petersen didn’t score a goal for even get credited for an assist, but neither goal would have been possible without her. It was her long switching the field that Rauch was desperately trying to pass back to Murphy that Sears was able to run up on. It was Petersen who earned the penalty kick by shooting off defender Dani Weatherholt’s outstretched arm.
The fact that all of Racing’s new additions are providing such an impact on the team are only proving how smart these moves were. Even Sears’ contribution helps demonstrate this, because it’s a good thing the team is no longer relying on a rookie for the majority of their goal production. If she works her way into the starting line, that’s fantastic. If she earns starts, great. But, that pressure shouldn’t be a given.
In our last episode, my podcast co-host Tom Benson suggested that, in order to get this win, maybe Racing needed to finally have starting eleven that was freed from those anchors that were forged from the team’s grim history against the Courage that were perpetually dragging them down. He hypothesized that we would finally have one with Beckie, Balcer, Petersen, Arin Wright, Taylor Flint and Marisa DiGrande. Clearly, he was right and these new players did make a huge difference. Racing has had a lot of turnover before. A LOT of turnover. The biggest difference is that, for the first time, these players all came from the NWSL. They’ve all beaten North Carolina before and knew what it felt like. Maybe the key to slaying the dragon was not seeing it as a dragon at all in the first place.
Looking Ahead
Racing has the chance to put together a three-game regular season winning streak for the first time ever when they head to Utah next week to face the Royals. If they win, they’ll also break Racing’s record for the highest number of wins in a season which is six.
The last time Racing faced the Royals, Louisville drubbed them 5-1 during Thunder Over Louisville. The Utah they’ll be facing will be a very different team, however. The Royals upgraded substantially during the break with Japanese forward Mina Tanaka, Canadian forward Cloe Lacasse, and Spanish midfielder Claudia Zornosa. All of them, plus a coaching change, has made the team much more effective and cause them to already score more goals in their last five games than they had in the first 16 before the break.
Although Utah will have the home-field advantage, they are traveling from the East Coast after a Sunday match against Gotham FC, so they’ll have less rest. Racing will, of course, also be riding on the high of their last two big wins plus the confidence that comes with their last win over Utah. Will this be enough to carry them to a third major victory to keep their playoff spot in hand? Find out next Saturday at 7PM on NWSL+.
Thanks for the great article. I sat near a bus load of raucous Courage supporters. They stopped yelling at the 92nd minute and couldn’t seem to believe what happened. Sat there in silence for a while then filed out silently. My gut says Racing looks more confident now. I think Balcer is bringing some extra goodness and it is helping everyone. Saying that, they all played well last night - even when we were behind.