2022 Racing Louisville FC season

In its inaugural season, Racing Louisville built a squad from the 2020 NWSL Expansion Draft, the 2021 NWSL Draft, a series of free agent signings, and international transfers after the opening of the season under first head coach Christy Holly. After two losses and two draws to open the campaign in the 2021 NWSL Challenge Cup, Racing Louisville experienced an up-and-down 2021 NWSL season which saw the club finish 9th in the 10-team league and miss the playoffs.[1]

The club's greatest success in the first year was as host of an inaugural international competition called The Women's Cup, a 4-team mid-season competition won by Racing Louisville with a defeat of FC Bayern Munich on penalties.[2]

In the middle of the season on August 31, 2021, the club fired Holly for cause and installed Mario Sanchez as interim head coach.[3][4] On December 9, after the season concluded, the club announced the hiring of Kim Björkegren as the second permanent head coach of Racing Louisville.[5]

The 2021 NWSL Championship, originally planned to be played in Portland, Oregon, was moved by the league on October 13, 2022, to Racing Louisville's home ground of Lynn Family Stadium following player complaints regarding the artificial turf at Providence Park and the 9 a.m. local kickoff time required to meet television obligations.[6][7][8] The match, played on November 20, 2021, was won by the Washington Spirit over the Chicago Red Stars before 10,300 attending fans, a record for a women's soccer match in the venue.[9][10][11]

Several players departed from Racing Louisville's 2021 squad after the season ended. Aside from free transfers, Racing traded Savannah McCaskill to Angel City FC,[12][13] Julia Ashley was sent to Houston Dash,[14][15] Yuki Nagasato was traded back to Chicago Red Stars,[14][16] and Kaleigh Riehl was selected by San Diego Wave FC in the 2022 NWSL Expansion Draft.[14][17] Louisville traded Cece Kizer and Addisyn Merrick to their hometown club of Kansas City,[18][14][19] and Ebony Salmon to Houston Dash,[18][14][20] while also waiving Erin Simon, who was subsequently signed by Leicester City W.F.C. on a free transfer.[18][21]

Racing Louisville traded the rights to Christen Press to Angel City FC in exchange for expansion draft protection,[22] the rights to Janine Beckie to Portland Thorns FC in exchange for allocation money,[23] and the rights to Tobin Heath to OL Reign for allocation money and draft picks.[18][14][24]

Racing Louisville reloaded primarily through the 2022 NWSL Draft, bringing Jaelin Howell, Savannah DeMelo,[25] and Jordyn Bloomer into the squad. Louisville acquired Jess McDonald through a trade with North Carolina Courage, signed 2021 draftees Kirsten Davis and Parker Goins, and signed free agents Hillary Beall, Taylor Malham, Julia Lester, Rebecca Holloway, Alex Chidiac, Satara Murray, and Thembi Kgatlana to pro contracts.[14][18] Following FIFA's ruling that foreign player contracts with Russian clubs were voidable in the wake of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Sh'Nia Gordon left CSKA Moscow and signed with Racing Louisville.[14]

On July 27, 2022, Racing announced that Gordon and Taylor Otto had mutually terminated their contracts with the club to pursue playing opportunities in Europe, and that National Team Replacement player Zaneta Wyne had signed a contract through 2023. The club did not offer permanent contracts to its other National Team Replacement players — Hannah Adler, Isabella Beletic, and Allison Whitfield.[18]

On August 1, 2022, Racing traded $30,000 of allocation money and a fourth-round pick in the 2023 NWSL Draft to OL Reign for the discovery rights to sign China women's national football team forward Wang Shuang to an NWSL contract.[26][27] On August 10, after Wang received her visa, the club announced that it had signed Wang to a contract through the 2023 season.[28][29]

On August 15, 2022, Racing announced the transfer of goalkeeper Kelsey Daugherty from Djurgårdens IF. Per a club statement, Björkegren said the signing would allow the club to loan out backup goalkeepers Beall and Bloomer.[30][31]

On September 7, 2022, Racing announced the transfer of midfielder Freja Olofsson to Real Madrid four months into her three-year contract with Racing, in exchange for an undisclosed transfer fee.[32]

Racing announced the loan of goalkeeper Hillary Beall to Adelaide United FC, from the end of the NWSL season to the end of the A-League Women season in April, on September 27, 2022.[33]

As of September 7, 2022[34]

No.	Position	Nation	Player
1	GK	USA	Katie Lund
2	MF	USA	Lauren Milliet
4	DF	ENG	Gemma Bonner
6	MF	USA	Jaelin Howell
7	MF	USA	Savannah DeMelo
10	FW	DEN	Nadia Nadim
11	DF	USA	Emily Fox
12	MF	USA	Taylor Malham
13	FW	USA	Emina Ekic
14	FW	USA	Jess McDonald
15	DF	USA	Julia Lester
16	FW	RSA	Thembi Kgatlana
17	DF	USA	Nealy Martin
18	GK	USA	Hillary Beall
20	FW	JAM	Cheyna Matthews
21	FW	USA	Parker Goins
22	FW	USA	Kirsten Davis
24	GK	USA	Jordyn Bloomer
25	DF	NIR	Rebecca Holloway
27	MF	AUS	Alex Chidiac
30	DF	USA	Zaneta Wyne
31	GK	USA	Kelsey Daugherty
44	DF	JAM	Satara Murray
77	FW	CHN	Wang Shuang

Source: NWSLsoccer.com

Goals

Matches as of October 1, 2022.

Place	Pos.	No.	Name	CC	NWSL	NWSL Playoffs	Total
1	FW	10	Nadia Nadim	0	6	0	6
2	MF	16	Savannah DeMelo	0	4	0	4
	FW	14	Jess McDonald	1	3	0	4
4	FW	22	Kirsten Davis	1	2	0	3
	FW	13	Emina Ekic	1	2	0	3
6	DF	4	Gemma Bonner	1	1	0	2
	MF	27	Alex Chidiac	0	2	0	2
	MF	2	Lauren Milliet	1	1	0	2
	N/A	-	Opponent Own Goals	1	1	0	2
10	DF	11	Emily Fox	0	1	0	1
	FW	5	Cece Kizer	1	0	0	1
Total				7	23	0	30

Assists

Matches as of October 1, 2022.

Place	Pos.	No.	Name	CC	NWSL	NWSL Playoffs	Total
1	FW	14	Jess McDonald	1	4	0	5
2	MF	16	Savannah DeMelo	0	3	0	3
3	FW	5	CeCe Kizer	0	2	0	2
4	FW	13	Emina Ekic	1	0	0	1
	FW	22	Kirsten Davis	0	1	0	1
	MF	6	Jaelin Howell	0	1	0	1
	MF	2	Lauren Milliet	0	1	0	1
	MF	77	Wang Shuang	0	1	0	1
	DF	11	Emily Fox	0	1	0	1
Total				2	13	0	15

Clean sheets

Matches as of October 1, 2022.

Place	Pos.	No.	Name	CC	NWSL	NWSL Playoffs	Total
1	GK	1	Katie Lund	2	6	0	8
Total				2	6	0	8

Disciplinary

Matches as of October 1, 2022.

Place	Pos.	No.	Name	CC	NWSL		NWSL Playoffs	Total
1	DF	30	Satara Murray	0	4	1	0	4	1
2	DF	4	Gemma Bonner	1	3	0	0	4	0
	MF	7	Savannah DeMelo	1	3	0	0	4	0
	MF	6	Jaelin Howell	0	4	0	0	4	0
	MF	8	Freja Olofsson	2	2	0	0	4	0
6	DF	15	Julia Lester	0	4	0	0	4	0
	GK	1	Katie Lund	0	3	0	0	3	0
	DF	17	Nealy Martin	1	2	0	0	3	0
	FW	10	Nadia Nadim	0	3	0	0	3	0
10	FW	22	Kirsten Davis	0	2	0	0	2	0
	DF	11	Emily Fox	0	2	0	0	2	0
	MF	2	Lauren Milliet	1	1	0	0	2	0
	DF	3	Erin Simon	1	1	0	0	2	0
	DF	30	Zaneta Wyne	0	2	0	0	2	0
15	FW	13	Emina Ekic	0	1	0	0	1	0
	FW	14	Jess McDonald	0	1	0	0	1	0
Total				7	38	1	0	45	1

• Racing Louisville FC