By Caden Charpentier
With Racing Louisville FC eyeing to make history in 2025 with its first postseason berth, the strength of its bench may prove paramount.
In a league as unpredictable as the NWSL, reliable impact substitutes can often mean the difference between winning and losing.
“Gamechangers are everything,” Racing midfielder Taylor Flint said last Saturday following Louisville’s 1-1 draw with the North Carolina Courage at Lynn Family Stadium.
Last year, Louisville relied on its starters to log a significant portion of its available minutes. No team across the NWSL made fewer in-game substitutions than Louisville’s 88.
For context, those 88 changes were even fewer than two of Racing’s previous four campaigns despite 2024 being a longer season — 26 regular season games was four more than 2022 and 2023.
Largely due to the lack of alterations, Louisville was one of two clubs in 2024 to drop more 12 or more points from winning positions — only Angel City surrendered more, with 18. It was the first time in club history that Racing let more than 10 points slip from advantageous positions.
Dependable depth is vital in flipping that trend, and just one game into the season coach Bev Yanez already put her trust in two talented rookies. Sarah Weber and Katie O’Kane both came off the bench to make their pro debuts in the season opener.
“They’ve been very effective in preseason,” Yanez said. “I think they’ve done a really good job in the minutes that they’ve been given through preseason matches.
“ … They’ve just continued to stay the course and stay the process. … The biggest piece is always taking advantage of your opportunities when your opportunities are given and I think they did a great job of that.”
Weber, a former University of Nebraska star forward, showed her quality in the final third in less than 15 minutes on the pitch by recording two shots. Searching for a winner late on, O’Kane, a non-roster invitee that earned a contract in preseason, became just the second University of Utah product since 2017 to debut in the NWSL.
“Obviously it’s extremely difficult to play 90 minutes and knowing that we have talent coming off the bench like Sarah (Weber) and Katie (O’Kane) — those two rookies have proven themselves,” Flint said.
Louisville’s entire rookie class is filled with directly deployable personnel beyond just Weber and O’Kane. It also includes the former Duke University star Ella Hase, a left-back with 13 assists and three goals across 21 starts in 2024 with the Blue Devils; Louisville’s own Allie George out of Virginia Tech; and 23-year-old goalkeeper Maddy Anderson.
“We’re willing to do the work and we’re willing to buy in for this team,” Weber said of the rookie class. “ … All the rookies are incredibly talented and have something to prove. We’ll just be waiting for the opportunity.”
Racing next travels to take on Bay FC at 10 p.m. Saturday. The match will be broadcast live on ION and on Talk Radio 1080 AM or online at talkradio1080.iheart.com.
Racing will return home to Lynn Family Stadium on Saturday, April 12, to host the Washington Spirit. The game coincides with the annual Thunder Over Louisville airshow and fireworks display. A club-record 11,365 attended last year’s Thunder at Lynn Family Stadium. For tickets and more information, visit racingloufc.com/thunder.
