Jeff Kassouf
Racing Louisville FC clinched its first NWSL playoff spot on Sunday with a 1-0 victory over Bay FC, ending a run of four straight ninth-place finishes.
Ella Hase scored three minutes into the second half for Louisville, which needed a victory due to other results on Sunday.
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Louisville and North Carolina entered Sunday’s NWSL Decision Day as the two teams fighting for the eighth and final playoff spot, and Racing Louisville had to defeat Bay FC if North Carolina also won due to the Courage’s superior goal difference, which is the first tiebreaker. The North Carolina Courage defeated Gotham FC 3-2 on Sunday in a simultaneous match.
Racing Louisville head coach Bev Yanez she was “a little bit” aware of the Courage-Gotham score. She told her staff heading into Sunday not to update her, “and then I was a bit eager at halftime” to know the score. Louisville was in ninth at halftime.
“It was the biggest factor. I said it to the group multiple times: They put themselves in this position. We are in a situation that we can say let’s control our controllables,” said Yanez, who is now the first person to both play in and coach in the NWSL playoffs. “We’re not hoping and waiting for other people to give us certain points or certain results to see if we can climb our way in. We’re in, let’s stay in. I’m just so proud of this group.”
Racing Louisville finished in ninth place and missed the playoffs in each of its four previous seasons since first playing in the NWSL as an expansion team in 2021.
With the results, Louisville jumped to seventh place and will visit the Washington Spirit in the quarterfinals next week. Gotham, the 2023 NWSL champion, had a chance to host a quarterfinal heading into Sunday but fell to the No. 8 seed and will play the top-seeded Kansas City Current in next week’s quarterfinals.
North Carolina led 3-0 until the 87th minute, when Gotham scored the first of two late goals. Gotham would have moved to sixth place with a late equalizer.
Seven of the eight playoff berths were clinched ahead of Sunday, with the Current and Spirit locked in the No. 1 and No. 2 seeds, respectively. But positions three through eight, along with the final playoff berth, were all on the line. Six of the seven games on Sunday kicked off at the same time.
The Portland Thorns jumped to the No. 3 seed with a 2-0 victory over the Houston Dash. Three-time NWSL champion Portland will host a quarterfinal against the No. 6 seed San Diego Wave, who lost 2-1 to Kansas City in Sunday’s lone early match.
The defending champion Orlando Pride clinched the No. 4 seed with a 1-1 draw against the Seattle Reign. The two teams will meet again in Orlando next week in the quarterfinal.
The NWSL Championship will take place on Nov. 22 at PayPal Park in San Jose, Calif.
With the regular season over, Kansas City Current forward Temwa Chawinga is confirmed as the NWSL Golden Boot winner for the second straight season. Chawinga missed Sunday’s match due to an adductor injury. She is questionable for the playoffs.
Chawinga scored 15 goals in 23 games this season, following up her record-breaking 20-goal season last year — when she won MVP and Golden Boot. Gotham FC forward Esther Gonzalez entered the weekend with 13 goals, but also did not play on Sunday due to a hip injury.
Kansas City set records this season for points (65), wins (21) and goals against (13).
