By Christine Espinoza
In front of a record crowd of 8,488, Racing stunned Orlando Pride and got their first victory with interim coach Mario Sanchez.
Orlando Pride had slightly better possession throughout the game, at 52%, with Jodie Taylor making the most of this possession and getting past Katie Lund’s goalpost with an assist from Alex Morgan at the 3rd minute. Although Orlando had a better possession and the first goal, Racing made more shots on target and the first one appeared a minute after stoppage time when Ebony Salmon, with an assist from Yuki Nagasato surprised Orlando’s Erin McLeod with the equalizer just seconds before halftime whistle.
After halftime, Salmon assisted Katie McClure’s clinical finish at the 52nd minute to give Racing the lead. As a Racing victory seemed to be likely, Orlando aggressively approached the final third and took more sough more chances, including one from Morgan and a couple from Emily van Egmond, however, they would be unsuccessful due to a fired-up Racing defense. On Racing’s side, both Cece Kizer and Cheyna Matthews attempted goals, only for their shots to find McLeod’s gloves. At the 77th Salmon, again, assisted Nagasato and cemented Racing’s fifth win of the season and dashing Orlando’s hopes for a playoff spot.
With this victory, Racing proved to be able to adapt to some recent changes with both team’s usual captains Savannah McCaskill and Michelle Beto’s sitting the game out, McCaskill being out for yellow card accumulation.
Interim coach Sanchez expressed his pride in the team’s victory stating “I’ve told everyone that this team is made up of a lot of character. They’ve been through a lot, and nobody is ever going to know what they’ve been through, but they showed that they are winners. It is awesome for them to get the reward tonight in front of this amazing crowd.”
Cheyna Matthews continued with the Player’s Association stance on only answering questions regarding focusing on the changes they’d like to see adding how appreciative the team has been to an “outpouring of transparency” where there is constant communication that she observed had been lacking before.
After the international break, Racing will play their two final games of the season against Gotham FC, one at home on October 28th and one away on October 31st.