Made in McAlister: Louisville FC’s offseason changes shows it’s ready for a title


Racing Louisville FC finished nearly twice as far from playoff qualification as it did the bottom of the National Women’s Soccer League a season ago. While it was only the club’s inaugural season, leadership wasted no time moving the entire organization into a different direction. 

Back in August, Racing traded USWNT superstar Christen Press to new 2022 expansion franchise Angel City FC in exchange for the rights to the second overall pick in the 2022 NWSL Draft. 

One month later, the club fired Head Coach Christy Holly amid the wave of firings that ripped through the NWSL last fall, though Racing declined to offer any official explanation. 

Taking over as head coach in December 2021, Kim Björkegren was tasked with rebuilding this roster — particularly the lackluster midfield. Louisville got right to work in the draft, selecting Florida State’s Jaelin Howell and USC alumna Savannah DeMelo with its own first-round choice. 

DeMelo is one of the greatest players to ever wear the cardinal and gold, a pillar of the Trojan midfield throughout her time at USC. But don’t take it from me, take it from the All-Pac-12 honors — four in four seasons to be exact.

This season, especially in the three games the Trojans were without Pac-12 Forward of the Year Penelope Hocking, DeMelo showed exactly what she can bring to a team at the next level. 

The former USC captain got the nod in midfield — as she had her entire career — in all three of those contests, performing a different task in each of them. DeMelo cameoed as everything from a free-moving attacking mid to a holding midfield partnership. 

DeMelo’s ability to defend and drop deep in possession guided USC through the first 90 minutes against Stanford while her effectiveness further up in the press created Croix Bethune’s overtime match-winner. 

“We will attack with more players,” said Björkegren in an interview with the Louisville Courier-Journal. “We will try to press high a little bit more instead of just sit back and wait.”

The message in Louisville is clear this season. Score more goals by effectively converting defensive pressure into attacking opportunities — exactly what DeMelo built her USC career on. 

Leading the line for an active USC press, the former Trojan captain is eighth on the school’s all-time points list and her 28 career assists are good for third in program history. 

To put the ball in the back of the net you, of course, need prolific goal-scorers, but Racing already has that in forward Nadia Nadim. Louisville desperately needs a midfield machine that, for lack of better phrasing, can get her the ball. Nadim only managed three goals last season — a disappointing output for someone who averaged more than a goal per 90 with PSG. 

USC’s attack suffered no such issues with DeMelo pulling the strings. The first round pick provided the service for the last 3 Pac-12 Forwards of the Year in Tara McKeown and the aforementioned Hocking. 

This Louisville roster is built to compete as they were a season ago, but they were let down by coaching and the absence of a productive midfield. The club addressed the first with the hiring of Björkegren, and DeMelo’s proven production and versatility will ensure they address the second. 

McKeown stepped right in last season and started for the Washington Spirit en route to the club’s first championship. Louisville has its sights set on the same, and by turning to another USC product in DeMelo, it got that much closer to replicating it. 

Sam Reno is a sophomore writing about current and former USC Trojans in the NWSL and USWNT. His column, “Made In McAlister,” typically runs on Tuesday.