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The Cooler Guild: A Cascadia star is born - Ep. 31 image

The Cooler Guild: A Cascadia star is born - Ep. 31

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Maddie Dahlien’s first professional goal led the Reign to victory in the first Cascadia clash of the 2025 NWSL season. In this week’s episode we talk about this much needed win, do some fashion critiques, answer community questions, as well as the usual coverage of the other results across the league in this 5th match week.

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Transcript

Episode Introduction and Reign Victory

00:00:20
Speaker
Hello, hello, hello, and welcome to episode 31 of The Cooler Guild. I am Coop Cooper, and joined with me as always is my co-host, Van Crisp. What's up? We're recording on Sunday, April 20th, 2025. On today's episode, we'll be discussing Reign's glorious win over Portland that happened on Friday night in Seattle. Praise the soccer gods.
00:00:39
Speaker
Truly, truly, they're on our side. um And then we'll be doing our usual look around the league at some of the other results that happened from the weekend. um But first, some housekeeping. The Cooler Guild is part of the Sounder at Heart podcast network.
00:00:52
Speaker
You can either listen to us on our public feed or if you're a Sounder at Heart subscriber on the private unified feed feed with the other podcasts on the network. If you'd like to become a subscriber, just visit our page at sounderatheart.com forward slash the Cooler Guild.
00:01:04
Speaker
New subscribers get 10% off the normal rate and you'll help support everything we're doing. Great. Perfect. um Soccer was on Friday night.
00:01:16
Speaker
I got off work early to go up to the game.
00:01:21
Speaker
And? The pure joy. and The pure joy I felt. Yeah.
00:01:30
Speaker
Ugh. It was such a relief. Yeah, it felt like one of those games where, like, yeah, it's very early in the season, um but, you know, you want to beat Portland every fucking time.
00:01:44
Speaker
Yeah, this is a game that we always want to win. Yeah, and I don't think we've... The team hasn't really been that great in recent years, so it hasn't been shocking that we haven't really... been playing great against them we're finding ways to get the win against them even in a rival match um so it's kind of just like let's like we've got a an interesting team we got a fun team let's let's go for it yeah um yeah i don't really i don't really know much else happened this weekend i was friday night kicked off the week and then i just had a like i feel like that puts me in the good mood for the rest of the weekend like it could it would have been a real fucking bummer had we lost
00:02:20
Speaker
I know. And then all of our teams have won this weekend. Yeah. Our specific teams that we follow. Yes.

Weekend Sports Highlights

00:02:27
Speaker
Sounders won. They were raining goals early in the the first half. Mm-hmm.
00:02:32
Speaker
think I watched the Wolverhampton Wanderers. Yes, I do. um And then i am on the Liverpool train. Have been for several, several years.
00:02:43
Speaker
um So that's always, i don't know, they've kind of been... Iki Nut results. Seems like it's been a slow way to to to win the league, but... ah At least they're in the league. I started following Wolves when they were in the championship. Yeah. Well, and the Liverpool played Leicester today and now they they are officially relegated back. I know. And former Wolves player Connor Cody plays for Leicester. So look where that got you.
00:03:07
Speaker
Yeah. and um And then the Liverpool women won as well. So that was fun. um But yeah. I watched some Champions League this weekend too. Women's Champions League.

Women's Champions League and Homemade Pizza

00:03:18
Speaker
Yep. Oh my God. Chelsea got destroyed today. did they yeah four four one barcelona beat them oh is that the first leg yeah was it in barcelona no uh i can't remember you don't remember that the stadium was like blue people or blue and i was watching i was making pizza while i watched it okay pizza wait what wasn't that this morning yeah you were making pizza in the morning yeah for like breakfast
00:03:50
Speaker
Kinda. it took a while. It was homemade pizza. Yeah, but like breakfast pizza. Yeah, make the dough. Is it for later?
00:04:00
Speaker
make the dough earlier. Okay. we I'm just making sure that we had like what I'm understanding is that you had a pizza at like, what was it? 930 in the morning? 9 in the morning?
00:04:11
Speaker
By the time I ate it was like 10 something. Okay. Okay.
00:04:16
Speaker
Whatever. You were up early, so I guess it's fine. It's also fine regardless. So anyways. um Want to get into the game? Yeah, let's get into the game. We got a match match me a match recap.

Seattle Reign vs Portland Thorns Recap

00:04:28
Speaker
ah On Friday night at Lumen Field, Seattle Reign the Portland Thorns matched up once again for the biggest rivalry in the NWSL. Both teams entered the match with just one win in four matches and the Thorns sitting just one point above the Reign in the standings.
00:04:42
Speaker
After several games of coming close to scoring, Maddie Dahlien finally bagged her first goal in the NWCLE just four minutes after kickoff, assisted by a perfectly weighted pass from Lynn Biandolo to find Maddie up on the wing.
00:04:57
Speaker
ah Chances continued throughout the game from both sides. Most of Portland's came at the end. um And despite some close calls, Claudia Dickey also standing on her head, some saves from the post and crossbars.
00:05:08
Speaker
Lorraine's defense displayed a bend but do not break mentality. And Maddie Darlene's goal became the game winner in this Cascadia clash, giving rain their second win this season and securing all three points at home.
00:05:23
Speaker
It's what we want to see. It's exactly what we want to see. Yep. I'm also so glad that Maddie got her goal as I had requested last last week. I mean, I'm sure everyone was requesting it, but we all knew it was coming soon and in ah it's got to be so much sweeter when it's against Portland.
00:05:43
Speaker
Yeah, and I i turned to Grant who was sitting behind me before the game and I looked at him and I said, Maddie Darlene's going to score this game. Yeah. And then I put it in the Discord.
00:05:55
Speaker
Yeah. And then after she scored, he's like, oh, my God, you're right. Yeah. You were right. And i was like, oh, it's about to happen sometime. I was going to say that until she scored anyway.
00:06:06
Speaker
I think it was like the right combination of just things coming together that, um yeah, it finally just broke for her. and it was a great, great shot, too. practical difficulties um yeah whoops i was saying that darlene's goal was a good shot too yeah can she put herself into that dangerous space because lynn played her out wide and was a well-weighted pass but might have been a little ahead of her um but maddie's fast but maddie's right she can make up that that that's yeah so i just thought it was great um you know we were hoping that sam hyatt started so that this could happen oh my god
00:06:44
Speaker
Cold out. ah Cold out. I was going to keep that in the chat.
00:06:49
Speaker
Oops. You know me and my hot takes. Yeah, yeah, yeah. We know. like we know. its Jesus. Anyway, um ah did want to point out ah with this game, with this ah start, Phoebe McLaren has continued her regular season appearance streak. um Five starts this season and 40 consecutive matches played for the Reign.
00:07:16
Speaker
And this is also her 50th regular season appearance for the Reign. Okay. It's pretty good. Yeah. She's becoming a ah staple player. Yeah. I think it's well-deserved. I mean, obviously, we were biased because she was cooler player of the season last year.
00:07:30
Speaker
um But I think now we're, because of the turnover that we've had and getting in higher, like, I'm not talking about Phoebe McClellan's position, but I'm talking about other positions on the field, getting higher quality players in those positions and stuff that she's maybe not as big of a standout as she was last season.
00:07:49
Speaker
um But she's a solid player. And and all like oftentimes people who oppose defensive roles don't even, you know, they don't get the recognition they deserve anyways. um But yeah, I think she's been playing very, very solid this season. And still, i you know, she's a starter. She's a starter for this team.
00:08:06
Speaker
Yep. notable stats yeah other notable stats

Notable Player Achievements

00:08:11
Speaker
kind of cool uh i feel like just because maddie doleen's game is so similar to lynn biundolo it was extra cool that this was lynn's uh what is it the nw cell record tying assist that she got on the goal for maddie doleen regular season all-time assist record yeah which is what how many how many was it A lot.
00:08:33
Speaker
It's like the one thing we didn't know on the number for that. But the funny thing is she tied, ah active you know like guess she's not active in this league, but she's an active player. She tied Sofia Huerta and then the ever favorite Jess McDonald, who's no longer playing, but I didn't know that Jess McDonald was also up there with assists.
00:08:53
Speaker
Yeah, I was just telling Coop, I remember when Jess McDonald was on one of the calls in our delayed game last season before Huerta left, um she asked Huerta about it. Because Huerta's been on the verge for so long. Yeah, yeah, of breaking it. And now she's going to have her teammate whenever she gets back. Probably it will have broken it.
00:09:15
Speaker
That'll kind of be fun ah for them to kind of, I don't know, compete with each other on. But just think of how good... Lynn Biendolo is. Yeah. She's the all-time leading goal scorer in the NWSL.
00:09:28
Speaker
And she's tied the regular season all-time assist record. So the amount of contributions she's had to goals h is insane. Yeah.
00:09:40
Speaker
Yeah. She's the best player in the NWSL and like in the history of the NWSL in regards to NWSL strictly. Yeah, completely. It was also lou Barnes NWSL win started as a starting player. And she's the first player in the league to do that.
00:09:55
Speaker
Yeah. 100, 100. That's crazy. and so my i think my wife was like, oh, that means that she's like old.
00:10:03
Speaker
I was like that's rude Alex I was like but like you know how bad they were the first year like she made up for it too many seasons afterwards so longevity also is something to be proud of I don't think that's a bad thing No, it's not.
00:10:19
Speaker
ah This is apparently it was was the first regular season win against the Thorns since August 2021. Was that the doubleheader? I believe so. Okay.

Current Standings and Playoff Ambitions

00:10:28
Speaker
um So we were due.
00:10:30
Speaker
This was a stat that was shouted at me in the broadcast by Mike Watt. Everything shouted at you. ah So yeah, now we're in eighth place, technically. ah We're tied for six on points, but it's goal differential, so...
00:10:44
Speaker
but I think it's like but like some of us have the same goal so I don't know what the tiebreaker is because we all have the same wins losses and draws as well I think it goes to cards after a while yeah because it's head-to-head next but we're matched up with Bay FC okay um in San Diego in San Diego so it hasn't been head-to-heads yet yeah I mean, that'll get sorted out over the season anyway, so nothing to be too... So it's looking pretty good.
00:11:11
Speaker
Staying above the line. Yeah, which was all I was asking for so far.
00:11:18
Speaker
We could talk about ambitions later in the season and see where we're at then, but um job number one, stay above the line, into the playoffs. ah do you want to Do you have anything else? like Do you just want to go over general? Do you have any general thoughts on the match?
00:11:32
Speaker
ah It was really, really exciting early. And then it got really, really nervy. yeah i was like holding on for dear life at the end. Yeah, I had like my ma like my hands on my mouth and like I was just like like my hands on my head and like just like, oh, God, please don't fuck this up.
00:11:50
Speaker
I was waiting for it to get a heart rate alert on my Apple Watch. I didn't even think about looking at mine. I should go look at that. That would be funny. I'm sure it spiked. Oh, yeah. All right. So let's go into positives from the match. We definitely got a few of those.
00:12:03
Speaker
ah Number one, obviously, Maddie Darlene getting her first NWSL goal. And it comes against Portland at home. um think we pretty much already talked about it do you want to break down the goal? Do we need to? I guess this was in my positives, but maybe I should...
00:12:18
Speaker
Oh, you want to talk about the involvement? It was definitely a team-ish goal. Yeah. i mean, it's so early that like, and I feel like when you see those like kind of team build-up goals, you would rather see that kind of build-up like in the middle of the game kind of thing.
00:12:34
Speaker
um It seemed that they kind of just took advantage of Portland not totally being ready, which is great. i I'm fine with that. uh but there was i went counted to watch the video there was nine different players involved in that sequence um with dalene so mcclernand passed back to dickie and then there's like a little bit of play between uh bug curry meza heidema got a foot on coco got a foot on it and then he got the final turn and passed to bien dolo who turned and passed it to dalene and Yeah, back to goal.
00:13:04
Speaker
She just switched around. knew going to be there. She knew going to be there.

Defensive Strengths and Challenges

00:13:08
Speaker
Yeah. And like, first start together. ooh. oo They were cooking. They were cooking with that for sure. And there was a lot of other good chances. It just didn't really come to anything. um But for again, first start with Lynn. And i mean, that was a first start for Lynn for us.
00:13:26
Speaker
And then that's like the first start we've got we've gotten to see Darlene and her together, which is, I think, going to be a very, very fun pairing to watch. Yeah. It's only going to get better. Yeah.
00:13:37
Speaker
As long as everyone stays healthy. Fingers crossed. But another thing we wanted, a clean sheet. And Claudia Dickey deserved it. She did. She played really well. she just She's doing all the right things.
00:13:51
Speaker
It seemed like she went down with some sort of injury issues, which... There were several times she went down. Yeah, and I kind of noticed that with her game. I don't know what the deal is. um i do feel like I noticed it a lot with her in particular.
00:14:06
Speaker
was kind of funny because Laura, I think, addressed it. She's like, despite what it seems like, I'm not a coach that tells you know goalkeepers to go down and waste his time. is just yeah She just got like had a couple of things that happened and needed to have it looked at. um ah But luckily, she seems fine. um But you know it did seem like backup goalkeeper was like...
00:14:26
Speaker
Yeah, they they called her over at one point, but she hadn't put her gloves on. So I knew she wasn't going to come on. But yeah, I mean, when she's coming out and getting balls over people, you're going to land awkwardly. Yeah, you're going to need a minute to get up. So in that sense, they're going to call the staff over.
00:14:45
Speaker
It's just kind of how it is. And then there was one where they were, it looked like she or her knee might have just kind of buckled underneath her when she was kicking the ball out. She's fine, though. She's fine. And she closed out the game really, really well. The crossbar did save at least one chance for her. it hit the post? I feel like they hit the post a lot that game.
00:15:06
Speaker
I need like a ah stat on how many dinks we get on like the bar and the correct post. I know. Because once Serna Gorchovic came on, like almost directly after, she just whacked the near post. That was like first touch, right? Yeah, I think so.
00:15:21
Speaker
What was that noise? what it was like

Player Performances: Heidema and Others

00:15:24
Speaker
i don't know i don't hear it on my side maybe it was you maybe you're robot but um it's just a side note i wanted to point out i i feel like i'm noticing laura harvey's fashion because before she kind of just wore like the training gear stuff and now she seems to be like elevating her her fashion game at these things but she was wearing like a really nice quilted jacket I don't if you noticed it I guess you did yeah the quilted jacket I was big fan of I did go find it online uh I am uncovering these things she does seem to I don't know if she's buying these things on clearance but if she is she's a savvy buyer and I love a savvy buyer that's like how I buy most of my stuff is you know you gotta wait for the initial thing to hit and then it becomes trendy later trendier later I think
00:16:10
Speaker
Yeah, I mean, I noticed it because I sat on the aisle for the press conference and she walked right past me and I was like, ooh, that's nice. I bet Coop's goingnna have something to say about that. Oh, I did. While I was watching it, I had like some friends over.
00:16:21
Speaker
We went out to drinks and got dinner and then we came over to our house afterwards. And ah i was like, oh man, that's really nice jacket. I mean, Alex is just like... Yeah, Coop basically wants to be Laura Harvey. And I was like, what the fuck? I didn't ever say I wanted to be Laura Harvey. I just appreciate her clothes. And there's and i also think I've like had this new appreciation for what like a cool jacket is.
00:16:41
Speaker
So I think I'll be a little sad when like summer comes around because there won't be cool jackets. So I'm just going to compliment the jackets while they are happening. For sure. um I want to add Jordan Heidema into the positives.
00:16:53
Speaker
Yes. Not on score sheet, but... Not on the score sheet, but instrumental. In the game. and And I didn't even look at the stats before noticing.
00:17:03
Speaker
like It didn't take stats for me to be like, oh, she had a really good game. No, you could tell. Also, she's an absolute bulldozer and I'm loving this for her. she Yeah, because it kind of used to be the opposite for her Mm-hmm. But she's still getting fouled way too many times.
00:17:16
Speaker
And not getting calls. I want to um talk with this Jordan Heidema. So Susie from Ride the Valkyries, Susie Rantz, shout out Susie, has a great article that came out today. um And it's called Three Stats, Seattle Rain versus Portland Thorns. I just want to talk about one part in here dealing with Jordan Heidema.
00:17:38
Speaker
um the the rain won 60 of their ground duels and aerial duels uh jordan heidema won 16 of 18 duels including all nine of her aerial duels so it's she's realized that she's one of the tallest players on the field yeah And we've always kind of struck, well, at least not always, but we in the recent history, we've kind of struggled with that winning the first ball, whether it's a clearance, whether it's a kick, whether it's a ball coming through, really struggling to win the the first fifty fifty ball.
00:18:12
Speaker
And her being able to get the ball, get it down, win it, helps everyone else around her. I thought she had a great game. um And I just wanted to point that part out. But read the rest of this article. It's fantastic. um yeah she know She does like she does like those like three stats from the match every game, it seems like.
00:18:35
Speaker
And they're really they're really interesting and fun. I like like those pieces a lot. They're great. I would like to see... I mean, it it just... there's There's some... Hide them a doubters. I think we know that, obviously. And we've had our biases and hype her up maybe at times that it's not always ah warranted. But I feel like we see these like elements of our game that don't always get appreciated for somebody who's in her position, at least.
00:19:00
Speaker
um And so... I do kind of, I need her to get on the score sheet. I need her to get an assist. I need something so that at least the the doubters can shut the up. um And I mean, and just like for someone, i we see her score in the national team. and We kind of see her have a little bit more goal involvement. I feel like there, um ah she did have a touch, like I said, on this dolly and goal. So that's great. um But think about it this way, right?
00:19:29
Speaker
In this game, it In past games before we had Lynn, she was expected to be Lynn. Yeah. And she's not. They're different players.
00:19:40
Speaker
Yeah. And they were trying, especially noticed it last game, trying to play her as if Lynn's in that position. Yeah. Yeah, they're playing those through balls.
00:19:50
Speaker
And she's not going to be able to get there as quickly and be able to turn the corner and go to goal like these other players. And so I was excited for this match after seeing the the starting lineup because I knew that Jordan Hidema was going to be able to play in a more comfortable role.
00:20:06
Speaker
Yeah, and be more effective. And we saw that. It's kind of, you know, when you have a player that's really, really good in a certain position and then you're forcing them somewhere else to try and fill a hole, which is almost like I felt like we were trying to do.
00:20:21
Speaker
Sometimes they'll surprise you and they'll succeed. Other times that's just not the player that they are. And I think that having Lynn there and really filling out that front line is going to allow her to find her place and where she's excelling and then start contributing.
00:20:40
Speaker
so Okay. Yeah. So I'm hopeful, especially having Lynn in there, that this is going to be more helpful for her in her role.

Offensive Opportunities and Critiques

00:20:48
Speaker
cut your question her quest to be a goal like a regular goal contributor because that's what that's what i think we've always thought what she would be when she joined the team and it just kind of hasn't fully happened um but i know she has it in her but when you get on suzy's stats sheet yeah she's ah she's a destroyer you had a good game yeah she did she did uh there was it not everything was great about this game like i said it was nervy no it was a gritty gritty win for sure um i think the worst the number one negative i had was they had their chances to get a second goal and kind of give themselves a little bit of a cushion
00:21:25
Speaker
And they didn't bury any of those second chances despite being like oh just a little closer. And if like the decision to like go a different way would have been made, those were going to be goals.
00:21:36
Speaker
um Especially with, there was a chance with Lynn where she tried to shoot it near post. And like, you can listen to the press conference and her reasoning behind it makes sense. But also like it's her first game this season. So starting. So um that'll, that'll get cleaned up and improve. But They, 1-0 win, I'll take it, obviously, but there's going to be games where you're going to need to score multiple goals and um getting just the one chance isn't, you're going to have to bury those other chances at some point.
00:22:06
Speaker
Yeah, for sure. um And it puts a lot of pressure on the defense because there is not that you don't have that leeway to give up a goal because you give up a goal. You give up two points.
00:22:18
Speaker
You have the two goals. You give three points. So it puts a lot of pressure on the defense and they were able to hold up. yeah but it's it's barely barely i mean like it was got really really chippy and portland was very physical and aggressive uh at times where it was like why aren't they getting more cards but um the rain definitely got it got got what they needed to do like got the points they needed to so and they got the win so i'm not going to be too mad about it but we've had issues with scoring so just makes me a little nervous
00:22:49
Speaker
Yeah, I mean, and we gave away some really dangerous chances. like Yeah. they they at Seven corners. Yeah. Which, to be fair, I i think Portland's like near the top of teams that um get corners. So that's definitely kind of within their game plan or whatever you want to call it. That's definitely something that they do.
00:23:13
Speaker
um But i don't know. i just It scares me when they're pressing us that hot that much. Mm-hmm. It is. It's a wee bit terrifying.
00:23:25
Speaker
Actually, it's very terrifying, but it was it. And it got worse towards the end of the game because they the thorns brought in toward in and she was really tearing up that side. and um might I might also add into the maybe negatives or performances that I wasn't impressed with is Madison Curry.
00:23:47
Speaker
Yeah, she's been having a tough time lately. I don't know what it is. um i mean, there's obviously been a lot of changes happening, but i feel like she's been given that that role, that starting role. Like Laura Harvey clearly believes in her and keeps giving her chances. And I don't think she's been absolutely terrible that she deserves to get benched for this, but we've seen the kinds of games she can have and ah she needs to turn it up, especially when you're playing a rival team like Portland.
00:24:19
Speaker
Yeah. And you don't want to see your outside back get burned. And she has a she has a knack for taking players down in really dangerous places.
00:24:32
Speaker
And you never want to see that. Yeah, I had a note. What did I have? I had a note. It seemed to me that Curry was, ah like, kind of getting frustrated with some stuff. um Herself.
00:24:43
Speaker
Yeah. Which is fair. But, like, girl. like Because, i like, last week, the goal that we gave up, right? That was... probably going to be a penalty if they didn't score that goal because of a foul from her um and yeah i i don't know she's definitely gonna go watch some film and kind of just and that goal came from a free kick because of foul she caused yeah i don't it has me a little worried but it's a new team lot of new players kind of in the team. I mean, this isn't like an established team, then like with everybody in the starting 11 that she just walked into. Right. We've been like doing a lot of experimenting and um these players haven't been with the team for a long time. you but Yeah. But I'd also like to see Shea Holmes get a get a start. ah Portland's coach had a terrible suit on.
00:25:34
Speaker
You're going to have to explain about the belt buckle because I or the belt itself, because I did not see that. I don't know that the suit was awful. It was a choice. I'll say it was a choice. um but he is not Obama. He cannot rock a tan suit.
00:25:49
Speaker
Yeah. Um, it It was a choice. um But it had he had like this gold belt buckle. I might have just been part of the belt, but it was like a gold.
00:26:00
Speaker
i think it was a letter M or something. so it's probably some like name brand stuff that I just don't fucking know. But like it wasn't working. It wasn't working. Like sometimes we need to dress. um Listen, I'm all for dressing youthful and stuff like that. But sometimes it's just like I don't really know who pulls this off to begin with.
00:26:18
Speaker
But it's not him. Yeah.
00:26:22
Speaker
sometimes we do fashion reviews but i'm sorry not sorry the belt was shiny and i couldn't avoid seeing it i only saw him from the back because i was on that side and i didn't see it i must have skipped over it in the replay i didn't look i didn't watch his little conference i just saw the belt and i was like oh that yeah i watched the replay on mute uh because once again um we were in commentary hell with mike watts so
00:26:52
Speaker
Yeah, ah do you think that, I mean, we already know he gets a lot of the games, but like, there were a lot of games happening at the same time on Friday, so I don't think the pool was probably as large as one would hope for it to pick from, but

NWSL Commentary and Team Dynamics

00:27:07
Speaker
I also feel like... But always on the Prime games. Yeah, i know. They need to they need to be...
00:27:12
Speaker
looking for other people like just stop yelling at me and stop like just reading off your weird stats 12 times during the game and i get it the guy is busy guy is busy but i just don't and this is subjective his voice makes me angry I just feel like we're at the point in that NWSL, like, can't we get some more women on the calls or, like, doing his job?
00:27:39
Speaker
Because, like, Laura Lindsay was there, sure. But, like, I feel like there's just maybe a time for us to... I mean, I guess and we're not allowed to hire diversity anymore.
00:27:50
Speaker
That's, like, illegal over now. But...
00:27:55
Speaker
I just like think that maybe we could introduce some more like start getting some of these careers going for like female commentators because it seems like they're they're not given the chance sometimes and I just feel like the NWSL should maybe start pushing for that anything but my quads fair fair fair um you got any other negatives you want to show no I'm ready to move on post match presser we got we got a few notes I think from that mm-hmm um I thought this was kind of kind of interesting.
00:28:24
Speaker
I think everyone as a fan of the Reign who has been a fan of the Reign for many, many years ah knows that when Rapinoe left, ah it was hard on the players and it was hard on the team, was hard on the club.
00:28:36
Speaker
That's quite a personality and big shoes to fill. And I wouldn't I mean, I think it's impossible to replace her. But um someone asked about like Lynn's role in the team and all of that stuff. And Harvey had made note that like when Pino left, there was a little void missing and that it seems like Lynn has filled that.
00:28:55
Speaker
And that's not surprising. No, not at all. uh she was talking about you know just how hectic the game got towards the end and a lot of that was defensive of own doing right because you're clearing the ball but you're not clearing the ball the space you're not clearing the ball out you're like playing the ball into pressure clearing the ball into pressure it's just like it was really frustrating to watch and she commented on it in the post game presser just saying she wants players to decide if they're either gonna if if they're gonna clear the ball
00:29:28
Speaker
quote, clear it to Rose

Reign's Pragmatic Strategy

00:29:30
Speaker
Ed. Mm-hmm. Or keep possession. Yeah. And we talked about this last season because it's been an issue.
00:29:39
Speaker
Yeah, they just need to blast the shit out of it. I think that's like what we said is they need to blast the shit of the ball sometimes. Yeah. Just fucking clear the lines. Yep. So I'm glad she's clocked that. ah The other thing, I think this was a big... I was wondering if this is what was happening last year. So when she talked about this next part in this presser, I was honestly kind of shocked.
00:30:01
Speaker
Yeah. Because she says, you know, they as a team identity, do we want to win games or play a certain way and maybe lose? um And that's kind of I feel like that's what she was trying to do last year.
00:30:15
Speaker
You know, when we were saying, like, you got to mix it up, you got to try something. But she wanted to win a certain way. That's what it felt like to me. Other people said similar things.
00:30:26
Speaker
And so I think she's in her do what you have to do to win era. Yeah, I mean, I think we all saw what happened last year in trying to do that. And then with this year, don't know. I feel like you look at teams like Orlando and it's just like you're...
00:30:43
Speaker
Maybe you can play your best. I mean, we played Orlando, right? We we played the best game we could play. And we maybe should have won that game, but we didn't. So we need to try something else.
00:30:53
Speaker
Right. But I mean, even in that game, she came out with a completely different layout for the team. Their shape was completely different. Something they'd never played before. And that's not something we saw last year.
00:31:05
Speaker
So I think she's playing to win. in a way that feels a lot different than last year. yeah It's fun. Yeah. Yeah. uh maddie and lynn were all the players that they brought in for the presser i was like kind of like don't know its it was weird to watch like the future and then like the legend next to each other you know yeah um as i was kind of like i i can't imagine like what maddie was feeling in that moment it was really cute to see it and you know maddie's talking and lynn's just kind of sitting there beaming i know
00:31:44
Speaker
ah And then Maddie's trying to compliment her as like somebody that she looked up to, but also, you know, as a teammate, as, as a peer.
00:31:56
Speaker
Lynn also just kind of bit unprompted talked about how much she loved playing here. She even had to ask Ryan Ryan Perez, the head of the media head, ah how long she'd been here because she couldn't remember because it's, it already feels like home.
00:32:13
Speaker
And he's like, since January. So like four months, right? Yeah. And she was, you talking about how great the fans were. She never expected to have that kind of reception. And and think just buy in from from everybody, the Seattle soccer community, the team, the staff.
00:32:30
Speaker
ah So that was as a as a fan, that is that's what you want to hear. Absolutely. And i mean, and then the other part, of as if as a Seattle fan, the other thing you want to hear is that she's hated Portland long before even being on the team.
00:32:43
Speaker
Yeah. That was the best. Yeah, she like had like a specific... I think she could look up the specific day she like learned that she hated Portland. ah The Portland Thorns, at least. and it was what I think she said it was 2017. And she's always some beef with them.
00:32:58
Speaker
and she's always had some beef with them so she's scored... like a ridiculous amount of goals against po i think it was maybe the most ever and a player scored against ah like the portland thorns at least um so i think maybe she'll get her goal in portland for us that would be nice hell yeah but i welcome any player that fucking hates portland i feel like that's like the just fishlock initiation yeah And now we ah hopefully Matt Adaline will now hate Portland and anyone else is welcome to hate Portland. But the number one rule in Seattle is fuck the thorns.
00:33:35
Speaker
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Speaker
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Sponsorship and Support Messages

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Speaker
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00:34:20
Speaker
Again, go to hacksandferments.com, use code SOUNDERATHEART, all one word, at checkout for free hot sauce with your order. Hacks and Ferments is a proud sponsor of the Sounder at Heart Podcast Network.
00:34:36
Speaker
Thank you for listening to the Sounder at Heart Podcast Network, which now includes Nos Anietes, Lobbing Scorchers, and The Cooler Guild. We've been independent since August of 2023, but need your support to make sure it continues.
00:34:49
Speaker
Although this podcast is free, it's only made possible by your continued support. Memberships start as low as $25 a year, which not only helps make podcasts like this one happen, but also gets you access to everything we produce.
00:35:02
Speaker
If you're able to support us at higher levels, starting at $75 a year, you gain access to a host of other perks, Most notably, entry into our members-only Discord where the smartest, funniest, and most engaged commenters share their thoughts and ideas.
00:35:18
Speaker
To find out more, just visit centeratheart.com and click the subscribe button in the top right corner. Thanks for listening.
00:35:28
Speaker
So, with all that game being through and gone, we have to have a player of the match.

Listener Questions and Player Insights

00:35:36
Speaker
Yep. ah It's time. It's time for the Cooler Player of the Match. Cooler Player the Match is brought to you by the doctor's office. A great little 12-seat bar.
00:35:45
Speaker
12-seat bar on Capitol Hill. The owner is big fan of the rain and is proud to be our very first sponsor. uh we had was funny because van asked me like who do you think player matches for you and i was like re-watched the first half because i kind of missed it i got my kickoff times wrong i do this semi-regularly so i was re-watching the first half and um i told van my first one but then she didn't respond so sometimes i'm like am i wrong so then i sent well also this person and then i was like okay do any need a third one because she still wasn't responding so then i was like okay well this would be my third person that i would choose and then van's like oh yeah this would be my first my second and my third and we were like on the exact same page um so this week we're giving it to claudia dickie congrats balled out balled out saved our asses when we did it most in a tight second it was almost a back-to-back sam mezza
00:36:42
Speaker
It was. we were Yeah, we we were heavily debating Sam Meza. With the shutout and the game she had, I think he deserves her flowers for this one. um But huge shout out to Sam Meza and James Turner.
00:36:58
Speaker
Yeah. And you can read more about how great they were ah in Susie's Ride of the Valkyries article. Go check it out. So thanks again to the doctor's office. um The doctor's office is the best place to grab a drink before or after a rain match. Try their charred Gibson.
00:37:12
Speaker
It tastes like a backyard gin martini, only instead of an olive, you get plucked a burnt onion right off the grill and dunked into your martini. I think that sounds, sounds delish. ah Check out their Instagram at TDO Seattle or better yet, go drink there in person.
00:37:26
Speaker
Cheers. Cheers. We reached out to the discord and you can join the discord discord for a measly, measly fee of $75 year.
00:37:39
Speaker
And you get access to like everything from Sounder at Heart with for that price. Full access. Yeah. So there's a special Discord on there. I reached out and asked what kind of things people wanted to go over, if any questions.
00:37:51
Speaker
um First one I got was from Susie, the ever-famous Susie. Susie asked, ah Sam Meza struggled against Angel City as the attacking midfielder, but has been a revelation playing deeper the last two games.
00:38:05
Speaker
Where do you think she's best suited in the midfield? You're correct. Deeper. With this lineup, deeper. I think that the struggle in Angel City, like we talked about in the last episode or the two episodes ago, was that missing midfield.
00:38:21
Speaker
um And she is so tenacious. Sameza is so tenacious. She wins the ball back incredibly quickly. um And she's able to swing that ball around and get involved in that kind of defensive midfield area.
00:38:41
Speaker
And in the Angel City game, there was a huge gap there. And so I think that they realized that. We're like, okay, we need somebody who can really control the middle and pull her back into that space. And it then it works.
00:38:55
Speaker
Do you think, I guess now that you're saying all that, I'm not super, I would say my brain is still learning the for formation stuff for soccer, but it seems like what you're saying is is like she kind of plays a similar role as like Sonnet.
00:39:10
Speaker
And I feel like Sonnet was a huge, like when we lost her, we were kind of struggling in that area. mean, we still kind of have been, but I feel like I watch this team now with Meza kind of play where she's been playing and I'm not like, shit, I wish we still had Sonnet.
00:39:24
Speaker
Yeah, you're right. It is a similar kind of six role, which is like the central midfielder that's just in front of the back line. And i just think with the the quickness that she has. Yeah.
00:39:37
Speaker
The quickness that she has, the ability to get stuck in. Yeah. And win the ball. That's really, really what you need in that area. And she's challenging for everything that's coming through, right?
00:39:50
Speaker
If she loses the ball, you best not you best be 20 yards away because she's coming at you. Yeah, she's getting back up. Yeah. um But yeah, I think I think you're right in that assessment that it's been like, Oh, we really need to find somebody to fit there. No, I think she fits there.
00:40:05
Speaker
Yeah, with her and ah James Turner, if she's having good game, that's a pretty good pairing, it seems like. Yeah, yeah, they seem to ah really play off each other. And James Turner got into the mix ah up up top a couple times, just being able to play the ball through or being in a dangerous position. So I'm i'm into it.
00:40:25
Speaker
Me too. um Tom Faber asks, which Reign player would you give, quote unquote, a most improved from 2024 to 2025 award to? I think it's a little too early to be saying that. We're five games in.
00:40:37
Speaker
And ah just a a lot of these players we didn't see much of last year, so it's kind of hard to... Yeah, exactly. i think that's my I think assessing it right now is a little tough to do.
00:40:48
Speaker
um If I had to think about it and the people I came up with was either Claudia Dickey or James Turner. And I would agree with that. i think in these last five games, Claudia Dickey's been exceptional.
00:41:02
Speaker
And i like I if you've been listening to this podcast for a hot minute, you know that I have not always been her biggest fan, but I i see it.
00:41:14
Speaker
And she's she's doing the things that good goalkeepers do. And she has been she hasn't made and i um I don't want to say this because i don't want to knock on wood.
00:41:30
Speaker
But, you know, there hasn't been that kind of lapse that you'd see the constant lapse of concentration that cause issues or, you know, making a save and not playing the ball, not parrying the ball away from pressure.
00:41:43
Speaker
hmm. No, that's that's not happening this year. She's done everything correctly. um So for me, I would say, hell yeah, most improved so far. Yeah, I guess I would be at Susie ask too about um Susie said like she's been looking more confident commanding about Claudie Dickey and have you observed the same? i think, yeah, that's exactly what's happening is she seems a lot more confident in the way that she's playing.
00:42:06
Speaker
yeah She seems to be like very physical about stuff in a way that I'm really, really appreciating. Coming out for balls. I think that also has something to do with what Laura so laura Harvey talked about in the postgame.
00:42:19
Speaker
She was saying that she's really wanting these younger players. And I would loop Quadriodiki into this sentiment here. to Somebody asked about the communication on the field and she's like, well, I can't really hear much, but but they're really trying to empower these young players to speak up, you to communicate, and to really find their leadership and their voice on the field.
00:42:45
Speaker
And it seemed like there was some miscommunication last year. So possibly with Dickey, this is a product of that effort to get players to feel more confident in that communication.
00:42:58
Speaker
ah But yeah, she's coming out for things. and And that was always kind of like something that we really liked about Claudia Dickey was her ability to come out and win balls out of the air.
00:43:10
Speaker
But there was some sort of confidence issue last year where it kind of dipped off. at times when we had a couple header goal goals scored and on from balls that she should have come out and gotten.
00:43:21
Speaker
You're not seeing that this year, this season. You're seeing a steady, confident goalkeeper. It's nice. It's great.

Haidema's Play Style and Team Adaptability

00:43:31
Speaker
Matthew asked, is Haidama entering her bully area era? Complimentary. It's a complimentary.
00:43:37
Speaker
I thought you would like this question. I did. He actually expanded on it today a bit. Oh, yeah. In the discord I saw. Also, there is a wonderful photo that the AP photographer took of Jordan Heidema after the game, just fully two feet in the air stomping on roses. Yeah.
00:43:56
Speaker
She, ah yeah, and so yes, she's in her bully era in the best way possible. I also saw the little clip of her after the game where she was, like, chanting to build a bonfire to like, the camera, screaming it into the camera. I have never seen that kind of energy from her.
00:44:12
Speaker
she's She's feeling it. And ah anyway, Matthew sits on the side a field level. And so um He said she absolutely bullied a thorn out of the pitch right by us and had a big grin on her face doing it. I ah love it.
00:44:37
Speaker
She is, but she's also the most fouled player in that game. Yeah, I think she's sick and tired. She's sick and tired of being sick and tired, you know? Yeah, yeah. She's got to be a little careful sometimes.
00:44:48
Speaker
um I think we had maybe missed, there's a... i don't it was the second game of the season. Oh, yeah. We had missed... It was at the very end where... it was on oh was the first game. it was against Gotham.
00:45:01
Speaker
um And she kind of... She kind of plays a little risky game sometimes with the pressure that she puts on players and stuff, which I don't mind, but she's got to be a little careful at times.
00:45:12
Speaker
um But I think she'st she'll get smarter about it, so I'm not super worried. Yeah, play hard, but don't play stupid. Yeah. ah The last one I'll ask you from Rick.
00:45:24
Speaker
I think Laura has settled in on her lineups. Do you think so? Or how much do you think she'll keep tinkering for simplicity, focusing on the right now? So like ignoring season and and injuries and loans and stuff.
00:45:35
Speaker
What do you think? This is a tough one because it's going to depend on player health. Yeah. We're not that deep. Huh? We're not that deep. No, not at all. um i think I think that she's being more pragmatic with the lineups and how who we're playing and how the other team sets up. I think she's being more pragmatic in that that choice of who she's starting. Yeah.
00:46:03
Speaker
I don't know. i think that there is still some tinkering to be had, ah like maybe with the Curry situation. h But i think that there are pieces that she's trying to figure out where a player is most effective.
00:46:20
Speaker
And if she's playing, you know, a certain formation, if is that player effective in that in that position? Yeah. um But we also have. players that haven't seen a bunch of time.
00:46:32
Speaker
You know, you've got Olo, who has been kind of filling in at the very end of games a couple times, but she's still getting back, you know, after being off for a year.
00:46:43
Speaker
So... AMC is another one I would like to see more of, but she had the international stuff going on, so makes sense why she wasn't there. I wouldn't say there's like a...
00:46:54
Speaker
and and you've got the middle is kind of packed now with g and ricardo so i think that that's going to be an ever-changing kind of thing yeah laura harvey's never been a person to have a set lineup yeah so so she looks at opponents looks at the strengths of the team in ways that i'm that i'm not i don't know those kinds of things like she does but i think a lot of people don't most people 99.9% of people yeah so i wouldn't expect us i mean we also haven't had like an outright like perfect performance with the perfect result right and until we see something like that on a weekly basis then like you can always improve and you can always kind of try new things especially with the types of players that we have on the team and the different abilities they have that yeah i just don't think that that's fully set personally
00:47:47
Speaker
I think she's settled on Claudia Dickey. I can. Yeah. i think she's the one. There's definitely some players that she would like to see every single week. Obviously, Claudia Dickey at this point. Jordan Bug.
00:48:01
Speaker
Jordan Bug. McLernan. um She would obviously love to have being dull on the field every, every single time. And I do think she's fully bought in on Darlene. Yep.
00:48:12
Speaker
But injuries, I don't know. I think you can plop a couple people into the if they're healthy. Yes, they're starting. Yeah, that's going to be in the lineup. But then you're everything else is kind of so dependent on other factors.
00:48:28
Speaker
For sure. I think that's pretty much all we got for the community questions. Thank you for asking questions, everyone. Yeah, thank you. Makes our episodes much more interesting and fun for us. um And I think that kind of wraps up the rain match. you have any final thoughts on it?
00:48:44
Speaker
I'm just so happy we won. Yeah. Truly. Couldn't have come at a better time. I was sitting next to some Portland reporters in...

Reign-Thorns Rivalry and Game Atmosphere

00:48:55
Speaker
I wasn't sitting next... They sat next to me.
00:48:57
Speaker
and Okay. They sat near me. Probably the dumbest seat they could have chosen. Yeah. So after the things that I heard them talking about before the match and then to go up in the fourth minute, I was just
00:49:13
Speaker
they always love that. there is i was watching the, like I said, I had some friends over watching the game and the the the dude, it was like a straight couple, um derogatory. ah
00:49:29
Speaker
anyway i'm dead okay i'm back so the dude like the dude follows sports as most men do cis men do but uh he was like who was this goalkeeper for for the rain he's like she's kind of a badass like fucking love her she's like fucking like she's like gutsy and like she's just going out there she looks tough and then like i was does she look tough and then they like cut to her like claudia dickie's face and she just like got that grimace you know like doing this thing she has a game face like nobody else yeah so he was really enjoying her and then i also think i like talked him into hating the thorns because he was just like these players are kind of assholes aren't they and i was like yep this is kind of their game plan one more note from the game moultrie got fouled fouled quote-unquote air quotes um right outside the box twice
00:50:24
Speaker
How can we... Blatant fucking dives, dude. they need to They need to be watching for those for her. She is just falling over. Feels like a ah fucking pinky on her fucking shoulder. She's going down.
00:50:36
Speaker
it was but It was not cool. I did not enjoy that. No. I mean, I get it. i get it. If it works, it works. And it's part of the game. It can be part of the game.
00:50:47
Speaker
But it's so incredibly blatant that I just... It may be very... I mean, diving like that should be a yellow card and then she did it multiple times at the game.
00:50:59
Speaker
Yeah. Red card. Get off the field. Yeah. Anyway. ah Yeah, that's it for me. Okay. ah Moving on to... That's the wrong document. and We got some unto-be-sell results to go over. Utah 1, Chicago 0. Shocker, not shocker. Toilet bowl. Yeah, toilet bowl. um Well, not really. North Carolina's down there. What was that?
00:51:19
Speaker
so not North Carolina's down there. Yeah. Yeah. But not us. Nope. That's all that matters right now. um Angel City, Gotham. um Angel City, they didn't have Alyssa Thompson.
00:51:33
Speaker
And apparently they have no game plan after that.
00:51:38
Speaker
and ah Throw Giselle higher up. And that did absolutely nothing for them. Yeah. I don't know if that's... Yeah. Interesting. i will say, though, Esther is just on a fucking tear.
00:51:49
Speaker
A fucking tear, man. She she is... I thought saw someone point out, like, how are you letting a 5'3 player get headers? I don't know. She's so incredibly smart with her positioning.
00:52:01
Speaker
just a place and she's quick she's nimble yeah like you see her like dart over that near post to get that header and i was like how do you stop she's nimble it's giving sam mezza let's add this to her game jace i think i figured out her name was pronounced jacy jace e ja ah scored her first from brazil um scored her first enemy so goal and the assist was from itch purse love to see that coming back um yeah there's also a weird deflected goal from distance but that was crazy super fluky yeah it was like a long to like a long shot was probably like 10 yards outside the box yeah and it hit a player in the head
00:52:41
Speaker
yeah And then it did this like weird thing where it like popped up and then like back into the goal. is Yeah. There was nothing the goalkeeper needed on about that. um so as was a four zero win, but it wasn't like a I mean, it looked like it was a thrashing look at the score line, but it was like an Astaire masterclass and then some kind of just angels that he had nothing to fight back.

NWSL Match Results and Team Challenges

00:53:03
Speaker
Yeah. Sam lady's like, well, you hired somebody else. So yeah. Why the fuck do care? Yeah.
00:53:11
Speaker
Louisville, San Diego. um San Diego won four to one. Things are bad. Things are bad and in Louisville. They're real bad. I don't know if a they're going to be in Louisville forever. Yeah.
00:53:24
Speaker
It was looking pretty sad out in the stands there. i know they've got a bunch of shit going on there with like weather and um a lot of stuff's not so good good there. um But there's been talk sometimes about possibly Louisville being relocated somewhere else at some point. And Seems like that might actually happen.
00:53:43
Speaker
We got to talk about the third goal in this game. It's literally like. Oh, the sad one. A ground shot. Right. And it's just a ah scoop from the goalkeeper. Right.
00:53:55
Speaker
And this what don't understand. They used to teach you to pick up the ball and and goalkeeping. Like you always want to have two points of contact behind the ball. Right. So when you catch the ball, that's why you move your body and you don't just reach out to catch it if you can.
00:54:08
Speaker
Right. Because if your hands, if it passes through your hands, it hits your body. it doesn't go in. She's going to scoop up the ball in just like a granny bowling pose, right? Or like a granny shot pose, just legs really wide apart, hands down, and it misses. She just takes her eye off of it, misses it, and it goes right through. Yeah.
00:54:28
Speaker
The vibes are not good with Louisville to be for that some like something like that to happen. Yeah, and Louisville's goal was a PK, so. Not good. Speaking of ah bad goalkeeping. Yeah.
00:54:40
Speaker
uh orlando finally got their first loss the season against a very very depleted washington spirit team yeah this was real surprising yeah i mean i guess it wasn't because i feel like we laid the groundwork on how to kind of deal with the orlando we just never found that goal sure we can take credit for this but also orlando had so many chances and they couldn't convert it was like the opposite of what they did against us Also, um where was this goalkeeping against us?
00:55:10
Speaker
Yeah, I was really excited. That was my favorite comment that you made. Yeah, because their goalkeeper... Morehouse. Yeah, she... she, like, kick it? Like, what...
00:55:21
Speaker
what
00:55:24
Speaker
I don't know what she doing out the back. Yeah, they were playing out of the back, which, you know, people you do you, I guess. But they she, like, went to take a touch away and wasn't looking around her or something. and Against Orlando. Or against orgainst' the spirit, right? So, like, yes, they're depleted on team, but, like, they're still a decent team. Like, they know how to do stuff.
00:55:49
Speaker
Well, and it was also the first start for... their new nigerian player who was pressing up top right and she just comes in and takes the ball right off of morehouse's foot and puts it in the back of the net and she's like in her six yard box this is just dumb i really wish that we would have had that goalkeeping just like any any percentage of that goalkeeping we played orlando last week she didn't step an inch wrong against us no and now she's just giving goals away
00:56:22
Speaker
come on don't appreciate that but this new Nigerian player 21 year old from uh Washington spirit her name is gift Monday and know love it um she seems promising so that's good for the spirit with um you know the news coming out this week that uh Trinity Rodman is going to be out with that back injury for an extended period of time Yeah, it's like unknown how long she's going to be out.
00:56:48
Speaker
um There's a lot of things to take away from that. I don't know if she's someone's not letting her recover the amount that she needs. The one thing I wanted to bring up about this was that...

Player Injury Management

00:57:02
Speaker
It's not easy for somebody as good as Trinity Rodman to admit that like your career is never going to be as great as you had dreamt it would be. Right. Cause she talked about this. She was like, this back injury is, is always going to be a hindrance for me.
00:57:15
Speaker
um And i don't know, maybe a week or two later, i saw Landon Donovan talking about how like Trinity Rodman is going to be like the best player in the entire world. And like, just like,
00:57:29
Speaker
I think putting this pressure on her career in a way that just kind of felt gross to me because of what comments she just made about it. Right. I don't know that it's, I just feel like it was kind of rude. yeah It seems out of touch.
00:57:46
Speaker
yeah Yeah. Especially with like, okay, Trini Robin's like one of the best players in the world right now. Probably top 15 at least. um When she's healthy. When she's healthy.
00:57:59
Speaker
But coming from a man that played professional soccer and all of... And coached. And coached. Right. But a man that knows... the amount of treatment and recovery and the resources that are available to these players are not half of what he was ever allotted he also took a sabbatical in his career yeah should not be making these comments no yeah it's it's just it's stupid it's out of touch it's like mean that's a sensitive subject i'm like i remember there's been a lot of this happens in the men's game as well but like it's a very sensitive subject to talk about players and their like prolonged injuries and just like these things that are going to affect their careers for the rest of their lives um like when everything happened to sam uis and it was pretty clear that her career wasn't
00:58:46
Speaker
going to be the same as it ever was despite being top five best players in the world before and i don't know I just feel like what are you doing talking about it like this well I think that's why i put a lot of my ah Laura Harvey gets a lot of my respect Yeah.
00:59:04
Speaker
Is the the, the amount of care that she puts into players injuries and allowing them ample recovery time. Yep. And it's very clear about that.
00:59:16
Speaker
And I think that, I think that her caginess about players injuries allows for that prolonged, um, time that they're able to stay out yeah it doesn't put pressure on them it doesn't put pressure on them but it also keeps the media from repeatedly asking you know like at least with lynn she knew that it was going to be sooner than later so she's like yes she has a high ankle sprain she did wait high and low ankle sprain she did wait until she was kind of more in the clear with it like right so and
00:59:49
Speaker
I think that that's one thing that we and I thought I was thinking about this and you know as somebody that's like I want to know what's wrong. I don't know why there was in the game. You know I think when it comes to the result of that and and how it plays out I think overall she has to be that way in order to give players that extra time.
01:00:09
Speaker
Yeah.
01:00:12
Speaker
Anyway, well said. All right. Next result, North Carolina lost again. They're bottom of the barrel right now. Yeah, they might be worse team. um they But we didn't know that when we beat them. So it means different things when we beat them. I did say, but we don't know how good North Carolina is. Yeah, I know. You did say

League Goalkeepers and Canadian Super League Debut

01:00:31
Speaker
that. But they got their win against them. ah Last game happened. It's weird that we're recording this on Sunday and all the games have already happened.
01:00:38
Speaker
i know that was a weird thing three games happened on friday that was really annoying um kc won against houston two goals for kc one was a penalty one was a header off of a corner that i don't know what jane campbell was doing lot of bad goalkeeping mishaps this weekend Yeah, Jane Campbell came out to punch the ball, but somehow a ah just went behind an attacker and not at the ball.
01:01:06
Speaker
Yeah, you can't be punching the ball if you you ain't sure where that's fucking going. Well, there's a reason she's not, you know, in the national team conversation. Well. Moving on. but I wanted to point out that KC does maybe have the best goalkeeper in the league right now.
01:01:22
Speaker
Maybe. Top two. Top three. She's up there. Lorena is doing really well for them. Mm-hmm. I would have Claudia Dickey into that mix, honestly. Yeah. Yeah, I would too. That's why i said top three.
01:01:33
Speaker
um You watched part of this game. i think that's pretty much it for the of B-Sell. ah The Canadian super Northern Super League kicked off. I did. i did watch this game. um Very exciting. We got three, four former Reign players.
01:01:51
Speaker
In this, in this Vancouver team. um Mariah Lee, you know, alumni of FC Olympia, my my local team here that I run, um ah started in this game as alongside Nikki Stanton and Quinn.
01:02:05
Speaker
hmm. uh stanton kicked the kick the game off they had the they had the first touch of the game so stanton got the first touch of the game and then they got a pk yeah or for the league yeah yeah the history of the league we got two history makers and former rain players here because quinn scored a pk goal yeah and they won one zero Pretty neat. Go Vancouver. had a pretty good crowd size there. That was great. It seemed like just like the environment was great. um And I have to say, top-notch announcing.
01:02:36
Speaker
Yeah. what it was incredible would i know it even if i heard it at this point i'm just i don't know probably not i do yeah i think where was that where where were they airing that it was on a youtube youtube okay something oh no sorry it's not on youtube my bad news yeah it's not espn plus yeah that's right or that's right um Yeah, it sounds like the... Well, it's it's a new league, right? And it's Canada.
01:03:00
Speaker
so it's going to take some time for the game to develop, I imagine. um Yeah, I mean, it wasn't the prettiest game to watch. But you got to start somewhere. Yep. ah Next match for the rain.
01:03:13
Speaker
Yep.

Upcoming Matches and Content Plans

01:03:14
Speaker
We got Bay FC on the docket at PayPal Park. Saturday, April 26th, 7 p.m. ION. Yep. So an away game, both teams coming off of 1-0 wins.
01:03:28
Speaker
We're tied with, well, on points tied with Bay. yeah So this could be a really important match as far as if we want to stay in the conversation for playoffs.
01:03:41
Speaker
I mean, it's early on, sure. But you have to you have to beat those teams that are on par with you points-wise and in the table. You have to win those games. And it's not like Bay's beaten anybody great yet, similar to us. um I mean, we beat Boreen FC and then maybe maybe the worst one of the worst teams in the league right now, North Carolina. And Bay's beaten Louisville and North Carolina.
01:04:06
Speaker
So, yeah, I think this is one of those games where it's a test. Yeah, I think it'll be... ah It shouldn't be a well-matched game. We should beat them. Yeah, agreed. Because we're getting better and better every game.
01:04:20
Speaker
So ah hopefully that can continue and when we can just thrash them and move on. Yeah. If this episode's going on, kind of long, so I'm not going to shout out the other things I want to say. But things I want to see, i want to see another B and Dolo goal involvement. I'd prefer to see her actually get a goal. But if we can keep getting her involved in stuff, that's going to be really good for us long term.
01:04:43
Speaker
I would say the exact same thing, but Jordan Hyde, my goal involvement. That would be nice. um Yeah. So go watch that. If anyone that has any interest, we were thinking we, I mean, i don't think it'll be happening soon because I've got some stuff going on.
01:04:56
Speaker
um But if anyone's interested possibly in us doing some like YouTube live after some of these away matches and want to like get involved and do some chatting there, let us know if you are interested. i don't know how you want to let us know.
01:05:10
Speaker
you can you can always send us an email we love an email yeah you can send us an email

Listener Engagement and Farewell

01:05:14
Speaker
uh yeah but you shout outs for the week uh no okay well i think it's gonna wrap up everything for us if you wanna we can thank our sponsors right now i guess the doctor's office just got inc instruments hacks and ferments doctor's office just just got on the list of best bars in oh yeah i was gonna shout that out yeah best was it number 75 best bar in america or the north north america that's pretty big it's pretty big accomplishment for them a little bar incredible it's a great place go there
01:05:43
Speaker
Yeah, go there. um And then, like I said, if you want to ah send us a thing about maybe doing his lives on YouTube, the place or the place to do that would be to let us know on Blue Sky or Instagram. That's the two places you could shout us out at Cooler Guild Pod.
01:05:58
Speaker
um Or like I said, you could send us an email at thecoolerguild at gmail.com. Or on our main website, sounderheart.com forward slash thecoolerguild. And that YouTube channel is youtube.com forward slash at thecoolerguild. Go follow and subscribe there, please.
01:06:14
Speaker
And wherever you're listening, go rate five stars. Till next time. Stay cool. Y'all. I forgot the y'all. Stay cool, y'all. Bye. Bye-bye. Bye-bye.
01:06:26
Speaker
Bye-bye.
01:06:44
Speaker
hardware store this later today or sometime this week and get like like make a cable runner for van jr okay because it's baby bunny season and they're his favorite food