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Point in Houston - Ep. 63
218 Plays13 days ago
The defense secured a much needed clean sheet. In this week’s episode of The Cooler Guild, we discuss the Reign's scoreless draw versus the Dash, including Claudia Dickey's standout performance on a slick surface and the scoring drought that seems to be plaguing the team. We also go over the remaining NWSL results and preview the Reign's next match.
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Show artwork by Coop
The Cooler Guild Est. 2024
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Transcript
Introduction and Podcast Housekeeping
00:00:19
Speaker
Hello, hello, hello, and welcome to episode 63 of The Cooler Yield. I am Coop Cooper. Joined with me, as always, is my co-host, Van k Crisp. Hello. we We're recording on Tuesday, May 5th, 2026. It's Cinco de Mayo.
00:00:32
Speaker
up On today's episode, we'll be going over the Reigns' road trip to Houston, quickly recapping other NWSL results, and then doing a preview for the Reigns' next match. But before we get into the...
00:00:44
Speaker
the nail no draw The super exciting nail-nil draw. We'll get some housekeeping to take care of. The Cooler Guild is part of the Sounder at Heart podcast network. You can either listen to us on our public feed or if you're a Sounder at Heart subscriber on the private unified 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. New subscribers get 10% off the normal rate and you'll help support everything we're doing.
Weekend Experiences and Personal Stories
00:01:07
Speaker
Uh, how was, we got the rain game on Friday, so you had your whole weekend. How was your trip to Portland? Oh, it was fun. Yeah. Yeah. We got in got my haircut, um, went and had some dinner by myself, which was nice. And I met up with my sister and, uh, we went to, they were having an, um, international women's sports film festival.
00:01:27
Speaker
So we went and saw the Brittany Griner documentary It's like an ESPN 30 for 30 film that premiered at Sundance. And it was fantastic. Movie was super cool. That's good. um Yeah. And Sunday, my sister and i did some shopping and hung out. Cool. Then I came back home.
00:01:44
Speaker
Sounds like a nice weekend.
Running Challenges and Heat Management
00:01:45
Speaker
Yeah, it was long. I took Monday off. Good. I chilled yesterday. Had it so I could have a little bit of a weekend at least. I wasn't driving. Yeah. What about you? um I don't know. Not a whole lot. I had, we had the super warm day on Sunday. Uh, I like went for a run in the morning cause I signed up for that stupid half marathon in Portland.
00:02:04
Speaker
And I've been kind of feeling a little, i't I feel like I was definitely sick with something. i don't know how bad it was, but like I was like, I'm gonna go for run and see if I was sick or if like it was just allergies. And that was the first day I felt kind of okay to do a run. But like, oh, it had to go before the heat really set in. Yeah.
00:02:20
Speaker
But I was like, if i if I eat breakfast now, I'm not going to be able to run for another hour probably. So I just like went for a run after only having coffee. And it was like, it was, I felt like I was going pass out. Wow. I was like, I cannot do the loop I want to do because there's no drinks nearby at like halfway through or, you know, before I go up a hill again.
00:02:42
Speaker
So I had to like run back through downtown to like go to a coffee shop and get like a scone and like an iced tea. was like, I'm not going to get it back up the hill unless I fucking get something. is i'm definitely going to pass out. It was like when I left Portland, it was like 92 degrees.
00:02:57
Speaker
Yeah. It's always hotter
Match Review: Houston Dash vs. The Reign
00:02:59
Speaker
down there, but... Yeah, it's always hotter down there. Luckily, we get a little of coastal breeze here, but yeah. It was ended up being like, okay, I definitely... like After that run, I was like, I think I was sick. Because I just had that weird clamminess. Didn't really feel right, but I seemed to be on the mend. so i didn't feel like total trash after I finally ate. so But, you know, lessons learned.
00:03:20
Speaker
Maybe just run earlier. it was like that window where it's like, I should have gone an hour earlier and it would have been fine. Yeah. Yeah, we walked to get bagels and coffee on Sunday morning. yeah and it was like, fine, the walk there. and then the walk back was like getting hot. And I was like, oh, man, we weren't even there that long. Yeah, yeah.
00:03:38
Speaker
It gets you out in Portland, especially. It's muggy. It's super muggy. All right. We got a nil-nil draw against the dash to get into. um ah Kind of sucks. We didn't score any goals. But after the low last game that we had, i guess I'll take a clean sheet at least. yes yeah I'll be very happy with that. um Do you have any general notes you want to get into first?
00:03:59
Speaker
um I was pretty ah excited about the top four when the starting lineup came out. ah It's really the first, I mean, not the first time we've seen these four together, but, you know, Fischl and Darlene coming off injuries yeah and seeing them get significant minutes. um So it was Adames, Fischl, Mercado and Darlene. And I was really stoked that there might be some production there.
00:04:20
Speaker
ah There wasn't. that Got close, but wasn't. um It had been pissing rain in Houston. We did avoid a weather delay. We did, but the field looks slow. Yeah, super boggy. Yep.
00:04:34
Speaker
Yeah, it wasn't great. I mean, when you can see the rain like that on the TV, like it's way worse in person. Yeah, when I pulled up the replay earlier, you can like hear it on the pitch side mics. That's so bad.
00:04:48
Speaker
not like they haven't played in something like that before, though. Luckily. i guess we can just roll into it. What what worked for you in this game? I mean, not getting scored on. That was the number one goal for this game after the last one, for sure.
00:05:00
Speaker
Yeah. I thought McLaren didn't play well this game, but Claudia Dickey, back to her ways. Back to regular programming for Claudia Dickey, which is hard to do as a goalkeeper when the field is that wet.
00:05:12
Speaker
It could get really dicey. Both goalkeepers had good games. Yeah, unfortunately for us. But yeah, she, like you wrote in here, balled out. Yeah, she did. And one thing that was really noticeable for me was every save that she was making, she held on to the ball.
00:05:29
Speaker
There were no giveaways where the ball was just kind of parried back into danger. She held on to everything. Yeah, she's kind of a magnet in a way that I feel like I don't see a lot of goalkeepers doing that.
00:05:40
Speaker
ah It's her positioning. Yeah, it's great. Positioning, footwork, and now handling skills. She also had a couple th throws, couple long throws out to wide players that really helped set off possession up the field, which I liked. and that was cool to see. But yeah, her performance definitely saved us this match. Yeah. What did you think of the defense as a whole?
00:06:03
Speaker
I mean, it's a good response, right? like They looked more organized. they The chances that Houston got, like it they felt like they were kind of having to take shots just because there wasn't a lot of openings yeah and getting into the box and kind of dribbling through them as much as we saw Well, i guess the last one was just mistakes. Yeah. um So like they were tightened up and they didn't make any of those same mistakes and they did just put it behind them.
00:06:30
Speaker
Yeah. Which is what we needed. It's like they the meant being mentally kind of turned off happened in the attacking third instead of the final third this game. Which I will, like your defense can't afford that. So right obviously you need someone to score, but sometimes you can also get lucky on goals. But if you really fuck up at the back, that's, it can be a total order to come back from that. So I'll take it.
00:06:55
Speaker
Couldn't score goal this game to save our lives. So. ah But that didn't stop them from creating chances. And I think Adames and Huerta worked really well together. Yeah. There was a couple combination moments that I was like, oh, I could see this. There's some decision making from Adames that ah I have questions about. well same thing happened. What was that? The...
00:07:18
Speaker
Oh, I think it was in the the Louisville game in Spokane where she had like a breakaway then she hit the shot right at a goalkeeper. Yeah. It's one of those things where like, do I want her to pass it? Yes, because it seems like obviously the better shot is over there. But at the same time, there's players like Adames all over the league. And when they get those opportunities, they just take them. They don't pass them.
00:07:40
Speaker
And eventually maybe she'll start hitting them. Yeah, but are we speaking are we talking about ah like the the play where she's it's like a 2v2? Yeah, and then Darlene's out to her left. And Darlene's tracking on the left-hand side. Yeah, that one. And if she would have passed it taken half a second and slotted and split those two defenders, Darlene would have been right in. Yeah. something i think something different should have happened there. yeah But I also like if she would have hit that you would have been like I'm so glad she took that.
00:08:07
Speaker
But she didn't. So lot the question so here we are. Yeah. that The decision making on that like kind of annoyed me and there's been a couple of other instances like that with the Dom is. But again, it's it's like someone who plays in that position, sometimes that's what they do. They have to take their shots and maybe in the future she'll realize it's better to just let my teammate try and do it.
00:08:30
Speaker
Or if if somebody's in a better position than you and you have the opportunity to slot them in. Yeah. Do it. What else worked for you? a couple things. This is really, we haven't seen Mercado and Fischl play like this together recently if ever what was like officials and hasn't been around right because the injury but i thought that they really held up that central attack and part of that just was stretching the field always having somebody there me official despite not scoring a goal got herself into very dangerous positions two or three times and mercado is just everywhere Yeah, she's like, ah she just, i feel like she annoys other teams. Yeah, definitely. That's a good thing for us to have. Yeah.
00:09:17
Speaker
um And what comes along with that is the rain won the ball back in the attacking third a lot. There weren't, they didn't let Houston really skip lines and play through the middle as much as we've seen recently.
00:09:31
Speaker
Which they did that without Fishlock. So that's, you know, credit to them for working through that adversity. Yeah. They love that. They love adversity, as we've said. ah Moment to step up and do something different. they'll They'll figure it out. Yeah. What else worked? I don't know. wow I don't know. Goals were scored, so.
00:09:52
Speaker
ah I like McCammon shooting from outside the box. She's got a rocket. does. Jane Campbell made a really good save on that play. If one of those would have gone in because they hit the post, what, twice? Yeah.
00:10:04
Speaker
It would have been a completely different story. yeah we'd all be talking about how the rain are like maybe legit and like they have blips sure but like they're capable of doing good stuff and they're getting closer you're giving me ptsd okay
00:10:20
Speaker
yeah and well they're not there yet so what didn't work for you ah like i just mentioned jane campbell having a good game yeah I mean, i'm not going to be ah mad about that when that's a backup goalkeeper for the U.S. national team.
00:10:37
Speaker
Yeah. But she'll be back up to Claudia Dickey. Yeah. But yeah, she had a great game. the i really thought something was going to happen. And then I think in the 66th minute, Fishel and Dahlien came out. Yeah. And I was like, ugh.
00:10:52
Speaker
And then not much happened after that, honestly. i don't know if it would have like been better to so to sub them on. They need to get started. So it's it's just like, I guess this was what needed to happen.
00:11:04
Speaker
But it also like is one of those games where everyone is kind of tired by the end. That if you would have had someone of the quality of maddie dahlien running in there at the end maybe maybe a goal gets scored yeah and i mean i understand the substitution just because they're still coming back from injury and on minutes restriction so it makes sense short week too
Team Performance Concerns and Future Schedule
00:11:22
Speaker
for everybody yeah and me official you can tell she hasn't been in front of goal for a hot minute in a game i there was it was rough a little rough times where it was like well did you forget how to shoot
00:11:36
Speaker
Yeah, there's some really soft efforts and then some completely whiffed efforts. We got to do better. Yeah. That's we signed you for. we know we can do. Please figure it out.
00:11:48
Speaker
Boot it. Boot it hard sometimes, you know. Don't beat it so hard you'll miss it. That whiff was so bad. it was real bad. i was like, ooh, she's really getting her...
00:11:59
Speaker
She's really getting her sea legs back. The sea legs comment was that you put in there. I was like, yeah that does feel that does feel accurate. But when will that click? I don't know. But if it if it can get going, which it needs to, it'll be nice. It'll be very dynamic. It'll help this offense a ton. it's just They're just missing that little bit of quality. I'm going to lose my mind if I keep hearing that. I'm going to lose it.
00:12:25
Speaker
I had put a note that the crossbar and post have a personal vendetta against the rain. I think at this point I'm just convinced that that's what's happening. i don't know though. Is it like, cause I was like, is it a vendetta or does does the crossbar and post just really like us? And that's why it keeps happening. um it's just, I always get angry when I saw like those crossbar challenges. I'm like, we shouldn't be practicing to hit the crossbar.
00:12:48
Speaker
We don't need to get good at that.
00:12:52
Speaker
don't think that's what they're doing in practice, but I just wanted to... If they are, stop. Yeah, please stop. Please, whatever you do. ah Because I don't want to... Yeah, I don't like this path that we're going down because it has been a hot minute since we've scored a goal. I looked it up, all related to the same thing. Last time we scored it was the 42nd minute against Louisville, which was ah one, two, three, four games ago. it was... Was it that long ago? Yeah, which was the, what was the date on that? Why don't you put it at the top? it was Saturday, March 28th.
00:13:26
Speaker
Oh my God. it was like the first half too. it wasn't even like we got a second half late goal. That was the goal that we gave up late too. Uh, yeah, not good. I would say bad.
00:13:38
Speaker
yeah buts Not real promising. Are you worried? No. No? No, I'm not worried. When you get looks like you did in this game, it's going to happen. But the problem's going to be, which we'll talk about in the preview, is those chances are going to be more limited when you play against a team like the Washington Spirit, who we're up against next. Mm-hmm.
00:13:58
Speaker
And so the likelihood that they're going to convert those limited chances when you have several chances and are unable to convert the likelihood that you're going to convert your maybe less a handful of chances in the next match. Yeah, it's pretty low. So am I worried about that? Yes.
00:14:11
Speaker
But as a whole, no, they got it cooking. It'll happen. Which, to be fair, i feel like we've played some pretty good keepers, which does, that maybe that concerns me more, because the last time we had, like, a really good game was against against your favorite, Lorena, who's not a good goalkeeper. So, yeah, they got they gotta to figure out to how to get more. they First of all, they need to get more creative, I think, with how they actually want to get a goal.
00:14:40
Speaker
Yeah. Because it's not working. And it's not like they made Jane Campbell look good in this game. There were several chances that she saved that would have been goals on a lot of other goalkeepers in this league. Yeah, totally. Totally.
00:14:52
Speaker
But when you have a great game like that, it's like, and the conditions were not good. So that's why it's even more annoying that they couldn't even like take advantage of like a really, really wet pitch.
00:15:03
Speaker
Yeah, I'm kind of having deja vu to the Denver game. Hmm. Yeah. But. Hey, they got a point on the road, though, so I guess we shouldn't be so so upset. but Yeah, I'm not mad about not losing.
00:15:16
Speaker
I'm frustrated that they couldn't score a goal. Yeah, I'm just disappointed. When they have the quality of chances that they had. Yeah, definitely. But when you're two feet in front of the goalkeeper and you whiff the ball.
00:15:28
Speaker
We're going to not be happy about it yeah yeah because they had ah another save too with like Defender on the line. So like they were, you know, in their positions and stuff too. But yeah, it's those those little things where like I'm literally seeing how this was, you could have done better. Yeah.
00:15:47
Speaker
So anything else you want to add on to what didn't work? No. It's kind of like, just got to move on. Yeah. I just, this game was frustrating for me because it could have been so much different.
00:16:00
Speaker
I'd have a better outlook on life. What?
00:16:04
Speaker
I a lot of opportunities and it's frustrating yeah to not capitalize on them because we're struggling for points right now. Yeah. Falling, falling and in the table. Yeah, you don't want to get lost in there because then it gets really tricky to get get out of it. And then also like when it gets done to the end of the season, if you're kind of in the thick of it, one little slip up in a game can cost you your playoff spot.
00:16:28
Speaker
Yeah. And our schedule is kind of tough the next five matches. Yeah, it's not good. You get two home games coming up against the Spirit in Gotham. this is This is not what I needed to... i I was looking at things one game at a time, and now you've really ruined next two weeks.
00:16:49
Speaker
Yeah. ah ah Do you have any final... like i think i think we can I think we should just move on from this. I really do. I think we should move on from this next game that's going be really tough. do you have any final thoughts overall? you know Where things are standing with the rain and what what they kind of are putting together?
00:17:06
Speaker
I like the vision. Okay. I do. And I think that you can, so like I said earlier, you can see that growth in creating those chances. It's, they just have to do better.
00:17:17
Speaker
And I'm going to be really frustrated if I don't see that in the next two games, but I'm going to give them a chance. Players are coming back from injury. It's, we've had a rough go of it with Fishlock being out.
00:17:30
Speaker
Bug's still out. Bug's still out. So I'm going to give them, let's have this conversation after After the Gotham game. Oh, God. That's my cutoff. If they don't freaking pull one out of there, going be mad. it a Gotham game at home? Yeah. Okay. Yeah, they've got to they've got to find a way to do something to inspire us.
00:17:50
Speaker
We play the spirit 20 days apart. That's what I love to hear. it's just really, really great to hear that. And that's our last game too, going into the break.
00:18:01
Speaker
So they, they've got to figure out some way to inspire themselves into this, this break, right? Cause you don't want to go down on like, you don't want to go on this break with not picking up some sort of big result. Yeah.
00:18:16
Speaker
Because it's not going to be easy. You want to put yourself in a position on the table where you're not scraping back up into the playoff picture. don't like that. I don't want that. Nope. I did say i didn't think we were going to be contenders for the Shield. And ah unfortunately, seems to be correct. Yeah. Unless something drastically changes, that's i just don't so don't see any way that's going to not be true. um Yeah.
00:18:43
Speaker
Well, this has been fun and uplifting for everybody, I'm sure. People always get mad that like I sound so negative, but like a point in the road is good. We should recognize that.
00:18:54
Speaker
But I also recognize how difficult the schedule is. And we brought this up last week. We were like, oh, we're playing you know Houston next. And then we have Spirit. Oh, God. Oh, God. We have Spirit. And then i started looking into the stats of Spirit. And I was like, this is not... i don't I don't... I need to
Sponsorship and NWSL Game Recaps
00:19:08
Speaker
stop reading. Yeah.
00:19:09
Speaker
Should we to Cooler Match? Sure. All right. The Cooler Player of the Match is brought to you by The Doctor's Office, a great little 12-seat bar on Capitol Hill. The owner is a big fan of The Reign and is proud to be our very first sponsor.
00:19:21
Speaker
Hmm. I don't think... We had a brief discussion, but it seemed pretty obvious. Yeah. ah She's back, back, back, back again. Guess who's back, back again.
00:19:32
Speaker
You know, I had a I just got my hair re-bleached, right? And then I, i knew you were good. Well, the funny part is I had just bought some plain white shirts because I was like, and I was like, I need some plain white shirts because I just like the simplicity of And I'm trying to get rid of like a bunch of my graphic shirts because they don't age well.
00:19:51
Speaker
And I had just got my hair bleached. I wore my white shirt and I looked in the mirror and I was like, oh God, it's Eminem. At least you don't have a buzz cut. It's true. It's true. I was tempted to be like really lean into it, but I didn't do that. ah Anyways, we gave a cool player the match this week to... Claudia Dickey.
00:20:08
Speaker
Yep. Good response after last week and the blunders there. parsh least one of those impartial to her. um But yeah. is this is a good This is a good game for her. Really good game. Do you any fun stats on that with her what she did? ah She made five saves and prevented 1.51 goals per XGOT. Yeah, we could have lost by goals. Yeah. Thanks again to our sponsor, The Doctor's Office. The Doctor's Office is the best place to grab a drink before or after a rain match. Make an appointment today and order their limited edition NA cocktail, May Queen.
00:20:43
Speaker
I almost put on, i noticed that there was an NA one on here for the first time that I've looked at least. May Queen. damn it. A coconut cream soda elevated with bitter herbs, black tea, ginger and citrus. Intricate and sophisticated despite its lack of alcohol. I love an any cocktail. I really do. um and I also love ginger and I love coconut and I love black tea.
00:21:09
Speaker
So this is like totally up my alley. That sounds very refreshing. I'm drinking a dad's root beer. Right on brother. Yeah. i like <unk>t ah Check out their Instagram at TDOC yellow or better yet, go drink there in person.
00:21:24
Speaker
Cheers. Cheers, dad.
00:21:28
Speaker
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Speaker
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00:22:09
Speaker
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00:22:20
Speaker
you You had a busy weekend, but did you catch any of the other NW Soul games? Yes. how Did you get to watch any of them at the bars out there? No. Oh. I didn't really go to the bar. Cool. Where was the thing at?
00:22:31
Speaker
ah It was at the Judy. Where's that? It's downtown. Oh. Okay. It's like just like a little theater. It's a center. i don't know. Okay. um But no, I watched the Wednesday games and then there was a bunch of games this weekend. There's a lot of games, so let's just go over it. Okay.
00:22:47
Speaker
Boston tied North Carolina 2-2. It was the first point for Boston. think Boston was actually up 2-0 half and then let two in. they They tied. They were so excited for a second. ah The Spirit beat Louisville.
00:23:01
Speaker
Robbins scored the game-ending goal the 15th minute. ah Chicago beat Gotham. Sorry. sorry whoo who That doesn't happen. wow That didn't happen. Chicago lost to Gotham Jordan Dudley scored 46 seconds in on a Shawcross. Makes me feel better about our early goal. we give up Oh, yeah. we're We've been redeemed a lot. And Roosevelt scored the other goal.
00:23:22
Speaker
ah Portland played San Diego. These are the Wednesday games. ah This is the last one from the Wednesday lineup. ah Portland beat San Diego 2-0. And they were 1-2 in the standings. That's a big game for Portland. Yeah. Mueller in the 18th minute and Sophia Wilson in the sixty fourth minute.
00:23:39
Speaker
ah This one should have been saved, but it's high score. ah Portland lost the stats battle bad in this one. ah The XG was 0.21 Portland and 1.05 for San Diego.
00:23:51
Speaker
Man, I wish that was us sometimes. Not Portland, but like just, yeah. well Why can't we finish some scrappy shit sometimes? Yeah. uh in the weekend games so exciting one uh orlando to washington four uh this one was delayed due to lightning in orlando surprise shocking um can tori scored the fastest brace in and nwsl history in the sec she scored in the second minute and the sixth the minute again redeemed um
00:24:22
Speaker
MacGyver made a save on a Lemos penalty kick and parried it out for a corner. Yeah, I saw that one. And then on the corner kick, Barbara Banna scored. She scored both goals for Orlando in this game.
00:24:35
Speaker
um She has seven goals in seven matches, leading Golden Boot race. Rodman scored again three straight games with the goal. North Carolina lost to Casey 2-1. Corbethune scored, Cooper scored, and then Monaka in the 85th minute to pull one back. ah There was a red card for a hair pull in this match. Was it more deliberate than the other one? against ah a kind of looked It was another one of those going up for challenging a header. Yeah. Behind and grabbing the player in front okay and grabbing the hair. Yeah.
00:25:07
Speaker
It's a trap, you know. um And then Utah beat Angel City 1-0. Angel City. And I'm not saying this had anything to do with it. Could have. Probably did. Mandy McGlynn came back into the starting lineup.
00:25:19
Speaker
Came back from her hand injury. um Cronin crossed to LaCasse for the goal. And then there was a red card for Angel City the end of the first half. They didn't show the foul on the replay, but it was noose.
00:25:31
Speaker
I wish the whoever does these replay stuff is really bad other their job. It's they're so long. And for what reason? And then Portland beat Chicago two to zero. My note for this game was Chicago can't defend.
00:25:44
Speaker
And they can't score or either. Last two games. Yeah. Having trouble with that. Can't relate. The game of the weekend for me, other than ours, ah was the Boston versus Denver game. Boston's at home.
00:25:55
Speaker
I had to leave. This game was on Sunday. I had to leave to because my sister and Victoria were going to the opener for the WNBA preseason for the Portland Fire.
00:26:08
Speaker
So turn the game off in about the 85th minute. Mm So in the Battle of the Expansion Teams, ah Denver was up two to one. And then in the 90th minute, their sub Traore scored.
00:26:21
Speaker
And then in 90 plus four, there was five minutes of added time. In 90 plus four, Bianca St. George went and scored the winner. So Boston gets to celebrate their first win at home. Dramatic too. note, Allie Wach got married? Yeah.
00:26:34
Speaker
No clue. She's like been with that guy who's like an Olympian. i like knew about that because I saw him in the Olympics. Oh. And I was like, I recognize that guy. i like saw him on her Instagram or something. And I was like, why do I recognize this man? And then it's because I saw him at the Olympics. I was like, oh, she's just dating and and an Olympian. Got it. So now it's Ali Brazier, not Brazier.
00:26:55
Speaker
Okay. Yeah. I mean, Brazier. mean, he's Olympian. I guess take his last name. i don't know. don't I don't agree with that, but whatever. um And then Gotham squeaked one out against Louisville. It was the opposite of what happened in the Wednesday game, and Dudley crossed to Shaw, who scored, and serious, was not marking on the back post. So in the final game of the weekend, um San Diego lost a lost to Bay. That's a tough one.
00:27:20
Speaker
Yeah. this was This was just an ice-cold goal. So Kudanaji gets played through. Goalkeeper comes out, and Kudanaji just looks up. Oh, no. Oh, no. Megzer. no Oh, I do like that there are people are knocking the the wind out of the sails of San Diego, though. Yeah, because I i need anything at this point.
00:27:42
Speaker
takes It's not too long ago. You were like, and they're getting her. Yeah.
00:27:50
Speaker
Yeah, we need to i mean we need them to like fall down a little bit because we won't catch back up. I'm sorry, but this is what the Reign have done to themselves. So I'm out here rooting for things I don't want to have to root for. I just want to be focused on our team and how great they are. But that's not happening.
00:28:06
Speaker
Yeah. End of the weekend, we're sitting in sixth place behind Utah. Fair after the way they did to us.
Upcoming Match Preview and Fan Engagement
00:28:14
Speaker
um But there is a Wednesday game, which is, i think, what did say? Utah-Houston? That sounds right. Yeah. That's you said. And um if Houston were to win that, we would drop to seventh.
00:28:28
Speaker
Ew. ah If we tie, I think we would still drop to seventh. So we need Utah to win if we want to stay in sixth place. I guess, well, I don't want to get too ahead of myself with what the rain need to do going to the break if things aren't where they should be. We'll save that conversation. We'll take note, right, that the top four teams have all played eight matches. We've only played seven.
00:28:53
Speaker
So there's some discrepancy there. Sure. There's also discrepancy with our goal scoring, but. ah All right. The Noreans next match, in case you couldn't tell what when we said it, it's going to be against the Spirit. That'll be Sunday, May 10th. It's a Mother's Day match. It's at Lumen Field, 4 p.m. It'll be on Victory Plus, and you can listen to it on 950 KJR AM, m correct? Yep. AM. What do you want to see in this game?
00:29:20
Speaker
I wrote, score more goals than the other team. ah Wow. i That's a really good strategy for soccer. they're like i they're They're going to need to be clinical on the few chances that they get. They're going to need to be quick and efficient on transition.
00:29:37
Speaker
And they're going to need to defend, defend, defend. Yeah. Spirit have some incredibly lethal players. mean, you've got Rodman on here, Lisey Santos, and Cantore.
00:29:50
Speaker
We're not even, I mean, you could keep going. Kwasi. Yeah. do you want me? No, please don't. Please don't scare me more. ah it's It's going to be a battle. Yeah.
00:30:02
Speaker
But if they can do this, I think that it'll kind of shift some things in how we think about this team. But being in in reality, it's an up uphill battle to win this match. Yeah, I there's like things I want from this team, but I know the health and fitness isn't there for the players that I feel like we need to show out for this. Can they do enough in the minutes they'll get?
00:30:29
Speaker
We haven't seen that happening in like a few games. So I just don't know because I feel like this is the kind of game that screams Darlene is going to be able to run up and maybe figure out a way pass some people with her speed. Yeah. But she's not I don't know. Like we saw in this last game she's on minutes restriction. hmm. But we'll see how that changes. Yeah. And it can be official like like get her swag back. Right. Like can she do that?
00:30:55
Speaker
Can she not? And this would do you think this would be the game. This would be the game for her to turn that on, you know. I mean, yeah. And you look at your opponent. You want a game where you come in and make a name for yourself? Yeah. Score score the winning goal against Washington when they're yeah they're on their fourth straight win. This to be their fifth game.
00:31:12
Speaker
We can't give them five straight wins. No, we can't. We can't let Trinity Rodman continue her scoring as well. That would be a nice thing to end um because she you said she scored in last three games. So let's end that streak there.
00:31:25
Speaker
Um, unfortunately the spirit are tied for first and goals, total goal are scored for the NWZL and they've scored 11 goals in four matches. Um, I don't like, I don't like that stat for, for us, no um but I do believe in this defense.
00:31:45
Speaker
They usually get the better hand at, like they usually get the upper hand on us though. Spirit do. And I, at some point that has to change. With the Spirit, it's a lot of crossing and finishing. And it seems that the back four have at least kind of figured it out.
00:32:00
Speaker
But there's going to be a big battle on the outsides. That's giving me anxiety to think about. It's going to be Huerta against Rodman, and that's going to be a huge matchup to watch.
00:32:12
Speaker
Curry's got to have a good good game. and Everyone's got to be locked in back there because Spirit liked to hold possession. They're not going to sit back there. It's okay. Sam Meza will rip it off your feet. that's the thing is we've got Sam Meza, so maybe she can disrupt whatever they're doing. And the game's at home, so um let's you know make the Seattle Moms happy.
00:32:34
Speaker
You know, what's what's wrong with that? Yeah, I really just don't want to play the first two home games in Seattle and have them be absolute heartbreak because... It's not a good it's not a good way to... I mean, like, unfortunately, that's just, like, not a good way to get fans in. No, it's not. People like want to hear, like oh, they're playing Trini Rodman, and then they come watch Trini Rodman's team, and then all of a sudden the Reign are playing better than Trini Rodman's team, right? like That's what will keep people coming back. Yeah.
00:33:04
Speaker
getting him Getting a bad result against Trini Rodman's teams and be like, well, I guess this isn't a neat thing i need to go to weekly. I thought it is, though, because people are really nice there and it's a really good environment. So you should come back anyways. But yeah it's a lot of fun. You know, they it wouldn't hurt to give the fans a show.
00:33:23
Speaker
i mean, that's what we constantly have been asking for. i know. And I just want to stop having to ask. Yeah. um I want my ah needs to be met.
00:33:35
Speaker
i just had a flash of Jerry Maguire. Show me the money. do you have other things you want to ch touch on with the rain? No. Cool.
00:33:47
Speaker
Any shout outs? um ah ah Is there a shout, bad shout out? Yeah. I wore my i wore my rain sweatshirt to the Brittany Grimer movie. Yeah. And they were checking my ticket at the front and like everyone there was wearing Thorne's merch.
00:34:01
Speaker
Yeah. And I'm in my rain sweatshirt and they were like, we shouldn't even let you in with that sweatshirt on. And I was like, bitch, you should feel bad for me. tim event Well, their their whole thing is like bullying. so you know, they've got to continue be to be assholes, I guess. But yeah kick kick. I mean, i don't know if we're fully down yet, but it does feel like you're getting. i was just speaking as to when we went down there to play them. It's just. Yeah, I that was not fun. Please, please, please, please. it Not right now. Oh, and then the lesbian sitting in front of us in the theater.
00:34:37
Speaker
We're like turning around talking to us for the movie. And she like looks at me. She's like, oh, you know, you you're a Portland sports fan. And I was like, no, I'm not. was like, absolutely not. I
00:34:49
Speaker
i like the picture that you said it exactly like that. Just like flustered. Absolutely not. Throw drink in her face. I'm wearing a rain sweatshirt. Anyway, um so that was fun. I was asking for it honestly.
00:35:04
Speaker
Well, whatever. You know, they didn't see you in a cape. So they they were just like, whoa, who's this person? It's true. but about you? Do you have any shout outs? No. Okay. I don't think there's anything interesting going on.
00:35:18
Speaker
Yeah. I feel like I had something, but it's obviously not that important. ah Thanks again to our sponsor, The Doctor's Office. You can go follow us on Blue Sky and Instagram. We're at CoolerGuildPod. You can send us an email. We love an email to thecoolerguild at gmail.com. You can also visit us on our main page and read the rest of the Rite of the Valkyries content, ah which is part of this website, sounderheart.com forward slash thecoolerguild.
00:35:42
Speaker
Yeah, we use a lot of reference points there because people do a lot of really good work and research and stuff like that. So consume that content. It's great. ah We're on YouTube, youtube.com forward slash at the Cooler Guild. Wherever you're listening, please go write five stars. It's a good idea. Really good idea. It'll make you feel good. It'll make me feel good. Yeah. Maybe it'll make the team win. Yeah. Again, i might have to go investigate in some witches.
00:36:07
Speaker
was thinking about that. And I don't like i fit the like the spirit, like just like the name of the spirit in times like this. I'm just like, oh God, I don't need to be haunted by the spirit.
00:36:18
Speaker
Maybe we can rain on their spirit. Okay. ah Till next time. I'm Coop. I'm Van. that Stay cool, y'all. Stay cool.
00:36:53
Speaker
Yeah. I don't want my cats meowing everywhere. Whatever. Sorry. I just keep, if you hear cat meowing, I don't know why he's angry. We haven't cuddled enough today. I was too busy. Um,