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The Cooler Guild: So far, so good in Spokane - Ep. 59
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Reign's "home" away from home is going well. The Reign wrapped up their two-match week notching five goals and collecting all 6 points. We discuss the emphatic wins over both KC and Louisville, look ahead to their final home match in Spokane, and briefly cover other news from around the NWSL.
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Transcript
Introduction and Episode Highlights
00:00:19
Speaker
Hello, hello, hello, and welcome to episode 59 of The Cooler Guild. I am Coop Cooper, and joined me, as always, is my co-host, Van Crisp. Hello, hello. We are recording on Tuesday, March 31st, 2026. On today's episode, we get to go over both of the rain's latest results, which happen to both be two big wins. Yes. It's a double-dub pod. Double-dub Yeah. I resisting making the joke I want to make.
00:00:47
Speaker
What is the joke? I'm resisting. mean, not resisting. i just don't understand what the joke would be. Oh, okay. Nevermind. Yeah. i Don't make it. yeah um Yeah. I also feel like i always forget that there's 31 days in March every time it
Podcast Network and Support Information
00:01:03
Speaker
happens. yeah um But first, before we get into the rest of the episode, we've got 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 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.
Tone Shift from Previous Episode
00:01:27
Speaker
Yeah, i'm trying I had to not do that joke because Alex was like, there was maybe too many F words in your last episode. Whatever. i was really angry. All right. Yeah, this is a big departure from the last episode. Certainly. Was there overreactions? Yes, but that's what people want. Yeah.
00:01:43
Speaker
And it was also, we did leave it open for maybe it's just a one-time thing. And hopefully that is actually the
Kansas City Team Critique
00:01:51
Speaker
case. um We've got a lot to go over though because we didn't cover the last two games yet. um So we got two games to get into. It's great. It's great. I'm very happy about what happened. Yeah, the turnaround was always going to be interesting, right? Yeah. Going into play KC, who had a rough couple first weeks, to say the least. Definitely on Fraud Watch. um I don't even think they're on Fraud Watch at this point. I feel like they're straight up frauds right now. they're They're certainly frauds right now. Why did you think hiring a guy who couldn't coach men could coach women? That's what I don't get.
00:02:25
Speaker
Just because he coached in MLS, somehow that means he's qualified. He bad in MLS. Yeah. I don't get it. don't get it either. know they've got a few injuries, but like we all know that they're so stacked.
00:02:35
Speaker
Yeah. So I don't really feel like it's an excuse. um Let's talk about some, before we get into specifics here, let's talk about some things that we noticed through both matches.
00:02:45
Speaker
They had success in similar ways in both matches. i but Yeah, there were a lot of differences, but there were a couple consistent
Praise for Sofia Huerta's Performance
00:02:53
Speaker
things. um One of them was Sofia Huerta. So good. Incredible.
00:02:59
Speaker
She just made casec look stupid. And her placement and weight yeah on her crosses. This is the player that we remember from the pre-OL Lyon transfer days. Yeah.
00:03:14
Speaker
Also credit to Mercado for getting that good finish on that first. yeah. Yeah. First one, because that was really well placed and she had the right amount of power on that, too. So um and also with the new four back system, big fan, number one.
00:03:29
Speaker
But it doesn't work without the help of the defensive midfield. And throughout both matches, Sam Meza's being Sam Meza. Yeah, she's very, very fun to
Highlighting Sam Meza's Midfield Play
00:03:41
Speaker
watch.
00:03:41
Speaker
I love watching her. Every time she has the ball at her feet, it stays so close. She's also slipping. Like when she does get forward, she is trying to slip balls through and they might hit a little bit traffic on the way, but they still a lot of times get to where they're supposed to get to. And it might take a couple of kind of hitting someone's shin or something through that, but she just stays on it and is very, very determined to make sure that she doesn't really lose the ball.
00:04:07
Speaker
It's ah that's what I noticed when I was rewatching the highlights from ah the KC game today. And along with that, defensively, if anybody's losing the ball in the midfield, her recovery speed is so quick that she's winning the ball back before they can really get a quick turnaround of possession and get get into trouble. In that sense, she reads things really well. Yeah, I'm a big fan of hers. I'm i excited to watch her more this season, as I was last season. But you want to talk about the KC game? Yeah, let's let's get in the KC game. Yeah. First first game in Spokane.
00:04:41
Speaker
Went went pretty well. Yeah. I wasn't sure how this any of this was going to go. i guess I didn't really realize, and it does make sense that the field was little bit shorter, width-wise. Width-wise, yeah. Yeah. So, yeah so a lot of we I feel like we did see a lot of balls kind of being placed out on both both teams. I don't know that they necessarily adjusted to that the next game that much. Yeah.
00:05:05
Speaker
But it does work to their advantage defensively. But that wasn't even really what was the highlight of this game. We we scored three fucking goals. In the first half. and the first And we could have scored more. It was it was like, i don't know how KC like, how have they like, digressed so much from last season?
00:05:26
Speaker
i don't. I'm not sure. But I will say, i want to come at this match from beginning back end of the Portland game. Yes, yes, yes, yes. We have to mention that. Because there was a lot of questions losing against nine players to zero.
00:05:44
Speaker
And so I think we knew that that the KC game wasn't necessarily going to answer questions about the team as a whole, but it was would answer questions in regards to the mentality of the team and if that was going to completely defeat them yeah and make them spiral.
00:06:00
Speaker
Or if it was just a drop in the bucket, something to just take the lessons from it and move on. Yeah, I wasn't sure how it was going to work out. I knew it was it was another quick turnaround,
Game Analysis and Team Chemistry
00:06:11
Speaker
right? All of this has been like game, go go, go, go, go. And it has been the case for also KC. So it's not like they had an advantage. It didn't seem like we really had an advantage. Maybe be like an extra day or two. But given everything that we had to deal with before the Portland game, i feel like it kind of evens out.
00:06:25
Speaker
um Yeah, they responded in a dream way. I did not expect this. Yeah, I was just shocked, honestly. i mean, they they really did make them look silly for like one whole half. I mean, they could have scored six, seven goals and it wouldn't have been strange. No. The chances they were creating, there was so much chemistry between all of the players.
00:06:48
Speaker
It was very fun to watch. it clicked yeah it just finally clicked yeah and you saw the the fact that they didn't want the game in portland to to be any reflection of who they are as a team and i that was omnipresent i was like oh okay i think we might be all right broke yeah we're okay um dickie registrater 14th shout out for the reign that's a new club record weird stat that that's the club record now given our goalkeeper history but they didn't used to play that many games like in hopes of those day that's true but it's i don't know it's still weird though i mean we all know buhati wasn't getting that but anytime i can bring up buhati i will
00:07:35
Speaker
Oh, what a beautiful disaster those days were. Oh, so fun. So fun. People, people were complaining about how this team's maybe not fun, but is that the kind of fun you want back? No. no Exactly.
00:07:45
Speaker
Yeah. Congrats to her. ah Really should have gotten 15 the game after that, but ah you know, guess we'll save it for another day. Yeah. But in the sense of that whole Sam Meza, the defensive midfield, as well as the defense, really holding their own. I mean, you got Horta back there disrupting. You've got um Maddie back there. hmm.
00:08:08
Speaker
And Phoebe McLernan has kind of been a silent killer this season. She has. It sucks that we had the Portland game to like see blunders and stuff, but we both know how good she is when she is not having to deal with everything that was shitty before that Portland game. yeah She is one of the best center backs in the league and doesn't get praised for it.
00:08:28
Speaker
yeah I've been really happy with how the back line has kind of recovered. And even Emily Mason, being a young player, having that defeat, getting the start again, because again, Bug is still out, and coming back and having two really solid
Strategic Disruptions in Rain vs KC Game
00:08:43
Speaker
games. Yeah. um I would even say that the Louisville game was the best I've ever seen her play. i think that's fair.
00:08:51
Speaker
So like you wrote in here, they what worked was disrupting Kansas City. 22 interceptions and 19 tackles. Mm-hmm. Can't beat that. No. And to get three goals and to create enough chances to maybe score twice that many. Yeah. That's not something we've really seen because like our complaints during the Portland match were just how boring and predictable the attack was.
00:09:15
Speaker
And it always seemed like that was a fatigued mind situation. And yeah. Yeah, I think that's indeed what it was. Because now we're we've seen it but when we saw the first game of the season, right? We were like, OK, this team, this team looks like they're kind of good. And then really, you know, took the wind out of our sails after that.
00:09:35
Speaker
But this is stuff I haven't seen from this team before. And this is without me official. That's exciting. That's very exciting. But i do want to shout out Coco.
00:09:46
Speaker
ah She seems to have turned it up another level in terms of this offensive ah pressure that we're seeing with this team. i think we're kind of just getting started with her, which is really exciting. i was very skeptical about this extension. And it seems like whatever she was showing in training to earn that ah is we're seeing the results of that now in the field, which is awesome. Yeah, I asked Laura Hart.
00:10:08
Speaker
I asked Laura about that in the Louisville Presser, so I'll talk about that in a bit. But yeah, she's, there's a lot of chemistry between her, Adamez, Mercado, Meza even, Huerta.
00:10:22
Speaker
she's It looks like she's kind of figured it out. Yeah, the whole team is really, really like vibing with each other. It's what we want to see. Yeah.
Refereeing Issues and Team Strength Debate
00:10:29
Speaker
ah What didn't work in the KC game? My prediction that things wouldn't go well. Yeah. Things went very well. Alex like made me shut that out. Cause she listened to the episode. she like ah She had a drive to like long view or whatever. And she never really gets to listen to the show cause she never has a drive cause her commute's like five minutes.
00:10:46
Speaker
But she was just like, are you gonna admit that you were wrong? And I was like, I guess fine. If the result is we won two games, hell yeah. I'll admit it. Yeah, I was skeptical. I was very skeptical. um Darn, my team won two games instead. it's got You want to be wrong in this instance, though. Absolutely. Absolutely. i mean, and and also like truly had no idea how any of this was going to go because like we have never had this situation before of having to go play three games however many hours away and a stadium they haven't played in like this as their home field.
00:11:23
Speaker
Very weird circumstances. so I was also a little bit because ah Madison Curry did the um pregame presser for this game and they didn't train the stadium. They trained Gonzaga. Oh, OK. So I was like, oh, how's that going to work? Yeah, it worked out fine fine. No questions now. Yeah. The thing that didn't work, I put down, Corey Bethune chose Kansas City.
00:11:49
Speaker
and think she should have come here still. um And obviously things are kind of ah not going well in Kansas City. Girl, that's on you. Yeah. You joined a team that seems to be way too stacked, hoping that it would all click with a coach who I don't understand.
00:12:04
Speaker
Anyways, if she wants out of that contract who wants to come here, I'm fine with that. There was also a couple of refereeing issues in this match. Mainly, Jess Fishlock hit a banger that hit the crossbar and hit directly down.
00:12:18
Speaker
it kind of like swerved in and then bounced, right? Because it kind of like, it didn't just go straight down. i feel like when I was rewatching it today, it kind of like hit the bar and then like kind of spun in and then back to the line and then out.
00:12:32
Speaker
It's hard to see. They don't have goal line technology for some freaking reason. It's wild. It's wild. And they didn't even review it. Yeah. Which is even more wild. Yeah. And so that there was no definitive tell. But from what I saw
Positive Outlook Post-KC Game
00:12:46
Speaker
on the television camera replays, that it was fully behind the line.
00:12:51
Speaker
I'm curious if they have more cameras for that in Seattle, because I could see where this might be an issue because we're playing in Spokane. I don't know how many cameras they have access to there, but i don't know. You're playing a game where everything's relying on a ball crossing one spot. Can they not just put a camera right there? Yeah.
00:13:09
Speaker
And it's not like the cameras at Lumen are permanent. They go with the broadcasting. Yeah, that's weird. So I don't know what the issue... I'm confused why goal line technology isn't everywhere, to be honest.
00:13:19
Speaker
It seems i don't know stupid. It must cost so much money, but I don't know. There was also a handball call. This was so annoying. This was this is really annoying to me because ball comes in and it kind of pops up on Mercado in the box. She gets hold called for a handball. Didn't hit her hand.
00:13:38
Speaker
Doesn't hit her hand. It hits the defender's hand. Yeah. So they initially cause the harm is out right they initially call a handball on Mercado, but they go to VAR and decide it's not a handball on Mercado, but it's also not a handball on the other player.
00:13:52
Speaker
i think they were hit that player's hand and the player moved the hand and moved the ball. Yeah, it was really stupid. I'm not going to whine about this too much because they won the game. three now ah Yeah. But I'd just like some consistency, please. Yeah. It's also like
Post-game Reflections and Player Performances
00:14:07
Speaker
her hand, her hand wasn't like near, I get it when it's like your hand's kind of close to your side or something like that, but her hand was above like her shoulder area or like above her elbow at least. Yeah. So yeah, it was a missed call, but you win three zero. I guess we can't complain a lot.
00:14:21
Speaker
Did you see this these posts about... I mean, I don't want to bring it up because I just want to not acknowledge the people who have these bad takes. But also, it's just kind of offensive when an our team wins so and emphatically and then people have takes that like, oh, well, you beat the B squad of Kansas City.
00:14:42
Speaker
I didn't understand that. I truly saw like the B squad and it i was like, where was this B squad? We all saw the starting lineup. It had Allie Centnor in it. Anytime you got Allie Centnor in the field, that's a scary thing to have to go against. That's not a B squad. That's not a B squad. You've also got your starting goalkeeper from everything who was goalkeeper of the year. i will say she's awful and has been awful. And anyway, people like her, people think she's good, but we're true in our hearts, we know. Sure, we know, but let's just go with the league narrative of sure they did give her goalkeeper of the year and she's on the field. and i'll shut up not the Not the B squad. She's not the B squad for Kansas, right?
00:15:22
Speaker
ah She's probably shouldn't have been goalkeeper of the year. Absolutely. Sharples is on the field. Izzy Rodriguez. You substitute on Croy Bethune, Lola Bonta, Dabinia, and Michelle Cooper.
00:15:34
Speaker
Get out of here. Like, I know it may be like one game after the Portland game. You don't want to give credit to the rain yet, but it just is so disrespectful to me to just kind of say, oh, well, the rain got a win, but it was against Kansas City's B squad. who do Who do you think our team was like? Like, who? Like, we've been rotating like fucking crazy. I'm not saying we have a B squad that we put out there because we know how to rotate our players.
00:16:00
Speaker
um But we're not out here being like, well, we don't have me official. So I guess I guess this is our B squad. Yeah, we all know Kansas City is stacked. And if they aren't able to figure it out, that's on them. That's not that's not a B squad situation, though. And if you want to go on equity here, right, they put out the same team over the weekend and lost to Portland 2-0.
00:16:23
Speaker
I don't see them shitting on that team, do they? You're just not good. no they're not good. I just, yeah, I also just feel like they, but they always, there's people who said this, they always find ways to make digs at Seattle and it doesn't ever feel like they actually watch them. And they have a lot of followers too and I don't understand why because it really doesn't seem like they actually watch anything. Yeah. just gonna go ahead and say it because they've had success that's what happens when teams have have had success in the past yeah well you just get two men in a microphone lot of bullshit gets said moving on uh because that was it was a positive match i don't want to i don't want to end on a bad note it was a very good match uh they brought in did you you were in that presser you logged on no oh okay never mind
00:17:08
Speaker
ah uh they had a werta and dicky for that presser the thing that stood out to me on that one is is the praise that they gave ratcliffe werta mostly was just talking about how she's always been a player she doesn't want to play against uh she's just so talented and physical of a player um she's always going to be battling and to now have her on the team is awesome she's been a great pickup she's been great Better than I would have imagined. Although, again, I was thinking of her, if this is going to be like Latsko, I'm going to be over the moon. And it's turning out to be like that.
00:17:43
Speaker
So, good for her. I but they sent you like screenshots of her stats so far this season compared to last season. And she's already exceeding that. Yeah, I don't know. We'll see how sustainable it is.
00:17:56
Speaker
But like if she can do this every few matches... that's That's huge. Her positioning's incredible. It is, yeah. ah she Her vision on the field is great. She's clicky with everyone already. Yeah, and it she's a player that generally wants to score goals.
00:18:12
Speaker
I don't see the negative here. It was a kind of a mystifying pickup, but then we lost Haidemah, right? So it's just worked. It's great.
00:18:24
Speaker
I guess maybe she's watched Wierta enough that they just know each other. What?
Listener Engagement and Future Content
00:18:27
Speaker
be on the field, but now I just have to line up a little bit differently.
00:18:32
Speaker
Thank you for listening to the Sounder 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.
00:18:45
Speaker
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00:18:58
Speaker
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00:19:14
Speaker
To find out more, just visit sounderatheart.com and click the subscribe button in the top right corner. Thanks for listening.
00:19:24
Speaker
Let's move on to the Louisville match. Fun with a little stat from this one is Ainsley McCammon became
Ainsley McCammon's Historic Assist
00:19:29
Speaker
the youngest player in Reign history to register and assist at 18 years old. And that was on Modestier's goal. Pretty cool. She is so good.
00:19:37
Speaker
I'm still a little reserved about her. Really? That pass was so nice. The pass was great. Offensively, she's incredible. Yeah. I worry defensively with her sometimes. She'll get there. She'll get there.
00:19:50
Speaker
Again, she's young. I'm just saying, I'm just saying for right now, I'm not going to amp up an 18 year old before i see the fool. sure Um, but yeah, that was really cool.
00:20:00
Speaker
I was at this game. I drove five hours to Spokane to go to this match. Did you to the goat thing? The trash? No, I didn't go to the garbage goat. Oh, garbage. goat Um, I called it the trash goat on the last episode and then I turned off my mic and I was like, it's the damn garbage goat. Anyway, I did not go. i told several people about it, but I did not go. Um,
00:20:22
Speaker
It was cool. The stadium um is small, but nice. It's a it's a cute little place to play right in the middle of downtown ish. I found parking really easily.
00:20:33
Speaker
it was cool. it was a neat little place. They did during this game, though. The press box is like glass on both sides. and So there's no like really walls on the side. There's some but like mainly you can see into the two boxes next to you.
00:20:46
Speaker
On my left was the broadcast team. Yeah. On my right, there's like five seats in the press box. On my right is the players box. You can hear them and see them as they're reacting of of the non rostered players or none. Yeah.
00:21:00
Speaker
And it was just funny. It was an interesting environment, but it it was cool. It was neat. They won this game, too. hmm. I was so happy that this time I didn't drive hours to watch a defeat. Yeah. It was a bit of a redemption for me. Yeah.
00:21:16
Speaker
i When I watched the first game against Kansas City, I was like in such like a bad mood from the Portland game still when it started that I was like, I'm not going to take notes. I'm just going to enjoy watching my team and whatever happens, happens. And then things worked out well. So when I watched this game, I was like, I'm going to do the same thing because I don't want to. I don't want to do anything different. I want to make sure we get a good result again.
00:21:39
Speaker
So I didn't really take notes, but I was just watching it and just enjoying what the team was doing. And it really was nice to watch. It was really cool to watch. There's so much good combination play, um especially on the right side of the field between Montessir and Adamez and Mercado. And we kind of kind of saw that happen. Yeah.
00:22:01
Speaker
with the mercado goal and i'm really glad that mezza realized she was not in the best spot and gave the ball to mercado yeah mercado i mean and i was a little bit lucky on that yeah i was kind of brutal watch i was really really rough to watch Watching Jordan Bloomer let the ball go through her legs. Yeah, who's been pretty good. Yeah. She's not a bad goalkeeper. She's a good goalkeeper.
00:22:26
Speaker
But that's the shitty part about goalkeeping. You take the ball, let your eye off the ball for less than half a second. Yeah. And it's going through your legs. Yeah. But that's 100% of the shots you don't take, you know? Yeah.
00:22:39
Speaker
think I saw some of those kinds of goals when Mercado was scoring like crazy in the USL. Yeah. She just she just tries. And, you know, there's blunders. Keep keep shooting, you know. Well, that was kind of my one of the things we we're talking about going into the season was taking more shots. Yeah. You don't know when something's going to happen. and Exactly. Exactly. weird deflection, stuff like that. We saw that in, um there's a free kick from Huerta in the first game that almost went in. She drove it low, it got deflected and it would just miss the post by like less than a foot. So it's some of these things that you see from the team that are different from last season, they're taking the chances. They're not looking for the perfect shot and it's pretty refreshing. I will say that Jordan Bloomer, as I was standing next to the trash can in the tunnel, took her gloves off and just threw them in the trash next to me where they belong after the game where they belonged i mean that's what i would have done that's exactly what i would have done too i don't blame her at all it's frustrating and i doubt i would bet money that we won't see that again from her this season no um she probably hates spokane now i would yeah Also, one thing that I alluded to earlier was Emily Mason.
00:23:53
Speaker
This match for me gave me a lot more confidence in her. She's really putting her body on the line. She was doing a better job of positioning herself when she was getting ran at, making the shots more predictable for Dickie and doing a really, really good job of clearing the ball and interrupting passes into the box.
00:24:13
Speaker
and One other thing I will mention, if she does get playing time in the next game, she has a fricking leg on her. You know how we could, we talk about Phoebe tries to play those balls over the top to the corner and make those switches. And sometimes they don't really make it.
00:24:29
Speaker
Emily Mason has absolutely the league for to to hit those 100% of the time. So if we get to see more from her, I would love to see her try and put the ball behind or switch the play a bit and use that to our advantage.
00:24:44
Speaker
Yeah, that's what we see when when Bug is on the field. And hopefully she comes back. But it is good to know that we have someone who can at least kind of do that, try to replicate that.
00:24:55
Speaker
Yeah, it might have just been me, but it was just something that I hadn't really hadn't really clicked to me that she had in her arsenal at that point. Yeah. Any any other things that worked from this match for you? I mean, just keeping the ball rolling, right? Like you got your the other win. um Keep that momentum going. Let's get another one. They got the other win. That's a lot of points picked up so far in this really strange set of circumstances with games. And they are having a break coming up soon. So, yeah, I mean, they need to rack up these points and they're doing pretty good job at that. so at Nine points in four games. That's pretty sweet.
00:25:31
Speaker
Yep. ah What didn't work for you? Man, letting the pressure get to them the end of the second half. And there was a tactical change from Louisville where they pushed Taylor Flint higher up the pitch, which Laura Harvey talked about in the postgame presser that they hadn't really prepared for Taylor Flint to play so far back. Yeah.
00:25:51
Speaker
And so with that aerial threat and just that she's a very imposing player. Definitely. And so once they pushed her up and we're getting her into the mix but on the attacking side and they were getting the ball out wide and starting to break the defense down, i wish they would have made some sort of adjustments instead of just taking the pressure.
00:26:16
Speaker
Yeah, another clean sheet would have been really good for this team. So that's like kind of a bummer. But they were able to review this goal somehow. Because it, again, hit the hit the crossbar on the same side of the field too. Hit the crossbar and bounce behind Dickey. Bounce back out. And bounce back out. But they call this one a goal. It was so it was a lot clearer on this one, I will say.
00:26:40
Speaker
um But the fact that they didn't review the other one just so annoying. Yeah. Anything else didn't work for you? No. That was nice. i'm I'm just happy to be happy at this point. I know. I mean, you play when they play Wednesday, they get this win on Saturday. Maybe it didn't always look pretty at times, but that's just kind of how it is. So I'll take it. Yeah. And they finally get a week break. who They need it.
00:27:04
Speaker
They get to go home for a little bit. Yeah. And then fly. I guess they're flying back out to Spokane. They yeah they fly each end. Cool. Well, you want to get do you have any presser notes you got from this one?
00:27:16
Speaker
I did want to Laura Harvey did call out Holly Ward, which before they close off questions was going to be one of my questions. um It was her first start. And I thought she looked up up to the task.
00:27:27
Speaker
She has the speed. And we only got to see her for... what, 25 minutes, 20 minutes in the Portland game. And that was always going to be a mess. But then got to see her start in this match, play over half.
00:27:40
Speaker
She's quick. She's smart. And she's physical enough to be able to get in there and cause some havoc. So I'm excited to see kind of what they can get out of her throughout the season and where she kind of goes. Was she on a, did they give her like a what kind of contract did she get?
00:27:57
Speaker
trying to remember. something you'd need to look up. I couldn't remember. oh ah i remember i was just thinking about the doctor player that we shine sort term to when I was thinking about this. I was like, Alex, I found the perfect jersey for you. ah oh It's a two year contract. So, yeah, I wasn't I couldn't remember because there's kind of been some short term ones and not short term. So I was just making sure, yeah, she was going to be with the team for a bit. So, yeah, I think that's ah something to keep watching for. um Harvey also talked about Coco um because she's this season's really been a ah new kind of wave for her. Yeah.
00:28:35
Speaker
I remember how skeptical everybody had been. and I said, give it a minute. I mean, I was, I was growing impatient. And look, look what she's cooking. Yeah. Somebody in the discord said it's the year of Montessir. Hope so.
00:28:48
Speaker
It's got to continue. she keeps It has to continue. You know, she didn't travel to Haiti for the call ups or travel to play with the Haitian national team. um So Laura said she was able to train, be fit, strong and healthy. So they didn't say why she didn't travel still.
00:29:02
Speaker
I mean, assume with all this shit going on, right? I thought it was interesting. Meza herself brought up the Portland game, not to beat a dead horse, but, you know, she was in that presser and you saw the yeah body i saw the body language rough with her. um But just kind of she had just kind of highlighted how they stayed strong through the rough patch and like work as a collective to improve and show who they are, because that Portland game is not the team that they are.
00:29:29
Speaker
Yeah. And it's going to take a while for people, I think, to really believe that sure this is helping. Yeah. But they're going to need to see some consistency. I'll add on to that about what Harvey said about that. She was happy that the team could see that that the stuff they talked about, if they can do it, they can create goal scoring opportunities. She said that the Louisville presser or the KC presser, sorry. And she said that the KC presser. So we've got the first glimpse of that. And then the same thing kind of you saw that happen on the field again in the Louisville game. So that's giving me hope, which is what we had asked for the stretch of games. is just give us a glimmer of of of of like what this team can do and that it's not all going to be bad and that this Portland game was just, we're going to forget about it because it doesn't actually mean that's who we are.
00:30:17
Speaker
Yeah. So I, yeah, I feel excited for the first time in a while. but It was a nice two game stretch. and I don't want to get ahead of myself, but but what I'm seeing from this team is is something that I think can get fans excited.
00:30:32
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah. You scored three goals, two goals. You know, you're not eking out necessarily as last year, eking out wins. Right. You're putting on a show.
00:30:42
Speaker
And I think that that's important from a marketing standpoint. Yeah. And you can see identity forming too with, with their attack. Yep. Crazy. Didn't know, didn't, didn't know it'd be happening so fast. Yeah. Yeah.
00:30:57
Speaker
Cool. Is it time to do Cooler player the Match? Let's do it. Matches. Matches. God damn it. ah 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 rain and is proud to be our very first sponsor.
00:31:13
Speaker
So this is going to be a new one. I don't think we've done this before. a two Same player for two matches in one episode. Yeah, I mean, we haven't done that before. No. We've given the same player a cooler player of the match twice in a row. Yeah, but it but it counts more, you know, when it's one episode. Okay. can She can brag about it more is what I'm saying.
00:31:31
Speaker
oh gotcha. Yeah. And I think that this player for me has been a player that kind of saw a little bit of like a little bit of brightness from last season when she came back. Like, ooh, this could be a really important part of the attack.
00:31:48
Speaker
And we're kind of seeing that come to fruition. And even if she's not scoring, there is an energy about Maddie Mercado that is an attacking threat that I don't think we've had on this team since maybe Lynn was playing.
00:32:04
Speaker
It reminds me of like the first ah year or two with Balser. she's just like just four more goals than balser did yeah but she was disruptive yeah right she was causing people to adjust their defense for her she just and they're got she's got the speed and they're giving her the space to be creative and to kind of she in the louisville game especially she was kind of playing with coco in like a little umbrella here where, you know, ball goes to the left. She drops, Coco goes up, ball goes to the right.
00:32:38
Speaker
She goes up, Coco drops. And it works because there's always going to be somebody to back her up when she wants to go off and go for it. And I love that it doesn't feel like they have her on a leash or anything. They're just like, go ham.
00:32:53
Speaker
Yeah, she looks hungry as hell. I mean, two goals in two matches in this stint. Sure, one of them, she took a shot and it went in. Counts. Cool keeper's fault, sure, whatever. But that goal in the KC game where she got up and redirected that header, that was best header goal I've seen from this team in a while.
00:33:13
Speaker
Yeah. That was a definitive goal. Lorena didn't move. no But, but, yeah, I mean, she really did.
00:33:23
Speaker
don't understand how got goalkeeper. Oh my God. But yeah, I mean, she placed it really, really well and got power on that header. And,
00:33:34
Speaker
I know Haidama does that too. um So and that was something I was worried that we might not still have. And we do. And she's also, so far at least, showing that she's a little bit more dynamic ah in terms of types of goals scoring. So it's, yeah. I think it's deserved to give her to give her this this little, i don't know what you want to call it from us. Credit? It's not really credit. It's like a... little hype? little hot Yeah. Yeah. Let's hype her up.
00:34:03
Speaker
So, Money Mercado, congratulations on cooler player of the matches. And 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, go celebrate the rain win, order one of their limited edition cocktails like the Green Flag. A pistachio dream laced with vodka. Swedish punch. Spelled a little weird. I had to like make sure I was pronouncing it right. I think that's right. Punch.
00:34:32
Speaker
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00:34:44
Speaker
Cheers. Cheers. I love pistachio. I'm allergic. I was like, I think you're allergic. I know because I was looking for a drink to do in the last episode. I was like, I can't do that one. I can't drink that. Yeah. You and your tree nut allergies. Do you have any over overall thoughts that you want to get out just to kind of put a little little bookend on this?
00:35:02
Speaker
We're not quite to the end of the three c the three matches in Spokane, but two out of three so far is pretty good. i I'm happy. Yeah. I think the team is trending in the right direction.
00:35:13
Speaker
And I just want it to continue. I don't want to say anything to jinx it. I'm the attack being dynamic is something that I was somehow wishing for this season. I didn't know what pieces we had to that puzzle. Yeah. But it seems like they're using what they have and they're making it work.
00:35:30
Speaker
Absolutely. had my skeptic i had my skepticism about it for sure. I'm still skeptical. Yeah. I mean, Louisville's traditionally not a great team. No. KC, this season has been god-awful.
00:35:43
Speaker
Yeah, they're really off the rails, man. I mean, Orlando orlando is probably the ahlando and Portland are the best teams we've played this season. Yeah. And we blow out Orlando. Well, we don't really blow them out, but whatever. um And then, you know, lose to Portland under the really weird circumstances. So I think that it's trending in the right direction. And I'm happy about that. And I'm excited, finally excited to watch the next rain match.
00:36:08
Speaker
Absolutely. Cool. Well, let's ah let's quickly go over some NWCell results from... It was a chaotic Wednesday. it was a fun Wednesday. Yeah. I think every everyone seems to have been affected by the loaded schedule, early loaded schedule. Because Denver came out with a 2-0 win over Gotham. Gotham's definitely on Fraud Watch.
00:36:29
Speaker
I think they'll figure it out, though. They're going to figure it out. There's just no way want. don't... it um It's hard for me to be... But, I mean, KC's got a stacked... I just think Gotham's got like that championship hangover, though, where they're just like not putting it into gear until absolutely necessary, which we all know they can do.
00:36:46
Speaker
Sure. I mean, only time will tell. Yeah. ah Utah tied Washington. Washington is definitely one to watch for. They got a 1-1 draw against Utah. um Utah, not good. Yeah.
00:36:59
Speaker
ah San Diego played Portland. This one was really fun as a rain fan to check the score on. ah San Diego beat Portland three to one. i guess those red cards had, um you know, bit them in the ass in some way. Yeah. Orlando beat Chicago three to zero. Heidemann was out for that one. i think, I don't know if she was out for the other one, right? She was out for both matches. Okay. Yeah. She's got some sort of injury, so that's not great. She did something to her hip. Ooh. Hip injuries are annoying.
00:37:27
Speaker
Yeah. um And then for the weekend's results, do you want to go over over those? Sure. I mean, Angel City is looking like a decent team this season. Who knew? Not me. Yeah, the same. They beat Houston two to one Utah beat Boss Nation 2-1.
00:37:43
Speaker
So overall, not a bad week for Utah. Yeah. Denver had their inaugural home opener, which set an NWSL attendance record and with 63,004 people. It's wild. I really wish they would have gotten a goal in that game. Yeah. It's like kind of upsetting that they didn't. Well, they're not the best. So hopefully they're still not the best when they come to come to Spokane.
00:38:07
Speaker
And then KC is doing KC stuff and lost to Portland 2-0. Bay beat North Carolina 3-1. Bay is having like a better season. North Carolina is going through it though it feels like still.
00:38:20
Speaker
Yeah. ah San Diego beat Chicago. Poor Chicago. Chicago's not good. The Chicago win might be back this year. Yeah. And then ah Gotham and Orlando played to a nil-nil draw. Yeah.
00:38:35
Speaker
So the points aren't coming for Gotham. Nope. Goals aren't. We're sitting in third place right now. That's right. Let's overreact. Hell yeah. Hell yeah. Going to keep going up.
00:38:46
Speaker
My preseason prediction has so so far looked okay. But yeah, Angel City sitting on top, then San Diego, then us, and then Portland, all in nine points.
00:38:57
Speaker
So with the weird tiebreakers and everything, we're in third. And with the stupid game in Portland, which had there not been stupid circumstances surrounding it, we could be at top. That's annoying. But I won't complain. Yeah.
00:39:11
Speaker
I'm not complaining anymore. I'm over it. Boston still doesn't have any points. They haven't gotten any. Is that right? I mean, I i wrote that down. So I believe that has to be right. It's just crazy to me that that's true. well they lost. They've lost every game.
00:39:27
Speaker
Was there a nil-nil draw on there they didn't see? I'm just like wondering if it was... me find out. Eh. Yeah, it's ah it's a zero points for Boston. i was like, maybe they got a draw. Maybe meant to put no, way they had no wins. But no, it's KC that haven't gotten or in a spirit that haven't gotten a win. Yeah. um Yeah. Boston not off to a great start for this franchise.
00:39:48
Speaker
They channel their inner Boston. KC has a win. Yeah. I meant spirit. Haven't registered a win. They're tied. Oh, yeah, they tied three games. yeah Yeah, what I put in the note about what KC and Boston have in common is that KC is tied on goal differential with Boston with like negative five. Negative Chicago's at negative eight. Oh, God. Which is on track for last year's ah stuff for them. We're at plus three. I like it.
00:40:15
Speaker
After the disaster, and i mean, we just at some point we will just maybe be able to not acknowledge it. But to be plus three after that disaster. Pretty cool. Yeah. So things are looking interesting at the table. What do you think is going on with Spirit?
00:40:30
Speaker
I don't know. Do you think Croy Bethune is that big of a piece? Because that's kind of what I think. Could be. But if Croy Bethune was that big of a piece, why can't she do anything at PC? think they have too many pieces there. I think it's all just like a bad combination of things. But i also, I don't know. Part of me also just feels like Spirit Get Lake because they got so far that they're they're just kind of still feeling gassed from from that run. That's a long hangover to attribute that to.
00:40:58
Speaker
Well, sometimes. it I mean, we wouldn't we would we wouldn't know. Fuck. I don't know. will say um we did have three players on the W. Galazzo team of the week.
00:41:09
Speaker
Phoebe McLaren and Sam Meza and Montessier. Nice. Which is great. Yeah. Get your flowers. Let's move Reigns preview the Reigns next match. They're playing the Denver Summit who are coming out to Spokane. That'll be Saturday, April 4th. It's at 545 for some reason. um It's going to be on ION. Is that one also on Fox? Do you know?
00:41:31
Speaker
I have not checked. me i can pull this I can pull it up here. Okay. I was like, maybe they're putting them on. Just says ION on here.
00:41:41
Speaker
wait, that's the other one. It looks like it's just on Ion. Okay, cool. What do you want to see in this match? I want to see the continuing offensive press um and what we were talking about earlier, winning the ball back in the midfield to create opportunities.
00:41:57
Speaker
and i need to see Sam Meza be Sam Meza, which I think is pretty a pretty good bet these days. Yeah, consistency is pretty much always there. It's like her thing. Yeah. What about you?
00:42:09
Speaker
I want to win over an expansion side. I don't want them to feel like they can get one up on us. um And if we can get that win, we can be undefeated in the Spokane and also have a winning streak in Spokane, like a full, we've only won in Spokane would be nice to say. Yeah.
00:42:24
Speaker
That's kind of where I'm at. I i just don't. Yeah. I want I want to win over an expansion side every time. Every time I do. Sometimes it has hasn't gone well for us in the last few years and kind of over it. Yeah. That's always really annoying. It'll be also be interesting to see the team after a week of rest. Yeah.
00:42:40
Speaker
ah Yeah. Bug might be back. She got called into the U-20. Yeah. National team. So that's good. Yeah. I just I want to see them continue to be this attacking team that's inventive on the attack, can find multiple ways to break down the defense.
00:42:59
Speaker
I could be fun to watch. I want to watch a fun game. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. i more More of it. More fun. Because we've been having fun. We can keep having fun. This was a really fun week. It was. Which is great because we need that these days. and would have been the worst five hour drive back home had they not won. Oh man, that would have really sucked. Yeah. Yeah. It was great. Yeah, it's kind of a bummer they didn't get that bus going with enough people.
00:43:23
Speaker
um They were planning to have like this bus shuttle to like all the way to Spokane and back for fans, but not enough people signed up for it, which if I lived in Seattle, do I want to go to Spokane?
00:43:34
Speaker
I'm not really keen about that. It was really nice. stayed at a campground. Mm hmm. I had my little mattress in the back of my Subaru. Oh, nice. I got some firewood, had a nice little fire. That's thing about the bus is they were taking you back that night. don't want to get back into Seattle that night. I want to hang out. just I'm just saying if you don't take the bus. Yeah, camping makes sense, though. You could do a little camping trip. was by myself. It was great. And then the next morning went on a little hike, found a little bridge over the Spokane River that was gorgeous. Cool. Well, go to the game if you want, guess. Go camping. You're going again, right? Or no? No, that was enough.
00:44:12
Speaker
I was like, that was a bit much. But, you know, maybe they'll get more people in Spokane. I don't know. It's an okay turnout. i would I will say, like, the the crowd was good. Yeah. Like, they were loud and, you know, in that smaller space, it's easier to have a little bit of atmosphere with less people. Yeah. So it was pretty cool.
00:44:30
Speaker
Yeah. I mean, fun experience for, I guess, this part of the rain, you know? And I'm also kind of wondering... how much people like in town and in the surrounding area are like hearing about it. Yeah.
00:44:42
Speaker
You know what i mean? Yeah. Cause like they the Wednesday game. That's hard to get to for people. Saturday was even better. Okay. They want to get on Saturday. We got another week. People are probably going to come back again for next weekend. And are they going bring friends? Yeah, hopefully. Are more people going to be able to make the game? So it'd be interesting to see how the turnout is. I did see that joke about, i think it was a Portland fan made it, which like, fair enough. It was like ah the Seattle, Tukwila, Spokane, OL, Tacoma, Rain.
00:45:12
Speaker
Let's see. I was like, yeah yeah, we're at that point now, are we? Like, where else can we play as a home stadium? Not really sure. Literally nowhere else. Yeah. Brenton might be on the horizon, unfortunately.
00:45:23
Speaker
Boo. If any of the owners from the Sounders are hearing this, boo. Don't move to Renton. All right. and Any shout outs? The OG, want to shout out the OG.
00:45:37
Speaker
Probably the most known fan in the Reign fandom. our good friend of the pod, our friend Matthew. ah The team announced today that they were doing for the home opener in Seattle today.
00:45:49
Speaker
a ticket special where you can sign up for certain tickets and get fucking claws. Foam claws. Foam claws. With no contact with Matthew, who created the claw squad. He, like, bought, he, like, made a bunch of them, too. Made a bunch of them. I screenshot, I went back into the chat and found a picture of the last time, the first time I think I saw the pictures, he said, unpacking them now to let them air out and expand to full size. Hmm. And this was July 4th, 2025.
00:46:21
Speaker
He started doing this and bought boxes of him handing out to fans. Yeah. And now the team's just going to, they love using him in marketing materials. They do. And then they're taking his idea no credit, yeah what no communication. No like, I feel like there could have at least been a trade of some kind or just like a good, goodwill kind of something like, Hey, it's a good idea. We're going to be doing this just so you know. Because I mean, granted, we don't owe like this is based on a real human being. So I feel like it is like you can't really own the rights something like that. But like we, the fans, create this culture and this fun. So like that just is kind of a bad look to take. It's tacky. It is. I feel like they need to do something for him. And he already has like the best seats in the house. So um I think personally they should give him sweet, sweet, sweet.
00:47:12
Speaker
Either that or have him give him the golden scarf or whatever they do. yeah They need to do something for him because this is this is kind of fucked up. Sorry. His signs are incredible. He's always at the match. Yeah. Energy's great. Yeah. He knows his stuff too. We complain about the atmosphere at Lumen and how it lacks. Not with him. This is one person that's absolutely doing literally everything in his power to change that. Yeah.
00:47:38
Speaker
And then you're not going to acknowledge him with this. No, he brings in so many fans and like creates so much everyone. pisses me off. Yeah. So justice for Matthew. We love you. um I've actually, you know, in the background, i've even got my my my button that I got from him and he even made us buttons because he's so nice. um But he made me, he made those like three, I'm going to butcher it. I'm not going to butcher this time. The three Lou moon.
00:48:04
Speaker
Yeah. Anyways, he's very he loves this team so much. um And it just pisses me off that the team that he loves so much won't even acknowledge his contribution. And instead frickin goes and steals it. Come on. it's bad Not that it's necessarily his, but I mean, you have to acknowledge that the OG fan. Yeah. That brought it into the arena.
00:48:27
Speaker
is did just crazy i mean he will he would be happy if this somehow did increase ticket sales a lot um but knowing the brain's marketing in history it's probably not gonna do that much this is again some front office gripes yeah like how out of touch are you yeah it's not great but shout out yeah ah yeah think I'm done ranting for the day. Sounds good. um I feel like I had something to say, but I don't remember what it was. So next time I'll write it down.
00:48:59
Speaker
But that's not now. um Thanks again to our sponsor, The Doctor's Office. You can always go follow us on Blue Sky on Instagram. We're at Cooler Guild Pod. You can send us an email. We do love an email. We love an email. They're so fun. They're very fun. usually Ron, but if someone else wants to join, please do.
00:49:16
Speaker
It'd be great. um You can also visit our main page at sounderatheart.com forward slash the Cooler Guild. Sign up for Sounder at Heart there. get a little credit for that. And you can join the Discord where people like Matthew hang out. And you can be cool like Matthew. Yeah, and you can see us air grievances towards... People stealing his ideas. We're also on YouTube, youtube.com forward slash out the cooler guild. Wherever you're listening, please go rate five stars. Till next time. I am Coop Cooper. I'm Van Crisp. Stay cool, y'all.
00:49:46
Speaker
Stay cool.
00:50:12
Speaker
I'm trying again. Alex said I said too many F words. I'm just trying to reel back a few of the things that come to the top of my head sometimes. Don't let your wife get in the way of your dark humor.