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Tiny Dragon strikes again - Ep. 51
124 Plays18 hours ago
Every point is valuable in this final stretch. Every point is valuable in this final stretch. The Reign remain above the playoff line but have yet to officially punch their ticket into the postseason. In this week’s episode we discuss the Reign’s draw against Bay FC, Lu Barnes reaching 250 NWSL appearances, and what things the team may still have to work on in this final push of the regular season. Later, we cover other NWSL results and preview the Reign’s next match.
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Show produced by Coop
Theme song by Alex Juarez
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The Cooler Guild Est. 2024
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Transcript
Introduction and Episode Overview
00:00:21
Speaker
Hello, hello, hello, and welcome to episode 51 of The Cooler Guild. I am Coop Cooper, and joined with me, as always, is my co-host, Van Crisp. Hello. We're recording on Tuesday, October 14th, 2025. On today's episode, we'll be going over the range draw versus Bay FC at home, and then kind of just dinking around, looking at some other results around the league.
00:00:40
Speaker
And then also going over like some, don't know, pretty big rain news, I would say. Piece of news. And um then just previewing the next game. um But first, some housekeeping. The Cooler Guild is part of the Sounder at Heart podcast network.
Sounder at Heart Network Subscription
00:00:53
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 with the other podcasts on the network. If you'd like to become a subscriber, just visit our page soundertheart.com forward slash the Cooler Guild. New subscribers get 10% off the normal rate and you'll help support everything we're doing.
00:01:08
Speaker
How's it going? It's going. mariner's
Weekend Activities and Rainy Adventures
00:01:10
Speaker
man i know it's gonna happen don't jinx it i'm it's happening i'm already ahead of myself you can't stop me yeah that that definitely has been exciting yeah yeah yeah i think that's like the biggest thing going on right now yeah i did uh did do my plunge brunch on sunday oh nice yep and jumped into into the chutes river Where is that in your house?
00:01:34
Speaker
ah It's like kind of in Tumwater. Is there another Deschutes River or the same Deschutes River? I don't have no clue. um But yeah, it was pretty cold. Yeah. But like I brought like the little like beach cart and a bunch of towels and a portable speaker.
00:01:49
Speaker
So we were just like jamming out, finding a spot to jump in the river and found a spot and... Then to
Rain Game Recap and Player Highlights
00:01:54
Speaker
brunch. Sounds nice. Mm-hmm. Sounds nice. I had to eat my 10k and it was so fucking cold and wet. It looked miserable. We had just like all had to like turn in all of our stuff for like the um you know if you want to like have someone carry your shit to the back of the other side at the end and so like after we like had turned in our coats and stuff it just fucking started like downpouring. we're all just like waiting we had like a half hour so know to just wait to start to run and we're all just getting dumped on and like maybe for the first mile of it it was still pretty rainy then after that it wasn't that bad but i was fucking cold
00:02:28
Speaker
Yeah, I saw a couple people I know here from Olympia went down and did it. Yeah, i ran into a few of them. Did you run into Kelsey and Ashley? Yeah, yeah, I ran into their little group but when we were in line to get our shit back at the end. Yeah, I think it was Kelsey's pictures I saw that just looked like rain, and was, ugh.
00:02:42
Speaker
Yeah, it was the worst, worst one I've done, so, but my body was really aching. But we went and did a sauna session afterwards, and that was highly appreciated. Yeah. My buddy's doing a look cool little sauna session thing out in Olney.
00:02:55
Speaker
If people are ever interested in doing a sauna session when they're out here, hit me up. I can tell you where to go It's sweet. It was really nice experience. I hadn't done the full experience before. What's all included other than sitting in a sauna? You get the sauna. You get, um it's like a wood fire sauna. And then there's like a cold plunge, like bathtub type thing, like an old school tub. Hmm. that he sets up so you can kind of just sit in this bathtub. There's like a cold shower right outside of it and then he just finished installing like a warm shower so you can go like bathe outside like with the trees around you take a warm shower when you're done.
00:03:25
Speaker
And then you can also walk down to like the river access that he has. If you like want to go dunk in there hang out. It's a little slippery but it's pretty nice. And then like his sauna has like a view of like the woods that he has like sitting in. Nice. So... It's pretty cool. He's going to have a hot tub at some point and he's um working on getting his the like composting toilet set up outside too. Cool.
00:03:46
Speaker
Yeah, it was nice. Anyways, we have a rain game to get into. um I was hoping for a win. Yeah, they i mean, honestly, they should have won this game. Yeah.
00:03:58
Speaker
It's like one of the very few times we underperformed XG. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Not great. um General note before we kind of dive into positives, negatives and all the stats and stuff, notable stats at least.
00:04:10
Speaker
Maddie Mercado, we didn't get to talk about this. Did I say it right this time? Mm-hmm. Recalled from loan as we had hoped and wished for. And she made an appearance in this game. She looked pretty feisty when she came in too.
00:04:21
Speaker
Yeah, she looked good. Yeah. ah I was happy to see her come back. Yeah. We've definitely been kind of lacking... Yeah, I don't know. yeah yeah, I don't know what's going on with that other signing we had. i haven't seen her around.
00:04:33
Speaker
But i mean, Maddie Mercado has been performing really well, you know, on her loan. So you got to bring her back. Yeah, they need they need goal scorers. And we've clearly got an issue with some injuries, Lynn being out and stuff like that. So ah good on the rain for bringing her back.
Lou Barnes' Career and Retirement Announcement
00:04:49
Speaker
um Notable stats. What do you what do you ah want to highlight? Well, we can talk about the biggest one. Yeah. Last. But Claudia Dickey has a season total of 83 saves and she passed Hope Solo's record of 81 saves in the single season with the club. So I knew she was going to beat it this year.
00:05:04
Speaker
Hoping she'd get that other cream clean sheet, but she's got two games left to maybe do it. Although if anything happens like this one goal that we gave up. don't think she could fucking know about that we'll talk about it later but yeah it's yeah annoying yeah uh the other thing i had put down one the other things i'd put down mezza registered three tackles in this game which puts her at a season total of a league leading 101 tackles um and since 2016 mezza is only one of two players in the whole league to record 100 plus tackles and 60 plus tackles one in a season that's crazy crazy yeah I don't anyone saw this coming from from her.
00:05:45
Speaker
mean, I knew she'd be Harvey probably did. Yeah, was like, knew she'd be good. But like for the fact that she like went on loan and came back like this and is just like leading the league and stuff like this is is awesome. Yeah, it's incredible. ah The big one, though.
00:05:57
Speaker
Lou Barnes made her league leading 250th regular season appearance. No other player has ever done that. The crazy thing about this was that she's appeared in, I mean, this blew my mind, 91% of 276 regular season matches for the Reign.
00:06:12
Speaker
That's nuts. Just as well pointed that out. Yeah. and Legend. I think we should think she pulled it from Reign, but... but She knew she made sure the stat was right. But yeah. Yeah. um And she announced that she is retiring at the end of this season.
00:06:26
Speaker
Yeah. Which expected possibly, ah but still, i don't know. For me, she it's always she's always been there. Mm hmm. Since day one.
00:06:36
Speaker
Yeah. And i think just culture wise, it'll be and it sounds ah from the press conference they did today about her retirement and everything um that she's going to stay involved with the club at some level.
00:06:49
Speaker
So don't know what in what capacity that will be, but it'll be nice to still have her around. I mean, she's the original OG. Yeah. There's a couple, but I mean, that's that announcement and that just as like the longtime captain of the squad, just losing her, but not not because of injury or anything else.
Rain vs Bay FC Game Analysis
00:07:11
Speaker
To stay with one club your entire career, be in 91% of 276 regular season matches, that's insane.
00:07:20
Speaker
Yeah, the fitness to be able to do that and like being able to stay healthy. and Yeah, it's I that's just it's a feat in and of itself. Yeah, absolutely. They're also giving an award that they're naming after her, which is very fitting.
00:07:33
Speaker
going be called the Lou Barnes Award. Really creative. But they're going to do it annually and they're going to honor a Reign FC player who, quote, exemplifies integrity, leadership and excellence.
00:07:44
Speaker
They're going to first give it to Lou um at this next home game, final home, regular season home game. But it'll be good to kind of have that recognition for her. And I'm excited that she's going to be sticking around the club in some manner. I feel like because she's she's kind of like a i went I don't know if she's like a full entrepreneur, but I always kind of see her like promoting like eco-conscious stuff and kind of I feel like she might try to implement more stuff like that with the club.
00:08:10
Speaker
And she'll be able to do more of that without having to spend all the time training. Yeah. And do some creative, creative work with them. um i don't know if she also wants to coach. Obviously, she is a great player and people would have a lot to learn from her.
00:08:24
Speaker
So whatever she plans to do at the club is going to be awesome to have around. Yeah, just to just stay around. Yeah. um I think that's probably all we need to really cover with the notable stats. um Although the just fish luck thing is kind of cool. Her goal was ah is her 48th goal. And that puts her at 10th most all time in league history.
00:08:44
Speaker
I also didn't realize she was that high up. Neither did I. That's why I wanted to make sure said it. I think it's also important. The last one's also important. ah The Reign are unbeaten in their last in the and six matches at Lumen. And the last time we went six games unbeaten at home was in 2022. When we won the Shield.
00:09:00
Speaker
Right. And no one saw it coming, including me. Including both of us.
Challenges in Rain's Play and Injuries
00:09:05
Speaker
Yeah. So we, it's a 1-1 draw. um i wouldn't say it was a great game by any means, but what positives did you take from it?
00:09:18
Speaker
I, even though in the first half, finishing seemed to be impossible. Couldn't buy goal. Not for us. Yeah, there were a couple almost 1v1 opportunities that players couldn't finish. Just threaded it straight through those fucking center backs. Yeah. Yeah.
00:09:34
Speaker
And they were wide open. Yep. All game long and they just couldn't take advantage of it. But they did create more chances, as you can see in the XG stat. But at the same time, you have to finish those.
00:09:46
Speaker
Hit off the post multiple times. Like it seemed like it was one of those games where you can either blame quality or you can blame luck. Sure. It seemed like luck wasn't on our side. Yeah. because these were These are more clear cut chances than we've seen in a couple of games.
00:10:01
Speaker
Yeah, when I was rewatching the highlights, I was like, this is worse than I remembered with how bad we like just didn't have one of them go our way. Right. So and your comment here, maybe we are close to scoring more? As a positive, as a yeah question mark, maybe we are close to scoring more?
00:10:18
Speaker
I don't know if we are, but like i feel like we're kind of making it a negative, but... but i know But I think that that that brings up a good point. Like if we can get players into those dangerous positions and having those touches in the box. Yeah.
00:10:33
Speaker
They're going to eventually go in. Yeah. And I mean, the first half was, don't know, I guess the thing want point out. out is that like our front attacking you know whatever we're working with up there there's kind of been a lot of rotation and trying to figure out the right pieces still um it doesn't seem like there's a solid starter due to injuries due to new signings whatever it is i it's not like this lineup is set by any means um and i don't know if ever will be i feel like this is just like deja vu with what i think it's just harvey ball I know. But like last season, remember
Midfield and Defense Discussion
00:11:07
Speaker
how we had like almost a fucking different lineup for every single game? know, I was Yeah.
00:11:11
Speaker
So because when you got me official subbing in, you've got just Fishluck subbing Sometimes they start, you know, it's it's all kind of, it's a little all over the place in terms of what to expect in the offense. Yeah.
00:11:24
Speaker
Well, and for me, the big one there, and I noticed this in a most of the game, the midfield is very, it's solid defensively, but unorganized offensively.
00:11:34
Speaker
And Coco tries to get in up top and it leaves that big space between the forward line and the midfield players. And we lost the ball a lot there. And then we're on the back foot.
00:11:46
Speaker
and let bae pass out of the back a lot so i think that there's improvement to be made there on top of the actual finishing and the forwards yeah it looks like it's coming together yeah but but there is just like these moments of like that pass not being clean we can talk about that in the negatives but yeah yeah
00:12:11
Speaker
Uh, the other pause, I think this is the only other positive I've elisted, but just, just fish lock saves the day. yeahp And it saves the day by getting us a single point in this playoff push when fucking hell, like this would have been such a good game to get three points and given how the rest of the weekend went. But we're going to stay positive right now.
00:12:27
Speaker
lot of involvement on that goal from from the rest of the team, which was good to see. Yeah. I mean, what when did Mi Official sub in? It was pretty late. think it was like 70. know. I didn't put that one in either. Here, I can find it.
00:12:41
Speaker
ah She subbed in... 75th minute. Okay. She came she took Yeah. And I thought she looked good. Yeah. And even having Mercado in there with her speed, I think that she adds an element that Jordan Heidema doesn't have.
00:12:57
Speaker
Sure. Which fit this game more just because being able to split the center backs of Bay was going to be a way to get forward. um And Jordan Heidema, she's fast, but she's not fast, fast.
00:13:11
Speaker
Yeah. And i think just having Mercado in to be able to pull them, pull the backs even deeper helped kind of alleviate that
Playoff Push and Strategy
00:13:21
Speaker
space for the mid midfielders that are in there.
00:13:24
Speaker
This is a game where I was like, I wish we had Lynn. Yeah, she would have been cutting them up. but yeah ah but it's fine just fish luck scores uh she scores a rebound half chance left footed just veteran goal it looked like to me um chaos in the box just fucking find a way get your foot on it and shoot an angle if you can um and fish official was like you know causing some of that chaos to you up there it's like double double fit what and i double fish sounds bad i shouldn't say double fish
00:13:55
Speaker
yeah's only my face i'll figure out a different name ah the do duality of the fishes i don't know i'll work on this sorry everybody um duo fish sure and if we find something better we'll do that um it's not double okay yeah we just can't say double fish as as you say it again all right yeah ah Yeah, it was good to see. I would say it was really good to see Fischl up there. I mean, different circumstance. Maybe it could have been her scoring it, you know, with her and Fischl switching positions because they both clearly just knew kind of get in there and just fucking, I don't know, disrupt it just disrupt their defense. Yep.
00:14:39
Speaker
That part was good. I was a little little nervous at the end that we were really going fucking lose. There was that.
00:14:46
Speaker
There was a lot of really close calls. Yeah. Like too many. There was like one where they sent it straight across and I was like, oh my God. Oh, I know. And it just like no one was there. No one was fucking there. It was almost like a repeat of what happened. But hey, they got a point.
00:14:58
Speaker
They're still in the playoff picture. think Things are looking pretty good. ah You know, it would have been obviously nice to get three. And I have also would have liked for Lou Barnes to go out saying she's beaten all of these teams since the Reigns still haven't beaten Bay. But it is what it is. Everyone's favorite saying.
00:15:15
Speaker
We do have more ah maybe more. ah We definitely have more negatives. Absolutely. we're just always looking for ways to improve. Yeah. I mean, if they don't win and they're not scoring multiple goals, it's just like, fuck.
00:15:27
Speaker
I know it's not the Harvey way sometimes, but um there's a playoff push happening and we need to get momentum. So yep what do you want to start off with? Which one do I choose? um Well, we can talk about the real big one, which was the just blatantly terrible defending that led to the goal.
00:15:47
Speaker
Yeah. ah Curry got stuck high up. Didn't seem to be a lot of communication in regards to there's an open player on the back post. Well, there was also like the bad pass like caused all of that. So I don't think they had time necessarily to even get back.
00:16:04
Speaker
Well, so don't do that. Clear better. That's what I trying to say earlier is like what we talked about, what we've spoken on in regards to like us getting scored on. Yeah. Compared to last year, it's been less like bad mental mistake. And this to me felt like a mental mistake.
00:16:22
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah. Just like an ah awareness issue. Yeah. And Harvey talked about that in the presser in terms of like Jordan's learning sometimes still like, yes, she's phenomenal.
00:16:34
Speaker
Jordan bug. She's phenomenal. But um give her that moment again and she's going to learn from it and hopefully blast it further, at least out of bounds or something. Just anywhere else.
00:16:44
Speaker
i know. After I praised her last game. i don't know. Growing pains. I got to stop. I have her jersey. I'm a stan still. It was also the second game in a row that Madison Curry has really struggled.
00:16:57
Speaker
Curry and Meza kind of had a hard game, I would say. Yeah. i don't I would say there was more moments from Meza that I was a little disappointed in. that Like maybe the first time I've ever been like, this is an off game.
00:17:09
Speaker
I think it's it's a problem for everyone on the team, but it goes to our other negative point, which is just the passing. And everyone's great when they're going horizontally or backwards. The second we play the ball forward, it seems like it's weighted incorrectly. Yeah.
00:17:25
Speaker
Or it's just not quite, you just didn't put enough air on it. So it's getting picked off. It's like, okay, how do we fix this? We can tie in what Harvey, mean, this is all related to the pressers and like the whole fucking game, but Harvey had talked about they only, it sounded like got one day of training. Yeah.
00:17:43
Speaker
So like when i when I listened to the presser and found that out, I was like, oh got it. I mean, I know they've been having some of these issues, so it's not like I didn't see it Yeah, it's definitely but. You give them less practice or training days and it's definitely just going to be more obvious that this is a problem that they're still working through.
00:18:02
Speaker
Yep. But ah Taylor Huff was just eating curry up on that side. Could have been worse. It could have been a lot worse. It shouldn't have been worse. But, you know, what can you do? We had a golden opportunity to really move up in the standings, especially after how everything fell or you know, kind of panned out for the rest of the weekend. It's like everybody else has been trying so hard to help us and we can't quite help ourselves. No. And it's so irritating because ah I like go check check the results all weekend waiting and hoping that we're clinching and shit like that. And like all we need to do is fucking like win this game, basically.
00:18:40
Speaker
Yeah. and they couldn't do it. And it's annoying. And i would like them to seize sees these moments a little bit more. Yeah, I agree. But also think about it this way. We got a point in New York, or excuse me, New Jersey. And we got a point. So expecting nothing out of the Gotham game and getting a point. Sure. Really, really helped. Because if it had gone the other way, where we had won this game and lost the Gotham game, goal differential would have suffered. Sure.
00:19:07
Speaker
And we have two points now instead of three. So one point would help us in the standings. But at the same time, we'd only be in fourth. yeah Yeah, that's a good point. So and we got two games left.
00:19:18
Speaker
We do. Other teams have harder schedules than us. They do. Yes. So anything else you want to bring up for negatives? Yeah, i was just looking through my notes. ah There was a really shitty non-call by the referee in this in the second half.
00:19:31
Speaker
Coco got... tackle the both players fell and the other team like legitimately like moved the ball with her arm and they didn't call handball but i think the end of my ah notes from the game of all caps where is the urgency please and then the players look frustrated i am frustrated oof yeah it's funny it's like my notes it's like slightly too heavy of a pass unable to get to the ball little wide Unable to do anything with it. Not too far off.
00:20:02
Speaker
A little heavy again from like, there was like a where to one where she kept cooking them. I think where where to was totally off this game with her her crosses. think everyone, everything was just kind of a little off.
00:20:13
Speaker
Not a good combination. um But we got to move on. We have to move on. We got another one coming up. So yeah. ah you know if they could fix a couple of the things you know those the the just the defensive organization and clean stuff up not give the way the ball away so much there were some pretty
Sports Fan Stress and Community
00:20:31
Speaker
frustrating points in the match where like every pass was getting picked off or they were just like not passing to their own teammates and you're like come on yeah i would like this to be worked out before we get to the playoffs so i guess if they still got this bad shit in them let's do it now i guess i don't know
00:20:44
Speaker
i don't know so we might tell myself is we just we're just we're gonna We're going to figure it all out come playoffs. All right. Presser. Those were actually kind of an interesting pressers, I thought.
00:20:56
Speaker
Yeah, they took forever. was watching the Mariners game on my phone as we were sitting down there. But Harvey actually popped her head in and we were like waiting on the players because they always go first. And then they were like, actually, Laura's coming in first. Oh, OK. ok and OK. I think I already brought up the part where she talked about the quick turnaround from New York and they only train once. um But the quote that I thought was the one worth bringing up was good teams don't lose when they're paint playing badly.
00:21:20
Speaker
uh do i buy into that right now maybe i don't know i think i think i think it makes sense if you're thinking like okay we get an opportunity and we can finish it but at the same time we had plenty of opportunities and didn't finish them yeah so but just i'm just confused because it's like some weeks i mean i guess this is the opponent right bait we know bay's not very good literally they're not supposed to be but the thing it was with that is like from their presser their pregame presser they were talking about just like playing for the love of the game and like and just because they can't make playoffs yeah so like that sometimes those are the hardest teams to beat
00:21:55
Speaker
Yeah. And I think that they're also playing a little bit more front footed, right? Yeah. I mean, they have nothing else to play for. yeah And I got two games, with you know, three games left in the season. Yeah. They're going to try and go all out. Yeah.
00:22:06
Speaker
But yeah. What did, uh, what did you get from Fishlock and Lou Barnes? Talking about just the execution in front of goal, they really pointed to the part where finishing in a play in a in a young player's development, finishing a lot of the time is the last thing to be really reeled in.
00:22:23
Speaker
And Jess Fishlock talked about that. And she just said, you know, with more experience, it'll get there. Yeah, I think she's right. Yeah. Hit the post on me.
00:22:33
Speaker
I know. There's that one that like McCammon took that just like. Can we just get lucky for once? And I know other if there's anyone from that watches any other team and follows the standings, they think we've been lucky all season.
00:22:47
Speaker
Yeah, they're drink they're drinking the Haterade. Yeah, they are. How funny would it be to go far in the playoffs? God, I can't. I'm too stressed. Yeah. And now got stressed about the Mariners.
00:22:57
Speaker
ah Being a Seattle sports fan. I talk to people about our podcast sometimes. but And a lot of people I'm friends with don't watch sports. um And they're like, oh, I'll i'll listen or give your podcast listen to even though I don't watch it. And I'm just like, I don't but don't like recommend being a sports fan. Yeah.
00:23:13
Speaker
it's is You don't need to get into it. No. if you ah You know, like it's very stressful and I'm in a bad mood many times. Thank you. i don't recommend it. This is it fun. There's community. I love it still. But like if you're not into it, sometimes I'm a little bit like you're lucky.
00:23:31
Speaker
You can get reeled in very easily. Let me say that because it is like a great time when things are good. But the ups and downs, really rough. and People watch it for so many different reasons. But I watch it because I love the team and I want us to win. So I mean, I love the sport. I love the team.
00:23:46
Speaker
I'll never stop watching. no And like, I will encourage people to go to games and watch them. But like at the same time, like when things are kind of when I'm just feeling a little like fucking all over the place, I'm always like, God, it'd be really nice not being a sports right now.
00:24:00
Speaker
Yeah, especially during like tournament time or playoffs. Yeah, but we're too late. We're in too deep. So 51 episodes later. Yeah. Also like fucking 13 years, something like that. um Okay.
Player of the Match Announcement
00:24:12
Speaker
Time for cooler player of the match.
00:24:14
Speaker
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 first sponsor. um Good news, bad news. Yeah. Good news is i believe this is going to be this player's first time ever. I think so. I'm pretty sure this is her first time ever getting this really ah big award that everyone strives for. Bad news is we're doing the same thing we've done the last two weeks and we're giving it to the same player that the Reign have kind of given it to player the match for, but it's due. Didn't we give it to her last week too? I don't think we did. i thought we gave it to Huerta.
00:24:49
Speaker
Didn't we? I think I tried to argue somebody else and I don't think we did. Okay. I could be completely full of shit. So we'll just go ahead and put that there just in case. um I'll look into this later. um Anyways, we're giving the clue to the match to ah this week too.
00:25:07
Speaker
Jess Fishlock. but up I wasn't trying to figure out dragon noise, but I have no idea how to do that. I don't know. fire We did go with Sophia Hurtz last week. Yeah. And I think I've tried to advocate for just Fishlock a few times, but like, it just.
00:25:23
Speaker
There's always been other contributors when she's been prop arguably the best player in the game. Yeah. But this match, you just kind of got to give it to her. Yeah. um Love you, Jess.
00:25:35
Speaker
Creepy. Yeah.
00:25:38
Speaker
Listen, I'm going to miss her. Would she? would i mean, i think she's got she's going have at least another year in her. oh yeah, absolutely. It's probably gonna be really weird without Lou next year. But I think she's playing playing well enough off the bench and loves the game enough that she's gonna keep going until till things don't really work on the field.
00:25:54
Speaker
Yeah, so. um 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. Stop in today and go try their Bowhill Farm Blues.
00:26:08
Speaker
I'm not sure if it's Bowhill or Bowhill. And if you listen to this podcast, we had this discussion last year. But they seem to bring this drink in for fall time because it's like a blueberry pie la mode. um Everyone wants that right now, including me. It's got vodka, brioche, and their signature salted Benedict whipped cream with ba... Spelled wrong. I'm pretty sure it's supposed to be Bow Hill Farm. There's an autocorrect there, Matt, if you're listening. um Bow Hill Farm blueberries. So some local blueberries.
00:26:37
Speaker
Looks delicious. There's a nice picture of it on their menu that is making me... Maybe... Oh, where are we going to go? Yeah. Oh, I'm going to probably get this if
NWSL Weekend Recap
00:26:45
Speaker
we go. um Anyways, go check out their Instagram at TDO Seattle or better yet, go drink there in person.
00:26:50
Speaker
chairers Cheers. Cheers.
00:26:54
Speaker
Thank you for listening to the Sounder at Heart Podcast Network, which now includes No Sanietes, Lobbing Scorchers and the Cooler Guild. We've been independent since August of 2023. but need your support to make sure it continues.
00:27:07
Speaker
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Speaker
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00:27:35
Speaker
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00:27:46
Speaker
All right, we're going to run through the other NWSL results. Which games did you watch or highlight or want to do anything cool you want to talk about? I mean, there wasn't really a lot going on this weekend, and honestly. The most exciting thing was Louisville Chicago game.
00:28:02
Speaker
Well, yes, Bethany Balser scored at the death and a super sub moment again. I'm sure she'll get back into the starting lineup, but she had that mental health break. Good for her. She seems to clearly have benefited from that and as far as performing on the field.
00:28:19
Speaker
I did watch the Orlando Portland game. Orlando. Not embarrassed. They've clinched the playoffs. Good for them. I had to rewatch this so I could soak it in.
00:28:30
Speaker
Oh, boy. Oh, boy. o boy. Oh, boy. who ah You texted me about this. i think, were you breathe like laughing or something? why don't remember what you said to me.
00:28:41
Speaker
No, I texted you about ah Hyatt not scoring or not starting. Oh, that's right. um Anyways, ah is it Mally? Mally? Mally? Probably Mally. Mally.
00:28:53
Speaker
Okay. Mally McKenzie subbed in for Vignola in the 72nd minute. And this is all I like had seen. I went and watched the highlights today, but like when you told me about that game, I went and kind of followed along to see what was happening. And I saw that this player, Mackenzie, is subbed in for Vignola in the 72nd minute.
00:29:11
Speaker
And then she got a yellow card in the 85th minute for Portland. And then she got an own goal in the 92nd minute of the game. And she also pissed off Marta, it sounded like, like really bad. um And Marta took the corner kick. The pictures of that are so funny. They're so funny.
00:29:29
Speaker
You can't, I mean, how do you, that's crazy. I would be so embarrassed if she looked at me like that. My head would be on a swivel for the rest of my life. Truly. um but yeah an own goal at 90 plus two to win the game for orlando and clinch the playoffs for them pretty rad good for them and morehouse had a really good save on that too late um i want to mego make sure we shout out keepers when they do good stuff obviously um anything else you want to laugh at from from portland there no okay but so i think it's really funny how they talk about them being such like a offensive powerhouse
00:30:01
Speaker
And it's like, okay, their center mid scores most of their goals. That's not an offensive powerhouse, number one. Number two, you got shut out by Orlando. Oop. Ew. Anyway. Did I come in just calling the nickname of Gotham just Goff?
00:30:16
Speaker
Casey goth. ah Casey beat Gotham. Gotham's steam that they're picking up seems to kind of be dying down a little bit. But I guess that's what happens when you play Casey um and us.
00:30:27
Speaker
Yeah, it's like two best teams in league. It's about what standing say. I didn't watch this. Were there any um roster adjustments like there were when we played them? I saw Schoenga scored, so I didn't watch the game, but I did see Schoenga scored. So yeah, but I mean for Gotham. um Good question. Let's look it up.
00:30:46
Speaker
um Esther subbed out at one point. She did start. Roosevelt subbed out. Mitch Purse subbed out. I mean, they seem to go out with their best lineup. um When did they sub out people? it was really, it looks like. Yeah, Sonnet didn't sub out and Rose Lavelle, Emily Sonnet, and Mitch Purse all subbed out in the 93rd minute. So they were in the whole game.
00:31:08
Speaker
And then Jalen Howell subbed out late too. When did old Esther sub out? I can't see. Oh, 74th. 74th minute, yeah. They brought on Katie Stengel, which is not a bad person to bring on. No.
00:31:24
Speaker
um So they had pretty full lineup. Yeah, for sure. They were definitely going for it. oof north carolina washington spirit one one draw trendy robman still scoring yeah carolina point a point of that though yeah late goal from koyama uh utah versus san diego this uh utah there was a did you see that there was a weather delay on this yeah it looked atrocious was it like a like a lightning situation yeah it was rain and thunder so like most the players had gloves on yeah when they finally played it was pissing rain oh
00:31:55
Speaker
was there's no one in the stands. And I was like, I wouldn't be there either. You know, it's like one of those games where you can't quite tell from like the the wide angle, like what the weather is. And then they go down to like the field level camera. Yeah. And it's just like, who is that?
00:32:07
Speaker
Because there's just so much rain coming across That's what it was like. Terrible. And the ball, the ball wasn't rolling very well. Utah, like, ah I mean, they're officially eliminated, right? Officially?
00:32:17
Speaker
i they i think they might have been after losing this game. Yeah, Utah's officially eliminated. Utah Bay and Chicago were officially eliminated. think Chicago has been done, but those are the teams that are out.
00:32:29
Speaker
There was, did you see the game winner for you for San Diego? No. Crazy. I mean, remember when, who was it that scored that ridiculous like Shross last week? Kwasi. Yeah, Kwasi. So Kwasi scored that like kind of floating Shross.
00:32:43
Speaker
And then Dolly for San Diego kind of had a similar thing, long distance floater. I don't know what McGlynn was really doing on that. She seemed to just be a little bit too far. Oh, I did see this. Yeah. Yeah. She seemed to be too far out. Yeah, which is just unfortunate. And they recover.
Seattle Mariners Playoff Run
00:32:59
Speaker
That's where footwork comes in. Yeah, I mean, maybe she was really cold. And after running in the 10k when it was really cold, I'm not gonna, I'm not gonna judge. I mean, it sucks because you're a professional athlete, but it is hard to be out in the cold and rain. It is.
00:33:14
Speaker
Really, i think that this weekend made me realize there's no way I could be a professional athlete that plays outside. in all weather i'd have to be like give me a safe cofield or t-mobile park retractable thing i have some childhood memories of playing in my teens in some really really shitty weather playing goalkeeper i' on a team that was good oh god so there's like a the heaviness like gets you and our equipment was worse in the early two thousand yeah that's that's awful so you got like soaked kangaroo leather boots
00:33:52
Speaker
Yeah, no thank you. No thank you. ah Last game that happened was Angel City versus Houston. Houston seems to just be crashing out. So Angel City won that 2-0. There was an insane assist on that game.
00:34:04
Speaker
It's up for assist of the week. um I think it was... it Endo? Yeah, it was June Endo. She just like kind of flicked it backwards. Yeah, on the on the sideline. just Yeah, it was nice. If you haven't seen it, go watch it. um Any final takeaways from this weekend in NWSL?
00:34:21
Speaker
it's getting tight it's very tight and thank god we got a point i guess knowing what like looking at those standings at least we got a point yeah i mean that's what i'm saying and you got you get a point in gotham you get a point there it's like you know take it move on pretty much yeah I mean, if anything, yes, we want to win, but we understand the reality of the squad and just the situation that we're in. For sure. And it's like.
00:34:47
Speaker
So we're sitting in fifth place um at the end of this. We're on 35 points, which we're tied with Gotham. Don't see any scenario in which we catch up to them on goal differential. Right behind us, we've got two teams on 34 points.
00:35:01
Speaker
They actually have the same goal differential too. That's kind of interesting. It's San Diego and Portland. And then right behind them by one point at 33 points is racing Louisville. Racing Louisville, I think are kind of a dark horse in this. And they're playing Gotham on Sunday. Oh, okay. That's interesting for us.
00:35:17
Speaker
Yeah, that one will that one will matter. um Orlando plays the spirit man at the spirit. Yeah, we've definitely got a better Portland plays Angel City. that in Portland?
00:35:28
Speaker
That's an Angel City. Oh, interesting. so there's a lot of opportunity for some results to go our way this weekend. i Yeah, I don't know.
00:35:40
Speaker
Next match we've got is going to be against the Royals, as everyone should know. It's Friday, October 17th at 7 p.m. at Lumen Field. It's going to be on Fox 13, NWSL+. Do you think there's any chances this gets moved because the Mariners?
00:35:53
Speaker
No. Because it's not on a major network, though. That's the only thing that I'm like... Maybe. They didn't move the last one. Yeah. But this is like, if they fucking go to, if, if this, if they make that the game that gets them to the world series, can you imagine what a fucking shit show it's going to be outside? Yeah. And then we can join.
00:36:11
Speaker
Well, we can't join. because we're going to have to go to the fucking rain game. What time would, what time would the, cause I think the Mariners are playing like three or something, two or three. So and don't know. Something to keep an eye on, but maybe they'll just sweep and then we won't have to think about this.
00:36:25
Speaker
Honestly, that's kind of perfect for game arrival, though, depending what time the game is. Yeah, but it's also a Friday. I'm just picturing people celebrating going to the World Series, possibly on a Friday night. Yeah. Anyways, we got to get there first.
00:36:37
Speaker
ah This will be the last regular season. thought you were super confident. I mean, I'm confident, but I also don't want to like talk like it's done yet. It's the game. The Mariners games at three oh eight on Friday. OK, yeah.
00:36:50
Speaker
We'll see what happens if it happens, because they could win two games before that. ah This would be game. That would be game five. Yeah. So if they went out. Yeah. Get those brooms out, please. OK, it's always the worst when it's Toronto, too. Yeah. We're living in Seattle and I know. But there was there was a time we swept them.
00:37:07
Speaker
Yeah, it's great. We got to make laugh at all the Canadians.
Upcoming Game Preview
00:37:10
Speaker
Yeah. all of them because it's like literally all canada is there back to the actual soccer uh this will be the last regular season home game for the rain things you want to see to shutout okay a shutout for lou shutout for lou shutout for claude claudia shutout for final home game of the season yeah let's make it seven games unbeaten i think it's important to just with like the reality of attendance and things you know this could possibly be the last opportunity to see the team at home this season yeah and i think as a fan if i'm bringing my friends to this game that you know maybe don't always go it's a great time to hook people in sure um so i want to see them put on a performance make the make us excited to watch you yeah
00:38:00
Speaker
I wish it wasn't, well, I don't know. I guess this, I just wish we knew more about what it's going to look like with the Mariners next door. If they're next door. Yeah. don't know. Because if they sweep, they'll finish out on Thursday. Yeah.
00:38:13
Speaker
It would just really not help the rain and fans getting out there. Right. Otherwise. And I would hope that they move the game if they need to. Because didn't the Seahawks move theirs? Yeah, Sounders didn't.
00:38:24
Speaker
No. Yeah, I don't know. What I want to see is to make, because we're playing a team that's eliminated, right, from the playoffs. And I just want it to look like, like, I want to make them look like a team that was eliminated.
00:38:37
Speaker
you know? Like, because also kind of just why i want to put them in their place. Yeah, I mean, and they do get scored on a lot. Yeah. This last game for them was not good. So he and they had three goals put up on them.
00:38:48
Speaker
They had some, they were doing okay for a while. What we always thought about them this season has returned. Yeah, I think so. They they had such a like spurt kind of mid, just post-mid season where they were playing actually pretty well.
00:39:04
Speaker
It happened to us last year. h But we'll see. I have a good feeling about this game. i think it'll be fine. I also said that about last game, so I'm wrong. I was like, I'm coming up for it, though. So i want to see this team.
00:39:18
Speaker
I just want to see people be like, oh those rain teammates. Like they do this every day playoffs. Well, I don't give a shit what anybody else thinks. I just want to put on a freaking show. Yeah, but like... Play like the better team. Yeah, I just... But that's, I guess what I'm saying is I don't want to look like shit against Utah.
00:39:34
Speaker
Yeah. um And if you're going to have success in the playoffs, you have to play to your own standard. As long as we don't fall into Utah's trap. And I think that's one thing I've seen a little bit more of from the rain lately is especially at the beginning of the match.
00:39:50
Speaker
They're kind of starting off on the front foot, even though it has died off. It seems like they're trying to figure out how to get their game going early on instead of responding. So hopefully we'll see more of that.
00:40:01
Speaker
they're with four back again? I would think so. Yeah. I like it better. Against Utah, if I would think, I would hope they do that. Yeah. And I, for the love of God, get Maddie Darlene up there. I know.
00:40:15
Speaker
And it just fucking baffles me that we're like unable to get her a through ball, which they did more last game. But at the same time, I'm just like, she's so dangerous when she's on the ball, especially in those wide areas, able to cut down to the line and sometimes even turn, sometimes even turn the corner. know.
00:40:34
Speaker
How do we get her the ball? Yeah. Yeah. If she can also figure out how to actually draw fouls successfully, like actually get people to chip at her.
00:40:45
Speaker
i know someone she could talk to. Who's that? No, I don't want diving. I want, I want like, cause I mean, there's players that are really good at getting like, you know, those kinds of fouls. Fish luck's been good at it over the years.
00:40:58
Speaker
Oh, absolutely. Uh, you need to learn how to fall better. Yeah. I just, if you're getting tackled, if you're going fall. Yeah.
Soccer Strategy and Game Awareness
00:41:04
Speaker
Yeah. It's like, I don't think she's over-exaggerating the falls. No, no, no, no,
00:41:09
Speaker
Sometimes you have to. Yeah, she just needs to... say Sometimes you gotta a roll and grab your ankle. Yeah, maybe, and this is just like an acting note, I guess. Um... because I mean, she's getting like people are pulling her down and she's getting taken down for sure. But like but maybe like the arms up isn't that doesn't seem to be working. So I think we need to like maybe ball up.
00:41:33
Speaker
That's what I'm saying. Yeah. Ball up. Like bring your leg to your chest kind of thing. Not be shocked. We don't need to have shock. We need to have like ah what what would be the reaction like acceptance acceptance or just like I'm in so much pain. Oh, God, I can't even look.
00:41:51
Speaker
like we can't be looking back at the ref of being like you missed it yeah you know yeah you gotta stop the game you gotta stay down stop the game and then the referee will look for it she'll get there i'm i'm she'll get there jordan heidemus figured it out maybe she should talk to jordan jordan and it took years it's taken a while it is taking a while she wasn't getting those calls for she still barely gets those calls sometimes but he was figured out montezer's figuring it out sometimes it's a thing though with like they don't But and they don't like, they don't want to give it to rookies, right? Like, I think the longer and you're in the league, the more that they give those calls to you.
00:42:26
Speaker
Mondesier is a little more experienced on, like, she's, you know, playing international stuff. Yeah, I don't know if I've i've seen that trend per se It's not the WNBA. But the WNBA is kind of opposite, depending on the player. But... um Yeah.
00:42:41
Speaker
Yeah. I love to see that. Oh, did you see that um the foam claw made it into the locker room? I did That's pretty cool. The claw squad has gone full immersion. I was curious on ah what the reaction was. i don't know.
00:42:55
Speaker
But whatever. Maybe we'll never find out. That's fine. Mysteries. already asked about it once at a press conference. I'm not going to do it. maybe really they asked about it and we're like let me get some of that uh cool i think that's pretty much gonna do it for the show um do you got any shout outs for the week no all right i don't think i got anything other than maybe i'll actually see people in the press box briefly for the next game yeah which i have not done for i just went to the thorns press box for the one game but you know be prepared to be in the lap of luxury at lumen field well oranus still hasn't approved my credentials so maybe i won't be
00:43:32
Speaker
You know those get sent out on Thursdays. Well, I think yours got sent out already, unless that was something different. No, that was just for Lou's thing. Oh, okay, okay, okay. But, yeah, so maybe I'll come say hi. But I think we're also going to go sit in the stands for the game, get kind of a last-man experience for all this stuff, especially since Lou's, they're be having a whole ceremony for her at the end. Yeah.
00:43:52
Speaker
um Okay, cool. Well, thanks again to our sponsor, The Doctor's Office. You always follow us on Blue Sky and Instagram at Cooler Guild
Closing Remarks and Listener Gratitude
00:44:00
Speaker
Pod. You can send us an email. We love an email at thecoolerguild at gmail.com. You can visit us on our main page at sounderatheart.com forward slash thecoolerguild.
00:44:08
Speaker
we are We're on YouTube, youtube.com forward slash at thecoolerguild. This recording seems to be going better. I know. don't want to jinx it. Nope, because you'll probably text me in the morning when you go to edit and be like, damn it!
00:44:20
Speaker
Yeah, knock on wood right now, but it seems to be going okay. And we're like an hour in so far. And if we can keep this up, then we'll bring video back at some point for some episodes. But I got a new Ethernet set up.
00:44:34
Speaker
we are We are in line to our internet. Yeah, hopefully that's going to be the trick. It did start off a little shaky, but I think overall we did okay. Wherever you're listening, please go rate five stars. Leave a fun comment, a mean comment, a fun mean comment with five stars.
00:44:48
Speaker
Till next time, I'm Coop. I'm Van. Stay cool, y'all. Stay cool.
00:45:07
Speaker
Uh, I think my dog's digging her bed. i can't hear it. Lay down. She doesn't have a shot collar on, I promise. but I do understand your reference.