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2025 Season Wrap - Ep. 55
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Who won the 2025 Cooler Player of the Season this year? An NWSL Champion has been crowned, meaning it’s time to wrap up the 2025 season. In this jam-packed show we get into a variety of community questions, announce our 2025 Cooler Player of the Season, and give overall thoughts on the Reign’s performance. Later we go over how the NWSL playoffs shook out, including the not-so-surprising win from super-team Gotham FC, and more.
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Coop
Van
Show produced by Coop
Theme song by Alex Juarez
Show artwork by Coop
The Cooler Guild Est. 2024
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Transcript
Introduction and Podcast Network
00:00:21
Speaker
Hello, hello, hello, and welcome episode 55 of The Cooler Guild. I am Coop Cooper, and joined with me as always is my co-host, Van k Crisp. Hello. We are recording on Sunday, December 7th, 2025. It's been a minute. i'd Hot minute. When was our last show? What day was that?
00:00:37
Speaker
me see. I have it somewhere. I have it somewhere convenient. I just pulled this up. mean, convenient, but... it was november 11th was our last show oh okay so almost a month almost a month and i think we had planned to do this sooner but um yeah don't know if you know this but the end of this was really bad at getting roster stuff out yeah and the rain still haven't done it but before we get into that we got some housekeeping to take care of the cooler guild is part of the sounder heart podcast network you can either listen to us on our public feed or if you're a sounder heart subscriber So it's been a just last year's end of season show. And again, we both had birthdays. figure. It's that of Yeah.
Personal Updates and Experiences
00:01:13
Speaker
and percent off the normal rate and you'll help support everything we're doing so it's been a minute have you have it have you done anything interesting anything happened to you well just like i relistened to last year's end of season show and once again we both had birthdays go figure it's that time of year yeah I had a little get together with my friends. Nice. Is my my new favorite brewery um that's not in town here. um Had like a tap takeover night. Oh, sweet.
00:01:43
Speaker
At a local local spot I go to um called Beer Works. And yeah they, ah yeah, everybody kept giving me their raffle tickets for the merch.
00:01:53
Speaker
So I ended up with a bunch of stuff, including this sick, what's on this thing? Camo shirt. Living House Camo shirt. Yeah, so Living House Brewery. They're out of Portland. But um yeah, they make one of my favorite IPAs right now. And so that was really fun. Then the guy that owned it was super chill and I got to see a bunch of my friends and hang out. Sweet.
00:02:12
Speaker
ah Yeah, I've just been chilling. I just applied for college. Oh, nice. What are you doing at college? Getting a degree. Oh. finishing your degree yeah what what's what i have two years left okay or you have a spent like a thing you're gonna get get it in um i'm i applied for evergreen so hell yeah yeah in the greener way there's a lot of interesting routes you can go through evergreen so yeah there is um yeah looking forward to that see what the new year's gonna bring so what about you uh well my birthday also happened and i mean this is like the coolest thing that's ever happened i saw kelly like clarkson live that's right uh i saw kelly like clarkson had a residency announced and then she was playing on my birthday so i was like we gotta go sick yeah um and so we went to go see her and she as is as good as you would expect her to be live she is the american idol here's here's my my mean main takeaway kelly clarkson is an insanely talented she is very charismatic obviously you can tell that with her talk show um but she also swears a lot like if she had if they had if they allowed her to do an unfiltered version of her show like there would be a lot of swearing and i guess for me that was a main takeaway because i do swear a lot on this show but I swear a lot in my life. It makes people seem more relatable. Yeah. I mean, like and I can't help it. I think it got worse when I started working in a warehouse. um
00:03:37
Speaker
So and then I didn't have to work with like customers in person anymore. So it kind of just the filter really went off the rails after that. But basically, my you know, sometimes I feel like I'm swearing too much on the show. And there's episodes where I'm kind of angry and then more swearing comes out because of the results of the team or whatever. It was worse last season, though, honestly. Oh, For sure. i i do think this season, though, I had one episode where I had to edit out like a lot of F words.
00:04:03
Speaker
um But hey, Kelly Clarkson, the American Idol, big swear. ah So that kind of made me feel like, you know what, if Kelly Clarkson does it, fuck it.
00:04:14
Speaker
She yeah, she's she's incredible. I love her. She's a Christmas song, too. She's like, it's close enough. This is my first time I'm gonna do it this this year. But it's close enough to
Soccer Season Insights
00:04:23
Speaker
Christmas. It was like November fourteenth like good for you um but yeah she's great if you ever feel like you need to go see her she's in her prime right now so absolutely uh anyways we have soccer to get into a lot of stuff going on while also not having a lot of information um the season has ended for everybody officially we've got champions uh officially and we'll get into that later but i think first we want to dive into we're go like the rain related stuff we got some community questions to go over um we're gonna do like a wrap up for the season and all So like we're going to do the official cooler player of the season for this year because we haven't done that yet. That's a big one to hit on. And then we'll go into the playoffs and the games that we didn't cover yet. And kind of just the other news going around with the U.S. Women's National Team other international shit. So lot of lot random stuff, but um it's been a minute. And i think ah I think we wanted to save it all kind of till some things settled down, especially with like the U.S. Women's National Team and everything that played out there. But if more stuff comes out, we can do an update show.
00:05:25
Speaker
Yeah, I think we're going to have to do one whenever the roster stuff kind of gets finalized. Although it seems like we can speculate, I would say, pretty well about what's going to happen with some of those people. But there's a lot of free agents from other teams that I expect the raid to maybe get it on some of those. or at least Yeah, at least try. Yeah.
00:05:42
Speaker
um But first, we're going to do the community questions that we posted on to the Reign slash Soundert Heart Discord that they have. ah You want to go over the first one? Yeah.
Reign's Potential Under Laura Harvey
00:05:53
Speaker
So Steve Vogt asked, have the Reign reached the limit of what they can accomplish under Laura Harvey? If they decide to go a new direction, who or what type of coach would you like to see take over? I don't think they have accomplished the limit of what they can reach. I think that's kind of with a young team expected. Is it frustrating with how the season ended and just like the little the little places you can see that we clearly just needed to fine tune? It's like frustrating. Do I think that's a fault of Laura Harvey's? No. um
00:06:23
Speaker
i don't know. So I guess that's like I don't I don't want a new coach at this moment. Yeah, i agree with that. I also think, like it was said many times throughout the season, with a lot of these players, they're playing the long game. Yeah. So to do that, I feel like in a so in a system approach, that includes Laura Harvey, right? So I think the front office is bought in.
00:06:45
Speaker
And I think that we may get to see maybe towards the end of next season, kind of where we're at and can evaluate then. Because I think a Euro coach always needs to be evaluated, right? They're never, it's a job.
00:06:58
Speaker
And if they're not doing well at their job. But as far as an approach, like it seems that Laura Harvey is taking with these younger players, getting players back like me official who haven't played in a couple years. um It's going to take time. And I think she has earned that time, earned that time for us to allow a little leeway here. Yeah, we had this, I mean, i you have to propose, I say this question, I guess, in some sense every single year if you don't win the championship or if you don't get to the championship at least. So, I mean, we went over this last year and last year was a fucking disaster. Everyone knows that. But we both agreed that like Harvey deserves another year.
00:07:35
Speaker
um and I think that she outperformed the expectations that we had going into the season. And I think people are maybe forgetting that when Harvey I'm not saying Steve is implying that Harvey should be out. I think he's just kind of thrown it out there because it should be asked. um But yeah, i I
Gotham's Strategy and Playoff Performance
00:07:53
Speaker
don't know. I just, I feel, i feel good with the coach that we have. And if you look around the league and kind of what happens with coaching It's still a whole situation with ah just finding the right fits for people. There's an issue with not hiring women in coaching positions. There's an issue with not hiring people of color in coaching positions. um And that's, i know, something that the Reign are, you know, kind of guilty of at times as well um with, you know, you know training staff as a whole but having a female head coach in this league is rare having a female head coach in this league that knows what they're doing and can get the kinds of results harvey was getting out of these players i think that is worth continuing at this point yeah and i think we're forgetting the malaise that we came into this season with just like well it's a rebuild year we're going to be terrible And then you pull out some big results at the beginning of the season, right? So I think she did her job and I think she did it well. um
00:08:51
Speaker
Overperformed the expectations, at least from that we had. um If I look into the second part of this question, if they did decide to go into a new direction, ah who or what type of coach you like to see take over? i think if they go in a new direction, i would want them to absolutely flip the script, go with somebody new, somebody who can keep the dynamic of the locker room intact. Yeah,
00:09:13
Speaker
But also take risks. Okay. And that's just if that were to happen, who that would be, i have no clue. I was like, I don't have a list of people I want to bring Yeah, i I mean, Bev, but and as good as she made Louisville and stuff, still, you know, and she got coach of the year, well-deserved, everything like that. But like, I guess she would fit into the year mold of like someone a little new and maybe slightly unproven.
00:09:37
Speaker
um See what she can do with a team that actually is a little more willing to spend money on like Louisville. Yeah, that would be my answer to the second part of the question, but I i don't think it's necessarily right now. It's not right now. Yeah, so this is good. This is kind of a good segue from Steve's first question. He also asked, was Harvey Ball vindicated by Gotham winning all of their playoff games with less than 0.9 XG?
00:10:02
Speaker
ah You had put it. Did I put that note in? I did. Okay, ah Van had put in the note that they had.86 versus Kansas City, XG.13 versus or Orlando, and.87 versus the Washington Spirit in the final.
00:10:15
Speaker
ah
Creative Midfield and Team Strategies
00:10:16
Speaker
What do you think? or Are we vindicated? I think as far as like the XG like believers go. Yeah. Yeah, absolutely. it vindicates that Harvey ball. I mean, to be fair to Gotham, they didn't really play Harvey ball in umome in its organic form. I think the most impressive win in their run was against Orlando.
00:10:39
Speaker
Yes. Yeah, totally. Because Orlando dominated that game offensively. I'll talk about that later, but they were able to hold. I mean, and Emily Sonnet was as annoying as she can be when she plays. She was a big part of that. Yeah, she's a player you want on your team, but not to play against. hmm.
00:10:53
Speaker
So I don't know if it's vindicated. because I don't know if that was essentially Harvey ball. But if if people equate Harvey ball with overperforming XG, then sure. Yeah. OK, I think that's fair.
00:11:07
Speaker
Happ is happens. Happ What do you think it is? Happ is. I don't know. Happ is asked what areas of the team should the rain strengthen? Seems creative slash attacking midfield. Could you some help?
00:11:20
Speaker
I would absolutely agree with that. Spot on. Yeah. And ah you listened to the episode from last season. This is like the exact thing. We were like, we need help in this. And it seems we didn't get it. Or at least the breakout we wanted from G never happened. It kind of happened, but it never ah really came to fruition. and it was a long shot before that. We knew that. Yeah. um I don't know where we get this creative midfielder from.
00:11:50
Speaker
Yeah, I don't know. I have to do some looking around kind of and really get smart with it because I don't think that there's an obvious player out there. You know, I think that if they were to get Croy Bethune.
00:12:04
Speaker
Right. I mean, I'm just saying like a player like that. to play in the 10 role and then you could go to two up top with Darlene Fischel you know throwing anyone else in there I think that that would really unlock a lot of the offense um and I think that it's going to be interesting to see depending on who the rain pick up how the formation changes Because I really think the five back was a a last ditch kind of effort.
00:12:32
Speaker
Yeah, to kind of work with the the players that we had and still have. But we also know that they weren't like they haven't reached their the peaks, their peaks. Yeah. So, yeah, it kind of granted them a little bit of ah room for error. with that formation yeah and I think having a creative attacking midfield player with a little bit of i don't know jes could really help me official i was like you see me official kind of take over that role at times in the very few minutes she's played with us So that was one of the things with G. G was creative and ah kind of ah some of the other players didn't quite get it. And I think Mia Fischl and the time she spent at Chelsea and kind of being around and and being a creative player herself could benefit from that. yeah
00:13:18
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah. they need They need to find something up there because Sam Meza is fighting for her life. Is there any other areas of the team that you want to see some improvements or some something to at least kind of bolster, like add some add some extra depth? Well, we have some questions to ask about center backs. Sure.
00:13:36
Speaker
Lou Barnes is now retired. Lou Barnes retiring. um we were talking before we
Goal Scorers vs. Playmakers Debate
00:13:41
Speaker
were recording um about Emily Mason and what that's going to look like. I think it would be good to have another strong player back there.
00:13:50
Speaker
Yeah. i wasn't and i was When I was looking at the the like ah free agents, there's not a lot of pickings. like I think they're going have to do some trades and some some stuff like that to to get what they... Well, essentially, everyone's a free agent for the right price.
00:14:06
Speaker
True. Under the new CBA. So they could go out and get somebody depending on what the money looks like. I was like, Jessica do you do it apparently doesn't care about the rules, though. Yeah. All right. You want to go to the next one? So Susie asks two part question again, or maybe two different questions. ah Do we need more ruthless goal scorers or do we need people who can set up our goal scorers more? And she said, I think the answer is a nuance both but curious about your thoughts on the on this tension. i was like, probably both. I would if I had to pick one over the other, i would maybe say ruthless goal scorers.
00:14:37
Speaker
But I think that's, I say that it's because it's born out of um frustrations of watching this team for the last two years or three years, whatever, however many years it's been since we've had someone who's absolutely ruthless in front of goal. And upon re-listening to last season's kind of end of season thing, and when we signed Lynn, I thought maybe that's what we were going to have this season, and obviously things didn't work out that way.
00:14:59
Speaker
But I was very hopeful for that, and... I think it would go a long way for this team more so than someone setting up because I think we set up actually kind of okay. I just think our issue is finishing and and having someone just like super, super greedy in front of goal.
00:15:17
Speaker
I don't know. What do you think? I disagree with that. Oh, interesting. Because I think we do have ruthless goal scorers and overperforming your XG all season, pretty much. Right. And when I'm an XG believer, though. Right. I'm just using it as a counter argument here. um But you've got players like Maddie Darlene, right? Yeah.
00:15:37
Speaker
When Maddie Darlene gets on the ball and gets into areas that are dangerous, she scores. We haven't had a double digit goal scorer, though. That's fine. But that's because it's not because we had don't have people that can score. It's because we don't we're not putting those people into dangerous positions to score enough.
00:15:52
Speaker
That that's how I feel. I do think it's a nuance both because i think the team could use better players in a lot of positions, including attacking, you know, to have a chewing on your team, right? Or a barbibanda.
00:16:05
Speaker
that's invaluable. But I think that there is promise from the players that we do have if we get them into better situations more often. Yeah, I can see that. I still feel strongly that we need a Ruthless goal scorer. I think that you're right in that we have that maybe within this team. So I think for me, it's just a matter of when is that breakout going to happen?
00:16:27
Speaker
Um, And if that does happen with, say, somebody like Maddie Darlene, it will be a very scary thing for other teams to defend. I'm wondering too, if you get, what if you threw Adama's into like that 10 rule?
00:16:42
Speaker
That's an interesting idea. i think that there are pieces and it's not just about going out and buying players that you think are going to be good. I mean, we've done that. So I think that they're within the team. Currently there is a way to do that. I'm just curious what the roster is going to look like next year and how the team gets set up. Yeah. I mean, it could just be as simple as let Adamus play more. Yeah. She fucked. I mean, I didn't get to watch all the skills challenge stuff, but it doesn't seem like we're using Adamus as much as we could. No, she balled out the skills challenge and won it for them. Won it for her team in skills challenge. Second part of this question is, attendance of the rain
Improving Rain's Attendance and Branding
00:17:25
Speaker
wasn't great this year. Are you hopeful the new ownership group can improve this in their second full year?
00:17:29
Speaker
Yes. I am, but... I also recognize the World Cup is happening and that is going to make things extremely difficult to deal with. I think it's also an opportunity.
00:17:43
Speaker
Perhaps. Yeah. You're going to get a lot of men's football fans and into a stadium where your women's team plays. Sure. Yeah, a idea. There's an advertising opportunity there. There needs to be billboards outside.
00:17:55
Speaker
There needs to be visibility. Sure. and And the team, I was talking with my dad about this. There's a lack of kind of identity with the outward appearance of this team.
00:18:05
Speaker
Okay. Right. Who is your, who is your player that's going to be bringing these people in? Right. Where is the identity? Where is the, who are you putting on the billboard that's bringing people to the games? Right.
00:18:17
Speaker
yeah i mean who is who is yeah popping around local media yeah you know who's out and about yeah they're not really cashing in on any anybody like do a do a freaking fishing series with me official she loves to fish yeah put it out there get her with quinn dempsey send him on a fishing trip it's good idea i mean free ideas here i'll do it for you but There needs to be, right, some sort of tie in, some buy in for the fans, right? Especially fans that aren't just there for the game. It needs to be a social phenomenon.
00:18:52
Speaker
You've seen it with the torrent, right? People are here for it. It's new. They've got openly queer players on the team that are posting thirst traps that are... You know, they did like a ah a game around town visibility. They're building it. Right. they are Yeah, they are. And as crap, we talk about Angel City only being a brand. The rain need to do better on the brand side. Sure. Sure.
00:19:17
Speaker
and yeah And I think that there's opportunity, but I think that it will be a big challenge with the men's World Cup. yeah because it's yeah yeah they're not going to be Yeah, because they're not going to be they're goingnna be on the road for a lot of games. um I don't know.
00:19:32
Speaker
It's like a couple weeks or like a month before where they like shut down basically where they're playing um because they're going to get the grass in and all that stuff. So, yeah, I don't know. it's hard I would say it's hard to gauge at this very moment just because of the World Cup, which is also going to be... There's a lot of positives to take out of it with ah with the rain, maybe getting some exposure. But um if you're online at all, which I assume everyone who listens to this is... um the world cup is going to be a shit show um morally ethically i'm not as fired up as i used to be about it um everything that's kind of surrounded this event for last year year six months or so has been really not not fun and i'm yeah i don't it's not gonna be great for the city um on some many levels i guess so at least the rain won't be in town for it i guess yeah They can benefit from the advertising. But ah yeah, I don't know.
00:20:30
Speaker
ah Next question. We have next questions we have are from
College Players and Team Strategy
00:20:35
Speaker
Elaine. um I've been wondering about possible signings from colleges now that there's no draft. do you have any college players you'd like to see on the rain? Additionally, do you happen to know anything about Andrea Leyva? it Andrea or Andrea?
00:20:48
Speaker
i think it's Andrea. Okay. Danny's sister and sophomore midfielder from UW. I'm wondering if she'll stay with UW when he leaves for Mexico. um And if maybe she doesn't offer somewhere else, ah seems like she must follow him or she followed him here. um Yeah, I mean, the Danny Leiva stuff's kind of, I don't know a lot about it. I can look into it at some point. Yeah, he was at when she played for one of the USLW teams um and he was at the game. you Do you know if she's like, do you like rate her?
00:21:17
Speaker
Not as much as some other players from what I saw. That's just my own personal. And I was focused on other things during the w League season, but. Um, I think for me, from what I've seen for the college cup, I mean, there's a player on Stanford that Susie pointed out. Um, I find that name, but I think the big one for me is Alex Buck. Okay. Did you watch any of the UW games? I did not.
00:21:42
Speaker
Yeah. There's a player on Stanford called Jasmine Aikie. Okay. Um, there's a huge opportunity with an Aikie breaky heart moment there. Um, She scored an absolute banger in their last game on a free kick. Okay. So, I mean, it's good. um So she would be one.
00:22:01
Speaker
i i don't pay a ton of attention to the college game, to be quite honest. We know that ours are like, we have a lot of scouting and and like, obviously, like Leslie Gallimore is in tune with that side of stuff. So I would suspect that, yeah, she and Laura are probably keeping close eyes on players there.
00:22:21
Speaker
Yeah, and Leiva being a sophomore at UW, there's a lot of time there. Yeah. um So we'll see. I don't know. We already have a ton of young players. Yeah, that's the thing. I don't know if it's worth it. I mean, yeah, maybe bring in one or two and then send them out on loan if, you know, they're not quite ready, kind of the Sam Meza situation. But yeah.
00:22:43
Speaker
Those are kind of my thoughts on that. There are better people to ask. um One of them being Susie Rantz. On our other question, I got clarification from Matthew. And he said, he sent us a question and I didn't quite understand it when we were reading it here. um He said, it was terrib probably terribly worded. i was tired and cranky when I wrote it. He said, I'm just mad that anyone can call Gotham underdogs in this year of 2025. Yeah, it's an insane thing. He said, it was us. We were the underdogs.
00:23:12
Speaker
I hope you had a good cackle at my madness. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So his original question, kind of the the narrative surrounding Gotham's run was that they were such plucky
Gotham's Underdog Narrative
00:23:24
Speaker
underdogs. The narrative being from Jessica Berman. Yeah. I feel like she's the only one who led this fucking bullshit, which does go a long way when you're the fucking commissioner of the league, because then you've got the fucking media acting like they're underdogs. I think the whole idea was that Casey was going to sweep the season and the playoffs. And then all of this absolutely just jizzing for Casey was like had to end.
00:23:50
Speaker
And now they're like, oh, what do we do? Yeah, they put all their eggs in one basket for sure. They sure did. And I think, yeah, it was it was very un-Gotham for them to enter the playoffs in the last seed, right? Their eighth place. But Gotham's not an eighth place team. How'd they win their last championship?
00:24:09
Speaker
Yes. Same thing. Mm-hmm. it's It's not realistic for them to be underdogs in 2025. I mean, we say this every time we talk about Gotham and just list off their players. yeah That is not an underdog team. Anyone with that roster is not an underdog team. I don't care how much you try and convince us that they are. They're just not. The moment you have Rose Lavelle in your team, you're not an underdog. Best air. You're not an underdog. Yeah. that's like the dumbest that you're like does jessica berman even watch any other team other than casey probably not she's probably in worthless zoo meetings like every other commissioner sportsman yeah um yeah i don't know that's it's dumb was the t was the league prepared for if the rain made a run no no no Which I do feel like was a bit realistic, but... Sure. I mean, all people didn't even have us getting to where we did. and we lost a very good team too. And just barely for at least until the last minute. yeah um But yeah. ah Yeah, the last thing, we Van reposted it last minute to see if we could get any other questions or anything. Because we had this up for a couple weeks now. just ah We didn't know we were going to record. If The Rain would have released their roster stuff, which they still have not, we would have recorded much sooner. um But Rick said, feel free to mock all the people who said we would be bottom of the table exclamation mark. That would be everyone.
Rain's Resilience and Predictions
00:25:31
Speaker
i remember I remember talking about this at the beginning of the season on a podcast because there was on I think it was the expected XG podcast and they were just talking so much crap about how terrible we were going to be.
00:25:47
Speaker
And sure, i did say, i think that the preseason um games that team was playing, it seemed like the vibes were good. i think that they were probably underestimating us. And it was true.
00:25:59
Speaker
i I just think it it does the team such a disservice, right? But maybe that's fuel. Sure. Did I also think we were not going to be that great? Maybe. um but I also like this team. I like the players on team. I like the staff. I like the organization. And I want what's best for them.
00:26:19
Speaker
And so I'm always going to advocate for them. But you also can't look at a coach like Laura Harvey and expect them again to be back where they were the season before. That's not how that works with a coach of that caliber. Yeah.
00:26:32
Speaker
Yeah, I think it was like its expected Ongol. They didn't. and I mean, I guess if I just want to be petty, which this is kind of what this comment is leaving us to be petty about.
00:26:42
Speaker
um Expected Ongol didn't have high hopes for us. They also thought we didn't even know who our center backs like lineup was going to be. Yeah, that was... Like, they didn't know, like, they're like, oh, i don't know. They don't even know what their identity is in the back line. That was, like, the one thing we kind of did have figured out.
00:26:59
Speaker
We knew we would have Jordan Bug. knew we would have Phoebe McLaurin. We knew we would have Lauren Barnes in rotation. I would say Claudia Dickey kind of having the season that she had was a little bit of a surprise. But everyone who had watched her before that, um other than Van being frustrated with the previous season... did rate her they always rated her yeah um it was just a bad combination of everything that happened last season um but yeah i'm just just to throw out expected own goals shitting on us in the beginning of the season they didn't even know what the rain were about so can't i couldn't really take their opinion seriously anyways yeah and uh hopefully now they've learned at least a little something about this fucking team
00:27:38
Speaker
It is, I will say it is hard to do a podcast on one team. I can't imagine doing it on sure all of them. That's why you bring people on That's why you bring people on. That's why you ask people that are in the spaces, right? Maybe the two people that have the only regular podcast for this team. Maybe. Maybe. um Yeah, have us on, let us have shitty predictions and then it won't come back on you. Yeah, and we won't. I mean, we'll probably be a little shitty to you as a joke, but we promise it's just to be funny. um A little bit, at least. But if you don't know what you're talking about, just don't talk about it then. Yeah, fair. That's that's where I'm at with it.
00:28:16
Speaker
Oh, actually, speaking of, I went to that Ford George event. Oh, yeah. with the the um they There's like this band that plays... basically every single night before Thanksgiving at Fort George. Um, and, uh, there was a woman in the crowd who I met and her like friends run the angel city FC podcast. And she was like, yeah, they got their press passes revoked.
00:28:39
Speaker
Why? and i was like, were they talking too much shit about the team? Because like you you do have to like, I mean, if you're going to go in there as media members, like you can't just sit there and shit on like you have to be a little bit, a little bit calculated, not super calculated, but like there's just certain opinions, which to be fair, there are a lot of ah things you could say about Angel City that would probably get your press pass revoked. And that's because of the way Angel City does some things. um But yeah, they did like take their press passes away.
00:29:08
Speaker
Jesus. Because I was saying how we like go to games and her media and she's like, my friend does that. But then they got they got them taken away. And i was like, well, what'd they say? She's like, well I think they say some stuff. but's It's probably not even about that. It's probably about how they acted when being credentialed media. Could have been. Yeah. I mean, there's rules. So yeah anyways, I just thought that'd be funny to mention. Is that kind of all we got for community questions? don't know. We've been ranting long enough about it.
00:29:34
Speaker
Thank you for listening to the Sounder at Heart Podcast Network, which now includes Anietes, Lobbing Scorchers, and The Cooler Guild.
Jess Fishlock's Legacy and Role Change
00:29:42
Speaker
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00:29:47
Speaker
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00:30:00
Speaker
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00:30:16
Speaker
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00:30:27
Speaker
I think we're gonna yeah use that to transition into kind of our final end of season thoughts and any other little news bits ah the main one being that Fishlock is here for another year what was your what was your reaction to that I pretty much expected it she wasn't done no and it was funny how we talked about it last year And for the most part, we were right. Her role did change. She took it with grace, though. She took it with grace. There were some injury woes um when she came back from a Wales stint, right? ah She got to play in the Euros.
00:31:03
Speaker
Got to score in the Euros. Got to score in the Euros and was really impactful for the rain. Yeah. And I think, sure, some people say you want to retire on top, but if you still want to play and you can still play, do it. And I think we've seen kind of the result of players not being able to have that choice, right? With the Sam Mewises, with the Tobin Heaths, as far as American players go. Mm-hmm. Whereas if you can still play play. Yeah. Look at Marta.
00:31:29
Speaker
Look at her. She is balling out. Yeah. Speed of a gazelle. ah you She did drop the first puck. Jess Fishlock did for this the opening home opener of the Seattle Torrent. And you wrote the gayest place to be in Seattle. Yeah. It is truly. I like saw this the screenshots and pictures from that fucking game. Hats off to Seattle. You know, i will say I oh was i a little skeptical that people could show up because I've seen what happens with the rain. ah But the Torrent have done their job in making a event that people want to be at. And I mean, they showed up. They had a huge crowd.
00:32:06
Speaker
Yeah, Jess Fischlach dropped the puck. Brayden Carlyle was there singing away to her own song while while the song was played in the arena. Sasha Colby was riding the Zamboni.
00:32:17
Speaker
I did. Somebody did say that it was like kind of awkward because you don't realize how long the Zamboni is on the ice. So they're just like sitting there. She's just waving. Yeah. I would love to see Torrent. With her little rally towel. Yeah. I need to see the Torrent and Rain kind of collab on some stuff because the Torrent seemed to have it figured out. And I love that for them. Hopefully their performances keep, you know, like they got to stay at least somewhat good.
Community Engagement and Team Collaborations
00:32:44
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah. to maintain this relevancy and excitement. um I would hate to to see that taper off because they suck. um I know that the Seattle Times isn't doing any favors with the way they've been covering them.
00:32:55
Speaker
um I saw that like someone made a joke about like Seattle like hates hates women's sports more than like any other fucking place. And I was kind of like, you know, they're not wrong. And i think it's because of, you know, we got our big, you would think the Seattle Times, like they could be doing us a lot of favors covering women's teams and and getting more support out. And they just don't, they don't really care.
00:33:18
Speaker
Jada cares. Jada cares. Yes. She credit Jada. She's great at her job. I know it's like the Seattle Times as a whole is kind of not doing great yeah with coverage, um but certainly they could have done better with their tiny blurb. about the tour and getting their their first win you mean the sirens because they got the fucking team name wrong in the title no anyway a sport women's sports fan the best it's so fun um yeah uh i'm excited for fish talk to come back uh and on your i love that crossover with her at the torrent game and i think that like i was saying like building that that kind of vision and and and collaboration and bringing personality to the team that needs to happen more there needs to be crossover we've got the torrent we've got the storm we've got the rain right three teams trifecta do collab nights do half and half scarves yep if you you know if you buy a certain ticket you know that kind of thing
00:34:16
Speaker
yeah maybe get a sue bird i know she's got fucking ties to gotham i feel a little betrayed by that i know she has ties to whatever i it would be great if she was had more collabs with the the rain but you know pino maybe she's working on it ah but This was kind of cool. We had the second, like the best, best 11 for the league came out um after we recorded and they had the second. Dickie got snubbed. First of all, Dickie totally got snubbed for best goalkeeper of the league. um But we did have two players make the second team best 11. And that was Claudia Dickey and Jordan Bug.
00:34:51
Speaker
Congrats to them. Bug bomb. Never forget. That's right. We were all bugging out all season about it. uh yeah i don't know it's definitely not something i saw coming last year i mean we were pretty hyped on bug while in the last season uh this this this year has been everything i could have hoped for more with her there was a hiccup but to her to to her credit there was no aftermath right didn't phase her no it's professional kid right there Yeah. um All right. Final season thoughts. Final end of the season
Season Reflection and Future Hopes
00:35:28
Speaker
thoughts. What do you got? What do you what do you think of what happened? What are you feeling going into the off season?
00:35:36
Speaker
um Any other general ideas? Yeah. My overall feeling regarding this season is content. Okay. i am happy we weren't as bad as we could have been.
00:35:48
Speaker
I am really, there were some really positive moments this season, right? And there were fun games, were exciting goals. And sure, some of it was a Harvey Ball slog. But sometimes that's what you got to do to make the playoffs. Right.
00:36:03
Speaker
So I am content. I am happy that they made it into the playoffs miraculously. And, you know, I i think that there is showed real growth. Mm And the midseason signing of me official was a sign that the front office has ambitions, right? To bring in bigger names, spending money now that that's been freed up.
00:36:28
Speaker
And I think that it'll be interesting to see if there's any more interesting signings that happen, where some of the players go. I mean, we've got AMC that's probably not come returning. Probably not going to return.
00:36:41
Speaker
Julia Lester's still out on loan. Like there's a lot going on. Yeah. I think I'll add on to that and just say that like my, i agree with what you're saying. Ambitions are there. It's our first season with the sale complete, all that stuff. I feel mostly good about what happened. um but I think my main feeling is that I'm hopeful, which I was not sure that was how how I was going to feel um after last year. Yeah, we were talking like, what if we had to do this podcast again for an entire season? Yeah, and I definitely, you were the hopeful person last year. um Even hopeful about being bad, it didn't make any sense. Yeah.
00:37:25
Speaker
And I wasn't there. i'm a little bit more pessimistic about things in general. um So the fact that I feel hopeful ah is a good feeling to have about this team.
00:37:38
Speaker
Do I look at this team and I'm like, yeah, they're going to be like dominating next year? no I don't feel that. um But I think they will compete. I think they can beat any team at any point. I think there's still going to be a lot of ups and downs, but I think it will improve. And I think that everything that they got from this year is going to be invaluable for what they do next year.
00:38:01
Speaker
Yeah, absolutely. and I hope that the way that next season goes will finally, you know, second half of the season be coming into a stride because there we were kind of OK post break. There was a really good start of the season and then it was like hopeful and then oh, oh, oh. And then oh.
00:38:20
Speaker
okay, maybe, maybe. and then I'm hoping that they can be good in the beginning, but increasingly get better and better and better. Yeah. It's all about momentum for the playoffs anyway. So yeah, I don't need, I don't need them to start off hot. I just need them to look like they have chemistry and that they, ah they have some sort of identity on what they want to do on the field.
00:38:43
Speaker
Cause yeah, I think the goal scoring thing is that's something they need to figure out. Yeah. ah Should we go into Player
Cooler Player of the Season: Claudia Dickey
00:38:51
Speaker
of the Season now? How exciting. i know everyone's been waiting for this.
00:38:54
Speaker
The city of Seattle has been waiting for this. ah The Cooler Player of the Season 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.
00:39:09
Speaker
My favorite part about who we're about to give this film is upon re-listening to, I wanted to kind of, before we did this episode, you know, looking back at the season, I wanted to see what what our thoughts were last year at the end of last season. And also for our first pre-season episode for for this year. Yeah.
00:39:29
Speaker
And there there seemed to be a theme with Van of ah ah maybe maybe not being on board with some of the choices made, specifically one choice. I'm crying and laughing so hard.
00:39:45
Speaker
So, my yeah, so the person we're giving this to, I don't know, you know, we like I said, we like to give these awards, like cooler player of the match to people. Maybe we didn't, we didn't see it coming. um Someone specifically didn't see this coming um this year, um but she had a fantastic season. She was maybe robbed of ah of a major award this year. um She is, however, breaking through to things. And I think there's no one else that should announce this other than the great disbeliever of last season.
00:40:21
Speaker
So a cooler player of the season for 2025 is going to... Claudia Dickey. i i am so happy to do that. throughout my criticism last season it was because i wanted her to be better i think my favorite part though is when you were like i think claudia dickey starts the season but i think she loses the spot to cassie miller I remember saying that. Amazing. Amazing. I'm so glad I was wrong. I'm so glad I was wrong. yeah What an incredible season she had. yeah Claudia Dickey made the biggest ass out of me and I um could not be happier about it. Yeah, it's pretty funny. She led she saved her asses countless of times. She was the reason the team that Harvey Ball worked half of the time, maybe 80% of the time, right? Yeah. Because she was coming up with saves that shouldn't have been saved. Should have been goals. um She led the league in saves with 88. She was the only goalkeeper to play every minute this season. She was good woman had the best shot stopping numbers in the NWSL behind a defense that finished 10th in a post shot XG face. Wow. Seems like goal or goalkeeper of the year to me.
00:41:32
Speaker
Robbed. Robbed. Claudia Rickey, I am so happy you made a fool out of me. Yeah. It doesn't take much sometimes, but yeah.
00:41:42
Speaker
and This is how you know we're friends. She's getting off the rails. ah Yeah. So congrats to her. Incredible season. Looking forward. I'm so glad we have a good goalkeeper. That seems to be like she's going to stick around. But I think my criticisms last season were things that just did not show up this year.
00:42:01
Speaker
ah Yeah, which is attributed to a number of things. Yeah, absolutely. I'm just saying like that turnaround. Fantastic. Yeah. I think her leadership developed. You saw her at the end, especially towards the end of the season, be more vocal.
00:42:16
Speaker
she' She's starting for the u U.S. some National Team. She's got back on her highball, getting trained. Like she's just incredible. Yeah. um I did want to mention before we sign off on Cooler Player of the Season, there were other notable players, especially one for me that I wanted to highlight because she was probably our... I haven't looked at the numbers, but she probably got the most Cooler Player of the Match award. She was going like... Diggy just had such a damn good season that it would have been fucked up to not give it to her, I think. And maybe if she would have gotten goalkeeper of the year for the NWSL, we could maybe have considered giving it to ah Sam Meza.
00:42:58
Speaker
ah That... What she does on the field exemplifies everything that this award in theory is about. um It wasn't always easy what she had to do back there. She was given a lot of dirty work and she came into this season. I don't know. I don't know what we expected, but we had her. We didn't expect anything. Yeah. Yeah.
00:43:18
Speaker
so she she's she She became the starter, the obvious starter.
Promising Players for Next Season
00:43:22
Speaker
She took over that role. She was up for the challenge. ah She didn't seem like she missed beat either. Like from coming from going to on loan to the league below us, coming into the best league in the entire world for women's soccer and just filling in the way that she did.
00:43:40
Speaker
This season doesn't happen with the success that it did without her. Exactly. I mean, there are so many things that she did right.
00:43:50
Speaker
And she saved our butts as many times as Claudia Dickey did. Yeah, she doesn't back down. And i am so excited to see her next season and to see where her career goes because, you know, she's been called into the senior national team. She's a regular in the U23s. And i think that there I think that there is a very, very bright future for Sam Meza.
00:44:11
Speaker
And I think it would be a disservice to not mention her in this conversation. Yeah, agreed. You listed a few other names just to cover our other are other like standouts for for us personally, at least. Yeah, I mean, obviously Bug, Maddie Darlene, I think she she's bound to have a breakout year next year yeah if this wasn't a breakout year for her already. ah Madison Curry had a really good stretch of of good good games. Huerta coming back and just absolutely being Huerta again made me really happy.
00:44:43
Speaker
And then at the end of the season, we kind of got an idea of a player that could play a huge role and maybe an unexpected big role in next season. And that is Matty Mercado. What do you think about that? I agree with that. i don't know if you got to the part on our episode from last year, but we were very hopeful for Mercado ah for this season. And that I would say we just didn't have the space to kind of experiment with that.
00:45:11
Speaker
And I would say smartly sent her out on loan to get more experience. And ah yeah I think for next year, she's going to be sitting in a really good place to get some valuable minutes and hopefully make an impact on this team. I think she's got all the skills to do that.
00:45:25
Speaker
I'm excited about it. I also think it's very funny how much we butchered a lot of these names. in the episodes last year. And I mean, like Mercado, I butchered constantly. Constantly. I don't know what it was, but ah Mercado, I didn't know Darlene's name properly at the beginning of the season. only think it took me like two episodes maybe to figure that one out, but... We messed up Meza a bunch. Yeah, Meza was definitely there. um But hey, these people have made their names known, so good for them. They deserve the credit. I will add on Emery Adama's in there. We've already talked about her, but... Yeah, I think that
NWSL Playoffs and Key Players
00:46:01
Speaker
they're... I sigh for Adames because i i there were so many frustrations from fans about not seeing her more in the field, and I get it. yeah
00:46:09
Speaker
And i hope that changes next and like I was talking about earlier, i think we do have the pieces. There's just a utilization issue. yeah And probably, you know, we might be missing a piece or two. Sure. And we'll see how that's able to kind of bring everyone together. ah But to wrap it up, Claudia Dickey, you made ass of me.
00:46:31
Speaker
Congratulations. I'm being cooler player of the season. We need to get your name etched into the trophy that is at the doctor's office. Yep, it's there. So thanks again to our sponsor, of the doctor's office. The doctor's office is the best place to grab a drink before or after a rain match. Really anytime.
00:46:46
Speaker
Go now and get their eggnog. Their annual nog gets it right here. Yeah, that's probably just what it says. Their annual nog. Nog is like, gets its what though? Oh yeah, that's a mystery. Maybe I'm going to add magic. Their annual Nog gets its magic from Añejo Tequila and Amontillado Tequila. Best Nog ever. No kidding. Seriously.
00:47:06
Speaker
You love a Nog. I do love a Nog. ah Check out their Instagram at TDOCNL or better yet, go drink there in person. Cheers. Go see the trophy from last season and Phoebe McLaren and his name on that. Yeah, it's signed. She went in there and signed it, didn't she?
00:47:19
Speaker
i don't know if she ever did, but... think there's a chance. think there's a chance. um And then Phoebe... or know Maybe you, Phoebe and Claudia can go together and they can hang out the really cool trophy until they get the big one next year. ah all right, we got NWCell. Playoffs to quickly kind of go over this episode is very long, but guess what? We don't have a lot. more going on for this offseason so uh nwcl semis we had spear versus portland uh spirit won that obviously because they went to the final uh jesus christ i know i i feel bad when i have to point out things that she does because she is local but i think there needs to be at least a mention of maybe why the rain we're willing to move on from sam hyatt
00:48:08
Speaker
And if you didn't remember what happened, what was the what was the tournament? the What's the NWSL tournament that's got like a bad name? Challenge Cup or whatever. Yeah. There was a notable blunder in the back. um Well, the same thing kind of happened again. i do see moments of this happening.
00:48:26
Speaker
yeah I mean, they were already down 1-0, but Hyatt played a ball back to Mackenzie Arnold that Croy Bethune just absolutely picked off. Yeah, spirit punishing like that. Yeah. And which is sad because Mackenzie Arnold showed up in this match big time. she thought She's been showing up for them ever since ah their fans started booing her.
00:48:44
Speaker
Which cause and effect, I don't know. um I think the big breakout moment for this match, though, was Kwasi won the ball like halfway into their defensive half and then just absolutely ripped through the entire Portland defense.
00:48:57
Speaker
The really poor Portland defense we've been shitting on all season. Yeah. Yeah. And cross the ball to gift Monday. He scored. Yeah. Happy to see it. I did read that gift Monday, her dad died like a couple of days before think this game. That's fucked up. And she had to go back for funeral Jesus. Yeah.
00:49:16
Speaker
um So I didn't know that. Anyway, the other game, Orlando, um Gotham played at Orlando because obviously Gotham lost seed. um Orlando should have won this game. They couldn't pay for a goal. and in 90 plus seven, there were seven minutes of extra time or six minutes. i don't know. um Shaw. So Shaw and Lavelle were lined up. So you didn't know if Rose was going to take it left footed or if Shaw was going to take it right footed, curl it in Shaw ends up taking it and it just kind of goes through people. midge purse looks like she might be getting her head to it um but it just sneaks through and goes in and they win the win the game go to the final love that for jaden shaw hate it for angelina because she felled rose fouled roosevelt to earn the free kick hey she you know that's on you have you guys to mean that you know that gotham are just stacked for for shit like that uh the final is kind of a kind of a slog i didn't hate it though Yeah, it was a fun watch. um
00:50:14
Speaker
Nobody could score again. um But Sonnet balled out. And Hal Hirschfeld got injured in like the 85th minute or something. And she's like crying on the sideline limping and like trying run. off for minutes. Like she was off for a while. Yeah. It was probably 80th minute. I don't know. But then they throw her back on to maybe like sub her out in a couple of minutes because they didn't have a player ready. Choices. And the ball to Roosevelt that Roosevelt ends up putting in to win the match in the 88th minute.
00:50:46
Speaker
You've got a limping defender that can't defend around there. I think it was a poor coaching choice. But in the end, I mean, Roosevelt inevitable. Yeah. So Gotham wins 1-0 over the spirit.
00:50:57
Speaker
I preferred Gotham in this game. I thought Spirit would have the edge. I think Hal Hirschfeld's injury was obviously the game difference in that. um here's I have very conflicted things about Gotham. My feelings about them are so... like I love their players. like I absolutely love their players. There's not like anybody on there that I'm just like... oh, I can't stand watching them play. Like the way that they play when they're playing well is so nice and they will punish you. And how can you not root for Roosevelt? It's just, we played them in the final and lost.
00:51:30
Speaker
Yeah. And then sometimes maybe they're not following the rules. But um if you have people just doubt the spirit are either. Yeah. I was like, if you have Jessica Berman apparently making choices, decisions at the top, though, I guess get it, get away with whatever you can get away with because she's going to not allow you to do shit. Even if you want to pay pay players fairly. But yeah. Great segue. and Yeah. Great segue here.
00:51:54
Speaker
To the NWSL News slash player moves and free
Trinity Rodman's Contract and Marketability
00:51:57
Speaker
agency. um What the fuck's going on with Trini Rodman? No idea. and I do have a little bit of a hot take about this. What's that? Well, hey, listen, I'm all for like, if someone wants to throw money Trini Rodman, they should be entitled to do so.
00:52:11
Speaker
ah That is if Michelle, like if she wants to, if Kang wants to throw money at her, by all means, go for it. um Do I think Trini Rodman is that player that should have money thrown at her? I don't know.
00:52:24
Speaker
I know she's a star. I know she's got star quality. She is. i mean, you can see it all over social media. She is a very fun player and all of that. And when she's healthy, if she was able to play every single minute this year, i would agree with what they're trying to do with her.
00:52:39
Speaker
um I just like I looked at how many minutes she played this year and is' it's not that many. Yeah. I mean, she did have a pretty serious back injury. I know. And like, that sucks. I hate that for her. And I wish she was healthy. That's why I'm confused about what's happening here with. She's kind of the face of the league at this point. So you do, you do make that happen. um I understand what you're saying, but I would counter it with, you need to keep her in this league. Yeah. Yeah. And and I think that this could be is is going to be a tipping point that can possibly help other players get bigger contract. Yeah, I'm fine. Like I said, I'm fine with it. I'm just confused on why it's become her.
00:53:19
Speaker
Because she's that girl. But she's isn't. She's on the field more. She would be if she was on the field more. I would agree because when she is on the field and she is healthy, she is that player. She just has not been that player consistently. And it's not necessarily her fault. I just that's all. That's my that's my only reason I'm kind of confused.
00:53:38
Speaker
Yeah. But I get it. I get it. I mean, she's very captivating and very fun to watch when she's healthy. I look forward to the day when she has a full season and doesn't have any problems. If that happens. Well, maybe with enough money, she won't have any problems. Okay.
00:53:52
Speaker
ah Do you want to go into notable free agents? Yeah, I made a list of at least people I wanted to highlight ah notable free agents.
Notable Free Agents and Signings
00:54:01
Speaker
I'm sure maybe by the time I get this edited out, ah there might be answers on some of those because things change quickly in the end of the show. I had Sophia Wilson, Midge Purse, Carson Pickett. And as you had added the note, she was drafted by Laura Harvey. In 2016 as a fourth pick, Bethany Balser, Hannah Lundqvist, Melanie Barcenas, and Ella Stevens.
00:54:20
Speaker
Also not a free agent, but Jenna Nyswanger also might be looking to leave Arsenal. Are there any of those names that you maybe think the Reigns should take a look at and try to put in some sort of offer for contracts?
00:54:35
Speaker
I would love to steal Sophia Wilson. There's no way she doesn't go to Denver after having a baby if she's going anywhere else. Yeah. But that would be awesome. I think why I put the Carson Pickett stuff in there is because I think she's an obvious sure choice. um She's crucial for Orlando too, so I'm kind of surprised they let her go. Yeah. I mean, she's a bit older, but not good anywhere close to that. But we do need, you know, seasoned players in the league. um I don't know where you put Carson Pickett in. um i mean, depending on what you're playing, she could be a replacement for Madison Curry.
00:55:10
Speaker
True. The same with Nyswanger. I mean, I'd love to have Nyswanger. I'd love to have Nyswanger. So think those would be the two. I really, as much as I appreciate Bethany Balser and the time that she had with Lorraine, I don't think that they're, i don't think that that's the right choice for either the team or her.
00:55:30
Speaker
Yeah, she I kind of feel for her because I do think that she did a lot for Louisville after she came back from her the break that she took from soccer. I don't think I don't think that she like I think she had to have known that like taking a break was maybe going to hurt her standing with the lineup and winning. you know, but it that's just inherent. Like there's a good chance someone else is going to get moved above you in that picking order. um But she came off the bench and did some very good stuff for for Louisville. um And I feel like she's getting done a little wrong here, but I also kind of get it um I can see both sides of it, I guess I would say. Yeah.
00:56:12
Speaker
I mean, I hope she lands somewhere where she's appreciated and gets minute and role that she's happy with. Yeah. And she's definitely NWSL like level. Obviously, yeah. Yeah. So I just really hope she finds the right spot for her. And I'm rooting for her. So absolutely yeah I think Lundqvist is one that I would love to see. that would be interesting. But she did just play in the little 7v7 tournament that San Diego participated in. So I imagine they're going to try to tie up that contract. I didn't see anything about like their end of season roster stuff. Barsenes is, i think San Diego going to move on from her. And I think whoever gets her is going to be very happy with whatever you know happens. I feel the same way about Ella Stevens.
00:56:53
Speaker
um She's a young player. um don't think we need a striker like her. So I wouldn't see a rain picking her up, but maybe a team like a Louisville, like a Chicago. I hope all these players land somewhere where they're appreciated. I would also never say no to Mitch Purse. And I said this last season when she was a free agent very briefly. was like, can you please bring Mitch Purse here, please? If there's any world in which Mitch Purse would consider coming here, please get it done. Yeah, if that's an option, all for it. Yeah, I just I feel like she's just dragging these out. In the of the Sophia Wilson, though, I feel like it's the same way I feel about Mitch Purse. Like, I don't know if that's an option. I think she's just dragging it out and trying to get her most money, especially since she won the championship again. for her. Yeah, good for her. Bev Vianna's did not get snubbed. No, one coach of the year. Hell yeah, I was rooting for this. Yeah, anyone with brain was rooting for this, which was not everybody. Everyone in Kansas City. Yeah.
00:57:54
Speaker
Big move. ah Haley Carter, who was GM of of ah Orlando and did a great job with Orlando, um joined the Washington Spirit as head of operations.
00:58:04
Speaker
I hate it. I always knew she was going places. I just hate it on a personal level of hating Washington spirit and everything that they do. That's fair. But yeah, I'm sure she's getting paid well. So good. On a brighter note, we won't have to hear about his shitty suits anymore since the Thorns fired Rob Gale. I'm kind of upset about this. i mean, i I am happy, but I'm also upset because I it was terrible for them. He was.
00:58:28
Speaker
And they realized that in a reasonable amount of time. And then Vlako decides to, o I don't want to coach anymore. This is too hard. If I can't do this with this team, I'm fucked. So I don't know. Yeah, KC's going to have to be really looking for... Because they haven't filled that spot, right? They're just still looking around. um That's kind of a big deal. Blacko not wanting to the head coach there anymore.
00:58:52
Speaker
Interesting. Very interesting. Honestly, he should have moved to the front office after the World Cup. But that's just my opinion. Yeah. I don't know. You have a dominant season like this and you lose in one playoff. Yeah, I guess if you leave after that, your heart's really not in the coaching side of it anymore.
NWSL Schedule Shift and Implications
00:59:06
Speaker
Yeah.
00:59:07
Speaker
uh the last thing i added for the nw cell news kind of stuff i thought it was maybe gonna be relevant but the and mls will be changing to the european schedule uh which should help you know until maybe the nw cell considers doing the same thing they are considering it yeah bermin's talked about it yeah um okay but it's it's free it's a it's gonna happen maybe it'll probably happen if they're talking about it now they're gonna do it at some point Yeah, it'll happen at some point. it's just more of a question of when. Okay. But that, well, that kind of sucks because I feel like in one hand, that's going to help us when MLS changes with stadium conflictions and how the rain always have to fucking play on Friday nights. um But they'll have even more issues when they have to compete with the Seahawks and the Sounders. Yeah. At least the Mariners won't be playing, I guess. I don't
00:59:52
Speaker
Uh, kind of last thing we got here. Um, the U.S. Women's national team played two games against Italy. Uh, they won both.
USWNT Victories and Player Performances
00:59:58
Speaker
The first game they won 3-0 and the second game they won 2-0. Uh, Claudia Dickey played full 90 both matches. it was her fourth consecutive start for the national team. Granted, uh, Valentos Joyce did have a, uh, or has a fractured orbital bone?
01:00:13
Speaker
she She broke her eye socket. Yeah. So, but, you know, they had two other goalkeepers in camp with them and Dickie played all minutes for both games. Yeah, that says something. That says a lot.
01:00:24
Speaker
um Game one, goal scorers, Olivia Moultrie and Kat Macario. who Love this, Kat. Kat is balling. She is. Game two, Macario scored again and then Jaden Shaw.
01:00:36
Speaker
Love that for Jaden. Yeah. They look pretty good. They do look good. i feel very good about this team. I also feel very good about Claudia Dickey, who almost got an assist. Oh, that was so sick. i almost lost my mind. I mean, I did kind of lose my mind, the fact that it almost happened, but that has got to really impress Emma.
01:00:57
Speaker
Yeah. And this is like the perfect time to like seize your moments and make yourself look good because it is not easy to do when you're playing some of these teams that maybe aren't I mean like super highly ranked I would say at least not a bad team obviously um but it's not like you're playing England. Yeah. And I think just her, the fact that she almost got an assist in talking about her growth as a player, like her distribution has just blown up. Like yeah it's gotten so much better and you can see that. And oh my God, like these games are pretty fun to watch. Mm-hmm. Camerario. Should we get her? Does she want to leave Chelsea? Like Chelsea lost their first time in like what? 500 so many days? I watched the last 20 minutes of the game this morning. They subbed her out. Well, that's why
01:01:41
Speaker
They subbed her out. I don't know. If they change the rules and we can go get a player with a lot of money, that's my number one. Her or Lily Johannes. was going to say her or Johannes. The two of them together. Like that is a. Yeah, it's so good.
01:01:57
Speaker
It's kind of funny because like on our episode from, I mean, a lot of things are really funny. ha ah
01:02:03
Speaker
But like the episode last year, we had talked about like how we expect Emma Hayes to start experimenting a lot more with these youth
Youth Development and National Growth
01:02:14
Speaker
players. And that's exactly what happened this year. and i was kind of like, oh, wow. Good for us. They needed to do it. Yeah, they did. Desperately. It was it was stale. It was super stale. Vladko understands that now. you move to a different role uh yeah the jordan bug got nominated for uh u.s youth young player of the year yeah young player of the year you can still go vote for that which is kind of cool you also don't have to vote for every single category i learned because i didn't care about voting for the men oh yeah So I just chose the ones I wanted to vote for.
01:02:47
Speaker
ah There's a link on Susie has an article on Right of Valkyries. There's a link on there about Jordan Bug. And then I've got some other their information about the U.S. youth national team happenings that Susie kind of rounded up everything that has happened. Maddie Darlene and Emery Adamas both got a goal and an assist in their call-ups with the 23 team who they won against England 4-2 in that one that they got assist and goal. Also, ne do you know about Purcell? Yeah. Are you like familiar with her? Well, she got the start um as well in that game. Yeah, she put on ah but our USLW team.
01:03:23
Speaker
Oh, that's why I knew the name. I was like, this name is extremely familiar. i'm not totally sure why. Yeah. Got it. Yeah. Good kid. Good player. um And then McCammon Ainsley started in the U-20 game.
01:03:35
Speaker
Exciting. Yeah. She's got a bright future too. Yeah. uh we had some non-us women's national team national team brain players play um montesir did you watch this game oh i just heard about it was such a blowout montesir scored four goals in haiti's game versus beliza in their 9-0 win is how you does that oh yeah it's belize i know i just wanted to make it sound since you made a typo oops 9-0
International Achievements and Highlights
01:04:03
Speaker
win. I mean, Belize is not a very big country, but neither is Haiti. Belize's goalkeeper also looked like she probably worked in a warehouse. Hey, nothing wrong with working in a warehouse.
01:04:14
Speaker
And that poor kid had to make so many saves. Oh, no. Yeah. Well, good for Montessori to get, you know, four goals. I think, you know, most of these national teams, maybe, I don't know. I don't know, but I don't think that this is their primary job, unfortunately. Correct, yeah. It should be better. Yeah.
01:04:31
Speaker
What's going on with Canada? I don't know. I didn't watch these games. It hasn't been the same since Dronegate. Yeah. Just going to go out ahead and put that out there. Heidema did sub on for Canada, but they lost both of their matches against Japan. It was in Japan, I believe. I think they were both away. So Heidema subbing on, you know, i'd be ah I'd feel a little worse if Heidema was playing the entire game and then they lost. yeah um Yeah, what's Casey Stoney doing up there?
01:04:58
Speaker
I can't explain what's going on with Canada. I just like, it's weird because that used to be, I mean, we would always beat them at the end of the day, pretty much besides winning the Olympics. um But yeah, I don't know what's happened with Canada. They do have their new league. So maybe that will help them kind of keep developing and bring in more players. I think they kind of, from my perspective, at least, it doesn't seem like they have the huge stars that they maybe used to have that we watched like years and years and years ago.
01:05:26
Speaker
But I think that the new league is kind of, hoping that that changes yeah which oh which congrats to i was gonna say i would just went look through the docs to see if we talked about this in the last episode because i couldn't remember when oh we did not congrats to nikki stanton and quinn um and jasmine spencer but vancouver rise won championship and mariah lee won the championship uh for the first year of this uh this canadian league so that's super cool and they were the absolute underdogs in the match
Vancouver Rise's Championship Celebration
01:05:54
Speaker
Cool.
01:05:54
Speaker
Love that for them. They played great. Also, throughout the celebration, the league fucking did it right. Year one. The trophy is sick. It's huge. The celebration was well planned, well executed. They even had like a trophy photo shoot. Oh, yeah. um It was great. I've never seen a league hit it out of the park year one like the Canadian League just did.
01:06:18
Speaker
That's good to hear. mean, saw the photos. They like they're having a great time. Yeah, was awesome. Really happy for them. um I think, do we have anything else? Anything else we need to mention? It's a long, long one. A lot of random shit.
01:06:29
Speaker
ah And we'll be back when we have to go over the rain shit. Yeah, once they post the roster and there's some movement, enough stuff to talk about, we can record again. Yeah. think that's kind of all I got. Yeah.
01:06:42
Speaker
Oh, boy. um Well, any shout outs? ah vancouver Vancouver was going to be my shout out. Okay. Okay. Fair enough. Shout out all the former rain players balling out in all parts of the world, but especially those that won the championship with the Vancouver Rise.
01:06:58
Speaker
Yeah. Good for them. Love that, you know, our rain players that we were rooting for from the beginning and got to lift the trophy. ah It's been a while here in Seattle for the rain. ah I'm so happy for Nikki Stanton. Yeah. yeah i was the last episode i was like we can't lose her from the rain she is everything that was our only like must keep was nikki stanton from the free agents that we had but you know hindsight just person it was a personal thing i just enjoy her i do too yeah yeah I don't think I got anything other than, don't know, shout out to everybody at Right of the Valkyries who's, like, helped us with this show and getting our ah stats, getting our info. ah Without them, this show wouldn't, I mean, if you don't like the show, it's not their fault. Yeah.
01:07:49
Speaker
But at least like a lot of our information that we pull is because of them and the work that they do. So I just want to shout out everyone there that helps helps out with that. And yeah, they put a lot of work and i don't think people realize how much work it really is. And um it's not their full-time jobs. They do this out of kind of a passionate hobby. um They
Supporting Contributors and Community Involvement
01:08:12
Speaker
do get paid. But that the good news with Sounder at Heart and Writer of the Valkyries is that Jeremiah is able to pay writers and photographers and whoever contributes to the website. um But yeah, they're not, it's not their main gigs. So this is all born out of passions for being fans for this team. yeah. I think a lot of people may not realize that this is rare in the NWSL. Super rare.
01:08:35
Speaker
And it's a privilege that we have everyone at Ride of the Valkyries that pays attention to and writes about and talks about and is able to get this information
Supporting the Podcast and Contact Information
01:08:46
Speaker
out. So... Yeah, it's a good ah good reminder now for folks to go support, send, ah you know, subscribe to there.
01:08:54
Speaker
um i don't know if they're still running that deal or not, but it's still... If you want to give us a Christmas present, ah us here at the Cooler Guild podcast, ah the best way to do that is by going to sounderatheart.com forward slash the Cooler Guild and signing up to be a contributor to Sounder Heart. Yeah, supporter level, whatever level you can afford. ah Yeah, go do it.
01:09:16
Speaker
ah Yeah, thanks again to our sponsor, The Doctor's Office. You can go follow us on Blue Sky and Instagram at CoolerGuildPod. You can send us an email. We always love an email at thecoolerguild at gmail.com. We're on YouTube. We just plugged the website, so I guess probably i don't need to do that again. YouTube.com forward slash at the cooler guild. Please go right wherever you're listening. Five stars. Till next time, whenever that is. I'm Coop. I'm Van. Stay cool, y'all.
01:09:42
Speaker
Stay cool.
01:10:00
Speaker
And she sings a lot about hating men. Yeah, she also had that viral moment where she did the wink. Oh, the wink. And then she had Jennifer Beals on. Yeah.