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The Cooler Guild: We love a locked-in defense - Ep. 45
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Seattle move to 5th place in the NWSL standings. The Reign earned a point at home after the defense was able to keep San Diego off the score sheet. We talk about the return of the locked-in back line and our other takeaways from the match. We also do Reign trivia, cover other results around the NWSL, and congratulate the Sounders on their Leagues Cup Championship.
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Transcript
Introduction and Episode Overview
00:00:21
Speaker
Hello, hello, hello, and welcome to episode 45 of The Cooler Guild. I am Coop Cooper, and joined with me, as always, is my co-host, Van Crisp. Hello. we We're recording on Monday, September, September. You put two Septembers in there? September 1st, 2025. I guess I did. On today's episode, we'll get into the Reigns' shutout versus San Diego, do some Reign trivia, check in with other results from the NWCL over the weekend, and quickly preview the Reigns' next match.
00:00:48
Speaker
ah But first, some housekeeping. Okay. 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 on the private unified feed with the other podcasts on the network.
00:00:59
Speaker
If you'd like to become a subscriber, just visit our page at soundertheart.com forward slash the Cooler Guild. New subscribers get 10% off the normal rate and you'll help help support everything we're doing. And we need some new subscribers.
00:01:10
Speaker
Yeah. Go do it. Go do it. It's worth money. As someone who paid for it before i was on the network, it's worth it. As somebody that now sees the benefits, it yeah. Yeah.
00:01:22
Speaker
Yeah.
Hosts' Personal Weekend Stories
00:01:23
Speaker
ah Did you get up to anything ah interesting? Oh, well, i just we're recording Monday night. Yeah. Because you were doing stuff earlier and I was out at, so the city of Olympia, well, not the city. The city didn't put it on, but we had a porch fest.
00:01:38
Speaker
which is like a concert series on people's porches. Yeah. i think that's been like popping up in a lot of places. Well, it's I think kind a good summer thing to do as far as like the South sound goes. I think that Tacoma is like the big one. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And that's a huge thing there. Um, so Olympia did one and it was so fun.
00:01:57
Speaker
That's cool. yeah my friends shout out val um her band played like the final show at this one house and it was actually one of her bandmates houses that they played at oh sweet and they had this like nice like rocky front area so they like had a little seating nice and i don't know just really chill it it was like very olympia sweet it was like girlfriended band yeah in front of a cafe that sounds fun But yeah, what were you doing earlier? Uh, I I've been trying to suck up as much as the, of the, what the good weather that we get until so summer's over. Um, so I went out with, hung out with my, the dude who runs my DM, like my D and d game. Oh, your new bestie. Yeah. Yeah. So we went out, um, and then like, know, small town stuff. So you run into a lot of people, you know, um and whenever I ran to somebody we knew, was like, this is my dungeon master. and he kept being like stop so what stop doing that i was like well you are he's like you don't need to say it like that and then like i went to like another place ran into like one of my servers that i always see somewhere we go often and i was like this is my dungeon master and she was like oh well he's like stop doing that and i was just like it sounds kinky yeah oh for sure it does
00:03:13
Speaker
But she was like, I have heard about you, though. So, like, this is like, I did need to know this information. but ah yeah. But, I don't know. Not much else other than, I don't know, popping around and and going out. So, didn't watch a lot of soccer this weekend besides the Sounders.
00:03:29
Speaker
Didn't catch the ring game live just because Labor Day weekend. And we are counting down the days of the weather and how many good days we have left. So, Luckily, I did catch the ring game live and ah yeah, it was
Match Analysis: Reign vs. San Diego Wave
00:03:43
Speaker
a thing.
00:03:43
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah. Let's get into it. We had a 0-0 draw versus um San Diego Wave. Which, it was a Friday night game. Yeah. And the the Sounders played Sunday. Yeah. So, I i mean, it was the first um of the ah first match on us series. Yeah. but I don't know if it's going to be a series, but.
00:04:05
Speaker
Basically, if you've never been to a rain game, ah you can attest that and you can get a free ticket. So we were hoping for like a really good turnout. And it turned out to be a ah pretty good turnout. Yeah, I thought it could have been better, but... It could I mean, it it could always be better. Yeah.
00:04:21
Speaker
so I mean, it's 7.30 Labor Day weekend. People probably already have plans for it, so... They've left town. They're... And then even the Sounders game falling on Sunday. Yeah. People were like, I don't really want to go on Friday night when I'm going to go on Sunday night. For sure.
00:04:37
Speaker
So it is rough in that sense. But I think the turnout was good. The the vibes seemed really good at the stadium. Yeah. And ah the only big thing going into the match was Lynn Lynn Biandolo is was not rostered because of the knee injury.
00:04:53
Speaker
No, and it's not like, I wouldn't say it's a huge miss just because her availability has been pretty iffy for a while um and hot and cold on that. um But certainly, yeah if you can get a healthy Lynn Beandolo, you'll be happy about that. So on that front, it sucks.
00:05:11
Speaker
Yeah. I think we were all hoping it would have we'd have better news about her injury situation, especially since we had, what, like a month off? Yeah. Yeah, it seems to me that it's not like it's not a huge like career ending thing. It just seems to be ah a management thing. Yeah. And we the rain club.
00:05:31
Speaker
Yeah. Has always been really cautious about injuries. Sure. Which is fine. um Which is fine. So I think this this kind of tracks with that. Yeah. So i'm not mad about it and I'm not surprised about it. and I'd rather they did that now.
00:05:46
Speaker
And that when playoffs come and we make playoffs, let her cook. Yeah. Notable stats we got. It's the fifth shutout for Claudia Dickey. It's a single season career high. I mean, she was out for a lot of last season. Not that we weren't dookie.
00:06:00
Speaker
Yeah. ah But she is now tied for the second most ah clean sheets in club history with 11 total. So now she's tied with Kottmeier, Solo and Lydia Williams.
00:06:11
Speaker
I'm going to crack my beard to that because hell yeah, Claudia Dickey. Yeah. Congrats to her. As long as she stays with the team and everything, I think she'll pass that no problem. Well, she can pass it this season. Yeah, that's what I'm saying. think she'll... She's great. Really, really happy that she's doing this. I was getting concerned that we weren't ever going to get clean sheet again, but we're back on track.
00:06:32
Speaker
We're back on track. We went back to ba back to basics and, you know, that's a good thing. Yeah, I mean, that we can pop into the positives there because that that's the biggest one. Yeah. Got to shut out.
00:06:42
Speaker
Yep. The back line. So they started, i texted you, even though you were watching, I just wanted to text you because Huerta started as a wingback. Yeah. And was not in the back three, which was really funny because we've been talking for the last couple of weeks about how it's a new thing and we're trying things.
00:07:03
Speaker
It was like, oh, we're just going to throw her back out where she was. And that's great. ah But then Bug got the start again. Yeah. oh I was just like, yeah. pray like come on jordan you got this yeah she did she killed it yeah um i think that we miss her um air game like she heads the ball out a lot like she wins ball into the air we miss that and then obviously having phoebe and then having barnes as well Yeah, and but Bug also likes to get forward a little bit. Oh, yeah. She got up in the box. like She looked like she wanted to score.
00:07:38
Speaker
Yeah. So if we can get her confidence back in the back line, then that'll give her more confidence to go forward. That's been very nice to have ah when we have issues kind of in the offense to have someone like her. Yeah, it didn't feel to me that there was any sort of, you know, because we question, you know, she's young. How's her confidence? Like, how's everything going?
00:07:59
Speaker
It didn't seem like that was ever a factor for her. No, no. So ah that was really nice. um Dickie, solid game. Yeah, no mistakes. And she made a really, really good save ah in the second half.
00:08:13
Speaker
Just going down close to her left side, getting a shot out. Like I i thought she couldn't have done much better. And I was talking with couple people at halftime they were asking me about goalkeepers and like what I thought of the league goalkeepers. hmm.
00:08:28
Speaker
And one of the thing big things for me is always like distribution. Footwork distribution, kind of the the side that you don't see in stats part of it. And I pointed out to them like, hey, like watch Claudia Diggy distribute and then watch what happens on the other end and see if you could see a difference. Yeah.
00:08:47
Speaker
And like 10 minutes into the second half, they were like, oh, yeah, get it. did She basically had that assist recently. Right. So, yeah. Yeah. So she had a great game. I mean, it even though we've been shit on defense recently, it was not a thing we used to do.
00:09:04
Speaker
No, but and it's it's it hasn't been her fault. No, no, it hasn't been in any blunders, a goalkeeper blunder situation. But I do wonder. So here's the thing. When we put lou Barnes in, Lou Barnes is absolutely like the captain commander of the back. Sure.
00:09:20
Speaker
The back back line. Sure. Claudia Dickey needs to figure out how to do that because I think and I can't tell because I'm not down there. But it seems to me when she doesn't have a leader like Lou Barnes or like McLaren on the field.
00:09:34
Speaker
OK, there's a big disconnect with the defense. And that has that has to be your thing. that The communication and that leadership has to be your thing. And so I think that's the next step for her.
00:09:45
Speaker
And I think we've seen it at times, right? Because I feel like that was like kind of a big point of ah contention for you last season with her. And things are definitely looking more organized. But I i would be curious on kind of what our defensive... ah blunders or like little mistakes back there are like when we don't have ah Lou Barnes or McLaren on the field. That is something I would be curious to see the numbers on.
00:10:11
Speaker
Yeah. I mean, I think that that's when you notice a difference, especially with Lou Barnes. Right.
Player Highlights and Game Strategies
00:10:17
Speaker
A trusted leader of the team and somebody that literally commands attention and commands players to listen to her. Your goalkeeper needs to do that. Sure.
00:10:26
Speaker
It's great to have a somebody in front of you that makes you look good because they're doing it. But you need to step up and do that. Yeah. We're not in the negatives yet, but I think I think that that would be one of my one of my questions, I guess, in regards to her.
00:10:42
Speaker
ah sure But back into the positives, man. Phoebe. Yeah. There was a reason she was cooler play of the season last year. yeah yeah. Like I said, like last week when she had her little hiccup, major hiccup, I would say, it was pretty bad. But I also knew that that's not going to like change how she plays the next game. Right.
00:11:05
Speaker
um She's goingnna learn from it. It also sounds like based on the press conference, she's she's pretty hard on herself. um Yeah, that made me feel even worse about it Because like, no, because we were like, well, it happens like it does. you mean More than made up for it by like how you've been playing.
00:11:21
Speaker
they tell us that, like, she internalizes everything and makes her feel bad. And I'm just like, don't do it. Don't do it We love you. yeah And it's not like Houston isn't, like, I mean, this is kind of Houston's MO is doing shit like that. So as much as it was, you know, not a great situation, it's not like Houston doesn't put teams in that that kind of position. so Yeah, with the high press and like, yeah, just keeping you on your feet. yeah But yeah, she she looked great. She she had a great game.
00:11:52
Speaker
but Other positive is I feel like everything has to do with the defense, obviously, because there is no goal scored for us or them. ah But we dealt with ah Cascarino and Coralie really, really, really well. It's because I put that in the positives and then I watched the presser afterwards and that was like a big shout out for Harvey. And that was like their game plan was to make sure that they can shut those players down.
00:12:13
Speaker
And they did it. They did it. No problem. I feel like I never really saw incredible chances from them. No, and that was the thing. you literally don't. They had maybe two. One in the first half, one in the second half.
00:12:28
Speaker
One was a Dickey save. The other one, I think, went wide. But yeah, I mean, there wasn't there wasn't a lot. And Harvey credited that to like Sam as a. Mm hmm.
00:12:40
Speaker
And i think that that gets missed a lot with her game sometimes is the fact that they just put her on people to corner them and take them out of the game instead of being, you know, ah a great player will do both, right?
00:12:56
Speaker
We'll take somebody out of the game and also be productive on one end. But with the rest of the players around you aren't helping, you can only do one thing. And so if the only thing one thing you're going to do is get that player out of the game, yeah, yeah do it. Yeah.
00:13:09
Speaker
Yeah. And it's not like San Diego isn't like I said, they scared the shit out of me. So we were able to to really shut down their whole offense for the most part. I mean, sure, the possession was a little lopsided, but there wasn't a whole lot happening for them in the attack.
00:13:25
Speaker
I will add one positive this game and I texted it to you, but just the first 20 minutes or so. Yeah. Yeah. We're really, really positive for the rain. Sure. And it wasn't like we were stuck and just having like ah having ah possession on the defensive end and like trying to get out. No, they were being productive. They were trying to get the ball forward. There were chances early on in the match that they didn't finish them.
00:13:49
Speaker
Mm hmm. So that was really nice to see. Yeah. If we just need to put one of those away. Yeah, they need capitalize on it. Yeah. And then you put the pressure, they start putting the pressure on offense for the other side, right? And then you can maybe get the counter and find another goal.
00:14:03
Speaker
Yeah. That would be, that would be ideal. Yeah. Obviously. Absolutely ideal. Yeah. All right. ah I think I think it's time for the negatives we because we're talking about it. We didn't put any chances away, especially the early ones. A little frustrating because i feel like it was there for the taking for sure. Yeah, they could have gotten to.
00:14:26
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah. but We haven't been good late in game. So I was like, fuck, I'd be like, this might really bite us in the ass if we didn't get these goals. Yeah. We're also not really great at keeping a lead lately.
00:14:37
Speaker
but No, i know. That's what I'm saying. Well, I guess. Okay. Yeah. So like, which, yeah, I don't know which one I prefer, but okay. Yeah. I guess you're onto to something there. But yeah, it was it was frustrating to see the team play so well early on and then not be able to put something on the score sheet for it.
00:14:56
Speaker
But in the end, like we they weren't getting a lot of chances because the rain were so far into their half into the San Diego half. So, yeah, it was a meh. This game, I mean, I was pretty scared of San Diego going into this.
00:15:11
Speaker
So, I mean, I guess I'll put that in my final thoughts, but um the other negative that I had put down was about the foul that was called. i think, was it a corner kick that we had? Yeah, it was a corner kick.
00:15:23
Speaker
It was like one of the last plays of the game. Yeah, it was in the second half, near the end of the second half. And it seemed like we were going to sneak out maybe a goal at the end, which would have been so nice. um And for some reason, the ref blew the whistle because some player was down.
00:15:38
Speaker
Yeah. So the the cross came in and it kind of got far post. And Hidema was there, of course. Yeah. um And there seemed to be players falling down.
00:15:51
Speaker
What not? The foul gets called on Hidema. There was no foul, though. There was no foul. They both went up for the ball. Yeah. One player fell. Yeah. And they called a foul instead of letting us play it out because the ball popped to the outside of the ball. And then the whistle was blowing without even getting giving us a chance to really try to knock something in. Right.
00:16:11
Speaker
Which is weird. I mean, like, I don't know. we There was the game where, like, we thought, like, with Chicago, right, where, like, maybe there was a foul on the box there, um but they didn't even review it or anything like that. But they let the play go on, right?
00:16:24
Speaker
Like, at the other day, you should always let it go on and let VAR do his job later. Well, that's not a VAR call, though. It could have been, though. if they If it would have been a goal, right, and then they thought they saw a foul, you should let it go on and then let... Right, but that...
00:16:39
Speaker
But they whistled it prematurely. Yeah. So like it wasn't ah there was no foul to begin with. So like whatever they thought they saw was bullshit. And they should have just let the play go on. It's yeah. It was silly. um But at the same time put away your early chances.
00:16:56
Speaker
Yeah, I don't think I have any other negatives. I mean, it was a ah pretty, I think the the rain stuck to their game plan well. And they didn't let San Diego score and San Diego a prolific scoring team.
00:17:09
Speaker
So to hold them to zero, I think it's pretty good. Yeah, I'll take the point. I would obviously like more, but we've been really shit in a few games recently. So we can start with a clean sheet.
00:17:22
Speaker
i can i can i can take that and I can feel good about that. And then we can move on to the next game because it's also not going to be easy because every week is difficult in this league. Yeah.
00:17:33
Speaker
Any final thoughts?
00:17:37
Speaker
I thought I thought the team was fine. I think my biggest and i maybe i could add this to the negatives. I don't know what what's up with Laura Harvey, but like subbing in the 81st minute baffled me.
00:17:50
Speaker
Well, we had complaints about her subbing the wrong people too early, too. So, what I mean, I don't know what the the right calls are at this point. Yeah, but I mean, like, the subs that she did make in the 81st minute and yeah and after completely changed the game for the positive. Yeah.
00:18:07
Speaker
So maybe it was her just testing it out and, like, trying not to... I don't know. I just don't want to coach and I don't want the vibe to be don't lose.
00:18:18
Speaker
hu I want the vibe to be like bring players on that are going to win the game for us. I mean, she did bring on, didn't she bring Montessir? That was an attacking option.
00:18:30
Speaker
And I thought Montessir actually looked really good. I was kind of like um wanting maybe to see her earlier. I guess that's maybe where your complaint is. And then Darlene. Darlene was the other one that came on in the 81st. And they took out Curry for that.
00:18:44
Speaker
I think Fish luck probably could have come out sooner. Always. Yeah. I mean, we got to save her up, right? At this point, save her up for this end stretch of games.
00:18:55
Speaker
But um i did think the subs were good. So I think, yeah, you might be on to like, why not see them sooner? Yeah, I and think that the positional subbing was terrible in the Chicago game.
00:19:09
Speaker
but Yeah. Just a bit. um But you're 0-0. Uh-huh. You're bringing on Maddie Darlene. Uh-huh. Who is incredible at defending. Yes.
00:19:20
Speaker
And then Coco, who doesn't go too high and can also defend. You're not double swapping out your wingbacks. So, like, do it earlier. i don't know. But, like, we had... It was really stale in the second half. Like, coming into the second half, they kind of lost their mojo.
00:19:36
Speaker
And kind of let San Diego come to them. And there was a lot of frantic defending. There was a lot of just smacking it out of the box in the 51st minute instead of like holding possession and like really challenging San Diego.
00:19:50
Speaker
So it seemed like the subs could have come earlier to kind of change up that narrative because when they did come in in the eighty first minute, that really changed. We got more possession. Like we were able to actually move the ball forward. Yeah.
00:20:04
Speaker
So I don't know. Yeah, it was almost like and I don't I think there's validity to this, but like it's like they respected San Diego maybe too much. Yeah. um And maybe i don't know. i just felt like they could have gone for it a little bit harder.
00:20:21
Speaker
Yeah, I guess I feel the same way. Yeah. I mean, again, I'll take I'll take a point against San Diego with what we've been dealing with lately. Yeah. um Especially since we didn't get scored on.
00:20:31
Speaker
I, as a person, would rather like just throw everything out there and try it. Especially like with the offensive regimen that we have. I would rather just... like Okay, you're not making errant subs. You're making subs to like try and get your team back in the game. Do it earlier.
00:20:48
Speaker
Try it. But also, we came out of it with no goals against. so like I mean, it would have been really fucking bad if we would have given up one goal at the end. That would have been... absolutely devastating so i get it um one thing i did write down from my show notes which i thought was really great um because people in the discord were kind of complaining about the late subs and i think june said something to the effect of let go and let harves jeez yeah i guess like all right yeah yeah
00:21:22
Speaker
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00:21:35
Speaker
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00:21:48
Speaker
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00:22:04
Speaker
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00:22:15
Speaker
Let's move on to the post-match presser. They brought in Lou Barnes and Claudia Dickey. What did you get out of those? Um, I thought there was a question about Jordan bug and Lou Barnes answered it. You know, it's like the older veteran player to the young new player.
00:22:34
Speaker
um just talk about how like there's been so much put on her and she's been really, really good. And so it's normal for her to have any sort of hiccup, but she'll come back cause that's who she is.
00:22:49
Speaker
So it's not like a defining thing when somebody has one bad game. You kind of let them do it and then let them get it back into their rhythm. But I i think it's important to to remember that she is 18, 19 years old. She's a child. Yeah. Yeah, exactly. yeah And she's still figuring it out.
00:23:07
Speaker
And she's the center back position is like, you know, it's not so much on her constantly. Yeah. It's not a position known, obviously, for having like young players jumping in as starters. So she's she's doing pretty good, I would say, for for what her age is. Yeah, it seems I think this goes to like the team culture. Sure. And why I feel like they're going to be OK just because they have this. They seem to have this dynamic of openness and communication to help each other. yeah so that was cool um what else to you get um i well i mean i like that they praised phoebe given her a little blunder um and just like talked about like i mean i already kind of mentioned this but like they talked about how much work she puts in outside of training even like on her mental game and everything like that to improve her
00:24:04
Speaker
uh performances on the field and does everything that she possibly can to get to you know the level that she's at right now um and so i don't i don't know that's a big phoebe fan phoebe fans both of us um it's it's always nice to see them kind of point that out especially after um the game she had today in response and kind of the game that she had last week or at least the one blunder that she had last week Yeah, I thought it was interesting that both lou and Laura talked about Phoebe working on the mental side of things. Yeah.
00:24:36
Speaker
And I think we all have that issue, right? Yeah. And you're you're even you're in the top of your game in this country, and you still have issues with that? I feel like that's really relatable. For sure.
00:24:47
Speaker
I can't imagine the pressure having to do that ah week after week, trying to prevent people from squaring on you. Like the anxiety that that gives me just thinking about being in that position is like insane. I can't imagine actually being in that position.
00:25:00
Speaker
Yeah, it'd be hard to not be hard on yourself. For sure. For sure. So for her to like, and especially after hearing that and to know what happened last week with the own goal or not the old goal, and ah but to give the ball away. Yeah. And to see her bounce back this week. Yeah. It just made it that much more sweet.
00:25:18
Speaker
Yeah. I also did ah ask them about the atmosphere and how does it loom in? Because I didn't know if Claudia Dickey knew about the claw. Yeah, everyone's putting their claws up. Everybody's doing claws now. And people were saying that during the game, like, oh, everybody's doing claws in the stadium. So I said, like, how's that going? And, like, do you know that players do that or that everyone stands is doing that? She said, well, I heard something about it, but I didn't know that everyone was doing it and i was like, oh.
00:25:45
Speaker
I mean, how can do you see it when you're like in the fucking net just focused? You can't, but I mean, that's... Yeah. Anytime you get an entire stadium to like do one thing. Yeah, it's always cool. I feel like that's really rad. Yeah. I think that's like kind of an evolution into like the culture that is watching the rain.
00:26:03
Speaker
Yeah, it was a natural thing. Anytime can something to that. Yeah. I think it's a building block. For sure. Because it's not good enough now. It's not good enough. Yeah. But it's becoming something that it wasn't last season. Yeah. Yeah.
00:26:16
Speaker
I think that's cool. I think the last thing I definitely wanted to address was um Harvey's mention of of Curry and ah how she said that Curry needs to be getting a look at the national team.
Player Performances and Future Prospects
00:26:29
Speaker
Yeah. She said, I'm not Emma. was like, you know her. I said, you can call her. I was like, I'm pretty sure you guys talk to each other every now and then at least. But yeah, Madison Curry, what an exceptional player.
00:26:40
Speaker
Yeah. i I also think that like it would be a disservice to the national team to not even try. hmm. I will say, though, with Emma Hayes at the helm of the national team, this seems more likely.
00:26:53
Speaker
Sure. I mean, just because she's been trying stuff. Oh, yeah. But yeah, Madison Curry, with the way that she's been playing and just the effort and the grit that she puts into the game, I think she absolutely deserves a look, too. But I thought that was really cool coming from Laura Harvey. Yeah.
00:27:10
Speaker
She's fun. I like Curry a lot. And i am a little sad that we haven't seen Angra James Turner recently. um Kind of because I feel like with her and Meza and Curry, like when all three of them are like on the field and they cook. Yeah. And I feel like we've been missing that. But because they've been fucking playing Madden. Sally Menti.
00:27:31
Speaker
and know you're very passionate about that. I will say, I don't know. i feel like Sally Menti. I saw a lot of little good moments, but there are some giveaways that become a problem.
00:27:41
Speaker
i don't know just want to know what's going on is not good enough for this team yeah i mean not right now we're making a push for the playoffs i feel like that's the issue right is like i think in theory you would maybe bring her on looks constantly lost Look at the defense. Like, look when they're setting up. She's like trying to figure out who she's marking.
00:28:02
Speaker
i don't know. i'm also I'm also not as brilliant as Laura Harvey when it comes to coaching. So, like, I don't know. But to me, when you give up the ball four times in two minutes. Yeah, that's the issue.
00:28:13
Speaker
i just i can't I don't I just don't get it. Do you think, I mean, that's, I guess my question about what's going on with Angra James Turner is like, is she still just coming back from like the Euros? Because I feel like it's been enough time.
00:28:28
Speaker
i think Laura Harvey has some vision of Sally Menti that she wants to implement. Which, yeah. Hoping and hoping and hoping, but it's just not working. And it's gotten to the point where it is a liability for the team.
00:28:43
Speaker
There's no no possession in that area. Every time she plays the ball, I think there were maybe one or two passes that she played in a positive sense in the last match, but the rest of them were backwards.
00:28:56
Speaker
Well, I think we can kind of wrap up the game. yeah i might be adding out some of these harsh, ah what do you want to call them? Uh... I would say critique, but it's more like ah like a passionate manifesto. ah Yeah. So let's move on to a cooler player of the match.
00:29:19
Speaker
I think it's time for that. The core 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. We're giving it this week after the way that things have gone the last few weeks and getting us shut out. We're we're bringing back. um We're bringing it back.
00:29:39
Speaker
Bring it back. We're bringing it back. Congrats to Laura's locked in defense. I would like this to just be a regular occurrence personally, but um I think it's fair to give it this week.
00:29:50
Speaker
Yeah, I mean, everybody on the back line did their job. Yeah. Not even on the back line into the into the midfield. Yeah. And in I can't leave an episode without shouting out Jordan Heidema. I know.
00:30:02
Speaker
know. But her offense, like her her defense at the front line is crucial. And I will say there is a reason that there were no goals scored on us. And I cannot not correlate it to the fact that she was on the field the entire game.
00:30:17
Speaker
We're fans. We're always fans. Almost always. even Yeah. Laura's locked in defense. They did their job. The defense did everything that they could have. Yeah. And like we've been saying that the major issues we've been having has been shooting ourselves in the foot.
00:30:31
Speaker
That did not happen this week. So when we don't do that, we get shutouts. Yeah. It's not because we're getting outplayed. yeah It's because we shut off for a moment.
00:30:43
Speaker
um Shut off. Do not get shut out. That's right. That's the saying. Anyways, 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.
00:30:57
Speaker
Make an appointment today and go try their Salvador Dali Llama. A spicy, balanced cocktail with mezcal, amaro, and chili flavors that unfold like a surrealist painting. i think it's amaro.
00:31:09
Speaker
God damn it. You know, i there was another one I was going to choose, but there was the pronunciations that were not going to happen for me. Amaro. Amaro. Amaro. I thought it was amaro.
00:31:20
Speaker
Amaro. Tomorrow. I'll see if it's amaro. Uh... ah check Check out their Instagram at TDO Seattle or better yet, go drink there in person. Cheers.
00:31:33
Speaker
Cheers. All right. And we got now the trivia from last week. What do we got, Van? We had a question. And I didn't realize, i will put this out there. I didn't realize that there were two other awards that were started last year, but I didn't, I didn't instigate that in my question. let me find the, I was going to pull this up before I started, but, uh,
00:31:58
Speaker
We did have one answer on um Blue Sky, and that was from someone we do not know. Just kidding. It was Matt. um Matthew. ah So the trivia question was, which league award has never been won by a rain player?
00:32:15
Speaker
And Matthew said, without looking at anything and probably totally wrong, I will say the impact award. That is technically not wrong. Although we've won the Community Impact Award.
00:32:28
Speaker
Right. But this, as the Lauren Holiday Impact Award, has never been won by a rain player. Yeah. Has also started last year. But that is not the answer I was looking for.
00:32:40
Speaker
But shout out, Matt. um Let's see here. And then we had some responses on the Instagram. So Allie Mac Attacks said... Said Balser with the Chipotle gift card, a.k.a. Rookie of the Year. Fish luck is one mpv and MVP. Maybe we're missing a golden boot.
00:32:59
Speaker
Nope. We are not missing a golden boot because of Kim Little from last week's question from her 17 goal season. The correct answer or the answer I was looking for is goalkeeper of the year.
00:33:10
Speaker
Yeah, ah Fallon would have won to if she would have finished the season, but that didn't happen. And um yeah, I think it's an interesting question because i i think that most people assume that Hope Solo had won it.
00:33:22
Speaker
And she was a finalist, but she never won the award. And Fallon Tulls-Royce was also a finalist in the season that she left. Yeah, she would have won it but she had other things to go do, I guess. so Whatever. not mad about it at all. We're not mad at all. So that's interesting. And I think hopefully might change this year, but we'll see.
00:33:42
Speaker
Yeah, I would love to see that. And I think it would be well-deserved if it did. um But thank you to everybody for submitting your answers. I'm going to put this one out. Now I've got the template and I figured how to use it on my phone. So we're all good.
00:33:55
Speaker
Great. ah So new trivia question for this week. Who did the rain beat for their first playoff win? Find out next week. or google it yeah we i mean yeah either way i'll put it out on blue sky and instagram shout us out respond we'll put it out there great all right i think we can move on to the other nw cell results yeah let's roll through louisville played houston the houston's done it again ah They got a stoppage time goal, 90 plus one.
NWSL Match Recaps and Highlights
00:34:26
Speaker
I will say that Houston, i would like they were playing better than Louisville from what I saw in the highlights. I think they had better chances. They looked more dangerous. um There was a Taylor Flint goal, but it was kind of just like ah it was a classic Taylor Flint goal. Yeah, it was a flik from a corner. yeah mean not that you know that all the goals count like that so good for them but like houston i think was laying it on and they could have they should have gotten more goals so like it was thank god they got one at the end um not that that's not their thing orlando and gotham played each other it was a two zero win for gotham um ester scores again somebody said new fraud watch just dropped
00:35:09
Speaker
poor orlando poor orlando man they're i mean they're just what are they guys supposed to do without barbara bando yeah and ali watt has been struggling yeah they signed elise bennett did they sign her again orlando signed her yeah oh i didn't see that yeah oh well maybe i mean or i will say elise bennett and ali watt you know like maybe they could work together i don't know do nothing just i mean what are you supposed don't have bart you don't have your mvp that won you the the league like the the championship last year so like i just don't see the path for orlando this year i don't yeah it's not it's really not there unless marta does something crazy which could happen yeah that's extremely possible um my favorite game of the weekend other than ours
00:35:54
Speaker
And this game, this game was happening simultaneously with, with the read match. Okay. ah Portland played Utah at Portland. You know, this week, Utah is going to say, and least we're not Portland. Also. also utah's second win of the season and their first on the road yep they beat portland two to one at portland it was the first uh they were the last team in the league like they didn't have they were the only team left in the league that didn't have a road win and they got it in portland that's that's pretty major that is massive and they kind of outplayed them a little bit absolutely and they were up like portland only got a goal an extra time or like late in the game yeah but they were up to zero like i feel like going into stoppage time i mean i will say they outplayed them solely because of mandy mcglynn oh yeah
00:36:47
Speaker
but She had an unbelievable game. she and she's not been She has been playing really well. Do you want me to say it? Yeah, no, you got to say it. ah Ever since she has publicly come out of the closet, she has been a better goalkeeper.
00:37:06
Speaker
everyone knows gig goalkeepers are better we are shout out brianna scurry uh anyway but yeah they they the highlights are basically just like her saves and and they're like it's like one after another of just like ridiculous saves it's not just like little ones she is flying and just making every single save she needs to make besides like the very end No, save of the week.
00:37:31
Speaker
Yeah. Like should be all her. Yeah. All four will be hers. I think she had 11 saves in that game. Yeah. She was incredible. If you haven't watched the highlights of those saves, you should definitely go go watch them. Yeah. That is a, that is a plus. uh did you watch the casey north carolina game no i didn't either i just was like oh casey's gonna win yeah casey won two zero uh we have another another watched this one yeah so spirit i watched the highlights of this one i was trying to ah at least watch the highlights of the team we're playing next week spirit played chicago cantore scored again um fifty seven minute
00:38:07
Speaker
Kind of, uh, don't know. I feel like Spirit could have scored some better goals when they didn't. Um, but guess what? She can't stop. She can't be stopped.
00:38:20
Speaker
They got, like, like Spirit is now victim of being Lujmila'd. yeah and that was a fucking good ghoul too she's so good like these aren't just like imagine if she was on a better team i know can we get her i mean we don't need i mean we do need it but anyone could use her ah she should be like the number one in whatever like trade comes up next like she should be the number one like Yeah.
00:38:46
Speaker
Get on it. Yeah. She's unbelievable. She can make ah thousand out of nothing. Yeah. It's great. It's not great when it's against us, but against anyone else, it's great. In the last game that just finished, as we started recording, Angel City played Bay FC. Angel City won two to one.
00:39:03
Speaker
Interesting, though, is ah Alyssa Thompson's in advanced talks with Chelsea. I'm on board with it. i don't know why everyone's so angry about it. Everyone's like this angry about Gurma, too. And I'm just like, do you expect her to want to stay at Angel City, who doesn't really give her the resources that she needs to make the team go to the next level in terms of success on the field? um And not only that, but there's no like salary. like they They can pay her a bunch of money over there.
00:39:30
Speaker
Yeah, let her go. Until the NWSL recognizes that they're going to keep losing top talent because of these restrictions on salaries, then this, like, I'm fine with it.
00:39:40
Speaker
Keep going. Get get paid. Get paid. I mean, I think she's also fine. I don't think it's a salary issue because she has, like, big deals, like brand deals.
00:39:51
Speaker
So I don't think that the money is... I don't the money is an issue, but, like... I think the U.S. s is like very into we're going to pay you a meager salary, but get your Nike deal. Or like with Jordan Heidema, get your New Balance deal.
00:40:06
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah. We'll pay you one hundred and ten thousand dollars a year, but you can go get your couple million with New Balance. Yeah. No, I want my team to pay you what you're worth.
00:40:18
Speaker
Also, you get to leave this country. It's a win win. It's truly a win-win. I don't know why anyone's upset by this or like bothered. Like, wouldn't you leave for more money and get to leave this country right now?
00:40:31
Speaker
Yeah, but stop taking our straight people. Get our gay people asylum. Get us out of here. Yeah, that's true. We need to spread it out. but Fair. All right. ah The other one other piece of news I wanted to point out. do you have anything else out of the end of your cell results?
00:40:46
Speaker
um No. Oh, well, i I was going to talk about that, but you put it in the notes. Yeah, you can mention it. Go for it. So as a player that we just sent to the USL Super League, Maddie Mercado, who I was actually really sad to let go. Same.
00:41:02
Speaker
ah she sure She's on loan. So yeah, well, she's on loan. But she scored in her first appearance with the Carolina Ascent. 43 seconds into the game.
00:41:13
Speaker
Yeah. The fastest goal in USL Super League history. It's not a long history, but that's a pretty fast goal. So that will probably hold up for a while. Oh, yeah. Yeah. But I hope this is like maybe the rain can figure out this like sweet spot.
00:41:28
Speaker
Yeah, maybe. Of their loans. Yeah. Because look what happened with Sam Meza. Yeah, it's true. I mean, not everyone's Sam Meza, but yeah. I think there's, i mean, not but there's yeah I think there's potential for other players to definitely get, go get their experience on these USL Super League teams and come back with yeah more experience of playing professional. So nothing wrong with it. Nope.
Upcoming Match Preview: Reign vs. Washington Spirit
00:41:52
Speaker
uh right we got the next match for the rain uh we're playing washington spirit ah at audi field sunday september 7th 1 p.m it's on nwcl plus paramount plus spirit haven't lost since june 15th and that was a 2-0 loss to portland not as bad as ours um I mean, technically it is.
00:42:12
Speaker
i guess, yeah. Sure. um The Reign are in fifth place with 27 points. Spirit are in second on 32 points. We're the last the last team I kind of want to look at the standings to kind of see where everything is at. um The last team in the playoff, above the playoff line, is only three points behind us.
00:42:28
Speaker
I know. It's a... It's volatile line there. no yeah. And in Spirit, like, they've been having really good crowds.
00:42:39
Speaker
So it's going to, I think, be a hostile environment, too. hope so. yeah our player i think our players feed off of that. For sure. For sure. Our last time, we the last time we played them, we lost 2-1.
00:42:52
Speaker
I think that was the one where Shea Holmes gave up the own goal and then scored. And then scored, yeah. Yeah. Things things you want to see in this game? I want to see. i really thought that Mia Fischel brought something to the game.
00:43:06
Speaker
For the few minutes she had. In like the 88th minute or whatever. Yeah, it was late. I would love to get her, even if you need slub her on late, like maybe 70th minute. Okay. I want to see her get a little bit more time. Yeah. Because she terrifies defenses.
00:43:21
Speaker
Yeah. I want to see her get more time. i want to see the defense continue to grow a and be cohesive. um But I think the main thing I want is for the midfield to control the match.
00:43:35
Speaker
I think it's a big ask against the spirit, but they have the ability to do it They just they don't. I don't know what it is. i know what it is and I'm not going to say it, but like play players that can hold the ball in the midfield. Yeah, let's get the return of James Turner in this game. If she's healthy, if she's healthy, bring her back.
00:43:56
Speaker
Start her. yeah i think she's get her and mezza and curry on the field please her mezza curry fish lock maybe sorry fishlo yeah yeah just absolutely solidify the midfield i think we'll be fine yeah i think that's a good yeah i think that's probably where everything's gonna be decided because the spirit have a lot of threatening players oh we can put just we can just like sick mezza on cory bethune or yeah cory bethune someone's gonna to be ah also on trinity rodman yeah they can ostracize her yeah i mean if they shut down everything else but i feel like we've just gotten cooked from rodman enough times in the past that i'm just a little scarred yeah and then you have kawasi sitting out there i know that's the other one i'm just like fuck it's it's goingnna be It's going to be a stressful game, I think, to some extent. um Hopefully a close game. and don't i don't want to get out of hand.
00:44:51
Speaker
think they'll get slaughtered i think it'll be close and i think if the if the rain can figure out how to score yeah how to take advantage of the breaks they'll be fine yeah all right you got anything else you want add i have a shout out but i don't have anything else to add okay i mean yeah you can do shout outs let's do shout outs fuck yeah seattle sanders i was gonna say it's gotta be the seattle sanders right Hell yeah.
00:45:17
Speaker
To play billionaire FC. For real. At home. Yeah. And thaw them. three zero Yeah. It's nice. With the trophy. A big ass stupid trophy. That thing is so dumb.
00:45:31
Speaker
Yeah. Harvey was there too. And I was like. I saw the video of Harvey. I'm hoping she's getting some good inspiration to to get us to where we can do that too. Yeah. Why not? Why not? I get the get that for the rain players too.
00:45:44
Speaker
I, yeah, that, I will say, ah enjoyed watching the match, and I enjoyed watching the Sounders absolutely just destroy Inter-Miami. Yeah.
00:45:55
Speaker
I hate watching men's sports, because, like, afterwards, they just, like, fucking just flare out, like, oh my god, you did this to me, and then they're gonna fight. Yeah, the drama. Yeah. you don't need to do that yeah you don't see that kind of these like little fits little tantrums and they call us emotional i know that's that's the rich part get yeah yeah um i'm gonna do a special shout out to just paul brothrock hell yeah um lesbians for paul brothrock just putting that out there he's number number two next to you
00:46:28
Speaker
Yeah, ah he's he's the way he plays is just so, so fun to watch. I mean, the and just the fucking promotion they did for that. So funny. So funny. The free the swapping of the messy jersey for a Rothbach jersey. Also, that grew out of from what it sounds like from ah the Sounder at Heart discord.
00:46:46
Speaker
Oh, really? i think so. That sounded like um someone posted in there and was just like, if Adrian Hanauer, I think it was i think it was specifically called Adrian Hanauer, if Adrian Hanauer wants to like be a marketing genius, he'll he'll let people trade in their messy jerseys for like a Paul Rothfuck jersey or something.
00:47:02
Speaker
Is Hanauer in Sounder Hard Discord? I mean, he's probably a member, right? So like I don't know if he's in the Discord. That seems a little bit crazy. But also, I feel like when you're rich like that, you just have a lot of time, right? To some extent. yeah like to dinker around you're like in meetings you can dinker on your phone right like i don't fucking know what they do don't ever know that two billion dollars what else is happening yeah i'm sure someone passed along that to him but yeah really great yeah that that jersey promo was insane and i loved it yeah like that's just like ultimate trolling that's us and also for the the big thing for me was just like the the pre-game presser at uh at practice before the day before starfire and they somebody asked schmetzer about like oh like miami and they have messi and schmetzer was like yeah well messi's like arguably the best player ever but we have paul rothrock comes on as a sub and scores a goal like that's just the most epic thing i've seen so many tiktok edits of it it's incredible he's he's great um love him so much he didn't he subbed he didn't sub on they subbed him off right oh was out they subbed him off for like a celebratory thing i think that's where you're thinking of the sub part Oh, okay.
00:48:24
Speaker
Yeah, he started. Oh, okay. And they brought him off a a little... Oh, it was the... Yeah, it was the cheering sub-off thing. Yeah, but he... Yeah, I mean, the shithousery from the Sounders, they just love doing that on big stages.
00:48:36
Speaker
Yeah, we should join. Anyways... We should join. We are one now. We're going to join you and me? No, the teams. The Reign, the Sounders, they are one now. I know. I mean, that's what said. Harvey was there.
00:48:48
Speaker
She's in her jersey, too. They got her hooked up. I know. All right. I think that's pretty much going to do it for this episode. um Thanks again to our sponsor, The Doctor's Office. ah You can follow us on Blue Sky and Instagram, Cooler Guild Pod.
00:49:02
Speaker
You can send us an email. We love an email. And you can email us at thecoolerguild at gmail.com. And you can also visit us at our main page, soundartharthart.com forward slash thecoolerguild.
00:49:12
Speaker
Or also on YouTube, youtube.com forward slash at thecoolerguild. Make sure you'll rate wherever you're listening, five stars. Leave a fun comment if you want. Send your hate mail, but still five stars. Yeah. um It's pretty much going to do it for us. I'm Coop.
00:49:27
Speaker
I'm Van. Stay cool, y'all. Stay cool, y'all.
00:49:46
Speaker
Sounder hot. so ah