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Reign wrapped and all aboard the Bandawagon - Ep. 23
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In this bonus episode of The Cooler Guild, we do a quick wrap up of the Reign's season, including giving out the first ever Cooler Player of the Season award.
With the NWSL Championship officially set between the Orlando Pride and the Washington Spirit, we have a discussion about the playoffs that led to the matchup and who we think might have the edge. With the 1 and 2 seed represented in the Final, it's gonna be a can't-miss battle for the most coveted trophy in the league.
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- This podcast was made possible through the support of The Doctor's Office spirits tasting room
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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 & Episode Overview
00:00:19
Speaker
Hello, hello, hello, and welcome to a bonus edition episode of The Cooler Guild. I am your host, Coop, and drew with me, as always, is my co-host, Van. Hello. We are recording on Wednesday, November 20th, 2024. On today's episode, we'll be doing a rain season wrap up, including at least one end of the season award, as well as discussing the end of the sub playoffs and anything else we decide we want to talk about heading into the season. There's you know a bunch of random stuff going on. But first some housekeeping. The Cooler Guild is part of the Sounder at Heart podcast network. You can either listen to us on our public feed or if you're a Sounder at Heart subscriber on the private unified feed with the other podcasts on the network. If you'd like to become a subscriber just visit our page at sounderatheart.com forward slash the Cooler Guild. New subscribers get 10% off the normal rate and you'll help support everything we're doing. Go do
Birthday Reflections & Gifts
00:01:06
Speaker
it.
00:01:06
Speaker
we both had we both had birthdays this week we did we did have birthdays well within the last two weeks yeah and you're the older one i'm just a baby yeah just a little baby yeah i'm just a baby by one year how was your birthday it was good do you get any gifts for yourself do you do that do you feel like treat yourself to something I mean, all the time, but not necessarily for my birthday. yeah I mean, that's like one of the great things about being an adult is like, I don't have to justify my purchases. It's true. It's true. I mean, you sent me a pretty great gift. I don't know if that was like birthday themed, but it literally came the day before my birthday. I've had it for maybe a month and a half or two months. I've had it a while. And then I was like, I want to send you something for the end of the season. But then I was like, it could also be a really nice birthday gift.
00:01:53
Speaker
Cause I feel like, I don't know, sometimes you just don't give people birthday gifts, right? And it's kind of like a fun surprise to get a birthday gift every now and then. It was a, I mean, I got home on the 18th and I was like on Monday and I was like, Oh, a package. Yeah. I didn't want to tell you anything about it. I was just like mystery. And me being me, I texted you and I was like, did I know you were sending me something? Did I forgot? Yeah. No, you're like surprised. I was like, oh, okay. It's great though. Coop got me a Yeti tumbler with the Cooler Guild logo on it. And I think she has one as well. I do. I have a smaller one. I didn't want you to feel, I don't know. I know you drink a lot of liquid.
00:02:30
Speaker
So I got you the taller one. Yeah, my 40 ounce waterfall. Yeah, I just didn't want you to feel short changed. I got like a like little short one. I do think the short one you might have liked because it's just like a good size, but for whatever reason, they wouldn't let me order two of them. This is perfect. And I'm about to pour my beer in it here. Cool. How was your day? Oh, I forgot to say though, ah my mom got me a large pillow that is like an effigy of my cat, like actually like a picture of my cat. Yes. And she gave it to me. I was reading from home on Tuesday and so I came out of my little apartment and she's like, Oh, here's your gift. And it's just this giant van jr. My cat pillow. And I was like, Oh my God, this is amazing. And her cat, which is this smaller orange cat looked at it, puffed up, absolutely terrified. And we started making the, Oh, my
00:03:22
Speaker
yeah no noise hilarious but also I've had to leave it downstairs the last two days where so he can get like desensitized to it because he was literally terrified of this thing I feel like the size of it is the extra alarming part of it whether the whether I use the pillow or not its existence has already like paid its yeah weight and whatever I do with it for sure What about you?
Tattoo Cover-up & Adulthood
00:03:45
Speaker
Uh, I got a tattoo on my birthday. Oh, it that's right. Yeah. Um, like probably other people got a Harry Potter tattoo in my early, early twenties and, uh, don't really want to have people see that on me anymore. Uh, for obvious reasons, I would say for most people, but I've been like wanting to get this tattoo covered up for a really, really long time. And I finally was like, this will be my birthday gift to myself. Cause I, you know, I go running more now and my tattoo that I had, it was on the back of my, uh, my arm, my upper arm. And so people could always see it. And I was like always so embarrassed when I run. people could Because I run past them. you know And then they would see it. that's The first thing they'd see once I run past. Because you're so fast. I'm super fast.
00:04:27
Speaker
but mostly when there's elder elderly people walking um but now this is a giant peacock tail so there you can't even tell it was there really peacock tattoo twinsy yeah it's it's like very very black heavy but um i did what needed to be done Alright, I think that's enough about us and our birthdays. I think we're gonna start this off with whatever little bit of rain stuff we've got to talk
Contract Extensions & Team Stability
00:04:51
Speaker
about. Yeah, there's been a little bit of news that's come out in the last couple weeks. We got two contract extensions that have come out since we last recorded, which is funny because we had recorded an entire segment about the current free agent situation for the rain. We ended up cutting it because a lot of stuff's gonna change. I think there's a date on when. It's after the final.
00:05:12
Speaker
of when we'll have a better idea about this free agent situation. So we just cut all of that out. But we got a one year extension with Fishlock and Hannah Glass. How do you feel about that?
00:05:23
Speaker
Um, I mean, fish lock wise, I'm not surprised. I mean, she's been a stalwart on the team, but that's one that you and I were kind of contemplating whether or not it would happen just because it seems like her end of career goal seems to be, uh, surrounding whales and their, their inclusion into the 2025 euros. So you and I personally talked about whether or not maybe she wanted to move back closer to home. Yeah, I didn't think she would, if she was listening to NWSO, I didn't think it would be with another team. Yeah, I i don't, she wouldn't, she wouldn't sign with another team in the NWSO. She, if anything, I think the option would have been to go to the super league. Yeah. Yeah. She's here for another year.
00:06:06
Speaker
and We'll see in what capacity. And I think it's also important kind of to highlight her leadership. Sure. I think it is good to have kind of a interim leadership aspect
Leadership & Player Retention
00:06:17
Speaker
there where she might not have the inclusion in the starting lineups or even game day rosters, depending on her health, but at practice and within the team environment, I think that that might be something that they see as invaluable. Yeah. So her inclusion and and extension makes sense in that in that way. Yeah, she's also got involvement with the Ballard women's team. yep So I imagine she wants to kind of be there while that stuff gets off the ground. So yeah, I'm not surprised by it, but i it was one of the names that I thought maybe we might see some movement.
Rain Season Reflection
00:06:51
Speaker
Glass was a little bit of a surprise, what'd you think? It was a bit of a surprise. I can't imagine that her contract is worth a lot. So in that regard, I get signing her. We signed her initially for $10,000. Yeah. That was the fee. Yeah, that's not much. I didn't hate what I saw from her. I feel like there was a lot more composure on the field once we saw her kind of get into the starting 11 more.
00:07:11
Speaker
I didn't see anything let it like blew me away. Yeah. And I think for her, there's been a history of these like huge disruptive injuries. And if she feels, I mean, she was a free agent. So if she feels like this is an environment where she can be healthy and she could contribute to the team, I think that that would be a really good way for her. She's already retired from her national team. Yeah. So if she feels like this is a good environment for her to have a healthy end of the career yeah and to maybe like make a bit of a statement, I think that's cool. And I think that says a lot about the club. She's also, I didn't realize this until you at least brought it up again, but there's an option for 2026. So if she has a good year, then bring her back. Yeah. And we were already like pretty scant on that back line. You know, having to throw laps go in at that point. know So we'll see. Yeah. Um, we still have a lot of contracts expiring. I don't want to dive too far into it just because like I said, all of this would be a lot more clear after the season is fully over, but that list includes right now as best as I can tell. Sierra King, Lou Barnes, Nikki Stanton, Quinn, Olivia Athens, Laurel Ivory, Maddie Mercado, and Maya Perez.
00:08:22
Speaker
Of that list, is there ones that you for sure want to see back? For sure? Yeah, like 100%, or 90% or more. You want to see them back. I would like to see Quinn back. Yeah. I have never been like the biggest Quinn fan, but they are consistently consistent.
00:08:40
Speaker
and Yeah, and again with that like older leadership aspect. I think that they're important there So I would say I would say them Athens I think really proved herself at the end of the season and if it doesn't cost a lot I would say keeper. Yeah, ah Maddie Mercado That's one that I would like to see that is a 90% or more for me. Yeah, that is a player that I feel like we have cultivated and kind of helped grow and she showed towards the end of the season, especially in the last game, you know, scoring a goal. So I feel like there's an investment in her that they don't want to see go. We've seen that a lot too with the rain players, former rain players.
00:09:20
Speaker
I don't want to see that happen again. I don't want to see it happen again, though. You know, I'm done. I'm done being hurt and seeing our players that we let go thrive somewhere else. Yeah. Lou Barnes. What are your feelings on Lou Barnes? If she wants to keep playing, stay here.
Player of the Season Award
00:09:33
Speaker
I don't think she would go anywhere else. So that's pretty much that. That's how I feel. I she's going to have to be a bench player, though.
00:09:39
Speaker
it And then maybe if players are gone for international games or whatever, starter, but she's she's lost ah speed and I don't think we can rely on her in the same way as we used to, but you know, she's our captain and has been our captain, so I don't want to see her leave if she wants to keep playing. Yeah, that would be kind of the end of an era. One of my last comments on this, Nikki Stanton. That's a hundred percent comeback.
00:10:05
Speaker
That's that's maybe my one 100 percent. I don't see how we have the rain without her. No. Yeah, she hasn't been here for most of her career, but she's local. She has the energy we need around everything. I also there's been times where I feel like we have missed somebody with that physicality that she she brings on the field. Obviously, there's some decision making stuff that can be a little bit of an issue, but I don't know. There's just something about her that's just so like there's no one like her No. there's There's really not. I don't know. it's We need some sort of positivity in that way. That's like one of those hidden elements in a team that I feel like can really make or break you if you have that person. And I mean, I'm not in the locker room with them. I don't know the dynamics, but from an outside perspective and from a weird person myself, like having
00:10:59
Speaker
Having that, like, energy on the team feels to me as something that can be really, like, beneficial to your camaraderie. This isn't, like, a hundred percent, ah like, comparison, like, great comparison, but it kind of reminds me, I mean, I don't think Christian Roldan is quite as goofy, obviously, as Nikki Stanton, but they brought in somebody like Christian Roldan to the World Cup team for the U.S. men's team when they, you know, had that World Cup, and he's kind of just, like, the vibe guy.
00:11:28
Speaker
I don't really know another word for vibe. The personality hire? Yeah, personality hire, sure. yeah But I also think she's like a good player. like I think she could still be a rotational player and all that. so But then you've got this added bonus of she's one of the funniest people in the entire world who like I feel like knows how to lighten a mood in times where you really need that.
00:11:50
Speaker
I feel like she, if we want to make a WNBA comparison, she's the Sydney Colson. Okay. There you go. There. That's a better comparison of the NWSL. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So I, that's one for me that you can't put a stat to know that is i I need her to stay. Yeah. Me too. Anything else ah on the free agent list that you're thinking? I think we can wrap, wrap that talk up for right now. Um, and if we want to get back to it after the final, we can do it then see what the full situation is. Obviously the rain and have a lot of ah issues. So it's, it's hard to say what we need to bring back. Yeah. And I think that, you know, whatever they're thinking about bringing in also makes an impact on who we keep.
00:12:36
Speaker
Yep. And I didn't see a lot of teams with, uh, contracts expiring at the end of this week. No one has as long of the list as we do with contract expiring. Um, but there will be a list of other free agents, um, for us to like the team to kind of look at. Well, now everyone's game with new CBA, it'll be interesting with the new backing with the ownership and to be able to see what what we can really bring in. Yep. Roll into final full season thoughts. You got like a, like a word to summarize how this year went word or two.
00:13:05
Speaker
oh Yeah, the the sigh is one of them. I just like it was a whirlwind of a disappointment. I think that honestly, be let's just wrap it up there. I'm going to crack my beer to that. OK.
00:13:23
Speaker
Cheers to the next season. Cheers to next season. Cheers to better days. I say we could do more thoughts on this season, but if you've listened to our podcast, we've done enough losing episodes that I think you have a pretty good understanding. So we're just looking forward to turning this page over. We did want to do, Van asked me, she's like, do you want to do some end of the season awards? And I was like, yeah. Uh, so we came up with cooler player of the season. It was like a wild idea. We had to come up with very original, nothing we've ever done before like this. So let's, let's get into the cooler player of the season. 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.
00:14:05
Speaker
After we decided to do this, there was a bit of a conversation, but I think there was an ultimate consensus. And I think for me, I had to separate myself from the stats because this is our own personal award. Yeah. That the person for me that I feel like at like gave me the most reprieve throughout the season because someone was doing something good, a lot of games, which you couldn't say about most of the team.
00:14:32
Speaker
Yeah. So how did you feel about it? We kind of think the same, which is good and bad. In this case, I like agreed with you. So I don't really have a lot of argument about it. I had some other considerations about who it should be. But, you know, again, I think the whole point of the cooler player of the match was it was kind of somebody who maybe it doesn't always get their flowers and the stats don't always kind of give them the credit that they should they deserve. So that's kind of what I wanted to bring into into this award.
00:14:58
Speaker
Mark Weer, Player of the Year, brought to you by the doctor's office is Phoebe McClernan.
00:15:06
Speaker
Well deserved, working hard, looking forward to more Phoebe next season. There were a lot of games where like she was the only good that came out of it. Like from watching the game, it's like, well, everything sucked, but she played well. Yeah. She got thrown in, she also kind of got thrown into this like starting role and I would say showed up in a big way and like earned her spot. Yeah. The space buns in the last couple of games of the season really added that. Never hurts. There were other considerations. Stats-wise, looking at the season as a whole, our best player on paper was G So Young. For me, ultimately, I was like, our offense wasn't as good as it needed to be. So if, you know, that changes next year and we're actually scoring goals consistently and doing stuff like that, then, you know, G grew into the team for sure by the end of the season. Yeah. But it did not start off that way.
00:15:57
Speaker
No, and it was like, we knew
NWSL Playoffs & Semifinals
00:15:59
Speaker
that that was going to happen. And then she kind of threw us a curve ball with that absolute banger in like game three. And we were like, Oh, do we have something special here? And then kind of plateaued until maybe the last four games of the season. Yeah, I think she's going to do well next year, especially with preseason with everybody else that we got later. And then the other one I considered was bug, but but she didn't play a ton, but next year, no that was, that was a like the mid season transfer window. We're going to sign some like 17 year olds and we're like, okay. And then we had the summer cup. She played in the summer cup, played really well, and then had to leave for a couple of games because of the new 20 world cup.
00:16:42
Speaker
That is a player that I'm very, very excited to have for the next couple of years. Do you think that's a good place to stop for that? Or do you want to go into the other one? I want to talk about what we're a player. Okay. And we kind of mentioned this in the last episode, my overall, for whatever reason,
00:16:58
Speaker
consideration was Veronica Latsko. And personally for me, as someone who's a spectator watching these games, she never stops. She comes on the field, especially as like, I would consider this like my super sub player of the year. Every time she comes into a match, she changes the game for the better. And that is just something that I don't see from everyone else on the field. And I think that's just straight up grit and work ethic. So yeah, I think i think that's it for players. I'm excited to see what we can bring in next season and the players they can step up. ah So thanks again to the doctor's office and to and congrats to Phoebe McCorden. We love you, Phoebe. The doctor's office is the best place to grab a drink before or after a rain match. Be happy that the season is over while enjoying the Trident, a signature cocktail at TDO. This is the first drink that Marie Stenson ever made for our friend Dr. Matt.
00:17:52
Speaker
Without this cocktail, the doctor's office doesn't exist. Literally. Check out their Instagram at TDO Seattle, or better yet, go drink there in person. Cheers. Cheers. think So, lots to discuss. Some very exciting NWCO playoffs have been happening, like really good games. Yeah, so we've had two weekends of games. We've had the quarterfinals and the semis. What do you think about the quarterfinals? Quarterfinals, great. There was no upsets in the terms of seeding, right? Every single top seed got out. But I do think the one upset we called thought that might happen.
00:18:24
Speaker
Yeah, it was so close. So close to happening. And for Bae's first ever playoff game, I think they'd be pretty proud of what happened. They put up a pretty good show against the spirit in DC. And it was like a sold out stadium.
00:18:40
Speaker
Yeah, was it was a big game. The seats were filled there. So, Oshawa scores 82nd minute, right? i thought they were goingnna I really did think they were going to sneak out of there with a win. And then they kind of just had a lapse and gave up another like gave up a goal to Spirit and the 86th minute. And so it went to extra time. And then the heartbreaker came. yeah Heartbreaker of all heartbreakers came. It was an own goal to win the game for Spirit.
00:19:04
Speaker
And it happened kind of early in the extra time. Yeah, so they had time to try and find something, but they couldn't. Yeah. But i did it did give me hope that it was early. I was like, all right, all right this he's got to find one. But it was kind of brutal to see the team that we had picked get knocked out by an uncle. Yeah, that was kind of a long shot, though. Yeah, but they didn't look they looked out of all of the teams that were in this that were the lower seeds. I thought they looked the best.
00:19:31
Speaker
They look like they were fighting very hard. Yeah, I would agree with that. Orlando played Chicago. Blowout. Not shocking. I mean, I thought maybe Nair would show up, but no. No, that was a rough one. Casey played North Carolina. One zero. Whatever. Doesn't matter. They're both out now.
00:19:47
Speaker
I also like that game kind of made me feel like, okay, the Casey narrative of like the game being in case the final being Casey, this might play out for them. This might be like the league really pulling for him. No, it was just one goal. Right. I was like, if you want to have the final, I need to see a little bit more from you. And I didn't like, especially with chewing. I mean, Orlando put up four. That's all I'm saying in the playoffs. Yeah, they're incredible.
00:20:13
Speaker
Uh the the big game though the like the huge one gotham versus the thorns Dogfight absolute dogfight and honestly like gotham looked like a better team But at times portland really like took it to him. Yeah, the jotham defense kind of crumbled a couple times Well, our our our hero and and well, our enemy hero once once a once a rain player, not always a rain player, but at least someone who always hates the thorns and knows how to make them look stupid. Yep. Roosevelt. That was 90 plus seven. A walk. That's like the like the equivalent to like a walk off home run grand slam. Yeah. Run. Yeah.
00:20:57
Speaker
So thank you Rose. I saw somebody, uh, I won't say what they're calling them, but on blue skies, somebody posted that it it had to be Rose to take down the Rose city. and Yeah. Yeah. That's really one Rose city. And that's where Rose Lavelle is. So we pop into the semi-finals, right? Yeah. So we have Washington against Gotham, Orlando versus Casey.
00:21:17
Speaker
that um both games were great let's let's like let's let's be real they were both really good games and i did not know who to root for in the spirit gotham game because on one hand if you got the team that stole all of our players Fairly, they fairly stole them. I mean, we'll see if their books look legit or not, but they have all the great players, you know, that we're kind of holding up our team. And then you have the other side of the coin, which is the spirit and the king empire who have, I don't know, I have my own very negative opinion. about that, but it's a much deeper story. But I didn't feel great about either team. I was just here to watch whatever unfolded. I felt the same way. And I think that like Gotham just barely squeaking by Portland was kind of a preamble to this game. They look like the better team for most of that game, though. And then they just did not have the gas to keep it up. Yeah. and I think Spirit is just a gritty, gritty team, even though they're missing sometimes, like, great players on their team. Mostly Gray Bethune, your number one assist person in the league. Yeah, who just won Rookie of the Year. Yeah, like, that was a huge part of their attacking, you know, strength, and now she's been gone, so they've kind of been having to figure out how to win these games, and I think that they ah they did exactly what they needed to do. Yeah. Yeah. Gotham was up. Ester scored and they kind of thought they had it in the bag. Did not look like it was going to end that way, but the time kept ticking. Time kept ticking and it was it was close. But then they had a free kick. Who who made that foul? Because it was a stupid decision. It was somebody that should have known better. Anyway, foul outside the box. Great ball in. And then who do you know how Hirschfeld comes in? Heads the ball straight in the back of the net.
00:23:07
Speaker
Yeah, one one. It was a pretty preventable. I think the defense could have done better there. It was like a straight up rain ah defense. on that Yeah. Yeah, totally. threek But so the game goes into overtime. Nothing. Nothing comes of it. No. And they go into penalties. And I have never, ever seen a penalty shootout or a team in a penalty shootout crumble this badly. Yeah, it was the worst penalties I have ever seen, at least in the NW cell. It was like one sided though, one sided though, like it was just Gotham. They didn't seem to give a shit. I don't like, I genuinely think that they went into this like.
00:23:50
Speaker
Like we've got all these players, we'll be fine, right? No. The youth talent that Spirit have? I don't know. They're not taking it for granted, right? Like they're hungrier. Yeah. And I think that you had it right when you said that they just like are gritty and figure out how to grind out wins. Yeah. And that's exactly what they did. But also Gotham's penalties were God awful. Garbage. I could have saved, I don't know if I could save any of them, but I might have been able to save one of them. If you just threw your body to the side, you would have saved at least one. They were so bad, and people are trying to give you know the goalkeeper credit, and I guess, but I would hope most goalkeepers, because you all prep for penalties. I would hope a goalkeeper at this level in the NDB cell would be able to save those. So I'm not out here trying to give too much credit. I feel like this is more on Gotham, not practicing their penalties. I would maybe push back on that a bit because you have a 50-50 decision, right? And you do study, but the three players that they brought up don't aren't regular penalty takers. No, but you have Esther. Esther should be nailing hers. Yeah, and she absolutely fumbled it. So the fact that Kingsbury chose correctly the other two times, yeah maybe she could have studied Esther, but the other two times, I think that's good goalkeeping and I think that that's good coaching and I think that the penalty should have been better. You can be the goalkeeper on a penalty. It favors the kicker, right? And the fact that these were so bad they her so bad is just ghastly. ah Not good. um Anything else you got to take away from that?
00:25:25
Speaker
I think that ah Casey Kruger played really well. And I think that going into the final, she's going to be a player to watch. Yeah, I got a couple. But I think that she really she was stand out defensively for them. The Orlando Casey game moving on. One word, Marta.
00:25:44
Speaker
I mean, she got the game winning goal for them, right? But in just like the most ridiculous fashion. I assume if you're listening to this podcast, you've probably seen the goal. If for whatever fucking reason you have it, go watch it. If you're listening to this right now and you've already seen the goal, go watch it again. Just make yourself happy. I watched it like three times today because it popped back up and I saw like eight different angles and I was like, The synchronized tackles just like add this extra element of just like, oh, oh, that's dirty. That's so, it was so fucking good. I saw her get the ball and I was just like, oh, she's going. I was like, and nothing's going to stop her. Not right now. Not with everything that's on the line right now. Amazing, amazing, amazing, amazing. So glad she's getting to play in the final. I watched that game with my dad and my dad, like the whole first half was like, oh, Marta's a little slow on the ball.
00:26:34
Speaker
I think this must run in the family because when he talks shit about somebody, like they do something great because I do the same thing. And she just absolutely annihilates two defenders. And then the goalkeeper puts a ball in the back of the net. And I was like, oh, is she too slow now, dad? And my dad was like, she's so good.
00:26:53
Speaker
yeah Tears coming down his face, like laugh crying, like such just emotions of seeing that. Incredible. Obviously Marta is amazing. and Another standout player for me was Emily Sams. KC are no joke, right? They had, like Orlando had a big job to do in the defense.
00:27:12
Speaker
Yeah. To contain shooting up mostly. But they did it. And I think a big part of that was Emily Sams. And I feel like when I saw her get called up from the, you know, for the national team, admittedly, I don't watch tons of games around the league all the time. I try to catch games when I can. But I understand. I understand. I get it. Yeah. She's solid back there. She's great. I became a very big Sams fan after watching that game. So one of the other Orlando goals was Barbara Banda. Yeah. Unsurprising. I know, but I've never seen a woman kick a ball that hard in the back of the neck. Yeah. She just blasted that. She just turned, the ball came by her. She turned, like had the defender on her back, turned around and just absolutely smacked it. Yeah. There's nothing anyone could have done to save that. Absolutely nothing. I know you have this on here and I thought the same thing, but Casey stepped off Lola Bonta a half. It had to have been for other reasons other than tactical. Don't know if it was a health thing, because I don't know why. I hope so. I mean, I wouldn't hope it was a health thing, but I hope it wasn't tactical. Yeah, I don't know why you would have taken her out. No, it didn't work at all.
00:28:12
Speaker
Casey did get a late penalty call for a handball, well just so the game ended up 3-2, but it was a definite Orlando win. Orlando pried Fangirl's last episode we recorded, and it remains that way. I saw this new... I mean, I'm sure someone's used this word before, but we're we're on that we're on this train. The bandawagon? The bandawagon. Yeah, yeah put I put that in the notes. I've been on the the Orlando hype train for a while, but I'm going to join the Barbara Banda bandwagon for sure. I think they're going to win. I just, i like I think if Spirit do it, it's just from pure grit and they somehow are able to shut down Barbara Banda and Marta on a mission. If they can stop that, then maybe, but to me, everything about this year is just like leading up to Orlando having this perfect finish to this amazing season. Yeah, I think that for me, this game is going to be incredible. It's going to be an absolute just this fight because you have the power of Barbara Banda, Marta, everybody else on Orlando against Washington spirit who have just grinded everything out every game. And so I don't think that whatever happens, Washington is not going to give up.
00:29:26
Speaker
No, and they've won a championship in similar fashion before, right? So they've been there. They've done that. They know how to get it done. And that's something that Orlando cannot say. They've never made it this far. So I'm definitely feeling like Orlando is going to win it, but you never know. I wouldn't put my money on it either way. Also, I don't have any money.
NWSL Final Preview
00:29:49
Speaker
So but this game is going to be this Saturday, November 23rd, 5 p.m. on CBS. Big CBS. Last time they played. Last time they played each other, it was on October 6 and Orlando did win. 2-0, but the two goals that they got were an own goal and a penalty. So that was by no means a typical Orlando win. So that's something to definitely be mindful of because it's clear that the spirit have it in them to shut down Orlando's usual game plan, or at least their hopeful game plan. Orlando could have also learned something from that. The other interesting thing is that Orlando has won all four regular season meetings against the spirit and last two seasons, but you know, streaks get broken. They do just like our winning streak this season with the rain. Um, so big. It is something to note that the spirits to playoff matches is this run have gone into extra time. So the players have played more. So that's.
00:30:48
Speaker
Something to think of Spirit also don't have Roy Bethune, which they haven't had her for the majority of the second half of the season. So if they had her, though, but call yeah they if they had her, I would probably be favoring the spirit. She's unbelievable. It's a rookie season, too. It's incredible. Yeah, I am very jealous.
00:31:07
Speaker
I think the one thing um that Gotham did well in their game was isolate Trendy Rodman, or sorry, no, that's, yeah. Gotham? In their quarterfinal game. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So that's something that Orlando can try to replicate. Yeah, because Trendy Rodman is such an impact player and Gotham did a really good job of isolating her and not letting her really get a ton of impactful plays. So if if Orlando can kind of corral her to the outside and not let her put some dangerous balls in and they'll be fine. But we'll see. Yeah, I think that they proved that they can do something like that, given what they did against Casey, because they really shut down Casey for majority of that of that match. And I don't think that Spirit and KC play the same by any means, but I think it shows that Orlando are strong on so many parts of their team. Like, their defense is solid, their midfield is solid, they have ridiculous attacking threats. It's a very complete team. And, you know, can can they show up on the big day?
00:32:13
Speaker
Yeah, exactly. We'll see. I think there are some like kind of background players to watch in this final. One would be kawasi for the spirit. Her ability to create plays in the final third has been just invaluable to the spirit offense. And I don't think that like people talk about it enough because she usually she's like the first of three passes that end up in a goal, but she's a playmaker. So I think that she could be a real difference maker. And for Orlando Aliwatt, and this is not this, this is not me hoping that like a former rain player like does really well. No, Aliwatt is absolutely killing it at Orlando. So I think that those are two players that like, maybe we wouldn't have talked about, but that we should watch for that game. Now I'll add one more onto that and obviously pay extra attention because she was a rain player, but Angelina, yeah I mean, it's not surprising in that she's having a great season there, especially with all the Brazil vibes and Brazil stuff they've got going on there. But she's a very, very important player for them. And depending on how long she stays in the field, I think that's going to be a big, big piece for them. It'll be a cool game to watch. I'm really excited for this final. all I don't know the last time I've been like this excited for a final and thought that it might be that good of a game.
00:33:30
Speaker
Yeah. I mean, as rain fans, we usually unfortunately have to watch our team lose in the final. Yeah. We had to watch our team losing the final. There's been too many finals with the thorns in them. Gotham's not in this one. So that feels great. Orlando, our second favorite team is in it. And, uh, I dunno, we kind of got this just, it's a good team. It's a really good team that they're playing against. I'm excited about that. Yeah. It'll be a good game. So I'm stoked that's on big CBS on, on Saturday. So check it out. Get your friends,
Podcast Network & Listener Support
00:33:58
Speaker
get some chips, chips.
00:34:01
Speaker
Thank you for listening to the Sound Rithart Podcast Network, which now includes No Sonietes, Lobbing Scorchers, and The Cooler Guild. We've been independent since August of 2023,
00:34:11
Speaker
but need your support to make sure it continues. Although this podcast is free, it's only made possible by your continued support. Memberships start as low as $25 a year, which not only helps make podcasts like this one happen, but also gets you access to everything we produce. If you're able to support us at higher levels, starting at $75 a year, you gain access to a host of other perks Most notably, entry into our Members Only Discord, where the smartest, funniest, and most engaged commenters share their thoughts and ideas. To find out more, just visit SenderAtHeart.com and click the subscribe button in the top right corner. Thanks for listening!
Goalkeeper of the Year Debate
00:34:52
Speaker
other stuff going on. I thought you might want to talk about this. Yeah. So this morning, end of BSL, like end of season awards came out and I want to talk about goalkeeper of the year, yeah which in my opinion was brightly given to Ann Katrinberger, who we lovingly call AKB. And I saw a lot of people online talking about how Anna Morehouse should have won the award. So Anna Morehouse plays for Orlando, had a bunch more shutouts. One of the things, in this award, i I knew that it had to go to Ann Katcherberger. She's had an incredible season. But for me, as somebody that was a goalkeeper, watches goalkeepers in a way that like maybe a lot of people don't watch them, her distribution was the number one thing that set her apart from any other goalkeeper in the league.
00:35:38
Speaker
When she got the ball and played mid-range or long balls, they were accurate and they were impactful. She played the ball into spaces that a lot of goalkeepers put and couldn't put the ball into and she connected. And it's almost like, this is an invaluable thing in indoor soccer. I play indoor, but like when your goalkeeper has their feet and can use them,
00:35:59
Speaker
Like another center back and you see and kentra burger like up playing almost a sweeper keeper role like 1990 style because She is that good with her feet. And so that's just an added element that she has so maybe her stats her stats are ridiculous still she's still like They are, but her distribution stats, right? So her pass accuracy per fought mob, 78.8%. She had 239 accurate long balls. Her long ball accuracy was 52.3%. If you want to compare that to Anna Morehouse, who people are saying like, maybe she should have won, her pass accuracy was 72.6%. She had 108 accurate long balls and her long ball accuracy was 34.7%. Perfect drop off.
00:36:47
Speaker
huge. so do yeah think I do think AKB is having a ridiculous season too. And I don't think you could say that about Morehouse. No, it's a season of her life. And so I think that's something
NWSL Skills Challenge Event
00:36:57
Speaker
that like you can really look forward to like as an Orlando fan like with Morehouse.
00:37:03
Speaker
back there. She is a great goalkeeper and she is going to get better and better every season. Yeah. And so you have nothing to be mad about because she's going to be there next season. She's going to be there the season after if you keep her on. AKB is nearing the end of her career. Yeah. We're talking about, was it a five year difference between the two? Yeah. I think she's 34, 35 right now. Yeah. And Morehouse appears to be 29. So yeah, Morehouse in five years, you know,
00:37:32
Speaker
Mm-hmm. Are you gonna talk about the skills challenge? Here's a skills all-stars game skills challenge. That's quite a mouthful um Weirdly, so it's it's happening Friday, but like this Friday 22nd And then they're gonna be airing it the day after the championship because I think they're like gonna cut it They're gonna make a super cut basically because a lot of these skills challenges is just like a lot of dinking around Yeah. Representing the rain, we've got Jill and Howell. It's a first one, so who knows how it's going to go. But I think it's something fun. It's the first one that's going to be aired. Oh, OK. They've had one before, but it was never televised. But it's open. It's also open to people. I'm like, sadly, I don't know. Maybe we should try to get someone to pay for us to go to the final future.
00:38:13
Speaker
but yeah So if yeah if anyone out there is around the area going to the final go check it out I think one of the things missing too with that like so if we had commentators in the NWSL that people wanted to listen to for two hours Yeah, right. So like generally like when you watch an MLS skills challenge Yeah, basically just listening to the commentators for like two hours. Yeah while watching people shuffle around and then do their thing and compete. But it's mostly just like static air where you're listening to these commentators. There is not a commentator in the NWSL planetary system that I want to listen to for two hours. No. I do think Ali Krieger's future might be that. I hope so. But we're not there right now. So I understand why they're cutting it. Maybe the first time they're airing, right? So like they're probably going to learn a ton from this one and it'll only improve.
00:39:04
Speaker
Yeah, looking forward to
International Friendlies Preview
00:39:05
Speaker
that. I think that's it for the NDB saw. I don't know how much we're going to do on the US women's national team outside of the NDB. So window, but there is some exciting stuff happening with the set of friendlies that we need to talk about. Um, we've got two friendlies coming up against England and the Netherlands and they're both away, which is even more fun. They're going to play at Wembley. They're playing at Wembley and they've sold almost 80,000 tickets. It's going to be a huge game. They don't even do that here. They don't even get it close to doing that here, but that's because they also don't play in stadiums that hold 80,000 people. yeah Also, US Soccer Federation really fucks us with those ticket prices. So it's a lot. That game's gonna be on November 30th, Emma Hayes return returning to England also. So I'm sure, I'm sure the England crowd is just gonna be so fucking loud and pissed off. It's gonna be such a fun environment for everyone there. I know, I'm sad I'm not going.
00:39:56
Speaker
I'm jealous. I remember when this got announced, I was like, should I go to England for my birthday? Like a birthday, like a birthday, like a late birthday trip, because this would be so fun to go to. Oh, no, we talked about this. Yeah, we did. We did. You know, it's travel is hard. um But the the exciting news with this is our very own, former very own, Fallon, Tolace Joyce got her first call up. Yeah. Goalkeeper for now, Manchester United. Boo. But absolutely warranted.
00:40:26
Speaker
Yeah, it was warranted two years ago. Honestly, she was sitting in the, you know, just waiting. She was waiting for a turn. Yeah, but that's not how US soccer works. And that's not how the US women's national team works. You don't wait for your turn. You earn it and you play the politics. And I think the politics in her sense was going to WSL. Yeah, which would have been a different team, but that's what I'm saying when she waited is because she didn't even have the starting job. She knew it was coming and probably, but she didn't even have a starting job when she went to Manchester United, right? so Well, that was the idea, I think. Yeah, yeah and it paid off. The other other exciting one I thought was Allie Centnor getting her first call up. So deserved. And then we finally have Lily Johannes as a full US, like she's committed to the US international team on this call up. um And they're also bullying the Netherlands.
00:41:13
Speaker
which was the team she was deciding between. Yeah, I texted you. I texted you. I was like, Oh, did you see Lilliana is like, did a photo shoot with an American flag, like announcing that she's going to be like committed to the U S and you're like, Oh, that makes sense. Cause they're, they're playing the other one yeah yeah next round. Got to bring her in for that. That's too much drama. It's, it's fun drama. We need it. She's going to be started. She has to be playing. I don't know if she'll start, but she, I feel like Emma Hayes should start her.
00:41:37
Speaker
Yeah. I mean, that's a player you really haven't seen. We we've seen her in one game. So in the one game she played over her through balls were just diabolical. She's obviously going to play. She has to play. She might be my favorite field player right now. I can't wait till we get to see more of her on the national team now that we know she's going to be on the US because, but you know, I always knew she would come around.
00:41:58
Speaker
There was no way she was not gonna join the US. Like you have two two options and one of them is the US women's national team. You have you have to be kind of kind of wild to not choose that. I mean, after the last election, I don't know. ah Good point. um I think these friendlies couldn't have come at a better time for us to lift our spirits going into this doom season. I know. I'm excited for more Hal Hirschfeld, honestly. I'm waiting to get excited about Hal Hirschfeld. She's a rookie. Okay. Yeah, yeah, okay. That has had such a solid impact. How old is she? She's 23, okay. 23, probably, yeah. Oh, god, she was born in 2001. I hate this. She just turned 2023, too. Great, I'm 13 years old. i'm ah I'm an entire teenager older than her. Something about her just still hasn't quite clicked for me. Okay. But I'll probably get there.
00:42:54
Speaker
But I also think she's playing a position like on the national team that like we desperately need some different different people and need to try new stuff. She has an opportunity right now, I think, to really like solidify her like i don't know her position there, potentially. Yeah, I think she's gaining confidence, too, and I think the league's helped with that. Her scoring that goal in postseason, she's going to be fine. It could just honestly be the spirit element to this.
00:43:20
Speaker
and and your disillusionment with it. My like distaste for the spirit and everything that Kang seems to ah throw money at. Oh, just like the US soccer system, the new $30 million? I don't know how to feel about this, because sometimes I'm like, this is great, right? But sometimes we're just like, we want some conflicting things happening here that I'm just like, this seems a little not kosher. Yeah. Well, I mean, if you're throwing $30 million dollars around, things aren't kosher.
00:43:48
Speaker
Yeah, there's some stuff there that I don't understand what's happening, but at least it's a woman. I don't know. I don't know.
Closing Remarks & Listener Engagement
00:43:55
Speaker
I think that's gonna wrap it up for the soccer part of this. Do you have any shout outs? Uh, shout outs. Should we shout out our moms for birthing us? No. I never agreed to be alive. I mean, you can.
00:44:10
Speaker
No, it's fine. I'd rather shout out my sister. You gonna shout out Sarah? Yeah, Sarah Crisp. For what? Be my sister. Text me on for my birthday. Being great. ah Well, in that case, I'll shout out my cat. he's He's my favorite. He's such a best boy. I love him. And he's always so sweet. So thank you, Louie. That's a good looking cat. He's a very good looking cat. As usual,
00:44:33
Speaker
And out of those usual, actually many things have changed. We are no longer going to be engaging on um X formerly known as Twitter, I don't think. And if we do, it's going to be very, very, very scarce, but we are moving everything over to blue sky and it seems like most of the other people are moving to blue sky as well. So that's great news. Um, so you can go check us out on blue sky. We're under at the cooler guild on Instagram. We're at cooler guild pod. Uh, we also have an email account. We love an email.
00:44:59
Speaker
Please send us an email. It is like I get emails at work and they're all crappy. So send me a good email. Our email is the cooler guild at gmail dot.com. We're also on our main home website, which is sounder at heart.com forward slash the cooler guild. You can find all the links for our stuff there too. Also van needs to respond to an email. She has not gotten to yet. So if you're listening to the person that emailed, we, we have read it and we're, i we talking about Yeah, no, we've talked about this before and you're supposed to respond but we were we discussed We are gonna get back to you We're just heading into an offseason and things are you know, go a lot of things going on right now in the world So but we are gonna get back to you. We didn't ignore you in our heads. We didn't Yep. Anyways Go rate five stars. Remember you listen. Thank you till next time. Bye. Bye
00:46:07
Speaker
You can either listen to us on our public feed or if you're a sadder, have to. Nailed it.