The Table Turns: Spirit on Top, Seattle Stuns San Diego & Sam Kerr Is Back

Sam Kirk two point o, just as effective as the original version.

Figuring it out.

Welcome back listeners to another episode of Laces Out Loud. I am Pamitha and as always, I'm joined by Gurus Abid.

Hello everybody.

And Ali. Hello.

How are you two doing after a incredibly exciting NWSL weekend?

It was really exciting, and I'm doing great. I had a fantastic weekend.

That's awesome. Allie, I know you're so excited you're ill.

Yes. It was it was a good soccer weekend, and I my enthusiasm is buried underneath the Kleenex, but it's here. It's buried.

Yes. We'll give a yellow card to viral infections, a red card to cyclos pora, but the good news is that this just seems to be a common cold for you, right?

Yes. Yes. Yes.

It did not stop you from coming out getting off of an airplane and going straight to Audi Field.

Yeah. This is true. I did do that.

I think your priorities are

accepted Number one for the fan of the night trip.

Yeah. Yeah. Go ahead. That's right. Timed Timed the trip to be like, alright, pick me up at the airport, had enough enough leeway if the flight was late, so yeah, it's all all good.

Yeah. Absolutely.

Gotta be there.

Yep. Well, we should just dive right into the action because there was a lot of really important, exciting, con influential consequential action from the weekend. I think one of the biggest stories, if not the biggest story, was Seattle's victory over the top of the the former top of the table, San Diego. If only we had someone who is either living in Seattle or a fan of the rain.

Ali, is anyone who comes to mind? Perhaps. Grishavan?

Oh, let's go Seattle. We did it. We held on. They finished a game.

Congratulations. So exciting.

We're looking strong right now. Like, we should've beat Gotham if we just held on.

That was rough. That was a rough end to that And

Yeah, and Lynn Biendolo, she was saying that that Gotham game, she kind of saw how our the injuries for Seattle affected them to where we don't have our normal back line right now, and it was probably hard for these younger players to maintain their focus for ninety minutes, and kinda gave it away at the end, and then probably started to kind of freak out when Gotham scored two to tie it.

When you see Sam Kerr coming at you at the end of Right, the

yeah. Sam Kerr, Rose Lavelle.

Well, it's kind of what we talked about, right? Like, had asked, like, is this gonna be a game that was more relevant for Seattle in terms of the loss or more relevant for Gotham in terms of the comeback? And I think you were like, it's both. Right? So way to go way to go validation from Lynn.

Did did I didn't so I didn't get to watch the match. Was your back line the same, or did you have anybody who came back from injury for this match?

I'm actually not sure if they had a lineup change, but I did see, like, Jordan Bug for Seattle making a lot of really unnecessary tackles. Nice. That's good. Crazy tackles, like, in the box that were clean.

Nice.

And and good We were able to hold off San Diego.

Yeah. Two nothing, you took it out on San Diego. I think the question is, do you think, just like the last match, is this a reflection

Mhmm.

Of where San Diego is as a team in terms of potentially inability to keep up the momentum, or is this a greater indicator of where Seattle is as a team in terms of coming on to the latter half of the season?

I'm gonna go with Seattle on this one, just showing that we can get in goals and then actually play defense, hold off an attacking team. And we continued to attack that game, you know, when we were able to get the ball. But San Diego, they did have a big attack in the second half that we were, you know, able to keep them at bay, and Claudia Dickey had a lot of good saves. I think she had the most saves she's ever had in a game.

Wow.

I think the announcer said something along those lines.

That's excellent. Yeah. I saw I saw that she had had a big game that is happy to happy to end a game with a two o win after the tough loss last week, so that's excellent news.

Yeah. I'm pulling up right now.

Always lift up spirits.

Yes, they do.

So hopefully Seattle, yeah, is feeling good, playing happy. Let's see. Who do we play next? We play BayFC on Saturday.

I the California road the California road trip. Well, I will say, I looked up the stats. Claudia, I he was credited with eight saves.

Okay. Yeah. I think they were saying that either tied or surpassed amount of saves in a single game for her.

Yeah, I mean, it's a lot. Yep. I think there's an old sitcom, eight is enough. Maybe it's a new sitcom, maybe it's a fake. So, you know, it could be

a real sitcom, it could also be a

fake sitcom in a TV show that I've seen. I don't know.

Eight of enough?

Never. Eight of what is

Eight enough. Eight is enough.

Just eight. Eight of Well,

because like, there was Three's Company, and I think this might have been like a spin off. I'm looking I'm looking talk amongst yourselves, I'm looking at this up.

I I hope it's not like eight kids is enough, because that's, you know, more than one is more than enough.

Oh, man. Okay. I nailed it. It is in fact an old sitcom from the seventies. Eight is enough.

I'm not sure if any of our listeners are familiar with this, but I'd ran for five seasons, so it's not it's not nothing. I'm I'm I'm doing a quick, like

Was it predicting Claudia Dickey's performance and goal at this match? Eight saves is enough?

I don't know, but Mark Hamill was in it. Yeah. Interesting. Interesting. Yeah.

Yeah.

Yeah. My goodness. I think it is about kids. That's too many. It's I'm gonna say that here.

That's too many.

It's enough. Right? Well, speaking of not enough, this weekend kicked off with a really great Slated Games and Portland and Gotham did not disappoint. For them, four goals was enough, two apiece, and a couple of really big stories on it, but obviously Gotham getting the equalizer late with Sam Kerr, who just finally has, you know, really it's really great to see Sam Kerr blossom into a great player. Right?

She's been away for so long, people have forgotten There

were real low expectations for her coming in.

Yeah, it was just like rock bottom, but like, for her to get a goal, good for her, I hope she's got many more in her,

I know. Just dripping with New

her new rookie season.

Yes.

New in the league again.

Sam Kirk two point o, just as effective as the original version.

She's figuring it out.

Yeah, and you know, her goal was like, I think the term, I think it was it was Sam Muess that I heard it from, Fox in the Box.

I think that I have heard I have heard that multiple

Oh, okay. It's Okay. Well, so it was a real fox in the box type goal. She was there, she put it I've just oh god, like, drilled that ball, I'm glad no one got in front of it. But also throughout the whole match, she looked dangerous.

So, like, you know, as expected, Sam Kerr immediately coming in and contributing. Yeah. So she looked dangerous through throughout the rest of the match as well. And Portland, I think, had a lot of opportunities also that Sofia Wilson just couldn't quite get like, couldn't get the finishing touch, looked very dangerous, Going up two one, not being able to hold on at home, that was rough. Having a very obvious red card denying a goal scoring opportunity, you know, I think some may view it as a little bit of harsh, but it was very clear.

Still, being able to hold on to a two two draw under those circumstances, not bad for Portland. But the real story coming out of this match was that Gotham may have lost Emily Sonnett for the rest of the season. We don't know at the time of this recording what her injury status is. By the time you hear us on Wednesday, maybe that news has changed, and hopefully, it's a best case scenario and not a worst case scenario. But it didn't look good seeing her stretchered off, and Yeah.

A lot of repercussions for a lot of different things there.

Yeah. And not just for Gotham, but everyone's mind goes straight to the World Cup next year. Yeah. Will we have her? So we're hoping for some better news.

Yeah. I think everybody Like, if

is for ACL, it'll be tight.

Yeah. That's tough. A non contact injury stretcher off, that just immediately, your brain goes to the worst case, so I hope that's not it.

She's a superhuman, and so hopefully, it was worse than it is. And if it isn't, hopefully she's able to recover. And yeah, Gurus Chabad, you're right. Right? Like, one of the one of one issue is, oh, what does that do for Gotham?

That's they did not look like the same team without her, granted they needed to pivot in real time when when she left the left the game. You know, they'll I'm sure there's gonna be, you know, strategy shifts and stuff like that. She's gonna be very difficult to replace. They will soldier on. But the national team implications, that's that's rough.

And, you know, we've been talking about younger players getting more opportunities and roster construction on the national team, and, you know, we hate to see something like this be the cause of an opening that might give someone else another opportunity. So we don't wanna have that conversation today. Obviously, once we know more about what happened to Sonnet, we can, but just wishing her a speedy recovery. That was tough to see.

Yeah, absolutely.

Well, there are a couple of

And some more news for Gotham that just came out today that they were recording is that Astaire has had to depart Gotham for family reasons.

Oh, did it so tell say us more, I didn't see that.

Yeah, so they both had to part ways announce today. They and, you know, nothing else is put out, which I wouldn't expect them to, it sounds like it's her personal family stuff going on, but you just assume, you know, she's probably dealing with something really hard, so. Hopefully, you know, she can, you know but it's good she's able to go do what she can do, leave the team, go be with her family.

Yeah. I was surprised, obviously, was surprised to see the news that said they she had you know, she and the team mutually agreed to terminate her contract and obviously hope everything is okay with her family. I was surprised so just thinking through the logistics of it, I was surprised that they it was a contract termination and not just that she was on extended leave, but maybe that is normal. But then that also makes a little more sense with how they were able to bring Sam Kerr on board if they were no longer supporting her salary because they had that, and then also why they needed another goal scorer to be coming in. So that seems to I I say needed in quotes because they have plenty of air score goal scores.

But that may have, I assume, all playing out in the background and makes a little more sense now. But obviously, hope hope everything is alright with her and her family. Yeah.

Yeah. I I didn't see that it was for family reasons. That's tough. I joined the both of you, I hope that she's okay. But yeah, like your point, Ali, like, for it to be a contract termination and not just sort of like, she's stepping away from the team to deal with something.

I don't know if we'll ever know, but hopefully hopefully she's okay.

Yeah. When think about even, I mean, the players who go on maternity leave, I mean, actually, maybe that's part of the CBA that they can't con terminate their contracts. But I guess just thinking, you players being gone for, you know, injuries and

Right.

Pregnancy and things that you know, gonna be a year or more before we see this player again. But, yeah, as I'm saying that, realizing that's probably more to do with, you can't drop players Yeah. If they get pregnant.

Must be something big. Yeah. It must be something big if she's not just stepping away for a short period. I don't know. Well, I don't know if she'll join the NWSL again at some point.

I hope so.

Yeah. Well, Allie, your lasting memory of her will be her giving you the bird? No?

Pretty much. No.

Locking go ahead. What's the story?

She scored against the spirit, maybe for the second time, maybe she had assisted, I can't remember. She just they they were beating us, and then she ran by our section, she flexed, and it was one of those that's like, I swear we locked eyes. And she was like, this is for you. I could tell, just like, piercing my soul. I was like, it's on, bring it.

So

I really hope one of these days you get an opportunity to meet her and tell her that story, and then for her to

be like

She's gonna be like, what?

Yeah. No, yeah, that's obviously what will happen, but it would be amazing if she's like, oh yeah, I remember you.

Yes, I was staring into the depths of your soul.

Your husband was being so annoying. Oh, Well, speaking of flexes, look at the top of the table, baby.

Woo hoo. Spirit.

I'm sorry I'm sorry, Gotham. You had, like, what is that, five seconds worth of airtime at the top before you got put in your place? I'm just, you know

Oh, yeah. Yikes. It was We

were able to hold on.

Yeah. You know, it was We

need we need like two seconds of just being like super overconfident before we get into the game. So just let us let us live with this. Right? Hold on. Yeah.

Woo hoo. We're the best. No one can touch us.

Number one.

Number one. Number one. Number one. One. Okay.

Real talk. Holy cow. That was really scary.

And then we play Utah and San Diego this week also. So No big deal.

No big deal.

Everything's fine. We're cool. It's all good.

Oh, god. Okay. So listen. I'm a little bit more relaxed now after the game is game has ended, but wow. I don't think there was a moment throughout the entire match where I felt confident that we were going to hold on to the lead or get the lead.

I I was expecting a zero zero draw the way both teams were playing, but woof. Anybody doubting that the Denver Summit is legit, you gotta go watch that match, and you will come away with an entirely different perspective. And and I'll go one step further. I I guarantee that the in person experience watching them play with Lindsey Heaps on the field doesn't do justice with what you see on television. There was, like, a palpable amount of, like, ferocity and skill just, like, coming off the pitch up into the stands.

Go ahead, Ali.

Nice. Well, it's actually funny because while I agree with everything about that being a great match in Denver, being a great team, I don't know. Maybe it's because I was coming down with something, but that was one of those matches that even though it was zero zero until well into the second half, I had no doubt that we were gonna win. And I don't often feel that way in that type of match, but I and I don't I I liked the way that we were possessing the ball and working it out of the back. I wanted to see that happen faster sometimes.

I was terrified by Summit's number 33, whose name I forget.

Olivia Thomas.

Yeah. She was wreaking havoc and felt she was she was gonna put one away, but I yeah. She she was what stood out to me most on the summit was how have I not noticed her before because she's great.

She it was it looked effortless. Like, she was undressing our defenders. It it was it was crazy, and and again, that's I I'm glad that you had you had more confidence than I had.

I don't know why I had it, because I've been at games where it's like, oh, how are we gonna pull out this one? And I was like, nah, we we got this one. But it was fun, mean, whole section Do what?

Summit was attacking. They had a lot of close Mhmm.

Yeah. We we got we had a crossbar save or two. Mhmm. But, kind of our whole section was like, who's number 33? Where did she come from?

She is she is great.

Yeah. The answer is Olivia Thomas. She went to the University of North Carolina. She was a 2024 national champion, and she's this is her first season on the summit, which, duh. She though, this is she this is her first season in the NWSL, and she's part of the summit.

And I think I've seen her play, and I had the same impression, but then I, you know, forgot, moved on with my life. I'm never gonna forget her. After that, watching her play, even in a loss, she looks she she looks special. It's crazy. Mhmm.

Yeah.

Nice. I

I also will say I was really happy to see the spirit pull out a win without any of our African players who are playing in the WAFCON tournament right now. So that took us down a couple of starters. I think we missed some of of Rose Quasi there. And we also had a a different different midfield for much of the match, giving Lacesontas a little bit of a rest and playing more defensively. So it was nice to see when adjustments are made, that you're still able to come up with a win like that, so

Yeah, mad at you guys didn't get that goal till Santos subbed in.

Yeah. Do you see That's literally what I was just about to say, you called it, and So? Well, and if I if I remember correctly, was it was it Rebecca Bernal who took the like, made the defensive play, got it to Lacey, Lacey got it to Weezy, Weezy got it to Trinity, Trinity got it to Cantory.

Cantorean. I think I can't quite remember the full order, but I do think it was a Bernal.

It was either a Lacey or Bernal that got You know what? It actually might have been Lacey

who Yeah, stole think the both of

Lindsey Heaps in the midfield there. I don't know why they started the way they did, but I also did feel like we still had chances when we had a more defensive team on the field. You know, there there were times in the first half where we could have gotten a goal. So I do I do definitely agree that Laces brought a spark and a more offensive attack, and I mean, she's an attacking midfielder, so that's what she should do, but I didn't feel like we were out of the match the first half. Yeah.

I agree. It just it it brought exactly what we needed and

I agree. I so I will you're talking about chances though, Denver had a couple of chances that easily could have gone a different direction.

Yeah. I swear the ball, like, slow mo rolled in front of the goal twice. Yes. It's like, how that would have crossed the whole face of the goal. How did that not go in?

I know. Did Ali Brazier not get a goal in that game? I don't know.

Yeah. She

I bet she came out of that frustrated.

It's that Audi aura. And actually, even upon watching yeah. In the stadium, I couldn't tell. I had to see it on replay on TV after the fact where Sofia Cantore's goal was gorgeous, but it took a deflection on the way in, and it I don't like, Sofia Cantore is a rock star and has shown proficiency from distance. That ball, the trajectory from where we were watching, it looked ordained to become a goal to be a goal.

And so thinking that that came off of her foot and that's where she was putting it was we were euphoric in the in the stands. Watching the replay and seeing that it deflected off a defender, like, right in front of her at the top of the box before it went in, it's like, oh, okay, that makes a little bit more sense. I'll take

it. Yeah.

She still put a wicked spin on that, though.

Yep. Oh, yeah. Yeah, yeah.

Like how she struck it, Yeah.

Yeah. 100%. Yeah. We actually have a a friend who suggested that we should on the podcast, we should discuss NWSL players who we think ought to shoot more often. And I think well, I I would say Sofia, but I would be interested to hear what any of our other listeners have to say.

Please leave a comment. And it's something maybe we could talk about as the season wears on. I will say, I don't know if you noticed this, but Trinity was making the run and she had that one touch pass to Sofia for the goal. I was watching Trinity, she threw her hands up when Sofia didn't, like, one touch and shoot because she was hoping she was expecting Sofia to keep running and put the ball away, but instead she didn't. She pulled up short turn and then shot.

And so it's like, yeah, we we all want her to shoot. Yeah. We get it, Trinh. Yeah. So know it's funny.

That was that obviously was really exciting, and we're glad to see the spirit at the top of the table, but it's just it's a it's a crazy year. There's a lot of movement across the league. Louisville finally won, and then Allie Hayes, your theory of theories continues to be proven true. Our dear friends in the Midwest, the Kansas City Current, can't seem to find

a win without Tim Machuwinka. Yeah. She is also at WAFCON right now, and it's just, let's say, Boston beat Kansas City one o, and I just the talent on Kansas City is just mind boggling that they're not able to get a win without Chiwenga. I mean, players are so good without her and with her. And so it just Yeah.

It's just crazy. But I will also shout out Louisville. They had one of their rookies get two goals, Maya Lardner. And she is a graduate of Highland Park High School in Dallas, my high school.

Go Scots. Yeah.

But in Texas, there's the the women's or the girls teams, you stick lady in front of them. So it's the Scotts, and then the lady Scotts.

Go lady Scotts? Yeah. Awesome amount of damage.

I forgot was a thing until recently. Yeah, that sounds so weird.

When I first met Allie and she told me she went to Highland Park High School, she also then qualified it with, I'm also the least Highland Park person you'll ever meet. And I didn't quite know that, and then I visited, and I'm like, oh yeah, I totally get this. So

Thank you.

Anyway, if our listeners or everyone ever gets an opportunity to meet us, you'll understand too. So that was a was a fun and exciting NWSL weekend. We have some fun and exciting personal stuff coming up, but it means that we're going to have to take a pause from doing reactions to games as they come. We'll be doing a couple of advanced recordings, diving into a couple of different topics, we'll preview a little bit of that today. But just as you know, over the next couple of weeks, when you don't hear us talking about the most recent activity, that's why, previously recorded, and then we'll be back at the end of the month.

I wish I could tell you this was like summer break for all of us, but one of us who handles all the technology is just not gonna be able to have access to the equipment he needs for the next two and a half weeks. So the rest of us, we'll just have to deal with prerecorded stuff.

One of us who doesn't handle technology plugged in the equipment wrong today, so it's a there's a significant gap between the one who does and those who don't, so.

And one of us is going on vacation.

Yes.

While you're recovering, I'll go have fun for you.

Yeah, so where are you going on vacation?

Yeah, we are headed to Spain and Portugal, and I didn't know this when we booked it, but we will be in Madeira Island, where Cristiano Ronaldo grew up. Oh. So I'm gonna have to decide if I go to the museum or not.

Oh, I mean, do it. Right? Because he's he's he's Right? He's done. Do it.

Right?

Yeah.

Now is the time to go before it gets overrun. That's super cool. Also, technically, previewing not is it next World Cup? Right? The next Men's World Cup is gonna be in Spain and Portugal, I think.

I was I was way off about other things. I think it's Spain and Portugal for the next World Cup Men's World Cup.

I think those are two of the hosting countries, but I think there's a couple of

Morocco. Spain, Portugal, and Morocco. Yeah.

Sounds Yeah.

Sounds right. Do some advanced scouting. Also pretty cool that you're going to Spain and Portugal at a time in which Spain is now the host of both the reigning men's and women's World Cup champs.

I know. I'm interested to see how much soccer stuff they have around for their national team, and if I'll be able to find any women's, like, jerseys.

Oh, yeah. Get an get an Astaire Right?

And, like, will they just have that around, or it'll be really hard to find? I was looking for a Marta jersey the other day, and I can't find one online easily. Oh,

I hate that. Ugh, back to our marketing of women's sports.

Yeah. I was like, just give me a Brazil Marta jersey.

Yeah. Also, have you considered bringing some Costco sized containers of ranch, given that many of the World Cup visitors were apparently taking home Costco Costco sized bottles of ranch, you could be like, hey, if you're out and missed it, here's some ranch.

You know, maybe if we were checking a bag, I would.

Oh, that's fair.

Costco is not a sponsor of Laces Out

Laces Laces Laces

But it could be.

Yeah. Well, look forward to your return and your review, and have a great time. Well, what are we gonna be talking about in the next two weeks? I know one thing that we have been looking forward to is sort of like a deeper historical dive on all things women's soccer. And, Gurus Chabad, you have been taking a crack at that research.

What can you share with us today as a teaser for our listeners to expect in the next couple podcast episodes?

You guys, diving into this has been really exciting and really sad. Women's sucker was on this huge role in the twenties, and then we're gonna find out, like, what happened after that.

Woah. Oh. The nineteen twenties?

Yep.

Internationally? Yeah.

Yeah. Like, women's soccer was going well. It was getting big, and then a bunch of stuff went down.

Oh, dang.

So we're gonna get into that in the history. We're gonna get into women getting arrested for playing soccer. Woah. There's a there's a lot in the history, and I think I'm, you know, just at the tip of the iceberg, and it's really interesting.

Wow. But I am looking forward to that, and I am preparing to be outraged.

Yes.

I was not preparing to be outraged, I was like, Oh, that'll be great, and then you gave that, and now I am prepared. I will be outraged. Yeah.

Like, exciting what they were doing, a little bit of outrage, or a lot of outrage. Yeah, it'll be good.

Wow, okay. I can't I can't wait, and, yeah, I can't wait. That sounds amazing. Well, relatedly, we are going to collectively watch Copa seventy one, the film of the forgotten women's World Cup tournament, and do a reaction for all of you. If you haven't seen it, it's available on multiple streaming platforms, but not by subscription, like you have to pay to rent or purchase.

So we'll likely be using, I think Apple TV to watch it, but for those of you who are interested in watching along and sharing your thoughts, we'll be doing that in the next two weeks as well. Yeah. So we're we are excited to bring all of that and then get right back into the NWSL action that we will be watching, just not able to like record and discuss. So stay tuned for the rest of the month, we appreciate all of the support that we've been getting. So thank you guys for continuing to listen.

Ali, thank you for playing Hurt today. Anytime. Anytime. You're welcome. Gurshavad, I'm glad you had a really great weekend, and looking forward to hearing more about your trip.

Friends, you can always reach us at the email address lacesoutloudpodgmail dot com. Gurus Shabad, where can they find us on social?

You can find us on Instagram lacesoutloud.

Yeah, that's right. Alright. Well, thanks everybody for listening. Gurus Shabad, go take us out.

Yeah. Everyone, be kind, be good to each other, and from the fans for the game, we'll see you next time on Laces Out Loud.