Emma Sears Nets Brace as Racing Louisville Beats Seattle Reign 2-1 for First Home Win in Series

Four straight wins. For a team that had spent seasons scrapping near the bottom of the table, that streak already says a lot. Racing Louisville beat Seattle Reign 2-1 on Wednesday at Lynn Family Stadium, notching something the club's history had never delivered: its first regular season win over the Reign on home turf, after 12 previous meetings without one.

The star of the night was Emma Sears, who scored twice and now stands as the team's leading scorer with seven goals this season. Both of her goals came off a connection with Lauren Milliet, who picked up two assists to bring her season total to five, matching Sears and giving the pair a shared lead in team assists.

The match didn't start Louisville's way. Seattle went ahead in the 35th minute when Maddie Mercado pounced on a loose ball in the box and fired a shot past goalkeeper Jordyn Bloomer. It looked like the night might get away from the home side, but the response came quickly.

Kayla Fischer played a ball over the top of the defense for Milliet, who instead of shooting herself, flicked it on with a first-time volley toward Sears. Sears leveled the score and set the stage for the second half. The winner came in the 52nd minute: Milliet again, this time with a low cross from the flank, found Sears inside the box, and she beat goalkeeper Claudia Dickey to make it 2-1, which held as the final score.

With the result, Racing Louisville moved to 7 wins, 11 losses and 2 draws, while Seattle Reign fell to 8-8-3. The gap between those records doesn't tell the whole story: the four game winning streak is a club record for Louisville, no small feat given the level of competition that a matchup with Seattle represents.

Houston Routs Chicago With Rookies Leading the Way

In another NWSL match on the slate, Houston Dash thrashed Chicago Stars 5-0 at Shell Energy Stadium, with first year players stealing the show. Kat Rader scored twice, opening the scoring in the 5th minute off an assist from Avery Patterson and doubling the lead in the 42nd minute on an almost identical play started by Clarissa Larisey. At 22, Rader now has nine goals this season, more than double the team's next-best scorer.

Two minutes after Rader's second goal came the third, scored by Ullmark, who finished first-time off a low cross from Kiki Van Zanten. It was a big day all around for the young forward, who hours before kickoff had been called up to the United States Under-20 squad for the World Cup in that category.

The fourth goal also came off the boot of a rookie: Faasse, who had come on as a substitute in the 61st minute alongside Miljana Ivanovic, scored eighteen minutes later to become the third rookie to find the net in the same match for Houston (7-8-5). Chicago Stars, who dropped to 4-15-1, conceded a fifth goal in stoppage time, scored by Lisa Boattin off a pass from Ivanovic.