The nature of playing professional soccer is that of a nomad. Players travel from place to place, looking for the next opportunity to play. This is especially true for players that don’t represent the United States National Team regularly. Players within the regular US ranks have the advantage of greater decision power a larger amount on their paystub. Racing Louisville new captains lead through their experiences of adversity.
NWSL expansion means there are more opportunities for athletes to play in the United States. Not only play but feature for a team and find stability in a sport where at least for women, frequent movement is status quo.
Racing Louisville FC is one of those opportunities. Today, they begin their NWSL on-field history in their inaugural league match. Leading the team onto the pitch of Louisville’s Lynn Family Stadium are two players that are keenly aware of the trials and movement that comes with their sport.
Michelle Betos has 12 seasons wearing the goalkeeper gloves at the professional level. Betos’ resume includes 12 teams, stretching six countries on four continents. Anywhere from Argentina to Cyprus and Norway to Australia, in other words, she has a pretty full passport. She was also on the ground floor of the NWSL’s 2013 founding season. Now she’s the captain head coach Christy Holly’s Louisville side. Betos’ selection was about respect.
“She has earned the respect of the players and fellow professionals around the league,” said Holly. “She understands what it means to ultimately be a performing professional in this league. We think that is a great example for our players to follow.”
Being a performing professional means handling the good and bad. Betos has played the cards she’s been dealt. She’s played the role of injury fill-in, traded twice in the same offseason, and then, in 2020, selected in the Racing Louisville expansion draft. Those things don’t come up in training, on the field, or in press conferences. For her, it’s about creating something in her new Kentucky surroundings. Something bigger than individual ups and downs.
“Every time we play, we’re setting history, we’re creating a legacy and we get to decide that,” said Betos. “I think that’s something we really taken upon ourselves, really invested in, and taking a big big big effort to make sure it’s in line with who we want to be and who we want this club to be and what represents this city well.”
Joining her in leading the legacy build, as vice-captain, is a player still in her first years as a professional in Savannah McCaskill. McCaskill is young but has already been down a similar, albeit shorter, road than her captain Betos. The Boston Breakers drafted McCaskill second overall in the 2018 NWSL draft. In the 12 days after her selection, Boston folded, and in the Jan 30 dispersal draft, Sky Blue FC selected her second.
After 2018 that earned McCaskill a Rookie of the Year finalist selection, finishing third, Sydney FC of the Australian W-League added her on loan. McCaskill led Sydney to a W League title; where she scored two goals and had an assist in the title-winning 4-2 victory. Even with her stellar professional performance; she returned to a Sky Blue team that was in dysfunction and played in only 6 matches. The Chicago Red Stars traded for her in June of 2019.
After the shortened 2020, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and right as she began to show the form that garnered her rookie season accolades; Chicago traded her, alongside veteran forward Yuki Nagasato, to Racing Louisville for full expansion draft immunity. For McCaskill, the expansion experience is vastly different than joining a set team dynamic. An experience she’s done three times in three years.
“A lot of times they already have their starting 11, so you might be fighting for a spot,” said McCaskill. “It’s not like you get to come in and have a discussion of what you’re seeing or what you’re feeling. It’s more of ‘this is how we do things here; this is how we play.’” That’s much different for an expansion team. Now she’s part of starting the conversations about the team’s identity. Coach Holly saw the leadership potential in McCaskill right away.
“Her intensity and everything that she does around the training ground and off the field have been tremendous,” said Holly. “She has just been a fantastic trendsetter within this club. It is important for us to recognize that when people do well.”
The past is the past. What is forefront on the minds of Louisville’s first team captains is what this team looks like in the future. Both show excitement, and motivation to win. Supporters can see in training videos, social media moments, and Louisville’s successful preseason against NCAA Division 1 sides.
“We want to show this league what we’re about,” said Betos, “and what this team will be as the league continues.”
“For me, it’s super exciting,” said McCaskill. “We get to establish really how we want to play how we want to put ourselves on the field and how we want to make other teams see us.”
Betos and McCaskill lead a team that features veterans like defenders Erin Simon and Freja Olofsson. Also, newer professionals like 2021 NWSL No. 1 overall draft pick Emily Fox, 2019 Sky Blue draft pick Julia Ashley (who opted not to sign with Sky Blue), and Addisyn Merrick, who has one season with NC Courage in 2020.
Tonight, the new captain’s lead Racing Louisville FC in their first match. They host the Orlando Pride in the first of at least four Challenge Cup contests. Kickoff is at 7 pm ET, on Paramount+. To learn more about Racing Louisville FC, read the Beyond Women’s Sports team preview here. Follow Beyond Women’s Sports all season for coverage of the National Women’s Soccer League. And follow me on Twitter @1ThomasCostello.
