Happy first day of summer, y’all! I’ve been covered up at my real job and then took a week’s vacation, so mea culpa for the dearth of content around here. But now I’m back, sporadically, and ready to TALK SOME SOCCER. So let’s get into it.

Racing Louisville 1, Houston Dash 0

It took all of 60 seconds for Ebony Salmon to make her presence felt at Lynn Family Stadium yesterday. Receiving a deft pass from Savannah McCaskill, Salmon backed down two defenders, chipped the ball forward a couple yards to split them, and calmly whipped in a finish past Jen Campbell to deliver the game’s lone goal on a rather hot Sunday/Father’s Day afternoon.

Salmon won the fan vote for Woman of the Match, as most goalscorers do. I don’t agree, but I will say that with just a couple of touches it was easy to see how she was named Young Player of the Year in England. She’s got technical qualities as a forward that no one else on the Racing roster has. Having her leading the line immediately made Racing a more potent scoring threat than they’ve looked ever before. I don’t want to take anything away from CeCe Kizer, who played a good game and can be deadly when she’s got time and space on the ball. Salmon can create that time and space for herself, and did it several more times before the final whistle blew in her first ever substitute appearance in lavender.

Three other new faces graced the field yesterday, too, in Julia Ashley, Sinclaire Miramontez, and Gemma Bonner. Ashley and Miramontez didn’t get much opportunity to impress, but I was generally pleased with their play. Bonner, on the other hand, I was immediately enamored with. She displayed some technical chops at center back that you don’t often see, great decision making, and often vocal leadership among her defensive compatriots. I was a bit nervous about Nealy Martin starting this game but Bonner was regularly giving her instructions on positioning, and Martin absorbed it all to play her best game yet in lavender. Bonner is a cool character, and appears to already have the trust and confidence of Michelle Betos, who often started the offense by rolling the ball to to the Englishwoman’s feet. She’s a really great addition to this lineup. Even though Racing had another game where they surrendered 20 plus shots, this time only eight were on goal, something I’m sure Betos is glad for.

Houston had control of the game for much of the first half. Kristie Mewis was really influential during the opening period, had a couple good looks, and some scary shots before the whistle blew. I’m not sure what Racing did tactically to reduce her effectiveness in the second half, but it worked. Michelle Prince also gave Emina Ekic all she could handle for periods of the game. Again, Racing held, but some possession would be helpful every so often.

A win for this team is only a good thing, and I’ll gladly take it. Good for Holly and Racing.

Tulsa Roughnecks 2, Louisville City 3

It’s not how you finish, it’s how you start. Sometimes. This particular time, for sure. Cam Lancaster hit a ridiculous Olympico in the opening minutes of the game, JoGo roofed a banger just a few minutes after that on a break away, and Lancaster earned and converted a penalty in the first ten minutes of the match. After that, Gomez admitted the team took their foot off the gas a bit and gave up two goals on sloppy defensive errors on each side of the break to make the final 30 minutes of the game more than a little nervy.

It’s too much to expect the opening moments of the game to have been just put on repeat for the last 80, especially in light of the fact that this was City’s third game in eight days. However, the defense generally had a night they’d probably prefer to forget. Rodrigo Da Costa pounced on a bad giveaway from Sean Totsch near midfield in the 22′ and turned Pat McMahon inside out to score Tulsa’s opening goal. A poor decision from McMahon to hit a square pass just inside midfield in the 55′ led to Marlon’s goal for Tulsa to make things really tight.

In fairness to City, they held it together for the next 40 minutes to take all three points, which is all that truly matters. Danny Cruz deserves a lot of credit for helping his team find a way to see out the game, and for picking up nine points in the last three chances after a subpar start. I’m not going to read a ton into numbers in a game where everyone had tired legs on the road on a baseball field. A week’s rest (sort of) will do these guys some good.

JoGo on the USMNT Preliminary Gold Cup Roster

Days after returning to Louisville from practicing with Mexico’s first team during the CONCACAF Nations League finals, Jonathan Gomez was picked for the Yanks’ preliminary roster for the Gold Cup in a few weeks. I don’t personally have high hopes for JoGo making the final roster, as there are some good left backs like Reggie Cannon and George Bello also in the mix, but it’s not totally out of the question, either. Frankly, I think JoGo could have a higher ceiling than either of those two, but you don’t win games on potential.

In any event, it’s a great honor both for him and for Louisville City. Gomez is the only USL player on the preliminary team sheet, and the first LouCity player to ever be named to a US first-team roster of any kind. This, like the Mexico call-up, is a big deal, and I’m very happy for JoGo.