It's Saturday, August 30th. It's the day every Louisville and Indy Eleven fan has been waiting for. It's the day when ranks don't matter, where two teams go toe to toe to earn a trophy no one knew they wanted until they signed for one of these two historic clubs. It's LIPAFC, and the right to add their team's color carabiner to a literal road trash trophy starts now!
Indy Eleven came out hot, and Louisville started slow. In the second minute, former Louisville City player Aodhan Quinn sent in a nice cross to Romario Williams, who booted it off his right foot from the centre of the box, perfectly placed to the bottom right corner.
After that goal, Louisville City decided to wake up and play like a number-one team. The rest of the half was a back-and-forth afair with shots and possession going back and forth. Aiden McFadden scored his goal for the boys in purple this season in the 45th minute to tie the game.
The second half started, and Louisville City continued their position and lockdown defiance that we know and love. Four minutes into the half, Niall McCabe crossed the ball in the centre of the box to a waiting Kevon Lambert, who headed the ball to the bottom right corner.
The half continued with great Louisville pressure and ball control. Josh Jones had a great throw-in in and the ball ping-ponged around the net until Sean Totsch knocked it in, but he was offside. So, Louisville decided to try it again, and Josh Jones had a perfect throw to the box, and Totsch bounced the ball off the back of his head, which flew high in the air and fell into the side of the net. Improbable? Yes. Impeccable? Also, yes!
Louisville finished the match with 51% possession and 13 shots, four on target. Indy had a similar 11 shots, four on target. As a fan for many years, it was nice to see Brian Ownby play a significant part of the game, but not at the expense of seeing Goodrum get injured. Hopefully, this is a quick turnaround.
Louisville City hit the road on September 6th to Centreville Bank Stadium in Pawtucket, Rhode Island, to take on Rhode Island FC. Rhode Island FC sat ninth in the Eastern Conference, just out of reach of the playoff spot. Louisville started a very different-looking starting 11 with Goodrum injured and Kevon Lambert on international duty with Jamaica. Louisville won at home against Rhode Island earlier in the season with a 2-1 win. Rhode Island put itself in the limelight last year by being the only team in the USL Championship to beat Louisville at home and the team to knock the Players Shield winners out of the postseason playoffs in the Eastern Conference Semi-Finals.
This week's game starts off with a nice downpour of rain, but high hopes of the purple faithful. Louisville played with a strong defence and countered well, like we’ve seen in the past few weeks. The game's lone goal came from Aiden McFadden, and whether or not it was a shot or a cross that happened to find the net, only McFadden will know, but a goal is a goal.
The rest of the game, in general, was a strong one for Rhode Island, which ended the game with eight shots and 57% possession. Though Louisville City’s defensive line held strong and only allowed one of those shots on target, Louisville ended the game with only four shots and only one on target. Sean Totsch was my defensive player of the game with three aerial duals won, three tackles, and one major clearance to keep Louisville’s clean sheet.
Louisville takes on Pittsburgh on the 13th for a late-night match against the Riverhounds at Highmark Stadium. Pittsburgh sits in 7th place in the Eastern Conference, but with Rhode Island and Indy Eleven on their heels, the Riverhounds will have to get some points from the league frontrunners if they want to stay in the playoff race.