Louisville City FC travels to Charleston, South Carolina on Saturday for a USL matchup against Eastern Conference foes Charleston Battery. It is the first time the two clubs meet in the USL this season, and 3rd place in the league is on the line. Both teams sit at 29 points, also level on goal differential.
The match will be the second in a run of three away matches, culminating in a U.S. Open Cup quarterfinal matchup with Chicago Fire in Chicago.
When & Where
The match will take place on Saturday, July 14 at 7:00 p.m. at MUSC Health Stadium in Charleston, South Carolina.
The match will be aired on WBNA TV21 as well as streamed on ESPN+. Fans can listen to the match on 840 WHAS. Fans can also follow #CHSvLOU on Twitter & Instagram.
TV: WBNA TV21
RADIO: 840 WHAS
STREAM: ESPN+
DOWNLOAD: LouCity app for iOS | LouCity app for Android
Last Time Out
Louisville City FC got back to its winning ways with a 2-1 victory on the road at Tampa Bay Rowdies. Kyle Smith opened the scoring for the boys in purple thanks to a crisp pass from Niall McCabe in the 22nd minute. Lou City went into the half with a 1-0 lead.
In the 71st minute, however, Rowdies’ attacker Junior Flemmings leveled the scoring from close range, marking the 4th consecutive match in which Lou City has conceded an equalizing or go-ahead goal in the last 20 minutes of a match.
Not to be discounted, the resilient visitors took home all three points thanks to an inch-perfect free-kick from Cameron Lancaster just five minutes later. The win marked City’s first in the USL since May.
– Coaching City: Triumvirate settles into new roles –
Rewind against Charleston Battery
This is the first time these two teams will meet in the 2018 USL campaign. Charleston will visit Louisville Slugger Field on August 31 for the reverse fixture
KY Lottery Kees to the Game
Level on 29 points, LouCity’s only trip to Charleston this season has significant implications on the current Eastern Conference standings. As City looks for its second straight win on the road, a few Kees to the Game presented by KY Lottery:
- Trust your process
- Dominate possession
- Keep it clean
City has just one loss in the regular season since May 13 and has totaled up five clean sheets on the season as a whole with three of those coming away from home. Adding a sixth clean sheet against a team like the Battery, who is coming in off a midweek win over Indy Eleven, would guarantee at least another point heading into a packed week.
Luke Spencer’s pre-match press conference:
On team selection with a tough stretch coming up:
“Right now, it’s about Charleston. We’re focused on one game at a time. We’ll worry about Charleston and then we’ll move on from there.”
On the three of George Davis IV, Paolo DelPiccolo, and his message to the team after the game:
“There were a lot of passages of play that we can be really pleased with. We try to be really analytical of the performance and I thought overall it was good. When you play against a team like Tampa and get three points away from home, you have a lot of positives to come away with.”
On what he’s seen from Charleston so far:
“They have a lot of good players. They’re a really strong, tight unit. Every time we played them in the past, it’s always been a really good battle. If I can recall the last game when it was 4-4, it was a battle all the way until the end so I’m really looking forward to it.”
On what has been the biggest surprise so far:
“The surprise is the tough challenges of being a player and a coach. Obviously, we have to put a lot of time in on the coaching side of things but you have to put a lot of time in on the playing side of things. For me personally, I’ve been putting a lot of time in rehabbing so I can get back on the field.”
Team News
OUT – Luke Spencer (knee)
OUT – Richard Ballard (stress fracture)
