Louisville City FC was reminded of a number of harsh lessons in soccer Saturday night.
Key among them: how difficult it is to play from behind.
Orlando City B striker Michael Cox scored two impressive goals as the Lions defeated Louisville City 3-0 at Slugger Field. Cox scored his first in the 15th minute from a tight angle and then doubled his team’s lead with a similar goal from the other side of the box in the 27th minute, putting LouCity behind the entire way.
“I think there’s a lot of stuff that we learned from this game,” captain and midfielder Paolo DelPiccolo said after the game. “First and foremost, you’re not going to go through the whole season without giving up a goal, so there’s going to be games where you have to play from behind, and this season, I don’t think we’ve been good enough at that.
“I don’t know what the stats are, but we need to do a better job of coming back and not getting down on ourselves when giving up a goal. I think that’s a big lesson to take from it.”
The defeat was just the second in 11 matches at home, and it was just the third time all season that Louisville City had allowed two or more goals in a game, a testament to the strength of the defense throughout the season.
But it served as a painful reminder to what can happen when a player switches off for a moment. On both of Cox’s goals, he found space between the Louisville City center backs before sprinting onto a through ball and finishing from the tightest of angles. Passes into Cox also came without much pressure on the ball, leading to the goal-scoring opportunities.
“(It’s) trying to stop certain passes and movements that forwards do, especially what Cox did today and those movements he was making between those centerbacks, and we’ll definitely learn from that,” said defender Oscar Jimenez.
Jimenez noted that Orlando City’s goals combined with Louisville City hitting the post twice led to growing frustration through the game. It’s something coach James O’Connor noticed but said he needs to help lead the team to respond more positively.
“When you look at a game like that where they score, it’s really frustrating because you think we’ve got a lot of possession — we feel as if we’re in the game — but once somebody scores a goal like that, you can’t change it,” O’Connor said. “So you need to react in a positive way, and then you need to try to get back into the game. I think our decision making and speed of play needed to be a little better and sharper.”
While Louisville City gets a well deserved six-day break before its next challenge, another game Saturday at Slugger against the Charleston Battery, the boys in purple will have to take to heart the lessons learned before they take the field against one of the best teams in the Eastern Conference.
This season, LouCity has bounced back from each of its defeats to win the next time out. With lessons learned from the Orlando game, we’ll see if they can do it again.
Opinions expressed in this piece were not subject to club approval. For more insights on LouCity, follow former Courier-Journal reporter Dan Karell on Twitter: @DanKarellPreps.
