Louisville City FC earned the first three points of the season on Saturday afternoon, defeating Nashville SC, 2-0, in the 2018 season opener.
What Happened?
LouCity had its first opportunity of the night just nine minutes in as forward Luke Spencer tested Nashville ‘keeper Matt Pickens from close-range only to be denied by the big man, who sat tight on his line. The first chance of the night for the visitors came after 24 minutes when midfielder Ryan James got on the end of a cross only to head over the crossbar and away from danger.
At the break, the “Boys in Purple” were locked at zeros with their counterparts.
Starting the second half with a bang, LouCity’s Shaun Francis nearly helped open the scoring in trying to connect with George Davis IV, only for a defender to intervene and yield a corner. However, after 56 minutes, the hosts broke the deadlock. Taking a cross from midfielder Niall McCabe, who earned Man of the Match for his work today, Spencer buried the chance and LouCity went one-up. Ten minutes later, the “Boys in Purple” went up two thanks to McCabe, who put home a rolled cross from defender Oscar Jimenez after 66 minutes.
The Nashville attack would test LouCity ‘keeper Greg Ranjitsingh a couple times more before the end of the match, but the Trinidad & Tobago nationalist would smother everything in front of his net to preserve his clean sheet and help hand his side their first three points of the year.
The Key Points:
- LouCity took the lead thanks to Luke Spencer’s goal just after halftime
- The hosts doubled their tally after McCabe tapped home a cross from Jimenez
- Goalkeeper Greg Ranjitsingh earned his first clean sheet
O’Connor’s Takeaways:
On the match:
“Really pleased. I think when you look at everything that’s been thrown at the players in the preseason, I think it’s been fantastic. The mentality that they showed was really good and I thought the performance was very professional and very strong.”
On Niall McCabe:
“I’m absolutely thrilled for Niall. It was a great ball in and a great goal. Not just Niall, though, when you look at all the guys and how hard they’ve worked, it’s been pleasing to see the effort, the attitude, and the togetherness. The mentality they showed was really, really good. For me, it’s a proud moment because you look at how good that performance was and we’re very, very pleased.”
On Nashville:
“When you look at Nashville, I think they’re going to go on and have a very strong year. When you look at the game and the first half, it was a tactical battle at times. For us to be able to go and get a win like that, it’s very encouraging. But, it’s one win. We have a really tough game coming up next Saturday, so we’ll keep the usual focus and be ready for that.”
On preparations:
“It was difficult. It’s always a challenge because you look and you’re trying to double guess personnel, double guess formations, but again when you look at the growth of the USL and the way that there are another six or seven teams coming in next year and everyone who came in … You’re going to play against teams that have brand new franchises.”
On formation:
“For me, it’s about space. It’s not necessarily formation, it’s trying to understand spatial awareness. That’s something our players have really been able to take on board.”
Player Point of View: Niall McCabe
On his day:
“It’s been a good day! Ireland won their grand slam at Six Nations, and Paddy’s Day, and a good start for us today… It’s kind of the perfect day, if you will.”
On the goal:
“We played real nice combination play. Luke dummied two defenders and played a real nice ball down the side for Oscar, and I can’t credit Oscar enough; he really needed to smash the ball across, it’s the only way it could’ve gotten the pass to me. From two yards out, I’d hope I wouldn’t miss so thankfully I was able to get in a good position and help the team to put the goal away.”
On the tactics:
“We talked about just getting more room in behind. I felt like we were playing too much in front of them and it was easier to defend. We got runners in behind to try and stretch their back five and cause them more trouble … I felt like we did a really good job in the second half of doing that. They’re a good team. They didn’t let us play the way we had hoped to. As a first-year team, they came out all guns blazing so credit to them. They made it really difficult for us.”
On what separates his play:
“Just the will to win. I want to win… everything. Last year was great but we all want more. I think we’re just so competitive. Every day in training, it doesn’t matter if it’s 4v4 or 5v5 or whatever, everyone wants to win. So when we go out on a Saturday, it’s the mentality. We all want to improve and take the next step… It’s about showing up every day and doing the right things.”
Team News:
Midfielder Brian Ownby missed out on today’s match due to illness.
LouCity 2 : 0 Nashville SC
Saturday, March 17, 2018
Slugger Field – Louisville, KY
Scoring Summary:
LOU – Luke Spencer 56’ (Niall McCabe)
LOU – Niall McCabe 67’ (Oscar Jimenez)
Starting XI (3-4-3): Greg Ranjitsingh (GK); Paco Craig, Sean Totsch, Pat McMahon; Shaun Francis, Paolo DelPiccolo, Kyle Smith, Oscar Jimenez; Niall McCabe (Magnus Rasmussen 87’), Luke Spencer, George Davis IV (Richard Ballard 76’)
Bench: Tim Dobrowolski, Cameron Lancaster, Ilija Ilic, Alexis Souahy, Devon Williams
