It was an unusual away game for Louisville City FC on Saturday night as the club traveled to Saint Louis FC for an important mid-table bout. The lineup rightly featured some heavy rotation for LouCity with no fewer than four changes from the Wednesday’s win over Indy Eleven.
Here are some thoughts I took away from a 1-1 draw…
The Good
Scored when not playing well
While LouCity looked less than comfortable for a large part of the first half, the fact that the club could cut through a game that they were not the clear leaders in is a good sign. The goal came from the embers of a set piece chance that looked like it might have evaded the boys in purple. Sean Totsch rose above a collection of defenders to turn in an aerial cross and headed the ball the only place that Saint Louis FC goalkeeper Kyle Morton could not save it. The terrific service by Brian Ownby yielded him his first goal contribution of the season, too.
Set pieces are the most organized scoring chances that teams prepare for. What catches a lot of sides off guard is the moment of transition between a free kick and normal play. Some teams hesitate and either let follow up chances go to waste or get caught on a counter attack, while LouCity continued to press with its numbers and make the most out of the play.
Continuing to involve other players in scoring
Totsch became the fourth player in four games to score for the first time this season when he headed in the first goal of the game on Saturday night. As LouCity continues to spread around the goalscoring load, it’s earning more relief for the striking corps as well as creating more points for opposition to prepare.
While it can be a blessing to bring new weapons to the table, it still is incumbent on the attackers to earn their spot in the starting lineup. It begs the question: Who might we see at striker next weekend in Indianapolis with first place on the line?
Lundt playing well
Although he only recorded a pair of saves on the night, goalkeeper Ben Lundt was a sizable reason that LouCity returns home with something to show for this encounter with Saint Louis FC. The German shot-stopper stood his ground well, and the goal he conceded after a through ball yielded a one-on-one opportunity could hardly be counted against him.
This game continues a run of underrated performances for the FC Cincinnati loanee, capping off a month in which he only conceded three goals in 450 minutes and rose to the top of the league in clean sheets earned at four. Until an unforgivable error relegates him to the bench, the job looks like Lundt’s to lose.
The Bad
Lancaster dropping below radar
A venomous volley in the 10th minute was the high water mark for Nashville SC loanee Cameron Lancaster on Saturday. The striker only accumulated a handful of touches in the game and seemed to blend in for passages. It is not the first time that Lancaster has failed to leave his mark on games in his return to Louisville this season, either. He tends to have a feast or famine type performances, either having a terrific game or just sitting up top and not involving himself in build-up.
With forwards Jason Johnson and Luke Spencer waiting in the wings, plus the fact that coach John Hackworth has weapons such as Antoine Hoppenot or Brian Ownby that can also take up the attack, rotation in this role looks possible. But we also know Lancaster a one-of-a-kind goal scorer when he’s on.
Lost shape, concentration at times
Saint Louis FC came out with energy after an on-field protest moved proceedings back seven impactful minutes. The game was wide open and uncontrolled by both sides for most of the first half, which did not play into LouCity’s hands. While some teams thrive on those kinds of contests, it made LouCity uncomfortable. Possession was simply ceded at inopportune times by an inordinate amount of players in undesirable parts of the field.
As we learned in these teams’ first meeting, Saint Louis FC can do some serious damage on set pieces. There were a number of moments either as a result of fouls or corners that exposed the boys in purple a bit, namely a free kick and corner combination shortly after the quarter-hour mark in the game. In more moments than just the goal, LouCity defenders found themselves having to cover two players at once, and the home side took advantage of this.
Allowed game to get too open
Individual performances aside, LouCity simply did not get to play its game, and instead found itself having to react to Saint Louis FC. Too much space was allowed down the wings, in part to the amount of youth that Hackworth called upon. Having to rotate Oscar Jimenez and Pat McMahon from the midweek game meant that Akil Watts and Jonathan Gomez both earned their third starts of the season.
The Saint Louis FC goal came from a moment of transition in possession, with the defenders caught slightly unprepared and out of position. A large part of what built the swagger that LouCity has found in August is the move to a controlled, building of possession from the back to the front. Setting and resetting play utilizes the skill set of the players best and a shift from trying to get the ball into the attacking third as quick as possible to steady and measured play has allowed that to happen.
The USL Championship’s Group E has distinguished itself as the most competitive pod in the league, and all four teams maintain the mathematical possibility of winning it. With Indy Eleven idle this weekend, all teams have now played an equal amount of games, positioning LouCity just two points out of first place.
In Conclusion
Overall, Saturday’s result was a good one for an away game on a short turnaround. The performance is a little bit lacking from that we saw in the win against Indy on Wednesday, though. Hopefully that’s due to a busy week and not location away from Lynn Family Stadium, as LouCity still goes back to Fenton, Mo., once more in addition to two road fixtures with Indy to end the regular season.
If this game tells us anything, it’s that Saint Louis FC is capable of serving as spoiler if LouCity doesn’t not take care of business down the stretch.
