By Chris Mattingly
In front of 13,248 fans — the largest crowd at Lynn Family Stadium so far this season — Louisville City FC proved its cupboard is far from empty.
The boys in purple showed renewed confidence Saturday with a 2-0 win over rival Indy Eleven, snapping a three-game USL Championship losing streak in the process.
“We said last week that we’re going to draw a line in the sand,” said coach Danny Cruz. “We cannot change what was, but we can change how we finish the rest of the season. So the messaging to the group was, the line in the sand is now. Who do we want to be? Do we want to be who we say we are, or do we want to roll over?”
Saturday’s win was the first contest since a June 17 draw at Phoenix Rising FC that LouCity scored multiple games in a win. Showing a new 3-4-3 formation, City also held Indy Eleven without a shot on target.
The victory came thanks to a mix of LouCity’s youth ranks, a recent roster addition, and the club’s old guard. It’s a combination Cruz hopes carries the boys in purple back toward the top of the Eastern Conference table, where they set out to be at the start of the year.
Twenty-year-old LouCity Academy product Elijah Wynder netted the opening goal, and Kyle Adams — acquired via a transfer from San Diego Loyal — excelled in the back three.
“I thought he was excellent tonight,” Cruz said of Adams. “He’s the player that we thought he would be. I made it clear we have been looking, but we wanted to make sure that we found the right guy, and I thought tonight was a great start for him.
“He was excellent in the shape. He allowed us to do some things we have been wanting to do, and he should be really proud of that performance.”
As for those LouCity veterans, Oscar Jimenez and Cameron Lancaster both contributed. Jimenez created both goals to up his assist total to 34, one away from tying Brian Ownby for most in club history. After setting up Wynder in the first half, Jimenez paved the way for Lancaster on a second half corner kick. Ownby also played a majority of the match after battling injuries throughout the summer.
Wynder said, simply, that “we know we have the right players” to still make this a special season. He’s one of the 20-plus who returned from last year’s Eastern Conference championship-winning squad.
“We were putting a lot of pressure on ourselves,” Wynder added of the recent losing streak. The boys in purple decided Saturday was the time to “just play free, and it paid off.”
“I think when you look at the fight from the group tonight,” Cruz added, “everybody is on board everybody is collective from myself to the players, and I could not have been prouder of how they fought.”
It could mark the start of a strong run to the playoffs for LouCity, which has 13 games left to improve its postseason seeding. City will look to continue this wave of momentum on Friday when kicking off away to FC Tulsa at 9 p.m. ET.
