Louisville City FC coach Danny Cruz described the run up to last weekend’s win over Indy Eleven as a “line in the sand” moment.
“Who do we want to be?” Cruz asked his players. “Do we want to be who we say we are, or do we want to roll over?”
The boys in purple answered with a 2-0 victory over their rivals to snap a three-game losing streak. Their next chance at taking a step forward comes Friday against FC Tulsa. Kickoff is set for 9 p.m. ET at ONEOK Field.
LouCity (9-7-5, 32 points) entered the year off a record-setting 2022 campaign and returned most every key piece from that squad. Results largely haven’t matched expectations, but thanks to a tight table City’s far from out of the USL Championship’s Eastern Conference race.
With the Indy win, the boys in purple jumped to fourth place, nine points from first. They also hold a pair of games in hand over East-leading Pittsburgh Riverhounds SC.
Friday’s foe FC Tulsa (7-8-7, 28 points) recently climbed back into a playoff position. Tulsa sits seventh in the Eastern Conference having won five straight games entering last weekend, when the Tampa Bay Rowdies scored a trio of second half goals to win 3-0.
LouCity and FC Tulsa will on Friday play a return game from a May 24 meeting at Lynn Family Stadium. Tulsa rallied from a goal down to win it late, 2-1, in star striker Phillip Goodrum’s first game after a move from Memphis 901 FC.
Follow along
• The game will air live locally on WBKI/The CW and ESPN Louisville’s 680/105.7.
• If streaming, download the free WDRB Now app to watch the local feed in Louisville. ESPN+ also streams the home feed of all USL Championship games not selected for national TV.
• For Starting XI and in-game updates, follow @loucityfc on Twitter. Also find the club at louisvillecityfc on Instagram and Louisville City FC on Facebook.
Player availability report
Owen Damm (out)
Jorge Gonzalez (out)
Kyle Morton (out)
Jordan Scarlett (out)
Story lines…
Adams’ impact: LouCity’s fortunes changed last weekend much thanks to defender Kyle Adams, a transfer from San Diego Loyal. Adams started against Indy Eleven days after joining City and allowed Cruz to go with a three-back formation, a change of pace from his regular 4-4-3. The 26-year-old Adams won six of his eight aerial duels and tied for the team lead in clearances with three.
A new shape: Adams, Wes Charpie and Sean Totsch lining up from left to right defensively for LouCity allowed Amadou Dia (left) and Oscar Jimenez (right) to push up as wing backs. Working in the new formation, LouCity registered just its fourth multi-goal game of the season and first since June 17. The boys in purple also allowed Indy to attempt only five shots, none of them on target.
Shutout specialist: Oliver Semmle didn’t have much to do against Indy, a credit to LouCity’s defense. In the end, the boys in purple kept their 10th clean sheet of the season, all with Semmle in goal. That ties Semmle for the USL Championship’s rookie record set in 2014 by former Rochester Rhinos goalkeeper John McCarthy, now with Los Angeles FC in Major League Soccer. The league’s overall single-season shutout record is 15.
Like old times: The veteran defender Jimenez — LouCity’s longtime assist leader until surpassed this season by teammate Brian Ownby — excelled in Cruz’s new formation. Jimenez zipped a grounded cross to Elijah Wynder for the Indy game’s opening goal before serving up a second half corner kick to Cameron Lancaster. They were assist Nos. 33 and 34 for Jimenez, situating him one behind Ownby’s club-record total.
Wynder-ful moment: LouCity Academy graduate Elijah Wynder, who last scored in the club’s 2022 Eastern Conference Final victory, found another major occasion for his first goal of 2023. Against Indy, Wynder and the boys in purple played to a season-high crowd of 13,248 on “Fill the Fam” night at Lynn Family Stadium. It marked the fourth-largest crowd in club history and second-largest at the Butchertown Neighborhood stadium opened in 2022.
Away record: LouCity has taken points from five of its 10 home games this season. Despite leading the league in attendance, the boys in purple have arguably been better away from Lynn Family Stadium. City is 3-2-5 on the road, seeing a six-game away unbeaten streak snapped last time the squad traveled July 19 to Detroit City FC.
Getting healthy: Whereas Cruz negotiated a transfer to boost his back line, LouCity will be counting on its established roster to continue pushing in the attack. Striker Wilson Harris returned from injury last Saturday as an 85th-minute substitute, marking his first minutes since July 9. That gives City three healthy center forwards with Lancaster and the 6-foot-7 Maarten Pouwels options in addition to Harris.
