Amadou Dia came off the bench to score deep into second half stoppage time Saturday, earning Louisville City FC a 1-1 draw with host Sacramento Republic FC at Heart Health Park in California.
Dia’s goal — which hit the back of the net as the clock showed 97 minutes and 59 seconds played — went down as the latest regular season goal so far in LouCity’s 11 seasons. It also preserved the club’s unbeaten start five games into the 2025 campaign.
City rallied back to take a point away from its west coast trip after Sacramento’s Cristian Parano made the most of a rare gaffe at the back by the boys in purple to net the 69th-minute opener.
“Overall, I was really, really happy with the bite — the passion that the group played with,” head coach Danny Cruz said. “I thought the mentality was there from start to finish — some really, really good moments. But we needed to be better in the final third.
“…Our final pass wasn’t where it needed to be and not at the standard that we have. That was a little bit frustrating. And then to concede in the way that we do when it’s completely unnecessary … obviously, it’s a mistake that leads to the goal, but I didn’t feel that we deserved to lose the game.”
Saturday’s result did slide Louisville (3-0-2, 11 points) to second place on the USL Championship’s Eastern Conference table, below Loudoun United FC. But the boys in purple remain one of only two clubs left across the league without a loss now a month into the season.
LouCity will leave Sacramento on a five-game unbeaten streak to start a season for the fifth time following other such starts in 2015, 2017, 2018 and 2022.
In addition to Dia’s heroics, veteran LouCity defender Sean Totsch made history Saturday when becoming the USL Championship’s all-time leader in minutes played early in the second half, passing recently retired forward Kenardo Forbes.
“It’s a lot of time, a lot of growth in the league from the early days back in 2015 when I first started,” Totsch said. “I started with going to an open tryout in Buffalo, New York, to get my first contract … To see all the growth and to be able to here front row seeing all of it has just been really, really cool.”
All of Saturday’s scoring followed Totsch’s big moment, starting when Sacramento’s pressure forced LouCity goalkeeper Damian Las into a heavy touch outside the box. City turned over possession and allowed Republic FC to move ahead on a goal from distance.
From there, Cruz made four substitutions with the aim of finding an equalizer. After pushing numbers forward, his side eventually found its goal by means of a chaotic late sequence. After Niall McCabe floated a ball into the box, Dia connected with goalkeeper Danny Vitiello’s punched clearance, heading it into the corner of the net.
“Basically, we were just trying to pile it on, trying to create a chance, and put the ball in the box as much as possible,” said Dia. “Niall put in a great ball … I think it was Josh (Jones) that challenged and I just put my head in there hoping for the best and (the defender) kicked it off my head and it went top bins.”
Dia’s shot hit the back of the net four seconds later than former teammate Oscar Jimenez back on August 26, 2023. Jimenez won it for LouCity over Oakland Roots SC with the clock showing 97:55 in what was previously the club’s latest regular season goal.
“We’ll always have a never-say-die attitude on this team, for this club,” said Dia, the 31-year-old wingback in his fourth LouCity season. “But we don’t want that to be our main motto. We want to try to finish games out early … and definitely not drop two points. That’s kind of how we feel that we dropped two points against a very good team … Given the circumstances and the late goal, we’ll take it.”
LouCity now heads into a week off, with its next fixture set for Tuesday, April 15, in the 2025 Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup. City hosts Loudoun United FC — a USL Championship foe the boys in purple defeated last month in their home opener — at 7 p.m. from Lynn Family Stadium. Fans can visit LouCity.com/OpenCup for tickets and more information.
Game Summary: Sacramento Republic FC vs. Louisville City FC
Date: April 5, 2025
Venue: Heart Health Park
Kickoff: 10 p.m. ET
Weather: 72 degrees, sunny
Scoring
Sacramento Republic FC (0, 1, 1)
Louisville City FC (0, 1, 1)
Goals
Sacramento Republic FC:
69’ Cristian Parano
Louisville City FC:
90’+8 Amadou Dia
Lineups
Sacramento Republic FC: 1 – Danny Vitiello (c); 22 – Michelle Benítez, 6 – Freddy Kleemann, 5 – Jared Timmer (46’ 55 – Chibuike Ukaegbu), 2 – Jack Gurr (84’ 23 – Aaron Edwards), 96 – Luis Rodrigues, 20 – Blake Willey, 17 – Dominik Wanner (46’ 3 – Ryan Spaulding), 11 – Russell Cicerone, 10 – Cristian Parano (81’ 8 – Rodrigo López), 24 – Lewis Jamieson (66’ 9 – Sebastián Herrera)
Subs not used: 99 – Jared Mazzola; 7 – Trevor Amann, 21 – Rayan Djédjé, 43 – Justin Portillo
Head coach: Neill Collins
Louisville City FC: 1 – Damian Las; 15 – Manny Perez, 32 – Kyle Adams (c), 5 – Arturo Ordóñez (90’ 24 – Josh Jones), 4 – Sean Totsch, 2 – Aiden McFadden (70’ 13 – Amadou Dia), 27 – Evan Davila (75’ 11 – Niall McCabe), 17 – Taylor Davila, 25 – Jansen Wilson (75’ 16 – Adrien Perez), 7 – Ray Serrano, 9 – Phillip Goodrum (70’ 23 – Sam Gleadle)
Subs not used: 12 – Danny Faundez; 8 – Carlos Moguel Jr., 83 – Brandon Dayes
Head coach: Danny Cruz
Stats Summary: Sacramento Republic FC / Louisville City FC
Shots: 8 / 9
Shots on Goal: 4 / 4
Expected goals: 0.37 / 0.75
Possession: 49.1% / 50.9%
Fouls: 9 / 14
Offside: 1 / 3
Corner Kicks: 5 / 3
Discipline Summary
Louisville City FC:
86’ Kyle Adams (yellow)
Referee: Mathew Corrigan
