Sports stats



USL Louisville City FC

Flat Start Dooms LouCity in Streak-Snapping Loss to Birmingham

August 19, 2023 - United Soccer League Championship (USL)
Louisville City FC News Release


Louisville City FC saw its momentum halted Saturday in a 2-0 defeat at Birmingham Legion FC that bucked a number of positive recent trends for the boys in purple.

It had been five games - since a July 22 defeat in its first meeting with Birmingham - that LouCity lost. City also didn't trail during its unbeaten streak, nor did the squad concede a first half goal.

That all went out the window in just the fifth minute at Protective Stadium in Alabama, where Enzo Martinez effectively put LouCity away with an early goal.

"Nowhere near good enough on the night - not even close," is how coach Danny Cruz termed the outcome. "Set piece defending: We've been talking about it since Birmingham. We'll have to go back and look at the film. Too many guys (were) walking around late. Too many guys (were) not switched on. I didn't think the mentality was anywhere near where it needed to be.

"I'm really frustrated to get that result here at home on a beautiful night in front of a great crowd."

LouCity's multiple set piece defeat to Birmingham marked a third straight defeat. Since then, the boys in purple haven't lost - but all draws aren't created equally. Rio Grande Valley twice rallied from losing positions Saturday to take points off the boys in purple.

RGV's Juan Galindrez delivered the 80th-minute equalizer, tapping in a ball at the back post off a pin-balling corner kick.

"It was a little bit frustrating being in the lead and giving up a set piece," said defender Manny Perez. "I personally raised my hand for losing my man. I've got to do better on that. It's something we talked about, obviously, against Birmingham. We have to really lock in and work hard in training so it won't happen again.

"...It does feel like a defeat, even though we tied. But that's just the culture here. You always want to win."

LouCity kept up some familiar trends Saturday, shutting out RGV through the opening 45 minutes. It marked City's 17th shutout first half in 24 games this season, best in the USL Championship.

The boys in purple paired that with Dylan Mares' bending 42nd-minute goal from the right side. Perez set it up with a strong run from the midfield, shifting by a pair of defenders before slipping a ball through to Mares.

Rio Grande Valley leveled the score for a first time in the 50th minute as Juan Cabezas skied for a headed corner. The back and forth continued when LouCity made the most of a second chance, with Wynder hammering in a rebounded shot off the post by Amadou Dia.

"We came out, we scored," Wynder said, "but we talked about not conceding on set pieces before the game and we end up doing that, so we've got to do better in that area."

LouCity played Saturday for the third time in nine days. Only once more the rest of the season will the boys in purple face such schedule congestion. From here, it's mostly a week-to-week run up to the USL Championship Playoffs beginning in mid-October.

City gets its rematch with Birmingham - and a chance to better set piece defending - with a 5:30 p.m. ET kickoff next weekend in Alabama.

"We're looking forward to getting back to actually working on training in the areas we need to be better," Cruz said. "It's difficult to do with three games in a week. And when you look at the course of the last seven, eight weeks we've had 11 or 12 games. It's been a heavy load on the players, but this is the time we need to step up."

Game Summary: Louisville City FC vs. Rio Grande Valley FC

Date: August 12, 2023

Venue: Lynn Family Stadium

Kickoff: 8 p.m. ET

Weather: 78 degrees, partly cloudy

Attendance: 10,678

Scoring

Louisville City FC (1, 1, 2)

Rio Grande Valley FC (0, 2, 2)

Goals

Louisville City FC:

42' Dylan Mares (Manny Perez)

72' Elijah Wynder

Rio Grande Valley FC:

50' Juan Cabezas (Wilmer Cabrera)

80' Juan Galindrez

Lineups

Louisville City FC: 28 - Oliver Semmle, 32 - Kyle Adams, 6 - Wes Charpie, 4 - Sean Totsch, 19 - Oscar Jimenez (63' 13 - Amadou Dia), 15 - Manny Perez (78' 7 - Ray Serrano), 12 - Tyler Gibson, 5 - Rasmus Thellufsen (63' 8 - Carlos Moguel Jr.), 22 - Dylan Mares (63' 90 - Maarten Pouwels), 23 - Elijah Wynder, 17 - Cameron Lancaster (81' 14 - Wilson Harris)

Subs not used: 18 - Danny Faundez, 11 - Niall McCabe

Honorary captain: 8 - Titas Verhey

Head coach: Danny Cruz

Rio Grande Valley FC: 1 - Tyler Deric, 16 - Robert Coronado (76' 7 - Jose Torres), 4 - Erik Pimentel, 3 - Wahab Ackwei, 2 - Jonathan Ricketts, 5 - Juan Cabezas, 8 - Taylor Davila (90'+4 15 - Frank Nodarse), 13 - Wilmber Andres Cabrera (90'+4 17 - Ian Cerro), 10 - Christian Pinzon, 12 - Ricky Ruiz (76' 20 - Tomas Ritondale), 23 - Christiano Francois (76' 11 - Juan Galindrez)

Subs not used: 21 - Carlos Merancio, 19 - Eric Kinzer

Head coach: Wilmer Cabrera

Stats Summary: Louisville City FC / Rio Grande Valley FC

Shots: 16 / 13

Shots on Goal: 6 / 5

Possession: 46.1% / 53.9%

Fouls: 15 / 10

Offside: 3 / 2

Corner Kicks: 4 / 6

Discipline Summary

Louisville City FC:

29' Manny Perez (yellow)

58' Dylan Mares (yellow)

Rio Grande Valley FC:

90'+7 Wahab Ackwei (red)

Referee: Elton Garcia

Check out the Louisville City FC Statistics

• Discuss this story on the United Soccer League Championship message board...

United Soccer League Championship Stories from August 19, 2023


The opinions expressed in this release are those of the organization issuing it, and do not necessarily reflect the thoughts or opinions of OurSports Central or its staff.

OurSports Central