USL Louisville City FC

LouCity Bounces Back into First Place with Win over OKC Energy

Published on July 14, 2021 under United Soccer League Championship (USL)
Louisville City FC News Release


Louisville City FC restored order Wednesday night, rolling to a 3-1 victory over visiting OKC Energy FC to take its place back atop the USL Championship's Central Division standings.

Defender Wes Charpie netted a 14th-minute header, Cameron Lancaster made the most of a 41st-minute rebound, and Corben Bone capped scoring with a hammered 55th-minute shot at Lynn Family Stadium.

OKC Energy only once silenced the weeknight crowd of 10,032 when Villyan Bijev snuck a 61st-minute shot into the LouCity goal. But the visitors didn't mount any more of a rally from there.

As a result, the boys in purple improved to 7-3-2 on the season and moved a point clear of Birmingham Legion FC atop the Central Division standings with what was a bounce-back effort. Over the weekend, LouCity dropped a 3-2 decision at FC Tulsa - their first defeat in six games.

Wednesday's victory was never much in doubt on a night when LouCity was solid from the opening whistle. Having conceded eight goals in its last three games - seven in the first half - the boys in purple this time limited OKC Energy to a single shot in target before the break.

Before the game went final, the club also celebrated the debut of local 16-year-old Josh Wynder, a defender who subbed on in the 86th minutes to mark his first professional minutes since signing last month out of LouCity's youth academy.

Coach Danny Cruz's lineup consisted of five changes from the FC Tulsa loss with this the squad's second of three games in eight days. A number of standout performances will make selection difficult heading into Saturday's 7:30 p.m. home game against Atlanta United 2.

Gomez had a role in all three LouCity goals, the first a corner delivered straight to Charpie and the second another corner that Lancaster cleaned up for his team-leading seventh goal of the season. Gomez was credited with an assist when a swiftly delivered pass landed at Bone's feet near the top of the box; the veteran midfielder punched a shot right into the net from there.

As LouCity appeared to get over some defensive woes, the attack kept clicking with 20 goals over the last seven games. In a tight points battle, goal differential may factor, and the boys in purple are +10 in that category, eight better than any Central Division rivals.

Game Summary: Louisville City FC vs. OKC Energy FC

Venue: Lynn Family Stadium

Kickoff: 7:30 p.m.

Weather: 85 degrees, partly sunny

Man of the Match: Jonathan Gomez

Attendance: 10,032

Scoring

Louisville City FC (2, 1, 3)

OKC Energy FC (0, 1, 1)

Goals

Louisville City FC:

14' Charpie (assisted by Gomez)

41' Lancaster

55' Bone (assisted by Gomez)

OKC Energy FC:

61' Bijev (assisted by Chavez)

Stats Summary: Louisville City FC / OKC Energy FC

Shots: 15 / 11

Shots on Goal: 7 / 4

Fouls: 13 / 11

Offside: 0 / 3

Corner Kicks: 7 / 5

Saves: 4 / 4

Lineups

Louisville City FC: 1 - Chris Hubbard, 15 - Pat McHahon, 6 - Wasley Charpie (63' 3 - Alexis Souahy), 4 - Sean Totsch, 13 - Corben Bone, 42 - Jonathan Gomez, 10 - Brian Ownby (74' 22 - George Davis IV), 12 - Tyler Gibson, 11 - Niall McCabe, 20 - James McLaughlin (86' 66 - Joshua Wynder), 17 - Cameron Lancaster (74' 21 - Kyle Greig)

Subs not used: 24 - Parker Siegfried, 29 - Antoine Hoppenot, 36 - Paolo DelPiccolo

OKC Energy FC: 35 - Kyle Ihn, 20 - Connor Donovan, 3 - Robert Coronado (11' 5 - Samuel Rogers), 22 - Zachary Ellis-Hayden (53' 17 - Jonathan Brown), 4 - Mitchell Osmond, 8 - Hiroki Kurimoto, 14 - Charlie Ward, 13 - Aidan Daniels (58' 9 - Jamie Chavez), 10 - Arun Basuljevic (45' 18 - Tucker Stephenson), 11 - Frank Lopez, 21 - Villyan Bijev

Subs not used: 23 - Sam Howard, 6 - Brad Dunwell, 19 - Muengnenshime Goshit

Discipline Summary

OKC Energy: Donovan (yellow) 13'

Louisville City: McMahon (yellow) 19'

Louisville City: Gomez (yellow) 46'

OKC Energy: Ward (yellow) 57'

Louisville City: Charpie (yellow) 62'

Louisville City: DelPiccolo (yellow) 78'

Referee: Thomas Snyder

Assistant Referees: Tom Felice & Mike Nickerson

Fourth Official: Chris Schurfranz

Check out the Louisville City FC Statistics

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United Soccer League Championship Stories from July 14, 2021


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