LouCity Caps off Historic Regular Season with Dominant Win Over Hartford
USL Louisville City FC

LouCity Caps off Historic Regular Season with Dominant Win Over Hartford

Published on October 25, 2025 under United Soccer League Championship (USL)
Louisville City FC News Release


Louisville City FC's Phillip Goodrum
Louisville City FC's Phillip Goodrum
(Louisville City FC, Credit: Chris Carter)

Playoff time is here and Louisville City FC is riding high.

Behind Phillip Goodrum's first-half goal and a commanding defensive performance, Louisville cruised to a 1-0 victory over Hartford Athletic Saturday night at Lynn Family Stadium, building crucial momentum ahead of next week's playoff opener.

The emphatic tune-up triumph not only meant LouCity (22-1-7, 73 points) continued its roll of 16 league games unbeaten, but it sealed the USL Championship's all-time points per game record. Louisville ended the season with a 2.43 points per game total, surpassing the 2.38 set by Orlando City SC in 2012.

City's one loss across 30 matches makes it only the fourth club in league history to finish a season with a single defeat.

Now with the regular season officially behind it, the 2025 Players' Shield winners are focused on what lies ahead.

"We're excited about the chance to compete in a playoff match," said head coach Danny Cruz. "We're excited about coming back to work on Tuesday, pushing each other as we have all season and making sure we put a good performance together next week."

It'll open its playoff campaign at 7 p.m. next Saturday (Nov. 1) in the friendly confines of Lynn Family Stadium. Fans can secure their seats at the match and find more information at LouCity.com/playoffs.

The defense was the story of the match for LouCity, as it has been for the majority of 2025. Hartford, the third-highest scoring side in the Eastern Conference, was completely silenced by Louisville. The visitors managed precisely five shots, one of which found the target.

The contest's lone goal from Goodrum came toward the tail end of a relatively cagey opening period of play. The striker put home his 13th goal of the season in the 39th minute, tapping home the rebound after seeing an initial attempt denied by Hartford's keeper.

"I feel like we got better throughout the game," forward Phillip Goodrum said. "Defensively, just really collective, really together. Attacking-wise, created a lot, especially in that second half. We did not have the finishing touch. Pretty disappointing there not to get a second, third, fourth (goal) even because we had the opportunities, but that's soccer. Obviously, happy with the three points, but I feel like we built up well going into this playoff push."

It was the first time since July that Hartford was held to fewer than two shots on target. The club's only shot on target came from Michee Ngalina deep into second-half stoppage time. The loss denied Hartford a top-four finish in the East and a home playoff game.

Louisville has now kept a clean sheet in five straight games - a run of 552 minutes without conceding.

The playoffs are now looming, but for a LouCity team that has already achieved so much this year, little changes. With the fans set to be behind them the entire way, the boys in purple will aim to capture that elusive third star, something that has eluded the club since 2018.

"(It's) the same (mentality), honestly, for the last whatever eight, nine months: just take it day by day, every day we try to get better and just enjoy it really," said Kyle Adams. We love coming to work every day with each other. It's the best group of guys I've been with as a team."

Game Summary: Louisville City FC vs. Hartford Athletic

Date: October 25, 2025

Venue: Lynn Family Stadium

Kickoff: 7:30 p.m. ET

Weather: 55 degrees, cloudy

Attendance: 9,527

Scoring

Louisville City FC (1, 0, 1)

Hartford Athletic (0, 0, 0)

Goals

Louisville City FC:

39' Phillip Goodrum

Lineups

Louisville City FC: 1 - Damian Las; 13 - Amadou Dia (78' 3 - Jake Morris), 32 - Kyle Adams (c), 24 - Josh Jones (65' 15 - Manny Perez), 4 - Sean Totsch, 2 - Aiden McFadden, 17 - Taylor Davila, 31 - Kevon Lambert, 7 - Ray Serrano (86' 11 - Niall McCabe), 25 - Jansen Wilson, 9 - Phillip Goodrum (78' 10 - Brian Ownby)

Subs not used: 12 - Danny Faundez; 16 - Adrien Perez, 53 - Cameron Lancaster, 80 - Hayden Stamps, 83 - Brandon Dayes

Head Coach: Danny Cruz

Hartford Athletic: 13 - John Berner; 22 - TJ Presthus, 15 - Joseph Farrell (c), 30 - Adrián Diz, 19 - Emmanuel Samadia, 94 - Marlon Hairston (69' 17 - Jonathan Jiménez), 10 - Samuel Careaga, 2 - Sebastian Anderson (79' 16 - Jack Panayotou), 11 - Michee Ngalina, 8 - Junior Moreira (60' 23 - Owen Presthus), 71 - Kyle Edwards (60' 92 - Hadji Barry)

Subs not used: 77 - Antony Siaha; 6 - Beverly Makangila, 33 - Josh Belluz

Head Coach: Brendan Burke

Stats: Louisville City FC / Hartford Athletic

Shots: 22 / 5

Shots on Goal: 4 / 1

Expected goals: 2.45 / 0.25

Possession: 55.1% / 44.9%

Fouls: 8 / 10

Offside: 1 / 2

Corner Kicks: 15 / 2

Discipline Summary

Hartford Athletic:

43' Sebastian Anderson (yellow)

89' Jack Panayotou (yellow)

90'+4 Joseph Farrell (yellow)

Referee: Atahan Yaya

Check out the Louisville City FC Statistics

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Images from this story

Louisville City FC's Phillip Goodrum
Louisville City FC's Phillip Goodrum
(Chris Carter)		   



United Soccer League Championship Stories from October 25, 2025


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