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USL Louisville City FC

LouCity Falls After Memphis 901 FC Registers Rare Multi-Goal Game

June 10, 2023 - United Soccer League Championship (USL)
Louisville City FC News Release


Louisville City FC's Amadou Dia on game day
Louisville City FC's Amadou Dia on game day
(Louisville City FC, Credit: EM Dash Photography)

Louisville City FC couldn't claw all the way back from a halftime deficit Saturday against one of the USL Championship's hottest teams, losing by a 3-1 score to Memphis 901 FC at Lynn Family Stadium.

LouCity (6-4-3, 21 points) created chances, out-shooting the visitors 13-3 over the final 45 minutes after making a pair of key substitutions at the break. But the boys in purple conceded multiple goals for just the second time in their last nine USL Championship games. Both of those exceptions marked defeats during an otherwise unbeaten stretch.

Memphis 901 FC (6-2-3, 21 points) as a result won its fifth straight game and remains undefeated in the league since March 18. Six games ago, 901 FC drew with City at home, taking the season series in the return game despite playing to a raucous Louisville crowd of 10,706.

"It's a group that's obviously really down right now, but I was extremely proud of how we started the second half," coach Danny Cruz said of his squad. "Ultimately, all we can do is keep our heads up and put ourselves in position to be prepared next week. But I'm obviously not happy with the result."

LouCity made four lineup changes Saturday plus adjusted its formation, starting with three defenders at the back. Memphis went at the shape as early as the fifth minute when goalkeeper Oliver Semmle came off his line and failed to clear the ball, resulting in a shot on target. Sustaining pressure, 901 FC had another look in the eighth minute. But City center back Wes Charpie slid in to block both opportunities.

LouCity settled in from there and appeared poised to enter the half level - at least until Memphis converted a stoppage-time goal. An attempted tackle on Laurent Kissiedou passed possession to Nighte Pickering, who thundered a shot into the back of the net.

"Some chances were unlucky, and they came at some bad times," said defender Sean Totsch. "Overall, I thought we didn't give up too much in the first half. We made the tackles when we needed to, and then the ball comes out to the guy kind of luckily in the box and they finish it right before halftime, which is frustrating."

LouCity returned to its usual four-at-the-back formation out of the half, also bringing on forwards Enoch Mushagalusa and Ray Serrano as substitutes. They nearly connected for goals twice, in the 47th minute when a cross to Serrano wasn't quite handled at an open back post and again in the 55th minute when Mushagalusa fed Serrano for a shot saved at the face of goal.

"I was really, really happy with the response at halftime," Cruz said. "We put them under it until their second goal. When you look at the chance creation in the second half, that was more like us. That was more our expectation. But we've got to finish our chances."

LouCity let in a second goal in the 69th minute after Kissiedou got in behind the defense and scored on a deflected chip shot over Semmle. On for only seconds as a substitute, Wilson Harris offered a response, scoring his team-leading fourth goal of the season thanks to an assist by LouCity Academy product Owen Damm.

But the visitors put the game away for good four minutes later as Rodrigo de Costa - a recent mover to Memphis in a trade from FC Tulsa - scored his first 901 FC goal on a feed from Pickering.

"Second half, if you talk about flow, energy and game state, I thought we did pretty well," Totsch said. "The guys' energy was good, and that's a big thing for us. If the intensity's there, then more times than not we're going to get the result."

LouCity will look to bounce back on the road next weekend, kicking off at 10:30 p.m. ET at traditional Western Conference power Phoenix Rising FC.

Game Summary: Louisville City FC vs. Memphis 901 FC

Date: June 10, 2023

Venue: Lynn Family Stadium

Kickoff: 8 p.m. ET

Weather: 82 degrees, clear

Attendance: 10,706

Scoring

Louisville City FC (0, 1, 1)

Memphis 901 FC (1, 2, 3)

Goals

Louisville City FC:

70' Wilson Harris (Owen Damm)

Memphis 901 FC:

47'+2 Nighte Pickering (Laurent Kissiedou)

69' Laurent Kissiedou (Rodrigo de Costa)

74' Rodrigo de Costa (Nighte Pickering)

Lineups

Louisville City FC: 28 - Oliver Semmle, 13 - Amadou Dia, 4 - Sean Totsch, 6 - Wes Charpie (84' 51 - Ramzi Qawasmy), 67 - Owen Damm (75' 19 - Oscar Jimenez), 12 - Tyler Gibson, 23 - Elijah Wynder, 22 - Dylan Mares (46' 77 - Enoch Mushagalusa), 5 - Rasmus Thellufsen (82' 36 - Paolo DelPiccolo), 90 - Maarten Pouwels (46' 7 - Ray Serrano), 17 - Cameron Lancaster (70' 14 - Wilson Harris)

Subs not used: 18 - Danny Faundez

Head coach: Danny Cruz

Memphis 901 FC: 1 - Drew Romig, 14 - Akeem O'Connor-Ward, 3 - Carson Vom Steeg (37' 8 - Lucas Turci), 16 - Graham Smith, 19 - Rece Buckmaster, 7 - Bruno Lapa (65' 4 - Emerson Hyndman), 6 - Aaron Molloy, 18 - Jeremy Kelly, 11 - Laurent Kissiedou (90'+1 77 - Dylan Borczak), 10 - Rodrigo de Costa (77' 24 - Rashawn Dally), 20 - Nighte Pickering

Subs not used: 26 - Aren Seeger, 35 - Nicholas Dyer

Head coach: Stephen Glass

Stats Summary: Louisville City FC / Memphis 901 FC

Shots: 14 / 8

Shots on Goal: 5 / 5

Possession: 54.3% / 45.7%

Fouls: 16 / 11

Offside: 4 / 6

Corner Kicks: 3 / 1

Discipline Summary

Louisville City FC:

17' Owen Damm (yellow)

55' Tyler Gibson (yellow)

36' Rasmus Thellufsen (yellow)

Memphis 901 FC:

60' Akeen Ward (yellow)

73' Bench (yellow)

Referee: Eric Tattersall

Check out the Louisville City FC Statistics




Images from this story

Louisville City FC's Amadou Dia on game day
Louisville City FC's Amadou Dia on game day
(EM Dash Photography)		   



United Soccer League Championship Stories from June 10, 2023


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