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USL Louisville City FC

LouCity Searching for Offense After Home Loss to Pittsburgh

July 12, 2023 - United Soccer League Championship (USL)
Louisville City FC News Release


Pittsburgh Riverhounds SC's Albert Dikwa in action
Pittsburgh Riverhounds SC's Albert Dikwa in action
(Louisville City FC, Credit: EM Dash Photography)

Louisville City FC saw its four-game unbeaten streak snapped Wednesday night by a Pittsburgh Riverhounds SC side that's among the hottest in the USL Championship.

The Riverhounds - who haven't lost since April 22, a span of 12 games and counting - got their game winner from leading scorer Albert Dikwa in a 1-0 victory at Lynn Family Stadium.

LouCity (8-5-5, 29 points) remained fourth on the Eastern Conference table as a result, while the visiting Riverhounds (9-2-8, 35 points) returned to first place.

"I thought we started the game really well. Second half, we came out flat," said coach Danny Cruz. "...All in all, honestly, not a very good performance from us. We need to make sure we go back to the drawing board, dissect it, and look at making sure we certainly continue to try to work on and fix the attack."

City's offense continued to sputter, generating a single shot on target. That, however, is more of the norm than an exception against Pittsburgh, which has conceded only 12 goals all season.

The Riverhounds received a major boost to their own offense with the return of Dikwa, who missed most of June with a collarbone injury and came on for limited minutes over the weekend as a sub. Dikwa got the start Wednesday and scored in the 68th minute - his 10th goal of the season - when he squared up a grounded Junior Etou cross at the face of goal.

"One thing we pride ourselves on is on box defending," said defender Sean Totsch. "The ball was rolled across our 6-yard box, and he was able to get it kind of uncontested. There was enough of us back there to deal with it."

LouCity goalkeeper Oliver Semmle did plenty to keep his side in it to that point, including a 38th-minute double save when he closed down a one-on-one Etou counter and kicked away Marc Ybarra's follow up. Semmle went on to tally a career-high five saves on the night in a Man of the Match performance.

The boys in purple had chances on either side of the half, starting in the 32nd minute when a Ray Serrano cross landed to Cameron Lancaster. He turned at the top of the 6-yard box but didn't make ideal contact. Back from injury to play as a substitute, Brian Ownby also managed to hit the cross bar in the game's waning seconds when Maarten Pouwels headed down a long ball to set him up.

LouCity rued two whistles it didn't receive as well: first when Lancaster went down in the box in the 43rd minute after being chopped down by a Pittsburgh defender and again after a 58th-minute Enoch Mushagalusa cross caromed off a Riverhounds player's extended arm in the box.

"I think we were a bit unfortunate again with calls," Cruz said. "We can't seem to get one to help in those moments. But all in all, not the result we wanted, not the performance we wanted, and we've got to make sure we get better."

"We were in position to score goals, and we either didn't finish the ball or got unlucky with some calls," Totsch added. "In some of the scenarios, guys would say you've got to get shots off. Maybe we get the shot off a half second second earlier rather than waiting on a call, because the calls aren't coming."

LouCity will look to get its attack firing Saturday in a low-pressure setting. The club hosts Mexico's Atlante FC in an international friendly kicking off at 8 p.m. inside Lynn Family Stadium. Visit LouCity.com/Atlante for tickets and more information on an evening that will double as a celebration of Hispanic culture.

Game Summary: Louisville City FC vs. Pittsburgh Riverhounds SC

Date: July 12, 2023

Venue: Lynn Family Stadium

Kickoff: 8 p.m. ET

Weather: 86 degrees, clear

Attendance: 8,882

Scoring

Louisville City FC (0, 0, 0)

Pittsburgh Riverhounds SC (0, 1, 1)

Goals

Pittsburgh Riverhounds SC:

68' Albert Dikwa (Junior Etou)

Lineups

Louisville City FC: 28 - Oliver Semmle, 13 - Amadou Dia, 6 - Wes Charpie, 4 - Sean Totsch, 15 - Manny Perez, 8 - Carlos Moguel Jr. (73' 22 - Dylan Mares), 11 - Niall McCabe (61' 12 - Tyler Gibson), 23 - Elijah Wynder (77' 5 - Rasmus Thellufsen), 77 - Enoch Mushagalusa (73' 90 - Maarten Pouwels), 7 - Ray Serrano (61' 10 - Brian Ownby), 17 - Cameron Lancaster

Subs not used: 18 - Danny Faundez, 19 - Oscar Jimenez

Head coach: Danny Cruz

Pittsburgh Riverhounds SC: 77 - Luis Zamudio, 28 - Ill Osumanu, 5 - Arturo Ordonez, 3 - Pat Hogan (64' 12 - Mike DeShields), 14 - Robbie Mertz (81' 19 - Edward Kizza), 23 - Marc Ybarra, 8 - Junior Etou (73' 16 - Burke Fahling), 2 - Danny Griffin, 4 - Dani Rovira, 7 - Langston Blackstock (64' 11 - Kenardo Forbes), 9 - Albert Dikwa (81' 20 - Trevor Zwetsloot)

Subs not used: 1 - Christian Garner, JC Obregón

Head coach: Bob Lilley

Stats Summary: Louisville City FC / Pittsburgh Riverhounds SC

Shots: 11 / 9

Shots on Goal: 1 / 6

Possession: 60.4% / 39.6%

Fouls: 7 / 17

Offside: 0 / 5

Corner Kicks: 3 / 2

Discipline Summary

Louisville City FC:

60' Carlos Moguel Jr. (yellow)

Pittsburgh Riverhounds SC:

51' Dani Rovira (yellow)

87' Pittsburgh bench (yellow)

Referee: Greg Dopka

Check out the Louisville City FC Statistics




Images from this story

Pittsburgh Riverhounds SC's Albert Dikwa in action
Pittsburgh Riverhounds SC's Albert Dikwa in action
(EM Dash Photography)		   



United Soccer League Championship Stories from July 12, 2023


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