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USL Louisville City FC

Magnificent City Downs Bethlehem Steel FC to Remain Unbeaten

April 28, 2018 - United Soccer League Championship (USL)
Louisville City FC News Release


LOUISVILLE - Louisville City FC downed Bethlehem Steel FC, 3-1, in front of 7,876 at Slugger Field thanks to goals from Cameron Lancaster (2) and Ilija Ilic all inside the opening half hour of play.

For Lancaster, his two goals give him four total on the year and also take him into a tie for second place on the all-time LouCity scoring charts (16) with Chandler Hoffman. The goal is the first of the year for Ilic, while the assist is his second of the season.

HIGHLIGHTS: Louisville City FC 3-1 Bethlehem Steel FC

What Happened?

Dominating the opening minutes of play, LouCity pounced on early chances as forward Cameron Lancaster netted his 3rd goal of the season just 13 minutes in. As the visitors failed to clear a chance in their penalty area, Lancaster made sure to get a solid foot on what seemed a half chance and saw the ball fly past Steel FC 'keeper Jake McGuire to open the scoring.

Three minutes later, the "Boys in Purple" capitalized on another chance just outside the Steel FC 18-yard box. As solid buildup play came to fruition, midfielder Kyle Smith ended up dinking a perfectly-weighted pass over the defense to find forward Ilija Ilic. Swinging at it on the first time of asking, Ilic got enough on the effort to beat McGuire and double the advantage.

Before Bethlehem could catch their breath, LouCity added a third again through the feet of Lancaster. Ilic turned scorer to provider as he slipped in the forward, and a snapshot from the Englishman ricocheted off the far post and nestled in the back of the net.

The visitors would strike back just before halftime as midfielder Marcus Epps turned on a LouCity defender and found the far post, beating LouCity 'keeper Greg Ranjitsingh for the first time.

At the break, the hosts held a strong 3-1 advantage.

The second 45 minutes yielded significantly fewer chances for both sides, but the injection of midfielder Brian Ownby and forward Luke Spencer after the break gave the "Boys in Purple" the legs they needed to close out the match. Conceding just one goal, the team's defensive efforts were just impressive as their attacking output in the end.

The result sees the reigning champions stay atop the table (5W-0L-1D) with 16 points as the unbeaten streak is extended to six this season so far.

The Key Points:

- LouCity opened the scoring in the 13th minute on a Cameron Lancaster strike

- Minutes later, Ilija Ilic doubled the tally on an assist from Kyle Smith

- Lancaster added our third--his second--of the night in the 22nd minute to cap off the home side's goals

- Steel FC scored their only goal of the night off a Marcus Epps curler in the 44th minute

INTERVIEWS: James O'Connor, Paolo DelPiccolo, & Ilija Ilic

O'Connor's Takeaways:

On the team's performance in the first half versus the second half:

"Yeah, I think obviously great credit to the boys for winning the game. I think some of the definition this week was really, really good, I think really clinical. I think generally for how we played the week before if you look at the quality of the performance at Atlanta, I felt we were actually down on the quality of our performance compared to last week. We were just way more clinical this week."

On team tactics being up 3-0:

"No, we want to keep going. I think maybe subconsciously we started making, sort of held what we had a little bit rather than going out and keep doing what we were doing. As I said, there were some passages that we can be pleased with, but again there are a lot of passages that I'm frustrated with."

On Cameron Lancaster's performance over the last few games:

"He was very clinical tonight. He's someone who's got exceptional talent. I think there's also, for me, when you also look at Paolo (DelPiccolo), Paolo also had a really strong game tonight, showed really good leadership. I think there are individuals that are performing really well, and honestly deserve a chance higher up. I've been saying it for a while, I really hope that they do get that opportunity, that they get a chance whether it's in the MLS or whether it's a higher division in Europe because there are guys that we have that are more than capable of playing at a higher level."

Player Point of View - Cameron Lancaster:

On the first goal:

"I got in a little space in the box, I think it was Ilija that played me the ball. I took a quick snapshot and it took a deflection and then it sort of rolled kindly for me so I made sure I hit it low and on target and thankfully it went in the back of the net."

On the second goal:

"The second was the same sort of thing. All week in training, we've been focusing and honing in on hitting the target and hitting it low. That's what I did!"

On moving up the all-time scoring charts:

"It's always nice to be recognized individually but the main thing is the team. As long as the team is doing well, I'm happy."

On building forward momentum:

"We don't really want to look too far ahead. We'll take it game-by-game and we'll look forward to next weekend and try to get the result again."

Injury Report:

OUT - Richard Ballard (stress fracture)

OUT - Shaun Francis (hamstring)

Louisville City FC 3 : 1 Bethlehem Steel FC

Saturday, April 28, 2018

Slugger Field - Louisville, KY

62 degrees / sunny

Attendance: 7,876

Scoring Summary:

LOU - Cameron Lancaster 13'

LOU - Ilija Ilic (Kyle Smith) 16'

LOU - Cameron Lancaster (Ilija Ilic) 22'

BST - Marcus Epps 44'

Disciplinary Summary:

BST - Olivier Mbaizo 24'

LOU - Brian Ownby 73'

Starting XI (4-1-4-1): Greg Ranjitsingh (GK); Oscar Jimenez, Sean Totsch, Paco Craig (Magnus Rasmussen 27'), Alexis Souahy; Kyle Smith; Paolo DelPiccolo (c), Devon "Speedy" Williams, George Davis IV Ilija Ilic (Brian Ownby 59'); Cameron Lancaster (Luke Spencer 70')

Bench: Tim Dobrowolski, Chris Hubbard, Niall McCabe

Check out the Louisville City FC Statistics



United Soccer League Championship Stories from April 28, 2018


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