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USL Louisville City FC

What to Watch for with LouCity at Hartford Athletic

August 23, 2024 - United Soccer League Championship (USL)
Louisville City FC News Release


Louisville City FC defender Arturo Ordóñez
Louisville City FC defender Arturo Ordóñez
(Louisville City FC, Credit: Connor Cunningham)

Louisville City FC emerged from the USL Championship's toughest three-game stretch possible with a trio of wins. From here, it will be on the boys in purple to not let up.

LouCity travels to play the Hartford Athletic on Saturday following a streak of victories over New Mexico United (first place, Western Conference), Sacramento Republic FC (second place, West) and the Charleston Battery (second place, Eastern Conference).

The run positioned City four points clear atop the league as the campaign's stretch run begins. Now, a club that has won two USL Championship titles and four Eastern Conference crowns is in play for its first Players' Shield awarded to the club with the best regular season record.

Kickoff at Hartford's Trinity Health Stadium is set for 7 p.m. in a meeting of clubs at opposite ends of the standings.

LouCity (17-4-2, 53 points) has won five straight games overall. The boys in purple also hold a pair of games in hand on their closest pursuer, Charleston, with the league's top playoff seed guaranteeing home field advantage throughout the playoffs.

Hartford (7-12-4, 25 points) is 11th of 12 in the East, though the Athletic did register an unlikely victory last time out. A 2-1 win over Las Vegas Lights FC snapped Vegas' 11-game unbeaten streak.

Saturday will mark the return game of a 6-0 LouCity triumph over Hartford back on April 27 at Lynn Family Stadium.

Follow along

- The game will air live locally on WBKI/The CW and ESPN Louisville's AM 680/FM 105.7.

- If streaming, download the free WDRB+ app to watch the local feed in Louisville. ESPN+ or Golazo Network also streams the home feed of all USL Championship games not selected for national TV.

- For Starting XI and in-game updates, follow @loucityfc on Twitter. Also, find the club at louisvillecityfc on Instagram and Louisville City FC on Facebook.

Player availability report

Wes Charpie (questionable)

Sam Gleadle (out)

Jorge Gonzalez (out)

Carlos Moguel Jr. (out)

Brian Ownby (out)

Sean Totsch (out)

Story lines...

Record pace: LouCity continues to rival the best marks in USL Championship history - both set by Phoenix Rising FC's 2019 team - for points and goals in a single season. Phoenix tallied 78 points (2.29 per game) and scored 89 goals (2.62 per game). After the Charleston win, City is pacing at 2.3 points and 2.6 goals per game.

Away days: LouCity is on its way to setting another record - for home wins in a season, with the current mark 13 games - having gone 11-1-0 so far at Lynn Family Stadium with a +26 goal differential. The boys in purple are a bit less potent on the road, where they'll spend the next two weekends at Hartford before a trip to North Carolina FC. City's away record stands at 6-3-2 with a +5 differential.

Spreading scoring: Having arrived days prior on a transfer from FC Tulsa, Phillip Goodrum scored against Charleston in his LouCity debut to become the team's 15th different player with a goal in 2024. City boasts the USL Championship's top attack with 60 goals. Charleston has netted 51 shots, and the Tampa Bay Rowdies are third on the list at 39 goals.

Defense delivers: Only a late, deflected goal put Charleston on the board last Saturday as LouCity shut down a potent Battery attack. Charleston entered Saturday having netted multiple goals in eight straight games dating back to a scoreless June 22 draw at Phoenix. The Battery finished with 0.72 expected goals, according to Stats Perform.

Filling the stands: A crowd of 13,526 for LouCity-Charleston was the largest to see a USL Championship game this season and fourth-largest in club history. City's "Fill the Fam" attendance also pushed Louisville's average on the season to a league-leading 10,202.

Fitting in: Two of LouCity's three goals against Charleston were scored by players who transferred into the squad midseason, looking to become part of a squad that wins some silverware. Aiden McFadden (formerly of Atlanta United) headed down the opener in the first half before the latest arrival, Goodrum, capped City's scoring late.

The hot hand: Jansen Wilson got behind the defense for what wound up the game-winning goal in the 82nd minute. It was the third straight game the rookie out of Elizabethtown, Kentucky, hit the back of the net. Should Wilson score against Hartford, he'd equal Wilson Harris' scoring streak of four consecutive games that opened the 2024 season.

Perez's persistence: After recovering from a groin injury suffered mid-June, forward Adrien Perez has returned to log minutes off the bench in LouCity's last two games. Perez played the pass that set up Goodrum's goal against Charleston, upping his season total for assists to a team-leading six - despite missing more than a month's worth of games.

In the fold: Along with three goals against Charleston, the Lynn Family Stadium crowd roared just before the opening whistle when it was revealed that local superstar artist Jack Harlow has joined the club's ownership group. Harlow, a fixture at games this season, played locally at Atherton High School and maintains a rooting interest in England's Chelsea.

Check out the Louisville City FC Statistics




Images from this story

Louisville City FC defender Arturo Ordóñez
Louisville City FC defender Arturo Ordóñez
(Connor Cunningham)		   

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