What to Watch for with LouCity vs. Charleston Battery

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USL Louisville City FC

What to Watch for with LouCity vs. Charleston Battery

August 16, 2024 - United Soccer League Championship (USL)
Louisville City FC News Release


Louisville City FC lineup
Louisville City FC lineup
(Louisville City FC, Credit: Connor Cunningham)

Two clubs running away from the rest of the league will meet at 8 p.m. Saturday inside Lynn Family Stadium for the USL Championship's highlight regular season game of the year.

LouCity hosts the Charleston Battery on "Fill the Fam" night, the annual effort to sell out the Butchertown neighborhood fortress. It's a theme fit for the occasion given both sides have won four of their last five, are separated by a point atop the league table, and will make this a rematch of the 2023 Eastern Conference Final.

LouCity (16-4-2, 50 points) is looking to turn the tables having lost both that conference final and in regular season play at Charleston back in April. The boys in purple are amid a potentially historic campaign, chasing the club's first Players' Shield awarded to the Championship's No. 1 team at the end of the regular season.

Charleston (14-3-7, 49 points) continues to excel since the arrival of coach Ben Pirmann. The Battery, who missed the playoffs in 2022, immediately improved under their new manager last season and have developed into a consistent challenger for LouCity at the top of the standings.

New Mexico United and their 42 points are the third-best mark across the league into the 34-game season's home stretch.

LouCity could encroach upon its Lynn Family Stadium record crowd of 14,673 this Saturday. More than 12,000 tickets are already out for this one, and the forecast calls for sun and a high temperature in the low 80s.

Gates open at 6:30 p.m., when the first 2,000 in will receive a free City T-shirt. Lynn Family Stadium's popular $2 pregame happy hour will feature beer, Pepsi products and water, plus you can meet the stars of Racing Louisville FC in the BlueOval SK Fan Zone up until kickoff.

After the final whistle, LouCity's players will sign autographs near the Modelo Bar on the North Concourse.

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

Sam Gleadle (questionable)

Jorge Gonzalez (out)

Carlos Moguel Jr. (out)

Brian Ownby (out)

Story lines...

Counting crowds: Saturday's game is likely to be historic in the stands for LouCity, which drew its all-time record crowd of 14,673 for the inaugural Fill the Fam game back on August 13, 2022, against the Tampa Bay Rowdies. The rest of City's top crowds are: 14,456 (vs. Swope Park Rangers in the 2017 USL Championship Final); 13,812 (vs. FC Cincinnati in August of 2017); 13,248 (vs. Indy Eleven in 2023's Fill the Fam game); and 12,188 (vs. Swope Park in October of 2019).

A tough stretch: Two weekends ago, LouCity traveled to defeat Western Conference-leading New Mexico United, 1-0. The boys in purple made another statement last Saturday in a back-and-forth victory over Sacramento Republic FC, the West's No. 2 team. After leading 2-0 and trailing 3-2, City scored in stoppage time to set up this 1-2 battle with Charleston, continuing the most difficult portion of its 2024 schedule.

The Fortress: Lynn Family Stadium has been just that for LouCity this season. The boys in purple are 10-1-0 on their home ground with a goal differential of +24 - and that's with an attendance average hovering around 10,000. The City-Charleston atmosphere figures to reach a new level off a dramatic finish to last Saturday's win over Sacramento.

Strike force: The USL Championship's two top scorers will likely share the pitch Saturday as Charleston's Nick Markanich (21 goals) and LouCity's Wilson Harris (14) goals lead their respective sides. Markanich is within reach of former City star Cameron Lancaster's single-season record of 25 goals set back in 2018, while Harris scored twice in the Sacramento win to sit one off his career-high.

Adding firepower: Harris has a new partner at center forward as of this week with LouCity completing the high-profile transfer of Phillip Goodrum from FC Tulsa. Goodrum, who signed a multi-year City contract, was an All-League First Teamer two seasons ago when bagging 21 goals for Memphis 901 FC. He went on to lead Tulsa in scoring last year, too.

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. Phoenix tallied 78 points (2.29 per game) and scored 89 goals (2.62 per game). After the Sacramento win, City is pacing at 2.27 points and 2.59 goals per game.

Rookie rolling: Elizabethtown, Kentucky, native Jansen Wilson added to a breakout first season in purple last Saturday with his fifth goal of the year. Sacramento had stormed back to lead, netting three goals in eight minutes, before Wilson rocketed a shot into the top of the net to once again equalize for City. The winger has scored in back-to-back games, also delivering the game-winner two weeks ago in New Mexico.

Big addition: All-League First Team midfielder Taylor Davila has lived up to the hype since his offseason move to Louisville. Against Sacramento, he knocked in his fourth goal of the season to go with four assists. Davila also ranks among the league's best chance creators having tallied 47 of them. Only Charleston's Aaron Molloy (65) and San Antonio FC's Jorge Hernandez (59) have created more.

Perez on the pitch: LouCity welcomed back Adrien Perez against Sacramento, seeing the forward log his first league minutes since leaving a June 8 game with an injury. Perez, who also subbed on in city's July 30 international friendly with Eintracht Frankfurt, continues to rank fourth in the USL Championship with five assists he tallied before missing time.

Check out the Louisville City FC Statistics




Images from this story

Louisville City FC lineup
Louisville City FC lineup
(Connor Cunningham)		   

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