By Andrew Bell
Louisville City FC maintained its unbeaten streak Saturday, drawing with the Charleston Battery 1-1 on the road.
Missing many key players to rotation, LouCity got off to a slow start, seeing Charleston pounce in the 32nd minute when dispossessed in its own half. Playing their third game in eight days, the boys in purple struggled to develop any momentum until second half substitutes Brian Ownby and Corben Bone combined with Enoch Mushagalusa to tie the game in the 73rd minute.
After dropping a defender on the right wing, Ownby passed the ball to Bone who then slid it to Mushagalusa waiting on the left side of the box to punch it in.
“I was really happy for him,” coach Danny Cruz said about Mushagalusa’s performance. “He puts in a lot of work every single day. He’s done a good job tonight creating a lot of opportunities. He took his goal really well, and I felt like he did a good job defensively as well.”
While LouCity still hasn’t lost in 2022, that’s not to say the team was particularly thrilled with this draw. The boys in purple continue to lead the Eastern Conference, while Charleston is 13th and without a victory since its opener.
Still, City came in off back-to-back USL Championship wins and went from San Diego last weekend to a midweek U.S. Open Cup victory that went to penalties.
“My biggest frustration was how we responded when the first goal went in against us,” said Cruz. “I think we certainly created enough in the second half, but we need to be better in the final third. At least that gives us a good area to improve and focus on.
“Again with the travel we’ve had, we were on the bus 12 and a half hours on Thursday to get to Charleston, I’m really proud of the fight from the group. We just needed to put the ball in the back of the net one more time.”
What we learned
Cruz’s second half substitutes — Ownby, Bone and Wilson Harris — gave City renewed energy. The visitors out-shot Charleston 12-5 over the final 45 minutes, with 10 of those tries coming in the box. LouCity also boasted 71% possession, 14 crosses, and four corner kicks in the second half.
Cruz was forced to rotate his starting players due to high game volume earlier in the week.
“I still felt like we were going at a heavy pace,” Cruz said. “I felt that we were still putting everything into it. Some of that is the ability to make seven changes from the game on Wednesday. To make that many changes and still create enough chances is pretty impressive to me.”
But City left its burst of chances too late in the game. In the first half, LouCity created no big chances and had a mere 6 crosses compared to Charleston’s 11, according to Stats Perform. LouCity players appeared eager to take on opposing defenders, even when the extra pass seemed the better option. City attempted nine dribbles in the initial half, only 20% of which were successful.
The ability for Cruz to trust his reserve players is crucial for later games in the season if scheduling gets tight or injuries stack up within the club. City’s favored defensive lineup has posted a clean sheet in five of eight league games this season.
Cruz’s back line against Charleston did play the whole 90 minutes — crucial to resting other players — and appeared more attacking-minded. Outside backs Jan-Erik Leinhos and Amadou Dia combined for 21 final third entries, 28 passes into the final third and 5 crosses.
LouCity’s matchup against Charleston Battery marks the second time this season City has trailed but come back to salvage a point and keep their undefeated record.
“We’ve gotten results in different ways now. It’s not easy to go down a goal on the road in the heat,” Cruz concluded. “But at the same time, I made it very clear to them at half that I had the same belief in them to get a good result and I felt that for the second half, everyone did that. I was happy with the group with the week that we’ve had. But now, we have a huge opportunity at home next week.”
LouCity hosts Pittsburgh Riverhounds SC at 7:30 p.m. Saturday in a matchup of the Eastern Conference’s top-two clubs on the table. The Riverhounds won again Saturday to pull within two points.
