By Andrew Bell
Louisville City FC defeated Colorado Springs Switchbacks FC, 3-2, on Saturday night in an end-to-end away matchup full of shots, nerves and late drama.
After a flurry of chances for the Switchbacks and against the run of play, LouCity opened the scoring in the 22nd minute when Carlos Moguel Jr.’s in-swinging corner kick met the head of Jorge Gonzalez, who dodged two defenders, made a run in and flicked the ball toward the back post to bag the Spaniard’s second goal of the season.
Colorado Springs found its equalizer in forward Romario Williams who, off of a squared cross into the box, pivoted and spun to fire his team level with City in the 41st minute.
LouCity took the lead once more in the 49th minute when another Moguel Jr. corner kick found a head and a goal, this time for Elijah Wynder. Wynder appeared to mark Colorado’s goalkeeper at first but then made a run out of goal and to the top of the six-yard box, where he climbed higher than anyone else to convert the chance.
Just moments after being substituted into the game, Maarten Pouwels found LouCity’s cushion goal in the 88th minute. In his first touches of the match, Pouwels linked up in the midfield with Brian Ownby, who spun away from one defender and played the Dutchman a perfect through ball. Pouwels cut away from the last defender onto his right foot and buried it low and to the right of the keeper to score his first goal in purple.
LouCity hadn’t escaped with three points quite yet, though, as Sean Totsch plowed over Colorado Springs midfielder Juan Tejada late to award a penalty kick to the hosts. Williams scored from the spot in the 90th minute.
City survived a couple of late-game defensive stands and managed to hold onto its lead after a nervy four minutes of stoppage time, securing all three points for the boys in purple some 6,000 feet above Louisville.
“I’m extremely proud of the mentality and the bite from the group,” head coach Danny Cruz said about his team’s performance. “This is a difficult place to come with the altitude. I thought that the players executed on both sides of the ball. Set pieces we knew would be important going into the game tonight, on both sides of the ball, and I thought the players executed. Colorado is a good team — a lot of dangerous pieces especially in transition. But I thought that the group did a really great job of mitigating that as best as we could there, especially late.”
Saturday’s meeting between LouCity and Colorado Springs was the second-ever between the teams, with the first ending in a 1-1 draw back in July of 2021. The win kept LouCity fourth in the USL Championship’s Eastern Conference standings on 43 points, six off of third-place Charleston Battery. City has also built a bit of a cushion between themselves and next-placed Indy Eleven, which sits on 41 points and has played a game more than LouCity.
The boys in purple have now collected 14 points in a run of seven games—a nice streak that has seen the team bounce back from a three-match losing skid in July and remain in a table position that would grant LouCity a home opener in the playoffs.
A Moguel Jr. masterclass
With just one change since LouCity’s win over Oakland Roots last time out, City’s 4-3-3 lineup prevailed again against Colorado Springs. Anchored at the heart of that formation was Moguel Jr. Against the Switchbacks, the young holding midfielder played in a deep-lying ‘6’ position where he was hungry to find space, receive the ball and kickstart his team’s buildup play. Moguel Jr. often traveled into the half space of the pitch, or the area between the center and flank, to either call for the ball himself or draw pressure away from LouCity’s center backs.
A fourth-minute yellow card didn’t deter the LouCity Academy product from getting stuck in defensively. Throughout Saturday’s match, Moguel Jr. hunted heavy touches and consistently made 60-yard runs to track-back on defense, sometimes just to mark an open man at the top of LouCity’s box but often to directly disrupt a Switchbacks attack. Notably, in the 45th minute, Moguel Jr. made a perfectly timed clearance within his own box on Colorado Springs midfielder Deshane Beckford, who had just skipped past two LouCity defenders and was in on goal. Any later in his challenge and Moguel Jr. likely would have caused a penalty; any earlier would likely have seen Beckford side-step him.
On the night, Moguel Jr. won five duels—the second-most on his team and the third-most on either team. The Shelbyville native also won both of his aerial duels, regained possession four times and recorded three tackles — tied for first on either team.
Not only does Moguel Jr. function as a defensive-minded player, but his offensive ability is also undeniable. Seeming to never lack the energy to go forward, Moguel Jr.’s role in the attack looked to be as a box-to-box midfielder on Saturday. Leaving the offensive orchestration to the attacking midfielders and forwards on the pitch, Moguel Jr. excelled at joining the offense, unannounced to the opposition, and receiving the ball at the edge of Colorado Springs’ box. There, he could draw a Switchbacks player out of position, switch the point of attack, or take a shot. If LouCity’s attack placed him in the middle of the pitch, Moguel Jr. looked poised with the ball at his feet and never forced a chance. Rather, he was completely comfortable recycling and protecting his team’s possession if nothing was on, demonstrating a high level of game sense.
Against Colorado Springs, Moguel Jr.’s technical ability was on full display. Grabbing his first and second assists as a LouCity player, Moguel Jr.’s corner kicks were pinpoint and consistent. Whipping in a corner kick that’s far enough away from the keeper but close enough to the goal to give your team a chance is hard enough. To do it twice and create a goal from each is no coincidence.
“He’s been excellent the last two games,” Cruz said about Moguel Jr.’s recent performances. “I think that when you look at his bite in the middle of the field and what he brought on the ball and off the ball, he was a big piece of the result tonight. I think he’s continuing to do a really good job of working hard and staying humble and taking advantage of the chances when he gets them.”
Moguel Jr.’s role in Cruz’s starting 11 the past two matches hasn’t just happened by chance. The 20-year-old sets the tempo for his team. Against Colorado Springs, he was often organizing the midfield and played an immense role in maintaining its shape. When presented with game time, whether he starts or comes off the bench, Moguel Jr,’s workrate is unmatched and his passion for winning never flickers.
“The biggest thing there was that it was a fight throughout,” Moguel Jr. said about the nature of the match. “[The assists] definitely give me some confidence, for sure.”
An unlikely resemblance
Shot-stopper Oliver Semmle and forward Wilson Harris, having very different roles and positioned on opposite ends of the pitch, had more in common against Colorado Springs on Saturday than one might think. While Harris shook off Switchback center backs, Semmle staved off dozens of looks at goal.
The offensive and defensive players ended up closer to each other on the pitch at certain moments against Colorado, whether it was Harris dropping deep into the midfield to receive the ball, or Semmle playing the role of sweeper-keeper at times, refusing to be stuck on his line and often meeting the ball well off of it and at or past the edge of the box.
The back-and-forth nature of Saturday’s matchup made Harris’s holdup play all-the-more important, as the 23-year-old could slow the game down and allow his teammates to join the attack. When distributing the ball, Harris was simple and efficient. Nearly half (6/13) of his total passes were into Colorado’s final third, and he finished the game with 85% passing accuracy.
Between the sticks, Semmle made his importance known on Saturday. Within the first 15 minutes of the match, the rookie keeper made a pair of crucial saves. In the 10th minute, a floated ball cleared LouCity’s back line and landed to Switchbacks midfielder Jairo Henriquez, whose volley was parried away by Semmle. Less than a minute later, Semmle made an important reaction save on a low shot that traveled through traffic, leaving little time for the rookie goalkeeper to react and shove it away.
In the 91st minute, Colorado Springs, riding the momentum from their penalty conversion, sent a ball into LouCity’s box. Semmle exploded off of his line, rose to claim it, and was fouled on the way up but managed to hold on to the ball.
In the dying moments of the game, Colorado Springs managed to win a corner kick. As City scrambled to organize, Semmle didn’t hesitate to snatch the ball out of danger and cement his team’s result.
At Tampa Bay next weekend, Semmle will look to nullify one of the most offensively productive teams in the USL Championship this season and add to his league-high 11 clean sheets. As a team, LouCity will look to build on its strengths and continue climbing the table with a win against the Rowdies.
