Louisville City FC has arrived in Utah for the next leg of its 2020 preseason training tour. LouCity is one of four teams participating in the second-annual Wasatch Cup hosted by Zions Bank Real Academy in Herriman, Utah.
The 2020 Wasatch Cup will consist of the final two teams in the USL Championship Playoffs: Louisville City and Real Monarchs, as well as the Colorado Springs Switchbacks from USL Championship and Union Omaha of USL League One.
“The training center for Real Salt Lake and the Monarchs is fantastic, but the most important aspect of our Utah trip will be playing USL opponents in meaningful matches,” Louisville City coach John Hackworth said. “It’s still preseason, but anytime you can play in a competition with a trophy and title on the line, it adds another level of importance to the competition”
The event runs Sunday through Saturday with each club playing three matches. Louisville City will face the Switchbacks on Feb. 16 at 9 p.m. ET (7 p.m. MT) and Union Omaha on Feb. 19 at 3 p.m. ET (1 p.m. MT). The match with the Monarchs, a rematch of the 2019 USL Championship Title game, will be played at 11 a.m. ET (9 a.m. MT) on Feb. 22.
The Wasatch Cup will use a group table format to determine the champion. Teams will be awarded three points for a win and one point for a draw. Goal differential and then greatest number of total goals will be used as the tiebreaker in the event of two or more teams having the same amount of points. All matchdays will be double-headers and are scheduled to be played inside the Zions Bank Training Center which boasts over 200,000 sq. feet of playing surface across two fields.
Teams will be allowed unlimited substitutions with no re-entry in each match. LouCity will bring 23 players to Utah for the Wasatch Cup. Academy signee Elijah Wynder is in Florida for the USL Academy Cup, and the club will be evaluating a pair of trialists – defender Cory Thomas, a star at Indiana University from Corydon, Indiana, and Wesley Charpie, a 27-year-old defender from Tarpon Springs, Fla., who played last season at Memphis 901 FC. Coach’s son, Larsen Hackworth, also joined the team for the trip to Utah.
Louisville City began its 2020 preseason schedule with a week of training in Louisville before departing for IMG Academy in Florida. The club played a pair of matches against MLS clubs D.C. United and Nashville SC, before coming back to Louisville on Monday.
Louisville City will open its USL Championship schedule on March 7 at North Carolina FC. The Boys in Purple will open Lynn Family Stadium on Saturday, April 11 vs. Birmingham Legion in a nationally televised match.
LouCity’s current roster, listed alphabetically by position:
Goalkeepers (3): Chris Hubbard, Ben Lundt, Muamer Ugarak
Defenders (6): Oscar Jimenez, Pat McMahon, Jimmy Ockford, Alexis Souahy, Sean Totsch, Akil Watts
Midfielders (7): Corben Bone, Paolo DelPiccolo, Napo Matsoso, Niall McCabe, Magnus Rasmussen, Speedy Williams, Elijah Wynder
Forwards (6): George Davis IV, Antoine Hoppenot, Cameron Lancaster, Brian Ownby, Luke Spencer, Abdou Thiam
WASATCH CUP SCHEDULE:
February 16 – Real Monarchs v. Union Omaha – 7:00p ET
Switchbacks FC v. Louisville City FC – 9:00p ET
February 19 – Real Monarchs v. Switchbacks FC – Noon ET
Union Omaha v. Louisville City FC – 3:00p ET
February 22 – Real Monarchs v. Louisville City FC – 11:00a ET (streamed)
Union Omaha v. Switchbacks FC – 1:30p ET
