LouCity faces Northern Kentucky Univ. for their second of four preseason tests
Goals from Cameron Lancaster, Magnus Rasmussen, & Niall McCabe propelled head coach James O’Connor’s side over Young Harris College last weekend. Now, LouCity heads into the first of three games in eight days ahead of the 2018 season opener on Saturday, March 17.
When & Where
Hosting last weekend’s match, LouCity now travels to NKU Soccer Stadium to face the Norse for a 1:00 P.M. kickoff in Newport, KY. At this time, the match will not be broadcast but fans can follow all the action live on Twitter & Instagram.
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Last Time Out
LouCity left their first preseason contest with a win after a dominant 3-1 performance over Young Harris College at Woerhle Athletic Complex last Saturday afternoon.
After an exciting but goalless first half, the “Boys in Purple” broke the deadlock in the 56th minute through forward Cameron Lancaster. Sneaking in between lines, the Londoner pulled in a pass before slotting home from near the top of the box to go one-up. Minutes later, Young Harris would find their lone goal of the match on an effective counterattack that saw their forward drift past the defense before finding the back of the net from close range.
However, the hosts would not let things stay level for long. LouCity midfielder Magnus Rasmussen restored the lead in the 65th minute, tapping in from inside the area. Shutting down any opportunities the Mountain Lions could produce, midfielder Niall McCabe finished off the match with a bang in the 90th minute, pinning a deflected effort off the underside of the crossbar for the team’s third goal of the day.
From the Gaffer
On his goal for the weekend:
“Once again, the biggest thing will be trying to stay injury-free. We’ve worked on a couple of things based off last week’s game but still have a few things that we’ll need a bit more time to work on. The attitude of the guys has been fantastic, though. We’ve spent the work on turf which is not ideal, so great credit to the lads for their attitudes.”
On team selection:
“We have the three we’re managing – Brian, Ilija, and Alexis – but apart from that, we should be free. Everyone else is available for minutes but we also have Lipscomb on Wednesday and then Saint Louis next Saturday, so for us it’s trying to manage the training load and the minutes in games and trying to maximize the things we want to see in those games.”
On the team’s focus:
“We’ll give everyone minutes in these next three games, but at this stage, we’ll want to start seeing some of the things we’ve been speaking about and working on in training. That’s the element of preseason we want to get to. Our hope is that we start to see all of that in these next three [games] coming up.”
On how preseason is shaping up:
“We’ve seen some things we like and we’ve seen some things we need to work on, but I don’t think we’re ever content, to be honest. I think there’s always something we’ll find.”
Team News
OUT – Brian Ownby (illness)
DOUBTFUL – Alexis Souahy (leg)
DOUBTFUL – Ilija Ilic (leg)
