Louisville City FC’s black third kits will be back as the club hosts Bethlehem Steel in the club’s first-ever Friday night home game. Kickoff’s set for 7:30 p.m. at Slugger Field.
Call (502) 384-8799 for tickets, or click here to select your seats.
Here’s what to watch for…
Tune In
TV: WBNA TV-21 will air the game live and in high definition locally.
Radio: TJ Walker (play-by-play) and Jeff Milby (color commentary) will voice the action on TalkRadio 1080 WKJK, with pregame coverage starting at 7:15 p.m.
Streaming: Watch at www.loucity.com.
Follow Along
For Starting XI information and in-game updates, check us out on social media. It’s @loucityfc on Twitter, Louisville City FC on Facebook and louisvillecityfc on Instagram. Live stats are available at the USL Match Center. Vote for the Modelo Man of the Match on Twitter starting in the 75th minute.
Links
• Congested schedule marks key stretch for LouCity
• Watch: Coach O’Connor’s weekly press conference
• Spencer goes from nearly retired to leading LouCity
Notes
Eastern Conference Race: LouCity (15-5-5) heads into Friday’s game atop the USL Eastern Conference table for the fourth week in a row. Louisville holds first place with 50 points, three ahead of the Charlotte Independence. Bethlehem (10-11-4) enters Friday tied for ninth place with 34 points, just one point out of a playoff spot.
Last time against Steel FC: LouCity walked away with a 3-1 win in the clubs’ first meeting this season played Aug. 20 in Pennsylvania. Luke Spencer secured a brace in the first half, and goalkeeper Greg Ranjitsingh made a number of clutch saves to hold the lead.
Scouting Bethlehem: Due to a game postponement last weekend, Friday night’s match falls 15 days between games for Steel FC. Last time out, they ended a three-game losing streak by playing Orlando City B to a draw. Seku Conneh (7 goals), Cory Burke (5 goals) and James Chambers (5 goals) are all players to watch.
Spencer’s roll continues: Last Saturday, forward Luke Spencer connected on his team-leading ninth goal of the season to open scoring in LouCity’s 3-0 win over the Pittsburgh Riverhounds. Spencer, while just 14th on the team in minutes played, has made the most of his opportunities, scoring a goal for every 111 of them spent on the pitch amid a breakout season.
Williams in the spotlight: Devon “Speedy” Williams became the 16th player to score for LouCity on Saturday, capturing his first goal of the season off a penalty kick in Pittsburgh. In addition, he completed 81 of 95 passes. Williams earned Man of the Match honors for his performance and was on Tuesday named to his first USL Team of the Week.
Ranjitsingh solidifies role: Greg Ranjitsingh made his sixth consecutive start between the posts in Pittsburgh since taking the lead in his goalkeeper battle with Tim Dobrowolski. Overall, Ranjitsingh has posted seven clean sheets on the year — giving the club 10 total — by way of a two-save performance against the Riverhounds.
Strength at Slugger: LouCity, which plays its first-ever Friday night home game this week, has played well this year at Slugger Field, posting an 8-2-2 record while in town. Solid support helps. Attendance is up as well as the club has seen an average crowd of 8,847 in the stands through 12 home games, including the capacity crowd of 13,812 Aug. 12 for a 5-0 win over FC Cincinnati.
Top-ranked form: Entering Week 25, LouCity’s atop the USL Power Rankings in addition to the traditional standings. The club has gone 5-1-0 in the past month, with only one other club — the Western Conference’s Reno 1868 FC — able to accumulate more points than the boys in purple.
Injury report: Coach James O’Connor said this week that a number of his players are managing minor injuries, though none of them are expected to keep an individual from playing. Notably, forward Cameron Lancaster has continued to train with a broken toe.
