HARRISBUG, Penn. — Louisville City FC (4-1-0) secured its 12th point of its young season on Friday night in a dramatic, 3-2, victory over the Harrisburg City Islanders (1-3-0, 3 points) that saw midfielder Mark-Anthony Kaye head home a match-winning goal in the 90th minute.
Before the match-winner, the game took some crazy turns. USL Player of the Week Chandler Hoffman, who had a hat trick last week against FC Cincinnati, put the visitors ahead 2-0 in the first half. Hoffman’s first goal, just like last week, came off of a penalty after a Harrisburg defender took Kadeem Dacres down in the box in the 22nd minute.
Hoffman extended the LouCity lead to two after Niall McCabe snuck an aerial through ball past Harrisburg defenders, allowing Hoffman to take a touch past Harrisburg goalkeeper Nick Noble before scoring from the tightest of angles along the left side of the goal in the 44th minute. LouCity coach James O’Connor said he was pleased with Hoffman once again.
“Chandler deserves tremendous credit for taking his goals,” O’Connor said. “His second goal was a really tough angle. I thought he showed a lot of positive approach and a lot of intelligence to get into position and to finish it the way he did.”
Despite Hoffman’s two opening goals, Harrisburg refused to go down without a fight. Paul Wilson got one back for the Islanders during stoppage time of the first half, immediately following Hoffman’s second goal. Harrisburg then spent much of the second half on the offensive, and eventually broke through in the 88th minute, when Brett Jankouskas headed home an Islander corner.
Even though things looked bleak after Harrisburg’s equalizer, O’Connor’s squad knew it wasn’t over yet. LouCity grabbed all three points in the dying minutes off Kaye’s thundering first goal of the season in the 90th minute. Paco Craig, who made his first appearance for LouCity against Harrisburg, calmly headed the ball over to Kaye off a Tarek Morad free kick, who smashed it past Noble. Kaye said O’Connor’s positive spirit made him believe that his team would get the coveted match-winner.
“James always stresses digging deep and coming up through adversity, so I knew that as long as we kept pushing on we were going to get the goal,” Kaye said.
The Toronto native said scoring the goal in such a clutch manner was an amazing way for him to get onto the LouCity scoresheet for the first time.
“To get my first goal in such an important time made it even better,” Kaye said. “So I’m just happy right now.”
O’Connor said he was proud of his players again after overcoming such a Harrisburg rally late in the match.
“I thought we showed signs of the effort and the hard work we put in last week — playing with 10 men for 50 minutes,” O’Connor said. “I think that’s why it was tremendous for the players to be able to come back at the end and score again. I couldn’t be prouder of this group. The attitude, the fight, the spirit, the togetherness, the character. They dug deep tonight and all the players deserve a lot of credit.”
After two weeks on the road, O’Connor said it’s important his players get some rest upon their arrival back in Louisville before a game against the Pittsburgh Riverhounds on Wednesday night.
“We need to go home and rest,” O’Connor said. “We need to get back and make sure we get some rest for the guys.”
The victory is LouCity’s third in three tries against Harrisburg after two victories in 2015. With the three points earned in Friday’s match, LouCity will remain atop of the Eastern Conference.
Following Friday’s victory in Harrisburg, Louisville City FC returns to Slugger Field on April 27 to host Pittsburgh Riverhounds (7:30 p.m. | TICKETS). A limited number of LouCity Match Packs (4 tickets | 4 shirts | On-field VIP experience) are available now for $60 with promo code 4FOR60 when selecting the Group Zone.
Fans can stay up to date with all of Louisville City’s breaking news, roster updates and ticketing information by following the Club on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. Season tickets are available for Louisville City’s historic second season via the Club’s official website.
LOUISVILLE CITY FC is an American professional soccer club based in Louisville, Ky., competing in the United Soccer League. Upon joining the USL in 2015, Louisville City plays its home games at Louisville Slugger Field, where the club finished second in the league in average attendance.
Additional Notes
Louisville City FC defeated Harrisburg in both meetings between the clubs last season.
LouCity scored a combined nine goals against the Islanders, five of which came in Harrisburg.
LouCity came into the game at the top of the Eastern Conference table with nine points.
Reigning USL Player of the Week Chandler Hoffman entered with a tie for the league lead in goals with four after a hat trick against FC Cincinnati last week.
The City Islanders claimed their first win of the season last Saturday as Cardel Benbow scored the only goal in a 1-0 victory against Orlando City B.
Tonight’s match marked Harrisburg’s first at home for the 2016 campaign.
Louisville City FC Match Report
Match: Harrisburg City Islanders vs. Louisville City FC
Date: April 22, 2016
Competition: United Soccer League
Venue: FNB Field
Kickoff: 7:30 p.m. EST
Weather: 73 degrees; mostly cloudy
Goal Scoring Rundown
LOU: 22’ – Chandler Hoffman: The reigning USL Player of the Week continued his fantastic form by converting another penalty to open up the scoring after an Islander defender took Kadeem Dacres down in the box. Hoffman smashed the ball past Harrisburg goalie Nick Noble in the right side of the net.
LOU: 44’ – Chandler Hoffman: Niall McCabe connected with Hoffman for yet another assist with a beautiful aerial through ball. Hoffman took a touch, dodged Noble, and sent the ball home from the left side of the goal.
HAR: 45+ – Paul Wilson: Wilson sent a screamer past Scott Goodwin in stoppage time to get one back for the Islanders in stoppage time
HAR:88’ – Brett Jankouskas: Another LouCity fullback, Ben Newnam, crossed a nice ball into the middle of the box, which game Hoffman a hat trick.
LOU: 90+’ – Mark-Anthony Kaye: In his first appearance with Louisville City, Paco Craig headed an incoming cross over to Mark-Anthony Kaye, who headed home the goal for his first LouCity goal and the match-winner.
Lineups
LOU: 1-Scott Goodwin; 24-Kyle Smith, 6-Tarek Morad, 5-Conor Shanosky, 2-Ben Newnam; 36-Paolo DelPiccolo, 4-Aodhan Quinn (c) (36’ 8-Guy Abend) , 7-Kadeem Dacres (49’ 22-George Davis IV), 11-Niall McCabe (49’ Cameron Lancaster), 77-Andrew Lubahn (43’ Mark-Anthony Kaye); 17-Chandler Hoffman (74’ 18-Paco Craig)
Subs not used: 13-Greg Ranjitsingh, 14-Ilija Ilic
HAR: 1-Nick Noble; 23-Shawn McLaws, 63-Dante Leverock (83’ 4-Youssef Naciri), 16-Liam Doyle, 17-James Thomas; 6-Bobby Warshaw, 21-Mouhamed Dabo, 8-Jose Barril, 19-Cardel Benbow (86’ 12-Brett Jankouskas); 10-Paul Wilson, 22-Craig Foster (62’ 18-Aaron Wheeler)
Subs not used: 30-Keasel Broome, 2-Shane Campbell, 5-Shane Johnson, 7-Josh Hughes
