Louisville City FC continued an undefeated streak of USL games on Saturday, registering its 16th straight while playing the Charleston Battery to a 1-1 draw. But the result left the home side wanting more after the Battery scored the equalizer in the 84th minute at Louisville Slugger Field.
LouCity allowed just one shot on goal — the tying strike — and possessed the ball for most of 90-plus minutes against a Battery team that entered with three straight victories of its own.
“Look, obviously we should have won the game,” said coach James O’Connor. “…It’s a difficult one to swallow when somebody comes here and they don’t get a shot and target and they end up leaving here with a point. That’s the way it goes sometimes.”
After scoring midway through the second half, LouCity held a lead for more than 20 minutes, until Charleston executed on a quickly taken free kick. Keeper Greg Ranjitsingh made an attempt to corral the ball before a shot was taken, but the Battery’s Chris Tsonis recovered possession and booted in an 84th minute goal.
Replay showed Ranjitsingh clutch the ball before knocked away by a Charleston player.
“From where I was, it looked like he had contact,” O’Connor said. “Greg was saying he caught the ball. I don’t want to say anything about the officials. I don’t want to get in trouble. But when you look at the angle, for us it definitely looks like there’s contact.
“You can’t change it. It is what it is. I think when you get a night like that where you don’t even get a shot on target, it’s just a bitter pill to swallow.”
LouCity failed to generate a shot during the first half on Charleston a game after firing a season-high 25 Monday in a win over FC Montreal. A pair of substitutes out of the locker room, Cameron Lancaster and Kadeem Dacres, sparked the attack.
In the middle of tallying four shots, Lancaster rifled a 62nd-minute cross from the right side. It bounced off lunging defender Taylor Mueller, then grazed LouCity’s Chandler Hoffman, notching him a 12th goal on the season.
Speaking of Lancaster, right back Kyle Smith said, “He’s good at taking people on one versus one, and every time he gets the opportunity, I scream at him, ‘Take him on! Take him on!’ That’s what he did, and he fired a good ball and I think it hit Chandler’s knee or something and went in the back of the net.”
By earning one point in the USL standings, first-place LouCity maintained its lead over the New York Red Bulls II after a four-game home stand. Louisville has lost just once this season, and not since an April 2 meeting with New York.
The club next hits the road, playing July 17 against the Wilmington Hammerheads, another team that scored late at Slugger Field this season to force a draw.
“We’re obviously disappointed,” said LouCity captain Aodhan Quinn. “We want to get three points. We want to win, especially at home. We want to get three points, we want to get a shutout, and that sort of goal every game and today we only got one point and we didn’t get a shutout and that’s disappointing.”
Summary
Match: Louisville City FC vs. Charleston Battery
Date: July 9, 2016
Venue: Slugger Field
Kickoff: 7:30
Weather: Partly cloudy, 85 degrees
Attendance: 7,526
Man of the Match: Chandler Hoffman
Scoring Summary
LouCity (0, 1, 0)
FC Montreal (0 , 1, 0)
Lineups
Louisville City FC: 13-Greg Ranjitsinngh, 24-Kyle Smith, 18-Paco Craig, 6-Tarek Morad, 2-Ben Newnam, 4-Aodhan Quinn, 36-Paolo DelPiccolo (8-Guy Abend 67′), 11-Niall McCabe (9-Cameron Lancaster 46′), 77-Andrew Lubahn (7-Kadeem Dacres 46′), 17-Chandler Hoffman (5-Conor Shanosky 85′), 22-George Davis IV (79′ 10-Magnus Rasmussen).
Subs not used: 28-Tim Dobrowolski, 14-Ilija Ilic.
Head coach: James O’Connor
Charleston Battery: 1-Alex Tambakis, 6-Shawn Ferguson, 4-Taylor Mueller, 7-O’Brian Woodbine, 11-Quinton Griffith (Romario Williams 46′), 20-Justin Portillo, 24-Zach Prince (Emmanuel Adjetey 78′), 12-Maikel Chang, 10-Ataullah Guerra (3-Forrest Lasso 83′), 16-Heviel Cordoves, 17-Ricky Garbanzo (25-Chris Tsonis 70′).
Subs not used: 23-Odisnel Cooper, 8-Neveal Hackshaw.
Head coach: Michael Anhaeuser
Stats Summary: LouCity / Charleston
Shots: 11 / 8
Shots on Goal: 2 / 1
Saves: 0 / 1
Corner Kicks: 13 / 3
Fouls: 10 / 11
Offside: 2 / 3
Officials
Referee: Michael Lavergne
Assistant Referee 1: Ronald Stuver
Assistant Referee 2: Evan Sizer
4th Official: Benjamin Hall-Volpenhein
