WILMINGTON, N.C. — Up a goal at the half, Louisville City FC’s players walked to the locker room Sunday to a familiar message from coach James O’Connor.
“I thought as if we had to take our opportunities,” O’Connor said. “If you look at the chances we had, we needed to score a lot more goals.”
That’s what LouCity did, netting three shots in the final 45 minutes of a 4-1 win over the Wilmington Hammerheads. It marked the club’s 17th straight game unbeaten in United Soccer League play.
Louisville also remained undefeated in road games this season by playing to strengths. Striker Chandler Hoffman stepped up to score on a penalty kick in the 64th minute before captain Aodhan Quinn’s free kick heroics returned on a rocket in the just five minutes later.
“Chandler’s cool as can be, and he put it away, and that’s great,” said Quinn, a midfielder. “The free kick — that’s always nice to get a goal and help the team win.”
Hoffman rounded out the scoring in the 80th minute, set up by help from right back Kyle Smith. On the goal, Hoffman moved into a tie for the USL lead in goals (14) and Smith did the same in assists (6).
“I thought there were some big performances tonight,” O’Connor added. “I think we can be very pleased with our mentality and the way that we played.”
A victory came down to more than the club’s regular stat stuffers.
Following a deflected shot off a corner by George Davis IV in the first half, Smith passed to Tarek Morad, who played a pretty cross into the box. Midfielder Guy Abend headed in his third goal of the season in the 12th minute to move LouCity ahead.
Wilmington’s only answer to the late Louisville flurry was on a penalty kick of the Hammerheads’ own. Bruno Perone wiped out the clean sheet in the 88th minute, spoiling an otherwise spotless day by goalkeeper Greg Ranjitsingh, who recorded a pair of saves and thwarted a number of other Wilmington chances.
“We just knew we were up one-nil but needed to get another one, at least, to put the game away,” Quinn said of halftime. “Luckily, we came out strong and got three more goals. Unlucky for us to give away the (penalty kick) at the end. I think it’s a good attitude and result after that Charleston game.”
First-place LouCity ran its record to 12-6-1, good for 42 points, four better than New York Red Bulls II. The Red Bulls, who have a pair of games in hand, play third-place FC Cincinnati in a midweek game between Louisville travels to take on its nearby rival Saturday.
LouCity will look to build upon a performance in which it scored on four of seven recorded shots.
“We’re really confident every time we step on the pitch,” Quinn said. “We work really hard in training every week, so we know whenever we have a good week of training it translates to the game. So far it’s been that way this season.”
Summary
Match: Wilmington Hammerheads FC vs. Louisville City FC
Date: July 17, 2016
Venue: Legion Stadium
Kickoff: 6 p.m.
Weather: Partly cloudy, 85 degrees
Attendance: 2,927
Man of the Match: Chandler Hoffman
Scoring Summary
Wilmington Hammerheads FC (0 , 1, 1)
LouCity (1, 3, 4)
Lineups
Louisville City FC: 13-Greg Ranjitsinngh, 24-Kyle Smith, 18-Paco Craig, 6-Tarek Morad (28′ 5-Conor Shanosky), 2-Ben Newnam, 4-Aodhan Quinn, 8-Guy Abend, 11-Niall McCabe (36-Paolo DelPiccolo), 7-Kadeem Dacres, 17-Chandler Hoffman, 22-George Davis IV (57′ 12-Mark-Anthony Kaye).
Subs not used: 28-Tim Dobrowolski, 14-Ilija Ilic, 20-Enrique Montano.
Head coach: James O’Connor
Wilmington Hammerheads FC: 16-Eric Ati, 18-Stefan Defregger (54′ 25-Ferrety Sousa), 2-Tom Parratt (67′ 4-Michael Mechan), 23-Bruno Perone, 47-Ashani Fairclough, 20-Zev Taublieb, 14-Logan Miller, 10-Justin Moose, 7-Austin Martz (79′ 22-Kyle Parker), 12-Casey Townsend (54′ 9-Matthew Barnes Homer), 19 Jeff Michaud (62′ 11-Qudus Lawal).
Subs not used: 1-John Smits, 6-Liam Miller.
Head coach: Mark Briggs
Stats Summary: Wilmington / LouCity
Shots: 7 / 7
Saves: 4 / 2
Corner Kicks: 6 / 6
Fouls: 11 / 9
Offside: 0 / 2
Officials
Referee: Caleb Mendez
Assistant Referee 1: Patrick Schmidt
Assistant Referee 2: Jordan Davis
4th Official: Patrick Whitman
