Another club that sports purple as its primary color will on Saturday bring a lengthy unbeaten streak into Slugger Field, where Louisville City FC has ideas of righting itself following a 2-0 loss last weekend at FC Cincinnati. Kickoff between LouCity and Orlando City B is 7:30 p.m.
Here’s what to know about the visiting Lions…
Record: 6-6-7 (25 points) in 19 matches
Conference: Eastern
Standings: 8th
Coach: Anthony Pulis
History: Based in Melbourne, Fla., the in-house developmental squad for Major League Soccer’s Orlando City SC launched this season following Orlando City’s short-lived affiliation with Louisville. The MLS side cited a need for closer proximity to potential reserve players after struggling through its first season at American soccer’s highest level.
Series with LouCity: Orlando conceded four goals in both its previous meetings with Louisville — one at Slugger and one in Florida — but the cirumstances of LouCity’s victories were quite different. After posting a dominating, 4-1 victory April 10 at home, Louisville rallied back June 5 for a 4-3 win while playing down a man.
Current form: Since its last meeting with LouCity, Orlando hasn’t lost, piecing together the club’s longest unbeaten streak of the season at seven games. The Lions’ four most-recent results were all draws, including a pair of scoreless ties, though those came at Rochester and Charleston, two teams solidly in the USL playoff picture.
Style of play: Pulis, the 32-year-old son of West Bromwich Albion manager Tony Pulis, earned his first head coaching job with OCB and designed his scheme to mimic Adrian Heath, the former Orlando City SC coach let go earlier this month. Given coach James O’Connor’s Orlando connections, LouCity will see a familiar type of attack. It hasn’t worked quite as well for OCB, which currently holds a playoff spot but sports a -2 goal differential.
Player to watch: Orlando City B’s leading scorer, Michael Cox, has scattered his seven goals throughout the season, scoring one in his debut back in April at Louisville and again in the Lions’ most-recent game, a 2-2 draw with Wilmington Hammerheads FC. A native of Canada, Cox attended York University, the same school as LouCity’s Mark-Anthony Kaye, before signing with Orlando.
Another to know: Tyler Turner enters Saturday after playing a full 90 minutes Wednesday in the Chipotle Homegrown Game, which pits some of the United States’ best rising stars against those from Mexico. The 20-year-old defender became the youngest player in club history when he signed in 2014 and has since made seven appearances at the MLS level.
