Louisville City FC coach James O’Connor realized at some point over the last few weeks that Lady Luck “certainly jumped off my shoulder, that’s for sure.”
Without her again Saturday, LouCity had to rally from a halftime deficit and settle for a 1-1 draw for the second time this week Louisville Slugger Field.
Defender Paco Craig netted his first professional goal against the Rochester Rhinos in the 85th minute, equalizing late and in similar fashion to LouCity’s tie Wednesday with the Harrisburg City Islanders.
“If you look at the last few games — if you look at the goals we’ve given away — they were really cheap,” O’Connor said. “I think that’s something that is a little disappointing, because we end up going, having to fight back again from a goal down.”
Following the end of the club’s 17-game unbeaten streak, LouCity has won once, played to a pair of draws and lost once as well. Its record stands at 13-3-8.
But a point added in the USL’s Eastern Conference standings again evened LouCity with the New York Red Bulls II heading into a massive game Friday between the league’s top-two teams.
Lined up for a free kick straightaway from the goal, defender Ben Newnam bent a shot off the right post that bounced back toward the left. Midfielder Guy Abend, voted Man of the Match by LouCity fans, headed it back to the center, where Craig stepped up to tap in the goal.
“Well, I was in the center position where I know one of our boys is going to hit it, and so I just thought, ‘I’m going to crash the box and see what happens,'” said Craig, a rookie. “It was a great strike from, I think it was you, right, Ben (Newnam)?
“Great strike – unlucky to hit the post – and I just put myself in a good area and waited to see what happened. I put myself in a good area, waited to see what would happen and luckily Guy (Abend) put it close to me, and it was just a tap in.”
The defending USL champion Rhinos did their scoring early, converting in the 13th minute after LouCity gave away possession in the midfield. Steevan Dos Santos played a ball ahead that the Rhinos’ leading scorer, Christian Volesky, finished with one touch to take an early lead at Slugger.
LouCity possessed more Saturday than the Rhinos, but it was the type of hold on the ball O’Connor said was “without a purpose” — more horizontal across the field rather than vertical up it. Pressure amped up late as Louisville attempted nine of its 14 shots in the second half.
“Of course, when we’re down one-zero, we’re going to do everything we can to push to get that goal and equalize,” Newnam said. “At that point we want to keep pushing on to get the winner. We don’t really like to accept ties around here. We don’t like to accept, obviously, defeat.
“A tie to us feels like a loss. We wanted to push as much as we could without conceding.”
LouCity’s best late chance came on a counter, when striker Chandler Hoffman inherited possession and slid a shot near an open goal. It rolled just wide right.
Still, the result marked the club’s third game unbeaten. The Red Bulls, however, have two games in hand.
O’Connor said that before a trip to Red Bull Arena, players will be encouraged to rest this week as a 30-game season winds down.
Summary
Match: Louisville City FC vs. Rochester Rhinos
Date: Aug. 13, 2016
Venue: Louisville Slugger Field
Kickoff: 7:31 p.m.
Weather: Cloudy, 84 degrees
Attendance: 6,373
Man of the Match: Guy Abend
Scoring
Louisville City FC (0, 1, 1)
Harrisburg City Islanders (1, 0, 1)
Goals
Rochester: 13′ Christian Volesky (Steevan Dos Santos)
Louisville: 85′ Paco Craig (Guy Abend)
Lineups
Louisville City FC: 13-Greg Ranjitsingh, 2-Ben Newnam, 18-Paco Craig, 15-Sean Reynolds, 20-Enrique Montano, 8-Guy Abend, 4-Aodhan Quinn (59′ 36-Paolo DelPiccolo), 7-Kadeem Dacres, 77-Andrew Lubahn (59′ 10-Magnus Rasmussen), 9-Cameron Lancaster (76′ 14-Ilija Ilic), 17-Chandler Hoffman.
Subs not used: 28-Tim Dobrowolski, 22-George Davis IV, 24-Kyle Smith, 6-Tarek Morad.
Head coach: James O’Connor
Rochester Rhinos: 18-Tomas Gomez, 3-Bradley Kamdem (78′ 21-Dominic Samuel), 5-Vasius Apostolopous, 7-Ryan James, 15-Joe Farrell, 6-Michel Guilavogui (59′ 29-Sofiane Tergour), 11-Kenardo Forbes, 13-Mike Garzi, 17-Wall Fall, 9-Christian Volesky, 10-Steevan Dos Santos.
Subs not used: 1-Adam Grinwis, 32-Chase Miller, 4-Sean Totsch, 8-Andre Fortune, 16-Sean Reilly.
Head coach: Bob Lilley
Stats: LouCity / Rochester
Shots: 14 / 7
Saves: 2 / 3
Corner Kicks: 8 / 6
Fouls: 11 / 16
Offside: 0 / 4
Officials
Referee: Artur Sigiba
Assistant Referee 1: Maggie Short
Assistant Referee 2: Reiss Baxter
4th Official: Paul Terry
