Louisville City FC coach James O’Connor took a seat Sunday night, glanced at the stat sheet from his club’s 2-0 playoff victory and chuckled.
“Thirty-three shots,” O’Connor said. “Oh, goodness.”
LouCity needed almost all of them to dispatch a pesky Richmond Kickers squad in the first round of the USL Cup Playoffs. The Kickers went down a man when assessed a red card for a foul in the fourth minute and packed in the box from there.
During overtime, LouCity hit its game-winner, then tacked on another goal for good measure. But, again, it took plenty of chances first as O’Connor said the Kickers “made it really, really hard for us to break them down tonight.”
LouCity survived on a weekend when a number of its highly seeded USL peers were upset. In the Western Conference, the No. 8 Orange County Blues beat No. 1 Sacramento Republic FC. And in the East, the No. 6 Charleston Battery advanced to play LouCity by toppling No. 3 FC Cincinnati.
“We’re obviously very pleased to get through to the next round and play Charleston,” O’Connor said. “We could have done without the extra time.”
On a pass through by Aodhan Quinn, midfielder George Davis IV pushed a game-winning goal past Kickers goalkeeper Andrew Dykstra in the 92nd minute Sunday, barely into the first overtime period. Chandler Hoffman finished a pass from Kadeem Dacres to double the lead in the 102nd minute.
Hoffman came on as a surprisingly early substitute, swapping with midfielder Magnus Rasmussen, who took a shot to the chest on the Richmond red card. But Rasmussen didn’t leave due to injury.
“I think for us, it’s when they go down to 10 men, I wanted to get pressure, and I wanted another striker on the pitch,” O’Connor said. “Do I wait? Well, I’m not really that type of individual. When I see something that needs to happen that can maybe help us win the game, I’m going to do it.
“I had a decision to make after 30 minutes. Magnus was playing well. It had really nothing to do with Magnus. It was more the fact that I wanted another striker high on the pitch, and I wanted to make them defend.”
Momentum shifted from there. Dykstra, on loan from the D.C. United, had an outstanding night in goal, however, lasting throughout regulation before conceding.
Dacres tallied a game-high eight shots — equalling Richmond’s attempts as a team — while Hoffman and Ilija Ilic came on to tally four apiece.
“Coach has been preaching pretty much all season that everyone is going to play an important role on this team and we are thankful that these guys came through tonight for us,” Dacres said, speaking of Hoffman and Ilic.
“I think there are impact players from the first man on the roster to the end of the roster,” Davis IV added. “Our training sessions are really tough and competitive, and I know we give coach a difficult time when he has to pick the team.
“There are only 11 that can play at a time, and I think we pride ourselves on our depth and our quality from one through 24.”
