As the LA Galaxy worked through the 2013 Major League Soccer playoffs, Chandler Hoffman noticed the team’s leaders, the great Landon Donovan and Robbie Keane, showing a heightened sense of focus and concentration.
“These are the games where it’s one and done,” Hoffman said. “It comes down to the minor details.”
Hoffman and the Galaxy claimed the MLS Cup that year, an experience that taught the now-Louisville City FC striker how to manage himself in the postseason. And he’s not alone.
Midfielder Paolo DelPiccolo’s University of Louisville team reached the College Cup in 2010. The trio of former Young Harris College players on LouCity’s roster also won tournaments at the Division II level. That’s only a sampling of the championship talent on coach James O’Connor’s roster.
The boys in purple, having played six straight games unbeaten, will look to continue rolling at 7:30 p.m. Saturday when they host the Charleston Battery at Slugger Field. It’s an Eastern Conference Semifinal rematch from 2015, with LouCity now three potential wins away from a USL Cup.
“I think the group we’ve got here — we’ve got a group of winners,” Hoffman said. “You’ve seen that throughout the year, and now’s the opportunity to see the hard work pay off. I think we have the right balance of guys who have done and won important things within the game.
“That’s going to play a big part these next few weeks.”
Saturday’s matchup features Eastern Conference No. 2 seed LouCity and Charleston, a No. 6 that upset FC Cincinnati in a first-round game last Sunday. Louisville went to overtime with the Richmond Kickers before scoring twice to advance.
On paper, LouCity appears a heavy favorite. Charleston scored 14 fewer goals during the regular season and lost three of its final five games.
But Ilija Ilic, who starred a Georgia’s Young Harris College, also home to LouCity defender Paco Craig and midfielder Niall McCabe, said he learned from his school’s Peach Belt Conference titles.
“Anyone can beat anyone right now,” Ilic said. “Everything that happened all season, you just kind of leave it behind. It’s almost like a new season…A lot of experience in tournaments definitely helps. The first time in one, you don’t really know what to expect.”
The Battery stumbled toward the end of the season but have knocked off some of the USL’s best, including a 3-2 win July 23 over regular-season champion New York Red Bulls II. Charleston beat the Charlotte Independence in August and Richmond Kickers in September, also both playoff teams.
Under coach Mike Anhaueser, the Battery have made the playoffs every year since 2008, also when Anhaueser became the club’s general manager.
“Last week was good for us all to have that experience,” O’Connor said of his own players, like rookie Kyle Smith, who participated in his first playoff game Sunday. “We had the experience last year, but with so many new players it’s important that we make sure people get a feeling for what the playoffs are all about.
“…It’s an occasion to look forward to and to go and express yourself and not be fearful of.”
