Every day this week, we’re looking back at memorable moments from Louisville City FC’s 2016 season. Weigh in with your own stories on our Facebook page.
Louisville City FC’s first matchup with FC Cincinnati had it all: a record crowd, a first half hat trick as well as a red card that left the visitors down a man for most of the night on the road.
And that was just the first half.
“That night was incredible, not only because we had to play away in front of 20,000-plus fans — the atmosphere was really intimidating — but we were able to win under those circumstances,” said defender Tarek Morad.
On April 16, Louisville pulled out a 3-2 victory — striker Chandler Hoffman’s trio of goals were scored in a matter of 18 minutes — and fended off Cincinnati in front of a then-USL record 20,497 fans at Nippert Stadium.
The second half was spent on the defensive, as after Hoffman’s hat trick LouCity saw defender Sean Reynolds sent off in the 40th minute.
“I play near the sideline, so all during the game I could hear people shouting, “Smith! Smith!” said Cincinnati native Kyle Smith, a rookie defender who returned to his hometown. “I don’t know if they were heckling me or if it was my friends.”
Smith, who worked as an accountant at the University of Cincinnati before discovered at an open LouCity tryout, had his share of backers on hand. But it’s fair to say shouts at other Louisville players at Nippert weren’t so supportive, aside from those of the few hundred fans in purple who made the trip north.
Former University of Louisville star Austin Berry put the host club on top early, converting a header in just the sixth minute. From there, Hoffman, in his fourth LouCity game, went to work. He scored on a 17th-minute penalty, finished on a pass from Smith in the 24th and completed the hat trick in the 34th on a cross from defender Ben Newnam.
LouCity battled down a man for more than 50 minutes before FC Cincinnati’s Pat McMahon struck back in stoppage time in the second half. What happened on the field, combined with the atmosphere off it, created a memorable start to the River Cities Cup rivalry.
“It’s a little extra motivation to go out there and work as hard as you can,” said LouCity captain Aodhan Quinn, “and maybe even a little harder because you have all those fans rooting against you.”
Added Morad: “That result was huge for us going forward because we knew Cincinnati was a great team and the atmosphere was tremendous. That’s probably the most memorable game of the season, if not one of the most memorable of my professional career so far.”
