Louisville City FC’s run up the USL standings hit a snag Saturday night with the club’s 1-0 road loss to the Harrisburg City Islanders, who entered last of 15 teams in the Eastern Conference standings.
Goalkeeper Greg Ranjitsingh stood tall to stop a penalty kick in the seventh minute, and another key Harrisburg try bounced off the crossbar in the 46th. The City Islanders broke through in the 53rd minute when forward Pedro Ribeiro’s shot from the top of the box slipped into the back of the net.
LouCity had a handful of chances from there but couldn’t find the equalizer at FNB Field in Pennsylvania.
“Our fight tonight wasn’t at the same level as it has been in previous weeks,” said coach James O’Connor. “We didn’t pass the ball the way we have in previous games, and I thought we still had a lot of opportunities to try and get something out of the game.”
Harrisburg notched its first victory in USL play since April 15 and halted LouCity’s three-game winning streak, which matched the club’s longest such stretch of the 2017 season. The City Islanders have played notably better at home, suffering just one of their seven losses at FNB Field.
Saturday’s game was relatively evenly played, a surprise given LouCity’s recent run of form. The boys in purple entered off back-to-back 3-0 wins and used the same lineup against the City Islanders.
“It’s just very frustrating when you give a performance like that, because I think the lads are much better players than they showed tonight,” O’Connor said. “They can play better than that. That’s biggest part of it for me.”
Shots were even at 11 apiece, and LouCity maintained 52.4 percent of the possession. Harrisburg placed four shots on target to LouCity’s three.
Momentum sided with LouCity early, at least once Ranjitsingh dove to his left to stop Ribeiro’s penalty try. From there, Cameron Lancaster, the reigning USL Player of the Week, put a shot on target before midfielder Brian Ownby set up another chance with a run down the right wing. His cross found George Davis IV in the 14th minute, but the final touch didn’t make it into the goal.
In addition to Harrisburg’s shot off the bar to open the second half, Ranjitsingh was forced off his line to make a save in the 48th minute. Not long after, Ribeiro hit the game-winner, however, forcing LouCity to up its attack.
Rookie Richard Ballard came on as a halftime substitute, and Luke Spencer, out due to injury since May 31, made his first appearance since then as a 60th-minute sub. The additions helped, as Spencer had a run into the box and shot in the 71st minute. And in stoppage time, a ball played through to Ballard resulted in one of LouCity’s best looks of the half.
Harrisburg goalkeeper Brandon Miller came up with one of his three saves to maintain the clean sheet and upset victory.
“I just felt like they wanted it more than we did,” said defender Oscar Jimenez. “Even if we did kind of show that we wanted it, everything 50-50 they got. They were dribbling behind us. You saw how they were going about things tonight, and we didn’t match it.”
LouCity remained second in the Eastern Conference standings after the loss, now six points behind the Charleston Battery with two games in hand on the USL leaders.
Game Summary
Match: Harrisburg City Islanders v. Louisville City FC
Date: June 24, 2017
Venue: FNB Field
Kickoff: 7:05 p.m.
Weather: 84 degrees, sunny
Man of the Match: Greg Ranjitsingh
Scoring
Louisville City FC (0,0,0)
Pittsburgh Riverhounds (0,1,1)
Goals
Harrisburg City Islanders:
53’ On an assist from Rasheed Olabiyi, Pedro Ribeiro smashed in a goal to the bottom right side of the net.
Lineup
Harrisburg City Islanders: 33- Brandon Miller, 5- Tiago Calvano,18- Abass Mohammed, 4- Travis Brent, 23- Shawn McLaws, 12- Rasheed Olabiyi, 8- Mouhamed Dabo, 22- John Grosh (75’ 14-Danny Prima), 30- Pedro Ribeiro, 17- James Thomas, 16- Jake Bond (76’ 19- Cardel Benbow)
Subs not used: 13- Michael Olla, 2- Griffin Libhart, 10- Paul Wilson, 25- Ropapa Mensah, 21- Sean Lewis
Head coach: Bill Becher
Louisville City FC: 1- Greg Ranjitsingh 24- Kyle Smith, 4- Sean Totsch (46’ 23- Richard Ballard), 19- Oscar Jimenez, 6- Tarek Morad 8- Guy Abend, 10- Brian Ownby, 18- Paco Craig, 22- George Davis IV (66’ 11- Niall McCabe), 9- Cameron Lancaster (60’ 12- Luke Spencer), 36- Paolo DelPiccolo
Subs not used: 28- Tim Dobrowolski, 15- Sean Reynolds, 80- Devon “Speedy” Williams, 14- Ilija Ilic
Head coach: James O’Connor
Discipline
Harrisburg City Islanders:
24’ Mouhamed Dabo – Yellow Card
41’ Tiago Calvano – Yellow Card
56’ Pedro Ribeiro – Yellow Card
69’ James Thomas – Yellow Card
Officials
Referee: Gustavo Solorio
Assistant Referee 1: Ben Pilgrim
Assistant Referee 2: Joshua Encarnacion
4th Official: Daniel Pannullo, Jr.
