There are the type of losses that take extra analysis and explanation. And then there are those a team decides to quickly move past.
Louisville City FC may be going with the latter after Saturday’s 1-0 defeat to the Harrisburg City Islanders.
“I actually thought we had our best week of training right before this game,” said defender Oscar Jimenez. “We were on a good roll, and in training we were doing well. We were respecting our opponent. We wanted to go and do the same thing we were doing the last couple of weeks, and it just didn’t happen.”
LouCity’s winning streak came to an abrupt end. It was a head-scratcher for a side that scored seven goals and posted a trio of shutouts in three games entering Saturday, gaining momentum that had the boys near the top of the USL Eastern Conference table.
Coach James O’Connor said leading up to the game his side wouldn’t overlook a City Islanders team that hadn’t won in USL play since April 15 — a span of 10 league games.
People would look at the table, O’Connor predicted, “And think, ‘Of, they’re at the bottom of the league.’ The focus needs to be more on ourselves.”
So that’s how LouCity will proceed from the loss — concentrating more on its own play than the type of opponent faced.
O’Connor cited his club’s lack of intensity in passing in particular at Harrisburg. The City Islanders passed more accurately, and distributed at a higher clip in the opponents’ half, than LouCity on Saturday.
“It’s not like us to come out like that — like we did, without much energy,” Jimenez said. “Our whole culture around this team is hard work and working harder than anyone out there. I think we should look past this — not focus too much on how it went — and focus on the next one, because we’ve got a big game Saturday coming up against Ottawa.”
LouCity’s record stands at 7-2-4 after taking only its second loss of the season — and first since May 13. A tough stretch is ahead, as Ottawa Fury FC comes to Slugger Field next weekend with just one loss in its last seven games.
“Not getting too down on ourselves is the thing,” Jimenez said. “We didn’t play with the same intensity and desire that we have been in the past games. We’ll come off this loss and kind of just slow down — keep going like we were in other games.”
