Brian Ownby scored in the first half, Luke Spencer added another goal in the second, and Louisville City FC maintained its unbeaten home record Saturday night, downing Ottawa Fury FC by a 2-1 score in the teams’ first meeting.
In front of 7,814 fans at Slugger Field, Ownby moved the boys in purple early, luring out Ottawa’s goalkeeper before placing a shot past him in the 14th minute. On as a substitute, midfielder Richard Ballard gained possession back in the box for LouCity in the 71st, playing a ball to Spencer that doubled the lead.
A late strike by Ottawa’s Steevan Dos Santos proved the only answer for the visitors, who entered with just one loss in their previous five games.
“I thought the spirit, I thought our fight — I thought we dealt with with what they did really, really well,” said coach James O’Connor. “It’s been a hard week, really, looking at the way we’ve had to train and prepare for the game. And so, really proud of the players. Immense heart. immense desire. We showed how much this means to us tonight. Hats off to the players — really, really excellent.”
It was a bounce-back effort for LouCity, which fell to the Harrisburg City Islanders last weekend, ending a three-game winning streak. A return to Slugger Field put the club back in good form; there this season, LouCity’s unbeaten in six games to open 2017.
Ownby’s goal continued a strong first season with LouCity. The veteran midfielder — a former Richmond Kickers standout — has scored four times this season, drawing him even with George Davis IV and Cameron Lancaster.
“Crazy game last week, but we had to put that behind us — something we learned and took it in stride this week at practice,” Ownby said. “I think we saw it out there in the first half and then even into the second half. We are always going to be out there fighting. I think that’s where James has a good locker room of guys, and we just try to go out there and give our best performance.”
Spencer’s strike came in just his second game back from injury, as a hamstring tweak held him out through most of June. Ballard, the rookie from Louisville, tallied his third assist to go with his two goals.
O’Connor used the same opening 11 three games running leading into Saturday. Two changes helped spark LouCity, with Ilija Ilic and Sean Reynolds back in the startling lineup for the first time since June 3. Ilic hit a rocket of a shot off the cross bar six minutes after Ownby’s goal, and Reynolds anchored a defense that allowed just one shot on target: the 87th-minute goal.
With the win, LouCity maintained its second-place standing in the USL Eastern Conference standings, six points behind the league-leading Charleston Battery, who they travel to play next weekend. The next home game at Slugger Field is then a highly anticipated June 15 matchup with rival FC Cincinnati — the first visit from the River Cities Cup rival since a LouCity-record 10,062 attended the 2016 meeting.
Game Summary
Match: Louisville FC vs. Ottawa Fury FC
Date: July 1, 2017
Venue: Louisville Slugger Field
Kickoff: 7:35 p.m.
Weather: 84 degrees, sunny
Man of the Match: Brian Ownby
Scoring
Louisville City FC (1,1,2)
Ottawa Fury FC (0,1,1)
Goals
Louisville City FC:
14’ Brian Ownby gets keeper commit and slides it right past him in the box; assist to Paolo DelPiccolo.
71’ Luke Spencer knocks it out of traffic in the box and into the back of the net right past a defender.
Ottawa Fury FC:
88’ Steevan Dos Santos sends a header into the back of the net.
Lineups
Louisville City FC: 1- Greg Ranjitsingh 15- Sean Reynolds, 18- Paco Craig, 4- Sean Totsch, 24- Kyle Smith, 8- Guy Abend, 36-Paolo DelPiccolo, 19- Oscar Jimenez, 10- Brian Ownby (69’ 23- Richard Ballard), 14- Ilija Ilic (61’ 12- Luke Spencer), 22- George Davis IV (89’ 6- Tarek Morad)
Subs not used: 28- Tim Dobrowolski, 9- Cameron Lancaster, 80- Devon “Speedy” Williams, 11- Niall McCabe
Head coach: James O’Connor
Ottawa Fury FC: 1- Callum Irving, 12- Andrae Campbell, 5- Kyle Venter, 6- Shane McEleney, 3- Eddie Edward (0’ 2- Jonathan Barden, 74’ 10- Gerardo Bruna), 22- Jamar Dixon (74’ 7- Ryan Williams), 25- Lance Rozeboom, 9- Carl Haworth, 11- Sito Seoane, 8- Steevan Dos Santos, 18- Tucker Hume (45’ 4- Ramon Martin Del Campo)
Subs not used: 70- David Paulmin, 24- Jimmy-Shammar Sanon, 28- Sergio Manesio
Head coach: Paul Dalglish
Discipline
Louisville City FC:
31’ – Ilija Ilic – Yellow Card
53’ Paolo DelPiccolo
Ottawa Fury FC:
39’ Jamar Dixon – Yellow Card
56’ Jonathan Barden – Yellow Card
60’ Andrae Campbell – Yellow Card
95’ Steevan Dos Santos – Yellow Card
Officials
Referee: Henrik Karlsson
Assistant Referee 1: Walter Heatherly
Assistant Referee 2: Matthew Rodman
4th Official: Ben Hall-Volpenhein
