It’s rare for Louisville City FC coach James O’Connor to substitute just before a corner kick. But when it’s a 6-foot-2 forward coming off the bench, an exception had to be made Saturday night.
“Luke (Spencer) could — no exaggeration — Luke could probably jump up and head that Exit sign up there,” O’Connor said, eyeing the ceiling of the Louisville Slugger Field press box in his postgame interview. “When you’ve got athleticism like that, it’s get him on there.”
So that’s what LouCity did, and Spencer lunged in for a header that made the difference in a 2-1 win over the New York Red Bulls II. The goal came in the 70th minute — same as when Spencer ran on the pitch.
The Cincinnati native tallied his fifth goal of the season, tied with fellow striker Cameron Lancaster for the team lead, in his first year wearing purple. Midfielder Paolo DelPiccolo also tied the team lead in assists with four while delivering the corner kick.
Spencer’s mindset on the play? “Just attack it,” he said. “Make sure I made solid contact with it. Luckily I did, so I scored the goal.”
And so a key substitution led to a victory over the defending champs. Here’s what else we learned from Saturday’s game…
• Defender Paco Craig scored his second goal of the season just a week after scoring his first in a win at Saint Louis FC. Both of his goals have come off assists from Oscar Jimenez, who tallied his third assist of the year against the Red Bulls II.
• O’Connor made four changes to his lineup, that after a 4-1 road victory, in what he called a “testament to the quality that we have.” DelPiccolo and Kyle Smith returned off yellow card suspensions, while Sean Totsch took a spot on the defense and Cameron Lancaster the attack. For the second straight game, Tim Dobrowolski also started in goal.
• Up next for the boys in purple comes a road trip to Matthews, N.C., the new home of the second-place Charlotte Independence, who haven’t lost since their early June trip to Slugger Field. as the club will take on a Charlotte Independence side which hasn’t seen a defeat since June 7 against LouCity.
“They’ve moved to a new stadium,” O’Connor said. “It’s a bigger pitch, which seem to have suited them. It should suit us as well. It’ll be a really good game to be honest.”
