The spotlight returns to Slugger Field on Wednesday for the United Soccer League’s Game of the Week between Louisville City FC and the Harrisburg City Islanders.
The boys in purple will test their two-game winning streak and take a shot at returning to first place with kickoff set for 7:30 p.m. Show your support with tickets available by calling (502) 384-8799 or online.
Here’s what to watch for…
Tune In
TV: WBNA TV-21 will air the game live and in high definition locally with Mike Watts and Morgan Conklin on the call.
Radio: TJ Walker (play-by-play) and Jeff Milby (color commentary) will voice the action on 1080 WKJK, with pregame coverage starting at 7:15 p.m.
Streaming: Watch live via ESPN3.com, a special online destination for the USL Game of the Week.
Follow Along
For Starting XI information and in-game updates, check us out on social media. It’s @loucityfc on Twitter, Louisville City FC on Facebook and louisvillecityfc on Instagram. Live stats are available at the USL Match Center. Vote for the Modelo Man of the Match on Twitter starting in the 75th minute.
Links
• O’Connor transforming tryout players into stars
• Efficient offense has LouCity in USL title race
• Spencer’s brace leads LouCity past Bethlehem
Notes
Eastern Conference race: LouCity (12-4-5, 41 points) sits second on the table after Sunday’s 3-1 win over Bethlehem Steel FC. While three points back of the No. 1 Charlotte Independence, LouCity has three games in hand with two opportunities to gain ground this week. The boys in purple also host Orlando City B this Saturday. The City Islanders (6-12-6, 24 points) have lost four of their last five games.
Last time they met: The City Islanders scored one the 2017 season’s biggest upsets to date when LouCity traveled to Harrisburg, Penn., for the clubs’ first matchup. Pedro Riberio’s 53rd-minute goal made the difference June 24 in a 1-0 City Islanders victory which, at the time, marked their first win in 12 games and ended a five-game losing streak.
Scouting Harrisburg: As with their form earlier this season, the City Islanders enter without a win over a lengthy stretch, this time going back to July 15. Harrisburg has scored 18 goals this season and conceded 32, though 10 players have found the back of the net. The City Islanders are solid in goal, featuring Brandon Miller, who won a USL championship in 2015 with the Rochester Rhinos. Miller has six clean sheets to his name.
LouCity on the rise: Attendance this season through nine LouCity games at Slugger Field has averaged 9,281, a number bolstered by a capacity crowd of 13,812 on hand last time the boys in purple were home. Amid the growth — attendance is up more than 20 percent over last year — ownership has announced plans to build a soccer-specific stadium in the Butchertown Neighborhood that would open for the 2020 season.
Spencer’s breakout season: Already the reigning USL Player of the Week, Luke Spencer continued his run Sunday by registering a first half brace in Bethlehem. His seventh and eighth goals lead all LouCity players. To add, Spencer assisted two goals in LouCity’s recent win over FC Cincinnati, his hometown and former club, continuing a big year for the former MLS SuperDraft selection.
Set piece specialist: With three assists in LouCity’s last two games, defender Oscar Jimenez has taken the team lead in that category at five on the season. Two of his connections came on set pieces involving Spencer, and another was off a free kick to Cameron Lancaster, who replaced Spencer in the second half of the Bethlehem win. Jimenez has also scored two goals in his first year with LouCity while proving a threat offensively, placing 15 of his 24 shots on target.
Ranjitsingh stands tall in goal: Following a clean sheet against FC Cincinnati — Greg Ranjitsingh’s first start in nearly a month — the goalkeeper willed LouCity to another win Sunday. He recorded four saves on an afternoon Steel FC recorded eight shots in the box. His diving stop just before the half maintained LouCity’s lead, and he stepped in during the second half to thwart a free kick with the club still then only ahead a goal as well
Lineup consistency: For Sunday’s game at Bethlehem, coach James O’Connor elected for no changes in his Starting XI from last week’s 5-0 win over FC Cincinnati. But there was a new name eligible for selection off the bench as George Davis IV traveled to play Steel FC. Davis hasn’t played since July 15 after tweaking his knee in training.
Taking their chances: Over its past two games, LouCity has scored eight goals and tallied 22 shots on target, a significant turnaround from the early days of the 2017 season when the club managed just eight goals in its first eight games. O’Connor has harped on his side maximizing its opportunities. At 39 goals, LouCity sports the Eastern Conference’s No. 3 scoring offense.
Injury/discipline: LouCity’s 20-man roster is all available for Wednesday’s game, though the club will be without its leader in minutes played. Defender Kyle Smith received a red card in stoppage time of Sunday’s win at Bethlehem and will have to sit out against the City Islanders. Smith has missed only one other game this year, that one last month due to yellow card accumulation.
