As Louisville City FC learned the extent of defender Kyle Smith’s suspension Wednesday — three games for actions in the club’s last game — the boys in purple also saw the return of midfielders George Davis IV and Brian Ownby.
Squad rotation proved effective in a 5-0 win over the Harrisburg City Islanders, with the victory vaulting LouCity back to first place in the USL Eastern Conference standings.
Five players did the scoring and Davis IV, on the return from a minor knee injury, assisted the first goal, an 11th-minute strike by Mark-Anthony Kaye that started the rout. In LouCity’s last three games — all wins — nine players have combined to score 13 goals.
“I think it’s just how we’ve been playing longer,” said midfielder Paolo DelPiccolo. “The more you play the better you get, and coach is making sure that we’re staying fit, and we’re training at a high intensity, and sometimes that — and mix in a little luck — and you get some good results.”
A club that scored just eight goals in its first eight games has come a long way since then. Atop the table with two games in hand, LouCity’s fourth in the USL in scoring at 44 goals in its 22 games.
Davis IV played on the wing normally occupied by Smith, who will have to sit out three games in all. Ownby came on in the second half, now back from a muscle strain suffered last month.
No matter the personnel, LouCity’s offense continued rolling.
“Everyone’s chipping in — all kind of chipping in good bunches too,” said midfielder Niall McCabe. “When you have players like that, and the team we have, you’re always capable of scoring goals. We’re scoring quite a lot regularly, and maybe that’s just the ball breaking to whereas maybe early on, that little bit of luck is falling their way.
“We’ll take the luck when it comes to us.”
More from Wednesday’s game…
• Goals by DelPiccolo and defender Sean Totsch both marked their first of the season. Three position players on the roster — Guy Abend, Devon “Speedy” Williams and Tarek Morad — will continue hunting their first as well. Each player has placed a shot on target this season.
• LouCity’s defense also had a shutdown effort, keeping Harrisburg without a shot on goal. It’s not as if the City Islanders didn’t threaten. But each time they neared the 18-yard box, LouCity was able to force either an errant shot (Harrisburg tallied three) or make a clearance (there were 14 of them).
• In years past, LouCity has performed better away, thriving on larger pitches. But the boys in purple have figured out how to make Slugger Field friendly confines this season as well, improving their record there to 7-1-2 on Wednesday.
