The boys in purple are on some kind of run.
Wednesday’s crushing 5-0 victory over the Harrisburg City Islanders set a new record in offensive success for Louisville City FC. With the win, the club has scored 13 goals in its last three games and 20 goals in its last six games.
Perhaps even more impressive, 11 LouCity players scored in that six-game span (nine in the last three games).
The run began with LouCity’s 4-1 rout in the searing Fenton, Mo., heat and humidity, running Saint Louis FC off the park in the second half. City followed that with a 2-1 win over New York Red Bulls II before falling 3-1 on the road at the Charlotte Independence.
But the Charlotte game appears to have been a turning point. Louisville City followed that up with the 5-0 demolition of rival FC Cincinnati before knocking off the Bethlehem Steel comfortably, 3-1 last Sunday.
“I think the last few games have been really strong performances that we put in,” said midfielder and captain Paolo DelPiccolo. “Even going back to Charlotte, I thought we put in a strong performance at Charlotte. We ended up losing the game, which isn’t what we want, but I think we’re on a strong roll right now.”
The closest Louisville City has come to a scoring run like this was in the club’s inaugural season. From June 27 through August 1, 2015, LouCity tallied 18 goals in six games, all of them wins, three at home and three on the road. Former USL MVP Matt Fondy scored six goals in that span.
In the team’s current run however, the goals have been spread around.
Luke Spencer leads the team with five goals in the last six games, while Mark-Anthony Kaye has scored three goals. Niall McCabe, Cameron Lancaster and Paco Craig each have two. Six other players have also chipped in with a goal.
“I mean, yeah, we have some players that can score goals for sure,” McCabe said. “Like you can see throughout the team, Ilija scoring tonight. Luke’s scoring. Cam’s scoring. Mark’s scoring. Everyone’s chipping in — all kind of chipping in good bunches too.
“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.”
Just as impressive as the goals, and arguably more important, is the service into the box. Oscar Jimenez, a converted midfielder playing this season as an outside back, has been in arguably the best form of his Louisville City career.
The 27-year-old, who leads the team in creating 46 goal-scoring chances to this point in 2017, has created 22 chances on goal, with five assists. And as we addressed earlier this week, Louisville City is becoming much more efficient with their shots, converting the multitude of chances and putting shots on frame.
With LouCity back in first place with games in hand, the team is looking primed for a run at a No. 1 seed in the USL Cup Playoffs.
