Louisville City FC got a pair of goals from veteran Luke Spencer and pushed ahead 4-2 in the second half to beat Memphis 901 FC in its final USL tune-up before the season.
LouCity was in control of the match early as the back-to-back USL Cup Champions tested Memphis’ defense. One of those early tests led to Spencer’s first goal.
Spencer was taken down in the box in a collision and was awarded a penalty kick midway through the first half.
“It was great to have Luke get two goals today and I believe that is three for him so far,” Louisville City coach John Hackworth said. “His runs off the ball today were very good and we needed to find him even more than we did actually.”
Memphis got an equalizer on a shot from outside the box in the 32nd minute, but City answered within a minute as Niall McCabe assisted on Spencer’s second goal.
“I was able to split the middle backs and Niall served it well,” Spencer said.
Louisville City was ahead 2-1 at the half, but both teams made wholesale changes for the second half.
Now with all new lineups, Memphis got an equalizer midway through the second half, but Louisville City wasn’t done yet.
Sunny Jane broke down a Memphis defender and delivered a beautiful pass to Lucky Mkosana for the game-winning goal, and City added an insurance goal a few minutes later to notch the final score.
“I want to say that the group in the second half did a better job of executing our game plan, so that s great for all of them, but Napo getting on the board was big,” Hackworth said. “And Sunny’s pass on Lucky’s goal was great. We are a team and we root for each other’s success. We were all excited to see how the guys played in the second half.”
Louisville City returns home to train for the next few days before traveling to Lexington for a friendly exhibition with the University of Kentucky on Sunday afternoon at 3 p.m. Admission is free to all fans.
