Local TV: WBKI TV | ESPN+: #INDvLOU
Louisville City will square off against Indy Eleven Saturday in the USL Championship Eastern Conference Finals. Kickoff is set for 3 p.m. at Mike Carroll Stadium on the campus of IUPUI.
Saturday’s showdown is Louisville City’s fifth-straight appearance in the Eastern Conference Final while Indy is making its first appearance. LouCity, the 2017 and 2018 USL Championship titles, is searching for its third-straight Eastern Conference title.
“Now we’re at the point where we are playing for trophies,” Louisville City coach John Hackworth said. “And we’re facing a tough Indy team who we know will be a challenge for us.”
Indy and LouCity squared off twice in the regular season with both games ending in a 1-1 tie. In post-season soccer, the teams will play an extra 30 minutes if tied at the end of regulation. And if the match is still tied, the game will be decided by penalty kicks.
Indy is one of the top defensive teams in the league, having surrendered only 29 goals on the season, the second-fewest in the USL Championship.
“They are a good team,” LouCity forward Antoine Hoppenot said. “Defensively they work hard and they get a lot of people back in defense. It’ll be a tough team to break down. They don’t give up a lot of goals. And then when they have the ball, they break well, they transition well to their offense.”
Louisville City is the hottest team left in the playoffs. The club started a run in early August that has included 11 wins and just one loss through the final stretch of the season and into the playoffs.
Knocking off Pittsburgh, the top team in the East, LouCity opened up the possibility of hosting the final if they beat Indianapolis on Saturday.
“To have the opportunity to bring another championship game back to our city is a huge motivator for us,” goalkeeper Chris Hubbard said. “We know what the atmosphere was like in last year’s USL Cup and we would love to have the chance to do that again.”
Kickoff is set for 3 p.m. at Mike Carroll Stadium on the campus of IUPUI. The game will be televised locally on WBKI and nationally on ESPN+. Internationally, the broadcast is available on YouTube.
The radio broadcast will be on 1080 WKJK and features Kevin Kernen on play-by-play and John Horlander on color analysis.
