TUESDAY, FEB. 25 – Louisville City Football Club got a brace from striker Cameron Lancaster and first-half goals from Paolo DelPiccolo and Abdou Thiam to cruise to a 4-0 win in the club’s penultimate preseason tilt Tuesday.
“Having Cam back is huge for us because we have one of the best goal-scorers this league has ever known,” Louisville City coach John Hackworth said. “And for our club, specifically, he has been tremendous. When you have a goal scorer like him, who just finds a way to put the ball in the back of the net, all the other phases of the game that we try to play at such a high level become – it’s not so much that they are easier, but if you can execute in that one phase and then take care of all the rest, it makes for a very solid team. At the end of the day, you are trying to score more goals than your opponent and, with him, we are certainly looking to do that.”
In the 9′, Lancaster found himself with the ball in the box after a nifty corner kick play by Oscar Jimenez. Lancaster spun and shot, but his shot was blocked. When the rebound found his foot again, Lancaster buried it into the bottom right corner of the goal.
Just two minutes later Lancaster collected his second goal when he returned the rebound after Abdou Thiam’s shot was blocked by Forward Madison’s keeper. The ball deflected off the keeper straight to Lancaster’s head for an easy second goal.
Louisville City’s pressure was giving Forward Madison fits and just nine minutes later, Paolo DelPiccolo pushed LouCity’s lead to 3-0 when he drove a shot into the goal from the edge of the box.
Continuing to pressure Forward Madison all over the pitch, Louisville City collected its fourth goal in the 22′ minute when Abdou Thiam was open on the right side of the box, drew the keeper out of the goal box, and tucked a shot into the left corner.
“I think Abdou is a perfect example of learning a lot of lessons in his first year and coming back and applying them,” Hackworth said. “We thought this the whole time that him coming back here was going to be really important. We saw so many good qualities last year, but, at the same time, we knew that there was so much room for growth.”
Louisville City carried a 4-0 lead into the half and brought in a new lineup for the second half. The Boys in Purple started the match with Chris Hubbard in goal, Oscar Jimenez, Alexis Souahy, Sean Totsch and Pat McMahon on the backline, DelPiccolo, Corben Bone and Napo Matsoso in the midfield with George Davis IV, Lancaster, and Thiam upfront.
In the second half, Louisville City went with Ben Lundt in goal, Oscar Jimenez, Wes Charpie, Jimmy Ockford, and Akil Watts as defenders, Speedy Williams, Niall McCabe, and Magnus Rasmussen in the midfield with Brian Ownby, Luke Spencer, and Antoine Hoppnenot at forward. Academy signee Elijah Wynder replaced Jimenez early in the second half and helped LouCity close out the match.
“We’ve been going hard,” Hackworth said. “We’ve been doing double days for almost four weeks now. When you put that much volume on the players’ legs you want to manage the minutes. Because of our quality, we have been able to do that.”
Neither team scored in the second half and Louisville City cruised to a 4-0 decision. The club will finish its preseason schedule Saturday at 5 p.m. with an open scrimmage vs. the University of Kentucky at the Bell Soccer Complex in Lexington, Ky.
