Louisville City was supposed to play Indy Eleven Saturday. The match was supposed to be Indy Eleven’s 2020 home opener at Lucas Oil Stadium.
But there were no games played Saturday due to the international suspension in play due to the COVID-19 pandemic. To help bring fans together, Louisville City FC hosted a re-airing of Louisville City’s 3-1 win over Indy Eleven from the 2019 Eastern Conference Final.
In that match, LouCity’s Antoine Hoppenot scored an equalizer at the death to send the match to extra time and Louisville City prevailed in extra time 3-1.
Saturday morning, Hoppenot joined Howie Lindsey, Lance McGarvey, and Keith O’Loane on Soccer City Radio on 790 KRD. He said he remembers the goal vividly.
“A corner kick late in the game is a pretty chaotic situation,” Hoppenot said. “I tried to position myself into a spot where I thought the ball could come to. As the ball came in it deflected off someone and same right at me.”
Hoppenot saw the ball and knew the time was now to make a play.
“I just hit it. It was one of those moments where you see it and react,” Hoppenot said. “And thankfully – Hubs (Chris Hubbard) was in the box there, he was standing in front of me – thankfully he got out of the way because if he didn’t he may have blocked it.”
Hubbard, who shielded the keeper from seeing the shot, had run down to join in what most believed was the final play of the match in the 94′.
“I’ve joked around with him a lot,” Hoppenot said with a laugh. “He took a step toward the ball and I remember thinking, ‘Please don’t touch this.’ That would have been unbelievable.”
Hoppenot said he was intensely focused as the ball left his foot.
“You can see it on the replay, there’s a moment where I am staring at the ball,” he said. “There’s this lane that the ball goes through. I was just hoping the ball would go through that lane. And as soon as I realized the ball was going through that lane I went crazy,”
Hoppenot said he and his teammates were extremely confident they would win once the match went to extra time.
“These guys have been on a great run with three championship games in three years so they always have a lot of confidence, but right after that goal we all felt like there was no way we were going to lose,” Hoppenot said. “It was a similar feeling the week before at Pittsburgh.”
With no game Saturday and no match this weekend either, Hoppenot and his teammates are working to stay sharp as the USL season has been suspended due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
“As professionals, we all have the same attitude – we need to be ready whenever the season starts again,” Hoppenot said. “It’s kind of tough not knowing when that is going to happen so we need to be ready at a moment’s notice. We have to stay fit and sharp.”
