Louisville City FC coach John Hackworth said his team “shot ourselves in the foot a little bit” by entering the half Saturday up 3-1 rather than 3-0 at Lucas Oil Stadium.
Just before the break, a handball in the box led to Indy Eleven striker Tyler Pasher’s penalty kick goal that trimmed the margin in a key USL Championship game.
“We let them back in,” Hackworth said. But how the boys in purple handled the second half could serve them moving forward.
LouCity bent but never broke as Indy transformed 16 crosses into eight shots. The run of play had the visitors squarely on their back foot defending while up multiple goals, a rarity for a side that typically out-shoots and in the process out-possesses foes.
A winning 3-1 scoreline held, however, with three points enough to push LouCity to first place in the USL’s Group E.
“We haven’t had that kind of game where we had to absorb that much pressure,” Hackworth said. “Those moments are so important, and until you are successful in those moments you don’t truly know that you can do them but do them against a quality team like Indy.
“That’s a moment where we can understand that if we get in these kinds of battles, while it’s not what we want to play or the style that we play, sometimes we have to in this sport.”
Possession — 62.6% of it in the second half — swung heavily in Indy Eleven’s favor as the hosts tried to mount a rally. That added up to 583 total Indy passes for the game compared to LouCity’s 394.
“We knew they were going to come out with some energy — them getting that goal right before half, so we wanted to come out and match it,” said midfielder Corben Bone, who scored one of LouCity’s first half goals. “…No one got that goal they were searching for, but on a positive note we defended really well, I thought.”
The result marked six games unbeaten for LouCity, which totals 20 points on the season thanks to a 6-3-2 record. Indy Eleven (19 points), Saint Louis FC (18) and Sporting KC II (13) are others in the group that will send its top-two finishers to the playoffs.
Before the boys in purple started their unbeaten streak and rise to No. 1, they also spent time at the bottom of the table.
“We just have to keep the group mentality,” said midfielder Napo Matsoso, another of LouCity’s goal scorers Saturday. “They hit us in the second half. We’ve just got to keep fighting, and that’s what we did. So long as we’re fighting, we give ourselves a chance.”
“Now even more hard work begins,” Bone added. “We’ve got to stay there.”
After a pair of games away from Lynn Family Stadium, LouCity’s back home at 7:30 p.m. against Saint Louis FC, the only Group E club it hasn’t defeated yet so far in 2020. Previous results were a 1-0 Saint Louis win on July 18 before the rivals drew 1-1 more recently on Aug. 29.
