Louisville City FC restored order Wednesday night, rolling to a 3-1 victory over visiting OKC Energy FC to take its place back atop the USL Championship’s Central Division standings.
Defender Wes Charpie netted a 14th-minute header, Cameron Lancaster made the most of a 41st-minute rebound, and Corben Bone capped scoring with a hammered 55th-minute shot at Lynn Family Stadium.
OKC Energy only once silenced the weeknight crowd of 10,032 when Villyan Bijev snuck a 61st-minute shot into the LouCity goal. But the visitors didn’t mount any more of a rally from there.
As a result, the boys in purple improved to 7-3-2 on the season and moved a point clear of Birmingham Legion FC atop the Central Division standings with what was a bounce-back effort. Over the weekend, LouCity dropped a 3-2 decision at FC Tulsa — their first defeat in six games.
“That’s a locker room that knows what it takes to win, and certainly their heads don’t go down when the results don’t go our way,” said head coach Danny Cruz. “I’ve spoken over and over again — and you’ll hear me say it (again) because I believe it was a huge problem against Tulsa — is coming out with the right mentality. I felt from our locker room, from our conversations in there to the first minute, that certainly was what we were looking for.”
Wednesday’s victory was never much in doubt on a night when LouCity was solid from the opening whistle. Having conceded eight goals in its last three games — seven in the first half — the boys in purple this time limited OKC Energy to a single shot in target before the break.
“I think it was a step forward. It felt good on the field,” Charpie said. “The communication felt a little bit better today — actually, much better to be honest with you. I think we’re coving each other more. We had a good balance.
“…It was a good response, and it felt like it on the field.”
Before the game went final, the club celebrated the debut of local 16-year-old Josh Wynder, a defender who subbed on in the 86th minute to mark his first professional appearance since signing last month out of LouCity’s youth academy.
“Excited,” Wynder said of his emotions around the moment, “but I was nervous at first. Once I got in and got the adrenaline rushing it felt good.”
“I don’t care about his age,” Cruz added. “He shows every day in training that he is good enough, and hopefully he can build on it. It was a good moment for him. It was a good moment for the club. There’s a lot of people that have been involved in his development, and everybody here at Louisville City should be proud, including himself.”
Cruz’s lineup consisted of five changes from the FC Tulsa loss with this the squad’s second of three games in eight days. A number of standout performances will make selection difficult heading into Saturday’s 7:30 p.m. home game against Atlanta United 2.
Gomez had a role in all three LouCity goals, the first a corner delivered straight to Charpie and the second another corner that Lancaster cleaned up for his team-leading seventh goal of the season. Gomez was credited with an assist when a swiftly delivered pass landed at Bone’s feet near the top of the box; the veteran midfielder punched a shot right into the net from there.
As LouCity appeared to get over some defensive woes, the attack kept clicking with 20 goals over the last seven games. In a tight points battle, goal differential may factor, and the boys in purple are +10 in that category, eight better than any Central Division rivals.
Game Summary: Louisville City FC vs. OKC Energy FC
Venue: Lynn Family Stadium
Kickoff: 7:30 p.m.
Weather: 85 degrees, partly sunny
Man of the Match: Jonathan Gomez
Attendance: 10,032
Scoring
Louisville City FC (2, 1, 3)
OKC Energy FC (0, 1, 1)
Goals
Louisville City FC:
14’ Charpie (assisted by Gomez)
41’ Lancaster
55’ Bone (assisted by Gomez)
OKC Energy FC:
61’ Bijev (assisted by Chavez)
Stats Summary: Louisville City FC / OKC Energy FC
Shots: 15 / 11
Shots on Goal: 7 / 4
Fouls: 13 / 11
Offside: 0 / 3
Corner Kicks: 7 / 5
Saves: 4 / 4
Lineups
Louisville City FC: 1 – Chris Hubbard, 15 – Pat McHahon, 6 – Wasley Charpie (63’ 3 – Alexis Souahy), 4 – Sean Totsch, 13 – Corben Bone, 42 – Jonathan Gomez, 10 – Brian Ownby (74’ 22 – George Davis IV), 12 – Tyler Gibson, 11 – Niall McCabe, 20 – James McLaughlin (86’ 66 – Joshua Wynder), 17 – Cameron Lancaster (74’ 21 – Kyle Greig)
Subs not used: 24 – Parker Siegfried, 29 – Antoine Hoppenot, 36 – Paolo DelPiccolo
OKC Energy FC: 35 – Kyle Ihn, 20 – Connor Donovan, 3 – Robert Coronado (11’ 5 – Samuel Rogers), 22 – Zachary Ellis-Hayden (53’ 17 – Jonathan Brown), 4 – Mitchell Osmond, 8 – Hiroki Kurimoto, 14 – Charlie Ward, 13 – Aidan Daniels (58’ 9 – Jamie Chavez), 10 – Arun Basuljevic (45’ 18 – Tucker Stephenson), 11 – Frank Lopez, 21 – Villyan Bijev
Subs not used: 23 – Sam Howard, 6 – Brad Dunwell, 19 – Muengnenshime Goshit
Discipline Summary
OKC Energy: Donovan (yellow) 13’
Louisville City: McMahon (yellow) 19’
Louisville City: Gomez (yellow) 46’
OKC Energy: Ward (yellow) 57’
Louisville City: Charpie (yellow) 62’
Louisville City: DelPiccolo (yellow) 78’
Referee: Thomas Snyder
Assistant Referees: Tom Felice & Mike Nickerson
Fourth Official: Chris Schurfranz
