At one end of the pitch, a Sporting KC II defender had just chopped down Jorge Gonzalez to force a turnover when seconds later — with Louisville City FC defenders appealing for an offside call — the visitors put an equalizer in the back of the net.
That might have been a problem for any other club in the USL Championship, but LouCity responded Saturday night with a trio of late goals in a 4-1 victory over SKC II at Lynn Family Stadium.
The offense kept on humming amid a run of 11 unbeaten games over the last 12, keeping the boys in purple atop the Eastern Conference’s Central Division with an 11-3-3 record — those 33 points now seven better than second-place Birmingham Legion FC.
“Hell of a second half,” said coach Danny Cruz. “I spoke to the players about the importance of starting well … but i didn’t feel for the first 40 minutes there that we played to the ability that we needed to — small details that we can continue to work on.
“I’m happy with the result. Unbelievable atmosphere again — certainly gives us a push even after they score a goal. I know we’ve been talking about it lately, but that’s why it’s so important to play in this place with these fans.”
Adding to Jorge Gonzalez’s stoppage-time strike to end the first half, Brian Ownby headed in a 72nd-minute corner, Cameron Lancaster finished an assist from Ownby three minutes later, and Jimmy McLaughlin had a deflected shot from distance eke over the end line past the 90th minute.
The scoring spree more than negated Enoch Mushagalusa’s 68th-minute breakaway goal that had him shushing a crowd of 10,470. Tables turned not too long later on a night LouCity looked in full control.
“First and foremost, we don’t want to concede that goal,” Lancaster said. “That’s not in our DNA. That’s not what we want to happen. Good heart — good spirit to get the second and third and get up quickly.”
The boys in purple out-shot SKC II by an 18-3 margin, conceded only the one try on target and held 57.3% of possession. Chances were aplenty as LouCity racked up 19 attempted corners, too.
It was on corner No. 17 that Ownby, with service from Jonathan Gomez, skied for his headed goal that broke the deadlock. Ownby also pushed his career-high assist total just past the season’s midpoint seven when setting up Lancaster’s scoring chance.
The Tottenham Hotspur product Lancaster hit 60 career USL Championship goals — 59 with LouCity and one during his season with Nashville SC — before McLaughlin put the exclamation point on an electric final 20 minutes.
“We know we have the talent, work ethic and attack,” Ownby said, “and it’s just finding that final piece — final pass — because you see we get there a lot in the final third and it’s a final connection and we could be banging in four or five goals every game. So it’s just working on that final product.
“We know we have it, it’s just being patient and letting the game come to us and I think we did that after the first goal.”
Smoke poured from the Estopinal End of Lynn Family Stadium to the point that twice, a false fire alarm went off inside the venue. It was a fitting end to the club’s Supporter Appreciation Night thanking those who make the stadium atmosphere what it is each game.
LouCity will be back in a week’s time, hosting Central Division rival FC Tulsa, the only side to defeat the boys in purple since June 12.
Game Summary: Louisville City FC vs. Sporting KC II
Venue: Lynn Family Stadium
Kickoff: 7:30 p.m.
Weather: 86 degrees, Partly sunny
Man of the Match: Brian Ownby
Attendance: 10,470
Scoring
Louisville City FC (1, 3, 4)
Sporting KC II (1, 0, 1)
Goals
Louisville City FC:
45+3’, Gonzalez (assisted by Bone)
71’, Ownby (assisted by Gomez)
75’, Lancaster (assisted by Ownby)
90+4’ McLaughlin (assisted by Hoppenot)
Sporting KC II:
68’, Mushagalusa
Stats Summary: Louisville City FC / Sporting KC II
Shots: 18 / 4
Shots on Goal: 7 / 1
Fouls: 14 / 7
Offside: 0 / 5
Corner Kicks: 19 / 2
Saves: 0 / 3
Lineups
Louisville City FC: 24 – Parker Siegfried, 15 – Patrick McMahon, 4 – Sean Totsch, 6 – Wesley Charpie, 42 – Jonathan Gomez, 12 – Tyler Gibson, 13 – Corben Bone (60’ 11 – Niall McCabe), 36 – Paolo DelPiccolo (77’ 7 – Napo Matsoso), 10 – Brian Ownby (80’ 20 – Jimmy McLoughlin), 9 – Jorge Gonzalez (77’ 29 – Antoine Hoppenot), 17 – Cameron Lancaster (85’ 3 – Alexis Souahy)
Subs not used: 1 – Chris Hubbard, 8 – Akil Watts
Sporting KC II: 22 – Kendall McIntosh, 24 – Kayden Pierre, 98 – Matthew Constant (78’ 46 – Jacob Davis), 16 – Graham Smith, 33 – Daniel Barbir, 49 – Coby Jones. 32 – Christian Duke, 39 – Petar Cuic (87’ 56 – Jayin Van Deventer), 99 – Zion Long (67’ 44 – Rojay Smith), 37 – Jamil Roberts (78’ 88 – Isaiah LeFlore), 77 – Enoch Mushagalusa
Subs not used: 42 – Remi Prieur, 50 – Aljaz Dzankic, 84 – Jahon Rad
Discipline Summary
Sporting KC II: Jones (yellow) 9’
Louisville City: Matsoso (yellow) 84’
Louisville City: Hoppenot (yellow) 87’
Sporting KC II: Davis (yellow) 89’
Referee: Elton Garcia
Assistant Referees: Walt Heatherly & Christopher Slane
Fourth Official: Noah Matos
