By Andrew Bell
Louisville City FC defeated Sacramento Republic FC, 3-1, on Saturday night at Lynn Family Stadium to clinch a playoff spot in a weather-delayed match.
LouCity striker Wilson Harris opened the scoring early for his team, poaching in a ninth-minute Amadou Dia cross from the left flank. Twenty minutes later, a well-worked counterattack saw Sacramento forward Emil Cuello find a free header at LouCity’s near post to equalize.
Just minutes before halftime, City center back Sean Totsch rose above everybody to drill Paolo Delpiccolo’s corner kick past the Sacramento goalkeeper, nodding LouCity ahead with his eighth goal of the season. Match play was paused for an hour and a half because of lightning and resumed in the 56th minute, and City continued to hunt for a cushion goal. Substitute Elijah Wynder found it in the 88th minute, when Napo Matsoso drove to the end line and cut it back for Wynder, who snuck his first career goal past Republic FC’s keeper.
“For us, we want the playoffs to go through Lynn Family Stadium,” LouCity coach Danny Cruz said. “This is a difficult place for anybody. We want to make sure we keep going in the right direction and that we don’t have to go somewhere else for the playoffs.”
The matchup was the first meeting between the teams and a game LouCity will hope to build on following two consecutive defeats. City still sits best in the USL Championship’s Eastern Conference, with 58 points, four ahead of conference rival Tampa Bay Rowdies but two behind the West’s San Antonio FC. The boys in purple and San Antonio are battling for the most regular-season points, which would be the decisive factor in determining which club hosts the final should they both reach it.
Finishing strong
LouCity finished both halves with a goal —Totsch’s 45th-minute header to take the lead and Wynder’s 88th-minute strike to protect it. Wynder’s decisive hit was his first professional goal.
“I’ve been out for a long time, so to finally get back with the group on the field at Lynn Family Stadium and get my first goal was a great feeling,” Wynder said. “I think my first goal is just a starting point, and we’ll go from there.”
Notably, City is unbeaten in its last eight USL Championship matches when leading at halftime, a streak dating back to November 2021. Applying pressure to Sacramento the entire match, LouCity had more crosses, big chances and final-third entries in the second half.
LouCity didn’t just close out each half well on the offensive side, though.
On average this campaign, Sacramento Republic has been especially potent near the end of halves, scoring 52% of its goals in the last 15 minutes of each half. While City couldn’t add to its 13 clean sheets this season, the boys in purple left no room for late drama—a problem that plagued Cruz’s side all last season. By not stepping off the gas despite having the lead, LouCity denied Sacramento a single big chance in the second half, with City maintaining 56% possession throughout the second 45.
Fullbacks on full display
The outside-back duo of Manny Perez and Dia finessed its way down the Sacramento flanks while halting Republic FC’s own attacks. The two preseason signings had a combined nine duels won, nine recoveries and 10 interceptions on Saturday night.
On the offensive side of the ball, Perez and Dia helped to overload each wing, collaborating with LouCity’s wide forwards Brian Ownby, Ray Serrano and Enoch Mushagalusa in creating a numerical advantage going forward and ensuring chance creation. Perez and Dia together whipped in seven crosses, created a pair of chances and played 28 passes into their team’s final third.
Against Sacramento, Dia picked up a team-best seventh assist of the season.
“It’s a really good result, but that’s what we expect, especially when we’re at home,” Totsch said. “We don’t care who comes here; we expect to win. It was a pretty solid performance. We could have been better in some areas, but we’ll take three points and move on.”
