By Andrew Bell
Louisville City FC defeated Hartford Athletic by a 2-1 score Saturday night at Lynn Family Stadium in LouCity’s final regular season game of the season, capping off a club-record 72 point-campaign and sending City into the playoffs as the Eastern Conference’s No. 1 seed.
Thirty-four minutes in, a Hartford corner kick seemed to have been smuggled across City’s goal line only for LouCity forward Wilson Harris to bicycle kick the attempt out of the area. Eleven minutes later, LouCity captain Paolo DelPiccolo scored his team’s opener after Ray Serrano’s cross was headed down by Amadou Dia and smashed home on the volley by DelPiccolo.
Hartford found an equalizer in the 74th minute when defender Younes Boudadi took the ball in stride and snuck it through to forward Ariel Martinez, who finished cooly. On the brink of the final whistle, LouCity midfielder Napo Matsoso went down under a challenge in the box and was awarded a penalty. City forward Cameron Lancaster, who was substituted on in the 62nd minute and has been unavailable for most of the season due to injury, stepped up and finished like he hadn’t missed a minute, lifting his team to three points.
“Especially for someone in [Lancaster’s] position and what he’s gone through and battled through this year physically, I’m so happy for him,” DelPiccolo said about Lancaster’s return to the scoresheet.
Although LouCity had already clinched its top playoff seed entering the night, this victory served as a momentum-builder entering the postseason.
“It’s important for us to keep doing things and continue that into the playoffs,” DelPiccolo said. “The result didn’t matter for the table, but winning is winning and that’s the mentality we need to have going into the playoffs, so it was good to come out with three points.”
This was the second meeting between the teams, with LouCity defeating Hartford 2-0 back in late June. Hartford ended its season 10th in the East with 36 points — 18 points outside a playoff position.
“I was really proud of the ability [of the team] to change shapes and how the guys performed at the start of the second half,” coach Danny Cruz said about his team’s performance. “Again, you get a win at home in front of an incredible atmosphere as always. It’s certainly something to be proud of. When you look at 72 points in a season, I’m very, very proud of everybody in that locker room right now.”
The best defense is a good offense
Not only have LouCity’s defenders been exceptionally strong when playing back — holding 15 clean sheets on the season — but they’ve also excelled when going forward.
Center back Sean Totsch is the joint third-highest scorer on the team, producing nine goals, most coming from the spot. Last week, defender Josh Wynder scored the winning goal against Detroit City FC. Additionally, Amadou Dia has an incredible eight assists while Manny Perez and Dia have combined for 64 chances created and hundreds of crosses from their fullback positions this season.
On the night, center backs Wes Charpie and Wynder both had a shot while the entire back five combined for 36 entries into Hartford’s final third and 47 passes into Hartford territory. Dia and Perez also contributed to LouCity’s goals against Hartford, with Dia directly assisting DelPiccolo and Perez playing Matsoso in the box, leading to the game-winning penalty.
Positive trends heading into playoffs
LouCity has improved massively across most categories year over year.
In City’s 2021 campaign, which saw the boys in purple fall to Tampa Bay in the conference final, the team averaged 1.91 points overall per game and 1.35 points away from home. This season, LouCity has averaged 2.12 points overall and 1.82 away. LouCity’s attack has been refined in 2022, increasing its expected goals, possession, and shot conversion rate since last year.
A big concern for Cruz’s team last season was conceding late in each half, with 50% of the goals scored against the boys in purple coming in the last 15 minutes of either half. LouCity dropped 11 points last season due to late second-half goals, conceding late 14 times. This year, LouCity has only conceded five times in the last 15 minutes of games and has dropped points due to late goals on five occasions.
Last season, LouCity on average, conceded 1.14 goals per game, while this season, City has conceded only 0.86 goals per game and has six clean sheets more in the same time frame.
Clearly, the signings and tactical changes Cruz brought to LouCity in his first full year in charge point to constant development and the potential for a deep playoff run.
Sitting atop its conference, LouCity will receive a bye to the conference semifinal round, kicking off at 7:30 p.m. on Saturday, Oct. 29 at Lynn Family Stadium — a home field that LouCity has made into a fortress.
