Louisville City FC’s back on the pitch as the squad gathers Wednesday for its first official training session of 2023. With the countdown on to a new USL Championship season only 45 days away, here’s a quick catchup on the boys in purple.
Club continuity: LouCity will again be among the USL Championship title favorites having returned a league-record 22 players from last year’s Eastern Conference title-winning team that set a pair of notable records. City accumulated a club-high 72 points during the regular season and won 22 games, earning the conference’s top playoff seed.
Fresh faces: The boys in purple will see limited additions to their ranks heading into the new campaign. Two signings so far were made in the midfield. Dylan Mares, formerly of El Paso Locomotive FC, joined after scoring a career-high 10 goals last year. Rasmus Thellufsen made the move from his native Denmark’s Lyngby Boldklub, a member of the first division Danish Superliga.
2023 schedule: LouCity kicks off its season March 11 at Orange County SC and hosts El Paso in its March 25 home opener. Those are two of 34 USL Championship games ahead, with City set to play all Eastern Conference members home and away and every Western Conference club once. This marks the first time all teams will play the others in a balanced format since 2015.
Home highlight: Five Western Conference clubs will make their first visits to Louisville this year, among them San Antonio FC. That sets up a highly anticipated rematch of the 2022 USL Championship Final won 3-1 by San Antonio. The clubs meet again April 15 at Lynn Family Stadium where, this time, the boys in purple hope to be in better overall health than at the tail end of last season.
Competition format: USL Championship clubs will chase top-eight finishes to qualify for the 2023 playoffs. The postseason have remained a single-elimination format with two changes from last year. The top seeds will no longer earn a bye, and the bracket will be fixed rather than re-seeded after the opening round. The USL Championship Final will fall between Nov. 9 and 13.
Road warriors: For the second straight year, LouCity will play almost exclusively away from Louisville during its preseason — a measure coach Danny Cruz saw pay off in his second season in charge. In 2021, City went 6-5-5 on the road, while the boys in purple improved to 9-4-4 in 2022.
Home fortress: LouCity is 24-4-2 with a +45 goal differential at Lynn Family Stadium since June of 2021, when capacity limits lifted amid the COVID-19 pandemic. City’s Butchertown neighborhood home welcomed a club-record crowd of 14,673 for last season’s victory over the Tampa Bay Rowdies. City averaged attendance of 10,465 in 2022, ranking second in the USL Championship.
Cruz control: The 33-year-old, who took over as interim manager and later accepted the permanent position in 2021, continues to show himself as a rising managerial star at a club where there’s always pressure to win. LouCity is 39-13-13 under Cruz’s direction, and he last year became the youngest head coach to appear on a touchline in the USL Championship Final.
Wynder-ful future: Young LouCity defender Josh Wynder could be on the verge of USL Championship history should he materialize as the league’s first-ever seven-figure transfer. Experts project the LouCity Academy graduate — who had a breakout 2022 season and has been called up by the United States at the U-19 and U-20 levels — as a $1 million value. He turns 18 on May 2, making him eligible to move during the summer window.
Clean bill of health: A preseason hamstring pull and midseason groin strain reduced Cameron Lancaster’s 2022 regular season contributions to only two starts in eight appearances. When on the pitch, however, he proved as explosive as ever, scoring four goals in limited action. Lancaster’s poised for a bounce back campaign as one of two players with multiple 20-goal seasons in the league (2018, 2021).
Better with age: Forward Brian Ownby will turn 33 this season and, if anything, the speedy winger has only grown more effective in the later stages of his career. Ownby, who remains faster than counterparts a decade younger, scored a career-high nine goals during the 2022 regular season and chipped in the club’s only scoring strike in the USL Championship Final — that despite playing at less than 100% due to a leg injury to end the year.
Capable keepers: LouCity has two of them. Kyle Morton played most of the 2022 season between the posts, with his rate of 0.74 goals conceded per game good enough to earn the club’s first Golden Glove award. Morton picked up a pair of injuries along the way, allowing for open tryout find Danny Faundez to make nine appearances, including the playoffs, where he helped City prevail in a conference semifinal penalty kick shootout.
Sophomore sensations: LouCity has had to do little in terms of incoming players this offseason after doing a good bit of business heading into 2022. The work paid off, as newcomers included Morton, leading scorer Wilson Harris (15 goals), top distributor Amadou Dia (8 assists) and second-leading scorer Enoch Mushagalusa (10 goals). All have returned along with Manny Perez, a dynamic right back with a habit of making the USL Championship Team of the Week.
LouCity legends: Midfielders Niall McCabe and Paolo DelPiccolo both signed new contracts this offseason, extending tenures with the club dating back to 2015 and 2016, respectively. McCabe (177) ranks third in league appearances ever for one club and DelPiccolo fourth (176) with only retired Charleston Battery defender Taylor Muller (200) and Pittsburgh Riverhounds SC midfielder Kevin Kerr (183) ahead of them.
Louisville lore: DelPiccolo will be joined in purple this season by his former University of Louisville teammate, the recent signing Mares. Both were members of the Cardinals’ 2010 team that advanced to the NCAA College Cup Final. Simon Bird, now LouCity’s top assistant, and Mario Sanchez, the club’s youth academy director, were both part of that UofL staff as well working under head coach Ken Lolla.
Reaching potential: Elijah Wynder, the 19-year-old midfielder, will get his chance after a gruesome leg injury erased his entire 2021 season. Wynder slowly built back last year to become a regular contributor by season’s end, scoring a game-winner against the Tampa Bay Rowdies in the Eastern Conference Final. The LouCity Academy grad was voted the USL Championship’s Comeback Player of the Year for his efforts and now heads into 2023 looking to play a full first professional campaign.
Model of consistency: With Lancaster unavailable most of last year, center back Sean Totsch added dimension to his game by becoming LouCity’s primary penalty taker. He wound up with a USL Championship-record nine goals and parlayed another solid defensive campaign into a third straight All-League First Team spot. Only Forrest Lasso (2017-2021) and William Yomby (2011-2014) hold longer such appearance streaks than Totsch USL history.