Upset winners on a wild opening weekend of the USL Championship Playoffs, Louisville City FC and Detroit City FC will look to extend their seasons further when they meet Saturday for an Eastern Conference Semifinal.
Kickoff is set for 7:30 p.m. at Lynn Family Stadium, where LouCity is 6-1 in postseason games dating back to the venue’s opening in 2020.
To advance, Eastern Conference No. 5 seed LouCity won at No. 4 Memphis 901 FC in a penalty kick shootout. No. 8 Detroit took care of top-seeded Pittsburgh Riverhounds SC in regulation, prevailing 1-0 on the road.
Elsewhere in the conference, No. 7 Birmingham Legion FC also upended the No. 2 Tampa Bay Rowdies. The No. 3 Charleston Battery were the only higher seed in the East to survive, defeating No. 6 Indy Eleven.
LouCity and Detroit split their regular season meetings earlier this year. City prevailed at home, 1-0, back on April 8 before Detroit turned the tables in a 2-0 victory July 19 on its home turf.
That most-recent meeting marked Detroit’s only win over the boys in purple since joining the USL Championship last year. The clubs also met in the 2016 and 2022 U.S. Open Cup tournaments with both results going LouCity’s way on penalties.
Follow along
• The game will air live locally on MyTV 58 and ESPN Louisville’s 680/105.7.
• If streaming, download the free WDRB+ app to watch the local feed in Louisville. ESPN+ also streams the home feed of all USL Championship games not selected for national TV.
• For Starting XI and in-game updates, follow @loucityfc on Twitter. Also find the club at louisvillecityfc on Instagram and Louisville City FC on Facebook.
Player availability report
Amadou Dia (questionable)
Kyle Morton (out)
Jordan Scarlett (out)
Story lines…
Not-so-wild West: On the other side of the bracket, most top seeds held serve on opening weekend of the USL Championship Playoffs. The lone exception was No. 6 Phoenix Rising FC’s upset of No. 3 San Diego Loyal SC. Phoenix finished the regular season on 48 points and LouCity tallied 50, giving City one remaining path forward to host an eventual league final.
The streak: With a win over Detroit, LouCity would continue one of American soccer’s most unlikely runs. Since beginning play in 2015 — the same season the USL Championship moved to its Eastern/Western alignment — the boys in purple have gone on to appear in eight straight conference finals. That’s a streak unmatched at all levels of pro soccer in the country.
Postseason penalties: Against Memphis, LouCity went to a playoff penalty kick shootout for the second year in a row after defeating Pittsburgh from the spot in the 2022 Eastern Conference Semifinals. It was just the fourth time overall the boys in purple went to penalties following 2016’s conference final loss to New York Red Bulls II before a revenge victory in the 2017 conference final.
Dismal starts: While LouCity advanced, it did so in spite of conceding an opening goal to Memphis just 38 seconds into last weekend’s conference quarterfinal. Stunningly, City also allowed Tampa Bay to score 28 seconds into the clubs’ regular season finale back on Oct. 14. They were the earliest goals allowed in the Danny Cruz era but not fastest in club history. That designation belongs to Penn FC, which scored a 13th-second goal on City back in 2018.
Cam’s answer: Later in the first half Saturday, LouCity equalized with the sort of goal LouCity fans are used to seeing in the postseason when Cameron Lancaster hammered home an 18th-minute corner kick. Lancaster’s seven playoff goals over the years no rank him third among active players behind teammate Brian Ownby and San Antonio FC’s Santiago Patino, who are both on eight.
Delivery man: Combining the regular season and playoffs, Carlos Moguel Jr. brought himself into a tie for LouCity’s assist lead Saturday when connecting with Lancaster on the goal. Each of Moguel Jr.’s assists have come since the beginning of September — all on corner kicks — as the 20-year-old LouCity Academy graduate settles into a regular starting role.
The home fans: LouCity’s average attendance this year of 10,549 for regular season games at Lynn Family Stadium set a new club record and ranked second in the league, narrowly behind Sacramento Republic FC’s 10,627. However, it didn’t translate to a great advantage, with City going 8-6-3 at home. Still, there’s something about this time of year, as the 2021 conference final against Tampa Bay remains the club’s only home playoff loss at Lynn.
