By Andrew Bell
Louisville City FC defeated Detroit City FC, 4-0, on Saturday night at Lynn Family Stadium in the USL Championship’s Eastern Conference Semifinal round in a dominant display of attacking prowess and defensive stoutness from the home side.
LouCity scored its first goal in the 15th minute from the penalty spot after Brian Ownby’s combination play led him into Detroit’s box, where defender Michael Bryant tripped the veteran winger. LouCity forward Cameron Lancaster sent the goalkeeper the wrong way and slotted away the try.
Ownby doubled his team’s lead in the 43rd minute when a Carlos Moguel Jr. corner kick found its way to Ownby in the middle of Detroit’s box. Ownby swiped at the ball once and had it bounce back to him before he put away his second attempt.
Lancaster and Ownby got involved again on LouCity’s third goal after a perfect diagonal ball from center back Kyle Adams was received by Ownby, who drove down the line and crossed the ball to Lancaster. Lancaster, unmarked on the back post, shouldered his team to a 3-0 lead in the 59th minute.
Less than a minute later, LouCity midfielder Jorge Gonzalez put the finishing touch on his team’s flawless night after driving into Detroit’s box, putting two defenders on the ground and chipping the ball over Detroit’s goalkeeper.
“I’m extremely proud of the group,” head coach Danny Cruz said after the win. “Tonight was an amazing night — fantastic for the community, for the fans, for that locker room, for our owners, for everybody. Collectively, I felt we played as a unit tonight.”
“We have a lot to be proud of, but we have another game, and that’s the focus this week. It comes back to sticking to our process, making sure that we come back to work on Monday ready to learn from where we could be better tonight. The group is obviously in a good way, but we can’t get complacent.”
This win marked LouCity’s largest margin of victory all season and sends the boys in purple through to the Eastern Conference Final for a historic ninth straight year.
“It’s a testament to this entire club,” Cruz said about LouCity’s playoff achievements. “One of the biggest things is the mentality that this club has. It’s something special. It’s certainly not easy to do what this club has done year after year.”
The clean sheet on Saturday means City hasn’t conceded a playoff goal this postseason in 179 minutes of regular time through two games, only faltering in the first minute against Memphis last weekend before going on to win the game in penalties. Any doubt about another LouCity playoff run to the conference final has been put to rest, despite the boys in purple stumbling to a 0-2-1 record in its last three games of a rocky regular season.
Lack of momentum heading into the postseason hasn’t been an issue, however, as LouCity was clinical in its shootout last weekend and completely dominant against Detroit on Saturday.
City veterans star on Saturday
In his first 21 games of the season, Lancaster netted just five goals. In his last three games, the Englishman has scored four times and assisted once. Lancaster’s revitalization arrived at a crucial time, and it isn’t the first time he’s come to life all of a sudden this season. In a span of three games from late July to early August, Lancaster recorded three goals and an assist. Since then, the 30-year-old hadn’t seen much of the field until he was substituted on late against Tampa Bay two weeks ago and scored a fantastic goal from outside the box to pull one back against the Rowdies.
Now, Lancaster, in the form of his life, looks clinical as ever once again. During the USL Championship’s Eastern Conference Semifinal last season, Lancaster came up clutch with a 82nd-minute penalty conversion against Pittsburgh Riverhounds SC that sent the game to a penalty shootout, where City won 5-3. Lancaster’s pair of goals on Saturday were his eighth and ninth of the season and his 10th all-time postseason goal. He’s also scored his last 11 penalty attempts, last missing over two years ago.
Against Detroit, besides his goals, Lancaster’s 62-minute shift was productive, tallying two shots, eight duels, and the assist for Gonzalez’s 60th minute goal. On the intangible side, the forward worked extremely hard off the ball, making constant runs to open space, checking in and out for teammates, and pressing Detroit’s backline.
Another veteran among this LouCity side is Ownby, who had a career night on Saturday by setting up two key chances — the first for winning the early penalty kick and the second for his floated cross to Lancaster on the back post — and a goal of his own, earning him man of the match honors.
The 33-year-old could’ve had more against Detroit, too. In the 37th minute, Ownby got in on goal, rounded the keeper, but couldn’t find the finish by the time Detroit’s defense recovered. In the 40th minute, the winger had a great run and pass across the face of Detroit’s goal with no one on the end of it to convert.
On Saturday, Ownby looked electric, putting up four shots, three chances created, three crosses and six dribbles through the Detroit defense. With LouCity for seven seasons now, Ownby has only gotten better with time. This campaign, he’s managed five assists, the most on City, and four goals and now has nine postseason goals across his career in purple.
What we learned
Against Detroit, LouCity started strong, never let the level drop off, and didn’t allow complacency to set in even after scoring, which is when teams are usually most vulnerable.
LouCity, despite allowing Detroit a larger share of possession in the second half, never looked out of control. The only time LouCity appeared threatened was at the beginning of the second half, when a dangerous run and cross put Detroit in a good position to score but was thwarted by a perfect Sean Totsch tackle inside his own six-yard box.
Through formation shifts, tactical adjustments and lineup changes, LouCity has modified itself throughout the season. On Saturday, LouCity once again demonstrated its versatility. This time, it was Wes Charpie who was playing in an unconventional position. The 30-year-old defender, who usually plays center back, filled in at left back against Detroit. Not only did Charpie lock down his side of the pitch with five duels and three clearances, but he also demonstrated his attacking capacity with a team-high 15 passes into Detroit’s final third.
On Saturday, LouCity wasn’t afraid to recycle possession through back passes. This allowed the center backs, Totsch and Adams, along with goalkeeper Oliver Semmle, more time on the ball. As a result, LouCity controlled the tempo of the game, and Adams’ time on the ball allowed his pinpoint distribution to get to Ownby in the 59th minute, ultimately leading to Lancaster’s second goal of the night.
LouCity will travel to play the Charleston Battery, the three seed in the East, next weekend in the USL Championship’s Eastern Conference Final, with the winner of that matchup advancing to the USL Championship Final. City has won four of its eight conference final games and will look to add another against the Battery.
In City’s two bouts with Charleston this season, both have ended in a tie. Charleston opened its postseason play this year by pummeling Indy Eleven 5-0 and then defeating Birmingham Legion 2-1 Saturday night to draw City in the conference final. LouCity will look to carry its current postseason momentum into the matchup this coming weekend.
“They’re a good team, a well-coached team, and it’s going to be two good teams going up against one another,” Cruz said about his team’s upcoming conference final matchup. “It’s a game that we’re looking forward to with a trophy on the line. For us, it’s about making sure that we show up and put ourselves in the best position to win the game.”
