By Chris Mattingly
Heading into the 2024 season, coach Danny Cruz made the expectation clear: Louisville City FC needed to reestablish its dominance at Lynn Family Stadium. And it’s safe to say the boys in purple are well on their way.
After a 6-0 rout of the Hartford Athletic last Saturday, LouCity has scored 19 goals in four league home games, helping the club to a perfect record at Lynn Family Stadium. Last season, City scored 21 home goals its entire regular season while posting an 8-6-3 record there.
“This is a collective place,” Cruz said after the Hartford game, which saw six different players score in a game for just the second time in club history. “When this place is rocking, it puts us in a position where we get effort because of the stadium, and it was collective from everyone.”
Outside of league play, LouCity also defeated the Greenville Triumph from USL League One in a Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup game at Lynn Family Stadium. The score that night: another dominant, 3-1 performance.
The boys in purple are proving 2023’s home results were an exception to the rule. From June of 2021 – when COVID-19 restrictions lifted on capacity – through 2022, LouCity went 24-4-2 with a +45 goal differential at Lynn Family Stadium.
“It’s so loud in here, and that just gives us energy, especially late in the game when we’re tired and feed off the fans’ energy,” said midfielder Elijah Wynder. “Teams coming in here, they’ll hear that and won’t want to play here.”
Forward Adrien Perez has sat on both benches at Lynn Family Stadium. Last year, he visited as a member of the San Diego Loyal. He moved to Louisville in the offseason and scored his first club goal in the recent win over Hartford.
Perez believes this LouCity team has all of the potential to continue at this pace.
“We made a pretty big statement, and we are looking to make more of it,” Perez said. “We are looking to get after it even more and just show every other team who we play against who we really are.”
