Louisville City FC has leaned on gaudy attacking numbers this season at its home Lynn Family Stadium, but the boys in purple found a different way to nab a key win Friday night.
Aiden McFadden scored the game’s lone goal as LouCity’s defense shut down visiting Loudoun United FC in a 1-0 victory that clinched the club’s spot in the 2024 USL Championship Playoffs.
City became the first team to officially play its way into this year’s postseason and qualified for a 10th straight year, tying the league’s record streak set by the Charleston Battery from 2011-2020.
“We’ve been harping the last month, month and a half, about the fact that we haven’t been doing a good enough job keeping the zero on the board,” said coach Danny Cruz. “We’ve worked a lot on it in training, and I was extremely proud of what the group put together tonight on the field for 90 minutes.
“We go in at halftime with literally zero shots against, one touch in the box — it’s pretty incredible. I’m proud of the defensive effort from the group all the way back to the front. But more importantly, it’s another win at home to keep building on.”
LouCity improved to 19-5-2 with its 59 points six clear of Charleston for the USL Championship’s best overall record. Eight regular season games remain as the boys in purple chase their first Players’ Shield and the No. 1 playoff seed that comes with it.
“This is obviously the first step,” defender Kyle Adams said of City’s playoff bid. “We’ve got a lot more steps to go that we want to achieve. It’s nice to get this one done, especially so early and at home in front of our fans. Now we just keep moving forward. It’s one step at a time, and (we’ve got to) make sure we don’t get too far ahead of ourselves.”
A LouCity side averaging 2.6 goals per game this season needed just one to get a result against Loudoun. Taylor Davila’s free kick pierced United’s wall in the 52nd minute before the ball landed to McFadden, who smashed in his fourth goal of the year.
Defensively, LouCity didn’t so much as allow a Loudoun shot until the 69th minute. The visitors finished with no attempts on target and 0.18 expected goals, according to Opta’s Stats Perform.
“We really wanted to get back to getting clean sheets,” McFadden said. “We did that tonight. So I was really happy with the team’s effort. Three points, and we go again.”
LouCity prevailed Friday despite missing two regular starters. Both goalkeeper Damian Las and wingback Jansen Wilson were away with excused personal absences, clearing the way for goalie Ryan Troutman to register a clean sheet in his first USL Championship appearance.
City, which has won seven of its last eight games, will break from league play next to host Mexican champion Cancun FC in an international friendly Tuesday at Lynn Family Stadium. Visit LouCity.com/Cancun for tickets and more information.
Game Summary: Louisville City FC vs. Loudoun United FC
Date: September 6, 2024
Venue: Lynn Family Stadium
Kickoff: 7:30 p.m. ET
Weather: 78 degrees, partly cloudy
Attendance: 8,207
Scoring
Louisville City FC (0, 1, 1)
Loudoun United FC (0, 0, 0)
Goals
Louisville City FC:
52’ Aiden McFadden
Lineups
Louisville City FC: 30 – Ryan Troutman, 13 – Amadou Dia (82’ 3 – Jake Morris), 32 – Kyle Adams, 5 – Arturo Ordóñez, 4 – Sean Totsch, 2 – Aiden McFadden, 17 – Taylor Davila (82’ 11 – Niall McCabe), 23 – Elijah Wynder, 7 – Ray Serrano, 14 – Wilson Harris (64’ 9 – Phillip Goodrum), 22 – Dylan Mares (71’ 16 – Adrien Perez)
Subs not used: 92 – Crew Hartlage, 80 — Hayden Stamps, 83 – Brandon Dayes, 8 – Carlos Moguel Jr., 27 – Evan Davila
Head coach: Danny Cruz
Loudoun United FC: 23 — Hugo Faroux, 24 — Jacob Erlandson (74’ 22 — Robby Dambrot), 5 — Yanis Leerman, 2 — Keegan Hughes, 6 — Kwame Awuah, 4 — Tommy McCabe, 8 — Florian Valot, 3 — Keegan Tingey, 10 — Kalil ElMedkhar (46’ 9 — Tommy Williamson), 14 — Zach Ryan (68’ 17 — Christiano Francois), 7 — Wesley Leggett (74’ 18 — Pape Wane)
Subs not used: 1 — Dane Jacomen, 40 — Gavin Turner, 44 — Isaiah Johnston
Head coach: Ryan Martin
Stats Summary: Louisville City FC / Loudoun United FC
Shots: 11 / 6
Shots on Goal: 4 / 0
Possession: 45.78% / 54.2%
Fouls: 19 / 10
Offside: 5 / 0
Corner Kicks: 1 / 5
Discipline Summary
Louisville City FC:
57’ Taylor Davila (yellow)
68’ Bench (red)
88’ Kyle Adams (yellow)
Loudoun United FC:
Referee: Ricardo Montera Araya
