Miami FC defeated Louisville City FC 4-3 at Pitbull Stadium in Miami-Dade County, Fla., on Saturday.
LouCity showed fight in the loss, cutting the deficit to one on three different occasions, but Jürgen Locadia’s hat trick carried the hosts to victory.
Louisville controlled much of the game statistically, outshooting Miami 17-6, winning the possession battle 60.5%-39.5% and earning all nine of the game’s corner kicks. Defensive mistakes, however, proved costly as Miami scored four times from just six total shots.
The loss marks the first time since July 22, 2023 that LouCity has fallen in three straight league games. Louisville has now lost four of its last six league games and five of its last 10 in all competitions.
“It’s nowhere near the level, nowhere near the standard defensively,” LouCity interim head coach Simon Bird said. “I thought we were dangerous with the ball, but it doesn’t matter. The objective going into the game that we talked all week, we talked before the game (about) was to keep a clean sheet, to be hard to break down defensively. And we were nowhere near the level.”
The battle back was highlighted by two goals from forward Chris Donovan, who has now scored twice in back-to-back games after hitting for a brace in last week’s Prinx Tires USL Cup win at Union Omaha. He’s the first LouCity player to register back-to-back two-goal games since Wilson Harris in April 2024.
“We always said that Chris, if he gets one, he’ll get on a roll,” Bird said. “And I think we’ll find him in that now. But yeah, I can’t get away from the fact that you come away from home, you score three goals — you need to win the game. We didn’t.”
For Miami FC, the victory is the club’s first over Louisville since Sept. 23, 2023 and its third in 12 all-time meetings between the regular season and playoffs.
“Simon challenged us before the game to be mentally strong and to say that the defensive side of the game was going to win us the game tonight. And, yeah, absolutely, we didn’t show up,” LouCity midfielder Taylor Davila said. His assist in the game was his fourth of the season, tying him atop the league leaderboard.
Miami was led by a pair of World Cup-bound players, Locadio and goalkeeper Eloy Room. Locadio, the 32-year-old former Major League Soccer Designated Player, scored twice in a nine-minute span in the first half to give Miami the lead, then capped off his hat trick in the second half.
Room, the 37-year-old former MLS goalkeeper made five saves to deny Louisville. The pair will represent Curaçao at next month’s 2026 FIFA World Cup.
The four goals are the most LouCity has conceded in a competitive game since Aug. 31, 2024 — a 6-4 win at North Carolina FC — and the most in a loss since a 5-2 result at home to Rhode Island FC on June 22, 2024.
“It’s impossible that we let four goals in. I’m the first one to look in the mirror and go back to training,” LouCity goalkeeper Hugo Fauroux said. “Everyone needs to come back and work even harder. It’s just unacceptable.”
LouCity will look to bounce back at home next week against a marquee opponent, the Tampa Bay Rowdies. Tampa Bay leads the league by four points and is eight clear of LouCity after winning 3-0 Saturday night over Phoenix Rising FC.
The game will be Super Kid Night, presented by Norton Children’s, with a foam finger giveaway to the first 1,000 kids in attendance. For tickets and more information, visit LouCity.com/superkids.
Game Summary: Miami FC vs. Louisville City FC
Date: May 23, 2026
Venue: Pitbull Stadium — Miami-Dade County, Fla.
Kickoff: 7 p.m. ET
Weather: 82 degrees, cloudy
Scoring
Miami FC (2, 2, 4)
Louisville City FC (1, 2, 3)
Goals
Miami FC
20′ Jürgen Locadia (Matías Romero)
29′ Jürgen Locadia (Mason Tunbridge)
72′ Kyle Adams (own goal)
83′ Jürgen Locadia
Louisville City FC:
41′ Chris Donovan (Ray Serrano)
82′ Tola Showunmi (Taylor Davila)
89′ Chris Donovan (Quenzi Huerman)
Lineups
Miami FC: 1 – Eloy Room, 4 – Angelo Calfo, 13 – Daltyn Knutson, 12 – Bachir Ndiaye, 21 – Alessandro Milesi, 8 – Matías Romero (40′ 35 – Brandon Bent), 8 – Mason Tunbridge (45′ 23 – Tommy Musto), 9 – Joel Soñora (74′ 27 – Mathieu Ndongo), 5 – Riyon Tori, 22 – Rodrigo da Costa (65′ 16 – Gerald Díaz), 10 – Jürgen Locadia,
Unused substitutes: 31 – Felipe Rodriguez; 6 – Tulu, 18 – Mame Diallo, 34 – Tomas Castro Celdran, 37 – Diego Mello
Head Coach: Gastón Maddoni
Louisville City FC: 1 – Hugo Fauroux, 2 – Aiden McFadden (64′ 23 – Sam Gleadle), 32 – Kyle Adams (c) (84′ 13 – Amadou Dia), 24 – Josh Jones, 4 – Sean Totsch, 15 – Manny Perez (84′ 21 – Quenzi Huerman), 27 – Evan Davila (73′ 14 – Tola Showunmi), 8 – Taylor Davila, 7 – Ray Serrano (65′ 19 – Babacar Niang), 9 – Chris Donovan, 25 – Jansen Wilson
Unused substitutes: 12- Danny Faundez; 3 – Jake Morris
Interim Head Coach: Simon Bird
Stats Summary: Miami FC / Louisville City FC
Shots: 6 / 17
Shots on Goal: 3 / 8
Expected goals: 1.88 / 1.46
Possession: 39.5% / 60.5%
Fouls: 15 / 20
Offside: 2 / 2
Corner Kicks: 0 / 9
Discipline Summary:
Miami FC:
4′ Angelo Calfo (yellow)
60′ Tommy Musto (yellow)
86′ Eloy Room (yellow)
90′ Alessandro Milesi (yellow)
Louisville City FC:
57′ Aiden McFadden (yellow)
Referee: Mark Verso
