It’s rivalry week in the Bluegrass State, as Kentucky’s two men’s professional soccer teams meet in the Commonwealth Cup, presented by Republic Bank.
Louisville City FC hosts Lexington SC at 8 p.m. Saturday at Lynn Family Stadium. The game will decide who takes home the rivalry trophy, which LouCity won last season in the Commonwealth Cup’s inaugural year.
Importantly, the game is also the final Prinx Tires USL Cup group stage game for both clubs. LouCity (2-0-1, 8 points) needs to avoid defeat to clinch the top spot in Group Four and advance to the tournament’s knockout round for the first time in club history.
Saturday’s game will be the third time that LouCity and Lexington have met this season, all three coming in a different competition.
On March 6, LouCity came from behind to defeat Lexington 2-1 in the USL Championship regular season opener.
Then, on April 1, LouCity knocked Lexington out of the Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup with a 2-0 win in the tournament’s second round.
For the rivalry trophy, though, Louisville’s Open Cup triumph does not count, meaning that Saturday’s result will determine who brings home the Commonwealth Cup hardware this season.
After LouCity’s 2-1 win in March, Lexington would need to win by at least a two-goal margin on Saturday in order to lift the Commonwealth Cup for the first time.
If Lexington were able to pull that off, it would buck the trend of the rivalry. In all, LouCity has dominated the rivalry to this point. In five all-time meetings, across all competitions, Louisville is 5-0-0, outscoring Lexington 9-2.
For a Lexington club that spent big in the offseason — including a six-figure deal to buy LouCity’s leading scorer, Phillip Goodrum — that history won’t matter. A win on enemy turf might be enough to stoke the flames of a rivalry that just needs a spark.
All that to say: When Louisville and Lexington meet, it is a rivalry — no matter when, where, how or in what competition it is played.
Follow Along
• The match will air locally on MyTV 58, with local radio coverage on ESPN Louisville’s 680 and 105.7.
• For streaming, log on to ESPN+ or WDRB+.
• 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.
Storylines…
Knockout: Should LouCity advance in the Prinx Tires USL Cup, the draw for the quarterfinal round will take place on Monday at 1 p.m. ET. The draw will stream on YouTube.
Unbeaten stretch: Louisville and Lexington are each on five-game unbeaten runs, across all competitions. For LouCity, the run is the longest unbeaten run since the team began this season with six straight wins, across all competitions.
Golden Boot: With three goals in the Prinx Tires USL Cup, Louisville City forward Jansen Wilson is tied for the scoring lead in the competition. He is tied for the lead with three other players.
Returning: Lexington’s roster features three former Louisville City FC players, who will all return to Lynn Family Stadium as opposition players for the first time on Saturday: forward Phillip Goodrum, defender Arturo Ordóñez and goalkeeper Oliver Semmle. Goodrum has four goals in all competitions this season, while Ordóñez and Semmle have anchored a defense that has conceded just 16 goals in league play, eighth fewest in the USL Championship.
