It would be hard to imagine Ryan Schewe making a bigger impact in his first week on the job.
Just six days after the goalkeeper joined Louisville City FC, Schewe proved clutch in one of the season’s biggest moments, making three saves in a penalty kick shootout to lead his new team past San Antonio FC in the Prinx Tires USL Cup semifinal.
The game ended 0-0 in regular time, with LouCity advancing 8-7 in the shootout.
The win moves LouCity to the championship game of the tournament to face Hartford Athletic, which one the other semifinal Tuesday, 2-1 over the Colorado Springs Switchbacks.
The final will be held on Sunday, Oct. 4, at 3 p.m. ET, and air nationally on ESPN2. LouCity’s previously scheduled game against Sporting JAX will be rescheduled for a later date.
The game could be played at Lynn Family Stadium — the United Soccer League will host a draw on Wednesday afternoon to determine which club will take home-field advantage. The draw will stream live on the USL’s YouTube page at 1 p.m. ET.
“We had to really dig in, not just in the 90 minutes, but in penalties as well,” LouCity interim head coach Simon Bird said. “So (I’m) really proud of the performance and the resolve that we showed throughout the game. San Antonio are a very good team, and I think they deserve a lot of credit for the way they play … (I’m) really proud of the determination, the grit that we showed.”
The 24-year-old Schewe joined Louisville City on loan from Sporting Kansas City just last week. He arrived in Louisville on Wednesday evening before joining his teammates for the first time Thursday.
And while the club announced his loan move last Friday, Schewe took the chance introduced himself on Tuesday night, utilizing his 6-foot-4 frame to deny San Antonio three times in 10 penalty tries and lead his team to a win in his first start.
“It’s been a hectic week for sure,” Schewe said. “(I) got in Wednesday night, trained a couple times, then hit the road. And, I mean, (I) hopped in last game, last 20 minutes, and then today. (It’s) definitely something that I didn’t think was going to happen, but you’ve got to prepare for everything, right?”
He certainly seemed prepared. Schewe guessed the correct way on several of the penalties he didn’t save, in addition to the three he did stop.
“Honestly, I wasn’t surprised. I’ve been his roommate for the last four or five days (that) we’ve been on the road, and he was prepared. He was already prepared,” LouCity defender Amadou Dia said. “Like, he’s been watching a ton of film every day. I’m sure he’s addicted to film, honestly. He’s watching too much. And then he was asking for all the set pieces. He was locked in from the beginning.”
Though Schewe admitted his first start for LouCity wasn’t perfect — “At least from my perspective, it wasn’t the cleanest performance. You know, I have a lot to build on myself,” he said — his new coach said he was “really pleased” with the goalkeeper.
“He’s come in (and) he’s been first class since the moment he’s come in. We knew we were getting a good keeper,” Bird said of Schewe. “… He’s come in straight away, shown his quality in training … Obviously, the icing on the cake is the penalty shootout.”
The shootout followed a cautious, scoreless 90 minutes in which just two of the 32 combined shots were on target.
Both teams had chances in the closing moments of regulation, though.
LouCity’s Jansen Wilson scuffed a wide-open look from just yards away in the 88th minute. Then, San Antonio’s Daniel Barbir put his header over the crossbar in the 91st.
On the night, San Antonio dominated parts of the stat sheet — San Antonio finished with 22 shots to LouCity’s 10, 1.43 expected goals to Louisville’s 0.68, 71.1% of the possession and 32 touches in Louisville’s box, defending just seven Louisville touches in its own — but came up short in the pressure cooker of a penalty shootout.
For LouCity, Evan Davila, Wilson, Quenzi Huerman, Taylor Davila, Jake Morris, Tola Showunmi, Brandon Dayes and Dia scored their penalties in the shootout, with Dia’s try sealing the win.
For LouCity, the Prinx Tires USL Cup Final will be just the fifth final in club history, joining the USL Championship Finals from the 2017, 2018, 2019 and 2022 seasons.
A win in the final would make LouCity the first club to win the USL Championship title, the Players’ Shield and the USL Cup. It would also make LouCity just the second club in USL Championship history to win league-wide trophies in three consecutive seasons, joining Orlando City SC.
In the more immediate future, LouCity will return home for an important regular-season game against El Paso Locomotive FC, the first-place team in the Western Conference. Kickoff is set for 7 p.m. ET on Saturday at Lynn Family Stadium on Nonprofit Night.
For tickets and more information, visit LouCity.com/nonprofit.
Game Summary: San Antonio FC vs. Louisville City FC — Prinx Tires USL Cup Semifinal
Date: September 8, 2026
Venue: Toyota Field — San Antonio, Texas
Kickoff: 8:30 p.m. ET
Weather: 93 degrees, partly cloudy
Scoring
San Antonio FC (0, 0, 0 – 7 PK)
Louisville City FC (0, 0, 0 – 8 PK)
Lineups
San Antonio FC: 29 – Joseph Batrouni; 17 – Daniel Barbir, 3 – Mitchell Taintor (c), 22 – Emil Cuello, 13 – Akeem Ward, 19 – Cristian Parano, 15 – Mikey Maldonado, 8 – Nicky Hernandez (82′ 7 – Luke Haakenson), 10 – Jorge Hernández, 99 – Christian Sorto (63′ 77 – Lilian Ricol)
Unused substitutes: 31 – Daniel Namani; 4 – Nelson Flores, 6 – Curt Calov, 9 – Santiago Patiño, 14 – Lucio Berrón, 45 – Leonides Urrutia, 46 – Brian Guevara
Head coach: Carlos Llamosa
Louisville City FC: 29 – Ryan Schewe; 3 – Jake Morris, 13 – Amadou Dia (c), 5 – Brandon Dayes, 2 – Aiden McFadden, 15 – Manny Perez (67′ 4 – Sean Totsch), 8 – Taylor Davila, 31 – Kevon Lambert (67′ 27 – Evan Davila), 7 – Ray Serrano (67′ 25 – Jansen Wilson), 47 – Mukwelle Akale (90′ 21 – Quenzi Huerman), 9 – Chris Donovan (82′ 14 – Tola Showunmi)
Unused substitutes: 30 – Ryan Troutman; 23 – Sam Gleadle, 28 – Cameron Duke, 99 – Cooper Conley
Interim head coach: Simon Bird
Stats Summary: San Antonio FC / Louisville City FC
Shots: 22 / 10
Shots on Goal: 1 / 1
Expected goals: 1.43 / 0.68
Possession: 71.1% / 28.9%
Fouls: 8 / 11
Offside: 0 / 4
Corner Kicks: 7 / 2
Discipline Summary:
San Antonio FC:
42′ Mikey Maldonado (yellow card)
109′ Mitchell Taintor (yellow card)
Louisville City FC:
70′ Evan Davila (yellow card)
78′ Aiden McFadden (yellow card)
Referee: Brad Jensen
