In Saturday’s USL Championship regular season finale, Louisville City FC interim head coach Simon Bird has opted to rotate his lineup, making six changes from Wednesday’s 2-0 win at Sporting JAX.
LouCity (13-9-7, 46 points) has nothing to play for in Saturday’s game other than momentum. The boys in purple are locked into fourth place in the Eastern Conference. They are on a six-game unbeaten run, including four wins in a row.
Evan Davila, Zach Duncan, Cameron Duke, Brandon Dayes and Jake Morris come into the lineup for Saturday’s 7 p.m. kickoff vs. Detroit City FC at Lynn Family Stadium.
Davila will start at center forward in a move that shows the 24-year-old’s versatility. The younger of the Davila brothers, Evan has started as a midfielder and a winger in his LouCity career, but never as center forward.
Duncan, who scored on Wednesday, starts for the first time since August 22. He’ll play with Babacar Niang in the midfield, who has become a bellweather for LouCity — the club is 13-2-4 in games in which Niang appears.
The backline sees Morris and Duke line up at wing back, with Totsch and Dayes joining captain Kyle Adams in the back three.
Duke will make his first competitive start for Louisville. He has appeared in four competitive games for the club this season, and did start and score in a friendly against the Trinidad and Tobago National Team on July 25.
Totsch, 35, starts for the first time since Sept. 12, while Dayes, 17, will start for the first time since Sept. 19.
And Morris, at left wingback, appears in the starting lineup for the first time in two weeks, since a visit to the Charleston Battery on Oct. 10.
Adams, the lone holdover in the backline from Wednesday’s win, is due for a milestone Saturday. The 29-year-old is set to cross the threshold for 10,000 career minutes in the USL Championship. After going 90 minutes on Wednesday, Adams has played 19,877 minutes thus far in his USL Championship career.
Ryan Schewe returns in goal after posting his fourth clean sheet for LouCity in Wednesday’s win.
Regular starters Aiden McFadden, Taylor Davila, Amadou Dia, Manny Perez and Kevon Lambert headline the bench options. Forwards Tola Showunmi and Cooper Conley provide attacking depth, while Carlos Moguel Jr. offers versatility as a midfielder or defender. Ryan Troutman is the backup goalkeeper.
Team sheet vs. Detroit City FC
29 – Ryan Schewe
3 – Jake Morris
32 – Kyle Adams (c)
4 – Sean Totsch
5 – Brandon Dayes
28 – Cameron Duke
6 – Zach Duncan
19 – Babacar Niang
7 – Ray Serrano
47 – Mukwelle Akale
27 – Evan Davila
Available substitutes: 30 – Ryan Troutman; 2 – Aiden McFadden, 8 – Taylor Davila, 13 – Amadou Dia, 14 – Tola Showunmi, 15 – Manny Perez, 16 – Carlos Moguel Jr., 31 – Kevon Lambert, 99 – Cooper Conley
