Tola Showunmi was the hero again, sparking a comeback and scoring the winning goal, as Louisville City FC overcame a 2-0 halftime deficit to defeat Miami FC 3-2 in an instant USL Championship Playoff classic Saturday before 10,148 at Lynn Family Stadium.
LouCity advances to the Eastern Conference Final for the 10th time in the club’s 12-year history. Louisville will travel South Carolina to face the Charleston Battery — who overcame a 3-0 deficit to advance past Hartford Athletic in penalties Saturday.
Trailing 2-0 with 20 minutes to play, LouCity mounted a comeback to remember, scoring three goals in the span of 19 minutes to win in regular time.
“We knew that we could turn it around, and it was a monumental effort from everyone,” LouCity interim head coach Simon Bird said. “We never stopped believing, and that’s huge in this time of year.”
Showunmi, who scored the winning goal in last week’s 1-0 playoff victory over the defending-champion Pittsburgh Riverhounds, ignited the comeback after coming in as a substitute in the 78th minute.
Just one minute later, the 26-year-old Englishman provided the assist on Chris Donovan’s 79th minute goal to begin the rally.
Then, following Ray Serrano’s spectacular long-distance 90th-minute equalizer, Showunmi completed the comeback with the winning strike in the eighth minute of stoppage time, sending the raucous Lynn Family Stadium crowd into delerium and LouCity to the conference final.
“I wanted to be back here and I’m happy to get the game-winning goal,” Showunmi said, pointing to his return to the club ahead of this season. “I think the boys are super motivated. We want to win it all. Two more games and we’re going to give you guys everything.”
LouCity trailed 2-0 at the half for just the second time this season. Miami scored in the 19th and 32nd minutes in an efficient display — Miami put three of its four first-half shots on target.
But the second half was all LouCity.
The boys in purple the second period of play, piling on the pressure on Miami’s goal. LouCity had 26 shots in the game, 19 of which came in the second half. Miami had just one attempt after halftime, which came after LouCity had already taken the lead.
“Man, we showed everything — our heart. We fought with our heart,” Serrano said. “We fought with everything we could in the 45 minutes. We went down early. (The) guys believed, (the) guys knew we were going to come back.”
Showunmi’s goal was the capper, finishing off a furious effort fueled, he said, by the team’s collective belief.
“We’ve believed the whole season. Like, this has happened (with LouCity) even before I’m here. This team has been down two goals and we’ve come back. So there is that belief that the game’s not done and it wasn’t done,” Showunmi said.
LouCity now returns to the Eastern Conference Final for the first time since 2023. That year, LouCity fell at Charleston 2-1 at Patriots Point Soccer Complex — the same opponent and location for next week’s game.
LouCity will be confident, riding a nine-game unbeaten run.
“For us, it’s about we’re in a great run of form and it’s about believing, and you saw in the second half when we believe in ourselves and we take the game by the scruff of the neck and get after it, a lot of good things can happen,” Bird said. “So it’s a good lesson for us tonight, not to wait, just to get after it from the first minute.”
Game Summary: Louisville City FC vs. Miami FC (USL Championship Playoffs – Eastern Conference Semifinal)
Date: November 7, 2026
Venue: Lynn Family Stadium — Louisville, Ky.
Kickoff: 7 p.m. ET
Weather: 49 degrees, cloudy
Attendance: 10,148
Scoring
Louisville City FC (0, 3, 3)
Miami FC (2, 0, 2)
Goals
Louisville City FC:
79′ Chris Donovan (Tola Showunmi)
90′ Ray Serrano
90+8′ Tola Showunmi
Miami FC:
19′ Arney Rocha (Mason Tunbridge)
32′ Riyon Tori
Lineups
Louisville City FC: 29 – Ryan Schewe; 13 – Amadou Dia (65′ 3 – Jake Morris), 32 – Kyle Adams (c), 31 – Kevon Lambert (65′ 5 – Brandon Dayes), 2 – Aiden McFadden, 15 – Manny Perez, 8 – Taylor Davila, 19 – Babacar Niang (78′ 6 – Zach Duncan), 7 – Ray Serrano, 25 – Jansen Wilson (78′ 14 – Tola Showunmi), 9 – Chris Donovan
Unused substitutes: 30 – Ryan Troutman; 4 – Sean Totsch, 27 – Evan Davila, 47 – Mukwelle Akale, 99 – Cooper Conley
Interim head coach: Simon Bird
Miami FC: 1 – Eloy Room, 21 – Alessandro Milesi, 13 – Daltyn Knutson (c), 14 – Arthur Rogers, 12 – Bachir Ndiaye (64′ 2 – Harwan Al Zubaidi), 9 – Joel Soñora (80′ Tulu), 5 – Riyon Tori, 8 – Matías Romero (88′ 4 – Angelo Calfo), 26 – Arney Rocha, 22 – Rodrigo da Costa, 7 – Mason Tunbridge (65′ 16 – Gerald Díaz)
Unused substitutes: 31 – Felipe Rodriguez; 6 – Tulu, 30 – Jeremy Medranda, 37 – Diego Mello
Head coach: Gastón Maddoni (suspended), Victor Lonchuk (acting)
Stats Summary: Louisville City FC / Pittsburgh Riverhounds SC
Shots: 26 / 5
Shots on Goal: 6 / 3
Expected goals: 2.03 / 0.88
Possession: 53.2% / 46.8%
Fouls: 12 / 12
Offside: 2 / 1
Corner Kicks: 15 / 0
Discipline Summary:
Miami FC:
58′ Riyon Tori (yellow card)
61′ Arthur Rogers (yellow card)
90+8′ Arney Rocha (yellow card)
Referee: Calin Radosav
