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The same week Louisville City FC received a pair of USL midseason recognitions via a fan vote, supporters propelled the club to three category victories in local ESPY Awards.

Presented by ESPN Louisville — found at AM 680 and FM 105.7 — ESPY results were announced this week. LouCity swept all three categories for which it was nominated: Best Team, Best Coach (James O’Connor) and Best Male Athlete (Matt Fondy).

A first-place club in just its second season, LouCity will take into Sunday’s game against Wilmington Hammerheads FC a 16-match unbeaten streak. Fans voted the soccer team to the Best Team award over Western Kentucky football, Indiana basketball, Louisville baseball and New Albany High School basketball.

O’Connor, a native of Ireland at his first head coaching job, beat out U of L baseball’s Dan McDonnell, WKU football’s Jeff Brohm, IU basketball’s Tom Crean, New Albany basketball’s Jim Shannon and Troy Williams, who coaches at Doss High School.

Fondy, who scored a USL-record 22 goals in 28 regular-season matches last year and was named league MVP, now plays for the Carolina RailHawks of the North American Soccer League. But his contributions counted on the ESPY calendar, good for a win over U of L football’s Sheldon Rankins, UK basketball’s Tyler Ulis, U of L baseball’s Drew Harrington, New Alban basketball’s Romeo Langford and WKU football’s Brandon Doughty.

In other recently announced awards, the USL named LouCity forward Chandler Hoffman its Midseason MVP and right back Kyle Smith the Midseason Rookie of the Year.

Louisville City FC fans will gather Sunday evening at the Great Flood Brewing Company, an official pub partner of the club, to watch LouCity’s upcoming road match against Wilmington Hammerheads FC.

Game time is 6 p.m. in North Carolina, where LouCity carries in a first-place standing and 16-match unbeaten streak.

Great Flood, at 2120 Bardstown Road, will discount its Unified Pale Ale by $1 during the watch party while playing the live stream on its projection screen.

Additionally, LouCity will give away a T-shirt, scarf and tickets to an upcoming home game. Great Flood has for fans a T-shirt, glasses and the brewery’s stickers.

Other team merchandise is available for purchase at watch parties, and members of the club’s ticketing department will be on hand as well.

Louisville City FC will carry in its 16-game unbeaten streak Sunday to a 6 p.m. road match against the Wilmington Hammerheads. As good as LouCity has been at home, the club has yet to lose away from Louisville Slugger Field this season.

Now, for more about the Hammerheads…

Record: 6-5-5 (23 points) in 17matches

Conference: Eastern

Standings: 9th

Coach: Mark Briggs

History: Started in 1996, the Hammerheads quickly established winning tradition. They claimed a league title in 2003, made some deep U.S. Open Cup runs and played the Charleston Battery in the 2012 USL championship game. The Hammerheads have recently established affiliations with Major League Soccer’s Toronto FC and New York FC.

Stadium: Wilmington plays at 6,000-seat Legion Stadium, a historic venue opened in the 1930s and renovated in 2011. The surface is artificial turf.

Series with LouCity: Louisville won both the clubs’ meetings during its inaugural season last year before playing to a 2-2 draw on June 11 at Slugger Field. The Hammerheads scored the equalizer in stoppage time, but LouCity continued on its unbeaten streak that still stands at 16 games.

Current form: Wilmington entered its previous fixture with LouCity on a two-game winning streak for the first time all season. The Hammerheads pieced together a pair of wins once again before falling 3-0 Thursday at Bethlehem Steel. Now comes a quick turnaround to Sunday.

What to know: The Hammerheads have missed the playoffs two out of the last three years, but under Briggs, hired in 2015, the club is just one spot out of the postseason picture. “We’d ideally like to end the season as the fifth seed,” Briggs recently said. “We have the opportunity to secure that, we just need to play hard, and play smart for the rest of the season.”

Player to watch: Wilmington spreads around its scoring, as 10 players have at least one goal and Bruno Caldini Perone a team-high four. But it’s Austin Martz, who scored the game-winner at Charlotte, who has attempted a team-high 19 shots for the Hammerheads. Martz, a Georgetown University product, started his pro career in Europe’s Malta before signing with Wilmington. He scored his other goal this season two games back in a win over Toronto FC II.

Another to know: In a 2-1 win Saturday over in-state rival Charlotte Independence, Hammerheads goalkeeper Eric Ati served as the standout, racking up seven saves. He was named to the USL’s Team of the Week for his performance.

Louisville City FC forward Chandler Hoffman recently chatted with LouCity writer Caitlin Ladd for the first in a series of question and answer sessions with the club’s players. Get to know the recently named USL Midseason MVP below.

What’s your favorite thing to do off the field?

I love music. I love going to live music concerts and I love films. I love watching movies.

Because you like watching films, what’s your favorite?

That’s tough. I love Denzel (Washington). I think he’s a great actor, so I love Man on Fire. That’s probably one of my top movies. Then there are some foreign films that I really like. There’s this one called The Untouchables. It’s a French film that I really like.

What do you usually do to prepare for a game?

The main thing is hydration, sleep, and I love music before the games. It really gets my mindset right. I watch a lot of players, and I even watch some of my own goals to get that confidence right before the game.

Do you have a game day playlist?

I do, but it kind of changes as the season progresses. I can’t just listen to the same thing.

What do you have on it? Certain artists?

It depends. I like a lot of hip hop. Before games I like music that has good beats and gets my mindset going.

Do you have any pregame rituals or traditions?

For some reason, I’ve always taped my right wrist. I always put my shoes on in a certain order, so I put my left boot on first.

How do you usually approach training or know when you’ve had a good day?

For me as a striker, the main thing is scoring goals. I judge my whole performance — games, trainings — on how many opportunities I’m getting and how many I put in the back of the net.

Do you have a favorite soccer memory?

I have a couple. Winning the MLS cup in 2014 was a professional moment. Scoring my first professional goal for the LA Galaxy in the Champions League was another big moment.

If you had to play another position, which would it be and why?

This may sound crazy, and I’ve told a lot of people this, but I love to play anywhere in the attacking part of the field, and I think if I had to play defense I don’t know if I would play anymore. I just love to score goals, and if I had to play anywhere else I think I would retire from soccer.

If you weren’t a pro soccer player, what would you be doing?

I majored in communication and film and television, so I think something in TV or film.

If you could eat dinner with anyone, who would it be?

Oh, anyone. I guess Robin van Persie since I really admired him from a young age. I have a lot of questions I’d like to ask him about the position and his experiences.

Speaking of food, do you prefer to cook for others, or have others cook for you? What would you like to eat?

Have others cook for me, for sure. I love salmon. I love — you don’t really cook it — but sushi, so that wouldn’t really be cooked for me. Fresh vegetables, sweet potatoes, that type of thing.

Where is some place you’d like to travel?

I always wanted to go to Australia. Since I was a kid I started making goals and most of my life goals I’ve accomplished, but I’ve not been to Australia yet.

What are you hoping to do this offseason?

I will be going straight back to UCLA and finishing my college degree. I’ve enrolled in classes, and as soon as we’ve won the championship then I go straight back.

What’s one thing on your bucket list?

I want to play for the U.S. National team. That would be a big thing on the bucket list for me.

What’s your favorite TV show?

I loved Entourage. Entourage was my all-time favorite. I watched that right before I was going out to college because I was going to UCLA. Since I was from Alabama, I was thinking this is what L.A. was all about and I was really excited to go out there.

What’s something that you completely geek out over?

I love Kings of Leon, so when I got to seem them live at the Hollywood Bowl, that was a pretty cool moment for me.

What’s something your teammates don’t know about you?

A really random thing: When I was young I got bit by a chipmunk. It was getting attacked by my next-door neighbor’s cat, and I go over and save the chipmunk’s life and I pick him up, and it repaid me by biting my finger. So I go to the emergency room and it turns out squirrels have rabies — chipmunks don’t. So if you ever get bit by a chipmunk, you’re okay.

Louisville City FC claimed two-thirds of the United Soccer League’s midseason awards announced Monday, the latest achievement amid the first-place club’s 16-match unbeaten streak that dates back more than three months.

Fans overwhelmingly voted Chandler Hoffman the USL’s Midseason Most Valuable Player and Kyle Smith the Midseason Rookie of the Year for their contributions to LouCity.

Hoffman, the lone striker up top, registered his team-high 12th goal of the season Saturday in a 1-1 draw with the Charleston Battery. The 25-year-old out of UCLA has Major League Soccer experience having won the MLS Cup while with the LA Galaxy and is this year chasing the USL’s Golden Boot won in 2015 by LouCity’s Matt Fondy, another MVP.

“Chandler, obviously, has come in, he’s been lively, he’s scored a lot of goals,” said coach James O’Connor. “He’s been a threat for us going forward.”

Smith, a Cincinnati native and Transylvania University graduate, made the club as a tryout player and has gone on to solidify a spot at right back following in the footsteps of 2015 star Bryan Burke, the USL’s Defender of the Year. Smith is second in the league in assists with 5.

“If you’d said to me at the start of the season that Kyle was going to play the amount of games that he has, I’d say, ‘Wow, where’s he going to play?’” O’Connor said. “I wouldn’t have seen it. The respect we have for Kyle is tremendous. He’s come in, and really epitomizes what we’re about. We speak and preach about people working hard in training, being the best they can be, and then you’re going to get an opportunity.

“He’s come in, he’s worked really hard, he’s been given an opportunity and he’s taken it.”

Additionally in voting over the last week, fans elected FC Cincinnati’s Mitch Hildebrandt the Midseason Goalkeeper of the Year.

LouCity is back in action Sunday, hitting the road for a 6 p.m. match against Wilmington Hammerheads FC that can be seen live at louisvillecityfc.com.

Louisville City FC coach James O’Connor on Monday said that controversy surrounding the Charleston Battery’s 84th-minute equalizer hasn’t come to an end.

When LouCity goalkeeper Greg Ranjitsingh appeared to have hold of the ball in both hands following a Charleston free kick, a Battery attacker dislodged it. Chris Tsonis then finished the visitors’ only shot on goal in a 1-1 draw at Louisville Slugger Field.

O’Connor labeled it “a really poor call,” saying at a regular weekly press conference that officials should have whistled off the goal and given LouCity a free kick.

“From our point of view, it’s obviously very disappointing because that’s out of our control,” the coach said. “We can’t have any impact on that. I think from the referee’s point of view it’s obviously a mistake.

VIDEO: O’Connor’s full press conference

O’Connor said the United Soccer League has not contacted LouCity’s technical staff about the matter.

The goal offset Chandler Hoffman’s 62nd-minute strike, his team-leading 12th goal of the season netted after halftime substitute Cameron Lancaster crossed, deflected his pass off a defender and then grazed Hoffman. LouCity walked away with one point in the USL standings rather than the full three.

“The problem I have is I expect when you make a mistake is, you acknowledge it and put your hand up. You don’t show arrogance,” the coach said. “That’s where the league needs to also do a better job of acknowledging things and say a mistake has been made. There’s a level of accountability for everyone.

“When somebody makes a mistake, you admit to it, and then you try and learn from it. Don’t try and push things aside, because at the end of the day, it’s a big mistake. It had a major impact on the game. I don’t expect things like that to be left alone and left untouched. I expect people to acknowledge it.”

With LouCity still in first place, atop the USL’s Eastern Conference standings, here’s more from O’Connor’s meeting with the media:

• On play during Saturday’s match: “We had a lot of possession, and they made it difficult for us. I think our tempo needed to be quicker. I definitely felt we didn’t play as well as we had done previously, but we still completely dominated the game and I think that gives an indication of what our standards are.”
• On preparing for Sunday’s game at Wilmington: “We need to monitor the weather. I think it’s going to be really hot. Our kickoff is going to be 6 p.m., and it’s going to be mid-90s this week. We need to play quickly and make sure we’re aware fully of Wilmington’s threats. They had a great result against Charlotte over the weekend. They made it difficult for us here when we played them.”
• On Kyle Smith and Chandler Hoffman in the running for USL midseason awards: “Kyle is someone who’s come from an open tryout. The respect we have for Kyle is tremendous. He really epitomizes what we’re all about. He’s come in and worked hard and been given an opportunity and he’s grabbed it. Chandler’s come in, he’s been lively, and he’s scored goals. He’s been a threat for us going forward. Both of those guys deserve a lot of credit.”