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Beaten Saturday in familiar fashion, Louisville City FC coach James O’Connor sees the trend.

His club can dominate possession, out-shoot an opponent and control most every United Soccer League game it plays. But the boys in purple are often doing so up against opponents that sit back, waiting to jump on the counter attack.

“I think concentration becomes really important,” O’Connor said at his regular weekly press conference. “I think, also, not just that but capitalizing on the opportunities you get — that’s something we need to do as well.”

LouCity hosts the Charleston Battery at 5 p.m. Saturday in the third meeting this season between the teams. The other two, both played in South Carolina, ended in draws.

Romario Williams, the Battery forward who for a time led the USL in scoring, will be gone on international duty, but Charleston has six other multi-goal scorers on its roster. True to form, O’Connor is more concerned about his own club than the visiting team coming off a 3-0 loss to Orlando City B.

While two goals came on nice strikes from forward Michael Cox in the first half,  “The disappointing aspect,” O’Connor said, “was the goal from the corner that’s, from our standpoint, something you want to definitely try and avoid. Equally, when you have as much of the possessions and shots and opportunities — OK, we’ve hit the bar and the inside of the post. We had a couple opportunities that maybe we could have taken advantage of.

“I think it’s a case of both: You need to take your chances, and you need to make sure you’re dialed in concentration-wise and focused when you have the ball as much as when you don’t. Equally, teams will have a capacity to counter and cause you problems.”

Here’s more from O’Connor’s press conference Tuesday:

Initial thoughts on the Battery: “They’re a very good team, and they’ve got a lot of threats. They’re capable of scoring a lot of goals as well. We need to do our homework and make sure we’re prepared. Again, you get to this stage of the season, and everyone in our sort of position on the league table is going to be a good team. You need to make sure that you’re on point and you understand the aspects of what the strengths and weaknesses are. It’ll be a tough game but certainly one we’re looking forward to.”

On Devon “Speedy” Williams’ call up to Jamaica: “I’m absolutely thrilled for Speedy. I really am. You couldn’t meet a nicer, friendlier guy. He’s someone who works really, really hard. So again, for someone like that to get an opportunity on the international stage is really, really pleasing for us, and especially for Speedy. I think everyone is so fond of him and we’re all really, really delighted for Devon.”

Williams will play against teammate Mark-Anthony Kaye: “I was joking with Speedy and Mark earlier, and said just make sure they don’t kick each other. Hopefully we’ll have a good performance ourselves and then go and watch the game and cheer both the guys on.”

Louisville City FC has teamed up with the Kentucky Blood Center for a blood drive Saturday before the boys in purple play host to the Charleston Battery at Slugger Field.

The drive is set for 12-4 p.m. Saturday — ahead  of LouCity versus Charleston at 5 p.m. — in the stadium’s atrium outside the West ticket gate.

Donors will receive a LouCity ticket voucher and a “Summer Lifesaver” T-shirt. Each donor is also entered for a chance to win a signed LouCity jersey and a 2017 Toyota Highlander.

Signups are now open online to reserve an appointment at the blood drive. Donors are asked to bring a photo ID.

The ticket voucher is good for any LouCity home game, including Saturday’s showdown between two of the USL Eastern Conference’s top-three teams. The club has four other home games left with the regular season ending on Oct. 14.

A key contributor in Louisville City FC’s 5-0 win over the Harrisburg City Islanders, midfielder Mark-Anthony Kaye on Tuesday earned some extra recognition when named to the USL Team of the Week.

Kaye started the rout Wednesday with an 11th-minute goal and went on to complete 17 of his 20 passes working the right wing. His performance included two other scoring chances created.

The 22-year-old from Toronto will play in his hometown on Saturday rather than at Slugger Field, as Kaye was called back into action for the Canada National Team, which plays a Jamaica squad including LouCity midfielder Devon “Speedy” Williams in a friendly this weekend.

Kaye earned his first full call up for Canada earlier this year and subsequently became the first player to earn a cap while with LouCity. On his return from competition in the CONCACAF Gold Cup, Kaye spoke of having higher confidence, which has translated to three goals on the season.

In part thanks to Kaye, LouCity holds first place in the USL Eastern Conference standings heading into Saturday’s 5 p.m. home game against the Charleston Battery, who sit third on the table.

USL Team of the Week

GK – Jake Fenlason, Orlando City B – Fenlason recorded an eight-save shutout as OCB took a 3-0 victory against Louisville City FC to extend the club’s undefeated streak to 11 games.

D – Greg Cochrane, San Antonio FC: Cochrane recorded the assist on the only goal in a 1-0 win against Vancouver Whitecaps FC 2 and created four other chances while completing 32 of 36 passes.

D – Jimmy Ockford, Reno 1868 FC: Ockford recorded eight clearances, two interceptions and one tackle, as 1868 FC earned a 1-0 victory against the Swope Park Rangers for its fourth consecutive victory. 

D – Ramon Martin del Campo, Ottawa Fury FC: Martin del Campo scored a stoppage-time goal to earn Fury FC a 2-2 draw with the New York Red Bulls II on Sunday afternoon at TD Place.

M – Mark-Anthony Kaye, Louisville City FC: Kaye scored a goal, created two chances and completed 17 of 20 passes, as Louisville romped to a 5-0 victory against the Harrisburg City Islanders last Wednesday.

M – Sunny Jane, Richmond Kickers: Jane recorded a goal and assist to lead the Kickers to their first victory against longtime rivals the Charleston Battery since July 2014.

M – Kevin Kerr, Pittsburgh Riverhounds: Kerr recorded a pair of assists before providing the game-winning goal, as the Riverhounds defeated Bethlehem Steel FC for a 3-2 victory on Saturday night.

M – Jimmy McLaughlin, FC Cincinnati: McLaughlin found the net and also put in a well-rounded performance, completing 22 of 26 passes in Cincinnati’s 3-1 win against Ottawa Fury FC on Wednesday.

F – Chandler Hoffman, Real Monarchs SLC: Hoffman recorded assists on both goals and completed 18 of 20 passes overall, as the Monarchs took their 11th home victory of the season against Rio Grande Valley FC. 

F – Chris Cortez, Phoenix Rising FC: Cortez had a goal and two assists to lead Rising FC to a crucial 3-1 victory against Sacramento Republic FC on Saturday night. 

F – Michael Cox, Orlando City B: Cox’s first two goals of the season provided the impetus for Orlando’s 3-0 victory against Louisville City FC on Saturday, extending its undefeated streak to 11 games.

Bench: Jake McGuire (BST), Tyler Polak (CIN), Braeden Troyer (RIC), Victor Souto (PGH), Antoine Hoppenot (RNO), Alex Dixon (OKC), Ben Spencer (TOR)

Louisville City FC coach James O’Connor often describes midfielder Devon “Speedy” Williams as a Major League Soccer-level talent. Williams will have a larger stage to prove it this week with his second career call up to play for the Jamaica National Team.

The Kingston, Jamaica, native is among the 20 players named to the squad for a 7 p.m. Saturday friendly against Canada in Toronto.

“We’re absolutely delighted for Devon,” O’Connor said. “He has worked tremendously hard since his arrival, and we are all thrilled for him to receive this recognition.”

LouCity will have players on both side of the matchup, as midfielder Mark-Anthony Kaye traveled to Canada over the weekend to represent his home nation as well.

Williams, 25, received his second national team call up just more than seven years after his first. Then still a high schooler, he earned a cap on Aug. 11, 2010, appearing during a 3-1 win over Trinidad and Tobago.

“It’s much different this time, because I’ve been a professional for three years now,” Williams said. “I think I’m at a stage in my career where I’m ready for a call like this. I’m sure they had their reasons why they didn’t call me back before this. I just stayed prepared, because I knew it was going to come one day.”

Williams signed with LouCity for the 2017 season after winning both a regular-season and USL Cup Playoffs title last year with the New York Red Bulls II. In 13 appearances he has proven one of the club’s top distributors, leading LouCity with an 87.4 percent passing accuracy on his 733 attempts.

Williams will join the Jamaican team Thursday in Canada.

“This is a really big deal for me and my family,” said Williams, who informed his uncle, a guardian, of the news Sunday night. “And he started crying, so that’s how big it is.

“One day, I’d really like to play a game in my home country. I’d really love to play for my country in my country in front of everyone.”

In addition to Williams, Jamaica’s side will also feature Romario Williams, leading scorer for the Charleston Battery, LouCity’s opponent for a 5 p.m. Saturday game at Slugger Field.

Louisville City FC will recognize military members and first responders Saturday with a “Salute to Heroes” night at Slugger Field featuring men and women in uniform during a pregame concert, military vehicle displays around the stadium and a halftime enlistment ceremony for the U.S. Army.
 
Additionally, all military and first responders with ID attending LouCity’s 5 p.m. game against the Charleston Battery — a matchup of the USL Eastern Conference’s No. 1 and 3 teams — will receive free entry. Retired military, and guests attending the game with a military member or first responder are eligible for a special $5 ticket rate at the gate. Use password “Heroes” at this link to purchase.
 
The “Salute to Heroes” highlights a growing partnership between LouCity and the U.S. Army, a beneficiary of some 500 tickets dispersed to military families for the game.
 
“We’re delighted to extend the opportunity to attend our game to those in the community who risk their lives to keep us safe,” said John Neace, LouCity’s chairman and president.
 
Festivities begin at 3:30 p.m. — when gates open at Slugger — with the Army Rock Band set to headline the Party by the Pitch at the Overlook Deck, where fans can also purchase $4 craft and lager beers along with a meal deal for the kids.
 
A military robot is expected to deliver the game ball after a live Call to the Post played by an Army bugler. A military Color Guard will accompany a National Anthem performance.

Around the stadium, fans of all ages will be able to interact with military vehicles, including a High Mobility Multipurpose Wheeled Vehicle (HMMWV). At halftime, the U.S. Army will conduct a future soldier swearing-in ceremony.
 
The community at large is encourage to join in supporting our city while saluting our heroes Saturday. Tickets start at just $15 at www.loucity.com/tickets or by calling (502) 384-8799.

On an overseas trip last offseason, coach James O’Connor both scouted for additions to his Louisville City FC squad and surveyed some of the world’s top clubs for the latest methods in keeping them at top physical condition.

“I was asking people what they were doing for recovery,” O’Connor said. “Cryo(therapy) was the thing that kept coming up. So that was something I brought back.”

O’Connor and players were recently featured in the Lexington Herald-Leader for their trips to The Cryo House, now a partner of LouCity based in the neighboring town. The coach regularly schedules times between games — especially last week, with three of them in seven days — for the sub-zero treatment.

Players enter a full-body chamber, where liquid nitrogen is blasted around them to create a dry cold more efficient than an ice bath. Some of LouCity’s top talents have found an hour-long drive worth the three minutes of cryotherapy.

“I’ve done cryo five or six times now,” defender Kyle Smith told the Herald-Leader. “I did it the first time, felt great. The next week, I didn’t do it, and my body, I felt kind of achy, just didn’t feel as good. Since then, I’ve gone (for treatment) any time I could.”

Read columnist Mark Story’s full Herald-Leader piece here: http://bit.ly/2wW7lsm 

Louisville City FC was reminded of a number of harsh lessons in soccer Saturday night.

Key among them: how difficult it is to play from behind.

Orlando City B striker Michael Cox scored two impressive goals as the Lions defeated Louisville City 3-0 at Slugger Field. Cox scored his first in the 15th minute from a tight angle and then doubled his team’s lead with a similar goal from the other side of the box in the 27th minute, putting LouCity behind the entire way.

“I think there’s a lot of stuff that we learned from this game,”  captain and midfielder Paolo DelPiccolo said after the game. “First and foremost, you’re not going to go through the whole season without giving up a goal, so there’s going to be games where you have to play from behind, and this season, I don’t think we’ve been good enough at that.

“I don’t know what the stats are, but we need to do a better job of coming back and not getting down on ourselves when giving up a goal. I think that’s a big lesson to take from it.”

The defeat was just the second in 11 matches at home, and it was just the third time all season that Louisville City had allowed two or more goals in a game, a testament to the strength of the defense throughout the season.

But it served as a painful reminder to what can happen when a player switches off for a moment. On both of Cox’s goals, he found space between the Louisville City center backs before sprinting onto a through ball and finishing from the tightest of angles. Passes into Cox also came without much pressure on the ball, leading to the goal-scoring opportunities.

“(It’s) trying to stop certain passes and movements that forwards do, especially what Cox did today and those movements he was making between those centerbacks, and we’ll definitely learn from that,” said defender Oscar Jimenez.

Jimenez noted that Orlando City’s goals combined with Louisville City hitting the post twice led to growing frustration through the game. It’s something coach James O’Connor noticed but said he needs to help lead the team to respond more positively.

“When you look at a game like that where they score, it’s really frustrating because you think we’ve got a lot of possession — we feel as if we’re in the game — but once somebody scores a goal like that, you can’t change it,” O’Connor said. “So you need to react in a positive way, and then you need to try to get back into the game. I think our decision making and speed of play needed to be a little better and sharper.”

While Louisville City gets a well deserved six-day break before its next challenge, another game Saturday at Slugger against the Charleston Battery, the boys in purple  will have to take to heart the lessons learned before they take the field against one of the best teams in the Eastern Conference.

This season, LouCity has bounced back from each of its defeats to win the next time out. With lessons learned from the Orlando game, we’ll see if they can do it again.

Opinions expressed in this piece were not subject to club approval. For more insights on LouCity, follow former Courier-Journal reporter Dan Karell on Twitter: @DanKarellPreps.

Louisville City FC wasn’t immune to a night of upsets around the United Soccer League, as the club saw an end Saturday to its three-game winning streak via a 3-0 loss to Orlando City B at Slugger Field.

Forward Michael Cox recorded a first half brace with goals in the 15th and 27th minutes before the visiting Lions’ Fernando Timbo added another on a set piece in the 53rd. Between the posts, Jake Fenlason saved all eight shots he faced, with the majority of those in the second half.

“There’s two ways of looking at it,” said LouCity coach James O’Connor. “It can become a very valuable moment for us that we sit down and analyze, and we can learn some lessons, or we can come out with a lot of excuses and just say, ‘Oh well. They scored three breakaway goals,’ and say we were unlucky.

“That’s not how I operate. So, we’ll sit and analyze and I’ll use it as a teaching moment and learn as much as I can, both as an individual and as a collective. We’ll go from there.”

One positive: The boys in purple maintained their first-place standing in the USL Eastern Conference despite the defeat. Both the second-place Charlotte Independence and third-place Charleston Battery lost as well, and to teams at the bottom of the table.

O’Connor didn’t offer that as a silver lining to the loss, which followed a string of three games in which his club out-scored opponents 13-1 and featured nine different goal scorers.

LouCity attempted 20 shots to Orlando’s eight and claimed 66.7 percent of the possession — but the few chances the Lions had were converted. On counter attacks, Cox finished at difficult angles, once from right side and then from the left. Timbo’s goal came on a headed corner to build the first three-goal deficit for LouCity at Slugger Field since 2015.

“I think there was a lot more that we could’ve done tonight,” said midfielder — and captain — Paolo DelPiccolo. “We got unlucky on a couple plays offensively and defensively, but overall I think you make your own luck, and we didn’t do that.”

As a result, Orlando lengthened an 11-game unbeaten streak and remained in a playoff position.

LouCity went down fighting, as O’Connor elected to bring on midfielder Brian Ownby at the break, then added forwards Cameron Lancaster and Ilija Ilic to the attack in the 57th minute.

Lancaster put a shot off the post in the 61st minute. Defender Tarek Morad placed a header on goal in the 61st, and Guy Abend followed with a bicycle kick. Nothing got past Orlando’s keeper, Fenlason, as LouCity suffered just its second loss in 11 games this season at Slugger.

“When things weren’t necessarily going our way with passes and crosses — shots hitting the crossbar — I think that we got down on ourselves a tiny bit,” said defender Oscar Jimenez. “You could see it on some of the players — the frustration — which is something we need to get away from, because we have the quality to score goals as you’ve seen in the past few games. So it’s just a little bit of unluckiness there.”

A run of three straight home games continues next weekend when the Battery visit for a 5 p.m. Saturday start.

Game Summary

Match: Louisville City FC vs. Orlando City B

Date: Aug. 26, 2017

Venue: Louisville Slugger Field

Kickoff: 7:35 p.m.

Weather: 79 degrees, Sunny

Attendance: 8,251

LouCity Man of the Match: Oscar Jimenez

Scoring

Louisville City FC (0, 0, 0)

Orlando City B (2, 1, 3)

Goals

Orlando City B: 

Michael Cox, assist to Fernando Timbo (15’)

Michael Cox, assist to Jordan Schweitzer (27’)

Fernando Timbo, assist to Rafael Ramos (53’)

Lineups

Louisville City FC: 1 Greg Ranjitsingh, 4 Sean Totsch, 15 Sean Reynolds, 6 Tarek Morad, 19 Oscar Jimenez, 36 Paolo DelPiccolo, 8 Guy Abend, 22 George Davis IV, 7 Mark-Anthony Kaye (10 Brian Ownby – 45’), 12 Luke Spencer (14 Ilija Ilic – 57’), 11 Niall McCabe (9 Cameron Lancaster – 58’) 

Subs not used: 28 Tim Dobrowolski, 18 Paco Craig, 23 Richard Ballard, 80 Devon Williams

Head coach: James O’Connor

Orlando City B: 70 Jake Fenlason, 27 Rafael Ramos (71 Zach Carroll – 76’), 94 Victor Giro (42 Zach Hayden – 63’), 3 Seb Hines, 22 Conor Donovan, 24 Lewis Neal, 79 Fernando Timbo, 41 Jordan Schweitzer, 77 Austin Martz, 98 Pierre Da Silva, 99 Michael Cox (90 Albert Dikwa – 45’)

Subs not used: 60 Aaron Smith, 63 Scott Thomsen, 80 Ryley Kraft, 45 Ben Polk

Head coach: Anthony Pulis

Discipline

Louisville:

Sean Reynolds, yellow (14’)

George Davis IV, yellow, (73’)

Oscar Jimenez, yellow, (89’)

Orlando City B:

Fernando Timbo, yellow, (81’)

Lewis Neal, yellow, (90’)

Stats

Louisville City FC / Orlando City B

Shots: 19 / 8

Shots on target: 6 / 5

Possession: 66.8% / 33.2%

Passes: 501/261

Corners: 16 / 2

Fouls: 11 / 11

Officials

Referee: Calin Radosav

Assistant Referee 1: Nait Hegerty

Assistant Referee 2: Justin Guilkey

4th Official: Joshua Brooks