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PITTSBURGH – Louisville City FC takes on top-seeded Pittsburgh tonight at Highmark Stadium in the Eastern Conference Semifinals. The Saturday night showdown pits the two-time defending USL Championship Title winners vs. the top team in the East. 

“Respect to Pittsburgh, they earned the top spot in the East with their performance in the regular season,” Louisville City coach John Hackworth said. “We know Coach (Bob) Lilley well and know they’ll be well-drilled.”

Pittsburgh advanced to the Eastern Conference Semifinals with a 7-0 win over the 10th seeded Birmingham Legion last week. Louisville City advanced with a 2-1 win over Tampa Bay.

Louisville City and Pittsburgh kick off at 7 p.m. Saturday night at Highmark Stadium in Pittsburgh. The game will be broadcast on WBKI locally and on ESPN+ nationwide. The game will be shown on YouTube TV internationally. The local radio broadcast is available on 840 WHAS. 

Louisville City FC trained at the University of Pittsburgh Friday in preparation for Saturday’s Eastern Conference Semifinal matchup with the Pittsburgh Riverhounds. 

Check out some of the photos from today’s training session. 

No club in the USL Championship has had the consistent success of Louisville City FC. After beating Tampa Bay Saturday, LouCity’s Playoff winning streak is up to nine games. 

Louisville City is preparing for a showdown with top-seeded Pittsburgh Saturday at Pittsburgh’s Highmark Stadium. Louisville City has appeared in the Eastern Conference Semifinals in each of its five seasons. 

The Boys in Purple are the only club in the USL to make the conference semifinals in 2017, 2018, and 2019. Only Phoenix Rising and LouCity have even made the conference semifinals in 2018 and 2019. 

In the Eastern Conference Semifinals, LouCity plays Pittsburgh and Indy Eleven visits Nashville SC on Saturday night. The winners Saturday will face off in the Eastern Conference finals on Nov. 9. 

Louisville City FC advanced to the Eastern Conference Semifinals with a 2-1 win over Tampa Bay Saturday night. The Boys in Purple are hard at work preparing for a Saturday showdown with top-seeded Pittsburgh Riverhounds. 

“I think they are in great form and particularly when you get a guy like Neco Brett, who is already a tremendous goal scorer, doing what he is doing, they are a dangerous team,” Louisville City coach John Hackworth said. “There’s a reason they won the Eastern Conference. Full credit to them. I think Bob Lilley does a great job with them and they have a really good roster. We are going to have our hands full to go up there and get a result.”

Pittsburgh hasn’t lost at Highmark Stadium this season and are unbeaten in their last 12 games. Louisville City has a nine-game unbeaten streak in the USL Playoffs, winning back-to-back USL Championship Titles in 2017 and 2018.

Hackworth said his group is preparing as if they will continue playing through the length of the playoffs. 

“I think it is just the mindset of our group,” Hackworth said. “I don’t know our exact records through all the years of this club, but I know our expectation is that we will still be playing through the final. That’s not to try to be cocky or over-confident, but it is just the way that we are thinking about it and it’s the way that our players have expressed it to me since the day I got here. You have to be really careful not to take your opponent for granted, and that comes with a huge dose of humility, but at the same time you have to have the expectation that you are back our here next week getting back to work.”

Hackworth said this week of training has been about improving. The team wasn’t pleased with the way they played in the second half vs. Tampa despite getting the win. 

“We played a really good first half against Tampa, but we felt like we let ourselves down a little bit and therefore we have some things we have to work on and improve,” Hackworth said. “I think if we put together two halves like that first half, we give ourselves an excellent chance to be successful and that is what our goal is this week.”

Louisville City and Pittsburgh kick off at 7 p.m. Saturday night at Highmark Stadium in Pittsburgh. The game will be broadcast on WBKI locally and on ESPN+ nationwide. The game will be shown on YouTube TV internationally. The local radio broadcast is available on 840 WHAS. 

Louisville City got a pair of goals from Magnus Rasmussen and held on for a 2-1 win over the Tampa Bay Rowdies Saturday night in the USL Championship Quarterfinals at Slugger Field. LouCity’s first-round USL Championship Playoff win continued a nine-game winning streak in the playoffs. 

“I thought we were fantastic in the first half,” Louisville City coach John Hackworth said. “Especially against a quality opponent like Tampa, I should start by saying congratulations to Tampa. They had a really good year. I know Neill did a great job with them and I’m confident that they’re going to be an opponent for a long time in this league. This being our first game in the playoffs and theirs too, it’s one of those matchups that is tough. It’s probably not worthy of a 4-5 seed if you will. But they go back to it.

“Really pleased with our performance in the first half. Tampa made some changes and I thought we let ourselves down a little bit in the second half. Didn’t execute. … But this team has been great about building and learning from every experience and so our goal tonight was to move on, to advance, and we did that. We did that against a really good opponent and now we get to go back to work and have Pittsburgh next weekend.”

The Boys in Purple will roll to Pittsburgh next Saturday night for the USL Championship Semifinals. The Pittsburgh Riverhounds, the top seed in the East, beat Birmingham Legion 7-0 Saturday night.

Saturday night closed out Louisville City’s run at Slugger Field, the club’s home since 2015. With all four top seeds in the East advancing, Louisville City will likely not return to Slugger even if they continue to win in the USL Championship Playoffs. 

Magnus Rasmussen, who scored both goals for Louisville City Saturday night, was the first goalscorer for LouCity back in 2015. 

“I didn’t realize that I was the first and last,” Rasmussen said. “And I don’t know if it count’s because they scored and tried to equalize after 2-1, but I scored the first and the last for LouCity in Slugger and I am really happy about that.”

Magnus’ brace gave LouCity the lead, but that same lead wasn’t enough the last time these two teams met when Tampa scored two goals in the final five minutes to force a draw. Hackworth said he started to feel a bit of anxiety when Tampa Bay got a goal in the second half. 

“Sure, I’m not going to lie that was on my mind a little bit,” Hackworth said. “But I also try to keep telling myself that these players learn from those experiences and surely they did. I don’t think – if you compare the two, we literally had a really bad turnover there in their defensive third that led to their first goal and then fortunately, we were able to lock it down and dealt with a lot of attacking corners there at the end. But I think yes, we learned our lesson.”

Louisville City will challenge top-seeded Pittsburgh next Saturday night in the Eastern Conference Semifinals. The other semifinal pits Indy Eleven vs. Nashville down in Nashville. 

ESPN+ Streaming Link: LouCity vs. Tampa Bay 

Louisville City FC hosts Tampa Bay Rowdies Saturday night at Slugger Field in the USL Championship Playoffs. Kickoff is set for 7 p.m. in what could be the club’s final match ever at Slugger Field.

“Us, here specifically, it has been a place that is just so special,” Louisville City coach John Hackworth said. “We have always found ways to be successful, especially in the playoffs here. We always wanted to be back in front of our fans, and we always felt that we would get here one way or another, whether that was in the first round or later on in the rounds.”

It took an incredible late-season run for LouCity to earn a home playoff game. The club went 9-1-3 in its final 13 games of the USL Championship regular-season, moving up from 7th to 4th to secure the home game Saturday night. 

“The fact that we’ll play in our home stadium with our fans as loud and as boisterous as they are,” Hackworth said. “And then, we know this field better than anybody. “

Louisville City has won eight-straight USL Championship Playoff games dating back to 2016. The club won the 2017 USL Championship Title with a win over Swope Park Rangers in Slugger Field. Then last season, Louisville City won its second title, making a remarkable run through the playoffs at Slugger Field before beating Phoenix Rising, the Western Champion, in a 1-0 battle at Lynn Stadium on the University of Louisville campus.

“When people come in here, they feel how loud and how intense our atmosphere is,” LouCity defender Sean Totsch said. “They can feel how much it means to them. Between that and the way we play, being aggressive and really going at teams and trying to get goals, trying to start with energy. That can really be a lot of team to try to handle.” 

Kickoff is set for 7 p.m. The game will be broadcast on WBKI locally and ESPN+ nationally. International viewers can watch the USL Championship Playoffs on YouTube. The radio call will be on 1080 WKJK and feature Kevin Kernen and John Horlander. 

Tonight’s Party by the Pitch performer, Nate Miner, will be playing on the concourse starting at 5:45 p.m. with drink specials available on the Overlook Deck. 

Louisville City FC, the two-time defending USL Championship Title Winners, moved up into the top four seeds on the final day of the regular season and will host Tampa Bay Saturday night at Slugger Field. 

The baseball stadium, Louisville City’s home since its launch in 2015, will return to being a baseball-specific venue at the end of the 2019 season, but not before LouCity hosts (at least) one more soccer match on its grass-turf hybrid field. The match begins at 7 p.m. on Saturday night. 

LouCity coach John Hackworth said there’s something special about playoff games in Slugger Field. 

“The playoffs are a completely different thing,” Hackworth told Nick Coffey on 790 KRD Thursday morning. “There will be a winner, there will be a loser and there’s no tomorrow… so the intensity starts from the very beginning. You can feel it.”

The intensity of USL Championship Playoff soccer started Wednesday night with the league’s new playoff structure. The bottom four seeds in the East and West battled Wednesday night in play-in games, hosted at the better-seeded team’s home stadium. 

The 9th-seeded Charleston Battery upset 8th seeded Ottawa Fury in Ottawa 1-1 (5-4) and 10th-seeded Birmingham Legion beat 7-seed North Carolina 3-2 in the 90+3′ minute in the play-in games in the Eastern Conference. That means Saturday’s Quarterfinal Round is set with top-seeded Pittsburgh hosting Birmingham, 2nd-seeded Nashville hosting Charleston, LouCity hosting Tampa Bay and Indy Eleven, the 3 seed, hosting 6th-seeded New York Red Bulls II. 

Tickets for LouCity’s match with Tampa Bay are available here: LOUvTBR on SeatGeek

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Louisville will become an expansion team in 2021 in the National Women’s Soccer League (NWSL). The fastest growing, top-level professional sports league in the country will have a team playing in Lynn Family Stadium in 2021.

“We are incredibly honored to be joining the NWSL, the greatest women’s soccer league in the world,” Louisville City President Brad Estes said. “We can’t wait to welcome these incredible athletes with open arms and support them in their mission to win championships. This market is hungry for more pro soccer, and we know our NWSL team will be a shining star in this league and in our community.”

Tuesday’s announcement comes at a time during a surge in popularity of professional women’s soccer following the FIFA World Cup victory earlier this year.  The NWSL currently has nine teams and its 2019 champion will be crowned Sunday afternoon at 3:30 p.m. on ESPN as the North Carolina Courage host the Chicago Red Stars at WakeMed Soccer Park in Cary, NC.

“Since the club’s inaugural season in 2015, the Louisville market has proven itself as one that consistently supports the sport at many levels, particularly at the professional level,” said Amanda Duffy, president of the NWSL. “With the club’s growing, passionate fanbase, coupled with its strong ownership group, and its significant investment in a soccer-specific stadium in a central, downtown location, the organization has key elements that will allow it to be successful.”

Soccer Holdings, LLC, the ownership group of Louisville City Football Club – the two-time defending USL Championship Title winners – will own and run the NWSL franchise using the existing management team, headed by Estes.

“As an owner, we jumped at the chance to join this exciting league,” said John Neace, chairman of the ownership group. “The athleticism in the NWSL is second to none while attendance is growing. This is a sound business decision as we complete the new soccer-only stadium and expand the entertainment district around it. While saying this is a win-win situation may sound trite, it’s absolutely true. It’s a win for our ownership group. It’s a win for Louisville. It’s a win for local businesses. And it’s a win for the National Women’s Soccer League.”

This will be the first time Louisville has had a pro sports team at the highest level of its league since the Kentucky Colonels of the American Basketball Association folded in 1976. The new NWSL team will join Louisville City FC playing in Lynn Family Stadium.

“I want to thank the ownership group and Louisville Metro government for their unwavering support,” Estes said. “Make no mistake about it, without Lynn Family Stadium, we would have not have an NWSL team.  This stadium district is proof positive that great things can happen when you invest in your community.”  

Soccer Holdings will announce the team’s logo, crest and colors later this year. The club will commence an international search for a top-level coach and technical staff before bringing in players. As an expansion team, Louisville will have access to two players on the national women’s soccer team – the team that won the World Cup.

About Soccer Holdings, LLC

Soccer Holdings is the ownership group which will manage Louisville’s new NWSL team. The group also owns Louisville City FC and Lynn Family Stadium. Louisville City FC was founded in 2015 and has won two Eastern Conference titles and two USL Championship Titles in its short existence. The club is the only back-to-back USL Championship Title Winner in modern league history. LouCity will move into Lynn Family Stadium, the club’s soccer specific stadium with seating for 11,700 and a capacity nearing 14,000, in the 2020 season.

About the National Women’s Soccer League

Featuring more than 200 of the world’s best professional soccer players, including U.S. women’s national team members and two-time World Cup Champions Megan Rapinoe, Carli Lloyd and Alex Morgan, as well as international stars Marta, Christine Sinclair, and Sam Kerr, the NWSL is highlighted by 23 current FIFA Women’s World Cup Champions and 58 FIFA Women’s World Cup team members.

Louisville City FC secured home-field advantage for its first USL Championship Playoff game next Saturday with a 2-1 win over Memphis 901 FC Saturday night in Memphis. 

“I’m happy for the team and pleased that we were able to grind out a win when we needed to – when we had to,” Louisville City coach John Hackworth said. “We knew the results of Tampa and New York went our way, and that allowed us to move into 4th with the victory.”

After going 8-1-3 in its last 12 matches, LouCity put itself in a position to make a big move on the final night of the regular season and it paid off. With Tampa Bay and New York both losing Saturday, Louisville City jumped both on the final night with three points in Memphis. 

“I can’t tell you the number of times I answered questions about why we were still in sixth despite how well we were playing,” Hackworth said. “I just kept saying ‘trust us, we will keep grinding and we will move up.’ Lo and behold, we have. We are 9-1-3 in our last 13 games.”

Louisville City won’t have to play a play-in game like seeds 7-10 will on Wednesday. Then on Saturday, LouCity will host Tampa Bay Saturday at 7 p.m. at Slugger Field in the Eastern Conference Quarterfinals. 

Season Ticket Members can opt-in for their regular seats at Slugger Field by logging on to their SeatGeek accounts and clicking on the OFFERS tab. The tickets will be input into your Season Ticket Member account on Tuesday morning. 

All un-reserved seats will be made available to the general public on Tuesday morning.