Louisville City 2026
- Benton
- 2 days ago
- 8 min read
In many ways, Louisville City’s 2025 season mirrored 2024: a dominant campaign that ended with a Players’ Shield and an earlier-than-expected playoff exit. 2025, however, reached even higher extremes. The club set the league record for points per game but saw the two-time champs eliminated at home in their first playoff match.
Despite that shortcoming, it was one of LouCity’s most dominant teams. Personal events kept me from writing a recap on them, which they certainly deserved. Alas, the disappointment of the club’s earliest playoff exit will loom large in the minds of many fans. The memories of last season—and even the season before—will serve as motivation for the team as they enter 2026.
Farewell
Before looking ahead, we must examine the changes to the roster. The most notable, in the eyes of longtime fans, will be the retirement of several longtime players. Niall McCabe, Brian Ownby, and Cameron Lancaster all decided to call it a career. It’s not too far-fetched to call them LouCity legends.
Niall has joined the coaching staff of Colorado Springs, and Ownby returned to the Richmond Kickers, where he is beginning his coaching career as well.
Along with those three, Arturo Ordonez, Adrien Perez, Isaac Cano, Damian Las, and Phillip Goodrum departed Louisville. Las was a loanee from Austin’s MLS side and will hopefully start seeing action at the next level. Perez dealt with a number of injuries, and Cano did not find his way onto the pitch often.
Ordonez and Goodrum are the biggest surprises on the departing list. The emergence of Josh Jones likely played a role in Ordonez not being re-signed. While Ordonez is certainly still a top talent, there are only so many minutes to go around, and he was the odd man out.
Goodrum’s situation is interesting. In-state rivals Lexington SC backed up the Brinks truck and made Phil an offer he couldn’t refuse. LouCity, in quite an awkward position, did right by the player and made the deal. It’s also worth noting that’s where Arturo landed. We’ll come back to Lexington in a bit.
Coach Danny Cruz and his staff had their work cut out for them, plugging the holes in the roster and determining how they could craft a team that would exceed the successes the 2025 team enjoyed.
New Faces
Starting up top, Chris Donovan is likely the biggest offseason acquisition. As soon as Goodrum’s departure was announced, it became the primary void to fill. The 25-year-old Drexel alum has spent his professional career in the Philadelphia Union system, seeing minutes at both the MLS and MLS NEXT Pro levels.
In 2025, he earned over 500 minutes across 20 matches.
Not to get too far into the weeds of the MLS setup, but it’s unfortunately challenging for domestic talents like Donovan to break into an MLS squad when high-dollar Designated Players frequently occupy the same role. Their loss is our gain.
He has also been part of winning teams, which is often an overlooked intangible. Donovan was part of the Union team that made the finals in 2022 and won the Supporters’ Shield in 2025. He is also coming off an injury, which could result in a slower start to his career in purple.
Donovan’s role up top is not guaranteed, as Tola Showunmi has returned. He was previously with LouCity in 2024 after a stint with the Riverhounds. His stay was somewhat short-lived, as he returned to his native England with Crawley Town in League One. Tola’s growth since his first spell with Louisville apparently warranted another look from the staff.
Coach Cruz has acquired not one, but two left-footed attackers to play on the right.
Quenzi Huerman played his first two seasons of professional soccer with the Colorado Springs Switchbacks, where he scored four goals in 47 appearances and was part of their 2024 team that lifted the cup. Huerman, a native of France, has incidentally been to Kentucky before. He spent a year as a teenager in Somerset as a foreign exchange student.
At 29, Mukwelle Akale is a more experienced option than the 24-year-old Huerman. He spent his last two seasons with New Mexico. At only 17, he signed with Spain’s Villarreal CF in 2014 and was part of their academy setup. He would later play in Cyprus before returning stateside with USL League One’s South Georgia Tormenta.
Joining an already competitive midfield are Babacar Niang and Cameron Duke.
Niang is a 24-year-old Senegalese player on loan from Minnesota United in MLS. He spent 2021–2024 playing collegiately with Winston-Salem before his lone season with MNUFC.
Duke has previous experience with Louisville City, having signed a 25-day contract ahead of LouCity’s April 15 Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup matchup vs. Loudoun United FC. He was part of the Sporting KC II sides that featured former LouCity players Wilson Harris and Enoch “Matiti” Mushagalusa.
Duke most recently spent the 2024 season with Crown Legacy FC, the MLS NEXT Pro affiliate of Charlotte FC.
Thomas Weinrich, a local academy product looking to get his first experience at the professional level, is also part of the 2026 squad, along with Kevon Lambert, who was on loan last season but is signed with Louisville this season.
On the back line is Brandon Dayes. He is already a familiar face to LouCity fans. He was on an academy contract in 2025 but now has a full professional deal.
The son of the University of Louisville’s women’s soccer coach, Karen Ferguson-Dayes, is only 17 and was an accomplished multi-sport athlete. His career trajectory appears that it will be comparable to Jonathan Gomez, Josh Wynder, and Elijah Wynder.
Last but certainly not least is Hugo Fauroux.
With Las back home in Austin, an opening emerged in the GK room. Fauroux, 29, spent time in the French academies of Cannes and AS Monaco before playing some college ball. He spent a season with the (now-defunct) Austin Bold and Charleston Battery before his previous three seasons with Loudoun United.
There, he made 79 starts with 17 clean sheets.
System Continuity
While it feels like a significant change for Louisville City, expect the on-field product to look much like it has in the previous two seasons. Coach Cruz has seemingly found a winning formula with his back-three formation and versatile wingback play.
Just as 2025 built upon 2024, this upcoming season will likely operate in a similar setup.
The key will be in the details. How the roster performs early on will dictate much of the season. Coach Cruz has an established history of playing the guy best equipped to help his squad win.
While we have a starting lineup already set in our minds, how players perform in the system is crucial. Who wins the striker and right-wing positions will be particularly intriguing.
Story Lines
With the stage set, it’s time to take a look at the storylines fans should watch during the 2026 season.
Lexington
Charleston remains LouCity’s main rival, but the local rivalry department has had a vacancy. Indy is a shell of its former self.
Enter Lexington.
While LEX’s start to life in the USLC has been slow, they have done enough to generate intrigue regarding their rivalry potential. A violent conduct red card in the first match and an absolutely thrilling comeback win for LOU in the second began to make it feel like this rivalry could develop beyond simple geographic proximity.
Recall what I mentioned earlier about Phil Goodrum and Arturo Ordonez. Those were not Lexington’s only signings.
They did their best Man-City-with-oil-money impression and went all out. Their incoming transfer list includes Aaron Malloy (CHS) and Latif Blessing (MLS), just to name a few.
On paper, they should be a title contender. Whether that translates to results remains to be seen.
With all that said, they could be earning their wings this season as rivals with real competitive value. It’s LEX v. LOU for game one of the season, so it’s a hot start for both clubs.
UPDATE: The good guys won.
Scoring Vacuum
Roster turnover is a natural part of the process. Some years the turnover is greater than others. Sometimes it’s less about quantity and more about impact.
While there is plenty of intrigue across the starting eleven, the striker role will garner the most attention. Let’s face it: it’s the most visible position. It’s the QB. The face that dominates the articles and advertisements.
Because they score goals.
Wilson Harris and Phillip Goodrum did that well. So who’s up next?
As stated earlier, the two front-runners appear to be Chris Donovan and Tola Showunmi.
Donovan’s professional career has been within the MLS system at both the first-division and MLS NEXT Pro (third-division) levels. Showunmi’s professional career began in Pittsburgh, followed by a stop in Louisville before England’s League One.
While Donovan’s MLS experience appears more appealing on paper, it was limited—just over 1,400 minutes across four seasons (roughly sixteen 90s) with fewer than ten goals. However, he has shown he can find the back of the net, as his time with Union II produced 18 goals in 37 matches.
Showunmi’s experience in the USL is nothing to overlook. He reenters the fold with some level of familiarity with LouCity.
His return to England, where he scored seven times in 32 matches, earned him another stint in Louisville.
We’ll learn soon enough who the preferred option becomes. For all we know, another player could emerge as the first-choice striker.
Overcoming the Playoff Hurdle
Louisville City has seemingly mastered the regular season over the past two years.
Their 2.24 points per game in 2024 and 2.43 points per game in 2025 rank fifth and first all-time in the league. Back-to-back Players’ Shields.
They can effectively only go down from there.
The issue is the playoffs.
The brutal playoff format cares little for regular-season accomplishments. Aside from bracket seeding and home-field advantage, you’re on your own.
After years of making the Eastern Conference Finals, the team has found itself eliminated in earlier rounds the past two seasons—once to a new Rhode Island side the squad could not fully crack, and another time to a determined Detroit team that scored an early set-piece goal and played rock-solid defense to secure the upset.
LouCity will almost certainly make the playoffs. The question is whether this will be the team that can handle the survive-and-advance format.
Mentality and the small moments within matches will be the key factors.
It is also worth mentioning the cultural loss of Ownby and McCabe. Totsch is the lone remaining active player who’s won the big one with Louisville. Ownby and McCabe were fierce leaders and influential voices even when not in the starting lineup.
Totsch, however, has always guided younger players, so the team is not without leadership on the pitch. Coach Cruz has done well honing the mentality of his teams, and former captain Paolo DelPiccolo is now on the first-team coaching staff.
The influence of the title-winning teams remains beyond Totsch.
Final Thoughts
In short, some familiar faces are gone and new ones have arrived, but the expectations remain the same. Louisville appears poised to be a title contender yet again and should be challenging for their third straight Players’ Shield.
There is plenty of reason for optimism, but plenty of work ahead for the boys in purple. Winning never comes easy.
But Coach Cruz and his staff have proven time and time again that the bar never lowers. It’s always rising.
How can this 2026 squad improve upon the successes of the 2025 team?
I’ll see you all at The Fam to watch how they do—and hopefully to celebrate earning the third star when it’s all said and done.
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