It’s been a long season and Louisville City has managed to put together one of their most impressive campaigns yet. The club won its first Players Shield but, that is merely a prize to win en route to lift the USL Cup. After ending the regular season on a positive with a 4-1 win over Phoenix, round one of the playoffs would see North Carolina FC return to Lynn Family Stadium. The last meeting between these teams was a wild one. LouCity would be looking to not only win but to send a message to the league about their intentions to keep up their elite form.
Unfortunately for the boys in purple, it was not the cleanest of starts. The visitors found the first goal of the match only 11’ min in. But with this team’s ability to remain unphased in the face of adversity and their potent offense, few in attendance were overly worried. And less than ten minutes later, Morados struck back. A terrific cross by Taylor Davila was comfortably headed in by Amadou Dia. From that point, the momentum was largely in Louisville’s favor.
Davila found a goal of his own at 24’ to put NCFC in the position of chasing the match. And chase they did. LOU’s 46% possession in the first half was followed by a drop to just 30% in the second half. Despite this control of the ball, NC struggled to make meaning of that time in possession. The visitors only managed seven shots (four on target) with their cumulative 62% possession totaling to 1.16 expected goals (xG). LouCity didn’t drastically outshoot NC; Just eight shots and six on target with an xG of 1.33. Louisville City was the more clinical team, and with Adrien Perez’s 54’ goal, the visitors looked to be without an answer. They did secure a “garbage time” goal at 90+4’. That would have been much more meaningful had Damina Las not made a big diving stop minutes before.
On the individual performance front, everyone carried their weight. Wes Charpie did well filling the Arturo Ordonez void. Amadou Dia’s veteran experience served the team. Adrien Perez was a creative attacking force. But the star of the show was Taylor Davila. Even in matches where he is not garnering attention with a goal from distance, he has been a critical component in all phases of play. His outstanding cross to Dia got the team back level, and he seized his moment to take the lead only a few minutes later. There were many significant additions to the team this offseason, but there is a reasonable case for Davila to be the most important.
For both good and bad, this match was fairly representative of the season as a whole. A resilient mentality in the face of adversity, low possession but still finding more shots than the opposition, potent offense that can find multiple goals, and a defense that will concede (particularly on counters off of set pieces) by virtue of the system of play. In the playoffs, the results do not need to be pretty. It is survive and advance by any means possible. “There’s two main (points) of emphasis we’re going to talk about Tuesday,” Coach Danny Cruz said after the win. “That’s not going down early and making sure we kind of understand the why tonight, and then the second thing that goes with it is set pieces. We talked about it all week. We talked about how championships in this league are decided on set pieces.” While this squad can get away with going down to most teams in the league, the top opposition they will face should they continue on in the playoffs will not give them the same opportunity to score and get back into the match. NC was the lowest-seeded playoff team and the challenge will only grow from here.
With Indy Eleven failing to secure their own home playoff win, LouCity’s not opponent will be Rhode Island. This is a team that has gotten hot at the right time. They entered the playoffs with one of the longest winning streaks and put a bow on their first season with an eight-goal slaughter of Miami FC. Oh yeah, they were also the lone opponent to beat Louisville at home. Being a first-year club, there has to be an element of freedom in their play. Expectations were low all season and there is a sense of freedom that comes with “overperforming”. A “why not us” attitude paired with knowing they have slayed the giant once could make them one of the more dangerous opponents that Louisville could face. Will LouCity learn from their mistakes of the last meeting? Time will tell.
Parting Thoughts
Want more reading on LouCity? Check out the following:
Be sure to check out the Vamos Morados Podcast featuring myself, Benton, and Zach Allen-Kelly. It’s available on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcast, Audible, and Spotify. Everything you need to listen can be found on the Podcast page. Subscribe so you don’t miss an episode!
The podcast is now also available in video format! Make sure to subscribe to The State of Louisville YouTube channel to catch the latest episodes along with a number of other quality shows!
Comments