Overcoming Adversity - A Review Of Louisville City 2025 Season – Part 2
- Benton
- Apr 23
- 6 min read
Louisville City continues the pace set by the early season as they continue to solidify their position near the top of the pack. Lets dive into the latest set of matches since the last recap.
Detroit has proven to be a team whose physical and aggressive play has to be accounted for, even when they are away from their vocal fanbase. However, aside from a testy exchange with the referee about ball placement for a free kick, this meeting against DET lacked that factor. And without it, they were unable to overcome Louisville City. Ray Serrano gave LouCity the lead at 20’ and Jansen Wilson scored his first of the season at 77’ to effectively put the match out of reach. The stats paint a somewhat even picture, but Louisville was in control from start to finish. A blemish to the match was Kevon Lambert earning himself a red card only ten minutes after subbing in. Thankfully, that red was at 84’ so the squad only played a man down for a limited period.
04/05/2025 – SACvLOU: ★★★⯨
A match away at Sacramento was the next “big” test for the reigning USL Players’ Shield winners. Louisville City had a slow start to the match, but after 15’, they became the slightly more imposing side. However, the Republic struck first. The SAC press resulted in a back pass to Damian Las, who was forced to clear it quickly. Unfortunately, it went right to the opposition and all it took was a distance chip shot to take the lead. The ball probably shouldn’t have been going backward to Las in the first place. Small mistakes are often the difference maker in a close contest like this. The physical match continued on all the way to 90’+9 where Amadou Dia scored the equalizer, salvaging a point. A very fortunate outcome for the boys in purple, but as a whole a fair result given how equal both sides were. The heart the team showed and the drive to play until the final whistle was a perfect demonstration of why this club has been successful. This “never say die” attitude separates the top clubs from the rest of the pack. It was only a point, but a point the squad can be proud of.
You can read my full recap on thecup.us. In short, a win is a win no matter its achieved. Two of the three goals scored in this match were off-blatant mistakes. The first was an unfortunate turnover by Loudoun’s defense in their final third, leading to what could be Adrien Perez’s easiest goal of his career. And the second was by LouCity in their own box. Sam Gleadle’s goal at 28’ was the difference maker that has Louisville moving on in the Open Cup.
04/19/2025 – TBRvLOU: N/A
Due to it being a holiday weekend, family obligations kept me from viewing the match and unfortunately, this just happened to be a week where the league did not upload any views on the matches. What we do know is that playing in ̶T̶a̶m̶p̶a̶ ̶ St. Petersburg has historically been an issue for LouCity. They had not earned all three points there since 2018. This paired with the fact it was a come-from-behind win makes it one that should give additional confidence in this year’s squad. Coach Danny Cruz said this about his team’s comeback win; “You have two options when you go down a goal there: You can put your head down (and) feel sorry for yourself, or you can put your head up, your chest out, and look to go again, and I felt the guys did that.” Sam Gleadle scored one of the two goals. Gleadle had only accumulated 35 minutes of league play before this match. Including Open Cup play, that makes two consecutive matches he has scored in. Perhaps he will begin to find himself in the starting eleven with a bit more frequency going forward.
At 2.20 points per game, Louisville City only trails Loudoun United (2.50 pts/g) and New Mexico United (2.40 pts/g). They are tied for 8th with 1.60 goals for per game and tied for 1st with just 0.60 goals per game. We are still in small sample size territory, but the early returns are promising.
While the 8th most goals for per game has clearly been enough to keep Louisville City in the conversation for best in the league, it is quite the drop from the 2.44 gf/g in 2024. There is still time for this average to creep up. Wilson Harris was a big contributor to that scoring rate. He netted 19 goals in the 2024 regular season. Phillip Goodrum was set to backfill Harris in the starting lineup. However, he has yet to score. He has now amassed 423 minutes of regular season play and in that time he has generated 2.3 expected goals with a shot every 35 minutes of play and a shot on target every 141 minutes. Just three shots on target. From my viewing experience, strikers tend to be the most prone to hot and cold streaks. I think it’s fair to call this a cold streak. Goals have been coming from elsewhere so it’s not harmed the team’s ambitions. But it’s not too far-fetched to cite this as a contributing factor to the rate of goals being a bit lower than what we’ve become accustomed to. As I stated in my last review, he has still been a contributing force for the team. The press, starting with the striker, is a big piece of Coach Cruz’s system. And that is something he has not failed to do. With that said, Sam Gleadle scoring twice in two matches in that role (as well as ferociously pressing) does beg the question of how much more time does Goodrum have as a starting regular. I hope the dam breaks and he begins to score left and right, but one has to imagine the pressure is mounting for him to find the back of the net. While Phillip continues to try and find his groove, Ray Serrano and Taylor Davila lead the pack in scoring with Amadou Dia, Adrien Perez, Jansen Wilson, Manny Perez, and Gleadle all contributing as well.
Louisville City’s defensive component has helped to balance out the ever-so-slight offensive regression compared to the 2024 campaign. Although they face 11.0 shots against per game (10th most), they are keeping the ball out of the net. This is in large part due to the growth of Damian Las. Watching Las on the pitch, you can see the developmental gains from last season. He feels less of a wildcard than the previous year and a player whose confidence grows game after game. He has made 2.3 saves per game (T-14th) and has the 3rd highest save percentage at 77.8%. Having a stable core of Kyle Adams, Sean Totsch, and Arturo Ordonez certainly has helped. Early performances have supported the decision to bring him back on loan for another stint in Louisville.
Of all the new signings from this past offseason, Zach Duncan was the one to hit the ground running with the most momentum. He quickly made his intentions to remain in the starting eleven apparent with his play. Unfortunately, he also became the team’s first notable injury. His right leg injury will likely see him out for an extended period, but the expectation is that he will be back this regular season. This likely will pave the way for Kevon Lambert to feature more regularly in the starting lineup. He has only seen 101 minutes, but as he builds more chemistry with the squad and comfort with the system, I’d expect the MLS loanee’s influence on the pitch will only grow.
In the coming matches, the 05/01 Thurby meeting with Lexington and 05/24 at Monterrey Bay stand out. The first clash with Lexington in the USL Championship has been highly anticipated since it was announced they were moving up from USL L1. On the other end of the spectrum, Monterrey’s early performances has caught the league’s attention and they have made themselves a more formidable foe than most had expected.
Only five of the 30 regular season matches have been played thus far so there is still a long road ahead for the reigning USL Players’ Shield winners. So far, Coach Cruz’s team has been meeting expectations and earning results with the passion and effort that we have come to expect from a Louisville City team. Excited to see how the squad continues to overcome the various hurdles thrown at them by the grind of the regular season as they pursue another playoff berth and push for winning trophies.
Comments