Louisville City First Team to Clinch USL Championship Playoff Berth | OneFootball

Louisville City 3Indy Eleven 1

Kentucky’s purple and white machine rolled into Indy Eleven’s Carroll Stadium and showed the hosts they could go the distance. Indy exploded from the starting line, with Romario Williams scoring in under 120 seconds. But LouCity dug in their heels, holding the Eleven at bay and snatching the equalizer in the final seconds of the first half from Aiden McFadden’s lovely curling shot. Entering another gear in the second, LouCity added two more goals from Kevon Lambert (49th) and Sean Totsch (59th). Then they set cruise control for the remaining thirty minutes.

Achievement Unlocked

With this win, Louisville has 51 points and a secured spot in the playoffs. Asked about this achievement, coach Danny Cruz commented: “It’s nice, but our mind’s on next Saturday.” LouCity’s eyes are fixed on a bigger prize: the Players Shield for best overall record in the league. This is essentially a two horse race between them and Charleston Battery. The separation between the two increased as Battery fell to Rhode Island FC 1 – 0 in a lukewarm fixture that only featured twelve total shots. In the West, FC Tulsa’s run of fourteen (!) undefeated league games came to a crashing halt in a 2 – 0 loss at Colorado Springs. The Swallowtails now trail LouCity by nine points in the shield race.

Victory by Facepalm

Las Vegas Lights joined an exclusive, and somewhat embarrassing, club with their 1 – 0 victory over Lexington SC. You see, Vegas had ZERO shots on frame, their goal came from a 17th minute own goal from Lexington defender Brooks Thompson. Lights sit in last place in the West, but are tied with the most clean sheets (9) . This is truly a club of juxtapositions.

Hartford’s Hot Streak Continues

Now that FC Tulsa have stumbled, Hartford Athletic hold the current undefeated streak. Their 3 – 2 win on the road over North Carolina is their ninth in all competitions. They’ve climbed from last place to 6th in that same stretch.

Phoenix Flame Out

It was all going so well. Ihsan Sacko had a brace, and Darius Johnson put in a third… all before the 60 minute mark. Then Axel Essengue caught the goalkeeper as he slid to poke in a cross. He was shown a second yellow and sent to the showers with 25 minutes left to play. El Paso Locomotive immediately applied pressure, and Phoenix proceeded to implode. Los Locos scored three times, with Ricky Ruiz’s 98th minute tap-in equalizer coming from a goalkeeping error.

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