CINCINNATI – Louisville City FC tallied goals in each half to claim a 2-0 victory over FC Cincinnati in front of a season-high 26,495 fans at Nippert Stadium on Saturday night. It was the second game of the teams’ three-game River Cities Cup derby this season and Louisville’s second win the series this year.
Cameron Lancaster’s free-kick goal in the 15th minute sent Louisville City FC (7-2-1, 22 pts.) into the intermission up a score, and LCFC added a bouncing, deflected goal in the 73rd to put the game out of reach for FC Cincinnati (6-3-2, 20 pts.).
This was just the second time this season FCC was shut out by an opponent as Cincinnati entered the game leading the Eastern Conference in goals (20) this year. With the win, Louisville leapfrogged Cincinnati into first place in the USL Eastern Conference.
FC Cincinnati returns to the field next Saturday, June 2, when the team travels to Harrison, N.J., to face New York Red Bulls II at Red Bull Arena. Kickoff is set for 1 p.m. ET, and the game will be televised on TV Star 64 (WSTR) and also streamed on ESPN+.
Louisville City FC 2, FC Cincinnati 0
Nippert Stadium | Cincinnati, Ohio
May 26, 2018
FC Cincinnati: Evan Newton, Matt Bahner, Dekel Keinan, Paddy Barrett, Justin Hoyte, Corben Bone, Richie Ryan, Kenney Walker (Michael Lahoud 73’), Nazmi Albadawi (Lance Laing 79’), Emmanuel Ledesma, Danni Konig (Emery Welshman 64’)
Bench: Spencer Richey, Forrest Lasso, Russell Cicerone, Jimmy McLaughlin
STATS: Shots 9, Shots on target 0, Fouls 20, Corner kicks 2, Offsides 1, Saves 5, Possession 51.8%
Louisville City FC: Gregory Ranjitsingh, Paco Craig, Sean Totsch, Pat McMahon, Oscar Jimenez, Kyle Smith, Ilija Ilic (Brian Ownby 62’), Paolo DelPiccolo, Devon Williams, Magnus Rasmussen (George Davis IV 66’), Cameron Lancaster (Luke Spencer 30’)
Bench: Tim Dombrowski, Chris Hubbard, Niall McCabe, Alexis Souahy
STATS: Shots 14, Shots on target 7, Fouls 16, Corners 3, Offsides 0, Saves 0, Possession 48.2%
SCORING SUMMARY
15’ - LOU - Cameron Lancaster (unassisted)
73’ - LOU - George Davis IV (Oscar Jimenez)
MISCONDUCT SUMMARY
28’ - FCC - Paddy Barrett (caution)
33’ - FCC - Richie Ryan (caution)
55’ - LOU - Paco Craig (caution)
81’ - FCC - Dekel Keinan (caution)
85’ - LOU - Devon Williams (caution)
Weather: 78 degrees, clear and humid
Attendance: 26,495
HOW IT HAPPENED
15’ | LOU GOAL - After FCC’s Richie Ryan was whistled for a foul 24 yards out, Louisville’s Cameron Lancaster stepped up to the free kick and laced a shot through a narrow opening in the Orange & Blue’s wall, finding space just inside the left post past Evan Newton’s dive, putting the visitors up 1-0.
24’ | FCC attacked in search of the equalizer to Lancaster’s preceding goal and Corben Bone moved the ball downfield and found Emmanuel Ledesma, who crossed it in for Danni Konig. Bone made a cut toward the six-yard box and Konig looked to set him up with a header, but Louisville keeper Gregory Ranjitsingh broke up the play as Bone leapt for the header.
56’ | FCC earned a free kick when Louisville’s Paco Craig drew a yellow card for tripping up König, who was making a run into the box. On the free kick from 20 yards out, Ledesma pushed the ball past Louisville’s defensive wall, but his shot hit the left goal post and Louisville cleared before there was a rebound attempt.
73’ | LOU GOAL - The visitors got deep into FCC territory late in the match as Oscar Jimenez set up George Davis IV for a look at the goal. Davis IV saw his right-footed shot find twine after it deflected and bounced up and over a leaping Newton at the goal line.
GAME NOTES
The loss tonight dropped FCC’s all-time record against Louisville to 3-4-2 … Cincinnati is now 2-2-1 at Nippert Stadium against LCFC and the visitors have won the last two games in Cincy, both in 2018
FC Cincinnati has only been shut out twice this season, both times by Louisville at home (April 7 in Cincinnati)
Defender Blake Smith missed the game after suffering an ankle injury in Wednesday’s U.S. Open Cup victory at Pittsburgh Riverhounds SC
Dekel Keinan was shown his fifth yellow card of the season in the 81st minute, and he will now be forced to miss the next game next Saturday at New York while he serves a one-game yellow card accumulation suspension
In the 57th minute, FCC assistant coach Yoann Dumet was sent off by the referee. He will not be eligible for Alan Koch’s bench personnel on Saturday, June 2, in the team’s next game
Tonight’s attendance of 26,495 is the team’s season-high at Nippert Stadium in 2018
POSTGAME QUOTES
FC Cincinnati Head Coach Alan Koch
Immediate reaction on the loss to Louisville...
“Disappointed in the result obviously, that goes without saying. Equally disappointed in our performance. We weren’t happy with the way we performed. We know we’re capable of a lot more than we showed tonight. Louisville is a very organized, hard-working group and that showed tonight. Having said that, 11 games in, we’re still in a very good place at this time in the season.”
On what he saw from the Louisville goals...
“We’re all human beings. Humans make mistakes, soccer players make mistakes. How do you respond to those mistakes? This group, for the most part, responds well to their mistakes. Louisville came in and they were ready to play from the start. For the full 90 minutes, it just wasn’t the way we expected to play.”
Defender Dekel Keinan
On the effort from FCC…
“I agree with [Alan] about our performance. I’ve played for many years and seen much better effort in 90 percent of those matches. I think as a team we didn’t work hard for each other. But, I’m sure we’ll be ready for the next one. It’s just one game, and we are good enough and experienced enough players to learn from it.”
