Louisville City FC lost at home for the first time this season in a 2-0 defeat at the hands of Monterey Bay on Saturday night at Lynn Family Stadium.
Before the loss, City (7-2-3) had conceded only one goal at Lynn Family Stadium this year, but Monterey Bay scored off a corner in the 58th minute and added a second 19 minutes later to seal the win. Despite having nearly 70% of the possession and spending much of the game in Monterey Bay’s half, LouCity was unable to convert on any of its 10 shots, hitting the woodwork twice.
“It was obviously not the result we wanted,” said midfielder Niall McCabe. “The performance was really disappointing. We had the ball in our first two-thirds of the field, but in the final third, I don’t think we created enough. But we gave up bad, bad goals as well.”
LouCity has now lost two consecutive matches for the first time since October 2021, with May 13’s loss to the LA Galaxy II snapping a 13-game unbeaten run through all competitions to start the campaign. Last year, after the October skid, the club went on to win its next four matches before falling to Tampa Bay Rowdies in the USL Eastern Conference Championship.
“We are walking away embarrassed with the way that we ended the game,” coach Danny Cruz said. “We created a lot of opportunities in the first half, but we didn’t do a great job in the final third, and then in the second half, (we were) not anywhere near the level of our expectation.”
The boys in purple opened Saturday’s match with a flurry of chances, putting pressure on Monterey Bay FC in its defensive half. LouCity hit the crossbar and the post in the first 10 minutes, with a Monterey Bay defender nearly scoring an own goal on a cross into the area and forward Brian Ownby rocketing a shot off the post moments later.
Monterey Bay grew into the game as it progressed, but Mobi Fehr’s headed goal off a 58th-minute corner still came significantly against the run of play. City nearly equalized through forward Jorge Gonzalez in the 73rd minute, but Monterey Bay goalkeeper Dallas Jaye saved the well-struck low shot with his legs and smothered the rebound.
LouCity struggled to drum up chances after that, and Monterey Bay converted a defensive third turnover into a counterattack goal to seal the win.
“Monterey Bay played a nice, low block that made it difficult to break down in the second half, but it was nothing different than the first half,” Cruz said. “We got into the final third over and over again with the exact pattern we talked through all week. The final service was lacking. It was poor. I thought the urgency and the intensity for the last 30 minutes was poor, which is why I used the word embarrassing. I can live with bad results – that happens in football, certainly. But I was not happy with the lack of urgency and mentality for the final 30 minutes.”
The boys in purple did get some good news in the defeat: The club’s all-time leading scorer Cameron Lancaster returned to action, coming on as a substitute in the 61st minute.
Now Lancaster and LouCity have a quick turnaround ahead of Wednesday’s much-anticipated U.S. Open Cup match against Nashville SC, set for 7 p.m. at Lynn Family Stadium.
Game Summary: Louisville City FC vs. Monterey Bay FC
Date: May 21, 2022
Venue: Lynn Family Stadium
Kickoff: 7:30 p.m.
Weather: 72 degrees, mostly cloudy
Player of the Match: Manny Perez
Attendance: 10,716
Scoring
Louisville City FC (0, 0, 0)
Monterey Bay FC (0, 2, 2)
Goals
Monterey Bay
58’ Mobi Fehr (James Murphy)
77’ Sam Gleadle (Christian Volesky)
Lineups
Louisville City FC (4-3-3): 1 – Kyle Morton; 15 – Manny Perez, 66 – Josh Wynder (79’ 32 – Ian Soler), 6 – Wes Charpie, 3 – Amadou Dia (79’ 19 – Oscar Jimenez); 11 – Niall McCabe (75’ 4 – Sean Totsch), 13 – Corben Bone, 36 – Paolo DelPiccolo (62’ 4 – Sean Totsch); 14 – Wilson Harris, 9 – Jorge Gonzalez, 10 – Brian Ownby (61’ 17 – Cameron Lancaster)
Subs not used: 18 – Danny Faundez, 21 – Ray Serrano,
Head Coach: Danny Cruz
Monterey Bay FC (4-4-2): 1- Dallas Jaye; 3 – Morey Doner; 30 – Kai Greene; 2 – Hugh Roberts; 12 – Grant Robinson (64’ 11 – Walmer Martinez); 23 – Sam Gleadle; 13 – Mobi Fehr; 6 – James Murphy; 31 – Chase Boone; 7 Adrian Rebollar; 10 – Christian Volesky (83’ 9 – Seku Conneh)
Subs not used: 15 – Christopher Cortez; 16 – Antony Siaha; 22 – Jesse Maldonado; 77 – Jiro Barriga-Toyama; 99 – Samuel Strong
Head Coach: Frank Yallop
Stats Summary: Louisville City FC / Monterey Bay FC
Shots: 10 / 3
Shots on Goal: 4 / 3
Possession: 67.6% / 32.4%
Fouls: 14 / 11
Offside: 3 / 2
Corner Kicks: 5 / 3
Discipline Summary
Louisville City FC:
29’ Jorge Gonzalez (Yellow)
68’ Amadou Dia (Yellow)
70’ Niall McCabe (Yellow)
78’ Wes Charpie (Yellow)
Monterey Bay FC:
55’ Mobi Fehr (Yellow)
97’ Seku Conneh (Yellow)
Referee: Nabil Bensalah
