Coach Danny Cruz praised Louisville City FC’s road game mentality this week, and his squad put it on display again Saturday night.
LouCity rallied back from an early deficit, absorbed a controversial penalty kick and denied another try from the spot to pull out a 2-2 away draw against Phoenix Rising FC. The result meant a wacky point earned — and the boys in purple could argue they deserved more — from a matchup between storied USL Championship clubs.
“I feel really good about the result tonight,” said coach Danny Cruz. “Obviously we would have like to have three points. I think the penalty that gets called is not a penalty, which changes the game. I thought the players’ response to that, to make sure they did everything they could to come out of here with a result, becomes really, really important. We talk about every point mattering, and certainly tonight helped that.”
LouCity (6-4-4, 22 points) remained fifth in the Eastern Conference table despite trailing from the jump in Arizona, with Carlos Harvey heading down Erickson Gallardo’s fifth-minute header at the back post. From there, City settled into a rare game when opposing Rising FC (4-4-6, 18 points) controlled the majority of possession.
That played to LouCity’s advantage in the 41st minute when Phoenix gave the ball away in its own half, and seconds later Amadou Dia went down in the box to earn a penalty. Sean Totsch sent the goalkeeper the wrong way — he’s 7-for-7 from the spot in his pro career — to level the score.
The boys in purple pushed in front on the other side of the halftime whistle, going against the run of play to stake an advantage. Tyler Gibson fed a forward pass to Dylan Mares, who had subbed on only seconds earlier. Mares turned, dribbled and struck from near the top of the box with his first touches of the night.
“We know what Dylan can bring,” Gibson said. “He’s a difference-maker on the field, and I want to get him the ball as much as possible. I was just trying to find him, and you saw what he can do.”
Totsch cleared a Manuel Arteaga shot off the line in the 63rd minute, and LouCity could start thinking about leaving Phoenix Rising Soccer Stadium with all three points. Then a 72nd-minute whistle blew as the head official awarded a penalty to Phoenix after a Rising FC player chested the ball down, grazing City defender Amadou Dia’s hand.
“It looks like it’s outside the box,” former USWNT goalkeeper Jillian Loyden, providing color commentary on the game’s ESPN+ call. Referee Sergio Demianchuk didn’t see it the same, and so Arteaga stepped up to convert the try, equalizing for Phoenix.
Five minutes later, Demianchuk sent the hosts to the spot again after Totsch was whistled on a tackle. LouCity’s rookie goalkeeper, Oliver Semmle, continued a massive debut season by diving right to deny Rising FC’s Danny Trejo the goal.
“It was a big moment,” Cruz said, adding of Semmle that, “He’s continuing to to grow. He’s continuing to learn, and he’s continuing to develop. He did an excellent job there tonight.”
The boys in purple have lost just once this season in eight away games, with Cruz insisting his group picks up an edge away from the friendlier Lynn Family Stadium. That’s where LouCity will return, looking to improve on its 3-3-0 home record next weekend when hosting Las Vegas Lights FC.
“You’re never happy to not get a win, but I think this is one of those games on the road where it’s a good result for us to come away for a draw,” Gibson said. “We’re unfortunate on a couple of calls and how things went, but I think this is one of those ones we put in a good shift and good performance, and it’s going to be a positive step moving forward to the next game.”
First, City pauses USL Championship play for its first-ever international friendly. Germany’s FC Kaiserslautern visits for an 8 p.m. Wednesday game at Lynn Family Stadium. Tickets and more information are available at LouCity.com/friendly.
Game Summary: Phoenix Rising FC vs. Louisville City FC
Date: June 17, 2023
Venue: Phoenix Rising Soccer Stadium
Kickoff: 10:30 p.m.
Weather: 97 degrees, sunny
Scoring
Phoenix Rising FC (1, 1, 2)
Louisville City FC (1, 1, 2)
Goals
Phoenix Rising FC:
5’ Carlos Harvey (Erickson Gallardo)
74’ Manuel Arteaga
Louisville City FC:
42’ Sean Totsch
57’ Dylan Mares (Tyler Gibson)
Lineups
Phoenix Rising FC: 1 — Rocco Rios Novo, 16 — Gabi Torres (64’ 15 — Henry Uzochukwu), 30 — Alejandro Fuenmayor, 4 — Daniel Krutzen, 7 — Erickson Gallardo, 21 — Panos Armenakas, 67 — Carlos Harvey (90’+2 8 — Jose Hernandez), 26 — Renzo Zambrano, 23 — Eddie Munjoma, 17 — Danny Trejo, 9 — Manuel Arteaga
Subs not used: 22 — Patrick Rakovsky, 2 — Darnell King, 6 — Baboucarr Njie, 10 — Federico Varela, 13 — Carlos Anguiano
Head coach: Juan Guerra
Louisville City FC: 28 — Oliver Semmle, 13 — Amadou Dia (88’ 67 — Owen Damm), 6 — Wes Charpie, 4 — Sean Totsch, 19 — Oscar Jimenez, 12 — Tyler Gibson, 5 — Rasmus Thellufsen, 23 — Elijah Wynder (56’ 22 — Dylan Mares), 77 — Enoch Mushagalusa (82’ 8 — Carlos Moguel Jr.), 7 — Ray Serrano, 14 — Wilson Harris (82’ 17 — Cameron Lancaster)
Subs not used: 18 — Danny Faundez, 36 — Paolo DelPiccolo, 90 — Maarten Pouwels
Head coach: Danny Cruz
Stats Summary: Phoenix Rising FC / Louisville City FC
Shots: 15 / 12
Shots on Goal: 5 / 6
Possession: 54.8% / 45.2%
Fouls: 9 / 9
Offside: 0 / 1
Corner Kicks: 8 / 5
Discipline Summary
Phoenix Rising FC:
45’+2 Daniel Krutzen (yellow)
53’ Panos Armenakas (yellow)
Louisville City FC:
73’ Amadou Dia (yellow)
Referee: Sergio Demianchuk
