On his way from interview room to locker room Monday night, Scott Goodwin passed by Louisville City FC coach James O’Connor, who asked whether he’d see the goalkeeper again. No, Goodwin guessed, because he’d be leaving early Tuesday for Boston and enrollment in Harvard Medical School.
The two embraced. There was little left to say after plenty of buildup to Goodwin’s final game. Still, both said plenty after LouCity knocked off FC Montreal, 2-0, before fireworks popped over Louisville Slugger Field.
Goodwin reflected most on fans: “I’ll miss everything about our supporters group. We have the best fans in the league. These guys are incredible, and it’s not just showing up on game day and the smoke bombs and the chants and all that. That goes off the field as well. I can’t tell you how many times my wife and I have even just gone out to dinner with our supporters. They’ve become really good friends of ours, and I think that speaks a lot to this club. It’s well-rounded in the fact that it’s not just the players separated off. Everybody’s really together, and that goes from the players to the coaching staff and the supporters and just the city in general. You have the mayor out here all the time. I think that’s really what’s going to lead this club to a lot of success in the future.”
Striker Chandler Hoffman on Goodwin’s goodbye: “Scott has been a great teammate and a great player. I think the way the club has handled him leaving has been tremendous and he deserves all the credit. He’s a great guy and he’s going to be a successful doctor. We’re all happy to be a part of his journey.”
Hoffman said players weren’t happy with only 2-0: “That’s what I love about this group and this locker room. We win 2-0, but no one’s satisfied with the performance tonight. It’s good to win, but we felt like-especially when we went up a man and the way we dictated the game in the first half, that we should finish more chances and really put them away. “
So, why no more scoring? Hoffman’s explanation: “We were a little complacent after we got those first two goals, so that’s something we’ve got to get better at. We’ve got to put teams away. Especially in the second half, it was back and forth and there’s no reason it should’ve been like that. We should’ve put the game away.”
O’Connor echoed that: “I thought at times we played some really good football. Especially the first half, I thought we played some quick, incisive football. We created a number of opportunities tonight and should have won the game by more. I think Montreal deserves a lot of credit for the way they played in the second half. I think when they went down to 10 men, they stayed in the game and still managed to cause us problems, which from our point of view we’d be disappointed with. But second half, it was a case where we had a lot of opportunities and clearly should have won the game by more.”
And the coach offered some thoughts on Goodwin: “He’s been a role model for us since he first arrived. He’s led his life correctly off the field. He’s always supported his team. Since he’s made the decision to go, he’s pushed himself even harder in training. And even for tonight, I’m sure he was disappointed he didn’t start the game. He masked it. He was really professional, and when he went on, he really did well. And we needed him, you know? It wasn’t as if we just put him on there and just waved him off. We needed him to make a big save for us. He’s someone who’s very reliable — very trustworthy and is an all-around good guy.”
