2017 Eastern Conference Regular Season Champions, 2017 Eastern Conference Playoff Champions, and now, 2017 USL Champions!
For the first time in club history, Louisville City FC captured the USL Cup in front of 14,456 at Slugger Field on Monday night. Cameron Lancaster broke through in the final minutes of the match to put the game away for Louisville City.
“I thought we had a lot of pressure. I thought first half we had good pressure without having real, clerical chances,” said coach James O’Connor following the win. “I thought they started the second half really well. I thought they were bright. Started to cause us a few issues, and then I thought we started to come back into it, and then I thought we were starting to really have a goal with them.”
The opening 45 minutes saw both sides try to break through, but neither would succeed. Louisville City attacked Swope Park Rangers’ area well, holding almost 60% of the possession in the first half while taking four shots. The best chance of the opening half came as Luke Spencer took a shot from a tough angle on the left side of the box that was narrowly caught by the Rangers keeper.
The second half saw both teams with a couple chances to break the deadlock. LouCity opened the chances in the 60th minute with Brian Ownby sending a ball in the box to Luke Spencer that was headed before being deflected out for a corner by Swope Park. The Rangers responded in the 74th minute with a shot by Lebo Moloto from the center that was caught by keeper Greg Ranjitsingh to keep the game knotted at nil.
After another attempt by each time, Cameron Lancaster was the man to set the fate of the game. On a pass from Speedy Williams, Lancaster jumped to send a header to the top right corner, over the reach of the Swope Park keeper to score the winning goal for Louisville City.
“Phenomenal header from Cameron. To be falling back like that and to head it into the corner, it just shows you the quality he has,” commented coach James O’Connor on the game winner. Captain Paolo DelPiccolo added, “I can’t believe Cam (Lancaster) just got up there and won that header. It was an incredible header.”
In the added minutes of the match, Swope Park put up a fight, with a flurry of shots in five minutes. ‘Keeper Greg Ranjitsingh came up big again for LouCity on a free kick at 90’+3 to preserve Louisville’s lead.
Captain Paolo DelPiccolo was named the USL Cup Final MVP at the conclusion of the match. Louisville City FC finishes the 2017 season with a record of 18-6-8.
Game Recap
Match: Louisville City FC vs Swope Park Rangers
Date: November 13, 2017
Venue: Louisville Slugger Field | Louisville, KY
Kickoff: 9:05 pm
Weather: 45 degrees, partly cloudy
Attendance: 14,456
Scoring
Louisville City FC (0,1,1)
Swope Park Rangers (0,0,0)
Goals
Louisville City:
88’ – Cameron Lancaster takes the late lead off an assist from Devon Williams
Lineups
Louisville City starting lineup: 1 Greg Ranjitsingh, 24 Kyle Smith, 6 Tarek Morad, 18 Paco Craig, 4 Sean Totsch, 19 Oscar Jimenez, 36 Paolo DelPiccolo, 80 Devon Williams, 12 Luke Spencer (9 Cameron Lancaster – 66’), 10 Brian Ownby (7 Mark-Anthony Kaye – 73’), 22 George Davis IV
Louisville City subs: 28 Tim Dobrowolski, 14 Ilija Ilic, 8 Guy Abend, 23 Richard Ballard, 11 Niall McCabe
Head coach: James O’Connor
Swope Park starting lineup: 1 Adrian Zendejas, 44 Parker Maher, 23 Dakota Storm, 55 Amer Didic, 58 Dakota Barnathan (79 Max Rugova – 90’), 41 James Musa, 32 Christian Duke (85 Felipe Hernandez – 71’), 88 Kevin Oliveira, 42 Lebo Moloto, 31 Nansel Selbol, 90 Kharlton Belmar
Swope Park subs: 71 David Greczek, 81 Oumar Ballo, 66 Liam Doyle, 75 Wan Kuzain Wan Kamal, 43 Robert Mirosavic
Head coach: Nikola Popovic
Discipline
Louisville City:
90’+4 – Mark-Anthony Kaye, yellow
90+6’ – Guy Abend, red
Swope Park:
17’ – James Musa, yellow
24 – Amir Didic, yellow
Stats
Louisville City FC/Swope Park
Shots: 9/6
Shots on target: 2/4
Possession (%): 54/46
Passes: 455/402
Corners: 6/2
Fouls: 18/11
Officials
Referee: JOSE CARLOS RIVERO
Assistant Referee 1: Corey Parker
Assistant Referee 2: Danny Thornberry
4th official: Hilario Grajeda
Alternate: Eric Weisbrod
