Louisville City FC and Phoenix Rising FC traded goals Saturday night while playing to a 2-2 draw, but consider it only a warmup for the main event coming this summer.
This preseason meeting fell three weeks before the USL Championship powers — one from the Eastern Conference, the other from the West — kick off their respective 34-game campaigns. Midway through those seasons, the two will get a regular season rematch July 20 at Lynn Family Stadium in a highly anticipated game to be broadcast by ESPN2.
LouCity made this the last of three games on an 11-day swing through sunny Arizona, where it also defeated Grand Canyon University and the USL Championship’s El Paso Locomotive.
“Tonight was an excellent game against a very good opponent with fans,” said coach Danny Cruz. “It felt real, which was excellent for the players. I think when you look at the result, it was a fair result — a lot of opportunities both ways. So certainly some things we need to continue to improve on, but overall I’m really proud of the group on this trip.”
In the final fixture before heading home, Phoenix moved ahead on a 17th-minute goal in front of its home crowd at Rising Stadium. The boys in purple, however, equalized on the final play of the first half when Niall McCabe found Paolo DelPiccolo on a successful corner kick.
LouCity took the lead in the 54th minute once a Brian Ownby cross was deflected and rebounded in by Wilson Harris, one of two 2022 newcomers in Cruz’s lineup. Shortly after a line change for the final third of the game, Rising FC equalized to round out scoring.
“Against El Paso, we had a group play 60 (minutes) and a group play 30, and we flipped those two groups tonight,” Cruz said. “…Overall, I think when you look at doing it that way and the focus of our periodization, it’s important that we get these minutes into players’ legs as we continue to prepare for the regular season.”
A prominent trio of players faced their former clubs Saturday on both sides. LouCity’s starting group included Amadou Dia, who represented Phoenix the only other time the two sides met in the 2018 USL Championship Final won by the boys in purple.
On the Rising FC side of things, Ben Lundt — the 2020 USL Championship Goalkeeper of the Year for LouCity — started between the posts, and 2016 club captain Aodhan Quinn featured in the midfield.
Despite the familiarity, some tempers flared, particularly after the opening goal when a minor scuffle resulted in yellow cards for both teams. All the better to fuel their next game against one another with USL Championship points on the line.
Remaining for LouCity this preseason are trips to play Pittsburgh Riverhounds SC (Feb. 26) and MLS Next Pro’s St. Louis City (March 5). The boys in purple then start their campaign March 12 at Lynn Family Stadium, kicking off at 7:30 p.m. against Atlanta United 2.
Season tickets, multi-game flex packs and single-game tickets are all on sale by visiting LouCity.com.
