Louisville City FC’s record-breaking season came to a stunning end Saturday night at Lynn Family Stadium, where Rhode Island upset the boys in purple, 3-0, in the USL Championship Playoffs’ conference semifinal round.
Top-seeded LouCity entered the weekend 17-1 on its home turf, losing only to this same Rhode Island squad by a 5-2 score back in June. The fifth-seeded visitors — an expansion team launched this season — scored in the ninth minute and went on to a similar result.
This defeat snapped a signature City streak: Until this season, the club had never fallen short of advancing to the Eastern Conference Final. That a nearly decade-long run ended the same year Louisville tied the league’s record for wins (24), points earned (76) and goals scored (86) made it an all the more shocking outcome.
“It certainly wasn’t good enough tonight,” said coach Danny Cruz. “We made too many mistakes and didn’t capitalize on our chances…There’s been a lot of ups and a lot of downs — but this certainly is not the way we we wanted to end it.”
JJ Williams — the USL Championship’s reigning Player of the Month — opened scoring early when Rhode Island intercepted a LouCity throw in, poked the ball ahead and saw Williams dribble through City’s defense.
Rhode Island doubled its lead after Williams recovered possession deep in Louisville’s half, making it a brace in the 78th minute. And the visitors delivered the final blow on a stoppage-time penalty as Albert Dikwa knocked in a rebounding penalty kick.
“There’s a lot of positives, but at the end of the day if you don’t win the last game, it’s all for nothing,” club captain Kyle Adams said of the 2024 campaign. “That’s how we feel. That’s how it always is here. If you don’t win the last game of the season with a big trophy, it doesn’t matter.”
LouCity had its moments offensively, most notably in the 84th minute when Jake Morris’ cross was deflected high into the air. Rhode Island goalkeeper Koke Vegas bobbled it, and the ball appeared to push over the line, prompting a brief City celebration.
The center referee, however, disallowed the goal, telling the game’s pool reporter that “the ball never fully crossed the goal line.”
“I think it’s pretty surreal,” Adams said. “I don’t think any of us thought it would end this way — the season we had, especially here at home. The fans were huge for us all season, and we made this place a fortress. Rhode Island was the only team that was able to come here and take points off us. Credit to them, and hopefully they can go on and win it all.”
“I’ll probably finish with this,” Cruz added. “I’m incredibly proud of being able to work with this group this season. It was a memorable one in two different ways, obviously. We recognize that tonight wasn’t good enough, and this will sting for a long time.”
Game Summary: Louisville City FC vs. Rhode Island FC
Date: November 9, 2024
Venue: Lynn Family Stadium
Kickoff: 7:30 p.m. ET
Weather: 62 degrees, light rain
Attendance: 9,510
Scoring
Louisville City FC (0, 0, 0)
Rhode Island FC (1, 2, 3)
Goals
Rhode Island FC:
9’ JJ Williams (Frank Nodarse)
78’ JJ Williams
90’+1 Albert Dikwa
Lineups
Louisville City FC: 18 – Damian Las, 13 – Amadou Dia (46’ 3 – Jake Morris), 32 – Kyle Adams, 5 – Arturo Ordóñez (87’ 11 – Niall McCabe), 4 – Sean Totsch, 2 – Aiden McFadden (64’ 15 – Manny Perez), 17 – Taylor Davila, 23 – Elijah Wynder, 7 – Ray Serrano (78’ 25 – Jansen Wilson), 14 – Wilson Harris, 16 – Adrien Perez (46’ 9 – Phillip Goodrum)
Subs not used: 12 – Danny Faundez, 6 – Wes Charpie
Head coach: Danny Cruz
Rhode Island FC: 1 — Koke Vegas, 6 — Morris Duggan (67’ 21 — Kofi Twumasi), 24 — Karifa Yao, 5 — Grant Stoneman, 17 — Jojea Kwizera (86’ 77 — Amos Shapiro-Thompson), 15 — Frank Nodarse (74’ 10 — Albert Dikwa), 20 — Zach Herivaux (86’ 18 — Joe Brito), 23 — Marc Ybarra, 12 — Clay Holstad, 11 — Noah Fuson, 9 — JJ Williams (86’ 14 — Mark Doyle)
Subs not used: 8 — Jack Panayotou, 22 — Jackson Lee
Head coach: Khano Smith
Stats Summary: Louisville City FC / Rhode Island FC
Shots: 14 / 11
Shots on Goal: 4 / 5
Possession: 53.9% / 46.1%
Fouls: 7 / 13
Offside: 5 / 1
Corner Kicks: 9 / 7
Discipline Summary
Rhode Island FC:
11’ Frank Nodarse (yellow)
72’ Clay Holstad (yellow)
Referee: Elton Garcia
