September 4, 2022 – United Soccer League Championship (USL) – Louisville City FC News Release
Louisville City FC reacts after a goal against Sacramento Republic
(Louisville City FC, Credit: Connor Cunningham)
Louisville City FC clinched a playoff berth for the eighth consecutive season Saturday night, topping Sacramento Republic, 3-1, in driving rain at Lynn Family Stadium.
Wilson Harris, Sean Totsch and Elijah Wynder each scored for LouCity, which extended its home unbeaten run to eight matches, including seven wins. The win was not without obstacles – Sacramento equalized at 1-1 in the 29th minute and the game was delayed an hour and 20 minutes by severe weather in the area – but City snapped a two-game losing skid in the process.
“Obviously the weather delay makes things a little difficult,” said LouCity coach Danny Cruz. “But all in all, it was a really good response from the last two results, and hopefully we can take this into another busy week.”
LouCity (18-5-4, 58 points) snapped up one of the seven USL Championship Eastern Conference playoff spots before the final whistle when FC Tulsa’s loss put City too far ahead of its former divisional rival with seven matches left in the regular season. The victory still helped the first-place boys in purple maintain their four-point lead on the second-place Tampa Bay Rowdies in the conference standings.
City now has its sights set on bigger goals: scoring the most points in the USL Championship, locking up the top seed in the Eastern Conference playoff bracket and, ultimately, claiming a third trophy as league champion. But, Cruz said, the first step is qualifying for the postseason, and that cannot go unappreciated.
“There are guys in that locker room who haven’t done it before, so it’s something to be proud of,” Cruz said. “But again, for us, it’s just one step in the direction that we expected, so everybody in that locker room deserves a ton of credit for where we are right now.”
Harris opened the scoring in the ninth minute, knocking in a perfectly-shaped cross from Amadou Dia from the left wing. It was the 23-year-old’s team-best 11th goal of the regular season, and Dia extended his team lead in assists with his seventh helper.
Sacramento (12-8-7, 43 points) tied the game 20 minutes later through Emil Cuello, who headed home Douglas Martinez’s cross from the right flank. But the visitors, who play in the U.S. Open Cup final on Wednesday, rarely threatened after that.
City retook the lead just before…