November 6, 2022 – United Soccer League Championship (USL) – Louisville City FC News Release
It was a game-winning goal befitting of the match: a scrappy, physical Eastern Conference Final decided by Elijah Wynder’s frenetic extra-time finish that sent 10-man Louisville City FC to its fourth USL Championship Final in eight years with a 1-0 victory over Tampa Bay Rowdies on Saturday at Lynn Family Stadium.
On a night full of wind and rain, in a game with a red card and numerous other cagey moments, the 19-year-old Wynder stuck with a loose ball in the box off an Oscar Jimenez corner in the 107th minute and toe-poked his second goal of the year past Rowdies goalkeeper Phil Breno.
LouCity now awaits the winner of Sunday night’s Western Conference Final between San Antonio FC and Colorado Switchbacks FC, with the USL Championship Final set for 8:30 p.m. ET on Sunday, Nov. 13.
“It’s excellence. It’s what we work for,” said LouCity captain Paolo DelPiccolo. “It’s a step toward what we are working for, and lifting the trophy is always something special. I’m just elated, especially the way these last two games have gone. To see Elijah get the winner tonight and everyone on the team just work and work and work and fight and get there and get those victories, it really means a lot, and I’m just so proud to be a part of what they’re doing.”
Saturday’s game was of the caliber expected between two teams that have met in three consecutive Eastern Conference title games after these teams also met in the national semifinal in 2020 and 2021.
There were a combined 26 fouls, including the 82nd-minute sending off of City’s Corben Bone for a post-foul push. And there were a number of other tense moments, too, with LouCity forwards Enoch Mushagalusa and Wilson Harris coming close to scoring and Tampa Bay nearly taking the lead through substitute Dayonn Harris.
“You never want to go down a man in a game like that, but with that group, I believed. I absolutely believed,” LouCity coach Danny Cruz said. “I asked them to believe before the game, and they did that. … We had guys who were fatigued. We had guys who worked their butts all night. But again, in this environment, with this fan base, it’s very difficult to lose a game in Lynn Family Stadium.”
City went into halftime wondering what it might take to get a goal. The boys in purple started fast and generated a number of chances in the opening 45 minutes.
In the 34th minute, Mushagalusa collected the ball out on the left…
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