August 31, 2024 – United Soccer League Championship (USL)
Louisville City FC News Release
Louisville City FC’s Jansen Wilson
(Louisville City FC, Credit: Lewis Gettier)
Louisville City FC trailed at three points of Saturday’s game against North Carolina FC, rallying each time for a 6-4 victory that set a USL Championship record and matched club history.
Wilson Harris and Jansen Wilson both registered braces at WakeMed Soccer Park, where LouCity benefitted from a pair of North Carolina own goals along the way. Paired with an own goal of City’s, this became the first USL Championship game to feature three of them.
It also marked the second-ever time the boys in purple conceded four goals and still won, equaling a 6-4 victory over New York Red Bulls II back in August of 2018.
This all happened with Simon Bird, LouCity’s top assistant, serving as acting head coach due to Danny Cruz’s red card suspension.
“I guess it was good for the neutrals and the spectators, but it’s certainly not the way we anticipated the game was going to go or the way we drew it up,” Bird said. “We’re obviously happy we got the win. We showed character when we conceded goals – bounced back immediately – but we lacked control of the game.
“That’s certainly not us, so we need to make sure we learn from it. Ultimately, it’s three points, and we’re happy with the three points. But it needs to be better.”
LouCity improved to 18-5-2, with its 56 points still pacing ahead of the Charleston Battery atop the USL Championship standings. City continues to hold two games in hand over Charleston down the stretch as well.
The boys in purple also continued a positive trend that has seen them follow each of this year’s five losses with a next-out win. That only became a reality Saturday after LouCity overcame losing positions at 1-0, 2-1 and 4-3 on the road.
City finally created some distance over the game’s last half hour, seeing Harris convert a penalty kick in the 60th minute to equalize. He then got behind the defense for a go-ahead strike in the 69th minute before Wilson struck a sixth and final Louisville goal from distance in the 79th.
“It was good character from the guys, but I think this is a not a sustainable way to keep playing,” Harris said. “So I think we’ll take some things from this game and really learn and take it as a positive – but also learn from the negatives.”
Harris upped his season total to a career-high 16 goals, eclipsing the 15 he scored in 2022, his debut LouCity season. Wilson sits…