October 2, 2024 – United Soccer League Championship (USL)
Louisville City FC News Release
Louisville City FC reacts following a goal against Miami FC
(Louisville City FC, Credit: Connor Cunningham)
Louisville City FC overmatched struggling Miami FC on Wednesday night at Lynn Family Stadium, registering a 3-0 victory that pulled the boys in purple to within a win of claiming their first Players’ Shield.
Sean Totsch, Phillip Goodrum and Ray Serrano each scored in LouCity’s 14th home victory of the season – a new USL Championship single-season record. City also improved to 22-6-2, matching the most wins for a campaign in club history.
“When you look at the support that we have in the stands week in and week out, I’ve said it before, but our players feed off it,” coach Danny Cruz said of the home wins record. “I also challenged the players at the beginning of the season to do everything they could to make this a fortress.
“It’s a credit to the players as well. They enjoy being here. They enjoy playing on this field. They enjoy representing the community and playing in front of our fans.”
Cruz’s squad heads to rival Indy Eleven this Saturday, when another three points would clinch the Players’ Shield, the regular season title that also guarantees home field advantage throughout the playoffs.
This represents the only piece of USL Championship silverware not yet in LouCity’s trophy case after the club won back-to-back league titles in 2017 and 2018.
“We’ve focused since preseason knowing that every game matters,” Serrano said, “and every game, we’re going to get one step closer to achieving that goal – winning the (Players’) Shield and then hopefully the Eastern Conference championship and USL final.”
Totsch headed in an 11th-minute Taylor Davila corner kick for LouCity’s opener Wednesday, and City went on to dominate most every statistical category. Shots were 24-4 in favor of the home side, which conceded only two opposing touches in the box and one shot on target.
Still, Miami – the Eastern Conference’s last-place team – proved difficult to break down the rest of the way.
After a flurry of LouCity shots, Goodrum doubled the lead in the 73rd minute after Serrano linked up on a cross to Aiden McFadden at the back post. Serrano knocked in a goal of his own 10 minutes later.
“They were going to sit in a lower block, and we just had to be that much better and more patient to break them down,” Goodrum said. “Luckily Totsch got the one early one, but then it took a while to…