LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) – The plan is never to go a man down. But when you do go a man down, you’d better have a plan. That was on display in a gritty 1-0 win for the Louisville City Football Club at Monterey Bay FC late Saturday night on the west coast.
LouCity will come home from a two-game, season-opening swing through California with six coveted points, largely because of the defensive effort it was able to put together after Brian Ownby drew a second yellow card and was ejected with 23 minutes left in regulation Saturday.
Ownby, who scored Louisville’s only goal in the 48th minute, took Amadou Dia’s cross into the box and managed to score in traffic. But he was sent off with his second yellow-card foul nearly 20 minutes later, and LouCity was forced to adjust.
But it’s a situation the veteran club encountered several times last season, and even practices for regularly.
“I thought the staff did a really good job of making the moves we needed to make to get into the shape we wanted, which was a 5-3-1,” coach Danny Cruz said of the response to red card. “The players had worked on it in the preseason, so they know the shape. They know what we’re looking to accomplish in those moments. “…It’s not easy to make those changes in the middle of a game, but to see everybody on the same page — to see them work extremely hard to grind out a result — I think that shows the caliber of group we have.”
One week after scoring a league-best 5 goals on opening weekend, Montrey Bay managed just one shot on target the entire game, and that after LouCity went down to 10 men. It took just 7 shots in the game.
The clean sheet was all the more remarkable given that LouCity goalkeeper Oliver Semmle was making his first start, with Cruz having sent regular starter and 2022 Golden Glove winner Kyle Morton home with concussion-like symptoms.
“I put I put on our board one of our bullets before the match started that we needed to get back to clean sheets,” Cruz said. “And what I meant by that by that was in preseason, we had a couple but not enough. Obviously last week against Orange County we conceded a goal and I felt that it was important that we understand the effort that goes into making sure we keep a zero on the board. So, when you look at the commitment, as I said when we went into the 5-3-1 and when you look at again limiting them to one shot on target, those are impressive stats, but I think we can continue to improve on the defensive side. . . . Ollie, as I've said throughout preseason, I’m very confident in him. He had a hell of a preseason. I thought tonight he made one massive save that kept us in it, but I think he was smart with his feet. He did a really good job with his communication. And I'm really proud for him. He got a shutout in his first career start and it's something he truly deserves.”
For a second straight game, LouCity opened a match as the aggressors, but Cruz felt the club lost some of that steam as the half progressed, and let the players hear about it in the locker room.
“At halftime I was pretty stern with the group that we need to make sure that we get our momentum back, that we come out and we start the second half with the same intensity that we did the first,” Cruz said. “I felt after about the 30th minute we didn't do that. But we came out in the second half after the message and I thought they did an excellent job. And, you know, we come away with a good goal from Brian, we go down a man and I would say from the group, that commitment to the shape that we've worked on previously in the preseason, and how many times we had to do that last year, I thought the players did an excellent job in the 5-3-1. It was a massive effort from the group.”
Ownby’s second yellow card was dubious. He was dribbling close to the penalty area when he collided with a defender. The foul went his way. (See update below.)
“When he goes to drive there it’s a bit of a slip, and I actually think he’s the one that gets fouled,” Cruz said of Ownby on the play. “But what we can’t do in that moment is control it. The call is made and we as a staff have to make the calls we need to make.”
With the change in formation, Cruz wound up using his full allotment of substitutions.
“It’s games like this that have a different type of feeling — even a better feeling than when you beat a team three or four-nil,” midfielder Paolo DelPiccolo said. “One-nil, 10 men, just grinding — it took 16 different guys today, and to see everyone out there giving everything they had to get that win, it means a lot to the team. It’s a mentality that has to carry on throughout the whole year."
Now the club heads back to Louisville to open its season on Saturday in Lynn Family Stadium against El Paso Locomotive FC. Kickoff is at 3 p.m.
On the whole, Cruz said the performance over two weeks in California – the club didn’t return home between games – was an encouraging start to a much-anticipated season.
“It was a massive effort from the group,” he said. “And I said to the group at the end of the game, when you look at all the players and you look at the effort that was put in and the commitment to what we were trying to do, six points in two games on the road, it’s a huge credit to the guys.”
UPDATE: LouCity plans to appeal the red card issued to Ownby. An Independent Review Panel will examine the matter, and a winning appeal would rescind Ownby's suspension for Saturday's home opener. The club was 1-for-1 on such appeals last season when the panel overturned a red card for Wes Charpie against Detroit City FC.
Copyright 2023 WDRB Media. All Rights Reserved.
