2021 Louisville City FC season

Louisville City

2021 season
Owner	John Neace
Manager	Danny Cruz
Stadium	Lynn Family Stadium
USL	Division: 1st Conference: 2nd Overall: 4th
USL Playoffs	Eastern Conference Finals
U.S. Open Cup	Not Held
Top goalscorer	Cameron Lancaster (21)
Biggest win	LOU 3–0 MEM (6/12) LOU 4–1 SKC (8/7)
Biggest defeat	All by 1 goal
Home colors Away colors
← 2020 2022 →

The 2021 Louisville City FC season was the club's seventh season of competition. City competed in the USL Championship, the second tier of soccer in the United States.

Background

The previous season was significantly altered due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Louisville City played one match to start the USL Championship season on March 7, 2020, before the season was suspended on March 12, 2020. Louisville City resumed the season on July 12, 2020, under an abbreviated 16-game season instead of 32. Stadium capacity was capped at 4,900; or about 31% of stadium capacity, to enforce social distancing measures.

Louisville City FC finished the truncated 2020 season with a record of 11–2–3, which was good enough to finish in first in Group E, first in the eastern conference, and second overall in the league. City reached the Eastern Conference Final, or semifinals of the USL Championship Playoffs before losing to the Tampa Bay Rowdies.

Cameron Lancaster led Louisville in scoring with 10 goals across all competitions, good enough for the fifth highest goal scoring tally in the league. Lancaster, along with league Goalkeeper of the Year Ben Lundt, defender Sean Totsch, and midfielder Speedy Williams, were named to the All-League First Team.

Current squad

As of June 3, 2021^[update][1]

No.	Position	Player	Nation
1	GK	Chris Hubbard	United States
3	DF	Alexis Souahy	France
4	DF	Sean Totsch	United States
6	DF	Wesley Charpie	United States
7	MF	Napo Matsoso	Lesotho
8	DF	Akil Watts	United States
9	FW	Jorge Gonzalez (on loan from Portland Timbers)	Spain
10	MF	Brian Ownby	United States
11	MF	Niall McCabe	Republic of Ireland
12	MF	Tyler Gibson	United States
13	MF	Corben Bone	United States
14	FW	Abdou Mbacke Thiam	Senegal
15	DF	Pat McMahon	United States
16	GK	Simon Lefebvre	France
17	FW	Cameron Lancaster	England
19	MF	Oscar Jimenez	United States
20	FW	Jimmy McLaughlin	United States
21	FW	Kyle Greig	United States
22	MF	George Davis IV	United States
23	MF	Elijah Wynder	United States
24	GK	Parker Siegfried	United States
29	MF	Antoine Hoppenot	France
36	MF	Paolo DelPiccolo	United States
42	DF	Jonathan Gómez	United States
66	DF	Joshua Wynder	United States

Competitions

Preseason friendlies

USL Championship

Louisville City entered the season coached by John Hackworth, who had been at the helm since August 2018. On April 27, 2021, it was announced that Hackworth and Louisville City had mutually terminated Hackworth's contract; Danny Cruz was named the interim head coach.^[2] On October 11, 2021, Cruz was named the permanent head coach.^[3]

Standings — Central Division

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	L	T	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Louisville City FC	32	18	7	7	61	37	+24	61	Advance to USL Championship Playoffs
2	Birmingham Legion FC	32	18	8	6	51	31	+20	60
3	Memphis 901 FC	32	14	10	8	47	42	+5	50
4	FC Tulsa	32	14	13	5	49	48	+1	47
5	OKC Energy FC	32	8	11	13	30	38	−8	37
6	Indy Eleven	32	9	15	8	32	47	−15	35
7	Atlanta United 2	32	8	14	10	47	56	−9	34[a]
8	Sporting Kansas City II	32	4	20	8	33	64	−31	20[a]

Results summary

Overall								Home						Away
Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD
32	18	7	7	61	37	+24	61	12	2	2	37	17	+20	6	5	5	24	20	+4

Match results

For the 2021 USL Championship season, Louisville City was placed in the Central Division. The club played four matches against each divisional opponent (two home, two away), and four other matches against teams outside the division. Louisville City faced San Diego Loyal SC, Colorado Springs Switchbacks FC, and New Mexico United for the first time in their history.^[5] For the first time in their history, Louisville City completed a full-length regular season without a player being sent off, and without a multi-goal loss, accomplishments the team would sustain through the playoff run.

USL Cup Playoffs

The top four teams in each of the four USL Championship divisions advanced to the 2021 USL Championship Playoffs. Louisville City entered the playoffs as the top seed out of the Central Division, and second overall seed in the Eastern Conference.

Conference Quarterfinals November 5–7

Conference Semifinals November 13

Conference Finals November 20

USL Championship Final November 28

A1

Tampa Bay Rowdies

6

C4

FC Tulsa

2

A1

Tampa Bay Rowdies

1

C2

Birmingham Legion FC

0

C2

Birmingham Legion FC

w/o

A3

Pittsburgh Riverhounds SC

A1

a.e.t. )

3

Eastern Conference

C1

Louisville City FC

2

A2

Charlotte Independence

3

C3

Memphis 901 FC

1

A2

Charlotte Independence

0

C1

Louisville City FC

1

C1

Louisville City FC

1

A4

Miami FC

0

A1

Tampa Bay Rowdies

1

P2

Orange County SC

3

M1

El Paso Locomotive FC

0

P4

Oakland Roots SC

1

P4

Oakland Roots SC

0 (5)

P2

Orange County SC (p)

0 (6)

P2

Orange County SC

1

M3

Colorado Springs Switchbacks FC

0

P2

Orange County SC (p)

1 (5)

Western Conference

M2

San Antonio FC

1 (3)

M2

San Antonio FC

2

P3

San Diego Loyal SC

0

M2

San Antonio FC

3

M4

Rio Grande Valley FC Toros

1

P1

Phoenix Rising FC

3 (3)

M4

Rio Grande Valley FC Toros (p)

3 (4)

U.S. Open Cup

On March 29, 2021, the U.S. Soccer Federation announced a truncated format for the 2021 U.S. Open Cup. 16 clubs would participate, each entering at the same time in a Round of 16: 8 from MLS to be determined by league table position after three weeks of play; 4 from the USL Championship, specifically each conference finalist from the 2020 USL Championship Playoffs, including Louisville City; Greenville Triumph SC of USL League One; Detroit City FC of the NISA, and Open Division sides FC Golden State Force and Newtown Pride FC. All non-MLS sides would be drawn against an MLS side for the Round of 16. The competition would begin in May and conclude by the end of June.^[6]

On April 16, 2021, the U.S. Soccer Federation announced that the competition would not go forward in the spring as planned, and that it would evaluate holding the competition later in the year.^[7]

On July 20, 2021, in conjunction with announcing a tentative schedule for the 2022 U.S. Open Cup, the U.S. Soccer Federation also declared that the 2021 edition of the competition was officially cancelled.^[8]

Player statistics

Top scorers

Place	Pos.	No.	Name	USL	USL Playoffs	Total
1	FW	17	Cameron Lancaster	20	1	21
2	MF	36	Paolo DelPiccolo	9	0	9
3	FW	21	Kyle Greig	5	0	5
3	MF	10	Brian Ownby	4	1	5
5	MF	29	Antoine Hoppenot	4	0	4
5	FW	9	Jorge Gonzalez	3	1	4
7	MF	13	Corben Bone	3	0	3
7	MF	20	Jimmy McLaughlin	3	0	3
9	DF	42	Jonathan Gomez	2	0	2
9	DF	6	Wes Charpie	2	0	2
9	MF	7	Napo Matsoso	2	0	2
12	DF	15	Pat McMahon	1	0	1
12	DF	3	Alexis Souahy	1	0	1
12	MF	19	Oscar Jimenez	1	0	1
-	-	-	Opponent Own Goals	1	1	2
Total				61	4	65

Assist leaders

Place	Pos.	No.	Name	USL	USL Playoffs	Total
1	MF	10	Brian Ownby	10	0	10
2	DF	42	Jonathan Gomez	8	0	8
3	MF	13	Corben Bone	6	1	7
4	MF	29	Antoine Hoppenot	4	0	4
4	MF	19	Oscar Jimenez	3	1	4
6	FW	21	Kyle Greig	2	0	2
6	MF	11	Niall McCabe	2	0	2
6	DF	3	Alexis Souahy	2	0	2
6	DF	15	Pat McMahon	2	0	2
10	MF	22	George Davis IV	1	0	1
10	MF	36	Paolo DelPiccolo	1	0	1
10	DF	6	Wes Charpie	1	0	1
10	DF	8	Akil Watts	1	0	1
10	FW	14	Abdou Mbacke Thiam	1	0	1
Total				42	2	44

Clean sheets

Place	Pos.	No.	Name	USL	USL Playoffs	Total
1	GK	1	Chris Hubbard	6	2	8
2	GK	24	Parker Siegfried	1	0	1
Total				7	2	9

Disciplinary

The 2021 season was Louisville City's first full-length campaign without having a player sent off. However, the club accumulated more yellow cards than any previous season.

No.	Pos.	Name	USL	USL Playoffs	Total
36	MF	Paolo DelPiccolo	9	1	10
42	MF	Jonathan Gómez	8	1	9
10	MF	Brian Ownby	7	2	9
11	MF	Niall McCabe	7	1	8
15	DF	Pat McMahon	6	0	6
29	MF	Antoine Hoppenot	6	0	6
21	FW	Kyle Greig	4	1	5
3	DF	Alexis Souahy	4	0	4
7	MF	Napo Matsoso	3	0	3
22	MF	George Davis IV	3	0	3
4	DF	Sean Totsch	3	0	3
66	DF	Joshua Wynder	3	0	3
19	MF	Oscar Jimenez	2	1	3
1	GK	Chris Hubbard	2	0	2
8	DF	Akil Watts	2	0	2
6	DF	Wes Charpie	2	0	2
9	FW	Jorge Gonzalez	2	0	2
17	FW	Cameron Lancaster	1	1	2
13	MF	Corben Bone	1	0	1
12	MF	Tyler Gibson	1	0	1
20	MF	Jimmy McLaughlin	1	0	1
Total			77	8	85

References

External links

• Louisville City