Wild affair contrasts 1st meeting between LouCity, Eleven
Photo credit: Robbie Mehling/Soc Takes
LOUISVILLE, Ky. — When Louisville City FC and the Indy Eleven met in Indianapolis earlier this season, it was quite the snooze-fest. Neither club truly found its rhythm before an Ayoze penalty conversion finally gave Indy a 1-0 win in the May 5 battle of attrition.
The two teams more than made up for it during a wild affair Sunday evening at Louisville Slugger Field. Three goals and a missed penalty occurred — and that was just in the first 20 minutes. When the smoke cleared, points were shared in the Derby City with the scoreboard reading 2-2.
“We want to win every game, but we don’t want to to lose,” said Louisville City FC player-coach George Davis IV. “So, it’s nice to show some resilience and come back and get the draw. But at the end of the day, we’re going to go back to the drawing board and see what we could’ve done better and how we could’ve come out of that game with three points.”
LouCity earned a penalty just six minutes into the match, but Indy goalkeeper Owain Fon Williams denied Brian Ownby’s ensuing attempt. Later, Greg Ranjitsingh returned the favor with a penalty save of his own for the hosts, parrying away Eugene Starikov’s spot kick.
In the 16th minute, forward Jack McInerney opened the scoring for the visitors with a header off a Kevin Venegas service that a defender couldn’t quite clear. But just a minute later, Louisville City equalized through Ilija Ilic on a pass from Magnus Rasmussen.
Shortly thereafter, McInerney made it a brace in the 21st minute, assisted by captain Matt Watson. Originally, the goal was ruled an own goal by defender Sean Totsch but was later awarded to Jack Mac.
The hosts again leveled in the 59th on a ripped volley from outside the box by Davis IV, with Ilic providing the assist. Both teams mustered several other opportunities in the second half, including Starikov’s chance to win it from the spot, but the final whistle sounded at 2-2. For the 8,437 supporters in attendance, it felt like 4-4.
“The way the game went we felt like we should’ve won the game,” Eleven head coach Martin Rennie confessed. “Obviously, the way that we ended the second half — we were on top and had two or three great chances, including the penalty. So, we feel like we probably did enough to win the game, but it is a hard place to come and they are a good team so we can be happy with our performance and build on it.”
LouCity announced the hiring of a new head coach earlier this week in former Philadelphia Union manager John Hackworth. But Hackworth has some coaching commitments to wrap up with the U17 U.S. men’s national team before taking the reins, so Louisville City will continue using its player-coach triumvirate of Davis IV, Luke Spencer and Paolo DelPiccolo in the meantime.
Four goals, two missed penalties, physical play, a golazo, impressive goalkeeping and sharp midfield play — yep, this one pretty much had it all — solidified Sunday’s high-flying match as the complete antithesis of the May meeting between the clubs.
Follow Kevin on Twitter: @KJboxing.
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