Head Coach: John Hackworth (2nd Season)

Home Venue: Slugger Field

2018 Record: 19-6-9, 66pts – USL Cup champion

Projected 2019 Finish: Second, Eastern Conference

TEAM OUTLOOK

As the first back-to-back USL Cup champion in the league’s history, Louisville City FC enters unprecedented territory in 2019. After ending 2018 on a 10-game winning streak that covered the final six games of the regular season and the USL Cup Playoffs, LouCity will enter the new season as the team everyone else is looking to take down after a remarkable run of success over its first four seasons.

Head Coach John Hackworth will have some gaps to fill in his starting lineup, however, with goalkeeper Greg Ranjitsingh and defender Kyle Smith both having joined former LouCity Head Coach James O’Connor at Orlando City SC in Major League Soccer. Also departed is forward Ilija Ilic to Indy Eleven after his breakout campaign, and then there’s the move of 2018 Championship Golden Boot-winner Cameron Lancaster to Nashville SC, with the English forward signing an MLS contract in the Music City a year before NSC joins the top flight.

That being said, there remains more than enough quality within the squad to think that Louisville will be right there again in the postseason. Defender Paco Craig earned All-League First Team honors for a second consecutive season, while captain Paolo DelPiccolo and Jamaican international Speedy Williams are a formidable tandem in the center of midfield. There are also interesting new additions with Lucky Mkosana and Sunny Jane among the arrivals this offseason, while Luke Spencer will have a chance to regain his 2017 form when he was the club’s leading scorer after an injury-hit 2018. LouCity has finished in the top two in the Eastern Conference in every season of its history and there’s a strong case it will at least emulate that feat once again.

PLAYERS TO WATCH

D – Paco Craig

A second consecutive selection to the USL Championship All-League First Team cemented Paco Craig as one of the league’s top defenders. As he returns for his fourth season at the club, that quality will again be key as LouCity looks to add to its unprecedented run of consecutive USL Cup victories. Craig missed only two games across the regular season and playoffs a season ago, while recording 208 clearances and 72 interceptions as his partnership with newcomer Alexis Souahy grew throughout the season. With both players back in 2019, Louisville’s defense should remain one of the best in the league.

M – Brian Ownby

A standout in each of Louisville City FC’s runs to USL Cup victories over the past two years, Brian Ownby will be hoping for better fortune with injuries in the 2019 campaign after making only 11 regular-season starts in 2018. The consistent presence of Ownby’s creativity in the attacking third would be a major boost for Louisville after the departures of Cameron Lancaster and Ilija Ilic this offseason, as would his eye for goal. Now tied for the all-time lead in USL Cup Playoffs history with six goals, the 28-year-old is due for a year where it all comes together throughout the season, and this could be the year it arrives.