Birmingham Legion FC got the best of the two-time defending United Soccer League champions when the the two squads met back in March.

Things changed drastically Saturday night in Birmingham.

Louisville City FC struck quickly in both halves ght to avenge that loss and earn a dominant 3-0 victory over Legion FC at BBVA Compass Field.

Legion FC coach Tom Soehn was not happy with his team’s performance.

“I was disappointed in our mentality,” he said. “As a group if you took the guys who played well, you couldn’t find many of them.”

Louisville midfielder Magnus Rasmussen scored the game’s first goal just six minutes into the rainy game, striking hard against Birmingham goalkeeper Trevor Spangenberg. Spangenberg started in place of Matt VanOekel. who was out of the game with an ankle sprain.

Lucky Mkosana added a second goal for Louisville in the 24th minute to put the visiting team up 2-0 at the halfway mark.

Legion FC had just three shots in the first half, with just one on target -- by Chandler Hoffman in the 30th minute, bit it was deflected with a acrobatic leap by the Louisville goalkeeper.

Louisville dominated the stat sheet in the first half with nine shots, four of which were on target.

“We talked about starting games better and again we let ourselves down. It wasn’t even close in the first half,” Soehn said. “We rallied a little bit in the second half, but you’re not coming back from two goals down.”

Louisville scored the 52nd minute to extend the lead to 3-0. The score came from Luke Spencer just steps outside of the goal.

Spencer’s goal was the lone shot for Louisville City FC in the second half, while Legion FC increased its efforts with five shots.

Although Legion FC created more scoring opportunities, the home team failed to capitalize. Its one on-target shot in the second half came from Hoffman in the 59th minute, while Daniel Johnson had a shot blocked in the 74th and Gael Mabiala and Daigo Kobayashi both had misses in the 77th and 84th minutes.

Soehn said Legion FC is struggling with injuries and has faced a grueling schedule that has included midweek games and games on the road.

“They’re a good team, credit to them for making it difficult,” he said, “but we laid down and made it easy for them.”

Soehn said Von Oekel’s absence was felt in Saturday’s loss, but his road to recovery wouldn’t be immediate.

“He’s still in a boot and we’re protecting him. He has a high ankle strain,” he said. “Obviously, Matt’s a big piece and we miss him.”

While Legion FC’s next USL match comes on Saturday, May 18, on the road against North Carolina FC, the team plays Wednesday in the club’s first U.S. Open Cup match against West Chester United SC.