How Louisville City FC reversed a frustrating season to land in the USL conference finals

Hayes Gardner | Courier Journal

Louisville City FC head coach John Hackworth waited for forward Abdou Thiam to blow the whistle, and then he took three steps towards the ball, firing a rocket at the waiting goalkeeper. Winning or losing rested on the result of the PK, and the entirety of the LouCity team watched to see if the shot would find the net or be blocked.

Neither.

The attempt skied over the frame by a few feet, resulting in a loss for the team that Hackworth represented during an intra-squad competition earlier this week. Those losing players put their arms over their head in defeat, aghast that they’d lost the lighthearted competition at the end of an otherwise intense practice.

It’s a feeling, losing that is, they haven’t been accustomed to — over the past few months and the past five years.

The LouCity franchise first competed in 2015, and it has reached the USL Eastern Conference finals in all five years. An extra time win over No. 1 seed Pittsburgh this past weekend sealed its fifth straight appearance during a streak of taking one loss in the last three months. That’s especially impressive considering the team’s record stood at a pedestrian 8-7-6 at July’s end.

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The team’s perpetual success has survived a bevy of player changes, a winning coach leaving for the MLS, a triumvirate of player-coaches leading the way for a month last year, and now, a coach — John Hackworth — who has been with the team for just over a year. He was stumped as to what precisely makes this team successful, year after year.

“I would just say it’s pretty special,” Hackworth said, “and I think we all know it’s special, especially within our locker room, we know it’s special. It’s not easy to find this kind of culture, this kind of environment.”

Louisville City FC (19-8-9, No. 4 seed) is the two-time defending USL champion, and it will try to keep the 2019 season alive when the team visits Indy Eleven (21-9-6, No. 3 seed) on Saturday at 3 p.m. (WBKI-TV/ESPN+). LouCity is 11-1-3 since August began, and it was unfazed in a visit to Pittsburgh, which had not lost at home this season until LouCity topped it 2-1 on the strength of a Paolo DelPiccolo game-winner.

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For the fifth straight year, while 32 USL Championship teams are on vacation, LouCity is still alive in the USL semifinals, aiming for a third-straight title. There has never been a three-peat in the USL, which began play in 2011, or the MLS, competing since 1996. LouCity has a chance to become the first team to win three-straight titles at the highest levels of modern American pro soccer.

But for all its success, there is no easy rationale for the magic.

“That’s a really good question,” Hackworth said after a pause and a half. “And it’s not an easy answer.”

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Magnus Rasmussen might know. He scored the first goal in LouCity history and has started 70 games over his four seasons with the team.

“Because it was a brand new team, everyone wanted to be a part of something new and exciting, so everyone bought into it,” he said of the inaugural season. “We saw that this makes results.”

This year, the lanky left-footed midfielder leads the team with 15 goals. He showed how deft of a goal-scorer he is at practice this week, casually weaving a free kick around a wall and into the back of the net during a scrimmage.

The 26-year old Dane said he’s been on teams with a committed group of 11, but he sees commitment from the entire LouCity team. That’s been especially important this year, as LouCity has dealt with injuries, recently re-shuffled its back line and is starting a goalkeeper, Chris Hubbard, who began the year as a third-stringer.

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Rasmussen ventured a guess as to what makes this LouCity team special, year in and year out.

“I think the culture we have in the locker room is playing a huge part of how we have accomplished to be in five consecutive Eastern Conference finals. Everyone in that locker room knows when they step in there for the first time. There are certain expectations of you being super professional and live up to the high standards that we have in the locker room,” he said.

LouCity trailed 1-0 last weekend at Pittsburgh, a team with a year-long undefeated streak at home, but remained confident, just as they have for the past five years.

“There was never a doubt in our locker room that we could go there and get a result. I can tell you that,” assistant coach Danny Cruz said.

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LouCity twice played Indy Eleven, coached by Martin Rennie, this season, and twice left with draws. That won’t be possible this time around, as penalty kicks would be necessary to break a tie. Hackworth, disappointed with the missed PK in practice this week, joked that he wouldn’t misfire again, if the situation hypothetically presented itself.

“I will make up for it, trust me,” he said. “I would love to go to PKs with Martin Rennie this weekend. If it were me and him, I guarantee, I’m taking that one, alright?”

Hackworth has only been around the team for 15 months, but he’s well aware of the standard LouCity has set in its first half decade.

“Our expectation is this is right where we need to be. This is the exact place where we planned to be,” Hackworth said.

This is midfielder Napo Matsoso’s first season on the pitch for LouCity, but he, too, is a part of the hard-to-explain magic.

“We didn’t have the greatest season to begin with, but we all worked hard enough to get ourselves in better position,” he said. “And now it’s just time to prove it to everyone that Louisville City is still the top team.”

Hayes Gardner can be reached at hgardner@gannett.com; Twitter: @HayesGardner; Support strong local journalism by subscribing today: courier-journal.com/subscribe.