With its victory on Thursday night in the 2018 USL Cup, Louisville City FC made history as the first club to win back-to-back championships as Luke Spencer’s goal earned a 1-0 victory against Phoenix Rising FC. But where does that place Louisville’s 2018 campaign in terms of single seasons in the league’s history?

Numerically, there are some very positive numbers that make a case for Louisville being the best team in the league’s history at the point of its victory. While we unfortunately don’t have previous years to compare, Louisville stacked up a Soccer Power Index rating of 47.4 on fivethirtyeight.com. That put it six points ahead of 2018 USL Regular Season champion FC Cincinnati (41.3) in the current rankings and at No. 226 in the website’s Global Soccer Rankings.

That rating put Louisville ahead of clubs like Liga MX’s Club Leon, the English Championship’s Queens Park Rangers and Major League Soccer’s New York City FC and Seattle Sounders FC – so maybe take it with a little grain of salt – but to achieve that high a standing certainly speaks to the achievement of the side as it compiled a 10-game winning streak through the end of the regular season and playoffs while outscoring its opponents 29-5 over that span. There’s no question Louisville played its best soccer of the season when it mattered most.