Danielle Lerner | Courier Journal

Louisville City FC's conference final match Saturday against New York will include a special delivery from Pennsylvania.

Four-year-old Jase Hoban and his father, Jeff, weren't planning on becoming Louisville City fans. Hailing from 30 minutes north of Pittsburgh, they were logically Pittsburgh Riverhounds fans – but it was at a game in May, when Louisville City traveled to play the Riverhounds at Highmark Stadium, that Jase's allegiance was swayed.

Jase and his dad were in the stands above the corner tunnel at halftime when players from both teams were leaving the field. Louisville City players stopped to give Jase high-fives and say hello. After the game ended, they returned to talk more.

"Everybody was so great I sent a message to (Louisville City) on Twitter and said, 'I just wanted to let you know your team was very respectful, and they made my son's night,'" Jeff Hoban said.

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A relationship, and a fandom, blossomed from there. On Saturday night at Louisville Slugger Field, Jase will get to deliver the game ball before Louisville City faces the New York Red Bulls II in the Eastern Conference final of the United Soccer League playoffs.

It started when Tom Farmer, president of the Coopers supporters group, penned a letter inviting Jase to accept the position of "Ambassador Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary for The Coopers to the Western Pennsylvania Frontier."

It continued when Jase and his dad came to Louisville in September to watch Louisville City play Charleston. Jase tailgated with the Coopers and got to go down on the field before the match, and afterward met the Louisville City players inside the locker room.

"He was very bubbly, very energetic, always had a smile on his face," said Louisville City goalkeeper Tim Dobrowolski. "I think at first he was kind of almost at a loss for words, just because he got to be in the locker room for the first time with us. But he's a really easygoing kid. He loved to be around the players and loved to ask questions."

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Jase's enthusiasm inspired Louisville City executive vice president Brad Estes to reach out to Hoban on Sunday about attending the conference final. The club is paying for a hotel and match tickets for Jase and his parents. Hoban said Jase is already planning on using the six-hour drive to teach his mother all of the Coopers' chants.

"He keeps telling me he has a very, very important job on Saturday," Hoban said. "He has told every single person that he knows. ... We are so fortunate to have an organization and a club with the Coopers and players who treat him like this and give us the opportunity to make those memories."

Courtesy of Jeff Hoban

"It's infectious, man," said Farmer, the support group's leader. "Little things like this – people connecting over a game, which I think is reflective of how the game is in the rest of the world. Soccer is a common bond that has united multiple different classes and people from different countries or states. It's a sport that brings people together, and we're just excited that we've got a kid up in Pittsburgh that roots for LouCity."

Even when Jase isn't able to root for Louisville City in person, the club is never far from his mind. The Hobans have watched all of Louisville City's playoff matches online. And when Jase plays soccer in the backyard of his Pennsylvania home, his father catches him narrating his own moves while pretending to be one of Louisville City's players.

"It's actually kind of nice that we've done enough to achieve support from fans across the country," Dobrowolski said. "Knowing that we always have a LouCity presence in these cities is amazing."