Fondy's brace paces City in shutout

Louisville City FC may be a new team, but the soccer club looked nothing of the sort in its 4-0 dispatching of Toronto FC II Saturday night.

Playing in front of 6.090 fans at Louisville Slugger Field -- the biggest crowd in the team's short history -- Louisville City (4-1-3) put on its best show of the season. They rarely faced any serious threat from the Reds (2-5-1) as they dictated all facets of the contest. They passed with precision and kept Toronto keeper Alex Bono on his toes with 24 shots.

Forward Matt Fondy scored twice and assisted on another, and midfielder Kadeem Dacres added a goal and a helper. Those two, along with defender Bryan Burke, paced a City attack that created opportunity after opportunity.

Fondy, the team captain, said theCity's chemistry is starting to build and combinations are starting to form among the players on the pitch. In the team's last two games, they've won by a combined 7-0.

"It's been a lot of fun the past couple games," said Fondy, who added a goal in the second half. "We're looking to build on it for sure."

Fondy and Dacres joined forces to put City on top just six minutes in. After keeper Scott Goodwin punched away a Toronto cross, Dacres moved the ball up to Fondy, who then passed it back as Dacres entered the box. He ran past four Toronto defenders and slid the ball past a challenging Bono from about 15 yards out.

Nine minutes later, Dacres and Burke worked the give-and-go, with Dacres passing back to Burke in the right corner. Burke's cross found the forward in the middle of the box, and Fondy redirected it past Bono for a 2-0 lead.

Dacres assisted on Conor Shanosky's header 20 minutes later, again on a crossing pass into the middle of the box.

"Coach (James O'Connor) really stressed on being brave in possession and making sure we were sharp in our passes," Dacres said.

And O'Connor will keep stressing that. While the team led by three at halftime, he felt they squandered some other opportunities.

"When you win 4-nil, it's obviously very pleasing," he said. "But obviously for me there's aspects of our play I think we can improve on and we will improve on."

Louisville City will venture out of USL play for its next game. The team will travel to Michigan and face Lansing United, of the fourth-tier National Premier Soccer League, in the second round of the U.S. Open Cup. The winner of that match will face the second-tier North American Soccer League's Indy Eleven in Indianapolis on May 27.

City will resume USL play next Sunday at St. Louis.