After top-seeded FC Cincinnati lost last weekend, Louisville City FC head coach John Hackworth said his team was a little nervous heading into its own playoff game.

That's because as the No. 2 seed, Louisville City was in line to host the United Soccer League's Eastern Conference final with a win. Nevertheless, his team responded with a 2-0 victory against Bethlehem Steel FC.

"When you watch and literally see that Cincy loses that game and it gives a little bit — maybe we should be humble about this, maybe we should make sure that that doesn’t happen to us," Hackworth said. "That’s the way I took it. That’s the message I tried to get to our guys and I think they took it in the right way and just focused on taking care of business here.”

The win set up a third-straight Eastern Conference Finals matchup with New York Red Bulls II, which dispatched FC Cincinnati 1-0 in the semifinals. Louisville City and New York will get started at 7:30 p.m. Friday at Slugger Field.

The two teams split the previous semifinal matchups, each winning at home in penalty kicks. Both teams went on to win the USL championship, with Louisville City taking the title last year.

More coverage:'Burning desire' for title repeat drives Louisville City FC veterans

The teams' similarities don't stop there. They've each won nine playoff games since they began play in 2015, which is tied for most in the USL. Louisville City has the edge in conference finals appearances, 4-3.

On Friday, Louisville City will be looking to extend its playoff winning streak to seven games. It's also never lost a home playoff game in nine tries.

With a win, Louisville would host the USL championship against the winner of Phoenix Rising FC and Orange County SC. The game would be played on at 8 p.m. on Nov. 8 at Lynn Stadium on the University of Louisville campus.

"We like playing here at home in front of our fans. That's cool. But for us, we try not to pay too much attention to the other games," Louisville City captain Paolo DelPiccolo said. "Who we play is what we worry about after we take care of our business. We focused on Bethlehem and now we can worry about New York, another great team."

Now, on to the questions you submitted via Twitter:

Is it okay to be excited about 538's global club soccer rankings having Louisville as the 5th best team in the US right now? (@ZachWAllen)

I had to fact-check this because I didn't believe it. And yep, there's Louisville City, right there in a top 10 that otherwise contains nine Major League Soccer teams.

Now that I know it's true, I feel better about giving my answer: No.

No offense to Louisville City, but the talent difference between them and the team directly behind them (MLS' Seattle Sounders) is enormous. Can you imagine Louisville City trying to mark a healthy Jordan Morris? Or defending Nicolas Lodeiro? How about trying to get a ball past Stefan Frei?

I think the formula here is a tad flawed. (Yeah, I'm talking to you, Nate Silver.)

A LouCity owner said that a formal bid to join MLS is in the works down the road. Funds are already being raised for potential NBA team. Do you think Louisville can support both MLS and the NBA? (@sportsblogfc)

This is an interesting question. My biggest concern is how Louisville, a city that is still in the early stages of embracing a professional soccer team, would handle an MLS team. Things would get even more difficult if it has to compete against an NBA team in Kentucky, a state that's already proven its love for the game of basketball.

Also, I think a city going from zero major professional franchises to two at once is a bad decision. A good example is Las Vegas, a city not known for hockey that now has some of the most passionate fans in the NHL. Could you imagine how hard it would have been to grab the attention of those fans if the NFL's Oakland Raiders hadn't waited to move until 2020?

I think for Louisville City's sake, it would probably need to continue growing a separate, grass-roots fan effort before thinking about the MLS.

If Phoenix and Louisville win and the final is hosted at Slugger, do you think Drogba would play there? Would he sit out his last professional game due to the pitch? (@Taco_Squirrel)

Phoenix Rising would like nothing more than to send out the legendary soccer player from Ivory Coast with a championship. Didier Drogba, now 40, has certainly done his part, scoring the final goal in last week's 4-2 win against Swope Park Rangers.

In response to your second question, the concerns over the pitch are now quelled because the game between the two would be played at soccer-specific Lynn Stadium. That's good news for anyone who missed the announcers' comments after last year's game at Slugger Field in regard to the playing surface.

Based on all that, I think it would be safe to assume that Drogba would play some, if not all, of a Louisville City-Phoenix Rising championship game. That would be good news for any Chelsea fans in Derby City.

Who is in the starting 11? (@bigdoug212)

Hackworth has used the same starting lineup three games in a row, and his players have responded with three wins by a combined score of 7-1.

As a fellow coach — yes, it's a thing, see last week's mailbag — I'm afraid of messing with a winning formula.

I'll stick with starting eleven of Greg Ranjitsingh in goal; Kyle Smith, Oscar Jimenez, Alexis Souahy, and Paco Craig at defense; Niall McCabe, George Davis IV, Paolo DelPiccolo, Ilija Ilic and Brian Ownby in the midfield, and Cameron Lancaster at striker.

Three storylines you may have missed

1. A 'burning desire': After its win against Bethlehem Steel, Paolo DelPiccolo said the team enjoyed the USL championship so much that it has a "burning desire" to get that feeling back this year.

2. The return of Matt Fondy: The former Louisville City striker, who scored a then-USL record 22 goals in 2015, returned to Slugger Field last Saturday to take in the game against Bethlehem. He called the experience "truly humbling" and "terrific." According to Oakland Roots, a professional soccer team, Fondy retired from the USL and is now pursuing a graduate degree at UC Berkeley. But he will join the Oakland team in the fall portion of qualifying for next year's U.S. Open Cup.

3. Here we go again: Louisville City co-owner Mike Mountjoy reportedly said Tuesday that the franchise could be making a bid for Major League Soccer expansion after the team's new 11,300-seat stadium opens in Butchertown in March 2020. However, the team quickly quelled that, saying in a statement that the franchise is not "prepared to announce a formal bid."

Three things to know about New York Red Bulls II

1. Turning it around: The Red Bulls have yet to allow a goal this postseason, winning both of its playoff games 1-0. It's a far cry from the regular season, where New York allowed 59 goals, most among the 16 USL teams to make the playoffs. New York's goalies in the two postseason games, Evan Louro and Scott Levene, combined for only five clean sheets all regular season.

2. High-powered offense: Meanwhile, the Red Bulls' offense scored 71 goals in the regular season, tied with Louisville City for the second-most among the 16 USL playoff teams. New York's two leading scorers, Amando Moreno and Brian White, combined for 21 regular-season goals.

3. One coach to rule them all: New York is led by coach John Wolyniec, who was named the team's first-ever coach when the USL affiliate was founded back in 2015. In four years, he's led his team to a 59-35-30 record and one USL championship.

Impress your friends with these notes

1. Past meetings: Louisville City won and tied its two contests this year against New York. The first game was a 3-3 draw at Slugger Field on June 30. The second was a 6-4 road win on August 10.

2. Technically tied: Both teams are actually tied 0-0-2 in the previous two Eastern Conference finals appearances despite splitting the games. That's because both games went to penalty kicks.

3. Stout defense: New York defender Hassan Ndam has won 76 percent (19-of-25) duels in the postseason, most of any USL player.

4. Shooters shoot: Louisville City forward Cameron Lancaster not only led the USL in goals with 25, his 108 shots are the most in the league.

5. 74 percent: That's the chance Louisville City advances to the USL final, according to FiveThirtyEight.

Justin Sayers: 502-582-4252; jsayers@courierjournal.com; Twitter: @_JustinSayers. Support strong local journalism by subscribing today: courier-journal.com/justins.