Loudoun United fall 2-0 in Louisville

Considering that Loudoun United had a road game on Wednesday night (a 2-1 win over the New York Red Bulls II), it was going to be interesting to see how they would handle coming home, flying to Louisville Friday and playing against the three-time Eastern Conference Finalist Louisville City FC, themselves on a full week of rest and looking for goals. Nevertheless, a barebones Loudoun squad fell 2-0 in front of 4,850 at Lynn Family Stadium.

Loudoun’s squad for Saturday was comprised of 16 players, with all five substitutes being field players; any chance of Colin Miller going down to injury or ejection would result in a emergency backup situation. The game did not provide the opportunity, but did include the first professional starts of Tyler Gabarra and Joshua Fawole, and six starters from Wednesday’s win remaining in the lineup.

Things did not get any easier for Ryan Martin when midfielder Massimo Ferrin had to leave in the 25th minute to an injury; Kairou Amoustapha, who played most of Wednesday’s game, came in as the substitute, and created several chances with his teammates, and had a shot moments after coming on. Loudoun held things fairly well, until a long ball from Ben Lundt found Cameron Lancaster, who beat Miller on the short side in the 39th minute for a 1-0 lead that remained into halftime.

In the second half, Paolo Del Piccio intercepted an Alexxon Saravia pass in midfield and passed on the right to Napo Matsoso, who fired it past Miller for the 2-0 lead in the 49th minute which eventually was the final score. Loudoun had chances in the second half, generally from Fawole and Michael Gamble, but nothing that required Lundt to stretch his athleticism.

Loudoun (1-3-1) remain 4th in the five team Group F, with their next game back home at Segra Field on Wednesday at 7pm against the Pittsburgh Riverhounds.

USL Championship Group F - Game 4
Louisville City FC 2 (Lancaster 39, Matsoso 49)
Loudoun United FC 0

Lineups:
Louisville (433): Ben Lundt; Pat McMahon, Sean Totsch, Alexis Souahy, Jonathan Gomez; Paolo Del Piccolo (C) (Luke Spencer 88), Devon Williams (Abdou Mbacke Thiam 82), Corben Bone (Elijah Wynder 67); Antoine Hoppenot (Jason Johnson 66), Cameron Lancaster (Oscar Jimenez 78), Napo Matsoso

Loudoun (4231): Colin Miller; Alexxon Saravia (Christian Sorto 65), Shane Wiedt (Adam Lundegard 58), Timmy Mehl, Peabo Doue; Jeremy Garay (Brandon Williamson 56), Elvis Amoh; Michael Gamble (C), Tyler Gabarra (Jacob Greene 59), Massimo Ferrin (Kairou Amoustapha 25); Joshua Fawole

Bookings:
Louisville - McMahon 45+4
Loudoun - Gabarra 17, Amoh 24, Garay 48, Amoustapha 67, Williamson 68