LOUISVILLE, Ky. – A pair of second-half goals by Paolo DelPiccolo led Louisville City FC to victory in its opening game of the 2021 USL Championship regular season as the hosts took a 2-0 win against Atlanta United 2 before a crowd of 7,652 fans at Lynn Family Stadium.
Louisville opened positively and almost grabbed the lead in the 15th minute as a free kick from the left by Niall McCabe caromed toward goal off a defender and was kept out by Atlanta goalkeeper Vicente Reyez before LouCity’s Cameron Lancaster stabbed the rebound wide. The visitors then threatened just before the half-hour mark as Coleman Gannon got in behind the LouCity defense on a counterattack only to have his shot denied by Chris Hubbard as Louisville defender Jonathan Gomez applied pressure.
Much of the play was carried by LouCity, however, which held an 8-1 advantage in shots at halftime, but moving past the hour mark the hosts were unable to find a telling moment in the final third. That changed with 21 minutes to go, when off a corner kick from the left DelPiccolo crashed into the six-yard area and powered home a header to put LouCity on top.
DelPiccolo wasn’t done, either. As the hosts looked to close out the game, the captain came through with a second with three minutes go, once again crashing the net to tuck home a close-range finish as George Davis IV fired a low cross through the six-yard area from the left. DelPiccolo’s goal provided the exclamation point on a solid opening night for the perennial title contenders.
USLChampionship.com Man of the Match
Paolo DelPiccolo, Louisville City FC – DelPiccolo notched both goals for the hosts on three shots on target while completing 49 of 65 passes overall.
Scoring
LOU – Paolo DelPiccolo (Oscar Jimenez) 69’
LOU – Paolo DelPiccolo (George Davis IV) 87’