Louisville City FC's players celebrate Aiden McFadden's goal against Loudoun United FC, which sealed the club's 10th consecutive trip to the postseason on Friday night. | Photo courtesy Em-Dash Photography / Louisville City FC
It’s become a rite of fall.
Louisville City FC clinched its 10th consecutive trip to the USL Championship Playoffs on Friday night with a 1-0 victory against Loudoun United FC at Lynn Family Stadium. It was a performance that – to the satisfaction of Head Coach Danny Cruz – had the sort of control that was lacking in their prior victory against North Carolina FC.
It earned goalkeeper Ryan Troutman a shutout in his USL Championship debut, the club’s first overall since August 3 at New Mexico United, and the club’s first at home since May 11 against Orange County SC.
“We’ve been harping the last month, month-and-a-half, about the fact that we haven’t been doing a good enough job keeping the zero on the board,” said Cruz. “We’ve worked a lot on it in training, and I was extremely proud of what the group put together tonight on the field for 90 minutes.
“We go in at halftime with literally zero shots against, one touch in the box – it’s pretty incredible. I’m proud of the defensive of the defensive effort from the group all the way back to the front. But more importantly, it’s another win at home to keep building on.”
However the win came, it added to the standard LouCity has set going over its history.
Here’s a breakdown of the numbers.
10 – LouCity is the second team in the USL Championship era to reach the postseason 10 consecutive times. The first was the Charleston Battery, which reached the playoffs every year between 2011-20.
169 – Since it joined the USL Championship in 2015, LouCity has won 169 regular season games. That’s by far the most in the league, with Phoenix Rising sitting second with 141 wins over the same span.
557 – LouCity has also recorded the most goals in the Championship since the start of the 2015 regular season with 557 tallies. Phoenix also ranks second there with 511 goals, with every other club more than 100 goals behind.
8 – Aiden McFadden’s game-winner in the 52nd minute was his fourth goal of the season. LouCity now has eight players who have recorded at least four goals in the regular season. That’s twice as many as their closest rivals in that category, with the Charleston Battery and Loudoun United each having four.
335 – It had been 335 days since LouCity had been held to only one goal in a home regular season contest dating to October 7, 2023 in a 1-1 draw against Hartford Athletic. The side had recorded at least two goals in each of its other games at Lynn Family Stadium this season.
12 – Louisville’s 12th home league victory of the season moved it within one win of equaling the Championship’s single-season record for home wins. The Boys in Purple have four home games remaining against Memphis 901 FC (9/28), Miami FC (10/2), the Tampa Bay Rowdies (10/12) and Phoenix Rising FC (10/26).
45 – LouCity’s 45 home goals are the fourth-highest total in a Championship regular season, and only six goals shy of the single-season record of 51 goals set by Phoenix Rising in 2019.
59 – Louisville’s 59 points through 26 games have the side on pace to record 77 points. That would be one point shy of the Championship’s single-season points record, set by Phoenix Rising FC in 2019, but the best total in club history by five points over 2022’s campaign.
68 – LouCity’s 68 goals in the regular season are already tied for the 11th-highest total in a Championship regular season. They’re four goals from surpassing the club record of 71 goals in 2018 and would need to average 2.75 goals in the final eight games to set a single-season league record with 90 goals.