Finn Sundstrom and Adam Luckhurst scored their first goals in the USL Championship as North Carolina FC took a 2-1 victory against Louisville City FC at First Horizon Stadium on Friday night, ending LouCity’s 19-game regular season undefeated streak and its 13-game undefeated streak to start the current campaign.

18-year-old Sundstrom opened the scoring late in the first half with a header off a free kick by Mikey Maldonado, but Louisville leveled early in the second half on Phillip Goodrum’s seventh goal of the Championship season off a corner by Ray Serrano. Luckhurst delivered what proved to be the winner off another set piece, this time a corner kick by Louis Perez, before NCFC held on amid a flurry of late Louisville pressure.

Here are three things we took away from the contest.

1. North Carolina’s set piece quality carried the side over the line

There are few teams better than Louisville City when it comes to set piece execution in the USL Championship. The club’s five goals from corner kicks, including Phillip Goodrum’s tally on Friday night, are a league-best and a continuation of a trend that’s seen the side record 32 goals from corner kicks alone since the start of 2023.

North Carolina’s been more known for its success with long throw-ins this season, but it was able to beat Louisville at its own game thanks to a pair of excellent deliveries and headed finishes by Finn Sundstrom and Adam Luckhurst. Overall, Louisville City took the battle for aerial supremacy, winning 55.6 percent of aerial duels on the night, but the 18-year-old Sundstrom was impressive individually, winning 5 of 5 aerials to help the side hold firm defensively in addition to notching his first goal in the professional ranks.

“Louisville prides itself on being able to win the first header and get the second ball and try and transition,” said North Carolina Head Coach John Bradford. “We had to create goals either in transition or off set pieces was the talk this week, and then we get two off set pieces and did enough to defend a really important three points, so I’m really proud of the guys.”

2. Louisville rues lack of energy as undefeated run ends

Trailing at the halftime break, Louisville quickly responded to start the second half with Goodrum’s equalizer, but the visitors failed to kick on from that moment in the attacking half until Luckhurst restored North Carolina’s lead in the 66th minute, taking only one shot in the 20 minutes between the two second-half goals.

On another day, the late flurry of chances LouCity created might have connected. Sam Gleadle’s volleyed cross-shot flashed agonizingly wide of the left post while out of the reach of Goodrum to potentially provide a final touch, while Isaac Cano and Kevon Lambert were unable to find clean contact in a goalmouth scramble that NCFC goalkeeper Jake McGuire eventually smothered. Having previously earned seven points after trailing this season, though, this time the comeback came up short.

“First 15 minutes of the second half, you see, I think we scored, and our mentality changed going into the second half,” said forward Ray Serrano. “But, like [LouCity Head Coach] Danny [Cruz] said, he shouldn't come into [halftime] yelling at all of us, telling us to wake up and get it all together. Yeah, I think the mentality was a big part of why we didn't get three points tonight.”

3. North Carolina earned its second statement victory of the season

North Carolina’s return to the USL Championship a season ago from USL League One was inarguably a success, but there remained a gulf between Head Coach John Bradford’s side and the top teams in the Eastern Conference.

Now, that gap appears to have narrowed. Winless against both the Charleston Battery and Louisville City dating back to the 2019 USL Championship season, North Carolina has claimed regular season victories against both on home turf this year. It’s going to be fascinating to see how the return fixtures play out – Louisville gets an immediate chance at revenge next Saturday as NCFC visits Lynn Family Stadium in the USL Jägermeister Cup, a crucial game for both – but results like these means North Carolina will carry the belief it can compete with anyone into the second half of the season.

“I think that there’s a high ceiling for this group,” said Bradford, “We’ve been talking about it since preseason and putting this group together for this year that we have aspirations of being at the top when all’s said and done. We want to keep going game by game to make steps and progress to get there, but tonight should tell our group because we're capable of doing just that.”