Louisville, Kentucky – After the stunning upset of the #1 overall seed last week, Detroit looked to follow that up with another upset this weekend against Louisville City, a team that has never missed the semifinals of the USL Championship Playoffs in club history. The task would be too much to ask for as Detroit City fell 4-0 on a soggy night in Louisville.
The game started pretty even, as both teams just tried to figure each other out and try to find the best attacking opportunities. Louisville had the first possible opportunity of the match in the 8th minute as Cameron Lancaster attempted a through ball to Manny Perez but was flagged for offside.
In the 14th minute, Brian Ownby was on the attack in the box and was brought down by a Michael Bryant tackle, and the penalty was awarded to Louisville. Cameron Lancaster stepped up to the spot and put the ball right down the middle to give Louisville City a 1-0 lead.
Ownby had another attempt at goal in the 38th minute as he faced off against Nate Steinwascher, who came out to challenge him at the top of the box. Ownby had multiple opportunities to make it 2-0 as he got past Steinwascher and saw an open net, but the constant pressure from Detroit sent the shot high of the post.
Louisville doubled their advantage in the 43rd minute as, once again, Ownby had a chance on goal, and he covered this one. Off of a cover kick, Ownby controlled the ball and shot the ball into the bottom left corner past the Detroit defenders.
The teams went into the locker room after the first 45, and Detroit knew they would need to turn up the attack to try and get back into this game.
It looked like that message got across, as in the 51st minute, Yazeed Matthews attempted to receive a cross inside the box, but the cross got broken up by a Louisville defender at the last moment.
Louisville came back on the attack in the 59th minute, ending with Cameron Lancaster heading the ball past Steinwascher from very close range to make the score 3-0.
Right off the restart, Louisville ended up in possession and on the attack again as Lancaster crossed the ball to Jorge González in the box and put it past Steinwascher not even a minute after the last one to make it 4-0.
Detroit tried to keep up the attack to try and get a goal to erase the goose egg in the score column, but they just couldn’t get a significant attack going.
The final whistle blew right at the clock crossed 90th-minute mark, and Louisville City was on to their ninth consecutive conference final, and Detroit City FC’s 2023 season was over.
The ending of the season also means that it is the end of Trevor James’ incredible run as manager of Le Rouge. He moves on to the Sporting Director position, and the search for a new manager will continue with James leading the search.
James finishes his DCFC managing career with 81 victories, 33 draws, and 32 losses in competitive matches.
For more information about Detroit City FC, visit detcityfc.com and follow @DetroitCityFC on Twitter and Facebook and @detroitcityfootballclub on Instagram.
##DCFC##
Please send all media inquiries to media@detcityfc.com.
Primary Media Contact: Jarrett Maki
(Sports Information Director, Jarrett.Maki@detcityfc.com)
