Indianapolis — Louisville City FC used two extra time goals, and a dominating performance from Scott Goodwin to shock the 7,134 Indy Eleven fans in attendance at Michael Carroll Stadium. Louisville will now travel to take on the Chicago Fire after a 2-0 win over Indy Eleven.
After some tense moments throughout the match, City finally broke the deadlock in the 115th minute. With the match seeming destined for penalty kicks, Sunday’s hero, Nate Polak, planted a shot from just outside the 18-yard-box that skipped past the outstretched hands of Indy Eleven goalkeeper, Kristian Nicht.
With City continuing to hold onto possession, they would add the exclamation point in the 119th minute of the match. After a Nicht save, Juan Guzman fired a shot off the cross bar. Sidney Rivera pounced on the rebound, slotted it home, and celebrated at the corner flag to a thunderous celebration from the traveling supporters section.
Louisville City FC were unlucky to not grab the lead early on. Off of a Magnus Rasmussen corner kick in the eighth minute, the ball dropped right to Austen King. The defender put a foot to it, but Nicht, was able to get his paws on it, deflecting the ball out for another corner.
Indy Eleven first threatened in the 14th minute, when Kyle Hyland fired a shot that forced Scott Goodwin to come up with a big save to keep the score level at nil-nil.
Louisville would produce another great chance in the 79th minute. Sidney Rivera played an excellent through ball that found Nate Polak in space. Nicht dangerously came off of his line, but Polak sent a pass for Matt Fondy, who was ruled offside.
City and Indy swapped chances in the final three minutes of regulation stoppage time. First it was Polak making several moves in the box before his shot was deflected out.
The heart-in-throat moment for Louisville City FC fans came in the last minute of stoppage. Goodwin was forced to come off his line to punch the ball out, leaving the goal defenseless. Indy fired a shot destined for the goal, but King got his body in front to deflect it out.
It was a superb performance all night from Goodwin, and the entire City back line. Louisville will face off with Major League Soccer’s Chicago Fire at Toyota Park on Tuesday, June 16th.
Well before that, Louisville will play Saint Louis FC with a chance at winning the Kings Cup with a win. The match is Saturday, May 30th at 7:30 pm at Louisville Slugger Field.
