Quick Summary:
Birmingham FC fell 5-0 Saturday in Louisville to Louisville City FC. This is the second loss for Legion this season in league play, dropping their record to 1W-2L-0D.
Recap:
Louisville City defeated Birmingham Legion FC in the third match of the 2024 USL Championship regular season. Legion failed to find any goals in the net on their behalf during the first half. They continued to trail behind as Louisville would go on to score three more goals.
“We let in two soft goals on the weak side,” said Head Coach Tommy Soehn. “Both were preventable and that changed the whole outcome of the game. So I felt our commitment was there early, but once those two went in, it changed the whole momentum of the game.”
Legion came into Saturday’s match after a loss to Hartford Athletic, hoping to have a better result. In the first half, Louisville came out aggressive and ready to bring the heat. They had a great shot in the first half, which happened to go just over the goal. They would then go on to score in the 6th minute, but the goal would be ruled as offside. In the 9th minute, Matt Van Oekel would prevent Louisville from scoring.
On the Legion side, Enzo Martinez had an incredible breakaway in the 10th minute but would be called offside before he could shoot. A chance for a goal by AJ Patterson would result in a header going wide to the right side of the goal. Louisville didn’t break the stalemate score until the 14th minute when Jake Morris’ left-footed shot entered the net. They ended the first half with a second goal from Wilson Harris in the 36th minute.
Legion started the second half with a new burst of energy, but that was shut down quickly as Louisville quickly found the same momentum that they had in the first half. The first big chance of the second half came from Louisville’s Arturo Ordóñez in the 51st minute. Louisville would then go on to score their third goal in the 66th minute from Harris.
Phanuel Kavita and Martinez would go on to try and score in the 69th minute for Legion. Louisville would then add a fourth goal to the score sheet from Taylor Davila in the 73rd minute. Although Legion tried to score in the 81st minute with an attempt by Diba Nwegbo, they allowed Louisville to score their fifth and final goal. Ray Serrano scored in the top right corner in the 82nd minute.
The game would end with no more crucial attempts on goal.
“That’s two games in a row that I felt like we’re underperforming,” said Soehn. “We’re going to pick our heads up and get ready to work.”
Match Details
| Box Score | First Half | Second Half |
| Louisville | 2 | 3 |
| Birmingham | 0 | 0 |
Goals:
Louisville: 14’- Morris, 36’- Harris, 66’- Harris, 73’- Davila, 82’- Serrano
Line-Ups:
Birmingham: Van Oekel, Kavita, Nwegbo, Hernandez, Kasim (Calloway, 79’), Pasher, Martinez, Paterson, Crognale (S), Etaka (Mensah, 42’), Perez (Pinho, 45’)
Louisville: Las, Adams, Ordóñez, Totsch, Wilson (Gleadle, 45’), Morris, Davila, Wynder (McCabe, 72’), Harris (Gonzalez, 72’), Perez, Serrano
Discipline:
17’ – Wilson (Yellow)
61’- Pasher (Yellow)
64’- Crognale (Yellow)
68’- Wynder (Yellow)
70’- Davila (Yellow)
76’- Paterson (Yellow)
78’- Kavita (Yellow)
What’s next:
The Boys in Gold return to Protective for their Home Opener on Sunday, April 7 at 4pm.
To keep up to date on all things Legion FC, Legion encourages its fans to follow @bhmlegion on social media and keep an eye on bhmlegion.com and the Legion FC app.
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Written by Morinsola Kukoyi
