LouCity to Host Pittsburgh Riverhounds in Playoff Opener
October 23, 2022 – United Soccer League Championship (USL) – Louisville City FC News Release
Louisville City FC’s hunt for a third title will begin against Pittsburgh Riverhounds SC in the USL Championship Playoffs’ Eastern Conference Semifinal round at 7:30 p.m. Saturday inside Lynn Family Stadium.
Tickets and parking passes are on sale now at LouCity.com/playoffs. The game will also air live on WBKI/The CW, ESPN Louisville’s 680/105.7 and ESPN+.
LouCity, which earned the Eastern Conference’s No. 1 seed and a postseason bye, was matched up against the lowest-seeded remaining team left after this past weekend’s conference quarterfinals.
No. 5 seed Pittsburgh defeated fourth-seeded Birmingham Legion FC on penalty kicks Sunday to advance and play LouCity. The East’s other semifinal will be contested between No. 2 seed Memphis 901 FC and the No. 3 Tampa Bay Rowdies. Conference semifinal winners will meet the weekend of Nov. 5 for the right to move on to the Nov. 13 USL Championship Final.
The boys in purple enter the playoffs after a record-breaking regular season in which they hit 20 wins for the first time and earned a club-high 72 points from 34 games.
The Riverhounds, led by veteran coach Bob Lilley, sport a balanced attack featuring Russell Cicerone (13 goals) and Kenardo Forbes (10 assists). Goalkeeper Jahmali Waite stepped up in the conference quarterfinal penalty shootout, saving Birmingham’s first two attempts.
Pittsburgh will travel to Louisville as a playoff opponent for the second time in three years after these clubs met in the 2020 conference quarterfinals. That matchup followed a 2019 conference final with LouCity at Pittsburgh. City prevailed on both occasions.
Earlier this season, the boys in purple defeated the Riverhounds at home in April before the sides played to a scoreless draw in Pittsburgh in September.
LouCity’s looking for a victory Saturday that would extend its streak of Eastern Conference final appearances to eight years – every season the club has played. City is also in search of its first league title since becoming the USL Championship’s only club to win back-to-back championships in 2017-2018.
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