The Rematch Is on as LouCity Hosts Tampa Bay in Conference Final
October 30, 2022 – United Soccer League Championship (USL) – Louisville City FC News Release
Louisville City FC reacts after they advance in the playoffs
(Louisville City FC, Credit: EM Dash Photography)
Louisville City FC will play for a trophy – and a bit of revenge – Saturday at Lynn Family Stadium in its next USL Championship Playoffs game.
Top-seeded LouCity hosts the No. 3 Tampa Bay Rowdies in the Eastern Conference Final kicking off at 7:30 p.m., with this a rematch of the 2020 and 2021 conference finals both won by the Rowdies.
Tickets are now on sale by visiting LouCity.com/playoffs. Fans can call (502) LOU-CITY, Option 2, during regular business hours or email [email protected] to reach a ticketing representative with any questions.
Higher-seeded clubs receive home-field advantage throughout the single-elimination USL Championship Playoffs. Should the boys in purple advance out of the conference final, the USL Championship Final is set for Sunday, Nov. 13.
The league final’s location will pend the outcome of the Western Conference Final, which kicks off at 8:30 p.m. Saturday. San Antonio FC would host should it defeat Colorado Springs Switchbacks SC. Otherwise, the Eastern Conference Final winner will get home-field advantage.
LouCity has been a playoffs force since the club launched in 2015, advancing to at least the Eastern Conference Final in all eight of its seasons. However, Tampa Bay has represented a stumbling block of late, winning the 2020 conference final at Lynn Family Stadium before rallying late and going on to win in stoppage time in 2021.
City remains the only USL Championship team to win back-to-back titles, accomplished from 2017-2018, and another Eastern Conference crown followed in 2019.
The boys in purple entered the playoffs after a record-breaking regular season in which they hit 20 wins for the first time and earned 72 points from 34 games. Of note, they also defeated the Rowdies by a 1-0 score on Aug. 13 in front of a LouCity club-record 14,673 fans.
Sebastián Guenzatti – with 22 regular season goals and 6 assists – is squarely the player to stop for Tampa Bay. The Rowdies are led by Neill Collins, a former Tampa Bay player in his fifth season as head coach.
LouCity rallied from two goals down to force a penalty kick shootout en route to defeating Pittsburgh Riverhounds SC on Saturday in a conference semifinal. The Rowdies’ path to this point was just as dramatic, with Tampa Bay both saving a stoppage-time penalty kick and scoring on another Sunday at Memphis 901 FC to advance out of the other conference semi.
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