TULSA, Okla. — A week after locking up a spot in the 2024 USL Championship Playoffs, Louisville City FC took another step forward Saturday when also ensuring its postseason opener will be played at home.
Jansen Wilson scored the game’s lone goal in a victory over FC Tulsa, with a 1-0 result marking LouCity’s eighth win in its last nine games.
By improving to 20-5-2, the boys in purple clinched a top-four Eastern Conference finish. After seven more regular season games, they’ll start the playoffs the weekend of November 1-3 at Lynn Family Stadium.
“One game at a time,” said coach Danny Cruz. “There’s certainly a belief in the group, no question about that. There’s a mentality and expectation in continuing to push ourselves every single day — zero complacency to make sure we’re putting ourselves in the best position we can to be in good form come the end of the regular season.
“We knew this game would be more of a battle, less about football,” Cruz added of the FC Tulsa win, “and I feel like the players rose to the occasion tonight.”
Wilson scored Saturday’s game-winning goal in the 34th minute to cap a dominant start for LouCity. The visitors at ONEOK Field, City out-shot Tulsa 17-3 and kept the hosts without a touch in the box during the first half.
After Sean Totsch out-dueled a Tulsa defender on the right flank, he whipped a cross into Wilson. The rookie threaded a shot through traffic and in for his ninth goal of a breakout first season in purple.
“The way we play and the guys around me create so many opportunities that it makes it pretty easy for me to find good spots and be able to score goals,” Wilson said. “You look at Totsch running forward twice in two games and playing a ball to me inside of the 18. I can’t ask for much more.”
LouCity’s attack stalled in the second half, but its defense remained stingy. FC Tulsa finished the game without a shot on target and 0.52 expected goals. They were similar numbers to a last-out victory over Loudoun United FC when City held that opponent without a shot on goal and 0.21 xG in a 1-0 win.
The boys in purple haven’t seen an opposing shot on frame now in 194 minutes and counting.
“This is a very difficult field to play on the way we want to play,” Cruz said. “We had to adjust from that aspect, and I was really proud of the grind from the group — another shutout. I know I’ve talked about that a lot after the games and in the media. For me, there’s a lot to be proud of from the result.
“But we’ll push forward, and we’ll learn a little bit more about ourselves from that second half because I think there’s things to certainly take away from it with how to be better.”
Another winning effort continued City’s pursuit of its first Players’ Shield, the silverware awarded to the USL Championship club boasting the best regular season record. The boys in purple are on 62 points, six clear of the second-place Charleston Battery, and hold a pair of games in hand on Charleston as the campaign’s stretch run opens.
Amid what’s now officially its second 20-win season — the first came in 2022 — LouCity travels again to play Detroit City FC next Sunday, September 22. Kickoff is at 3 p.m. on ESPN2.
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