What to Watch for as LouCity Visits Tampa Bay

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USL Louisville City FC

What to Watch for as LouCity Visits Tampa Bay

April 18, 2025 - United Soccer League Championship (USL)
Louisville City FC News Release


Louisville City FC forward Sam Gleadle (center)
Louisville City FC forward Sam Gleadle (center)
(Louisville City FC, Credit: Connor Cunningham)

When Louisville City FC and the Tampa Bay Rowdies have typically faced off over the years, it's been for high stakes. Saturday's 7:30 p.m. USL Championship regular season game at Al Lang Stadium in St. Petersburg, Florida, is no exception - although the circumstances may be slightly different than in recent years.

As the Championship's only unbeaten team, LouCity (3-0-2, 11 points) has enjoyed mostly smooth sailing in 2025. Just two draws away from home - at Birmingham Legion FC and Sacramento Republic FC - have ever-so-slightly rocked the purple boat during the early part of the voyage, with the team winning twice in the safe harbor of Lynn Family Stadium.

The Rowdies (1-4-0, 3 points), on the other hand, are struggling to stay above water. Tampa Bay's lone win this season came against a sunken ship in lowly Miami FC, but it was bookended by twin two-game losing skids. Dating to August of last season, the Rowdies have lost 12 of their last 17 regular season games.

Since Tampa Bay joined the USL Championship in 2017, both City and the Rowdies have finished in the top-five places of the Eastern Conference standings five times. They've also met four times in the playoffs, including the conference final in 2020, 2021 and 2022.

At 10th place in the Eastern Conference standings, Tampa Bay currently finds itself in the gallows, outside the playoff positions. Since joining the USL Championship in 2017, Tampa Bay has only missed the postseason once, when the Rowdies finished in 12th place in 2018.

Tampa Bay's struggles are atypical of this highly competitive rivalry and a departure from the club's high standards. Head coach Robbie Neilson walked the proverbial plank last week as the club fired him in favor of assistant Steve Coleman, who has taken the wheel on an interim basis.

LouCity, meanwhile, is nearer the crow's nest, in second place in the East. A win, though, wouldn't see them climb to the top - Loudoun United FC has a four-point cushion, meaning they will remain in first place through the weekend.

Following the away trip, Louisville will return home to face the Richmond Kickers to open group stage play in the USL Jägermeister Cup. The game also marks College Night at Lynn Family Stadium, featuring a $2 happy hour on beer and Pepsi products, a silent disco and party games. For tickets and more information, visit loucity.com/collegenight.

Follow Along

- The game will air live locally on WBKI/The CW and ESPN Louisville's AM 680/FM 105.7.

- If streaming, download the free WDRB+ app to watch the local feed in Louisville, or CBS Sports' Golazo Network for national coverage.

- For Starting XI and in-game updates, follow @loucityfc on Twitter. Also, find the club at louisvillecityfc on Instagram and Louisville City FC on Facebook.

Story Lines...

Survive and advance: Both LouCity and Tampa Bay won midweek games as part of the Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup's Third Round. LouCity defeated fellow USL Championship side Loudoun, 2-1, on Tuesday night at Lynn Family Stadium. Tampa Bay, meanwhile, went the distance with USL League One club FC Naples, advancing in a 10-round penalty shootout on Wednesday night after the two sides finished 120 minutes of play deadlocked at 1-1.

A gleeful Gleadle: On Tuesday, LouCity forward Sam Gleadle started, played 90 minutes and scored a goal - all for the first time this season. The last time the 29-year-old put up that kind of performance was July 27, 2024, when he started, played 90 minutes and scored against his former club, Monterey Bay FC.

No, you take it: LouCity held just 36.1% of the possession in Tuesday's win over Loudoun. It marked the fourth time in six games that the team has been out-possessed this season - all wins. "It's quite easy for people to think that because you don't have the ball you're not in control," coach Danny Cruz said afterward. "But if the team wants the other team to have the ball, you are in control."

Leaving it late: LouCity's last league game back on April 5 ended in dramatic fashion when Amadou Dia equalized 97 minutes and 55 seconds into a game at Sacramento, resulting in a draw. That went down as the latest goal ever scored by City in a regular season game - four seconds later than four seconds later than Oscar Jimenez netted a game winner against Oakland Roots SC on August 26, 2023.

Unbeaten starts: LouCity left Sacramento on a five-game unbeaten streak to start a season for the fifth time following other such starts in 2015, 2017, 2018 and 2022. That 2022 campaign opened with a 10-game run without a loss for a team that eventually won the Eastern Conference title and played in the USL Championship Final.

Milestone man: Against Sacramento, LouCity defender Sean Totsch hit 22,225 minutes played, surpassing recently retired forward Kenardo Forbes for the USL Championship's all-time lead in that category. Totsch has logged most of those minutes in purple having originally signed with LouCity for the 2017 season.

The Centurion: LouCity center back Arturo Ordonez is one appearance from 100 career regular season USL Championship appearances. The 2023 USL Championship Defender of the Year is in his second season with LouCity after spending two years with the Pittsburgh Riverhounds. A 27-year-old Spaniard, he ranks seventh in the league in clearances with 39.

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Images from this story

Louisville City FC forward Sam Gleadle (center)
Louisville City FC forward Sam Gleadle (center)
(Connor Cunningham)		   

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