• Louisville City finished in 2^nd place in the USL Eastern Conference with 66 points (19 wins, 9 draws, 6 losses), 11 points behind FC Cincinnati.
• City have been a successful side since their inaugural season in 2015. They have never finished lower than 2^nd in the Eastern Conference, and have made at least the Conference Final every year.
• Last season, Louisville won their first championship. In front of 14,456 fans at Slugger Field, an 88^th minute goal from Cameron Lancaster gave them a 1-0 victory over Swope Park Rangers in the USL Cup final.

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  Louisville are aiming to be the first team to successfully defend the USL’s top-flight playoff crown since the Rochester Raging Rhinos defeated the Hershey Wildcats for the 2001 A-League title. That’s so far back in league history that we’ve had the USL First Division, a hiatus leading to the temporary USSF Second Division, and the single-table USL Pro all come and go since then.

• This is the first ever meeting between the two sides. Louisville acquired the rights to a USL team from Orlando City, who had been granted an MLS expansion franchise. However, Louisville makes no claim to Orlando’s history, and considers itself to be an entirely separate team.
• Louisville are playing at Lynn Stadium for just the 5^th time this season. Their previous four appearances were all Open Cup victories. City usually play at Slugger Field, home of Triple-A baseball team Louisville Bats, but that stadium, often criticized for its poor pitch, was unavailable for this week’s final.
• Louisville had their best ever Open Cup run this season. After victories over Long Island Rough Riders and Saint Louis, City upset MLS side New England Revolution 3-2 at Lynn Stadium. They went on to defeat USL-rivals Nashville SC before crashing out at the quarter final stage with a 4-0 thumping away to Chicago Fire.
• Louisville have had a turbulent season in the dugout. They started the season led by head coach James O’Connor, who had been with the team since day one. The Irishman, whose playing career included appearances for Stoke, West Brom, Burnley and Sheffield Wednesday, left at the end of June to manage another former club: Orlando City.
• Following O’Connor’s departure, the club named three joint-interim head coaches,  all of whom were players. Luke Spencer, Paolo DelPiccolo and George Davis IV were handed the reins. Through seven games, the makeshift management managed four wins and a draw.
• John Hackworth was then named as permanent head coach in August. Picked up from the U.S. U17 national team, Hackworth had previously managed MLS side Philadelphia Union. Under his leadership, Louisville have lost only two games.
• On the pitch, Louisville are the league’s highest scoring team with 82 regular and post-season goals to date. That’s ten ahead of Rising, who are the USL’s 5^th best.
• Their prowess in front of goal is in no small part down to Golden Boot winner Cameron Lancaster. The Tottenham academy product, who featured only once off the bench for Spurs, scored 25 goals in the regular season and added another in the playoffs. However, Lancaster went off injured against New York Red Bulls II, and there’s a question mark about his fitness for Thursday.

  

• The most in-form scorer since the playoffs started is winger Brian Ownby. Incredibly, Ownby had failed to score in 22 regular season appearances, but has since scored 3 times in 3 playoff games.  He picked up a brace against Bethlehem Steel and scored the final goal in a 5-1 win against Red Bulls II.
• Ilija Ilič is also a major threat up front. He has 13 goals this season, including two in the playoffs. Ilič has been a part of Louisville’s squad from the very beginning, signing after a stellar stint at D-II Young Harris College. He was previously a youth prospect at Red Star Belgrade.
• Paolo DelPiccolo will probably lead the midfield. Named one of the interim player-coaches earlier this season, he has made the most passes in the squad. DePiccolo was last year’s USL Cup MVP. He also featured in Arizona United’s inaugural season back in 2014, making 27 appearances.
• Fellow midfielder George Davis IV was another of the interim player-coaches. He’s Louisville’s third top-scorer, with 8 goals. Davis has bounced around between USL clubs since breaking into the Dayton Dutch Lions team in 2010, playing for the LA Blues, Orlando City and Richmond Kickers. He joined Louisville in 2016.
• Two players on the team – defender Pat McMahon, and forward Luke Spencer – crossed the River Cities divide to join Louisville from rivals FC Cincinnati in 2018 and 2017 respectively. A third, midfielder Kyle Smith, previously featured for PDL-side Cincinnati Dutch Lions.
• It would be a surprise if anyone other than Greg Ranjitsingh features in goal for Louisville on Thursday. He has played in all but two of their regular season matches, and started each playoff game. Ranjitsingh, who has featured in Trinidad & Tobago’s squad as an unused substitute, has an impressive 12 clean sheets this season. However, he only saves two out of every three shots.

Keep following From The Ashes for more coverage in the build up to Thursday’s USL Cup Final.