Detroit City Wire

Detroit City FC was defeated 1-0 by Louisville City FC, the current leaders of the Eastern Conference, in a USL Championship match on Saturday night. The only goal of the match came early, with Louisville’s Sean Totsch scoring in the sixth minute after an assist from Taylor Davila.

Head coach Danny Dichio made several changes to Detroit City's starting lineup compared to last weekend’s game against Lexington FC. Carlos Saldaña started as goalkeeper, with Devon Amoo-Mensah, Stephen Carroll, and Shane Wiedt forming the defensive line. The midfield consisted of Alex Villanueva, Kobe Hernandez-Foster, Ryan Williams, Matt Sheldon, and Jeciel Cedeño. Darren Smith and Ates Diouf played as strikers.

Louisville applied pressure from the start and maintained momentum after their opening goal. This season, Louisville has remained unbeaten in matches where they scored first, recording 15 wins and three draws.

Detroit City created several chances to equalize during the first half. In the 13th minute, Cedeño found Smith in front of goal but his shot went wide. Later in the half, Wiedt headed a corner just off target and Smith had another attempt stopped by Louisville's goalkeeper. Matt Sheldon also saw his follow-up shot saved.

The second half continued with Louisville controlling much of play through midfield pressure. Detroit responded with substitutions at the 62nd minute—Jay Chapman, Abdoulaye Diop, and Isaiah LeFlore replaced Cedeño, Hernandez-Foster, and Villanueva respectively.

A few yellow cards were issued: Brian Ownby for Louisville in the 70th minute and Ates Diouf for Detroit six minutes later.

Detroit City made further changes with Haruki Yamazaki replacing Sheldon in the 74th minute and Sebastian Guenzatti coming on for Diop in the 82nd minute.

Ates Diouf nearly equalized for Detroit in the 79th minute when his shot hit the crossbar following a counterattack. Despite four minutes of stoppage time at the end of regulation play, Detroit could not score an equalizer.

Following this result, Detroit City remains seventh in the Eastern Conference standings—level on points with Indy Eleven (eighth) and one point ahead of Rhode Island FC (ninth).

Detroit City will host North Carolina FC next weekend at Keyworth Stadium. The match is scheduled for October 4th at 4 PM. Tickets are available through www.detcityfc.com/tickets.