LOUISVILLE, Ky. – It was a big match in a slate of big matches for Louisville City FC. The champions had to host a Tampa Bay Rowdies side that had claimed back-to-back victories, and was in good form and looking dangerous as it entered Slugger Field on Saturday afternoon. But a strong performance saw Louisville manage a 1-0 victory, keeping its own perfect start to the season moving as it claimed consecutive victories to start a regular season for the first time in club history.

“Yeah, Tampa Bay is an excellent team. Stuart [Campbell] is a very good coach. Great credit to them. They had a couple chances in the second half, but I think with the balance of play we had some good chances,” said Louisville Head Coach James O’Connor. “I think Oscar [Jimenez] took his goal really well. Just really pleased. I think our players deserve enormous credit and I still think they don’t get the credit they deserve. When I look at the quality that our guys have and the way they play, they deserve enormous credit for the win.”

Jimenez scored the winning goal with an impressive strike that came on the back of some tactical adjustments made by O’Connor. The Louisville Head Coach has regularly shifted his team to counter the opponent and it paid off yet again against the Rowdies.

“I think we wanted to try just tweaking a couple things and managed to get him in there. The beauty with Oscar is his attitude, his ability to keep going, and keep going and his quality,” said O’Connor. “He put in some fantastic balls from set pieces and he wasn’t lucky in the first half. And finally, in the second half, he was able to break through and get the goal.”

The win will push the defending champions on ahead of what is bound to be another difficult match in Week 4 as it travels to take on FC Cincinnati in the first River Cities Cup match of the season.

KICKERS LOOKING TO BUILD: After trailing at halftime, the Richmond Kickers managed a dramatic comeback to defeat North Carolina FC 2-1 at City Stadium on Saturday evening to earn the side its first of the season, which should build confidence in a team that has started slowly.

“It’s massive. I’ve been really pleased with the way these guys have gone in preseason. We’re missing a lot of players and it was a great opportunity for several to step up. I absolutely thought they did that,” said Kickers’ Head Coach Leigh Cowlishaw. “You’ve seen the first two home games. You’re playing against teams that have got a lot of experience, a lot of talent, and I think we’ve really held our own. And hopefully, it will give us a lot of confidence going into next week.”

Down a goal after conceding late in the first half, Richmond came out from the break and redoubled their efforts. The Kickers' willingness to push forward down either flank paid off handsomely, first when Brian Shriver was brought down for a penalty kick just inside the left side of the area after a clever passing move, and then on the right where Shriver's delivery set up Raul Gonzalez's game-winner.  

“I thought we had some good moments, probably created better chances, with certainly high energy trying to make it as uncomfortable as possible and then conceded another bad goal. But we just worked on a couple of things,” said Cowlishaw. “We wanted to make sure that our defensive shape was better when we couldn’t press. We wanted to make sure that we could deal with their goal kicks because they were getting out when we were trying to high press them. And then we just wanted to be more positive from the back. And I think we did all three, to be honest.”

Shriver floating role in behind main striker Heviel Cordoves and second-half substitute Gonzalez was key to the win as the ex-North Carolina player came back to haunt his former side as his shifted positions across the attacking third to try and find pockets of space in vulnerable areas.

“First half, that position is a little bit wider and a little more freedom to come into the middle and get high,” said Shriver. “But once I was up top sort of by myself in front of the box, I think I was able to make runs in behind and get a little bit more involved near the box.”

For Richmond's fans, who have been supporting the team through a rough season last year and a rough start this year, the win was a big boost giving them something to celebrate at home.

“We have a really good supporting system – a lot of fans. It hurts to see us go down in the first two games,” said Gonzalez. “With them following up with us and ready for each home game, they deserved a win and they deserved for us to play our hearts out and get a W for them. So, it was really good to get a win today and celebrate it with the fans, team, and family.”

NASHVILLE BREAKS THROUGH: Goodman Stadium was the site of a historic day for Nashville SC on Saturday as the club earned its first professional win thanks to a 1-0 victory against Bethlehem Steel FC. There was an air of confidence about the team as Nashville started to click offensively, creating more chances than in earlier matches.

“The lads out wide [Alan Winn and Taylor Washington] gave us a different dimension to the group. Alan [Winn] had two 1-on-1s directly after the restart that looking back he would like to have again,” said Nashville Head Coach Gary Smith. “In general, both of those guys gave us something different with their pace. Michael Cox was a threat on the shoulders of defenders. His pace got us the penalty and the sending off. All in all, the changes that were made certainly gave us a more dynamic approach.”

A man down, Bethlehem went on the attack, taking risks to try and pull a goal back and defy the disadvantage the red card brought them. That needed the Nashville defense to lift and fight to hold on for a historic victory.

“I think Matt [Pickens’] overall performance again was top drawer. They threw caution to the wind and had some nice forward play. We had to get a second goal, it would have deflated them,” said Smith. “Matt kept his goal intact. What I did see, was a backline, and Bolu [Akinyode] and Michael [Reed] in the midfield, who did a sterling job defensively.”

INDY BUOYED DESPITE DEFEAT: With a club-record crowd of 17,535 fans on hand, Indy Eleven couldn’t quite bring the desired result to Lucas Oil Stadium on Saturday night, but the overall display left Head Coach Martin Rennie and his players with a belief that there would be plenty more to come in the coming games.

“I thought it was one of those games, honestly, another night we would’ve won that game. We had chances, we hit the post, and we had a penalty,” said Rennie. “Really, I think Cincinnati only had two chances and they took one of them. So, good luck to them. Their goalkeeper did a good job. It was an exciting game.”

The chances were there for Indy, with 19 shots in the match, but just six on target excluding Jack McInerney's header that came back off the post. Indy was unable to put away the chances that on another day might have earned victory on a memorable day overall for the club.

“Well, we could’ve scored a penalty or took more chances. I think really the big difference was our chances,” said Rennie. “Disappointed on the goal we lost because we’ve been working on defending that better, but other than that we did a good job.”