LOUISVILLE, KY (October 12, 2024) – The Tampa Bay Rowdies were the first to score in Saturday’s contest versus Louisville City FC at Lynn Family Stadium, but a controversial penalty decision and late concession ultimately doomed them in a 2-1 defeat.
It was a tumultuous week for the Rowdies. In anticipation of Hurricane Milton, the team evacuated to Fort Lauderdale earlier in the week to carry out preparations for Saturday’s trip to Louisville.
“We’re so proud of the boys given the week they’ve had and all the upheaval in our region,” said Rowdies Assistant Coach Nicky Law. “We wanted to come here tonight and perform for them and our community. I think the lads did that. We were fantastic in the game. We get the goal and we go one-nil up, and then obviously what you might call an incompetent [penalty] decision has just undone us.”
Tampa Bay held the edge in possession through the first 45 minutes, yet they could not convert that advantage into any shots in goal while Louisville managed to probe Tampa Bay’s goal three times. Rowdies keeper Phil Breno was up to the task all three times, including a point-blank stop on Wilson Harris in the center of the box and a save off the line to deny a header from Kyle Adams in the opening ten minutes of the match.
The Rowdies first attempt on goal did not come until the 61st minute, but midfielder Lewis Hilton made sure to capitalize with a booming strike into the back of the net. Receiving the ball on the right edge of the box, midfielder Ben Bender cut inside before centering the ball for Hilton. With his first touch, Hilton pushed the ball into the box and then rocketed a right-footed effort past the outstretched hands of Louisville keeper Damian Las.
Louisville pulled even from the penalty spot ten minutes after Hilton’s tally. Rowdies winger Pacifique Niyongabire was the one to draw center referee Elijio Arreguin’s whistle following a 50-50 challenge with Louisville’s Amadou Dia just inside Tampa Bay’s box. Niyongabire picked up a yellow card for the foul, while Rowdies Head Coach Robbie Neilson was shown a straight red card for his protestations of the call from the technical area.
Louisville defender Sean Totsch slotted the equalizing penalty into the goal, guiding his shot to the left as Breno dove in the opposite direction.
“I think the [penalty] decision has undone us tonight,” said Law. “We’ve seen [the replay] and we still feel, as we did at the time, that it was the wrong decision. Robbie [Neilson] has been in the game for 20, 30 years, I’ve been in it for 20 and I’ve just never seen one of those given before. The frustrating part was they played on for four or five seconds and then all of a sudden, they brought it back.”
As the match moved into stoppage time, the Rowdies and Louisville traded back-to-back blasts into each other’s crossbars. Tampa Bay Damian Rivera nearly put the Rowdies back in front with a quick turn in the box and shot that rifled past Las and into the woodwork. Just a few moments later, Louisville’s Jake Morris ripped a left-footed effort that defender Freddy Kleemann deflected with his shoulder into the cross to keep the match level.
Louisville eventually found their winner in the seventh minute of added time, though. A corner driven to the near post took an unlucky deflection and popped up into the air for Arturo Ordonez to swipe out of the air with a volleyed finish.
Tampa Bay had one final attempt at an equalizer right before the final whistle when defender Jordan Doherty got his head on a corner kick delivery from Leo Fernandes, but the effort was sent directly into the arms of Las.
Next up, the Rowdies continue their push to clinch a playoff berth as they battle Hartford Athletic on Saturday, October 19 at 7:30 p.m. ET.
“Disappointment tonight but all we can do is look forward to these final three games and take pride from tonight,” said Law. “The important thing is we’ve seen that level again tonight of where can be from earlier in the bar. We can’t drop below that level again. We have three games, and then hopefully we head into the playoffs from there. We know that if we bring that level, no one will want to face a Rowdies team when they’re playing like that.”
Scoring Summary
TBR – Hilton (Bender), 61’
LOU – Totsch (Penalty), 71’
LOU – Ordonez, 90+7’
Cation Summary
TBR – Hilton, Yellow Card, 20’
TBR – Niyongabire, Yellow Card, 68’
TBR – Arteaga, Yellow Card, 69’
LOU – Goodrum, Yellow Card, 73’
Lineups
Rowdies: Breno, Doherty, Kleemann, Guillen, Niyongabire (Munjoma, 87′), Hilton, Bender (Fernandes, 67’), Bodily (Moon, 90′), Jennings (Rivera, 87′), Perez (Crisostomo, 67’), Arteaga
Rowdies Bench: Farr, Moon, Munjoma, Crisostomo, Fernandes, Rivera, Mustali
Louisville: Las, Adams, Ordonez, Totsch, McFadden, Dia (Morris, 77’), Davila, Wynder, Harris (Goodrum, 60’), Perez (Wilson, 60’), Serrano (Gleadle, 77’)
Louisville Bench: Troutman, Charpie, Gleadle, Morris, McCabe, Wilson, Goodrum
