‘Kings of Kentucky.’ Louisville City beats Lexington in soccer rivalry match
In the first USL Championship meeting between Lexington Sporting Club and Louisville City, it was all the men from the Derby City.
Louisville City defeated Lexington 2-0 in the first USL Championship match between Kentucky’s two professional men’s soccer teams.
LSC defender Gael Gibert was charged with an own goal in the 67th minute following a corner kick to open the scoring. Louisville forward Phillip Goodrum added a second, decisive goal in the 81st minute.
Both Louisville goals came after Lexington was reduced to 10 men. Forster Ajago was shown a straight red card for Lexington for violent conduct in the 50th minute after a fracas broke out near one of the corner flags.
“It’s a rivalry game, this is one we had circled on the calendar,” Goodrum said after Louisville’s win. “What matters is getting the three points in front of a good crowd and showing who the kings of Kentucky are.”
Thursday night’s match was played in front of an announced crowd of 8,233 fans, including some wearing the signature green colors of Lexington Sporting Club. Famed rap artist and Louisville native Jack Harlow was also on hand for the game, which marked the first matchup between Lexington and Louisville as members of the Championship, the second-highest tier of men’s professional soccer in the United States.
Lexington midfielder Speedy Williams and forward Cameron Lancaster both previously played and won the Championship with Louisville City. Williams started for Lexington on Thursday and played 83 minutes. Lancaster came off the bench at halftime for Lexington and played the entire second half.
The 32-year-old Lancaster remains LouCity’s all-time leading scorer with 84 goals.
Thursday was also the first match between the two teams as part of the newly created Commonwealth Cup. The winner of this year’s two-game series between Kentucky’s pro men’s soccer teams will win the Commonwealth Cup, presented by Republic Bank.
If the teams split the results against each other in this season’s two matches, the Commonwealth Cup will be determined by goal differential. If needed, other traditional soccer tie-breaking procedures would then be used to determine a winner.
The two teams are working on the design of the Commonwealth Cup. Included in the announcement of the Commonwealth Cup was news that both Lexington and LouCity are planning a summer service project benefiting local food pantries, in conjunction with Republic Bank.
Lexington, Louisville face each other for first time in USL Championship
The two teams will also face each other at 7 p.m. on Saturday, July 26, at the Lexington SC Stadium in Lexington. That match will be part of the expanded USL Jagermeister Cup, a competition that includes all Championship and USL League One teams.
Thursday’s match between the sides was part of the Championship regular season schedule.
Previously, LSC and Louisville City faced each other only once before in a competitive match: LouCity defeated LSC 1-0 in April 2023 in the second round of the Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup, a national single-elimination tournament that’s held each year.
Lexington and Louisville have played each other in the preseason in each of the last two years. In this year’s preseason, Louisville defeated Lexington 3-2.
“We knew it’s a derby. We knew it was going to be a fight,” Lexington forward Marcus Epps said postmatch. “We saw each other in preseason and got a little taste of that derby early on, so we knew what to expect. We’re just carrying our fans, carrying our club, our crest into today, trying to match the intensity of Louisville because of what they bring. They’re a good side.”
The match between Lexington and LouCity was an official Kentucky Derby Festival event. The match took place the day before the Kentucky Oaks and two days before the Kentucky Derby, both of which will be run at Churchill Downs in Louisville.
How are Lexington Sporting Club, LouCity doing in USL Championship?
Lexington and Louisville are both several games into their respective 34-game regular seasons in the Championship.
Lexington has played eight matches, with a 1-3-4 (W-L-D) record that equates to seven points. LSC missed the playoffs during the last two seasons while playing in League One, the league directly below the Championship.
Lexington Sporting Club won its first match as a Championship club, a 2-0 home win over Hartford Athletic on March 8. Since then, Lexington is winless in seven league games.
Substitute Jacob Greene hit the post for LSC in the closing minutes of Thursday’s contest.
“I would be really concerned if we were not creating any level of (scoring) chances,” said Lexington head coach Terry Boss, whose team hasn’t scored in its last four games. “But we put ourselves in good positions and we have to take those chances. Everything that we’re doing is still building in the right direction. The results obviously haven’t gone the way we want to, but this is part of it.”
“We’re getting the looks we want, we’re just waiting on it to fall,” added Epps. “And when it falls, it’s just, the floodgates (will) open. We’re positive, we know it’s coming.”
Louisville has played seven matches in the Championship this season, posting a 5-0-2 record that’s good for 17 points. Louisville City is the last unbeaten team left in the Championship. Louisville has allowed just four goals this season in Championship matches, while scoring 12 times.
LouCity has now won 200 matches across the USL Championship regular season, playoffs and USL Jagermeister Cup.
“Not taking a loss up to this point in the season, we’re certainly proud of that and a lot of work has gone into that,” Louisville City head coach Danny Cruz said.
On Wednesday, May 7, LouCity will host MLS team Minnesota United in the round of 32 of the U.S. Open Cup.
This story was originally published May 1, 2025 at 10:01 PM.
