After another offseason of change, can Lexington Sporting Club break through?
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- Lexington Sporting Club is set to begin its second season in the USL Championship.
- LSC’s men’s soccer team has never made the playoffs in USL League One or USL Championship.
- LSC will be led during the 2026 season by new head coach Masaki Hemmi.
Entering its fourth season, Lexington Sporting Club’s men team still has yet to play in the postseason.
LSC failed to qualify for the playoffs in both 2023 and 2024 when it played in USL League One, the third tier of men’s professional soccer in the United States.
It was more of the same in 2025. Lexington — now playing in the USL Championship, the second-highest tier of men’s domestic soccer — lost its final match of the regular season with a postseason berth on the line.
With the goal of finally reaching the playoffs still front and center, changes have been made.
Lexington opens the 2026 Championship season at 7:30 p.m. Friday night at home against in-state rival Louisville City with fresh faces on the coaching staff and pitch.
In the home dugout at the Lexington SC Stadium will be Masaki Hemmi, who previously served as the coach of LSC’s pro women’s team. Hemmi, who is from Japan, is the fifth men’s head coach (including interims) in LSC history.
Hemmi was the coach of Lexington’s women’s team for only half of its 2025-26 season in the Gainbridge Super League. The results were impressive nonetheless.
Hemmi didn’t lose during his 14-match run in charge, winning five contests while drawing nine. That marked a dramatic turnaround for LSC’s women’s team, which finished in last place during the 2024-25 season.
But Hemmi isn’t a newcomer to the men’s game. He was previously a first assistant coach, director of player personnel and an interim head coach for New Mexico United, a club that also plays in the Championship.
Before he turned to coaching full-time, Hemmi worked as a petroleum engineer.
“Ultimately, the base and core about who I am as a coach is staying the same. It’s (about) getting the best out of players,” Hemmi said of shifting from LSC’s women’s team to its men’s squad. “How we communicate, how we train, it’s a little bit different. But I think it’s just at any level. Coaching in the USL Championship, Major League Soccer or college soccer, it’s different. Just trying to get the best out of the players in front of me is the approach.”
Lexington Sporting Club improved its roster this offseason
Hemmi’s energy will be directed toward a revamped roster that features several of the Championship’s top performers from a season ago.
Lexington’s front office spent big in the offseason. Top newcomers include forward Phillip Goodrum, midfielder Aaron Molloy and defender Arturo Ordonez.
Goodrum has tallied 59 goals and 14 assists over the past four seasons. Molloy has earned four straight All-Championship First Team nods. Ordonez was the Championship’s Defender of the Year in 2023.
Both Goodrum and Ordonez played for Louisville City last season. The acquisitions of Goodrum and Molloy are two of the most expensive deals in Championship history.
“Once this club came knocking, it was something that I had to do. A once-in-a-lifetime opportunity,” Molloy said.
“It’s a big project. It won’t happen overnight, but the ambition’s there,” Goodrum said of Lexington’s aggressive roster-building approach. “Now, it’s my turn to go on the field and put the ball in the back of the net and do my part.”
Another notable addition for LSC is 28-year-old forward Jonathan Lewis, a former U.S. men’s international and MLS player.
LSC’s new-look roster also includes 17-year-old commonwealth native Andrew Caborn, who recently joined LSC on a USL Academy contract. A defender who previously starred for Louisville Collegiate School and on LSC’s Under-20 team, Caborn’s contract allows him to practice and play with Lexington without forfeiting his NCAA eligibility.
After playing three seasons at Kentucky, English-born defender Marqes Muir is another youthful addition to the LSC squad.
Lexington retrained several of its best players from the 2025 season, including its top two minutes leaders: defender Joe Hafferty and midfielder Nick Firmino. Also back for LSC is experienced forward Marcus Epps, who contributed five goals and four assists in 2025.
“It’s exciting times. I think our ownership group is very intentional in what they’re trying to do and put this project together,” Epps said. “Them going out and getting guys of this caliber, it speaks volumes of what they want, and that’s success here and that’s championships and that’s what we’re aiming for this year.”
Goalkeeper will be a position of intrigue, though. Last season, Lexington split time in net almost evenly between Logan Ketterer (16 appearances) and Brooks Thompson (15). Ketterer suffered a serious leg injury during preseason that required surgery. Thompson has joined MLS team FC Dallas on loan through June.
This means Lexington will field a new goalkeeper Friday night.
Hemmi’s options are Johan Penaranda, who most recently played for Championship club FC Tulsa, and Oliver Semmle, who arrived this offseason from MLS club Philadelphia Union. Semmle began his pro career playing for Louisville City.
Semmle and LSC forward Milo Yosef, who missed the entire 2025 season because of injury, were both members of Marshall University’s 2020 NCAA Tournament-winning team.
Lexington’s roster this season also includes two siblings with forwards Malik Henry-Scott and Tarik Scott.
Lexington Sporting Club begins new season against rival Louisville
There’s a familiar opponent in front of Lexington to begin the new Championship season.
LSC’s season-opening opponent Friday night, Louisville City, is the Championship’s standard bearer. Louisville has twice won the Championship (2017 and 2018), and has claimed the league’s regular-season title in each of the last two years. LouCity has also never lost to LSC.
In June, a record crowd of 8,252 fans packed into the Lexington SC Stadium for a dramatic 2-1 LouCity win, although that result came as part of the competition now known as the Prinx Tires USL Cup.
This past May, Louisville defeated Lexington 2-0 in Championship action at Lynn Family Stadium in the Derby City. So far, that’s been the only match between the teams in Championship play.
Louisville has won all three competitive matches against Lexington. In April 2023, LouCity defeated LSC 1-0 in the second round of the Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup, an annual single-elimination national tournament.
Friday’s match is also part of the Commonwealth Cup, a second-year rivalry series created for the clubs.
Despite the match being the Championship season opener, LouCity and Lexington won’t meet again in the 2026 regular season. The clubs will face each other July 11 in Louisville, but that match will be part of the Prinx Tires USL Cup. Louisville is in the Championship’s Eastern Conference, while Lexington plays in the Western Conference.
With the likes of Goodrum, Ordonez and Semmle facing their former team — along with the desire to start the season on the right foot — Friday’s opener isn’t lacking for storylines.
“Always, the first game of the year is an amazing game. It’s always the game that you want to be playing in, but especially against LouCity, a state rival,” Ordonez said. “It’s a game that means a lot for our fans and also for our teammates, and especially for me. I was there for two years. It’s a special game, but it’s only one game.”
