Editor’s Note: Louisville City FC’s last-ever (probably) match at Louisville Slugger Field is on Saturday. To celebrate City’s time on the ball diamond, Andrew Oost, author and longtime dedicated LouCity fan, put together this daily countdown ofthe best six games ever played on a combination of grass and green carpet laid over dirt with a retractable pitchers’ mound. Enjoy!

Previously: No. 6 – 2015 Conference Semifinal vs. Charleston Battery; No. 5 – 2018 Conference Final vs. New York Red Bulls II; No. 4 – March 28, 2015 vs. St. Louis

Slugger’s Greatest Hits, #3

Louisville City 5, FC Cincinnati 0

USL Regular Season, August 12, 2017

By August of 2017, the Dirty River Derby had reached a fever pitch in the span of less than two seasons. Louisville City and FC Cincinnati had already faced each other three times in 2017, and every game had further ratcheted up the tension leading to their final scheduled matchup of the season.

The first matchup of 2017 in Nippert Stadium ended in a 1-1 draw, but was forever immortalized when Djiby Fall bit the face of Niall McCabe during an altercation. Weeks of denial, recrimination, and allegations of Photoshopped pictures followed, and the flames had been stoked.

Weeks later, LCFC returned to Nippert to face FCC in a US Open Cup match, a hard fought battle that ended with a 1-0 victory for the Blue and Orange, in which James O’Connor and Cincinnati manager Alan Koch nearly got into an altercation in the handshake line.

In July, Cincinnati had come into Slugger and defeated LouCity 2-3, a bitterly disappointing game for City supporters, and one in which the seeds of the ridiculous “Streamer-gate” were sown.

Also worth remembering is that by August of 2017, FC Cincinnati was in the midst of a fairly legendary US Open Cup run. Since their defeat of Louisville City in the second round of the competition, FCC had reeled off three additional victories in the competition, including two wins against MLS opponents, and were through to the semifinals of the competition, an impressive feat for the young USL side. The hubris amongst the FCC faithful was palpable.

13,812 fans packed Slugger on the 12th of August, shattering the previous attendance record at Slugger Field. Several hundred traveling FCC supporters were present in the left field stands, but they would have virtually nothing to cheer about this particular evening. Louisville City came out with a ferocious intent to bury Cincinnati early, and it didn’t take long for the onslaught to begin.

Niall McCabe was inexplicably left wide open for a headed goal in the 16th minute, and it was but the first indication that the night was to belong to the Boys in Purple. When Sem de Wit was shown red for a tackle on a Luke Spencer breakaway in the 36th minute, it appeared as if the floodgates might be ready to open. Spencer added a second goal in first half stoppage time, and City fans were ready to let the good times roll.

Mark-Anthony Kaye added a third goal in the 57th minute, and Richard Ballard made it 4-0 in the 72nd. But perhaps the most indelible image of the match came in the 83rd minute, when a long Paco Craig cross found three Louisville City players absolutely wide open in the box, which Sean Reynolds mercilessly buried past the hapless FCC goalkeeper Mitch Hildebrandt. The fact that two other players easily could have scored off the cross was indicative of the complete surrender and capitulation of the FC Cincinnati squad.

Remarkably, the 5-0 scoreline was kind to Cincinnati. Louisville City had an astounding 30 shots on the game, 15 of them on goal. Despite giving up 5 goals, Hildebrandt managed to save an impressive 10 shots.

The defeat began a downward spiral for FC Cincinnati. Three days later, their celebrated Open Cup run would come to an end in heartbreaking fashion against New York Red Bulls. The team would limp through the rest of the USL season, finishing 6th in the East, before being unceremoniously dispatched in the first round of the playoffs.

For Louisville City, the masterful performance against their arch-rival rejuvenated their season. The team would only lose two of the subsequent 16 games, en route to their first Eastern Conference regular season title and first USL Cup Championship.