LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Yes indeed, Louisville City FC and the Indy Eleven are taking the Louisville-Indianapolis Proximity Association Football Contest (LIPAFC) to the postseason. Having both already clinched a playoff spot, the teams met last weekend at Louisville Slugger Field with LouCity coming away with a 1-0 win.

Now, the clubs will meet again — same day, same time, same place — in the first round of the USL playoffs. Might things transpire differently this time around? Let’s explore three keys that led to the 1-0 Louisville City FC victory:

NO ANSWER FOR OWNBY

LouCity attacker Brian Ownby has been a quality attacking footballer for a while. It’s no secret. The problem is, with a cast of other potent options at head coach John Hackworth’s disposal, sometimes Ownby gets lost in the shuffle. Of course, that’s a good problem to have for any coach, so Hackworth likely won’t be complaining about the breadth of talent on his bench anytime soon.

When Ownby is on the pitch, it generally spells bad news for opponents. The Eleven learned that lesson first hand, as Ownby gashed the right side of Indy’s defense on the reg, especially in the first half. His final line read five chances created, three shots on target and three successful crosses of seven total. That’s called severely impacting the match.

• Related: Gallery: LouCity edges Eleven in regular-season finale

The question, of course, is if Ownby will again draw a start? Odds are that Indy head coach Martin Rennie is hoping he doesn’t. If Ownby begins the evening on the bench, Rennie might want to tactically adjust when Ownby enters late considering how repetitiously he was able to find space against Indy’s 3-5-2.

WASTED INDY SET PIECES

Louisville City generated plenty more from its attack throughout the night, there’s no doubt about that. But the one thing the Eleven had going for them was inducing several LouCity fouls in dangerous spots.

Of the 17 fouls committed by Louisville, many occurred on its own half of the pitch or in Indy’s final third. The Eleven also took eight corners. Luckily for the hosts, Indy proved unable to do much with its set-piece opportunities.

One particularly glorious chance saw Indy’s Karl Ouimette shake loose from LouCity defender Kyle Smith on a picture-perfect Ayoze corner service — the exact moment is pictured above — that resulted in a clean header opportunity for Ouimette inside the six-yard box. However, he couldn’t execute what every manager would’ve called for in that situation: heading the ball down. His header soared over the crossbar, representing the most glaring case of Indy not taking advantage on set pieces.

If the Eleven don’t get more from their set pieces, and if LouCity again concedes too many silly fouls in its own defensive third, this key factor could again come into play in Saturday’s playoff match.

OWAIN DA GAWD

Listing the opposing goalkeeper in a “keys to victory” breakdown doesn’t exactly fit the bill. The reason Eleven ‘keeper Owain Fon Williams gets a mention is because LouCity might’ve gone 3-, 4-, 5-0 without his heroics.

Dude absolutely stood on his head and did everything short of walk on water in the losing effort. LouCity only scored once despite putting nine shots on target. You do the math. Fon Williams delivered eight saves.

69′ – It’s not Owain Fon Williams. It’s Owain Da Gawd. He makes another insane diving save to keep the @IndyEleven within a goal. #LOUvIND #LIPAFC @SocTakes

— Kevin Johnston (@KJboxing) October 14, 2018

Simply put, the Eleven cannot rely on a similar performance from Fon Williams this Saturday. Not that he isn’t capable of producing another dandy, but balls are simply going to find the back of the net more often than not when that much pressure is placed on the goalkeeper — when that many shots fly in on frame.

Might these same three subplots play out again Saturday? Louisville City FC fans certainly hope so, while Indy supporters are seeking a reversal of fortunes. The winner will advance to the Eastern Conference semifinals.

Photo credits: Robbie Mehling/Soc Takes

Follow Kevin on Twitter: @KJboxing.

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Image credit: USL

The past few years have been remarkably eventful for the United Soccer Leagues, LLC, and now the organization that has a strong grasp on lower-division professional soccer in the United States has unveiled a new look to highlight its growing position in the landscape.

The company unveiled Tuesday new branding for each of its three league properties and a fourth corporate identity in a remodeling familiar to fans who follow the English Football League. Transitioning from the former United Soccer Leagues, LLC title, the organization as a whole will now itself simply be called the United Soccer League.

The group’s Division II league — formerly known as the United Soccer League — receives a shiny black and gold makeover and will be renamed the USL Championship, reflecting a similar title for the Division II league within the English football pyramid.

Image credit: USL Championship

Meanwhile, the all-new USL Division III finally has its branding revealed as USL League One — again following the English pattern — with a black and teal look as its color scheme.

Image credit: USL League One

Additionally, and unsurprisingly, the Premier Development League — an amateur U23 league largely composed of collegiate-based players in the same realm as the NPSL and USPL — will follow the English trend and becomes USL League Two, keeping its signature red and adopting the consistent black of its sister leagues.

Image credit: USL League Two

All three league properties and the organization itself will transition to their new identities — including new websites, social media handles and more — in mid-November, following the 2018 USL Cup.

WHY?

On the surface, the adoption of a well-known naming convention sets a strong tone for the United Soccer League moving forward. The English league system is certainly among the most well-known in the world, particularly among casual soccer fans in the U.S., and helps place the USL within the American soccer pyramid.

The rebranding also helps orient the USL’s league properties into easily identifiable tiers. The re-introduction of the USL into the Division III space was bound to raise questions and confuse those fans who don’t follow the pyramid below Major League Soccer (MLS) closely. The Championship, League One and League Two become clear levels in a tiered system under one governing body, simplifying the inevitable explanations that will be necessary entering 2019.

The rebrand can also be perceived as an attempt to legitimize a position that the USL has battled for since the traumatic 2009 split that created the most recent incarnation of the North American Soccer League (NASL). That well-known event cast the USL into Division III at the time, where the league bided its time and slowly grew into a 30-plus team behemoth that received provisional Division II sanctioning in 2017 — alongside the previously mentioned NASL — before receiving full sanctioning as the sole Division II league in 2018.

Now uncontested at the Division II level, the USL does face challenges in the Division III and amateur spaces. The former being contested by the National Independent Soccer Association — which also applied for USSF sanctioning alongside League One in recent weeks — with the latter occupied by a variety of rivals to League Two, including the NPSL, UPSL and still-shrouded-in-mystery NPSL Pro. A rebranding to orient the USL’s lower-division properties can be seen as having a unifying effect that grants more legitimacy to their internal efforts that their rivals lack.

WHAT DOES THIS MEAN?

Aside from pretty new logos, uniforms, styles and other cosmetic changes, not much in the short term. The leagues will still operate in largely the same way, with similar schedules, goals and competition formats.

Several immediate questions pop to mind when considering the new branding, the most-discussed of which will be a potential implementation of promotion and relegation within this new structure. While the announcement doesn’t make any mention of implementing such a structure in the near term, it is clear that a restructuring like this is a necessary precursor to movement between at least the two professional league properties in the USL umbrella. The league has previously stated its current objective to be the successful launch and solidification of Division III before any discussions of pro/rel are introduced, though did note an interest among its ownership and clubs.

A second concern of note will be the rebranding of the PDL into League Two and what that means in a fluctuating collegiate soccer landscape. While the NPSL explores an expanded, professional move, League Two will not be following suit, opting to remain in its role as a fully amateur home to elite collegiate talent. Additionally, the league is expected to retain its short-form summer schedule of 14 matches, plus playoffs.

Longer term, the rebrand cements an ambitious attitude expressed by the USL of late. After the organization’s ascent up the American soccer pyramid, a foray into multiple leagues — as well as forays into several MLS-level markets that hint at previously unrealized competition with the Division I league — it’s clear the league isn’t simply content with filling the space left for it by its higher-division associate and intends on pushing that envelope forward.

WHAT ELSE?

Also notably missing from Tuesday’s announcement was any mention of another two trademarks previously filed by the USL for USL Youth and USL Derby Week. While the latter could be introduced at a later date closer to the 2019 season, the USL did announce that its youth property, the Super Y League, would remain labeled as such and would not rebrand, casting questions onto the use of the USL Youth trademark. That moniker could’ve been planned and scrapped — as it’s always safer to trademark potential names ahead of time — or could be a part of another USL project to be launched in the future.

Additionally, rumors of an interleague cup between USL clubs at the Division II and Division III level were also left unsatisfied, unmentioned in Tuesday’s release. Again, that could come into play this winter or early spring, but it is also possible that the USL intends to allow League One to gain successful traction before further congesting the schedules of those clubs taking part in the league’s 2019 launch.

The reception to the very English-inspired rebrand will become clear in the coming days and weeks, but on its face appears a foundational move intended to serve as a precursor for later changes within the USL.

Follow Colton on Twitter: @cjcoreschi.

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Image credit: MASL

MLS and the USL are approaching or have already begun their postseasons. And while that does mean that there’s less soccer to appreciate, it doesn’t mean one has to turn to European leagues for entertainment. Why not play inside instead?

Yes, it’s almost time for the Major Arena Soccer League season to begin. This season brings the return of the Dallas Sidekicks, a handful of offseason moves, a new team in Canada with Dwayne De Rosario and yet another realignment. Of course, we’ll dive in to all the details, but first a primer on arena soccer for anyone unfamiliar.

The sport of arena soccer dates back to the original NASL days, with the first tournament staged in March 1971. The rules, oddly enough, haven’t changed much since. The sport is fairly straightforward: take a hockey rink, boards and all, and cover it with turf. Remove the center walls at both ends and stick a half-sized goal in that space. Play with five field players and a goalie, with unlimited free substitution and the boards in play as in hockey or box lacrosse. There are even two-minute “blue card” penalties that result in a powerplay for the other team. The only major rule departure is the clock; a game is divided into four 15-minute quarters.

So, that’s the sport in a nutshell. Higher scoring, fast paced and very, very fun to watch. Onto the league itself.

The Major Arena Soccer League is the top professional league in the sport of arena soccer. Originally founded as the Professional Arena Soccer League in 2008, the league reformed for the 2014-15 season with the admission of six remaining Major Indoor Soccer League teams under the MASL name. Currently, 17 teams are set to contest the upcoming 2018-19 season.

The league is divided into two conferences, Eastern and Western, with each conference further divided into two divisions in line with previous divisional alignments the league has used. However, there has been movement among teams, leading to a new map for this season, and a few oddities that I’ll be pointing out along the way.

The league has been pretty fantastic regarding the fan experience whether it’s actually attending a game or streaming online through YouTube.

For this piece, to minimize excessive lengthiness and hold myself to two #HipsterManifestos per fortnight, I’ll be dividing up the season review/preview segments into four separate articles by division, starting here with the Eastern Division in the Eastern Conference. (Note: The season in parentheses after a founding date indicates the first season played in MASL.)

Baltimore Blast – Towson, Md.

* Founded: 1992 (2014-15) * Home venue: SECU Arena (4,000) * Head coach: Danny Kelly * Last season: 17-5, first in Eastern Division, won championship

* Average attendance: 3,941, fourth

Baltimore has always been a stronghold for arena soccer and this past season was no exception. The team finished first in its division for the fourth-consecutive MASL season, finished with a winning record for the 11th-consecutive season across three leagues and won their third-consecutive MASL championship. Baltimore is the benchmark for the rest of the league, full stop. Coach Danny Kelly always manages to get results no matter what sort of roster turnover he’s forced to confront, and it’s a safe bet for Baltimore to win the division again.

Harrisburg Heat – Harrisburg, Pa.

* Founded: 2012 * Home venue: New Holland Arena (7,317) * Head coach: Pat Healey * Last season: 6-16, fourth in Eastern Division, DNQ

* Average attendance: 1,459, 14th

Harrisburg has consistently struggled since joining the league for the 2012-13 season, going 2-18 in 2014-15 and 1-18 in 2015-16. Then, they seemed to figure things out, finishing 10-10 and 2nd in their division two years ago. Unfortunately, it doesn’t seem to have been a permanent change, with Harrisburg regressing to a disappointing mean last season. To address this, they’ve brought in the father-son duo of Kevin and Pat Healey from Baltimore, which is pretty much the smartest possible move the team could have made. Already, the Heat have a better-looking roster than a year ago and could very easily start taking the fight to Baltimore. I’m excited.

Image credit: MASL

Mississisauga MetroStars – Mississauga, Ontario

* Founded: 2018 * Home venue: Paramount Fine Foods Centre (5,612) * Head coach: Phil Ionadi

* New for 2018-19

Professional arena soccer has finally returned to Canada, with the Mississauga MetroStars set to contest the upcoming season. Mississauga, located due west of Toronto, is occasionally considered a suburb of Canada’s largest city but is big enough to stand on its own. The MetroStars are the only true expansion team in the MASL this season, and as a result, are the one team without meaningful data to adequately preview the upcoming season. I’ll just end with this: The MetroStars coaxed Dwayne De Rosario out of retirement for their inaugural season.

Utica City FC – Utica, N.Y.

* Founded: 2010 (2014-15) * Home venue: Adirondack Bank Center (3,860) * Head coach: Ryan Hall * Last season: 13-9, 2nd in Eastern Division, lost division final

* Average attendance: 2,398, 10th

During the offseason, the Syracuse Silver Knights relocated 50 miles east to Utica and rebranded as Utica City FC in partnership with the Utica Comets in the AHL. This gives the team a much bigger and wealthier front office, while keeping the fairly successful soccer side intact. The Silver Knights did pretty well last season, too, only losing by a single goal each in two playoff games against Baltimore. A comfortable expectation for the first season in Utica is modest growth on the field and more substantial growth off.

Follow John on Twitter: @JohnMLTX.

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“Soccerwarz” by Kartik Krishnaiyer

The holidays are here, so now’s the perfect time to grab a gift for that soccer supporter friend or family member of yours. Over the course of the next few days, we’ll be featuring some books authored by our very own contributors here at Soc Takes.

“Soccerwarz” by Kartik Krishnaiyer provides an insider’s glimpse into the simmering beef between MLS, the USL and NASL in the early 2010s. Published in 2015, it’s available on Amazon Kindle for $4.99.

“It’s a summary of the development of the feuds between the pro leagues from 2011 to 2015,” Krishnaiyer said of his second book. “It leaves off at San Antonio’s departure so can serve as a Part I to Nipun Chopra and others’ own reporting on the messes of 2016 and 2017.”

Krishnaiyer covers football for World Soccer Talk, politics for The Florida Squeeze and joined Soc Takes as a part-time contributor in October. He also has an extensive background in public relations and communications after working for both the NASL and Ft. Lauderdale Strikers, and currently fills that role for Boca Raton FC.

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Photo credit: Robbie Mehling/Soc Takes

In the 2018 USL season, we have nine teams playing in minor league baseball stadiums. This is a uniquely American phenomenon, and not just at the USL level. The Kansas City Wizards, before they became Sporting KC, played in a ballpark for three seasons, the New York Cosmos play(ed) at MCU Park in Brooklyn and New York City FC will be playing at Yankee Stadium for the foreseeable future.

This gives us the opportunity for an interesting comparison. In these venues used for both soccer and baseball, which sport has the better average attendance?

I’ll be tracking this over the 2018 season, as the various minor leagues aren’t due to start for a few weeks, but we do have the data from 2017 to take a look at today.

From 2017, we have five stadiums to examine: FNB Field in Harrisburg, Pa., Louisville Slugger Field in Louisville, Ky., Greater Nevada Field in Reno, Nev., ONEOK Field in Tulsa, Okla., and MCU Park in Brooklyn, N.Y. Yeah, I’m choosing to include the Cosmos in this, mainly because it makes the article longer and a bit more interesting. It also helps examine the claim made by a handful of people that New York sports fans don’t support minor league teams.

For the purposes of this article, we’re comparing average attendance as our key metric. It’s likely the fairest direct comparison that can be made, simply due to the immense number of home games in a baseball season. Total attendance would skew the measurements dramatically in favor of the baseball teams.

As a quick example, we’ll look at the Frisco RoughRiders, the AA affiliate of the Texas Rangers that play a few miles away from FC Dallas. Their average attendance in 2017 was 6,812, which was the highest at the AA level and roughly halfway between the average attendances for the two AAA level leagues in the USA. Compared to FC Dallas’ average of 15,222, the baseball team only averaged 45 percent of what the nearby MLS team did. In total attendance, however, the RoughRiders drew 470,003 fans in 2017, which is only two less than Toronto FC. It’s all down to sample size, and the disproportionate size of a baseball schedule. Hence, average attendance as our metric.

With that, let’s begin.

FNB Field – Harrisburg, Pa.

• Capacity: 6,187
• MiLB: 3,983
• USL: 2,429

This ballpark is home to both the Harrisburg Senators of the AA Eastern League, and Penn FC (formerly known as the Harrisburg City Islanders). In Harrisburg, baseball wins, outdrawing soccer by 64 percent.

Baseball 1-0 Soccer

Louisville Slugger Field – Louisville, Ky.

• Capacity: 13,131
• MiLB: 6,868
• USL: 8,613

This ballpark is home to the AAA International League’s Louisville Bats and Louisville City FC. This time, soccer wins, with Louisville City outdrawing by 25 percent. Additionally, this venue’s all-time attendance record is the 2017 USL Cup Final, with 14,456 in attendance.

Baseball 1-1 Soccer

Greater Nevada Field – Reno, Nev.

• Capacity: 9,013
• MiLB: 4,894
• USL:  5,559

This ballpark is home to the AAA Pacific Coast League’s Reno Aces as well as Reno 1868 FC. Soccer wins again by 14 percent.

Baseball 1-2 Soccer

ONEOK Field – Tulsa, Okla.

• Capacity: 7,833
• MiLB: 5,597
• USL: 3,851

This ballpark is home to the AA Texas League’s Tulsa Drillers as well as the Tulsa Roughnecks. Baseball pulls one back on soccer, drawing 45 percent better than soccer.

Baseball 2-2 Soccer

MCU Park – Brooklyn, N.Y.

• Capacity: 7,000
• MiLB: 5,190
• NASL: 4,891

MCU Park is home to both the Short Season A level New York-Penn League’s Brooklyn Cyclones, and for the 2017 season was also home to the New York Cosmos in the NASL. By six percent, baseball beats soccer in Brooklyn.

Baseball 3-2 Soccer

So, for 2017, baseball won. But with the massive growth of the USL, can it continue? I’ll be tracking this for 2018 and I’m curious to see the result.

Follow John on Twitter: @JohnMLTX.

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INDIANAPOLIS — A Gordon Wild strike in the 77th minute, assisted by Nick Moon, lifted the Indy Eleven to a 1-0 victory over Sporting KC II at Michael A. Carroll Stadium on Saturday night.

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INDIANAPOLIS — Goals on either side of halftime by Antoine Hoppenot and Cameron Lancaster carried Louisville City to a 2-nil win over the Indy Eleven on Saturday night at Michael A. Carroll Stadium. First-place LouCity finished the weekend six points clear of the next-closest team in the Central Division.

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Photo credit: Robbie Mehling/Soc Takes

While weather delays and ensuing power outages happen from time to time in the beautiful game, when the host side is named “Energy FC,” it obviously adds a dose of irony and humor to the storyline.

The OKC Energy and Indy Eleven have rescheduled their July 10 fixture for Sept. 29 after a storm system forced the halting of last Saturday’s match shortly after halftime with the scoreboard knotted up 1-1. The poor weather knocked the power out at Taft Stadium, and it was unable to be restored in a reasonable amount of time for the contest to resume.

Per USL Championship rules, the result and all stats accumulated Saturday were completely wiped clean.

Indy attacker Cammy Smith scored what would’ve been his second goal of the season in the 15th minute on a laser that found the top corner at the near post. Jordan Hamilton’s layoff assist went for naught, as well.

Likewise, OKC forward Frank Lopez’s header five minutes later that leveled matters also won’t count. The deft assist on the ball in by defender Zachary Ellis-Hayden won’t count, either.

The game’s new date, Sept. 29, coincides with another of Indy’s visits to Taft Stadium the same week. OKC will host Indy on Sept. 26, so the makeup date forms a Sunday-Wednesday doubleheader.

The Eleven have shown modest signs of life since Max Rogers assumed primary coaching duties following Martin Rennie’s abrupt midseason departure. They’ve won once, lost once and drawn twice so far under Rogers, and now sit in fourth place — above the playoff line — in the Central Division.

Rogers hasn’t officially been named the interim manager, but he’s ostensibly functioning as such.

The Energy, meanwhile, are only a point back from Indy and obviously still very much in the playoff mix with less than half the season in the books. They’ve won three of their last five, evidence that perhaps interim head coach Leigh Veidman has his side’s arrow pointing upward.

Follow Kevin on Twitter: @KJboxing.

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