Louisville City FC took the USL Championship by storm this season, finishing well above the competition with a 24W-6L-4D overall record, 76 points, 86 total goals and a +43 goal differential. The impressive record awarded LouCity the USL Championship Player’s Shield, given to the club with the highest regular season point total. LouCity averaged almost three goals per match throughout the season, scoring four or more goals in a staggering ten matches. At home, the club managed 3.4 goals per match, losing only once in 17 regular-season matches with a 16W-1L-0D record at Lynn Family Stadium. Like RIFC, Louisville has not lost in seven matches dating back to late September, and The Boys in Purple were shutout just twice in the regular season. Against Rhode Island FC, LouCity will look for its ninth-straight berth in the Eastern Conference Finals, having made it to the penultimate playoff match in each of its first eight seasons in the USL Championship. Although LouCity lost just six matches and failed to score in only two, Rhode Island FC had a role to play in both statistics, representing the only club in the USL Championship that Louisville failed to beat in multiple meetings this season. During the first meeting on May 25, RIFC kept the league-leading attack scoreless in a 0-0 draw at Beirne Stadium, before stunning Louisville with a dominant 5-2 win at Lynn Family Stadium on June 22. The latter win marked the most goals ever scored against LouCity at Lynn Family Stadium, the Kentucky side’s only multi-goal loss of the season, and the club’s only loss on home soil in 2024. Rhode Island FC carried over its attacking explosion from the end of the regular season to its first-ever playoff win over Indy Eleven, bringing its total to 20 goals in the midst of a seven-match unbeaten streak. In that span, JJ Williams has been one of the main drivers of an extremely efficient attack, scoring the first two hat tricks in club history in back-to-back matches. Scoring five goals inside the first half of the last two matches, six of Williams’s nine goals this year have come in that span, earning Williams a USL Championship Player of the Month selection. Williams’s hat trick in Indy showcased his versatility as a striker, as he scored three different goals, coming from the penalty kick, a header and an open play sequence. Williams is also responsible for the club’s only two penalty conversions this year, both of which came during RIFC’s last two matches. With a win on Saturday, Rhode Island FC would become the first expansion club to qualify for a conference final in its inaugural season since Western Conference club El Paso Locomotive FC did so in 2019. The potential to make more history comes after RIFC finished fifth in the Eastern Conference, setting the all-time single-season record with 15 draws and finishing with the third-fewest losses (seven) across the entire 24-team league. After earning its first-ever playoff win in convincing fashion in Indianapolis and looking towards a venue where it has already won this season, the stage is set for the Ocean State club to continue writing its name in the USL Championship history books. Categories: Sports