LOUISVILLE, KY — FC Cincinnati and Louisville City FC both maintained their unbeaten streaks following a scoreless tie Saturday night at Louisville Slugger Field.
FCC (8-2-4, 28 pts.) stretched its streak to 10 matches while LouCity’s (10-1-5, 35 pts) now remain unseated in 14 consecutive matches.
The first half belonged to Louisville City with the home team spending the early minutes deep in FCC territory but was limited to a single shot that was handled by Mitch Hildebrandt.
LouCity continued to put the FCC defense under duress. Kadeem Acres stole the ball from Harrison Delbridge and found an open Chandler Hoffman, whose shot went wide. In the 13th minute, Louisville City earned a series of corners and Paco Craig had a near chance but his header was shoved away by Hildebrandt. Dacres and Kyle Smith also had a pair of opportunities on successive corners but Hildebrandt denied Dacres and Smith’s shot was sent high and wide of the goal.
FCC saw a few chances of their own with Eric Stevenson on the receiving end of a pass from Andrew Wiedeman, but the Columbus native saw his shot stifled by Greg Ranjitsingh.
Wiedeman took the ball towards the goal in the 31st minute, collecting a long pass from the back but his attempt to find FCC support in the box was deflected away by a LouCity defender.
Stevenson had one of FCC’s best chances in the 44th minute as he jumped on a missed clearance by Louisville but sent his shot just over the crossbar.
Pat McMahon came through with a pair of goal-line clearances to deny Louisville City as the defender backed up Hildebrandt, who was forced to come off his line late in the first half.
The Orange and Blue came out of the half aggressive, earning a free kick in the 54th minute that saw Kenney Walker’s effort go high.
Cameron Lancaster had a look at the FCC goal in the 81st minute but his shot goes high.
FCC countered in the 88th minute with Derek Luke finding Sean Okoli up field but Ranjitsingh won the foot-race to avoid an Orange and Blue attempt.
FCC returns to Nippert Stadium, Sat., July 2, for a 6:00 p.m. match against Bethlehem Steel FC.
