By Timothy Belin
BIRMINGHAM, ALABAMA - March 16, 2025
Following an opening week loss, there seemed to be few worse second-week matchups for Birmingham Legion FC than Louisville City, last season’s regular-season champions who beat them 9-1 across their two games in 2024. However, the Black and Gold put in a determined and disciplined performance to more-than-match their visitors and earn their first point of the 2025 season against the perennial heavyweight.
“I’m extremely proud of that effort,” Legion head coach Tom Soehn said. “It was a team that was going to defend hard and make it difficult for them. We did a lot of game planning for this one. We knew we were going to be short some bodies that normally play, but the guys that did step in did a really good job of managing the game.”
Legion had five absentees for the game, with Phanuel Kavita, Danny Trejo and Sebastian Tregarthen joining AJ Paterson and Tyler Pasher on the sidelines. Coming into the lineup, Enzo Martínez made his return from suspension, while Stephen Turnbull and Ethan Kos got their first starts of the season among the Legion’s defensive line.
The game started slowly, with both teams enjoying spells of possession but doing little to test each other’s goalkeepers.
The first clear chance went Louisville’s way, sending a shot over the bar after Martínez turned the ball over in the midfield in the 28th minute. The Legion hit back almost immediately with a slick move down the left. Dawson McCartney was the player sent through, but nobody was there to connect with his cut-back to the edge of the six-yard box.
The game came to life following those two opportunities, and Louisville opened the scoring soon after. Ramiz Hamouda, playing left-back after featuring at centre-back in the opening game, was caught too far infield, leaving space for Louisville’s Manny Perez to rush down the right wing and power a shot past Matt van Oekel.
With 31 minutes played, the visitors led 1-0.
The Black and Gold had a few chances to even things up, with the best one falling to Martinez following a set-piece situation, but the midfielder could only volley over from 10-yards out. At the other end, van Oekel was called into action on a few occasions, making a great save down to his right from a Louisville diving header, and then another important save after Kos missed a tackle to allow a Louisville player free on goal.
“If I can keep the team in it as much as I possibly can, I know that I’ve got the talent and players around me who can get one back or put us up ahead,” van Oekel said.
It looked like the Legion would head into the break with the one-goal deficit until the first minute of stoppage time, when the Three Sparks got a dangerous free-kick down the left of the field. Like he did in the season opener last week, Roman Torres sent in an inviting cross, and striker Ronaldo Damus was there to head it home and open his account for the club.
“I’m having a good run of games right now, so hopefully I can keep that up and keep contributing to the team in as many ways as I can,” Torres said after notching his second assist in just his second game as a professional.
The second half was more of the same, as both teams enjoyed spells in possession, but Louisville saw the best of the chances for long periods. Hamouda was caught out down the left side of defence a couple more times, notably prompting a goal-line clearance by Jake Rufe in the 50th minute.
But Legion remained organized in their defending, grew into the second half and started posing a real threat on the counter.
At the hour-mark, McCartney picked Damus out on the counter with a lofted through ball following a Louisville corner, but just as the striker looked to have made it past the Louisville defence, he slipped over the ball to end the attack.
Preston Tabort-Etaka then got a couple of chances of his own to give Legion the lead, forcing two saves out of the Louisville keeper from his position on the right side of the attack. McCartney also came close, looping a header onto the top of the cross bar from a corner, but the final ball just wasn’t there for the Black and Gold.
At the other end, van Oekel continued to put on a fine display to keep the Legion in it, totalling eight saves by the end of the 90’. He was also helped by Rufe’s goal-line clearance, as well as a last-ditch block inside the six-yard box by Stephen Turnbull in the 70th minute.
“I owe ‘em some beers,” van Oekel said. “It’s great to see that they have my back, just like I have theirs. When you put that together over the course of the season, we’re going to keep the ball out of the net a lot more this year.”
In the end, a 1-1 draw is a fair result given the balance of play, though both sides will likely feel they should have left Protective Stadium with all three points.
“I don’t think you’re ever satisfied with a tie, you always want to win those games,” Soehn said.
Legion will now get ready for a week on the road, beginning with a U.S. Open Cup tie at 7 p.m. Wednesday against USL League Two outfit Little Rock Rangers, in Arizona. They will then continue their USL championship campaign by traveling to Michigan to take on Detroit City FC at 4 p.m. Saturday.