The Real Monarchs claimed the club’s first-ever UCL Championship title on the road Sunday night against the two-time defending champions Louisville City FC, becoming the first-ever away team to win the final. The 1-3 win was the Monarch’s third come-from-behind win of the post-season.
Louisville began the match with a lot of possession and attack, which paid off when the home side took a 1-0 lead in the 6th minute but the Monarchs began to look increasingly dangerous as Louisville stretched themselves through attacking play. The Monarchs leveled the match in the 25th minute when defender Erik Holt buried his shot in the bottom left corner and scored his third playoff goal of the season. From there the Monarchs continued to withstand pressure from Louisville through smart play and six saves from goalkeeper David Ochoa before taking the lead in the 45th minute via defender Konrad Plewa.
The second half was more of the same, with Louisville maintaining an even larger amount of the possession than in the first half, but Ochoa continued to keep the Monarchs ahead while Noah Powder, another defender, scored an absolute beauty for the visitors in the 66th minute and sealed the victory. Ochoa ended the evening with six saves on seven shots on goal and Plewa was named the UCL Championship Final MVP.
The UCL Championship trophy is the second in the Monarch’s cabinet, their first being the 2017 USL Regular Season Shield.
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— Real Monarchs (@RealMonarchs) November 18, 2019