University of Louisville
USF
Senior Day Sweet For Women's Soccer
October 21, 2007 | Women's Soccer
Oct. 21, 2007
LOUISVILLE, Ky. - The University of Louisville celebrated Senior in style with a 2-0 win over visiting USF Sunday at Cardinal Park. Senior Erica Robinson scored the game-winning goal, and fellow senior Monique Gjini notched her 19th career assist to tie the school record.
"I'm certainly not thrilled with our performance," Head Coach Karen Ferguson said.
"But we can't lose sight of the fact that the win is three points, and pulls us closer to our goal of competing in the BIG EAST championship."
In the 18th minute Gjini combined with Jen Avila and Shannon Smyth into the box forcing a corner. On the ensuing set piece, Avila headed a shot on goal that was stopped by USF keeper Mall Lofton-Malachi.
In the 27th minute an innocent throw-in turned into a 1-0 Cardinal lead. Robinson, a Louisville Manual product sent a short throw in to Kelsey Hunyadi, who laid it back to Robinson. The senior from Louisville launched a shot to the far post over the head of Lofton-Malachi into the net for her first goal of the season.
"It was wonderful to see a senior score the game winner in Erica Robinson," Ferguson added.
"She has been tremendous defensively all year for us, so it was nice to see her get her moment to shine."
In the 39th minute, Mallory Lampson was taken down in the box, but Gjini's PK was stopped by Lofton-Malachi to keep the margin at one as the teams headed into the break.
The Cardinals (11-3-2, 5-1-2 BIG EAST) outshot the Bulls (4-7-2, 3-4-1 BIG EAST) 9-1 in the first half, placing four shots on goal.
In the 70th minute, Gjini laid a perfect feed ahead to sophomore Lindsay Boling, who chipped it over the keeper for a 2-0 Cardinal lead. With the assist, Gjini tied former Card Kim Marshall ('91-94) for the UofL career assist record.
Senior keeper Joanna Haig made six saves to extend her single season and career shutout records to 10 and 18 respectively. Avila had five shots to lead the Cardinal attack.
Avila, Gjini, Haig, Robinson and Laura Walker all played in their final regular season home match and were honored in a brief pregame ceremony.
Louisville is currently in second place in the National division with 19 points. The top three seeds in each division will receive a first round bye in BIG EAST Championship, with the quarterfinal matches taking place on campus sites November 4.
The Cardinals will close out the regular season on the road in Philadelphia Friday against Villanova at 4:00 p.m. and Sunday in Washington D.C. Sunday at 1:00 p.m. when they close the regular season at Georgetown.
