University of Louisville
Loyola Chicago
Women's Soccer Opens Season With 2-1 Win
August 31, 2007 | Women's Soccer
Aug. 31, 2007
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. - Freshman Kelsey Hunyadi and senior Laura Walker each scored in the opening minutes of the match, leading the University of Louisville to a 2-1 win over Loyola(IL) in the 2007 season opener as part of the Boilermaker Challenge Cup.
Fresh off a 2-0 win over Nebraska in their second exhibition match of the season it looked it looked as though the Cardinals would not miss a beat as they took on a tough Loyola team. Louisville got on the board just nine minutes into the match off a great buildup as freshman forward Caitlin Rehder slipped a ball out wide to sophomore midfielder Lindsay Boling, whose well struck service into the box was parried by Loyola goalkeeper Lauren Sommer, but the ball fell to the feet of Walker whose first-time effort found the back of the net.
Things got even better for the Cardinals 45 seconds later, when senior defender Erica Robinson dropped a ball in behind the Loyola backline to an onrushing Hunyadi. The freshman forward broke into the right side of the 18-yard box and struck a dipping shot that came off Sommer's hands and into the upper right corner of the goal.
Louisville continued to dominate throughout the first half, out-shooting the Ramblers 10-2. The stroke of halftime was the only thing that prevented the Cardinals from an even greater advantage at the half.
With seconds on the clock Senior forward Jen Avila caught the Loyola defense on the transition, and as the clock counted down Avila curled a fantastic ball over the head of the Loyola goalkeeper and into the far upper corner. Unfortunately for the Cards the goal was called back as the referee judged that time had expired before the goal was scored.
The goal having been called back seemed to cause the momentum to shift slightly in favor of the Ramblers. In the 55th minute a Loyola player broke down on the left side and fired a shot from 25 yards, but Senior goalkeeper Joanna Haig extended toward the top right corner and managed to tip the ball wide of the goal.
In 77th minute Loyola capitalized on a set piece opportunity to halve the Louisville lead. From 40 yards out on the left side the ball was served toward the back post, where it was slotted back across by Cynthi Morote-Ariza to a wide open Ashley Funk, who simply had to tap the ball beyond Haig.
With the goal, Haig saw her school record streak of 452 consecutive scoreless minutes end, a streak that stretched over five matches.
The last ten minutes of the match were hard-fought, but the Cardinals managed to hang on for their first victory of the season.
"We were a little inconsistent today, but we fought together and got the result we needed," said Haig.
Head Coach Karen Ferguson, who is now 6-2 in season openers at the helm of the Cardinals, had similar sentiments following the game.
"After the first 15 minutes of playing very aggressively and creating some great chances we relented a little and really had to fight off a solid Loyola ream for the rest of the game. We were very dangerous on numerous occasions in the first half, but to be fair Loyola came back after us in the second half and we didn't sort it out as well as we would have liked to. We are very happy to get the win, and now we will regroup, sort some things out, and refocus for a talented Purdue team on Sunday."
Louisville will meet tournament host and perennial Big Ten power Purdue on Sunday at 1:00 p.m. The home portion of the schedule will begin Sunday, September 9 when Butler visits Cardinal Park for a 1:00 p.m. start.
