Going with the Flow with Greg Cochrane
October 29, 2012 | Men's Soccer
Oct. 29, 2012
Louisville, Ky. - Hey Cardinal fans! Sorry for the delay in posting, it has been a pretty busy week. After beating Villanova on senior night, we knew that we at least clinched a share of the BIG EAST Red Division, but who wants to be co-champs? We controlled our own destiny, and a result against Cincinnati would give us the title. But first things first, we had a non-conference game against UC Irvine.
To be honest, we came out flat against them and eventually, we were punished for it. They were up 1-0 at the halftime break. We regrouped and knew that we needed to put more work into the second half to get a result. After all, this was a game we could not afford to lose because it would affect the all-important RPI. It didn't take long until we evened the score. Paolo DelPiccolo hit a corner into the box where Daniel Keller headed it home! The rest of the second half was a battle, and with a little over the minute left in the game, we scored the go ahead goal. Marlon Hairston slipped Dylan Mares through one on one with the goalie and he calmly tucked it into the back post. We were happy about fighting back and getting the win, but were disappointed with how we played. But a win is still a win.
While we were preparing for our upcoming game against Cincinnati, Daniel Keller, Dean Abdehou, Andrew Farrell, and myself all took the time to go down to Kosair's Children Hospital to visit some patients. All of us would agree that it was a great time going there. We go there to try and cheer the kids up by talking to them and signing autographs, but it is them that really put a smile on all of our faces. This one sweet girl even gave us her autograph! She also gave us the biggest hug, and then said don't expect to get a kiss from her though! Haha.
On Friday we left to head to the hotel in Cincinnati. Even though Cincinnati is only an hour and a half away, we still left a day beforehand. We all knew what was at stake for this game: to win the BIG EAST Red Division outright and to have the best overall record in Big East play. The game started and it was back and forth with not much clear-cut chances. The break through finally came as time expired. No really, we scored with no time left on the clock to win 1-0! For most of us, this was the first time in our soccer careers where we won a game on a buzzer beater! We had a free kick with three seconds left. Paolo whipped it into the box where Brock Granger may or may not have touched it in for the goal. It is debatable if there was a touch or if it went straight in, but nonetheless, it went in. So congrats on your first collegiate goal Brock!!!
It is now time to prepare for the BIG EAST Tournament. Since we won the Red Division, we are the number one seed. We host the quarterfinal match on Saturday night at 7pm, November 3rd. We play the winner of Marquette and Cincinnati. We would love for you to come out and support!
Also, a big congrats to Andrew Farrell for being named back-to-back Big East Defender of the week!
