No. 7 Louisville Hosts No. 8 UConn in Saturday Showdown
October 18, 2013 | Men's Soccer
Oct. 18, 2013
2013 Louisville Game Notes (vs. UConn) 
| Video: Coach Lolla Previews Saturday's Match with UConn
| No. 7 Louisville vs. No. 8 UConn | Saturday - 7 p.m., ET |
LOUISVILLE, Ky. - In a matchup of the preseason favorites in the American Athletic Conference, the No. 7 Louisville men's soccer team will host No. 8 Connecticut on Saturday at 7 p.m., ET at Cardinal Park.
Tickets will be available for purchase at Cardinal Park prior to the match or in advance through the UofL Ticket Office by calling (502) 852-0120 or emailing tickets@gocards.com. Live video of the match will be available online at NSCAATV.com, while live scoring will be available through the Gametracker feature on the men's soccer schedule page at GoCards.com.
Conference Race
Louisville, picked second in the preseason conference coaches' poll, enters the weekend at 9-2-1 overall and in first place in the American Athletic Conference standings with 12 points and a 4-0-0 league mark. Connecticut, the preseason favorite to win the league title as selected by the coaches, is second in the conference race with nine points and a 2-0-3 league mark.
National Rankings
Louisville enters this week's game ranked No. 7 in the NSCAA coaches poll and at No. 10 in the Soccer America Top 25, while Connecticut is ranked No. 8 by Soccer America and unranked in the coaches poll.
Teams
The Cardinals improved to 9-2-1 overall on Tuesday night with a 3-0 win at reigning NCAA champion Indiana to extend their unbeaten streak to eight matches. Junior goalkeeper Joachim Ball had a career best seven saves to clinch his seventh shutout of the season, while Daniel Keller, Zack Foxhoven and Marlon Hairston scored goals in the win.
UConn improved to 6-2-4 on the season with a 4-0 home win over Columbia on Tuesday night. Last season, the Huskies were 17-4-1 overall after advancing to the quarterfinal round of the NCAA Championship before being eliminated by Creighton.
Head Coaches
The Cardinals are guided by head coach Ken Lolla, who is 97-44-20 in his eighth season at the helm in Louisville. UConn is directed by Ray Reid, who is 393-98-62 in his 25th season as a head coach, including a 247-81-47 mark in 17 seasons in Storrs.
Series History
Saturday's match will be the sixth all-time between Louisville and Connecticut with the Cardinals trailing 4-1 in the series. The Huskies have won four straight since the Cardinals won the first ever meeting in the series 2-1 in 2005 in Louisville. Though the teams did not play last season, the Huskies earned two wins over the Cardinals in 2011 earning a 1-0 double-overtime victory on Oct. 1 and a 1-0 neutral site victory in the Big East Tournament on Nov. 11.
Defense Stands Tall
With the 3-0 win at Indiana on Tuesday, the Cardinals have allowed only one goal in the last seven matches. On Oct. 12, Louisville had its school record setting scoreless streak halted at 560 minutes against Rutgers when the Scarlet Knights scored in the 43rd minute of the Cardinals' 3-1 win. The previous school record for consecutive minutes played without allowing a goal was 496 set during the 2011 season. Louisville also set a school record with five straight shutout performances from Sept. 21 to Oct. 6. That surpassed the previous mark of four straight shutouts accomplished during the 2009 and 2011 seasons.
Louisville Leaders
Sophomore Ricardo Velazco leads the Cardinals with five goals and 15 points and is tied for the team lead in assists with six thus far this season. Freshman Andrew Brody also has six assists this season, while the trio of sophomore Marlon Hairston, junior Daniel Keller and senior Jimmy Ockford has three goals each for Louisville. Junior Joachim Ball has played every minute in goal for the Cardinals and has seven shutouts this season along with a highly impressive 0.49 goals against average.
NCAA Statistics
Entering the weekend, Louisville is ranked sixth in the nation in goals against average at 0.49 while Ball paced the way ranking sixth in the nation individually in that category with the same number. Ball also ranks 28th in the NCAA in save percentage at 0.818.
Offensively, the Cardinals are 23rd in the nation in goals with 23, 24th in scoring offense at 1.92 goals per game and 30th in assists 21. Brody and Velazco rank 15th nationally with six assists each and 18th in the nation in assists per game at 0.50.
Up Next for Louisville
Following Saturday's match, Louisville returns to the road for a conference match at Cincinnati on Wednesday at 7 p.m. ET.
Following the Cardinals on Social Media
Fans can follow Louisville men's soccer on Twitter at http://twitter.com/uoflmenssoccer and on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/UofLmenssoccer.
