No. 9 Louisville Visits No. 22 Wake Forest Saturday
October 31, 2014 | Men's Soccer
Sophomore Romilio Hernandez and the Cardinals visit Wake Forest on Saturday night.
Match Day: #9 Louisville (8-5-3 / 4-2-1 ACC) at #22 Wake Forest (9-7-0 / 4-3-0 ACC)
Date: Saturday, November 1, 2014
Time: 7 p.m. ET
Location: Winston-Salem, N.C.
Venue: W. Dennie Spry Soccer Stadium (3,000)
TV/Internet Coverage: Wake Forest All-Access/a>
Live Scoring: Gametracker at GoCards.com
Twitter Updates: @UofLMensSoccer
Series Info: Louisville leads 2-1 all-time
Last Meeting: #14 LOU 3, #15 WF 2 (2ot) - 9/11/12 - Louisville, Ky. - The No. 14 Louisville men's soccer team defeated No. 15 Wake Forest 3-2 in double overtime at Cardinal Park. After two second half goals for the visitors, Ryan Smith scored the winner in the 105th minute.
• 2014 Louisville Men's Soccer Match Notes (at Wake Forest) 
LOUISVILLE, Ky. - The No. 9 Louisville men's soccer team will close the regular season with an important ACC road match at Wake Forest on Saturday at 7 p.m., ET. Live video of the match will be available to subscribers of Wake Forest All-Access at WakeForestSports.com, while live scoring will be provided through the Gametracker link on the men's soccer schedule page at GoCards.com.
ABOUT LOUISVILLE
The Cardinals enter the final contest of the regular season riding a five-match unbeaten streak following Tuesday night's draw against SIU Edwardsville. This is Louisville's first road match since a 3-2 overtime loss at Notre Dame on Oct. 10. Overall, the Cardinals are just 2-3-0 on the road this season wins at Boston College and Kentucky and losses at NC State and Saint Louis.
ABOUT WAKE FOREST
The Demon Deacons enter Saturday night following a 1-0 home loss to No. 7 Charlotte on Tuesday night. Prior to that, Wake Forest had won three straight matches, including a 2-1 victory at Virginia last Friday. Last season, the Demon Deacons were 10-6-5 overall and finished third in the ACC with a 6-1-4 league record. Wake Forest advanced to the third round of the NCAA Championship before falling 4-2 at eventual national champion Notre Dame.
SERIES SNAPSHOT
Saturday will mark the third meeting all-time between the Cardinals and Demon Deacons with the visiting club holding a 2-1 edge. Louisville is 1-1 overall against Wake Forest in Winston-Salem, including a 2-0 win in the most recent visit in 2011.
LOUISVILLE TIED FOR FIRST IN ACC ATLANTIC
Entering the final week of action in the regular season, Louisville (4-2-1) is tied atop the Atlantic Division with Clemson (4-2-1) and Syracuse (4-2-1) with 13 points each, while Wake Forest (4-3-0) is closely positioned in fourth with 12 points. NC State (1-3-3/6 pts) and Boston College (1-5-1/4 pts) close out the Atlantic. Notre Dame (5-1-1) leads the way in the Coastal with 16 points, while North Carolina (5-2-0) is second with 15 points. Virginia (3-3-1) is next with 10 points and is followed by Duke (3-4-0/9 pts), Virginia Tech (20401/7 pts) and Pittsburgh (0-5-2/2 pts).
CARDINALS CAN CLINCH ACC ATLANTIC WITH WIN AT WAKE FOREST
A win at Wake Forest would clinch the Atlantic Division title and likely earn the No. 2 seed in next week's ACC Championship for the Cardinals. Louisville owns the tiebreaker with Syracuse due to its 2-1 overtime win against the Orange on Oct. 17. Having played to a draw with Clemson on Oct. 24, a tie between the Cardinals and Tigers would likely be settled by goal differential in ACC matches. Louisville enters Saturday at +8, while Clemson is +5 in ACC goal differential.
LOUISVILLE SECOND NATIONALLY IN ATTENDANCE IN FIRST SEASON AT LYNN STADIUM
After entering the season with great excitement for the move to the ACC and the opening of the nation's most spectacular collegiate soccer facility, Louisville fans have responded by packing Lynn Stadium for the Cardinals in 2014. Louisville is second in the nation in attendance averaging 3,818 fans through 11 home matches this season highlighted by the 7,047 fans for the Cardinals' opening-night victory over Maryland.
CARDINALS RETURN TO NATIONAL RANKINGS
After rising as highly as No. 2 in the nation early in the season, Louisville fell out of the national rankings on Oct. 14 following a four-match losing skid. The time out of the top 25 was short-lived as the Cardinals returned to the Soccer America poll on Oct. 21 at No. 11. This week, Louisville is ninth in the Soccer America Top 25 and No. 22 in the NSCAA poll. The Cardinals opened the season with a 1-0 win over then-No. 2 Maryland and then made a big move in the rankings replacing the Terrapins as the No. 2 ranked team in the NSCAA Top 25 on Sept. 2. The No. 2 national ranking was the highest for Louisville since opening the 2011 season ranked No. 1. The Cardinals were also ranked No. 1 in the nation in 2010 before closing the season as NCAA runner-up after reaching the College Cup title game.
KUBEL EARNS PLAYER OF THE WEEK HONORS
Freshman defender Tim Kubel earned a pair of honors on Oct. 21 when he was named ACC Player of the Week as well as the TopDrawerSoccer.com National Player of the Week. Kubel scored two goals and added an assist as UofL won both of its matches that week, including a 2-1 overtime win over No. 2 Syracuse. On the season, Kubel leads the Cardinals with six goals, including two game-winners. He's also 3-for-3 on penalty kicks in his first collegiate season.
STRONG PROVIDES OFFENSIVE PUNCH IN FIRST SEASON
In his first season in the Louisville uniform, junior Ben Strong has given the Cardinals an offensive boost with 13 points, which ranks second on the team in 2014. A transfer from Virginia Tech, Strong has five goals and three assists, highlighted by his two-goal performance against Duke on Sept. 13. Strong has started in 15 of Louisville's 16 matches this season with all of those coming in the attacking midfield.
VELAZCO SCORES FOUR GOALS IN THREE-MATCH STRETCH
After not scoring a goal in each of the Cardinals' first four matches of 2014, junior Ricardo Velazco found his form recently connecting for four goals in three-match stretch from Sept. 19-26, including two goals in the win over Pittsburgh on Sept. 26. Last season, Velazco, led the Cardinals with seven goals and nine assists while starting all 20 matches.
BALL MOVES INTO THIRD IN CAREER SHUTOUTS AT LOUISVILLE
With his five shutouts this season, senior goalkeeper Joachim Ball has moved into sole possession of third place in career shutouts at Louisville with 14. Last season, Ball finished with eight shutouts, ranked 15th nationally in goals against average at 0.688 and was a key player as Louisville set school records for consecutive minutes played without allowing a goal (560) and consecutive shutouts with five from Sept. 21 to Oct. 6. Andre Boudreaux leads the way with 37 career shutouts at Louisville from 2008-11, while Jeremy Morales is second with 23 from 1998-2001.
STRONG NAMED ACC PLAYER OF THE WEEK ON SEPT. 16
Junior midfielder Ben Strong was chosen as Atlantic Coast Conference Men's Soccer Co-Player of the Week on Sept. 16 sharing the honor with Clemson forward Kyle Murphy. Strong scored two goals as the Cardinals blanked visiting Duke 5-0 in the ACC opener at Lynn Stadium. The goals were the first in a Louisville uniform for Strong, who is in his first season with the Cardinals after transferring from Virginia Tech.
With Louisville already leading Duke by a 1-0 score, Strong pushed the advantage to 2-0 in the sixth minute when he controlled a deflected cross from the right side and scored from 12 yards out. The native of Mendham, New Jersey, later added another score for the Cardinals who remained unbeaten at home in 2014. It marked the second time this season a Louisville player has earned the weekly ACC award as sophomore Andrew Brody was tabbed on Sept. 2.
BRODY CHOSEN AS ACC PLAYER OF THE WEEK ON AUG. 29
Sophomore midfielder Andrew Brody was named as the ACC Men's Soccer Player of the Week on Sept. 2 after leading the nationally ranked Cardinals to a victory over No. 2 Maryland on Aug. 29.
Brody headed in the only goal of the match in the 54th minute to lift the Cardinals to a 1-0 victory over the Terrapins in the season-opener for both clubs. Brody received a cross from Ricardo Velazco and sent it into the upper left corner of the net for the decisive goal, the fourth career tally for the native of Orlando, Fla. Also on Sept. 2, Brody was named to the TopDrawerSoccer Team of the Week for his work in the triumph over Maryland.
LOLLA REACHES 100-WIN PLATEAU AT LOUISVILLE
The winningest coach in the history of the Louisville men's soccer program, head coach Ken Lolla earned his 100th victory at the helm of the Cardinals with the season-opening triumph against No. 2 Maryland on Aug. 29. Having led Louisville to three conference championships in the last five seasons and seven straight seasons with at least 11 wins, Lolla has also guided the Cardinals to seven consecutive NCAA Championship appearances. Louisville has made three NCAA Elite Eight appearances, including a national runner-up finish in 2010 when the Cardinals won a school record 20 games before falling to Akron in the title game of the College Cup.
LOUISVILLE TABBED TO WIN ACC ATLANTIC
Louisville was chosen as the favorite to win the Atlantic Division by ACC men's soccer head coaches entering the 2014 season. Notre Dame was tabbed as the team to beat in the Coastal Division in a vote of the 12 conference head coaches. The Irish were also named by six coaches as favorite to win the league championship, followed by Virginia with three votes, North Carolina with two and Louisville with one. The Cardinals received nine 12 first-place votes while totaling 69 total points as the Atlantic Division favorite. Wake Forest (57 points) and Clemson (50) both collected first-place votes and were followed in the preseason poll by NC State (30), Boston College (26) and Syracuse (20).
BRODY, VELAZCO NAMED TO TOPDRAWERSOCCER TOP 100
Sophomore midfielder Andrew Brody and junior forward Ricardo Velazco were each named to the TopDrawerSoccer National Top 100 released on Aug. 27. Ranked 46th overall, Brody scored three goals and added eight assists in 20 starts as a freshman in 2013. Velazco, ranked No. 54, led the Cardinals with seven goals and nine assists while starting all 20 matches in his first season in Louisville in 2013. The Louisville duo are among 17 players from the ACC on the preseason list.
BALL, KELLER AND MOORE CHOSEN AS TEAM CAPTAINS IN 2014
A trio of seniors -- goalkeeper Joachim Ball, defender Daniel Keller and midfielder Nolan Moore -- were announced as team captains for 2014 by head coach Ken Lolla during the team's annual media day activities on Aug. 13. Ball started 19 matches in 2013 finishing with eight shutouts and making 53 saves for the Cardinals, who won the American Conference regular season championship and advanced to the second round of the NCAA Championship. Ball ranked 15th nationally in goals against average at 0.688 and was a key player as Louisville set school records for consecutive minutes played without allowing a goal (560) and consecutive shutouts with five from Sept. 21 to Oct. 6.
Another key player in the Cardinals' stretch of shutouts last season, Keller started 18 matches and made 19 total appearances as a junior. He scored three goals, all game-winners, while adding one assist. In his three seasons, Keller has played in 52 matches with 40 starts while scoring five goals. Moore started seven matches and played in 18 games overall in his first season in Louisville after transferring from Cal Poly. He finished with two goals and both were game-winners for the Cardinals in 2013.
BROADCAST DETAILS ANNOUNCED FOR FOUR LOUISVILLE MATCHES
The Cardinals are scheduled to have three matches in 2014 on ESPN3 - the Aug. 29 season-opener against No. 2 Maryland at Lynn Stadium, the Oct. 3 road game at N.C. State and the Oct. 24 home contest against Clemson. All of the ESPN3 broadcasts will also be available on the WatchESPN mobile app. In addition, Louisville's first ACC match against Duke on Sept. 13 at Lynn Stadium will be carried by NSCAATV.com. Overall, fans will have access to more contests involving league teams than ever before as the ACC's media rights holders will distribute at least 122 events live this fall, surpassing the previous record of 101 set last year. In addition to the 122 events announced as part of the ACC's Olympic Sport conference package, other games will be carried by the official websites and regional cable partners of the ACC institutions and further appearances also may be added as other conferences announce their television packages.
FROM LOUISVILLE TO MAJOR LEAGUE SOCCER: CARDINALS IN THE MLS SUPERDRAFT
With coach Ken Lolla at the helm at the University of Louisville, the Cardinals have been very successful in sending players into professional soccer and specifically Major League Soccer. During the last four years, Louisville has produced five first round selections in the MLS SuperDraft, including Andrew Farrell as the No. 1 overall pick in 2013. The Cardinals have also had two or more selections in the first two rounds of the SuperDraft in each of the last four years highlighted by a school record four selections in 2012. Overall, 12 players from the University of Louisville have been chosen in the MLS SuperDraft in the last four years.
FOLLOWING THE CARDINALS ON SOCIAL MEDIA
Fans can follow Louisville men's soccer on Twitter (@UofLmenssoccer) at http://twitter.com/uoflmenssoccer and on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/UofLmenssoccer.
