Road Match at Kentucky Next for No. 9 Louisville
September 22, 2014 | Men's Soccer
Junior Ricardo Velazco scored his first goal of 2014 in Friday's win at Boston College.
Match Day: #9 Louisville at Kentucky
Date: Tuesday, September 23, 2014
Time: 7:00 p.m. ET
Location: Lexington, Ky.
Venue: Bell Soccer Complex
TV/Internet Coverage: SEC Network+
Live Scoring: Gametracker at GoCards.com
Twitter Updates: @UofLMensSoccer
Series Info: Louisville trails 11-13-4 all-time
Last Meeting: Kentucky 1, #18 Louisville 0 (9/14/12) - No. 18 Louisville fell 1-0 to Kentucky in front of 5,583 fans in Cardinal Park. The crowd was the second largest crowd to witness a match in that facility.
• 2014 Louisville Men's Soccer Match Notes (at Kentucky) 
• CardsTV Video: Preview Interview with Head Coach Ken Lolla
LOUISVILLE, Ky. - The No. 9 Louisville men's soccer team will play its seconds straight road match with a visit to rival Kentucky on Tuesday at 7 p.m., ET. Live video of the match will be available online through SEC Network+ on WatchESPN, while live scoring will be provided through the Gametracker link on the men's soccer schedule page at GoCards.com.
ABOUT LOUISVILLE
The Cardinals play on the road for the third time in the last four matches as they make the trip to Kentucky. Louisville won its first road match of 2014 on Friday with the dramatic 3-2 triumph at Boston College. Overall, the Cardinals are 1-1-0 away from home this season and 6-3-1 in road matches the last two seasons.
ABOUT KENTUCKY
The Wildcats enter Tuesday's match riding a four-match unbeaten streak. Since falling to Indiana on Sept. 5, Kentucky has wins over No. 1 Notre Dame, ETSU and Xavier and a tie against No. 19 Furman. Last season, the Wildcats were 7-10-3 overall and finished seventh in Conference USA with a 3-4-2 league mark before ending their season with a semifinal loss in the C-USA Championship.
SERIES SNAPSHOT
Tuesday's match will be the 29th all-time on the soccer pitch between the Cardinals and Wildcats with UK holding a 13-11-4 advantage overall. Louisville has won each of its last two matches at Kentucky and has a 5-3-2 record overall in Lexington against the Wildcats.
OFFENSE FINDS STRIDE IN LAST TWO OUTINGS
After scoring just one goal in the first three matches of the season, the goals have come in bunches in the last two outings for Louisville after connecting for eight goals in ACC wins over Duke and Boston College. Junior Ben Strong leads the way for the Cardinals with three goals in the last two matches.
CARDINALS ATOP ACC ATLANTIC DIVISION
After two weeks of conference matches, Louisville is not only atop the ACC Atlantic Division with six points but the Cardinals are also the league's only team without a loss or a tie at 2-0-0. Clemson (1-1-0), Syracuse (1-1-0) and Wake Forest (1-1-0) are next in the Atlantic with three points each, while NC State (0-1-1) has one point and BC (0-2-0) has no points. Notre Dame (1-0-1) and Virginia (1-0-1) are atop the Coastal with four points each followed by North Carolina (1-1-0), Virginia Tech (1-1-0), Duke (1-1-0) and Pittsburgh (0-1-1).
FANS PACK LYNN STADIUM EARLY IN 2014
After entering the season with great excitement in anticipation of the move to the ACC and the opening of the nation's most spectacular collegiate soccer facility, Louisville men's soccer fans have responded by packing Dr. Mark and Cindy Lynn Stadium for the Cardinals in 2014. With a listed capacity of 5,300, it's been standing room only at Lynn Stadium for two of the first three matches as 7,047 fans watched Louisville's 1-0 opening night win over Maryland on Aug. 29 and 5,749 packed the facility for the Cornell match on Sept. 5. Overall, Louisville has averaged 5,585 fans in its first three matches of 2014.
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.
CARDINALS HOLD DOWN TOP 10 RANKINGS
After opening the season with the 1-0 win over then-No. 2 Maryland, Louisville made a big move in the rankings replacing the Terrapins as the No. 2 ranked team in the NSCAA Top 25 on Sept. 2. Since then, the Cardinals have dropped to No. 9 in both the NSCAA poll and the Soccer America Top 25.
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.
Louisville is among five ACC schools in the NSCAA poll and five conference teams in the Soccer America poll. ACC clubs hold down four of the top nine positions in each of the two national polls.
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.
