Louisville Hosts Saint Louis in NCAA Rematch

LOUISVILLE, Ky. - The 10th-ranked Louisville men's soccer team begins another four-match homestand with a visit from No. 16 Saint Louis on Tuesday night in a rematch of last year's NCAA Championship contest. Tuesday's match will be streamed online through CardsTV, while live stats will be available at GoCards.com.

ABOUT THE CARDINALS
Louisville, ranked 16th in this week's TopDrawerSoccer.com Top 25, returns home at 3-1-1 overall and 0-0-1 in the ACC following a 1-1 draw at Syracuse last Friday in its conference opener. Leading the way for head coach Ken Lolla's club through the first five matches is freshman attacker Tate Schmitt, who has a team-high three goals and two assists, while junior Daniel Johnson has two goals overall, both of which were scored last week for the Maryland transfer. The Cardinals have also gotten goals this season from Andrew Brody, Danny Reynolds and Ben Strong.

ABOUT THE BILLIKENS
Saint Louis, ranked 16th in last week's coaches poll, is 2-1-0 after dropping its first game of the season on Friday at No. 22 Akron. Vince Cicciarelli leads SLU with three of the team's six goals, while Filip Pavisic has two. Last season, the Billikens were 14-5-2 and finished second in the Atlantic 10 with a 5-1-2 mark. Saint Louis advanced to the second round of the NCAA Championship before being eliminated by the Cardinals at Lynn Stadium.

SERIES SNAPSHOT
Louisville has won two of the last three in the series with Saint Louis with both of those victories coming at home. Last season, the teams split of pair of games with the Cardinals falling 1-0 on the road on Sept. 9 before earning the 2-1 win at home in the NCAA second round match on Nov. 23. Overall, the Billikens hold a 13-3 advantage in the series, which dates back to 1995.

LOUISVILLE NOTES AND TRENDS...
• The Cardinals are 3-1-0 at home this season and 10-4-3 overall at Lynn Stadium since its opening prior to the 2014 season.
• Having already split a pair of matchups against ranked foes (win over No. 15 Kentucky, loss to No. 8 Stanford), the Cardinals are also slated to play at No. 3 UNC, at No. 5 Virginia, at No. 9 Clemson, at No. 10 Indiana, No. 14 Wake Forest and No. 16 Saint Louis.
• Four freshman -- Ricardo Oliveros, Danny Reynolds, Tate Schmitt and Johnathon Wright -- have started matches this season for Louisville. Reynolds and Wright have started all five matches on the backline.
• Junior Andrew Brody and sophomore Tim Kubel lead the Cardinals with seven career goals each. Brody scored his seventh in the season-opening win over William & Mary.
• Brody also leads the Cardinals with 47 career starts -- highlighted by 22 last season and 20 as a freshman in 2013.
• Louisville team captains for 2015 are senior Ben Strong, junior Romilio Hernandez and Kubel.

CARDINALS CHOSEN AS ACC ATLANTIC DIVISION FAVORITES
The Louisville men's soccer team was tabbed as the favorite to win the 2015 ACC Atlantic Division title by the league's 12 head coaches prior to the season.

The Cardinals, who officially reported to campus on Tuesday and began preseason training on Wednesday for the 2015 season, received six of a possible 12 first-place votes and totaled 66 points overall. Louisville was also among four teams receiving two votes each as the second choice in the overall championship race, while reigning national champion Virginia was tabbed as the favorite with four votes.

Behind the Cardinals in the Atlantic Division preseason poll was Clemson, the defending ACC Champion, which earned five first-place votes and had 62 points overall. Wake Forest (46) also picked up a first place vote and was followed by Syracuse (40), NC State (20), and Boston College (18).

Virginia, with 64 points, was named by seven coaches as the favorite in the Coastal Division, edging out North Carolina, which had four first place votes and 59 points. Notre Dame, the 2013 national champion, was picked third with 54 points and one first place vote. Duke (35), Virginia Tech (26), and Pitt (14) rounded out the division.

The ACC placed seven teams in the NCAA Championship field in 2014, marking the second-straight year that the league has had the most teams from any conference. Virginia's national title was the seventh in the last 10 years by an ACC squad and 17th in league history.

KUBEL NAMED TO TOPDRAWERSOCCER'S BEST XI FIRST TEAM
Prior to the season, Louisville sophomore Tim Kubel was named to TopDrawerSoccer's Best XI First Team. A native of Stuttgart, Germany, Kubel is one of three team captains for the Cardinals in 2015 after leading the club with seven goals and five assists last season. He was selected as the 2014 Atlantic Coast Conference Freshman of the Year and was an All-ACC First Team honoree. Kubel started all 22 matches during his first collegiate season while scoring three game-winning goals.

BRODY INVITED TO US U-23 COLLEGE ID TRAINING CAMP
Louisville junior midfielder Andrew Brody was among 28 players invited to the U.S. Under-23 Men's National Team College Identification training camp in August. The camp, scheduled for Aug. 5-8 at the U.S. National Training Center in Carson, California, allowed the U.S. coaching staff to scout a new group of collegiate players as the team continues preparations ahead of October qualifying for the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro.

A native of Orlando, Florida, Brody scored three goals and added four assists while starting all 22 matches for the Cardinals in 2014. Through his first two collegiate seasons, Brody has six goals with 12 assists in42 starts. Following the 2013 seasons, he was a TopDrawerSoccer.com Freshman XI First Team selection and was named to the Soccer America All-Freshman Second Team.

FIVE LOUISVILLE MATCHES SLATED FOR ESPN3
The Louisville men's soccer team will have five regular season matches televised on ESPN3 as part of the 2015 Atlantic Coast Conference Olympic Sports fall broadcast schedule. The television schedule for the Cardinals includes four home matches at Dr. Mark and Cindy Lynn Stadium -- Kentucky on Sept. 8, Virginia Tech on Sept. 18, NC State on Sept. 25 and Wake Forest on Oct. 30. Louisville road match at Clemson on Oct. 9 is also included on the fall television slate.

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 169 events live this fall, surpassing the previous record of 122 set last year. The 2015 fall schedule includes 38 men's soccer matches involving ACC teams.

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.

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Players Mentioned

Andrew Brody

Romilio Hernandez

Daniel Johnson

Tim Kubel

Ricardo Oliveros

Danny Reynolds

Tate Schmitt

Ben Strong

Johnathon Wright

University of Louisville Athletics