Cardinals Welcome Virginia Tech for ACC Home-Opener

LOUISVILLE, Ky. - The No. 10 Louisville men's soccer team opens its Atlantic Coast Conference home slate against Virginia Tech on Friday at 7 p.m., ET at Dr. Mark and Cindy Lynn Stadium. Friday's match will be televised on ESPN3 with Sean Moth and Tim Nowak calling the action, while live stats will be available at GoCards.com.

ABOUT THE CARDINALS
Louisville, ranked 10th in this week's TopDrawerSoccer.com Top 25, brings a 3-2-1 overall record into Friday's match after dropping a 3-2 overtime decision at home to Saint Louis on Tuesday night. The Cardinals earned a 1-1 draw at Syracuse last week in their only ACC match. Leading the way for head coach Ken Lolla's club through the first six matches is freshman Tate Schmitt, who has a team-high three goals and two assists, while juniors Andrew Brody and Daniel Johnson have two goals each. The Cardinals have also received goals from Tim Kubel, Danny Reynolds and Ben Strong.

ABOUT THE HOKIES
Virginia Tech enters the weekend at 3-2-0 after a 2-1 non-conference win over VMI on Tuesday. The Hokies are 0-1-0 in the ACC after falling 2-0 to No.3 North Carolina last Friday. Four different players have scored two goals this season for Virginia Tech. Last season, the Hokies were 7-8-2 overall and finished fifth in the ACC Coastal Division with a 2-5-1 league mark.

SERIES SNAPSHOT
Louisville has won each of the last two meetings between the two programs, but Friday's meeting will be the first since 1994. Overall, the Hokies hold an 8-3-2 advantage in the series, which started in 1980 and has remained dormant since 1994. Each of the previous 13 meetings between Louisville and Virginia Tech were Metro Conference matches. The Cardinals are 1-3-1 at home against the Hokies.

LOUISVILLE NOTES AND TRENDS...
• The Cardinals are 3-2-0 at home this season and 10-5-3 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. 3/3 UNC, at No. 4/6 Virginia, at No. 7/14 Clemson, No. 7/8 Wake Forest and at No. 22/22 Indiana.
• Four freshman -- Ricardo Oliveros, Danny Reynolds, Tate Schmitt and Johnathon Wright -- have started matches this season for Louisville. Reynolds and Wright have started all six matches on the backline.
• Junior Andrew Brody and sophomore Tim Kubel lead the Cardinals with eight career goals each. Both players tallied goals in Tuesday's home loss to Saint Louis.
• Brody also leads the Cardinals with 48 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.

LOUISVILLE SOCCER TICKET INFORMATION
Season tickets start as low as $45 and can be purchased by calling the Louisville Cardinals Ticket Office at (502) 852-0120 or (502) 852-5151. Season tickets for 2015 include every regular season home match for both the men's and women's soccer programs.

Single match tickets are also on sale through the Louisville Cardinals Ticket Office. Reserved chairback tickets are set at $12 for adults and $6 for youth. Fans can purchase online through www.ticketmaster.com, by phone at (502) 852-5151 or in-person at the Louisville Cardinals Ticket Office located at Gate 2 at Papa John's Cardinal Stadium. Tickets can also be purchased on match days at Lynn Stadium starting one hour prior to kickoff.

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