Cardinals Host No. 1 Notre Dame on Friday Night

LOUISVILLE, Ky. - For the third straight season, the Louisville men's soccer team will challenge a top-ranked foe as No. 1 Notre Dame visits Dr. Mark and Cindy Lynn Stadium for an ACC showdown on Friday at 7 p.m., ET. The match will be televised on ACC Network Extra, available online through WatchESPN, while live scoring is provided at GoCards.com.

ABOUT THE CARDINALS
Louisville, which opened its 2016 ACC slate with a 2-0 victory at Pittsburgh last Friday, won its second straight match with Tuesday's 2-0 win over Xavier. The Cardinals, who returned eight players with 13 or more starts from last year's team, have been paced by junior Mohamed Thiaw's three goals this season, while Tate Schmitt has scored twice in 2016. Defensively, graduate student and Dartmouth transfer Stefan Cleveland has allowed only two goals while registering four shutouts.

ABOUT THE FIGHTING IRISH
Notre Dame enters Friday's match at 6-0-0 on the season after a 1-0 overtime win against UConn on Tuesday. Last season, the Fighting Irish was 11-5-6 overall and 4-2-2 in the ACC. Notre Dame advanced to the third round of the NCAA Championship falling 2-1 to Maryland.

SERIES SNAPSHOT
Friday marks the 17th meeting all-time between the Cardinals and Irish with Notre Dame holding an 11-4-1 edge. Louisville is 3-3-0 at home against Notre Dame having won three straight, including a 2-1 victory in the last visit by the Irish in 2012. All four wins for the Cardinals against Notre Dame have come under the guidance of Ken Lolla.

LOUISVILLE AGAINST TOP-RANKED TEAMS
Friday's match will mark the third straight season and the sixth time under Ken Lolla the Cardinals have faced a No. 1 ranked team. Louisville is 1-4 in the previous five matches having won against No. 1 Syracuse (2-1) in 2014 while dropping matches to No. 1 Wake Forest (1-2, OT) in 2015, No. 1 UConn (0-1, 2OT) in 2011, No. 1 Wake Forest (0-1) in 2007 and No. 1 Maryland (1-2) in 2006.

NINE RANKED FOES ON CARDINALS SCHEDULE
Louisville is 1-1-0 against ranked foes this season having won at No. 14 UConn and lost at No. 16 Kentucky. The Cardinals have seven teams remaining on their schedule ranked in last week's NSCAA poll, including four of the top six teams. Louisville's remaining slate features No. 1 Notre Dame, No. 3 Indiana, No. 5 Syracuse, No. 6 Clemson, No. 12 Wake Forest, No. 15 Boston College and No. 17 Virginia. Additionally, Butler has moved to No. 10 since drawing with the Cardinals on Aug. 26.

LOUISVILLE NOTES AND TRENDS...
• Louisville has finished with more shots than its opponent in all six matches this season for an average of 15.0 to 4.3 shots per game.
• Tim Kubel leads the Cardinals with 12 career goals, while Tate Schmitt (nine goals) and Daniel Johnson (five goals) are next on the team.
• The Cardinals were 6-3-2 at home last season and are 15-6-6 all-time at Lynn Stadium, now in its third season as the home pitch for Louisville.
• UofL is 5-3-1 all-time at Lynn Stadium against nationally ranked foes. That record includes wins over No. 2 Maryland and No. 2 Syracuse in 2014.
• Louisville is 2-1-0 on the road in 2016 after finishing just 1-6-1 in road matches last season.

ACC MEN'S SOCCER BY THE NUMBERS...
1 - The ACC finished as the No. 1 ranked conference in the NCAA RPI last year.
4 - Four ACC teams advanced to the NCAA Elite 8, tied for the most in league history.
5 - Five of the top seven seeds in the NCAA Championship went to ACC teams.
7 - Seven of the top 25 teams in total attendance in the country last year were ACC programs, twice as many as any other league.
7 - The ACC placed seven teams in the 2015 NCAA field, tying for the second most in league history and marking third-straight year that the league has had the most teams from any conference.
8 - Eight ACC players were drafted in the Super Draft First Round, the most in league history and twice as many as from any other league.
8 - The ACC has had multiple teams in the College Cup in 8 of the last 12 years.
13 - Over the last 21 years, an ACC team has been the NCAA Tournament's No. 1 overall seed 13 times, including Wake Forest in 2015.
15 - At least one ACC squad has reached the College Cup in 15 straight years.
17 - An ACC team has won the national title 17 times, including in seven of the last 11 years.

2016 LOUISVILLE SOCCER SEASON TICKET AND FAN EXPERIENCE INFORMATION
Season tickets and Fan Experience packages for Louisville's third season at Dr. Mark and Cindy Lynn Stadium are now available. To purchase your tickets for the 2016 soccer season, please call the Louisville Cardinals Ticket Office at (502) GoCARDS or visit gocards.com/soccer-fep for more information. Ticket prices for the 2016 season will remain the same as the inaugural season and start as low as $2 per person per game. Season tickets for 2016 include every regular season home match for both the men's and women's soccer programs.

FOLLOWING LOUISVILLE MEN'S SOCCER 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

Stefan Cleveland

Daniel Johnson

Tim Kubel

Tate Schmitt

Mohamed Thiaw

University of Louisville Athletics