By Chris O’Grady
The Louisville men’s soccer team survived a physical and wild match in the second round of the NCAA tournament, defeating Ohio State University 2-1.
“You realize as you go through the NCAA tournament that not only do you have to grind it out on the physical part of the game with teams like Ohio State, you also have to maintain touch and play enough soccer to win the game,” said head coach Ken Lolla.
The Cards jumped to an early lead when senior midfielder Charlie Campbell scored on a header in the 24thminute past Buckeye goalkeeper Matt Lampson, who had six saves on the night. The Cards commanded control and the ball for the first half, taking a 1-0 lead into halftime.
But in the 52ndminute Ohio State’s Austin McAnena scored off a strong shot from the right side to tie the game at 1-1. It was one of only two shots on Cardinals goalkeeper Andre Boudreaux all night.
“After that goal we kept our composure pretty well,” said Cards forward Nick DeLeon, who had four shots on the game. “We knew if we kept playing like we were that we’d get another goal.”
The Cards did get another goal just ten minutes later when defender Austin Berry headed a pass from DeLeon past Lampson for the go-ahead goal. It was Berry’s fourth goal of the season.
“He’s dominating on balls in the air,” said Lolla. “Even if he doesn’t get to the ball he draws people to him. He’s one of the best if not the best.”
Ohio State head coach Jeff Bleum agreed, almost to the word.
“He’s absolutely dominating on headers,” said Bleum. “He’s a very special player and really hard to stop.”
The Buckeyes had one final chance on a corner kick, bringing even the goalkeeper into the box, but the Louisville defense was able to clear the ball as time expired.
The physical play of the game wasn’t evident in the box score – the teams only combined for 24 fouls and only one yellow card – but both sides played aggressively an at times got chippy. Lolla said that the referee’s style exacerbated the physicality of the game.
“The style of the official bent into it,” said Lolla. “I’m not saying he was good or bad, but it became more physical because of how he called the game. It’s the human part of the game – there’s how we play, there’s how Ohio State plays, and then there’s how he calls it. That was his interpretation and it’s something we can’t do anything about.”
The one yellow card was given to Louisville All-American Colin Rolfe in the 87thminute, when the game was all but decided.
The announced ticketed crowd for the Sunday night match was 4,251, but many Cards fans chose to evade paying to watch, preferring to set up picnic blankets on the berm outside Cardinal Park. Actual attendance was closer to 5,500. Either way both teams said the atmosphere was electric.
“I thought it was great you gotta love the big crowd,” said Ohio State forward Konrad Warzycha. “We had a big crowd for our home game against Akron, but those fans were our fans, but it was still great to have that many people come watch you play. As a player you can’t ask for more.”
“The fans were great out there,” added Buckeye defender Matt Gold. “We have played in front of a lot of big crowds, but the fans at Louisville were very respectful, they didn’t talk bad about our mothers or anything, they just supported their team. I think that’s a big credit to Louisville.”
Berry cited Lolla’s new mantra for the increasing support, thanking the fans for helping the will to win.
“We’ve been saying it all along, they gave us the extra will to win,” said Berry. “We can’t thank the fans enough for coming out.”
The Cards will face the winner of Dartmouth University and the University of California-Los Angeles next Saturday at Cardinal Park. Lolla encouraged fans to keep the wave of positive energy going in the last game the team will play at Cardinal Park. The semifinals and finals are held in Santa Barbara, California.
“I told the guys this is why you work so hard to secure home field advantage,” said Lolla. “This is what is so great about Louisville the fans give us something special. You can feel it in the air.”
