By Jordan Shim–
In a crazy finish at Lynn Stadium, the men’s soccer team earned their first victory of the season, defeating Quinnipiac 2-1 on Monday night. Louisville’s record improved to 1-0-1, while Quinnipiac is winless, falling to 0-2-0.
Mohamed Thiaw scored first after redirecting a Daniel Johnson shot in the 49th minute. Quinnipiac would quickly equalize in the 51st minute after a miscommunication between defenders allowed Eamon Whelan shoot into the open net.
Danny Reynolds scored the winner for the Cards in the fourth minute of overtime. His cross-turned-shot from a free kick near midfield sailed over Quinnipiac goalkeeper Brian Westerman for the goal.
The game ended in controversy. Many Quinnipiac players, including Westerman, confronted official Cory Richardson claiming a missed goalkeeper interference call. The official upheld the call, and Louisville earned the victory.
Romilio Hernandez led the Cards with a game-high four shots, followed by Danny Reynolds with three.
Despite the victory, the Cards will want to improve on their chances. They outshot Quinnipiac 21-5, with eight on goal, and had the corner advantage 12-2, but only scored two goals. Hernandez believes the team should be doing better.
“I think we need to take care of it earlier, not let teams like that hang around for that long. If we put away our chances early, it would have made the game easy for us,” Hernandez said.
Reynolds was critical of the team’s performance but believes the effort is always there for the team get chances.
“We were poor. We kept fighting, but chances weren’t coming our way,” Reynolds said. “I’m happy that we won, but this should have been a solid result, not a 2-1.”
Reynolds also mentioned that the players were not physically good enough in the game, therefore lacking sharpness in their play. Crosses were not delivered well enough for the strikers to take advantage of. Coach Ken Lolla attributes many of their shortcomings to the quick turnaround between games.
“When you’re trying to fit in 17 games into a short period of time, it’s not fair for our student-athletes,” Lolla said. “I think the NCAA needs to look at it and extend our season. Some of these guys run nine to ten miles throughout the course of the 90 minutes, with 20 percent of that being high speed running. To ask these guys to come out and do it again three days later after an overtime game, it’s physically demanding and probably not healthy.”
The Cards will need to recover quickly because they are back in action Friday, at UCONN for a 7 p.m. kickoff. This match is the first of a three-match road trip. Their next home game will be on Sept. 13 when they face Xavier.
Photo by Wade Morgen / The Louisville Cardinal
