By Matt Gatewood
2,130 fans came out to Cardinal Park on Thursday to watch the Louisville Cardinals battle it out with the Indiana Hoosiers. The Cards fought hard against their No. 9 ranked opponents but fell 4-0. The Hoosiers now hold a career record of 9-0 against Louisville.
The Cards fought hard but were outmatched. “I thought for about the first 25 minutes we played very well,” said Head Coach Tony Colavecchia, “but then we had a mental breakdown, and when you make a mistake against them, they will punish you.”
Pat Noonan was the first on the board for the Hoosiers with an unassisted goal at 23:45. The Cards tried to rally, but Pat Noonan put in his second goal shortly after the first with an assist by Mike Ambersley.
Despite the strong attacks of the Hoosiers, senior goalkeeper Jeremy Morales stayed focused with two difficult saves on shots from the Cards’ Courtenay Commander and James Ciccarello.
The Cardinals started the second half down 2-0, but they were not able to make a comeback. Tyler Hawley of the Hoosiers scored the third goal of the game with another assist by Mike Ambersley. Louisville could not get much offense going. They only had a total of four shots in the game.
The Hooiser’s fourth goal being scored at 67:41 by Mike Ambersley.
“Their defense was very well organized, and we didn’t have many chances against them,” Colavecchia said. “We were just outclassed by them.”
Even though the Cards now stand at 1-3, they hope to improve soon.
“We need to be quicker, sharper,” Colavecchia said. “We need to hit the back of the net because, obviously, goal scoring has been a struggle for us. But, with the Conference USA schedule coming up, I think we’ll be okay because we played a very good team tonight.”
