By Ben Wilson
Just like last year, the University of Louisville men’s s soccer lost in the first round of the NCAA tournament, 2-0.
On Thursday, Nov. 19, U of L played their NCAA tournament opener against their rival school, Indiana University, in Armstrong Stadium in Bloomington, In. Coming into the NCAA tournament, U of L was having their best season to date, 13-2-4 and ranked 6/14. U of L had just come off an emotional overtime loss to Notre Dame in the Big East tournament.
But statistics were meaningless; each wanted to advance to the second round. U of L took a total 13 shots, IU answered back with 11. Although U of L dominated in corner kicks with 11, U of L was unable to convert their corners into a score. U of L’s senior goalie André Boudreaux and IU’s freshman goalie Luis Soffner each had two saves. But it was IU’s senior, Darren Yeagle, who drew Cardinal blood in the game’s second half.
Scoring in his first multi-goal game, Yeagle struck in the 57th minute by heading a team assist from Lee Hagedorn, senior midfielder, who received the assist’s first pass from Ofori Sarkodie, senior fullback. This gave IU a 0-1 lead.
Adding to his season statistics, Yeagle scored again when Eric Alexander, assisted a ball to Yeagle, which he answered with a lower left shot moving past Boudreaux’s body. Yeagle’s domination in the box padded IU’s lead to 0-2
U of L could not answer the strength of IU’s home field advantage. U of L’s second half produced nine shots, nine corner kicks, no IU on goal save attempts. Freshman infielder Paolo DelPiccolo, and senior defender and Phil Edginton received yellow cards for the Cardinals.
U of L’s loss eliminates one of the countries top teams from the NCAA tournament and sends them back to Louisville, ending their season, with a season record of 13-2-4, the best in school history.
