By Chris O’Grady
They may not be perfect, but the U of L men’s soccer team is yet to be bested this season, moving to 15-0-2 in 2010 after beating the University of West Virginia 2-0 in the quarterfinals of the Big East tournament.
“Tonight was important in a lot of ways,” said head coach Ken Lolla. “We shutout a very good team, and the best part was that this wasn’t our best effort. I felt like we lost a little rhythm in our week off, but gained some energy.”
The Cards played a mundane first half with the Mountaineers, who beat South Florida in a play-in game to face U of L, but went more on the attack in the second half. West Virginia was never able to mount a serious threat to the U of L defense led by redshirt junior goalkeeper Andre Boudreaux, who registered his school record 25thshutout of his career. The Mountaineers fell to 10-7-2.
“It was good to get a win and this time of year it’s not so much how good it looked but that you get the win,” said redshirt junior defender Austin Berry. “We never really saw too much action defensively and we were able to put two goals away in the second half. We want to play our best every day. It doesn’t help us to hold back.”
Redshirt senior midfielder Charlie Campbell set the crowd alive in the 50thminute after pushing a rebound past Mountaineer goalkeeper Zach Johnson, but was called off-sides much to the disappointment of an announced crowd of 2,024. Campbell, who had been battling mono and missed the last two games, got redemption less than ten minutes later scoring off a header from Kenney Walker to make it 1-0. It was Campbell’s third goal of the season; the previous two came against Cincinnati.
In the 76thminute freshman forward Aaron Horton hit the back of the net off a pass from sophomore forward Buck Tufty, to put the Cards up 2-0 and eliminate hopes of a West Virginia comeback. It was Horton’s first goal as a Cardinal.
The game was physical as players battled both the cold – it was announced 48 degrees – and each other. The teams combined for 39 fouls. Referees gave out four yellow cards, including one to Mountaineers coach Marion LeBlanc, who was nearly ejected. Another given to West Virginia forward Matt Drake looked as though it may lead to a fight before referees restrained Louisville forward Paulo DelPiccolo. DelPiccolo had received a yellow card of his own earlier in the game.
The Cards move on in Big East play to face Notre Dame, who they beat 2-0 at Cardinal Park on Oct 16. The semifinals and finals will be held at Red Bulls Stadium in New Jersey next weekend. Providence and either UConn or Cincinnati will make up the other semifinal.
“Notre Dame is solid and they eliminated us last year so we’ll have a little edge against them,” said Berry. “But their style of play kind of plays into our hands as you saw in our last game with them. But we’ve been improving since day one. We have a lot of confidence.”
Coach Lolla’s impression of his team at this point was similar.
“I feel great about the guys right now,” said Lolla. “They are focused and determined. But there’s still work to do and room to get better.”
Regardless of their performance in the rest of the Big East tournament the Cards will be a top seed in the NCAA tournament, beginning in two weeks, meaning they will likely host in the first round. Both Lolla and Berry hope the team will return to another solid crowd.
“There’s no question that energy from fans has a direct effect on the players,” said Lolla. “I think back to the best crowds we’ve ever had and you can see how it changes the game. Crowds can impose the will of the people on a game.”
“(Having a good crowd) is big time,” said Berry. “We’ve had so much support here. Having a good loud crowd is such a huge advantage for us.”
