By Jordan Shim–
Second-ranked Wake Forest scored three unanswered goals to hand men’s soccer a 3-1 loss, the first of the 2017 season.
Tate Schmitt gave the Cards the lead in the 16th minute before Tim Kubel was given a straight red for a challenge on Ema Twumasi. Jon Bakero, Twusmasi, and Omir Fernandez scored three unanswered to get crucial road and conference win.
“Overall I was proud of our guys,” coach Ken Lolla said. “I thought how we started the game, the first 25 to 30 minutes were good.”
From the past five meetings, the team that scored first went on to win the game. The Cardinals put themselves in a great position when Schmitt’s chip shot found the back of the net.
The Arizona native came close to doubling the advantage in the 27th minute when he dribbled past two Demon Deacons and fired a shot that beat Cases Mundet but hit the post. Mohamed Thiaw was there to follow up but hit the rebound high.
The game flipped on its head when Louisville was reduced to 10 men in the 34th minute. Kubel was given a straight red for what was seen to be retaliation on Twumasi from an incident two minutes before.
Wake Forest, with all of the momentum, pounced on the rattled Cardinals and pulled level in the 35th minute.
“I was disappointed in how he handled the red card,” Lolla said. “I thought we were immature and just didn’t keep our composure, and paid for it.”
It was all downhill from there for U of L.
Wake Forest enjoyed more possession and wore down the Louisville defense. The Demon Deacons broke through and took the lead in the 56th minute. After Twumasi delivered the winner in the ACC semifinals last season, the Ghanian received Brandon Servania’s pass across goal and walked the ball into the net.
Fernandez added a third in the 71st when he danced past multiple red shirts and slid the ball into the open net.
The Cards had 10 shots on the night, with Tate Schmitt leading the way with five and Adam Wilson with four. Ziyad Fekri added a header late that went wide.
Tim Kubel will miss his first game this season when Louisville travels to No. 7 Syracuse on Friday, Sept. 15. Kickoff is slated to begin at 7 p.m.
You can follow Jordan on Twitter @tlcjordanshim.
Photo by Laurel Slaughter / The Louisville Cardinal
