By Jordan Shim–
A dominant second half performance propelled men’s soccer to a 4-0 rout of Boston College.
The Cardinals won their third straight to improve to 6-1-1, 2-1 in the ACC.
A brace by Tate Schmitt and goals by Cherif Dieye and Tim Kubel gave Louisville three massive points in the ACC, tying them for first place in the Atlantic division with Wake Forest.
“We learned a lot from this game,” Schmitt said. “There were some things at the beginning that was lacking. At halftime, Ken talked to us, and we fixed them. We settled down and played our game, not down to the level of the team we’re playing.”
Boston College rarely troubled Louisville goalkeeper Jake Gelnovatch.
Louisville moved the ball around the field more and to start the second half, and it paid dividends.
In the 47th minute, Adam Wilson found Schmitt in the box. After chesting the ball, the Arizona native turned and fired to the right post for his second goal of the season. Wilson’s assist marked the fifth consecutive match he created a Louisville goal.
“Once we started swinging the ball from side to side, we opened them up and got a quick goal,” Louisville head coach Ken Lolla said. “As the half went on, the more we did it, the more space we had to play. So we were lacking some of that discipline in the first half, and the quality in the second half was what we had hoped to see in the beginning, and we scored really good goals out of it.”
Schmitt went from scorer to helper, setting up Dieye to make it 2-0 in the 67th minute. After a ball was deflected on a Boston College clear, Schmitt gathered in the ball and went past two defenders and laid off to Dieye, who fired low to the left post.
It was all in favor for Louisville as Kubel made it 3-0 just two minutes later. The German fired a shot from 12 yards that crept just inside the right post for his fourth goal of the season.
The Cardinals poured it on with another in the 75th minute. Wilson sent in a cross that Boston College goalkeeper Antonio Chavez Borrelli came out to catch. He dropped the ball, and Schmitt pounced to tap the ball into the back of the net.
Despite the four goals scored, the shutout was the focus of Lolla. “When we begin the season, one of the things we talk about is the goals against average,” Lolla said. “And to this point, it’s been too high. We conceded way too many goals. So to get two shutouts back-to-back is massive.”
The Cardinals conclude their homestand on Tuesday, Sept. 26, hosting South Florida. Kickoff is scheduled for 7 p.m.as
You can follow Jordan on Twitter @tlcjordanshim.
Photo by Laurel Slaughter / The Louisville Cardinal
