Louisville, Ky. - The No. 2 Louisville men's soccer team defeated the Villanova Wildcats 3-1 on Saturday night in Cardinal Park to finish the regular season undefeated. The Cardinals improve to 14-0-2 overall and 9-0-0 in BIG EAST play. They become the only team in Louisville history to finish regular season undefeated and the only team to go undefeated in BIG EAST play.
The game started out pretty much deadlocked in possession. The Wildcats had the first opportunity of the game when Dylan Renna had a shot from the deep left side go off the post. Villanova was able to get on the board early in the 20th minute when Renna had consecutive shots with Andre Boudreaux saving one of them, but on the rebound of the second Joseph Schmid slipped the ball past the Cardinal defenders to score the go-ahead goal.
The Cardinals had a chance to answer off a corner kick from Paolo DelPiccolo, but the header from Nick DeLeon went wide left. Louisville was able to score the equalizer in the 29th minute when DelPiccolo took a free kick from 20 yards out, surprising the Villanova keeper Chris Bresnahan to tie the score at 1-1.
Louisville kept the offensive pressure on as they had several opportunities, but none of the shots could find their way to the back of the net. All-American Colin Rolfe had a shot go wide and DelPiccolo's shot was high.
The Cardinals finished the half tied in shots with the Wildcats 7-7 and had a 4-0 corner kick advantage. Boudreaux finished with one save.
Louisville came out controlling the ball for most of the early part of the second half, but it was Villanova who got the first shot. Kevin Garcia received a pass at the top of the box taking a slow roller shot that was easily saved by Boudreaux. The Cardinals answered back as DeLeon received a pass into the box and was able to lift the ball over the diving keeper, but his shot went wide right on the empty goal.
The Cardinals had a scare when Renna came streaking down the right side of the field, but his shot went wide left of the goal. Louisville answered back with an attempt off a corner kick from DelPiccolo, where DeLeon headed the ball towards the goal, but a team save kept the Cardinals from scoring.
Louisville scored the go-ahead goal in the 78th minute when Rolfe received a long pass from Nick Corliss and Kenney Walker, breaking away from the defenders. As he crossed into the box, he launched a low ball, sneaking it past Bresnahan to give Louisville the 2-1 lead. Rolfe almost scored again a minute later, but his shot went wide right.
Rolfe did not miss on his next attempt when he received a pass from Buck Tufty in the middle of the field. As he dribbled into the box, he blasted the ball past the keeper for his second goal of the game. The offense kept pressuring as Rolfe played a pass to Ryan Smith, whose shot was saved by Bresnahan.
The Cardinals finished the game with a 20-11 shot advantage, along with a 7-0 corner kick advantage. Boudreaux finished with three saves, while Bresnahan finished with four. Rolfe's four point performance was his sixth career game of three or more points. The 14 wins for the Cardinals marks a new single-season school record.
The Cardinals will be hosting quarterfinal action in the BIG EAST Tournament. The date and opponent for Louisville will be announced at a later date.
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#2 No. 2 UofL Men's Soccer Defeats Villanova 3-1 to Finish Regular Season Unbeaten
. Last year we had a great season too, but they sent us up to traditional powerhouse Indiana for a first-round game even thought we had beaten IU during the season and were ranked higher then them.