SYRACUSE, N.Y. - The Orange gave second-ranked Louisville all it could handle, but eventually succumbed to the Cardinals, 2-1, on Wednesday, Oct. 27 at the SU Soccer Stadium. Sophomore Jakob Karlgren (Gothenburg, Sweden) scored his first goal of season for the Orange. However, the Cardinals struck in the opening 10 minutes of both halves and held off a determined Orange squad late in the game to emerge victorious.
Syracuse is now 2-9-5 overall this season and 0-5-3 in the BIG EAST. The Cardinals remained undefeated improving to 13-0-2 overall and 8-0-0 in the league.
The Cardinals were the aggressor early and gained a 1-0 advantage in the seventh minute. Louisville possessed the ball near the top of the 18-yard box when J.T. Murray found Dylan Mares in behind the SU defense for the game's first goal.
Down by one, Syracuse dug in and began to create some chances of its own. The team's tenacity paid off in the 36th minute when junior Nick Roydhouse (Palmerston, New Zealand) volleyed a ball back over his head while moving away from the Louisville goal. Karlgren positioned himself in the goal area and headed the serve into the left corner of the net to equalize the match.
Syracuse nearly took the lead less than three minutes into the second half when a right-footed shot by sophomore Mark Brode (Setauket, N.Y.) struck the Louisville goal. The Orange bench erupted, but the referee ruled that the shot hit the outside of the net. Less than a minute later, Louisville's Kenney Walker won the ball in his own half. He played a long pass to a streaking Colin Rolfe in behind the Syracuse defense and Rolfe beat SU redshirt senior goalie Jeremy Vuolo (Downingtown, Pa.) one-on-one to give Louisville a 2-1 advantage at the 48:21 mark.
The sequence was a huge momentum shift for Louisville and the Cardinals defended successfully for the remainder of the match to win their ninth in a row.
Vuolo recorded seven saves in the game, including three in the second half to keep the Orange within striking distance.
Louisville keeper Andre Boudreaux made two saves to earn the victory. Boudreaux's only save of the second half was a dandy. He denied the Orange the potential equalizer in the 61st minute with a diving stop on a quality strike by junior Chris Saul (Pasadena, Md.). In addition, he helped Louisville defend four second-half Orange corner kicks and several balls played into the box and across the goal mouth as Syracuse applied consistent offensive pressure for most of the second half.
Despite the loss, Syracuse remains alive for a berth in the BIG EAST Championship. The Orange will visit Cincinnati for its regular-season finale on Saturday, Oct. 30. Kickoff is 7 p.m. at Gettler Stadium.
Match Notes: The Cardinals were the highest-ranked team the Orange faced since Oct. 14, 2000 when Syracuse defeated then-No. 1 Connecticut, 1-0 … Karlgren's goal was the second of his career … He also scored against Western Michigan in 2009 while at Hartwick College … Roydhouse was credited with his second assist of the year on Karlgren's score, tying him with redshirt senior Geoff Lytle (Miami Beach, Fla.) for the team lead.
