CARDS SHUT OUT HOKIES 1-0 IN BLACKSBURG
On an ideal Sunday afternoon for soccer in Blacksburg, VA, the Louisville Cardinals Women's Soccer squad scored the lone goal and withstood numerous Virginia Tech shots to get the win 1-0.
Defense did it for the Cards, shutting out the Hokies after they had put up eight goals on Thursday against Miami...and when you talk defense, you gotta be Gabby.
The Cards redshirt senior goalkeeper Gabby Kouzelos recorded eight saves against the home-standing Hokies. Try as they might (VT took 18 total shots and five of them were on goal) Virginia Tech could not get the ball past the Cards stellar goalkeeper or Louisville defense.
Kouzelos was "pretty in pink" and pretty proficient, leaving the box on numerous occasion tos cover VT shot attempts. Maybe the most spectacular stop for Gabby came in the final minute of play when VT, desperately seeking a score, got the ball to freshman Tori Powell on a cross and she fired at goal...but Kouzelos was there to make the stop and keep her slate clean.
The shutout was Gabby's fourth of the season and 27th. of her illustrious career as a student-athlete at Louisville and improved the Cards to 4-2 on the season.
The Cards are playing in a new "system" during the 2020 slate, which Case Hoskins elaborated on in our Saturday Cardinal Couple Radio Hour Podcast, and it seems to be defensively aligned...Louisville has allowed just three goals in six contests.
Oh, yeah...let's not forget to mention how the deciding goal was scored...
Louisville turned to a freshman...Morgan Bentley...a midfielder from Atlanta, GA for their lone goal in the 32nd minute of the first half. The Cards had received a corner kick and after the ball was brought into play, VT made the stop on the incoming kick but the ball bounced to Bentley. She had a clear look at the net and drilled it home for her first goal of the season and her career at Louisville.
Statistically, the Cards only attempted five shots in the 90 minutes, compared to Virginia Tech's 18. Louisville's lone shot on goal was Bentley' conversion...the Hokies had eight shots on goal. Corner kicks were solidly in VT's favor as well, with a nine to three advantage in those.
It's not how many times you kick it, though...it's how many times you kick it in the goal that determines wins, ties or losses in soccer and the Cards got the "W" for the first time against Virginia Tech since 1995.
I tried several different sources to find any quotes from Louisville women's soccer head coach Karen Ferguson-Dayes but was unsuccessful. That sometimes happens when a squad is on the road...
#13 ranked Louisville has two matches remaining on the fall schedule before the scheduled ACC Tournament. The contests will be home matches for the Kickin' Cards at Lynn Stadium and the first one takes place Sunday, October 25th. against the #14 ranked Fighting Irish of Notre Dame.
The Irish (3-3) hosted Clemson yesterday but fell to the Tigers 2-1. The Cards end the fall ACC slate and season with a bang as they bring in #1 North Carolina on Thursday, October 29th.
The ACC Women's Soccer Tournament is scheduled for November 10-15th in Cary, NC at the Wake Med Soccer Complex. The top eight teams will vie for the tournament title -- Louisville is currently tied for third place in the league standings with 4-2 Clemson with 12 points.
Florida State and North Carolina are atop the ACC standings...they're both 6-0 and that translates out to 18 points each. You can do the math on the league standings below, keeping in mind a squad gets (3) points for a win (1) point for a tie and (0) points for a loss.
LEAGUE STANDINGS AFTER SUNDAY, OCT 18th MATCHES:
FSU 6-0
UNC 6-0
LOU 4-2
CLEMSON 4-2
DUKE 3-1-2
VA 3-2-1
PITT 3-3
ND 3-3
WAKE 2-3-1
VT 2-4
BC 0-5
SYR 0-5
MIAMI 0-5
(NOTE: NC ST IS NOT PLAYING FALL WSOC AND GT DOES NOT FIELD A WSOC TEAM)
have a meaningful Monday!
paulie xxxxx
Gabby has to be one of the best goalkeepers in women's college soccer! I got the chance to watch a lot of the match yesterday and I'm amazed at her skills.
ReplyDeleteWith professional women's soccer coming to Louisville next year, it would be a wise move for the franchise to go after her and maybe Ekic too.
Curtis "Be Kind" Franklin
My question is why are they having an ACC Tournament in November when there are plans to play the NCAA Tournament in the spring?
ReplyDeleteNick O
Nick,
ReplyDeleteIt's following tradition, is my best guess for the answer to your question. The ACC WSOC Tournament has always been in the fall as long as we've been covering it and since all the ACC teams (except NC St.) are playing it just makes sense to do it when they always do.
Some conferences "opted out" of fall WSOC and will play their schedules in the spring. The NCAA looked at that and, as far as I can determine, decided there would be a bigger participation in the spring, so that would be the right time to hold the NCAA tournament. They've cut the number of teams to 48 this year, so...that could be interesting as well. Will the ACC hold an advantage over other schools in the spring since they've already got a fall slate of games under their belt?
Let's face it. 2020 is just different.
paulie
xxxxx