UNC 3 - UofL 1
The #1 in the nation North Carolina Tar Heels used three second half goals to defeat Louisville women's soccer last night in cool, rainy and windy at times conditions in Lynn Stadium last night.
It was the final game of the fall slate for Louisville (4-4 )and they'll now wait and see what happens on Sunday with the rest of the league to see if they'll make the ACC Tournament next week. Currently the Cards have 12 points and several analysts are speculating that 12 is the minimum it'll take to get a squad into fall post-season play.
The first half was a scoreless contest where the squads tried a few shots on each other but no one found the back of the net. An apparent goal by UNC early in the action was disallowed by the officials because the off-sides rule. Louisville actually outshot UNC in the first 45 minutes four to three, but the squad from Chapel Hill had a 4-0 corner kick advantage.
The fireworks happened in the second half and it was the Cards who set off the first explosion. Taylor Kerwin found Emina Ekic cutting across the box and the Louisville senior planted a shot into the top left of the net to give the Cards the lead. Ekic's celebration slide into a pile of Cardinals on the sideline should be sent to Louisville Softball coach Holly Aprile for spring Softball consideration as a base-stealer....
The lead didn't last long, though. UNC went to work quickly after the Cardinals score and just 25 seconds later, Brianna Pinto found Rachel Jones in front of the Cardinal goal and Jones' shot found success to tie the match.
The Cards couldn't find much of an offensive spark after Ekic's score, while UNC followed up their initial goal with a second one three minutes later when Sam Meza scooted a shot past Cardinal goalkeeper Gabby Kouzelos on a corner kick.
The TarHeels would add an insurance goal in the 80th minute of play and keep their record clean at 8-0, 7-0 in ACC play. They'll end the season Sunday when they host Notre Dame. The Irish were idle last night. They have 12 points, like Louisville, and the two squads are tied for fourth place.
The tie-breaker will be based on point-differential on the season, and Louisville looks pretty good there with a +3 differential.
The Cards will be watching Sunday's action intently, though...especially the Virginia Tech vs, Boston College match, Duke vs. Miami match and Notre Dame at UNC. With four schools already qualified for the tournament (UNC with 21 points, FSU with 21 points, Clemson with 15 points and Virginia with 13 points...the Cards could finish anywhere from fifth to ninth in the final fall standings, depending on the Sunday results. The top eight make ACC Tournament play.
( A SPECIAL THANKS TO JARED ANDERSON WHO BRAVED THE ELEMENTS AND GOT THESE GREAT PHOTOS FOR US!)
FIELD HOCKEY AT SYRACUSE
Louisville Field Hockey travels to Syracuse for the final fall season match in the ACC Field Hockey schedule. First pass-back is at 2 p.m. and the match will be available on the ACC Network Extra.
The Cards are 7-0, 5-0 in the ACC standings and have earned a share for the regular season championship. A win over the 3-3 Orange would give the regular season title outright to Louisville.
Syracuse is to be feared, though, they're on a two-game win streak and are 2-2 in ACC "official" play. The Orange have lost at second place UNC and Virginia.
Getting the top seed for the upcoming ACC Tournament is the goal for the Cards today, the #1 seed gets a bye in the quarterfinals and then face the winner of the #4 and #5 seeds in the semifinals...which means they could face Syracuse again, Wake Forest or Virginia.
Good luck to the Cardinal "stick girls" today in the 'Cuse !
WALZ PRESSER
Jeff Walz addressed the media yesterday for about 25 minutes in a teleconference and we learned a great deal about the squad and also that Walz is an "iron man" champion. Although the video feed cut out the Walz discussion on how he bested a bunch of buddies in the two-event "iron man" event last week -- we also have the audio attached where you can hear him talk about his tennis and golfing skills.
Walz reported on the team, as well, and we learned that he's pumped about the squad's depth, competitiveness, play of the incoming freshmen and abilities. Walz feels that all 12 eligible players on the roster could enter the game at any time and there would be no drop off at all in the level of play and success.
The Cards are scheduled to play 25 games in all -- 20 of the ACC contests and five non-conference. They won't face rival UK...the details couldn't be worked out.
We also learned that around 3000 will be allowed in the KFC YUM Center (for now) and he talked about the new student housing facility that will be built across from the Koeber practice facility as well. Good info yesterday from Coach !!
Links for you:
AUDIO ONLY: CLICK HERE
VIDEO AND AUDIO: CLICK HERE
Have a fantastic Friday!
paulie
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