After an impressive comeback at Syracuse, the No. 8 USF men’s soccer team (10-2-2, 5-0-1) rolled past No. 13 Louisville in front of a national television audience Tuesday night.
An early goal by junior Kevin Olali in the second minute gave the Bulls momentum and took the raucous home crowd completely out of the game. An attempted clear off Cardinals defender Austin Berry’s head was popped into the air and Olali collected it, took one touch and finished for the early advantage.
The Cardinals (8-5-1, 1-4-1) spent the rest of the first half hurting themselves, starting in the 13th minute, after senior goalkeeper Andre Boudreaux made an excellent save on a Leston Paul shot, setting the Bulls up with a corner kick. Freshman Wesley Charpie took the kick, and a shot by junior Ashani Fairclough deflected off a Louisville defender for an own goal, doubling the USF lead.
This was followed by a second gaffe by a Louisville defender, when Kenney Walker missed a slide tackle and tipped in a third goal, giving the Bulls an insurmountable 3-0 lead going into the half.
“A lot of teams come to Louisville, go into a shell and try to hang on,” USF coach George Kiefer said. “We wanted to take a different approach and we wanted to take the game to them. We wanted to be the aggressor and I thought we did a good job of that.”
Louisville’s Nick DeLeon scored a penalty kick in the 60th minute for the final 3-1 margin.
