Ohio State
Louisville
No. 5 Louisville Tops Ohio State With Late Goal – Ohio State Buckeyes
9/21/2011 12:00:00 AM | Men's Soccer
Sept. 21, 2011
COLUMBUS, Ohio – The Ohio State men’s soccer team fell to fifth-ranked Louisville, 1-0, on a late goal Wednesday night at Jesse Owens Memorial Stadium in front of a season-high 836 fans. The Buckeyes drop to 4-3-1 on the season, while the Cardinals improve to 6-1-0 with their fourth-consecutive victory.
Kenney Walker scored the eventual game-winner midway through the 82nd minute of action and Ohio State was unable to put up an equalizer, despite consistent pressure on the attack. Chris Hegngihad a chance in the final minute of regulation, but the shot went just outside the left post.
“The guys played their hearts out,” John Bluem, 15-year Ohio State head coach, said. “We chose to play a defensive game tonight and play low attacking. They’re a very good team with lots of very good players and I think our tactics were right. I think if [Kenny] Cunningham scores five minutes into the second half on the header that hits the crossbar and we go up one nothing we have a much different game and make it very difficult for them. We were a little bit unfortunate we didn’t get a break through and get a goal. We had a couple of great chances.”
Those great chances began less than five minutes into the second period when Kenny Cunningham sent a header off the underside of the crossbar and then the deflection fell just out of Omar Vallejo’s reach. Vallejo would end up having a pair of shots blocked in the ensuing Buckeye effort, while Adam Gorskialso saw a couple attempts go just wide of the target.
Louisville’s Walker made it all a moot point, however, when he launched a left-footed shot from 25 yards out that glanced off the right post and into the far side of the net at the 81:38 mark. Hegngi’s shot in the waning seconds was the lone legitimate OSU scoring opportunity down the stretch.
The Cardinals finished with a 20-11 advantage in shots and a 9-1 margin in corner kicks. Buckeye goalkeeper Matt Lampson, a candidate for the MAC Hermann Trophy, made six stops on the night, including five in the defensive-driven first half. His Cardinal counterpart, Andrew Boudreaux, tallied three saves en route to his fifth shutout.
“I think [Matt Lampson] had a lot to do tonight,” Bluem said of his three-year starting goalkeeper. “There were 20 shots tonight, I’m not sure how many on goal, but I thought he handled everything that went his way. I couldn’t really see what happened on the goal, but I think we got exposed a little bit there. They were wearing us down a little bit at the end of the game which created opportunities for them.”
Ohio State welcomes 2010 national semifinalist Michigan to Jesse Owens Memorial Stadium to open the Big Ten slate with a 4 p.m. nationally-televised game Sunday with Chris Doran and Daryl Shore calling the action. The Wolverines are 2-6-1 this season and are off until their meeting with the Buckeyes this weekend.
The Buckeyes are 16-4-0 in Big Ten season openers all-time. They previously have played Northwestern in 12 of these contests, Wisconsin in four, Michigan State in two and Indiana and Michigan in one. With a 1-0 win vs. the Wolverines in Ann Arbor Sept. 25, 2010, head coach John Bluem is 12-2 in his first game on the conference schedule.
