One final soccer wrap …

By Andrew Melnykovych

I guess it was too much to expect Aaron Horton to manufacture a last-minute goal for the Louisville soccer team in a third straight game.

Staring at a net vacated by Akron goalie David Meves, Horton took the cautious route, side-footing the ball instead of driving it, with the result that it was cleared off the line by a Zip defender to preserve a 1-0 win in the College Cup final.

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So the Zips return to Akron with a national title on their third try, and the Cards come back with the memories of a rousing run to the title match, but also likely with regrets over what was an eminently winnable game.

The Cards came out a little tentatively to start the game, but quickly found their footing and looked to be much the more dangerous team in the first half. Only a ball off the post and a later questionable no-call on what looked to be a PK-producing handball by Akron in its own area kept Louisville from a lead going into intermission.

But the second half was a far different story. Akron came out playing with greater urgency and dominated for most of the half. Louisville could not maintain possession, giving the ball away both under pressure and due to carelessness. Only some stellar goalkeeping by Andre Boudreaux kept the Cards in it for most of the half.

But when Akron’s Scott Caldwell scored in the 78th minute on a rebound of his own blocked shot, it was a goal that had “inevitable” written all over it.

The deficit awakened the slumbering Louisville attack, which produced a flurry of chances in the closing minutes, with Horton’s open look by far the best of them.

But, as Akron well knows, it’s very difficult to win it all on the first trip to the College Cup. The Cards can head back to Louisville knowing that they produced a breakout season that made it far more likely that some future Louisville soccer team will hoist the trophy in the coming years.