By Andrew Melnykovich
Four games in, the Louisville men’s soccer team season can be neatly divided into two categories:
- Road games against quality opponents – top-10 Maryland and always-tough St. Louis – in which the Cards have been unable to score a single goal.
- Goals in bunches at home against substantially weaker opposition – Belmont and Army.
Not much by which to gauge a team that is not exactly rebuilding, but certainly readjusting.
That all changes this week, when the Cards begin a string of four home contests against three perennially strong teams and one bitter in-state rival.
The quartet is bookended by two teams that right now sit not too far above Louisville in the 14-20 range in the national polls. First up on Tuesday is Wake Forest – a typically solid program out of the Atlantic Coast Conference, which is the Big East’s chief rival for toughest-in-the-nation status. Wake is 3-0-1 on the season, but has yet to face an opponent as tough as Louisville.
In between, on Friday, comes the return of the annual Battle for Bluegrass supremacy, when Louisville hosts Kentucky. The two didn’t play last year. UofL has won the last three meetings, and a win this week would even the series at 12-12-4. This is the first time since 1993 that irascible Ian Collins isn’t coaching the Cats. Under new coach Johan Cedergren (hired from Dartmouth of the Ivy League), Kentucky has sputtered to a 1-4 start.
The following Tuesday, UofL hosts Ohio State. The two have met in both the regular season and the NCAA tournament in recent years, and have played fierce, physical contests each time. The Buckeyes are 2-3-1, unranked and coming off a year in which they missed the NCAA tourney. Don’t read too much into any of that when assessing how tough this game will be.
The home stand concludes on September 22nd when the Cards host conference rival Notre Dame. At this writing, Notre Dame is 5-0 on the season, with the most recent win a decisive 3-1 thumping of top-5 Akron. When the new polls come out this week, expect the Irish to put some space between them and Louisville.
By the time these four games are done, the Louisville soccer picture ought to be much clearer. Anything worse than a split would not bode well for the rest of the season. A sweep sends them into the rest of schedule with a ton of momentum. Going 3-1, with the only loss coming to Notre Dame, is not too bad.
But if the Cards go 2-2, or 3-1, while beating Notre Dame in the process, and the picture – at least from my vantage point – is likely to be just as muddled as it is today.