Duke men’s soccer eliminated from ACC tournament by Louisville
Ken Lolla had plenty of success at Koskinen Stadium as an All-ACC midfielder for Duke back in the 1980s. He’s even better as the Louisville coach there, where he’s undefeated.
Tim Kubel and Tate Schmitt scored goals 47 seconds apart in the first half to lead Louisville over Duke 2-1 on Wednesday night in the first round of the ACC men’s soccer tournament. It was the first victory on the road this season for the ninth-seeded Cardinals (7-8-3), and Lolla now owns a win and a tie at Koskinen as well as a 3-0-1 record overall against his alma mater.
Louisville, which snapped a three-game losing streak, will play at No. 1-ranked and top-seeded Wake Forest at 1 p.m. Sunday in the quarterfinals.
Senior midfielder Zach Mathers answered for eighth-seeded Duke (10-7-2) in the second half with his eighth goal as the Blue Devils outshot Louisville 15-2 in the second half and 19-9 overall.
“Unfortunately the second goal didn’t come,” said Mathers, one of Duke’s captains. “The effort was there. Sometimes it doesn’t happen.”
“We dug a massive hole for ourselves and had to chase the game the rest of the way,” Duke coach John Kerr said. “We didn’t play badly in the first half. But we gave them those two opportunities, and they capitalized.”
Kubel, a sophomore defender, scored his fifth goal of the season on a free kick from 29 yards after Louisville’s Daniel Johnson was fouled on the dribble. Kubel beat Duke goalkeeper Mitch Kupstas with a drive to the lower left corner at 16 minutes, 36 seconds.
Less than a minute later, the Cardinals stunned Duke with a second score. Ben Strong, a transfer from Virginia Tech, ran down a Louisville goal kick and chipped it ahead out of a crowd of Duke defenders to Schmitt, whose top-shelf shot made the score 2-0.
The 2-0 lead was “massive,” Lolla said. “Especially being on the road. We knew there would be some fight (from Duke) to battle back and get the win. … We showed some maturity, especially with Duke having won five in a row.”
Louisville defender Michael DeGraffenreidt saved a shot by Jeremy Ebobisse off the goal line two minutes into the second half before Mathers finally got Duke on the scoreboard in the 57th minute. Brian White sent in a cross from the right side that goalkeeper Theo Jamilloux punched out, but Mathers collected the deflection at the top of the penalty area and rifled it home.
Jamilloux finished with five saves for the Cardinals, while Kupstas had four for the Blue Devils.
Syracuse 2, N.C. State 0
In Syracuse, N.Y., the Orange (11-5-2) scored in the 11th and 70th minutes to force the Wolfpack (8-6-3) to await an at-large bid to the NCAA tournament. N.C. State has an RPI of 27.
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This story was originally published November 4, 2015 at 9:31 PM with the headline "Duke men’s soccer eliminated from ACC tournament by Louisville."