Men's Soccer Hits the Road to Take on Louisville

Tuesday, October 22

Louisville, Ky.

7:00 PM

Temple University

Louisville

Men's Soccer Hits the Road to Take on Louisville

10.21.19 | General, Men's Soccer

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PHILADELPHIA – The Temple men's soccer team (5-6-1, 2-1-1 AAC) is on the road again to take on Louisville (7-4-2, 2-3-1 ACC) in a late October non-conference match-up. Kickoff is set for 7 p.m. at Dr. Mark & Cindy Lynn Stadium as the Owls are set to face their fifth opponent of the season that has been recognized in the national polls.

Last Time Out
> Temple is coming off of a critical 3-1 win over conference-foe USF at home on Friday evening. Sophomore Esteban Suarez started the scoring for the Owls and freshman Sean Karani earned his first collegiate brace to propel the squad to its second-straight conference victory.
> USF wasted no time off the whistle, darting down the field almost immediately and firing off a threatening chance just 48 seconds into action. Senior goalkeeper Simon Lefebvre came up big for the Owls in the first play of the game, stopping a shot from USF's Avionne Flanagan on the goal line and clearing it to safety to critically keep the score even.
> The Owls broke through the USF defense in the 32nd minute to score their first goal of the night. Senior Leandros Lillis fired an in-swinging corner to the far post where Suarez was well-positioned to tap it in and give Temple the 1-0 lead. Suarez's first-career goal allowed Temple to head into the locker room with the advantage after the teams were tied at five shots, two on goal apiece.
> Entering into the second half, the Temple offense kept consistent pressure on the talented USF backline and was rewarded in the 61st minute. Fernandes received the ball and drove forward, distributing inside the 18 to Karani. A threat in the attacking third all evening for the Cherry and White, the freshman took on USF's goalkeeper 1v1 and came out victorious to put the Owls up by two. The Bulls responded nine minutes later when they capitalized on a corner kick. Emilio Ycaza got on the end of the service and buried it to score USF's lone goal of the contest.
> Karani sealed the deal on the evening in the 87th minute to notch his first-ever career brace. Freshman Lior Nesher slipped the ball through to his fellow rookie, who collected it in the center and rocketed a shot past the USF keeper to finish off Temple's scoring for the night.

Scouting the Owls
> Temple is coached by Brian Rowland in his second year at the helm of the program. So far this season, Rowland has led the Owls to a 5-6-1 overall record through an extremely challenging nonconference slate that has already featured three top-15 teams and a win over Memphis (RV). The Owls' lone loss in conference play came in their AAC opener on Sept. 27 when they fell to No. 12 UCF, 2-0.
> Temple has found its offensive spark the past two weeks, netting five goals in two games with three coming on Friday against USF. Karani has worked his way up the score sheets for the Owls, now leading the squad with seven points from three goals and an assist. The freshman has now recorded three goals in the last two league wins for the squad and notched his first collegiate brace against the Bulls.
> Lefebvre has been phenomenal between the posts for Temple, conceding just 12 goals in as many games for a conference-leading goals against average of 0.97. The senior notched five saves to back the Owls' 3-1 win over USF and has been a critical leader in net for the Owls all season. He's saved 31 shots in all 1115 minutes of Temple's game action this year for a save percentage of .721.

Scouting the Cardinals
> Louisville is coached by John Michael Hayden in his first season heading the squad after four years on staff as an assistant coach. He's had a memorable first year as head coach as the squad began the year picked No. 14 in the United Soccer Coaches Poll and have continued to be recognized in the the rankings each week since. They've earned a handful of notable victories over perennially talented opponents this season, downing No. 9 Kentucky, 3-0, No. 17 Virginia Tech, 2-1, and No. 2 Georgetown, 1-0. Other than Georgetown, the only opponent that appears on both Temple's and Louisville's schedules is USF, who the Cardinals fell to, 2-0.
> The Cardinals are coming off of a huge 3-2 double overtime thriller against Boston College on Friday night. The Eagles got on the board first in the seventh minute, but Louisville found the 47th -minute equalizer thanks to an Izaiah Jennings goal assisted by Cherif Dieye. After Boston College struck again, Leonard Getz sent the teams into overtime by finding the back of the net in the 90th minute. Dieye was the hero of the day, finding the golden goal with 5:25 left in double overtime to secure the conference victory for the Cardinals.
> Dieye leads the Louisville offense with six goals and three assists for 15 points. The senior midfielder has fired off 60 shots in his 13 games played, half of which he's put on target, and has netted three game-winning goals for the Cardinals.
> Jake Geinovatch has defended the Cardinals in goal for all 1246 minutes this season. He's allowed 15 goals in 13 games for a goals against average of 1.08 and has accumulated a record of 7-4-2 overall record. He's saved 34 shots fired his way and has posted five shutouts for Louisville so far this year.

The Series
> Louisville captured a 3-0 victory over the Owls in teams' lone series meeting back in 2013. At the time, Louisville was ranked 18th in the nation and dished Temple one of just four losses in a 10-4-4 season. It was a conference game, as the Cardinals spent one year in the American during its inaugural season before joining the AAC in 2014.