Orange Hosts Nationally-Ranked Louisville in 2008 Regular-Season Finale
10/31/2008 9:33:34 AM | Men's Soccer
Match Notes (.pdf) | Live Stats
SYRACUSE, N.Y. - The Orange men's soccer team will close out the 2008 regular season on Saturday, Nov. 1 with an 8 p.m. match against #20/21 Louisville at the SU Soccer Stadium. The game has several subplots, one of which is that it marks the final collegiate match in the careers of Orange seniors Robert Cavicchia, Isaac Collings, Kyle Hall, Pete Rowley, Spencer Schomaker and Karol Wasielewski. In addition, Syracuse (7-6-3, 3-6-1) can clinch its first winning season since 1999 with a victory.
The match is meaningful for the Cardinals as well as they continue to jockey for seeding in the upcoming BIG EAST Championship.
SENIORS SAY GOODBYE
Cavicchia, Collings, Hall, Rowley, Schomaker and Wasielewski will take the field at the SU Soccer Stadium for the last time Saturday. Cavicchia will go down as one of best goalkeepers in school history. He is third in career saves (289), second all-time in shutouts (22), fourth in wins (25) and fourth in goals-against average (1.09).
Schomaker and Hall are the top two scorers on the team this season. Schomaker leads the Orange with 14 points and is tied for the squad lead in goals (5) and assists (4). He has 23 points and eight goals in 61 career games. Hall is second on the team in scoring (11 points). He has four goals this season and was named the Offensive MVP of the Mayor’s Cup after scoring two goals in consecutive shutouts of UNC-Wilmington and Florida Gulf Coast. He has 34 points, including 13 goals, in 50 career games.
Rowley and Collings have both come back from serious knee injuries to have productive senior seasons. Rowley has a goal and an assist in 2008 and has started nine contests. He has played in 60 career games and has 11 goals and 27 total points. Collings has appeared in every match this year with one assist. In 56 career matches, he has 18 points, including 10 assists.
Wasielewski has started all 34 matches on defense for Syracuse the past two seasons. He has led the Orange to 14 shutouts in 2007 and 2008 and has two goals and one assist in his SU career.
SCOUTING LOUISVILLE
The Cardinals were ranked as high as seventh in the national polls earlier this season, but they have lost their last four of their last five outings. The team’s only victory in that stretch was a 2-0 home win against DePaul on Oct. 29. Louisville is 10-5-1 and 5-4-1 in the BIG EAST.
Freshman Colin Rolfe and Ryan McDonald are tied for the team lead with five goals each. McDonald leads Louisville with 12 points while Rolfe is second with 11. Aaron Clapham leads the club in assists (8) and is tied with McDonald for the team scoring lead. Goalkeeper Andre Boudreaux has 42 saves, a 0.90 goals-against average and four shutouts.
Head coach Ken Lolla is in his third year at Louisville. He has guided the Cardinals to a 26-22-8 record in his tenure, including an 11-7-4 mark and an NCAA Tournament appearance in 2007. Prior to his appointment at Louisville, Lolla spent 13 years at Akron where he turned the Zips into a national power. He also served three years as the head coach of NAIA Belmont Abbey.
SYRACUSE-LOUISVILLE SERIES
The Orange and Cardinals have played three times since Louisville joined the BIG EAST Conference for the 2005 campaign. The Cardinals own a 2-1 advantage in the series and have won the last two meetings. Syracuse posted a 2-1 victory in double overtime in the first meeting between the two teams in 2005 at Cardinal Park.
