ETSU men’s soccer played No. 11-nationally ranked Louisville on Oct. 18 inside Dr. Mark & Cindy Lynn Stadium.
ETSU fought hard Tuesday night to earn a 1-1 draw against the Cardinals.
In only his second start for the Bucs, Marc Kouadio (Montreal, Canada) earned his first save in minute 14 of the match as he stopped what was a clear scoring opportunity for the Cardinals.
In minute 20, ETSU had their first scoring opportunity as Sebastian Reventlow-Mourier (Viborg, Denmark) tried to give the Bucs the lead, but was denied by Cardinal goalkeeper Ryan Troutman, giving him his only save of the night.
Minutes later Kieran Richards (Hamilton, New Zealand) beat his defender and was able to set up Gabriel Ramos (Sao Paulo, Brazil) for his third goal of the season. This gave the Bucs the advantage of 1-0 early in the match.
After holding the lead for nearly 40 minutes, Louisville was awarded a penalty kick in minute 62 that was successfully scored by Camara Aboubacar to tie the game at one.
In the final 10 minutes of the game, Louisville applied the pressure often as the Bucs defense stepped up in a big way to keep the game tied. Louisville had six shots and three on target in the closing minutes of the match. Kouadio played the keeper position well for the Bucs as he finished the night with seven saves from an aggressive Louisville attack.
The Bucs utilized their talent against Louisville as 19 different players saw time on the field with David Kovacic (Krsko, Slovenia) leading the way for the reserves with 51 minutes logged.
The Bucs have played exceptionally good defense on the road this season, only allowing one first-half goal and for the first time in program history, ETSU played back-to-back games against nationally ranked opponents and remained undefeated in the two-game span.
ETSU moves to (6-4-3), (2-0-1) while Louisville now has a record of (8-3-3), (3-2-1). ETSU hosts conference opponent Furman on Oct. 22 at noon. This game will be alumni weekend and homecoming for the team.
