An early Louisville goal from the foot of one of the country’s top goal scorers, Mohamed Thiaw, further buried Syracuse in its midseason slide. The goal proved to be the difference in the No. 8 Cardinals’ (9-1-2, 4-0-1 Atlantic Coast) 1-0 win over No. 3 Syracuse (8-3-1, 2-2-1) before 2,594 fans Friday night at Dr. Mark and Cindy Lynn Stadium.

After jumping out to a historic 8-0 start to its season, Syracuse has gone winless in its last four games for the first time since October 2011.

The Orange has lost to top-10 opponents twice in the last two weeks. Mix into SU’s recent funk an upset loss to Albany on Tuesday night and a scoreless tie to North Carolina last Friday night.

Louisville entered Friday’s match on a tear. The Cardinals had scored six goals in two of their previous three matches, including a 6-1 pounding over then-No. 16 Virginia. They have not lost at home yet but Cardinals head coach Ken Lolla thought his team was a little flat against Syracuse’s pressure.

“I don’t think we played particularly well tonight,” Lolla told the Louisville Cardinal, a local newspaper. “And that’s why I thought this was a gritty effort for us … I think we would have preferred a lot more possession.”

At the 84-minute mark, Cardinals goalkeeper Stefan Cleveland made a diving save to keep UofL’s lead. Ten minutes earlier, Chris Nanco missed high on a shot to tie it. Early in the second half, Sergio Camargo missed high on a shot, too. Cleveland had six saves.

Eighteen minutes in, Camargo missed just wide on a chance from within the 6-yard box. Nanco and Camargo have not created for the SU offense, which has stalled since the Cornell game two and a half weeks ago. Camargo has yet to score all year and Nanco has not scored since Sept. 9, a seven-game span.

Courtesy of Dalton Ray | The Louisville Cardinal

Syracuse put “dangerous” crosses on the box but couldn’t capitalize, head coach Ian McIntyre said. The Orange outshot UofL 11-6 and tripled the Cardinals’ two shots on goal, with six. SU outshot UofL 8-3 in the second half despite the loss.

“I think we responded very well from a disappointing result and disappointing display on Tuesday,” McIntyre said.

All Louisville needed was Thiaw’s 23rd minute goal to seal the win. Thiaw scored by rolling Kamal Miller, drawing Syracuse goalkeeper Hendrik Hilpert out and driving the ball by him in the goal. It was the only blemish in a stout defense effort by Louis Cross, Kamal Miller and Mo Adams, McIntyre said.

“(Thiaw) had that one opportunity, he took it and tonight that was the difference in the game,” McIntyre said.

It’s the 6-foot-2, 170-pound junior’s ninth goal of the year, putting him just one behind Notre Dame’s Jon Gallagher (10) for the ACC lead.

McIntyre said sophomore defender Miles Robinson, who has missed Syracuse’s last two games since getting called to the United States Under-20 National Team, returns to campus next week. He played all 90 minutes Friday in the national team’s 5-3 loss to Holland and has one more game this weekend with the team.

Syracuse, which has four regular season games left, returns home next Friday for a match vs. No. 18 Virginia Tech at 7 p.m.

Published on October 7, 2016 at 11:39 pm

Contact Matthew: [email protected] | @MatthewGut21