Syracuse men’s soccer hosts Louisville in ACC home opener

It’s time to pack the hill again for the Syracuse Orange men’s soccer team. The time has come for the ACC regular season to start, and the #4 ranked Orange (3-0-1) are kicking it off in style. Tonight, 9/8, at 8pm, they host the #7 ranked Louisville Cardinals (4-0-0) up at the Syracuse Soccer Stadium. This will be the Orange’s second ranked test on the year, previously drawing the #20 Penn State Nittany Lions on the road last week.

Louisville brings a perfect record on to the hill this weekend, most recently with a win over their former All-ACC forward Aboubacar Camara and #19 Kentucky. They also have wins over #16 Tulsa, Bellarmine and UNC Greensboro on the season. The Cardinals are led by fifth year head coach John Michael Hayden, a former two time national champion as a player for Indiana University and MLS Cup with Houston Dynamo. He is currently 2-1-2 against the Orange during his coaching tenure. Lousiville all time holds an 11-3-5 mark against the Orange.

Gage Guerra, the junior Army transfer and 2022 Patriot League Offensive Player of the Year has been the man putting the ball in the net for the Cardinals, with four on the season. He’s joined up top by sophomore Konstantinos Georgallides, who played against the Orange last year as well. He’s notched a pair on the season to date. Sander Roed is their player to watch in the midfield as well. The 2022 All-ACC selection will pull the strings for Lousiville and set up their attack.

For the Orange, their only blemish on the season came in the aforementioned road draw to Penn State. That 1-1 draw, with a late equalizer by CB Pablo Pedregosa was a hotly contested affair that even included a red card on keeper Jason Smith and five cards on the Orange of the seven total. A late PSU goal led to the need for heroics by Pedregosa as the time ticked down and he slotted home a rebound from a Felipe D’Agostini shot off the woodwork. The Orange held on after to stay unbeaten.

Jaheim Wickham has had the start in goal since Smith was sent off, and we’ll see if he retains it or it’s handed back to Smith, coming off his suspension. Beyond that, the starters and subs seem to be fleshed out early in this season, especially now that Noah Singelmann has returned for his first action of the year against Albany.

The match will kickoff at 8pm up at Syracuse Soccer Stadium, and can be viewed on ACC Network for those out of the area.