Claudel records his second goal of the season, while Devenish-Meares posts his fourth career shutout.
TAMPA (Sept. 9, 2019) – The USF men’s soccer team faced its second Top 25 opponent of the season on Monday night when the Louisville Cardinals visited Corbett Stadium. The Bulls, however, had no intention of playing the gracious host as the Green and Gold stunned fifth-ranked Louisville, 2-0, to improve to 2-1 on the year. The Cardinals suffered their first setback of the season and drop to 2-1-1.
The Bulls got all the scoring that they needed in the first 19 minutes of the contest and then locked Louisville down defensively the rest of the way. The Cardinals came into the match having recorded a season low 13 shots twice, however USF allowed UofL to get off just eight shots on the night with none really being a threat to the Bulls’ goalkeeper Harrison Devenish-Meares (Sydney, Australia). The senior keeper logged five saves.
Josue Monge (Philadelphia, Pa.) got USF on the board early in the contest netting his first goal of the season – and the eventual game-winner – in the 8’ minute, off a pass from Avionne Flanagan (Baltimore, Md.), beating Louisville keeper Jake Gelnovatch.
Just under 11 minutes later freshman Victor Claudel (Strasbourg, France), who earlier in the day had been named to the American Athletic Conference weekly honor roll, served up a sliding pass to Flanagan who went one-on-two, beating both defenders and putting a spectacular bending shot on net only to have it saved by Gelnovatch who could not secure the rebound. Claudel, who never quit after the pass, found himself in the right place at the right time taking the rebound in mid-air and sent it past the Cardinals net minder to make the score 2-0 in the 19’ minute.
Javiain Brown (Kingston, Jamaica) came close to putting a third goal on the board for the Bulls in the 69’ minute, however, it was waved off a shortly after the score because of an apparent offsides.
Louisville could never seem to get going in what was an extremely physical match as USF countered the Cardinals style of play with its speed and discipline.
The Bulls held a slight 9-8 shot advantage on the night, with the Cardinals logging just four shots in each half.
Claudel recorded a team-high three shots on the night, including two on frame. Devenish-Meares’s clean sheet was his first of the season and the fourth of his career.
Quotable
“It was definitely an exciting result for us, and I think a little bit surprising for them, but it wasn’t surprising for us which was good. I felt pretty good about the game going in, I thought we matched up well, and I was just hoping that the guys could execute the game plan and it turned out that they did a really good job. Discipline was really hard today so I couldn’t be more pleased for those guys.” – USF head coach Bob Butehorn on the win over No. 5 Louisville
Key Stat
8 – Louisville could just muster eight shots on the night, its fewest of 2019. The Cardinals’ previous low was 13, twice this year against Florida Atlantic on Sept. 6 and in the season-opener against Cleveland State on Aug. 30.
Notable
- USF improves its record against Louisville, in the all-time series, to 15-7-4, including a 9-3-3 record against the Cardinals in Tampa.
- Monday’s marked the second match of the season where the Bulls have faced a member pf the Top 25. USF dropped a heartbreaking 1-0 decision to No. 1 Maryland in its first contest of the season.
- In addition to Monge, Flanagan and Claudel, the Bulls also got shots from Jonathan Rosales (Kissimmee, Fla.), Stephen Rudderham (St. Petersburg, Fla.), Freddy Gil (West Palm Beach, Fla.) and Trey Jackson (Ocala, Fla.).
Up Next
USF now hits the road and travels to Nashville, Tenn., where it faces Lipscomb on Sept. 13 at 8 p.m. ET. The meeting with the Bison is the first of just two matches that USF will play on the road during the month of September. USF returns home to Corbett Stadium on Sept. 17, at 7 p.m., to face Ohio State.
To purchase tickets for USF men’s soccer, or to purchase an Olympic Gold Pass which provides entry to all men’s soccer, women’s soccer and volleyball home contests in 2019, visit USFBullsTix.com or call 1-800-GO-BULLS.
– #GoBulls –
To stay up-to-date on the latest USF Men’s Soccer news, follow the Bulls on social media (Twitter | Facebook | Instagram).
