Men’s Soccer Knocks off Louisville

By: Andrew Selover | @AndrewSelover CitrusTV Men’s Soccer Beat Reporter

Syracuse men’s soccer prevailed in a top-15 matchup at Louisville on Friday night. The Orange jumped all over the Cards with two early goals and held on late to secure another key three points in ACC play.

When SU and UL met, the top spot in the ACC Atlantic was up for grabs. The Orange thought they were off to a dream start when Levonte Johnson scored less than two minutes in, but the opener had to wait as Johnson was whistled offside. In the 18th minute, Nathan Opoku finished a brilliant goal off an assist from Levonte Johnson to give the Orange the lead. The Lindsey Wilson College transfer leads SU and the ACC with eight goals on the year. Lorenzo Boselli set up Levonte Johnson ten minutes later with a beautiful long ball. The Seattle transfer doubled the Syracuse lead. There were no troubles for SU defensively until Jeorgio Kocevski picked up a second yellow card in the 77th minute. Kocevski has now seen red in two ACC matchups this season. Josh Jones tried to pull Louisville back into the game with an 89th minute goal, but it was too little too late as the Orange claimed their fifth ACC win of the season.

Syracuse now sits five points clear in the ACC Atlantic division ahead of Wake Forest’s matchup with Boston College tomorrow. No matter the result for the Demon Deacons, SU just needs to win one of its last to conference matchups to claim the Atlantic title for the first time in school history. Next up for Syracuse is a home matchup with Bucknell on Tuesday. Ian McIntyre’s squad must do without Jeorgio Kocevski after his red card against Louisville. Kickoff is slated for 7 p.m. at the SU Soccer Stadium.