ARENA SOCCER RETURNS TO LOUISVILLE
Fast and Physical Play is the Name of the Game
Poised and ready to play, the Louisville Lightning drop their inaugural home opener to the 1790 Cincinnati Express 6-5.
It was a sold-out crowd of 903 at the Mockingbird Valley Soccer Club, and, as the first half whistle blew, Louisville’s electrifying offense put pressure on Cincinnati. Safet Kovacevic, Louisville’s midfielder, worked Cincinnati’s goalie, Craig Salvati, with four first quarter shots, but his offensive effort was squandered as Salvati worked the Express goal line with four saves.
Cincinnati’s goalie wasn’t the only goalkeeper being tested for his agility between the posts. Frank Peabody, Louisville’s goalie out of Butler University, dived, blocked and caught his way to five Louisville first quarter saves. Both teams’ defensive efforts equalized in the first quarter with a 0-0 score going into the second.
Louisville fans were thirsting for a Lightning first goal, and, in the ninth minute of the second quarter, fans got what they were craving with a close range Louisville goal by defender Lee Wayland.
It didn’t take Cincinnati long to have an answer to Louisville’s goal. Jeff Hughes scored at the top of the box from a Shawn Rocky assist.
Cincinnati’s goal must have made the Lightning furious. In the second quarter Louisville had four times as many fouls as Cincinnati at 4-1, but their aggression paid off in the last three minutes of the second quarter when Louisville forward, Aziz Behanovic, lined a shot into Mariano Gonzalez who, in return, made a header to score Louisville’s second goal.
Louisville headed into the locker with a boost of confidence, but head coach Scott Budnick told his guys that the game was far from over. “He said keep going,” said Kovacevic. “It’s just half-time. We’ve played well, but we have made some small mistakes.”
Kovacevic took his coaches’ advice going into the third quarter by scoring an unassisted goal in the 13th minute. Sticking to his offensive plan, Kovacevic added on to Louisville’s score by scoring another lone goal.
The Express would score their next goal off a Lightning mishap: The Express’s Matt Breines made a long pass downfield, which bounced over the top of Peabody’s head, catching the back of the net for Cincinnati’s second goal.
With 31 seconds to play in the third quarter Louisville scored their fifth and final goal of the match. Wayland’s short pass to Gonzalez connected for a quick blast in the Express’s goal, giving the Lightning a 5-2 lead.
A mixture of great defensive plays and constant offensive attacking gave Louisville too much comfort going into the fourth quarter, and their lack of professional experience was beginning to show. “We are still a pretty young team,” said Coach Budnick. “There are certain things we need to learn about at the pro level and that is certainly one of them (closing out a game).”
The Lightning gave up four goals in the fourth quarter, though they were only out shot by the Express 10-8, and were able to make six saves to Cincinnati’s eight. There was no domination in stats by either team, but Cincinnati was able to get past Louisville by taking a 6-5 victory home with them.
“Games like these make it tough for losing teams to evaluate, due to domination of the first three quarters. It’s a four quarter game,” said Peabody. “And we were all pretty high after the first three quarters. Performing the way we did in the fourth quarter makes it a little disappointing.”
The Lightning will look for their first win on Nov. 20 at 7:30 p.m. at Mockingbird Valley against the Detroit Waza.
