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Game Notes

BLACKSBURG, Va. - The Virginia Tech men's soccer team will meet the No. 19 Louisville Cardinals on Friday night at 7 p.m. for the first time as Atlantic Coast Conference opponents in Louisville, Ky. The game will be aired on ESPN 3.

Virginia Tech is coming off a 2-1 win over Virginia Military Institute on the road on Tuesday afternoon The Hokies outshot the Keydets by a wide margin of 28-3 for the game including 15-2 in shots on goal. Tech got goals from Daniel Lauretano and Som Essomé. Ricardo John assisted on Lauretano’s goal.

With the win, the Hokies remained undefeated on the road this year with a 3-0 record. They have knocked off one ranked opponent on the road as Tech beat then No. 10 Xavier 3-1 in Cincinnati, Ohio.

Offensively, the Hokies currently rank fourth in the ACC with 2.0 goals per game. Merlin Baus is tied fifth in the ACC in points per game at 1.75 and tied for first in total assists with three.

As a conference, The ACC men’s soccer teams are currently 40-9-5 overall to start the seeason and all 12 teams have a winning overall record. In the NSCAA Top 25, the ACC has seven teams in the top 25 and nine either ranked or receiving votes. A national best eight teams are ranked in Top Drawer Soccer’s Top 25 poll with six teams in the top 10.

Opponent History...

The teams will be meeting for the first time in over 20 years on Friday night. The last time the two teams faced off was Oct. 15, 1994 in Blacksburg. The Hokies and the Cardinals have met 13 times and Louisville holds a 10-3 advantage in the series.

Tech has only played in Louisville four times and hold a 3-1 edge. The two teams have most often met on neutral sites, playing there five times. The two schools were former Metro Conference rivals during the time they played.

About No. 19 Louisville...

Louisville comes into Friday night’s match having lost to No. 16 St. Louis on Friday 3-2 (OT). Louisville is in the midst of playing eight of their first nine games of the season at home. The game against the Hokies will be their fifth home game out of their last six.

The Cardinals have had each of their last two games go into overtime. Louisville tied ACC foe Syracuse 1-1 (2OT) on the road coupled with the OT loss to St. Louis. Louisville had the ACC’s Co-Offensive Player of the Week as Daniel Jonhson scored two goals last week in two games. Tate Schmitt leads the Cardinals in goals overall with three.

It should be a physical game for the Hokies as Louisville is ranked first in fouls at 15 per game and second in yellow cards this season with nine.

The Cardinals are a team coming off of a season in which they advanced to the third round of the NCAA Championships.

For updates on Virginia Tech men's soccer, follow the Hokies on Twitter Follow @VT_MSoccer