Huskers Fall to Louisville in Jenna Cooper Memorial Exhibition

Louisville, Ky.? The Nebraska soccer team fell to the Louisville Cardinals, 1-2, in the third annual Jenna Cooper Memorial Exhibition Match at CardinalPark in Louisville, Ky., on Saturday.  This is the first time in the three-year history of the memorial event that Louisville has topped the Huskers.

 

Nebraska fired four shots on goal to Louisville’s five in the loss, while the Huskers outshot the Cardinals 12-9 overall. 

 

With the absence of senior Brittany Timko, who is playing with the Canadian National Team as well as sophomores Sari Raber, Selenia Iacchelli and Aysha Jamani, who are competing with the Canadian U-20 team, the Huskers spread playing time across the roster.  A total of 16 Huskers saw the field including seven freshmen, four of whom started.  Jacy Wicker, Brittney Lanier, Carly Peetz and Anna Caniglia all claimed spots in the starting lineup in the exhibition and were later joined on the field by Shay Powell, Savannah Allen and Julie Berkshire. 

 

Although not a starter, an aggressive Powell led the team with three shots.  She was followed by junior Jessie Bruch with two, while freshman Brittney Lanier added the only assist of the game for NU.

 

Nebraska got on the board first as sophomore Danielle Schoen netted a goal from the middle of the box off a right-sided pass from Lanier at 10:33.  Both the goal and the assist were firsts for Schoen and Lanier.

 

Despite Nebraska’s early efforts, Louisville answered back just three minutes later.  The Cardinals scored their first goal of the half when freshman Lindsay Boling netted a corner kick from midfielder Monique Gjini at 13:57.

 

After 10 minutes of silence, Louisville struck again on a cross from freshman Lindsey Fox that slid through the Nebraska defenders to find senior Jamie Craft in front of the net for a Cardinal goal at 24:51.

 

The Huskers failed to mount another scoring opportunity in the remaining 20 minutes and ended the first half of an extremely muggy afternoon in Louisville down 1-2 with one shot on goal.

 

The heat and humidity continued to wear on both teams in the second half, but Nebraska continued to attack, earning eight shots to the four it had taken in the first period. 

 

The Huskers’ best opportunity of the second half came with just 12 minutes left to play as Powell ricocheted a shot off the crossbar, gathered her own rebound and was rejected a second time by a diving save from Cardinal goalkeeper Deana Waintraub.

 

Louisville also had a good chance with just five minutes remaining as Fox fired a shot toward the left corner of the Nebraska goal that was denied by a brilliant diving save from Husker goalkeeper Jamie Klages.  Klages had a total of three saves on the day to Waintraub’s one.

 

Nebraska returns to Lincoln to kick off its regular season next Friday, Aug. 25, as the Huskers take on WrightState at the Nebraska Soccer Field at 5 p.m.  The match is the first of eight consecutive home matches for the Huskers.