The University of Alabama at Birmingham Athletics
No. 21 UAB, No. 7 Louisville Open Season Sunday
8/10/2012 12:00:00 AM | Men's Soccer
Aug. 10, 2012
Live Stats
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. --The No. 21 UAB men's soccer team will play the first home game of the 2012-13 Blazers sports season when it hosts No. 7 Louisville in an exhibition match Sunday night. The Blazers and Cardinals are set to kickoff at 7 p.m. at West Campus Field, which will serve as a night cap to a prelude of festivities.
The UAB players and coaches will begin the afternoon as hosts to a free youth soccer clinic. The clinic will be for ages 5-18 and is set to begin at 4:30 p.m. at West Campus Field. The first 500 kids through the gates for the youth clinic will receive a free UAB soccer ball.
As soon as the clinic ends at 6 p.m., all participants and UAB students with a valid ID will be served a free dinner provided by Full Moon BBQ, which will be set up adjacent to the field.
Following the contest, fans are encouraged to stick around for a postgame autograph session with the current members of the UAB men's soccer team.
UAB, the defending Conference USA regular season champion, returns eight starters and 13 letterwinners off last season's 13-5-3 squad. Leading the list of returnees is preseason all-conference honoree Reed Matte, along with 2011 all-conference performers Mladen Lemez (second team), Darion Copeland (all-freshman) and Diego Navarrete(all-freshman).
The Blazers earned a spot in last year's NCAA Tournament, securing the No. 11 overall national seed and bye into the second round of play, where they fell to eventual national runners-up Charlotte.
Louisville returns seven starters from a team that finished with a 14-7-2 overall mark and a final ranking of No. 15 in the nation a year ago. The Cardinals will be led by midfielders Paolo DelPiccolo (0g, 6a) and Michael Roman (4g, 3a). The U of L also return a trio of defensive starters led by Big East Preseason Co-Defensive Player of the Year Andrew Farrell.
The Cardinals advanced to the Elite Eight round of the NCAA Tournament last season and were a College Cup participant in 2010.
Fans wanting more information about the Soccer Clinic can contact the UAB men's soccer office 205-975-7553.
