‘I was ready.’ Former Louisville soccer player, now at Kentucky, helps beat old team.
Before Cameron Wheeler left Louisville, he etched the city onto his body.
Written in ink on his forearm are the numbers “502,” a tattoo permanently attaching him to the city of Louisville.
It’s the area code for the city where he grew up and went to school, home to the university where his father Mike played football and his mother Beth was a member of the Ladybirds dance team.
Wheeler was born, bred and molded by the University of Louisville, eventually spending the first three seasons of his college soccer career with the Cardinals.
After redshirting the 2017 season and tallying just two assists in 34 matches for the Cardinals in the 2018 and 2019 seasons combined, Wheeler changed course.
He didn’t have a team to play with in 2020, and he trained on his own before linking up with Kentucky in the spring to see if he could fit into head coach Johan Cedergren’s team.
Wheeler, now a graduate student with two years of eligibility left, came to the blue side, joining the school 80 miles west for the 2021 season.
“I was pretty nervous for this game going into it ... just being back, playing against my old team, coach and wearing a different jersey,” Wheeler, a midfielder, said. “On the walkout I was like, ‘I’ve done this a million times.’ Then once the whistle blew, I was ready. I wasn’t nervous at all.”
Wheeler’s decision, a distinct one in the UK and U of L rivalry, loomed even larger Tuesday night, as No. 17 Kentucky defeated Louisville 3-1 at Louisville’s Lynn Stadium, with Wheeler scoring a superb goal to spark the Wildcats’ comeback win.
After not allowing a goal for 290 minutes through its first three matches of the season, Kentucky was breached just five minutes into Tuesday’s game as Louisville’s Aboubacar Camara fired the ball past goalkeeper Jan Hoffelner.
While it took the Wildcats time to settle into the match, their first true scoring chance fell to the feet of Wheeler, a product of ingenuity that ultimately raised the intensity of the match.
Forward Luke Andrews — another UK grad student and the scorer of the lone goal in Kentucky’s win over Notre Dame last Friday — quickly took a free kick inside Kentucky’s own half, playing the ball into the path of a sprinting Wheeler.
He still had plenty to do with the shot, which came from the right edge of the 18-yard box, but Wheeler’s placement was perfect as the ball kissed the inside of the left post and redirected in to tie the match in the 24th minute.
“He (the Louisville defender) was catching up to me really quickly, so I knew I had to get a shot off and it went in. That was the luck of it,” Wheeler said.
While the game-deciding goal came nearly 20 minutes later in the 43rd minute when a long Kentucky throw-in by freshman Oliver Juul glanced off the head of 6-foot-5 Louisville freshman defender Josh Jones and into his own net, it was Wheeler’s goal that epitomized Kentucky’s effort and energy in its first road win of the season.
Eythor Bjorgolfsson capped the Kentucky win in the 81st minute with his third goal of the season from a tight angle.
“For us this was a great opportunity to learn, ‘OK, we’re playing from behind, at an ACC school, can we deal with that pressure?’” Cedergren said. “I thought the guys did really well. ... The three goals that we scored were fantastic.”
The Wildcats finished the match with 10 men after senior midfielder Marcel Meinzer was shown a straight red card in the 88th minute.
Tuesday marked Kentucky’s first win at Louisville since 2012.
It was also the first time the home team in the annual UK and U of L rivalry series lost since 2014, and the Wildcats now have a 14-8-5 (W-L-D) record against the Cardinals since 1991.
Something that’s also of significance to many in Lexington?
It was the first athletic matchup of the 2021-22 school year between Kentucky and Louisville, with the Wildcats striking the first blow.
“Anytime we can play a quality opponent, that’s huge. For recruiting purposes and stuff we can say, ‘We played two ACC teams and we beat them both,’” Cedergren said, referencing the wins over Notre Dame and Louisville. “It is a big deal (to beat Louisville), but it’s not so much about ego for the players or the staff. It’s more about, ‘What does it say about you as a national power when you can go into Louisville and beat them?’”
The result probably clears the path for Kentucky to remain undefeated when it travels to play defending national champion Marshall in Huntington, West Virginia, on Sept. 25.
Before the Marshall match, Kentucky has two home matches against Duquesne and Western Michigan, two teams that didn’t make the NCAA Tournament last season.
Meinzer will miss Sunday night’s match against Duquesne because of his red card.
Both matches will test Kentucky’s ability to remain focused.
One comes after the high-pressure win over Louisville, a match that featured 25 fouls, six yellow cards and one red card.
The other comes ahead of the Marshall game, where Kentucky has to guard against looking ahead.
But few people were probably thinking of those future matches when a “Go Big Blue” chant grew from the Lynn Stadium stands in the dying seconds of Tuesday’s win.
Some of those voices might have belonged to the friends and family members of Wheeler that attended the game.
“All my family, my grandparents were even here, and my aunts, uncles were here,” Wheeler said, adding that his girlfriend plays lacrosse at Louisville.
“This was the first time I’ve moved out of my home city. So it’s been different for me, but to come back here and get a win was emotional and it was fun.”
Next match
Duquesne at No. 17 Kentucky
When: 7:30 p.m. Sunday
Live broadcast: ESPN Plus
This story was originally published September 8, 2021 at 7:59 AM.
