Louisville and California will kick at 3:00 p.m. ET on Sunday afternoon at Dr. Mark & Cindy Lynn Stadium

ACC play arrives at Lynn Stadium on Sunday afternoon when No. 21 Louisville (5-0-1) hosts California (2-0-3, 0-0-1 ACC) at 3:00 p.m. ET.

The Cardinals are unbeaten through six matches and have outscored opponents 13-5 through six matches, but they’ll be meeting a Cal side that hasn’t lost yet either. The Golden Bears have played five matches and drawn three of them, including a pair of 2-2 results against No. 11 UCLA and North Carolina, and they arrive in Louisville on the heels of a 1-0 win over Cal State Fullerton on Wednesday.

Louisville, meanwhile, closed out a six-match non-conference stretch with a 1-0 road win at Evansville on Tuesday, with Giacomo Zizza’s 81st-minute free kick separating the two sides. It was Zizza’s fifth goal of the year, tying him for the ACC lead.

Sunday is the ACC opener for Louisville. Cal already has one conference result on the books, the 2-2 draw with North Carolina on Sept. 6.

Unable to attend Sunday’s match? The broadcast information follows:

Broadcast Details

  • Date: Sunday, Sept. 13
  • Time: 3:00 p.m. (ET) / 12:00 p.m. (PT)
  • Venue: Dr. Mark & Cindy Lynn Stadium, Louisville, Ky.
  • Stream: ACCNX (via ESPN+ / ESPN app)
  • Live Stats: StatBroadcast

Series History

Louisville and Cal have met just once in men’s soccer, a wild 3-3 draw at Edwards Stadium in Berkeley on Oct. 3, 2024, during Cal’s first season in the ACC. The two programs did not cross paths on the 2025 conference schedule, so Sunday will be Cal’s first trip to Lynn Stadium and Louisville’s first chance to take a result off the Bears.

Weather Forecast

The National Weather Service forecast for Sunday in Louisville calls for mostly sunny skies with a high near 88°F and no rain in the forecast. Expect a warm one for a 3 p.m. kickoff.

Gates & Fan Notes

Louisville’s game notes for this match hadn’t been posted at the time of writing. Check the UofL men’s soccer schedule page for any promotions, ticket information, and gate times before heading to Lynn Stadium.

Game Preview

Keys to the game

  • Louisville keeps the shot disparity lopsided. The Cardinals have outshot every opponent this season, 95-46 overall, and 42-14 in shots on goal.
  • Giacomo Zizza stays hot from open play and dead balls. He has three game-winners already.
  • The Cardinals’ back line and keeper Nathaniel Abraham make Cal earn everything. Louisville has conceded just five goals in six matches.
  • Louisville finishes what it starts. Cal has scored in the 90th minute to salvage one draw and held a lead into the 83rd minute in another; the Cardinals can’t let the Bears hang around.

Key Storyline to Watch

Can Cal keep stealing points?

The Golden Bears’ record doesn’t look like much at first glance, but they’ve been remarkably hard to beat. Cal opened the season with a 0-0 draw at No. 6 Portland, beat Santa Clara 1-0, then came home and drew ranked UCLA 2-2 on a 90th-minute equalizer from Kai Oppenheim. Against North Carolina, Cal fell behind early, scored twice in a three-minute span before halftime, and led until an 83rd-minute UNC equalizer.

That’s a team that doesn’t go away. Cal has allowed just four goals in five matches and has yet to concede more than two in any of them. Freshman Lucca Guimaraes scored his first career goal in the 72nd minute against Cal State Fullerton to give the Bears their first home win of the year, and junior Junhwan Park leads the team with two goals.

The flip side is that Cal doesn’t create a lot. The Bears have taken 55 shots this season, only two more than their opponents, and have six goals to show for it. Louisville has nearly doubled that shot total, and the matchup between Louisville’s volume attack and Cal’s willingness to sit in and absorb is the tactical battle to watch.

Head coach John Michael Hayden, in his eighth season at Louisville, has watched his team put at least two goals on the board in four of six matches. If the Cardinals score first and force Cal to open up, this could get away from the Bears. If Cal gets to halftime level, the pattern of their season says they’ll be right there at the end.

Even More Notes & Numbers

  • Louisville’s 5-0-1 start includes three wins over in-state or regional opponents (Kentucky, Wright State, Evansville) and a 1-1 draw with then-No. 14 Indiana on Aug. 31, the Cardinals’ first result against a ranked opponent in 2026.
  • Giacomo Zizza (Jr., MF, Denville, N.J.) was named ACC Offensive Player of the Week on Sept. 1 and leads Louisville with five goals and 11 points. He entered the week second in the ACC in goals and shots and first in shots on goal.
  • Braydon Sellers (Jr., MF) has two goals and two assists for Louisville, including a goal and two assists in the 3-0 win over Wright State. Andrés Escudero Martín also has two goals.
  • Sophomore keeper Nathaniel Abraham has started all six matches for Louisville and recorded his second clean sheet of the year at Evansville.
  • Louisville has been on the right side of the corner-kick battle all season, 37-22 overall.
  • Louisville is ranked No. 21 in the United Soccer Coaches poll released Sept. 8 (through games of Sept. 6). Cal is unranked and did not appear among others receiving votes.
  • Cal is in its third season as an ACC member. The Bears went 8-8-2 overall and 2-4-2 in the ACC in 2024, then 8-8-2 and 2-5-1 in 2025 before reaching the ACC Tournament semifinals, where they fell 2-1 to Virginia.
  • Cal defender Beau Morrison (Jr., Sacramento, Calif.) was named ACC Defensive Player of the Week earlier this season, and senior transfer Florentino Junior (Aveiro, Portugal) was on the ACC preseason watch list.
  • Cal’s goals have come from five different players (Park with two; Guimaraes, Callen Lewis, Kai Oppenheim and Malcolm Zalayet with one each), and five different players have an assist.
  • Hayden signed a contract extension in June that runs through the 2029 season. He’s led Louisville to four NCAA Tournament appearances and the program’s first ACC Atlantic Division title in 2021.
  • After Sunday, Louisville stays home to host Boston College on Friday, Sept. 18 (6 p.m., ESPN+). Cal continues its road swing at San Francisco on Wednesday, Sept. 16 before returning home to face Pittsburgh on Sept. 20.