Having grown up in sunbaked Los Angeles, California, a 40 degree and rainy forecast for Saturday’s game may seem a bit foreign to Louisville City defender Tarek Morad.
Signing with the club before its inaugural season, Morad has already experienced three years of the arbitrary Louisville climate that saw a 75 degree kickoff just a week ago.
“I mean obviously, the weather back home is much different than it is out here,” chuckled Morad, a Chino Hills High School alum. “I’ve been here long enough to get acclimated to the type of different weather changes we go through here in Louisville. You never know what you’re going to get.”
After graduating from Chino Hills, Morad continued his soccer career in California where he eventually landed a spot on the UC Irvine roster, taking charge of an Anteaters backline that recorded ten shutouts his senior year.
His role as a defender has carried on to his professional career with the boys in purple, though Morad saw a number of minutes playing left back early in the year as head coach James O’Connor rotated players and formations.
“For me, being comfortable with a position just has to do with understanding your role,” said Morad. “I’ve done my best in trying to understand different roles that I’ve had to take on within the team, and that all comes with preparation in training throughout the week.”
That mentality came into play in the opening round of the Eastern Conference playoffs. Just 11 minutes into the match against Bethlehem, Morad was on the receiving end of a Paco Craig header and rocketed the game’s first strike into the back of the net.
Another chance would come just twenty minutes later after Sean Totsch’s strike deflected off the cross bar and landed right in front of Morad.
With possession of the ball and just the goalkeeper to beat, another strike from the Californian doubled the Louisville City lead before the half.
Morad became the last of the Louisville City field players to record a goal in 2017 with his first coming in the regular season finale against Richmond, though his playoff-opening performance seemed anonymous to the previous 32 games.
“I think it’s just been a long time coming for me,” Morad added after Friday’s match. “I’m just glad to be able to put two in the back of the net tonight. Hopefully, keep it going.”
