[SOCCER AMERICA AWARDS]  Soccer America's Men's Coach of the Year is Ken Lolla, who led Louisville to the Men's College Cup for the first time.

Lolla won the award in 2005, his last season at Akron before being coaxed away to take over the Cardinals.

Louisville's loss to Akron was its only defeat of the 2010 season. And it followed a remarkable NCAA tournament run that saw the Cardinals draw crowds of more than 5,000 for every game at Cardinal Park.

Despite freezing temperatures and snow, 5,467 fans -- some sitting on a berm just below Arthur Street -- packed Cardinal Park for the quarterfinal match against UCLA, a 5-4 Louisville win that will go down as one of the epic matches in the history of the NCAA Men's Tournament.

Such was the madness that police had to shoo cars along as drivers stopped to get a peak of the action.

Lolla has taken Louisville, a program with no previous winning tradition and make it into a national contender. In his second season at the helm, Lolla guided the Cardinals to their first national ranking and their first NCAA Tournament appearance.

The Cardinals' 20-1-3 record in 2010 follows its 13-3-4 record in 2009.

SOCCER AMERICA MEN'S COACH OF THE YEAR
2010 -- Ken Lolla (Louisville)
2009 -- George Gelnovatch (Virginia)
2008 -- Joe Baum (Michigan State)
2007 -- Jim DeRose (Bradley)
2006 -- Marlon LeBlanc (West Virginia)
2005 -- Ken Lolla (Akron)
2004 -- Jeremy Fishbein (New Mexico)
2003 -- Jerry Yeagley (Indiana)
2002 -- Ed Kelly (Boston College)
2001 -- Dave Masur (St. John's)