No. 7 Wake Forest Edges No. 8 Field Hockey 2-1

Friday, September 25

LOUISVILLE, KY

6:00 PM

University of Louisville

(6-3 (0-3ACC))

WAKE FOREST

(7-2, (2-0ACC))

Wake Forest

Louisville

September 25, 2015 | Field Hockey

Box Score

Cards fall short against No. 7 Wake Forest

LOUISVILLE, Ky. - The eighth-ranked University of Louisville field hockey team fell 2-1 to No. 7 Wake Forest in an ACC matchup Friday evening at Trager Stadium.

"This is where I need to practice what I preach – it's all about the process and not about the outcome," said UofL head coach Justine Sowry. "As much as it's really difficult to handle a loss, we played some really good hockey. Wake Forest is a very good team, they put a lot of pressure on you. One of our goals was to handle that pressure and I think we did a marvelous job at that. We were able to maintain our composure, keep possession of the ball and we wanted to attack in numbers so we did that today and we had a lot of opportunities. Unfortunately we didn't capitalize. Give credit to the Wake Forest penalty corner defensive unit and certainly their goalkeeper who had an outstanding game."

The teams battled through 22 scoreless minutes before Wake Forest (7-2, 2-0 ACC) got on the board at the 22:24 mark in the game. Emily Conroe slotted a pass to Krysta Wangerin who sent a shot past Louisville freshman goalkeeper Ayeisha McFerran.

The Cardinals answered five minutes later when sophomore Stephanie Byrne's shot glance off of the stick of a Wake Forest defender and got past Wake goalkeeper Valerie Dahmen. Byrne's team-best sixth goal of the season evened the score at 1-1 at the 27:42 mark.

The score remained tied at 1-1 entering the break with Louisville holding a 5-3 edge in shots and each team earning one penalty corner.

Louisville went on the attack in the second half, firing off nine shots and drawing five corners in the first 20 minutes of the half. The Demon Deacon defense held the Cardinals at bay.

Wake Forest struck again on its first corner of the half. Julie Grashoff connected on assists from Conroe and Anderson to put the Demon Deacons back on top 2-1.

Down 2-1 with 2: 47 remaining in regulation, the Cardinals pulled goalkeeper Ayeisha McFerran in favor of an extra field player to increase its attack. As Louisville worked the ball into its offensive circle, senior Katharine Gwynne-Wood found herself in a 1v1 situation with Dahmen and penalty stroke was called with :15 seconds remaining in regulation. Senior Elisa Garcia's attempt was stopped by Dahmer to seal the win for the Demon Deacons.

In the game Louisville outshot Wake Forest 15-5 and held a 6-2 advantage in penalty corners. McFerran (6-3) had three saves in the game. Dahmen (7-2) had 11 stops for the Demon Deacons.

The Cardinals (6-3, 0-3 ACC)return to action on Oct. 2 when they travel to No. 6 Duke for an ACC contest.