Louisville Field Hockey Records
December 21, 2000 | Field Hockey
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The Fall Term of 1927 was the first year that field hockey was played at the University of Louisville. That year U of L watched as a young team that played with tremendous enthusiasm, albeit without a coach until 1928 when Miss Lillian (Tucky) Sanders took over, vied for something new at U of L, a field hockey team.
In 1928, after winning their first two local games, the team embarked on what was then considered a milestone when the team traveled to Nashville to play Peabody College. This trip to Nashville was the first ever taken by a Southern girls' hockey team. Games were almost exclusively played with local teams only, in this respect U of L had taken a jump on the other Southern schools. In 1972, almost 50 years after it was first played, women's field hockey became a varsity sport along with women's basketball, tennis, volleyball and gymnastics.
U of L's field hockey success rose in 1976 under the direction of coach Sandy McLaughlin. McLaughlin's Cardinals had one of their most successful seasons, outscoring their opponents 46-9 to close out the season with a 9-2 record and a second-place finish in the Kentucky Women's Intercollegiate Conference (KWIC). They followed that success with an 11-3 record. Louisville went on to capture the KWIC championship three times and represented the KWIC at the Southern Region II AIAW tournament twice.
School records indicate that the Cards competed in the KWIC from 1976-82. Louisville played as a Midwest Independent team from 1984-93 and joined the Mid-American Conference in 1994.
Although many things have changed since the inception of women's field hockey at U of L, one thing has still remained the same, the drive and desire to compete and excel at the sport of field hockey.
