University of Louisville
Murray State
Craft Speeds Women's Soccer Past Racers
September 14, 2004 | Women's Soccer
Sept. 14, 2004
MURRAY, KY - Sophomore Jamie Craft's hat trick lifted the University of Louisville women's soccer team to a 5-3 win at Murray State Tuesday afternoon.
"This was definitely not one of our better efforts," U of L Head Coach Karen Ferguson said."
"But it is nice to be able to rely on our upperclass leadership to put us on their shoulders and carry the team," Ferguson added.
Craft opened the scoring in the sixth minute on a give and go with fellow sophomore Lauren Podvin for a 1-0 Cardinal(4-1-0) advantage.
The Racers(1-5-0) answered at 11:58 when Theresa Reedy notched the first of her three goals off a corner kick from Sara Struve.
Craft picked up her second of the game just under seven minutes later, this time from Heather Engel to regain a Cardinal lead.
Freshman Monique Gjini notched her fourth goal of the year on an unassisted effort in the 23rd minute, extending the U of L advantage to 3-1, which carried into halftime.
Reedy, who became the Racers all-time leading scorer, edged MSU closer at 58:20 on a penalty kick to make it 3-2 Cards.
Craft scored her third of the match and team-leading sixth of the season 1:21 later for a 4-2 lead.
Reedy struck again in the 63rd minute on another corner to cut the lead again to one, but Podvin netted her fifth of the season at 76:11 to ice the game for the Cards on an assist from U of L keeper Meredith Miller's goal kick.
The hat trick by Craft was the first of her career and the first by a Cardinal since Amber Jolley picked up three tallies at Morehead State on August 28th, in the 1999 season opener.
Louisville outshot Murray 29-9, with an 11-7 edge in shots on goal. Louisville was paced by Podvin with seven shots. Craft had four, followed by Mandy Rost and Gjini each with three and freshmen Laura Walker and Jen Avila who had two apiece. Gina Lower had one shot in the match.
Freshman keeper Tiffany Hansen gave up one goal in the first half to pick up the win, while Miller gave up a pair of goals, playing the second half. Miller's assist was the second of her career.
Combined with a 7-0 win over Evansville last Friday, the Cards have scored 12 goals in the last two matches, the highest total since the sixth and seventh games of the 1986 slate when the Cards picked up 6-1 and 7-0 wins. The 1997 Cards are the only other team to open with a 4-1 record through five games.
The Cards open a home weekend Friday, hosting Wright State at 7:00 p.m. at Cardinal Park. Louisville will face Xavier Sunday at 1:00 p.m. Admission is free, and all home matches can be viewed on-line via Gametracker on UofLsports.com.
