
Women's Lacrosse Faces Detroit on Sunday in Home Opener
February 14, 2014 | Women's Lacrosse
Feb. 14, 2014
LOUISVILLE, Ky. - The University of Louisville women's lacrosse team has only six opportunities this season to play in front of its home crowd. The first comes Sunday in the team's home opener against Detroit 1 p.m. ET at the UofL Lacrosse Stadium.
The Cardinals took advantage of last year's home games, posting a school-best 8-1 record that included a win over No. 13 Ohio State. In those nine games, Louisville outscored its opponents 140-66, and forced its opponents into 91 turnovers.
"We want to show the Louisville community a disciplined, dynamic and powerful team," head coach Kellie Young said when talking about playing at home. "We want to execute in each aspect of the game and have an aggressive defense with a plan to force opponents into zones of the field. Through transition, we want to jump out aggressively and set the tempo of the game. Our attack should highlight a balanced offense with multiple threats in one-on-ones situations and feeds inside.
"The team has worked incredibly hard in the offseason and it's time to showcase our talent and our tenacity to the Louisville community."
Louisville's first home opponent of the season, Detroit, is coming off an 18-3 loss to the Buckeyes. The Titans (0-1) were limited to just six shots - Erin Campbell had three goals on four shots - for the game and turned the ball over 18 times. Detroit's goalkeeper Lexie McCormick faced 28 shots in the game, and her 11 saves warranted Atlantic Sun Defensive Player of the Week accolades.
"They are a quick and feisty squad," Young said of Detroit. "We've seen their strengths in the one-on-one attack, their willingness to challenge hard, and challenge through pressure and in their defensive zone. On defense, they switch between a player to player and two separate zones to confuse their opponents."
Louisville (0-1) is also coming off a season-opening loss in which it fell to then-No. 6 Duke 14-11. The Cardinals jumped out to a 4-0 lead, but were unable to sustain the advantage the Blue Devils completed the comeback with four of the game's final five goals.
Nikki Boltja matched a game high with five goals, while Faye Brust recorded a hat trick. Kaylin Morissette and Monica Negron combined for 12 of the team's 14 draw controls, and Leslee Hefner compiled one of her best performances with four ground balls and three caused turnovers.
The last time the two teams met, the Cardinals dealt the Titans a 19-2 loss on March 13, 2013, in Detroit. Nine different players scored a goal, and the defense registered 17 caused turnovers. Louisville also finished with a 20-3 advantage on the draw.
Boltja paced Louisville with five goals on eight shots, and six players had two-goal games. Negron won a game-best seven draw controls, and both Hillary Bushway and Negron forced three turnovers apiece. Morissette, who had two goals, also had seven draw controls.
Detroit returns eight starters from last year's squad, which ranked No. 3 nationally with 20.58 ground balls per game. McCormick, who started all 19 games in 2013, ranked second in the country in saves (174), eighth in saves per game (9.16), and was tied for 10th with teammate Amanda Guthrie in ground balls per game (2.89).
For the latest information on Louisville women's lacrosse, log on to GoCards.com, or, for up-to-the-minute updates, follow the team's Twitter account at www.twitter.com/LouisvilleLax or on Facebook at www.facebook.com/UofLLacrosse.



















