No. 9 Field Hockey Hosts Michigan State and Rutgers This Weekend

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – The ninth-ranked University of Louisville field hockey will wrap up the regular season with a pair of home games this weekend. The Cardinals will face Michigan State Friday at 6 p.m. and will celebrate senior day against Rutgers Sunday at 12 p.m. at Trager Stadium. Admission is free.

Louisville vs. Michigan State
Friday, Oct. 30
Promotions: Fans encouraged to wear Halloween costumes for a halftime "best costume" contest.
"Friends of Jaclyn" night to support pediatric cancer research and awareness: The team will host their special guest Anthony in conjunction with the Friends of Jacklyn Foundation. Friends of Jaclyn Foundation aims to improve the quality of life for children battling pediatric brain tumors and other childhood cancers by pairing them with local teams.

Louisville vs. Rutgers
Sunday, Nov. 1
Promotions: Senior Day – Seniors Megan Anstotz, Elisa Garcia, Katharine Gwynne-Wood and Victoria Stratton will be honored before and after the game.

Cardinal Quick Hits:
• Louisville (11-5, 1-5 ACC) is ranked No. 9 in the most recent NFHCA Coaches Poll released on Oct. 27.
• The Cardinals are led offensively by sophomore Nicole Woods who has 18 points (7G, 4A), fellow sophomore Stephanie Byrne has seven goals and 14 points on the season.
• Freshman goalkeeper Ayeisha McFerran (11-5) carries a1.15 goals against average with league-best eight shutouts in 16 games.
• Senior Elisa Garcia needs one more point to move into a tie for seventh on the school's career points list and one more assist to move to into a tie for third on the all-time assist list.

Last weekend: The Cardinals defeated Central Michigan 3-0 in their lone game of the week. Tess Hannah, Nicole Woods and Erin McCrudden each scored for Louisville.

Up Next: Louisville will travel to Charlottesville, Va. for the ACC Championship. The Cardinals (11-5, 1-5 ACC) earned the No. 6 seed in the tournament and will face third-seeded North Carolina (13-2, 3-2 ACC) in the quarterfinals on Nov. 5 at 4 p.m. All games will be shown on ESPN3/RSN.

Cards against the opponents
Michigan State
Series Record: MSU leads 10-3
Last Meeting: Nov. 1, 2014 - UL won 2-1 in East Lansing, Mich.
Recapping the 2014 matchup: Elisa Garcia had a goal and an assist as the ninth-ranked University of Louisville field hockey team wrapped up the regular season with a 2-1 win at No. 19 Michigan State.
• Garcia gave the Cards a 1-0 lead in the second half, but Becky Stiles answered for the Spartans. Mallory Mason used an assist from Garcia to lift the Cardinals to a 2-1 win.
Scouting the Spartans: Michigan State enters the weekend with a 5-12 overall record and a 2-6 mark in the Big Ten Conference. The Spartans have lost their last four games, most recently, Michigan State fell 5-0 to No. 11 Michigan.
• Sophie Macadre leads the team with 19 points (7G, 5A). Heather Howie and Mallory Tyler follow with 13 points (4G, 5A) apiece. Sierra Patton (3-7) carries a 2.84 goals against average while Katie Miller (2-5) has a 3.26 goals against average.

Cards against the opponents
Rutgers
Series Record: UL leads 8-1
Last Meeting: Oct. 19, 2013 - UL won 2-1 in double-overtime.
Recapping the 2013 matchup: Louisville, Ky. - Senior Erin Schneidtmiller's goal with 5:49 remaining double overtime lifted the 17th ranked University of Louisville field hockey team to a 2-1 win over Rutgers in a BIG EAST Conference game. Alicia Stever put the Scarlet Knights on the scoreboard just two minutes into the game. The lead held until the 65th minute when Shannon Sloss connected on the equalizer.
Scouting the Scarlet Knights: Rutgers brings a 7-9 overall record into the weekend prior to a game at Indiana on Friday. The Scarlet Knights are coming off of a 2-1 win over American University last Friday. Prior to that, Rutgers had lost its last four games.
• Nicole Imbriaco leads the Scarlet Knights with 25 points and 11 goals. Rachel Yaney and Katie Champion each have 15 points with five and six goals respectively.

Honoring the senior class of 2015
Sunday's game against Rutgers will mark the final home game for seniors Megan Anstotz, Elisa Garcia, Katharine Gwynne-Wood and Victoria Stratton. Entering the weekend, the class of 2015 has been part of 54 wins, and has helped the Cardinals reach several milestones. Some of their career highlights inclued: being ranked in the top 10 nationally throughout the past two years, beating the top-ranked team in the nation for the first time in program history (No. 1 North Carolina in 2014); earning an at-large bid to the 2014 NCAA tournament and capturing a share of the 2013 BIG EAST regular season title.

Garcia, Stratton Selected for NFHCA Senior Game
Elisa Garcia and Victoria Stratton have been selected to play in the 2015 Victory Sports Tours/National Field Hockey Coaches Association Division I Senior Game.
• The Division I Senior Game will be played on Saturday, November 21 in Ann Arbor, Mich., on the campus of the University of Michigan at 2:30 p.m.
• Garcia, a midfielder from Santiago, Chile, is a four-year starter and a two-time NFHCA All-West Region selection. The 2015 All-ACC preseason selection and team co-captain is tied for the team-lead with six assists and stands fourth on Louisville's list for career assists with 34. She is currently tied for second on the team with 14 points and stands eighth on the school's all-time list for points with 72.
• Stratton, a defender from Auckland, New Zealand is a four-year starter and three-year team co-captain. She has scored three goals and dished out an assist this season while anchoring the Louisville defense to eight shutouts- the most since 2001.

Cards No. 6 seed in ACC Championship
Louisville earned the No. 6 seed and will face third-seeded North Carolina in the quarterfinals of the 2015 ACC Championship November 5 at 4 p.m. at the University of Virginia in Charlottesville, Va.
• Top-ranked Syracuse (16-0, 6-0) earned the top seed and will receive a bye to the semifinals where the Orange will face the winner of the game between fourth-seeded Virginia (12-4, 3-3)and fifth-seeded Duke (11-5, 2-4) .
• The Cardinals (11-5, 1-5 ACC) are ranked No. 9 in the most recent NFHCA national coaches poll while the Tar Heels (13-2, 4-2 ACC) are ranked third in the nation. In the teams' regular season matchup, North Carolina defeated Louisville 5-0 in Chapel Hill on Sept. 18. The winner of the Louisville/North Caroilna quarterfinal game will play the winner of second-seeded Wake Forest (11-4, 4-2) and seventh-seeded Boston College (9-7, 1-5).

About the ACC Championship
• All six games of the championship will be televised live by the league's Regional Sports Networks, live online on ESPN3, and available on the WatchESPN mobile application.
• Single-session tickets are available for $5 for adults and $3 for youth. Admission is free for students from ACC schools with valid student identification.

Louisville ranked No. 9 in NFHCA poll
The University of Louisville field hockey team is ranked No. 9 in the Penn Monto/NFHCA National Coaches Poll released on Oct. 27. The Cards dropped one spot after beating Central Michigan 3-0 in their only game last week. This marks the sixth week Louisville has appeared in the top 10. The Cards opened the 2015 season at No. 12.
• This marks the 29th straight week the Cardinals have appeared in the top 20 rankings dating back to the 2013 season. The Cards finished 2014 ranked 10th in the final poll. Last season, Louisville spent six weeks in the top 10.
• On Oct. 7, 2014, Louisville appeared at No. 5 in the coaches' poll marking the second top-five appearance in program history with Louisville achieving a program-best No. 4 ranking in the 2002 season.
• All seven ACC teams were included in the NFHCA's top 12. It marks the 32nd consecutive poll that the entire league has been ranked, a streak dating back to October 2012.

Louisville among nation's leaders (Part 2)
The Cardinals rank among the top 25 in shutouts per game (3rd/0.50), goals against average (8th/1.19), penalty corners per game (11th/8.00), save percentage (19th/.743), scoring margin (21st/1.00)
• Freshman goalkeeper Ayeisha McFerran is No. 8 with a 1.15 goals against average. Her .743 save percentage stands at No. 18 in the nation.

Balanced attack
The Cardinals have outscored opponents 35-19 on the season with 10 different players recording goals and eight players with multiple goals.

Stingy defense
The Louisville defense has produced eight shutouts this season, the most since the 2001 team recorded nine. The Cardinals need two more shutouts to tie the school record (10) which was set in 1980.

Tough stretch
The Cardinals recently finished a stretch in which they faced eight ranked opponents in 10 games.
• The stretch started Sept. 11 against then-No. 6 Virginia (L, 3-4) and continued with No. 17 Liberty (W, 2-1). Louisville then traveled to No. 3 North Carolina (L, 0-5) and No. 19 James Madison (W, 5-0) before returning home to face No. 8 Wake Forest (L, 1-2). The past two weekends Cardinals traveled to No. 5 Duke (L, 2-0) and fell 2-1 to No. 1 Syracuse. They ended the stretch with a 3-2 win at No. 13 Boston College on Oct. 16.

Louisville No. 10 in the NCAA RPI
The Cardinals are currently No. 10 in the RPI released by the NCAA on Oct. 27. Seven of Louisville's 2015 opponents are included in the top 20 with all seven ACC teams listed in the top 10. Below is a list of Louisville's opponents in the top 20 of the NCAA's RPI.
1 - Syracuse
2 – North Carolina
3 - Duke
4 - Virginia
5 - Wake Forest
9 - Boston College
12 - Liberty

Youth Factor
With the graduation of seven seniors from the 2014 team, Louisville had some experienced shoes to fill. This year's team features 12 underclassmen, five of whom have started multiple games for the Cardinals. Among the more significant underclassmen contributions:
• Freshman Ayeisha McFerran has started every game and leads the ACC with eight shutouts.
• Sophomore Nicole Woods leads the team with 18 points (7G, 4A) to tie for the team lead.
• Sophomore Stephanie Byrne is tied for the team lead with seven goals.
• Freshman Tess Hannah has played in every game with four starts and has four goals on the season.

Home Sweet Home
Louisville has a 5-3 record at Trager Stadium and is now 23-4 at home since the beginning of the 2013 season.
• The Cards were 8-1 at Trager in 2014. On Oct. 17, 2014 Louisville fell 2-1 in overtime to No. 17 Boston College, snapping a 16 -game home victory streak dating back to the 2012 season.
• Prior to the Boston College loss in 2014, the Cards' last home loss came on Nov. 2, 2012 when they fell 2-1 in overtime to then-No. 5 Connecticut in the semifinals of the BIG EAST Championship.
• In 2013, UofL posted a perfect 10-0 record at Trager Stadium, going undefeated at home for the first time in school history.

Garcia among Louisville's career leaders
Senior Elisa Garcia has moved to No. 5 on Louisville's list for all-time assists. The midfielder currently has 34 career assists and needs one more to move into a tie for third. Nicole Youman (2007-10) owns the career assists record with 52.
• Garcia also currently has 72 career points, placing her at No. 8 on the school's all-time list. She needs one more to move into a tie for seventh. Jessica Javelet (2003-06) owns the all-time record with 176 points.

No. 9 Field Hockey Hosts Michigan State and Rutgers This Weekend

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Players Mentioned

Megan Anstotz

Stephanie Byrne

Elisa Garcia

Katharine Gwynne-Wood

Tess Hannah

Mallory Mason

Erin McCrudden

Ayeisha McFerran

Shannon Sloss

Victoria Stratton

Nicole Woods

University of Louisville Athletics