No. 6 Lacrosse Uses Strong First Half to Defeat Canisius 15-7 on Wednesday

Wednesday, March 16

Buffalo, N.Y.

4:00 PM

University of Louisville

8-1

Canisius

2-3

Louisville

Canisius

No. 6 Lacrosse Uses Strong First Half to Defeat Canisius 15-7 on Wednesday

March 16, 2016 | Women's Lacrosse

Box Score

Julie Wood leads the Cardinals with a career-high four goals

By: Kim Pemberton

BUFFALO, N.Y. – The No. 6 Louisville women's lacrosse team bounced back from its first loss of the season with a 15-7 win at Canisius on Wednesday afternoon. Sophomore Julia Wood led the Cardinals with a career-high four goals while Kelli Gerding added three goals and one assist.

"We played a tremendous first half while facing a double-face guard and having other players step up and execute," said head coach Kellie Young. "I am proud of the win but we have to get back to putting two halves of great lacrosse together."

The Cardinals took a commanding 6-0 lead to start the game. Sophomore Madison Hoover scored the first goal 30 seconds in off a pass from Heidi Smith. Hannah Koloski scored two minutes later and less than 30 seconds later Hoover struck again for the Cardinals, giving them a 3-0 lead.

Gerding scored her first goal at the 21:14 mark and Hoover scored her first hat trick at the 21:01 mark off a pass from Jillian Balog. Gerding capped the scoring run at the 19:46 mark with an unassisted goal and a 6-0 Louisville lead.

Canisius scored at the 17:42 mark and again at the 10:40 mark to cut the lead to 6-2. That sparked a 5-0 scoring run by the Cardinals. Canisius scored again with 2:01 left in the first half to cut the lead to 11-3. Kaylin Morissette scored with 1:54 left for a 12-3 lead at the half.

Louisville finished the first half with a 23-8 shot advantage and an 11-5 advantage at the draw. The Cardinal defense forced Canisius to turn the ball over nine times while the Cardinals only turned it over six times. Brittany Read finished with three saves while Rebecca VanLaeken finished with six.

Canisius started the second half on a 2-0 scoring run. Wood scored the first Louisville goal of the half with 23:21 remaining. Canisius cut the lead to 13-6 with a free position goal with 17:43 left to play. Cortnee Daley scored at the 11:31 mark to give the Cardinals a 14-6 lead.

Canisius cut the lead to 14-7 at the 2:39 mark. But Wood scored her fourth goal with four seconds remaining to give Louisville the 15-7 bounce back win.

Louisville finished the game with a 36-23 shot advantage and a 16-7 advantage at the draw. Morissette finished with a season-high 16 draws to lead the Cardinals. The Cardinals finished the game going 15 of 15 on clears. Read finished the game with eight saves while Emily Howell led the Cardinals with four ground balls.

Gerding, Hoover and Koloski finished the game with three goals each. Morissette and Daley each finished with a goal.

The Cardinals will be back in action on Sunday, March 20 as they host Coastal Carolina at the UofL Lacrosse Stadium for a 1:00 p.m. start.