McCrudden Lifts No. 8 Field Hockey to Overtime Win at Michigan State

Sunday, September 11

East Lansing, MI

2:00 PM

University of Louisville

(6-0)

Michigan State

(4-2)

OT 2

Louisville

Michigan State

McCrudden Lifts No. 8 Field Hockey to Overtime Win at Michigan State

September 11, 2016 | Field Hockey

Box Score Louisville 1 - Michigan State 0 (OT)

Cards beat Spartans 1-0 for sixth-straight win

EAST LANSING, Mich. – Senior Erin McCrudden's goal in the third minute of overtime lifted the No. 8 University of Louisville field hockey team to a 1-0 win over Michigan State (4-2) Sunday afternoon at MSU's Ralph Young Field. The victory extends the Cardinals' win streak to six games – their best start since 1977.

"I am very proud of our team's performance today," said UofL head coach Justine Sowry. "That was one of the grittiest wins that we have had against a very energetic and resilient Michigan State team. Their goalkeeper was superb and kept denying our shots and the easy thing for us to do would be to panic and lose our poise. We kept to our identity and kept persisting. We deserved to win this game and fortunately overtime was on our side on this occasion and it was a great finish by Erin."

McCrudden's first goal of the season came at the 2:17 mark in overtime on an assist from fellow senior Shannon Sloss.

Louisville and Michigan State (4-2) battled through 72 scoreless minutes before McCrudden's game-winning goal. In that span, the Cardinals outshot the Spartans 19-6 and held a 15-2 advantage in corners - including three in the final minutes of regulation.

The first half was evenly contested with UofL garnering a 6-4 lead in shots and a 3-2 edge in corners. Sophomore goalkeeper Ayeisha McFerran kept the Spartans off the scoreboard with two saves late in the half.

Coming out of the break, the Cardinals increased their attack, reeling off 12 shots to the Spartans' two. Michigan State goalkeeper Katie Miller held Louisville's offense at bay with seven saves in the half, totaling eight in the game. UofL earned 12 corners in the second half, including one as time expired, but a shot by freshman Bethany Russ hit the post to send the contest into overtime.

The teams entered a 15-minute, sudden-victory overtime period with each team fielding seven players. The Cardinals continued to attack and gained control of the ball on a fast break in the third minute of play. Sloss sent a feed to McCrudden who chipped a shot in past Miller for the win.

McFerran (5-0) got the win while recording three saves.

Louisville returns to action on Sept. 16 when the Cardinals will open ACC play against No. 2 Duke at Trager Stadium.