No. 12 Field Hockey Defeats Brown 7-1

Saturday, September 3

LOUISVILLE, KY

11:00 AM

University of Louisville

(3-0)

BROWN

(0-2)

Brown

Louisville

September 03, 2016 | Field Hockey

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Cards win home opener 7-1

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Senior Lizzie Gittens scored twice and junior Nicole Woods tied a school record with three assists to help lead the 12^th-ranked University of Louisville field hockey team to a 7-1 win over Brown Saturday afternoon in the Cardinals' home-opener at Trager Stadium. UofL improve to 3-0 on the season while Brown drops to 0-2.

"We love playing at Trager," said UofL head coach Justine Sowry. "We were incredibly focused and we stuck to our game plan. We're continuing to work on our identity and that's pass the ball and connections and finding each other. I thought we did a really nice job of it today."

Louisville jumped to an early lead in the fourth minute of the game when Gittens connected on penalty corner assists from senior Erin McCrudden and Woods to put the Cardinals on the scoreboard.

Midway through the first half, Gittens added her second goal of the contest on another Cardinal penalty corner. Junior Stephanie Byrne pushed the ball out and Woods provided the stop for Gittens who delivered her second career goal at Louisville.

The Cards took the 2-0 lead into halftime after outshooting the Bears 8-2 and holding a 6-1 advantage in corners in the first half.

Louisville quickly extended its lead in the first two minutes of the second half. Senior when senior Lotta Kahlert collected the ball off of Brown goalkeeper Katie Hammaker's pads and sent it into the cage for her second goal of the season which gave the Cards a 3-0 advantage.

The Bears got on the scoreboard 10 minutes later when Ellie Seid connected on a feed from Lucy Green to make the score 3-1.

UofL answered by scoring a pair of goals within a one-minute span to push the lead to 5-0. Junior Marigrace Ragsdale received a pass from freshman Carter Ayars and dribbled into the right side of the circle and found senior Shannon Sloss open on the left side of the cage. Sloss sent the ball past Hammaker for her first goal of the season.

Nearly a minute later freshman Minout Mink notched her team-best fourth goal of the season when she knocked in a rebound off of Hammaker's pads to make the score 5-0.

Sophomore Taylor Stone's first career goal came via penalty corner assists from McCrudden and Ragsdale to increase the Cards lead to 6-0 at the 55:09 mark in the game. Sophomore Annie Himsworth capped the scoring with her first career goal when she connected on a dish from Woods.

Junior Elina Pereira (1-0) had one save in the game to get the win. Overall, the Cardinals owned a 22-4 advantage in shots and a 10-1 lead in corners.

Hammaker (0-2) collected nine saves for the Bears.

Louisville (3-0) will take on Richmond (2-1) Sunday at 1 p.m. at Trager Stadium. Admission is free.

NOTES: Freshman Minout Mink leads the team with four goals and eight points – she has scored at least one goal in each of Louisville's three games.

Junior Nicole Woods tied a school record with three assists in the game
The Cardinals have outscored opponents 14-2 on the season with nine different players accounting for at least one goal.
Senior Erin McCrudden leads the Cards with five assists – she has at least one assist in each of Louisville's games.
Saturday's 7-1 win over Brown marked the fourth straight season the Cards have won their home opener.