Women's Soccer Hosts No. 15 Notre Dame for a Top 25 Showdown on Saturday

LOUISVILLE, Ky. -- The University of Louisville women's soccer team will host No. 15 Notre Dame in Lynn Stadium on Saturday night. The Fighting Irish will be the third consecutive ranked team the Cards have faced.

ABOUT THE CARDINALS
Louisville enters the match on a four-game unbeaten streak and is in a five-way tie for first place in the ACC with a 2-0-1 record. The Cardinals beat No. 17 Boston College 3-2 in double overtime on Sunday afternoon to remain undefeated in conference play.

Brooklynn Rivers leads the Cardinals with 10 points. She has four goals and two assists on the year. Gabrielle Vincent enters the game second on the team in points with three goals and two assists, while Jill Vetere and Allison Whitfield each add two goals and three assists on the year.

Taylor Bucklin leads the Cardinals in goal with a 7-2-2 record and five shutouts on the season. She has a 0.79 goals against average, allowing only nine goals. She also has 29 saves on the year.

Head coach Karen Ferguson-Dayes is in her 17th season with the Cardinals. She has guided Louisville to four NCAA Tournament appearances, including a Sweet 16 appearance in 2011.

SCOUTING NOTRE DAME
Notre Dame enters the game with an overall record of 7-1-3 and a conference record of 2-0-1, coming off a 4-0 win over Pittsburgh on Sunday afternoon in South Bend.

Freshman forward Jennifer Westendorf comes into the game leading the Fighting Irish with five goals on the season. Junior forward Karin Muya has added two goals and two assists. Senior forward Kaleigh Olmsted leads Notre Dame in assists on the season with four and has added a goal of her own.

Senior goalkeeper Kaela Little brings in a 0.44 goals against average and 47 saves for the Eagles on season.

Theresa Romagnolo is in her third season at Notre Dame, where she has guided the Fighting Irish to the NCAA Tournament in both years and one ACC tournament appearance. She came to Notre Dame after a three year stint at Dartmouth.

SERIES HISTORY
Notre Dame leads the series with a 10-3-0 record against Louisville. In the last matchup in 2014 the Irish took a 1-0 win in South Bend. The last meeting in Louisville, the Cardinals fell to the Irish 5-0.

CARDINALS QUICK HITS
   •The Cardinals have scored four goals in straight three matches this season. The only time in school history the Cardinals have scored four or more goals in three consecutive games in a season was in 1986. Louisville defeated Morehead State 5-0 on Oct. 8 , then defeated Morehead State again 4-1 on Oct. 10, and defeated Kentucky 7-0 on Oct. 11.
   • Freshman Brooklynn Rivers is the only Cardinal player to score multiple goals in multiple games this season. She scored two goals against Belmont and two goals against Toledo.
   • Gabrielle Vincent's hat trick on Aug. 26 was the first hat trick since Emily Cardell scored on against then ranked No. 20 Marquette on Oct. 17, 2010.
   • This season the Cardinal roster has five international players. Returners Inger Katrine Bjerke is from Norway while Tina Marolt is from Slovenia. Joining the Cardinals this season is Sarah Feola from Quebec, Canada, Mhairi Fyfe from Livingston, Scotland, and Kathellen Sousa-Feitoza from Sao Vicente, Brazil.
   • Freshman Allison Whitfield has followed in her sister Casey's footsteps, playing at Louisville. She also wears the number 23, same as Casey. The also are similar in both play, Casey was one of the top play makers for the Cardinals and so far, Allison has lived up to those expectations.
   • The Cardinals have two freshmen with national team experience this season. Freshmen Sarah Feola and Gabrielle Kouzelos have played this summer with their national teams.
   • Once again the Cardinals played Duke to a scoreless tie. All four meetings in the series have resulted in scoreless ties. Both team have played 440 minutes and neither team has scored a goal.
   • In the RPI this week the Cardinals are ranked 40th.

Women's Soccer Hosts No. 15 Notre Dame for a Top 25 Showdown on Saturday

Players Mentioned

Sarah Feola

Mhairi Fyfe

Gabby Kouzelos

Brooklynn Rivers

Kathellen Sousa-Feitoza

Allison Whitfield

University of Louisville Athletics