No. 12 Field Hockey Beats Richmond 5-1

Sunday, September 4

LOUISVILLE, KY

1:00 PM

University of Louisville

(4-0)

RICHMOND

(2-2)

Richmond

Louisville

September 04, 2016 | Field Hockey

Box Score Photo Gallery Post game interview: Stephanie Byrne Post game interview: Justine Sowry Louisville 5 - Richmond 1 (PDF)

Kahlert and Byrne score a pair of goals, Mink extends scoring streak to four games in 5-1 win

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Lotta Kahlert and Stephanie Byrne each scored a pair of goals to pace the University of Louisville field hockey team in a 5-1 win over Richmond Sunday afternoon at Trager Stadium. The 12^th-ranked Cardinals improve to 4-0 on the season while Richmond falls to 2-2.

The first 10 minutes of the game saw both teams locked in a midfield battle with few scoring opportunities for either side. Louisville broke through in the 11^th minute when Kahlert intercepted the ball in the circle, spun past a defender and delivered a shot past Richmond goalkeeper Amanda Hoyt.

The Spiders answered three minutes later when Hannah Thomson received a long pass from Hannah Luce near the 50 yard line, maneuvered around a Louisville defender and dribbled to the top of the circle where she rifled a shot past Louisville's Ayeisha McFerran to knot the score at 1-1.

Richmond's defense held through four Louisville penalty corners in the span of five minutes, but the Cards struck again with 1:07 remaining in the first half. Senior Shannon Sloss sent a feed from the left side of the circle to freshman Minout Mink who collected her team-best fifth goal of the season and extended her scoring streak to four straight games.

UofL took the 2-1 lead into the break after outshooting Richmond 10-4 and holding a 4-1 advantage in corners in the first half.

The Cardinals added an insurance goal at the 43:33 mark in the game when Kahlert collected a rebound off of the pads of Hoyt and knocked in her second goal of the game.

Four minutes later, Stephanie Byrne extended the lead with her first goal of the season. After a pass from Hailey Netherton was deflected off of a defender's stick, Byrne gathered the ball and sent a shot into the cage to make the score 4-1.

Byrne capped the scoring with her second goal of the game when she connected on a cross from freshman When Munn with just under seven minutes remaining in the game for the 5-1 final.

"[We] needed to really focus on fundamentals," said UofL head coach Justine Sowry. "I think we were in really good spaces, we did what we needed to do in terms of our positioning and the way we were defending, but we just couldn't maintain the ball because our basic skills were really not acceptable. At halftime we took a really long, hard look at that and we just really have to make sure that our first touch on the ball was positive and that we're supporting the ball carrier… we just have to tidy up some things that can really hurt you later in the season. It was a scrappy contest for us, but at the end of the day, we were able to get the job done."

In the game, Louisville outshot Richmond 17-6 and had a 6-2 edge in corners. McFerran (3-0) had four saves in the contest while senior Lizzie Gittens picked up a defensive save for the Cardinals.

Hoyt (2-2) had five stops for the Spiders.

The Cardinals return to action with a pair of road games at Central Michigan and Michigan State next weekend.