No. 7 Field Hockey Falls 6-2 to No. 4 Michigan

Sunday, October 22

LOUISVILLE, KY

12:00 PM

University of Louisville

(11-6)

MICHIGAN

(15-2)

Michigan

Louisville

October 22, 2017 | Field Hockey

Box Score Justine Sowry Postgame Interview Photo Gallery:

Senior Abby Grimes scored twice in the Cardinals' 6-2 loss to No. 4 Michigan

By: Lori Korte

Senior Abby Grimes scored a pair of goals, but it wasn't enough as the seventh-ranked University of Louisville field hockey team fell 6-2 to No. 4 Michigan Sunday afternoon at Trager Stadium.

Michigan (15-2) wasted little time getting on the scoreboard after drawing an early penalty corner. Halle O'Neill deflected Katie Trombetta's shot to put her team on the scoreboard.

The Wolverines added another goal six minutes later when Emma Way slotted feed from Maggie Bettez into the cage.

The Cardinals (11-6) countered on their first penalty corner of the game. Junior Maria Gomez got the corner started and senior Marigrace Ragsdale provided the stop for Grimes whose shot glanced off the pads of Michigan goalkeeper Sam Swenson and into the cage to make the score 2-1.

Kayla Reed's penalty stroke pushed the Wolverines lead to 3-1 with under seven minutes left in the first half.

The teams entered the break with Michigan leading 3-1 after outshooting Louisville 9-4 and holding a 4-3 edge in corners.

The Wolverines converted on another corner 12 minutes into the second half when Carly Bennett tipped Trombetta's initial shot give Michigan a 4-1 lead.

Three minutes later, Louisville cut the lead in half behind Grimes second goal of the game. This time freshman Marisa Martin Pelegrina inserted the ball and senior Nicole Woods stopped it for Grimes' fifth goal of the season.

The Michigan offense continued with goals by Bennett and Meg Dowthwaite within a 10-minute span to bring the score to 6-2.

The Cardinals had a final scoring opportunity with a corner awarded as time expired, but junior Taylor Stone's shot was blocked to keep the final score at 6-2.

In the game, Michigan outshot Louisville 14-10 while the Cardinals held a 7-5 edge in corners.

Junior Ayeisha McFerran (7-5) collected five saves while Michigan's Sam Swenson (15-2) had four stops in the game.

"They were a much better team than us today," said UofL head coach Justine Sowry. "They're ranked where they're ranked for a reason, and they are talented from end to end. Their goalkeeper was outstanding. The opportunities that we had, she took care of those and all the way through to the front line. We knew it was going to be a physical battle, and one of our goals was to win the 50/50 balls, but we didn't do that. They were a better team, and it was the little things… it doesn't matter whether you have more talent or not. It's about effort, it's about moving, it's about communicating, and we failed to do that today. That really hurts you when you're playing against a team like Michigan."

The Cardinals (11-6) will wrap up the regular season and celebrate senior day on Oct. 29 when Ohio visits Trager Stadium for a 1 p.m. matchup.