Ragsdale Leads No. 11 Field Hockey Past New Hampshire 5-2

Sunday, October 8

Durham, NH

12:00 PM

University of Louisville

(10-4)

New Hampshire

(5-7)

Louisville

New Hampshire

Ragsdale Leads No. 11 Field Hockey Past New Hampshire 5-2

October 08, 2017 | Field Hockey

Box Score Louisville 5 - New Hampshire 2 Highlights (Courtesy UNH Wildcat Productions

Senior Marigrace Ragsdale scored two goals and added an assist to lead the Cardinals to their sixth straight win

By: Lori Korte

Senior Marigrace Ragsdale scored two goals and dished out an assist to lead the No. 11 University of Louisville field hockey team to a 5-2 win over host New Hampshire Sunday afternoon at Memorial Field. With the victory, the Cardinals (10-4) extend their win streak to six games.

"We knew it was going to be a challenge today against a quality team with a great midfield," said UofL head coach Justine Sowry. "We had some bad lapses which UNH capitalized on. Fortunately, we were able to capitalize offensively as a unit. Overall a very pleasing weekend with two great road wins which is not easy with the schedule that we play."

The teams played through seven scoreless minutes before the Cardinals broke through at the 7:45 mark on a penalty corner. Freshman Marisa Martin Pelegrina got the corner started and senior Nicole Woods provided the stop for senior Abby Grimes who sent a shot into the right side of the cage for her first goal of the season.

The Wildcats answered in the 28^th minute of the game when Katie Audino connected on a cross from Taylor Scafidi to even the score at 1-1.

The Cardinals countered with 2:10 left to play in the half. Martin Pelegrina sent a feed to senior Marigrace Ragsdale to put Louisville back on top. Louisville took the 2-1 lead into the break after outshooting New Hampshire 6-4 and holding a 2-1 edge in corners.

The Cards attacked early in the second half with a pair of goals in the first four minutes. Sophomore Minout Mink received an outlet pass from Grimes at the 50-yard line and dribbled to the top of the circle where she evaded two UNH defenders and delivered her team-best eighth goal of the season off of a reverse stick shot.

Two minutes later, Mink sent a baseline pass to Woods who was stationed at the top of the circle and fired her sixth goal of the season past the Wildcats' goalkeeper Kelsey Rudert to extend Louisville's lead to 4-1.

Once again, New Hampshire responded with another goal from Audino to bring the score to 4-2 at the 46:02 mark.

The Cardinals added a final goal with Ragsdale notched her second goal of the game and fifth of her career with just over 10 minutes remaining in the game. Woods fired the ball in from outside the circle and Ragsdale deflected a shot into the cage for her second goal of the game and fifth of the season.

Louisville goalkeeper junior Ayeisha McFerran (6-3) collected two saves to get the win while Rudert had four stops for the Wildcats. In the game, Louisville outshot New Hampshire 15-11 and had a 5-2 edge in corners.

The Cardinals (10-4, 3-1 ACC) return to action on Oct. 14 when they travel to sixth-ranked North Carolina for an ACC matchup.