Field Hockey Spring Wrapup

With the spring semester in the books, the University of Louisville field hockey team will enter summer break fresh off of a productive spring season. The Cardinals produced a 5-0-2 record through four spring weekends and continued to build upon the success of the 2016 season.

"When we started the spring season, we evaluated where the deficiencies were in the fall. We wanted to try something different to try and get more out of this young squad after losing eight seniors," said head coach Sowry who was named the 2016 NFHCA West Region Coach of the Year. "We changed it up on many different levels. With it being a small squad, we couldn't do as much on the field. We only had three team sessions and more one-on-one sessions. We made tremendous gains in the weight room, overall as a squad we were fitter than we've ever been and we took care of our bodies better."

Louisville entered the spring season following a 2016 campaign that saw the Cards produce a 15-6 overall record and earn and at-large bid to the NCAA tournament for the third straight season. The Cardinals were ranked No. 9 in the Penn Monto/National Field Hockey Coaches Poll after spending the entire regular season ranked in the top 10, reaching as high as No. 6.

The spring season proves to be an important step in preparation for the upcoming year – especially after the graduation of eight seniors. The Cardinals began spring play with 14 returning players including All-American Ayeisha McFerran and fellow NFHCA All-West Region selections Minout Mink and Nicole Woods.

"As far as leadership goes, is we rotated the leadership around every week until Nicole Woods and Abby Grimes were voted in as our captains," said Sowry. "Every senior member of the team was rotated around with the freshmen and sophomores to share the leadership. Everyone realized how difficult it is to lead, so that they became better leaders and also better teammates. Everyone 'picked up' and helped the designated leaders and they improved their leadership ability and their ability to speak up and have a voice."

"With eight graduating seniors, it gave everybody an opportunity to have a voice, to speak up and to contribute and so we saw a lot of growth that way as well," continued Sowry. "Our underclassmen had a better comfort level that they had a voice to contribute to this team."

Louisville opened the spring season in the first weekend of April with three games at Trager Stadium. The Cards defeated Michigan State 4-1 and played Michigan to a 2-2 tie before wrapping up the weekend with a 3-0 win against Ohio State.

The followed weekend, the Cardinals traveled to Northwestern where they played to a 2-2 draw against the host Wildcats and picked up a 1-0 win over Iowa.

In the third weekend of spring play, Louisville posted a pair of wins at the Miami (Ohio) Spring Tournament. The Cards opened the day with a 2-0 win over the host RedHawks and went on to beat Kent State 6-1

The Cards wrapped up the spring season back at Trager Stadium, where they defeated Indiana in regulation, sudden-victory and a shootout.

"The work that we did in the first half of the spring was reflected in our performance once we started competition," said Sowry. "We were undefeated in full-field play. Everyone got great playing time, combinations got better. We're going to have depth and flexibility at each position. The important thing will be how well we integrate a big freshman group and do the work over the summer."

Through the seven matches, every player had the opportunity to play and gain valuable experience. "To be honest, they didn't waste a day," said Sowry. "They had great energy and they pushed each other. We tried to put them in situations where they would fail, but they could see themselves recover from that and get out of that. In the past years in the season when things are going great, they're going great, but when they're not going great, they don't know how to get themselves out of those situations and problem solve."

Sowry noted that while everyone grew as players, several did stand out including rising sophomore goalkeeper Hollyn Barr who was named the Most Improved Player in the spring. She was also impressed with rising sophomore Carter Ayars who relished the responsibility of taking over as center back. Rising junior Taylor Stone and rising senior Abby Grimes took on new responsibility at center mid following the graduation of All-American Erin McCrudden.

"All of the players contributed and showed growth while gaining confidence," said Sowry. "All three seniors stepped their leadership to another level. I'm sure there is the extra motivation that we are hosting the ACC Championship and the NCAA Championship. Everyone truly believes that we have a team that can win a championship, but also understands that there is a long way to go between now and then, but everyone is on board to do something very special next season."

University of Louisville Athletics

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Players Mentioned

Carter Ayars

Hollyn Barr

Abby Grimes

Erin McCrudden

Taylor Stone

Nicole Woods

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