No. 9 Field Hockey Defeats Indiana 4-1 in Season Opener

Friday, August 25

LOUISVILLE, KY

2:00 PM

University of Louisville

(1-0)

INDIANA

(0-1)

Indiana

Louisville

No. 9 Field Hockey Defeats Indiana 4-1 in Season Opener

August 25, 2017 | Field Hockey

Box Score Justine Sowry Post Game Interview Abby Grimes Post Game Interview Louisville 4 - Indiana 1 (PDF)Photo Gallery

Freshman Marisa Martin Pelegrina leads the team with two goals and two assists

By: Lori Korte

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Freshman Marisa Martin Pellegrina scored a pair of goals added two assists to help the ninth-ranked University of Louisville field hockey team defeat visiting Indiana 4-1 in both teams' season opener Friday at Trager Stadium.

The Cardinals (1-0) wasted little time getting on the scoreboard after drawing a penalty corner in the fourth minute of the game. Martin Pelegrina got the corner started and Nicole Woods provided the stop for senior Abby Grimes who connected on her first goal of the season at the 4:25 mark.

Martin Pelegrina's first career goal came midway through the first half on another Cardinal penalty corner. This time Grimes' shot was turned back by Indiana's Katie Johnson, but the freshman was there for the rebound and sent the ball into the cage.

Five minutes later, Martin Pelegrina received a pass from fellow freshman Meghan Schneider dribbled across the top of the circle, got past a defender and delivered quick reverse shot past a diving Johnson to make the score 3-0 with 7:48 remaining in the half.

IU (0-1) drew a pair of corners in the final two minutes of the first half, but the Cardinals' defense held strong and sophomore Hollyn Barr posted one of her three first-half saves to keep the Hoosiers off the scoreboard. Louisville entered the break leading 3-0 after holding an 8-4 advantage in shots while the Hoosiers held a 5-2 edge in corners.

Louisville opened the second half much like it started the game, with an early goal off of a penalty corner. Senior Nicole Woods earned the corner in the fourth minute and this time junior Taylor Stone sent a shot into the top corner of the cage to register her first score of the season with assists from Martin Pelegrina and senior Marigrace Ragsdale to increase UofL's lead to 4-0.

The Hoosiers increased the offensive pressure in the second half and held a 6-5 edge in shots while Louisville possessed a 4-1 advantage in corners. IU appeared to score midway through the half when Sheridan Weiss redirected a shot into the top of the cage over Louisville defender Alli Bitting and Barr, but the goal was disallowed when a video referral indicated it was a dangerous shot.

After being awarded a penalty corner following the play, Indiana got on the board when Ciara Girouard connected on a rebound off of Barr's pads to make the score 4-1 with just over 14 minutes left to play.

In the game, Louisville held a 13-10 edge in shots while each team had six corners. Barr (1-0) collected six saves in her first career start, while Johnson (0-1) had five stops.

"It's great to get a win," said UofL head coach Justine Sowry. "Basically it looked to me like we're two weeks into the season and we've got a lot of young ones on the pitch. There were some good things and some not so good things. We're going to make some mistakes along the way. As long as we improve and address some of those things on the pitch. Hopefully some of those mistakes aren't catastrophic, which today they weren't, we're moving in the right direction."

The Cardinals return to action Sunday when they play host to defending national champion, No. 3 Delaware at 12 p.m. at Trager Stadium.