No. 9 Cards Take Down Defending National Champion, No. 3 Delaware

Sunday, August 27

LOUISVILLE, KY

12:00 PM

University of Louisville

(2-0)

DELAWARE

(1-1)

DELAWARE

Louisville

No. 9 Cards Take Down Defending National Champion, No. 3 Delaware

August 27, 2017 | Field Hockey

Box Score Louisville 3 - Delaware 1 (PDF)Justine Sowry Postgame Interview Minout Mink Postgame Interview Photo Gallery

Minout Mink scored twice, Marigrace Ragsdale dished out two assists and Hollyn Barr collected seven saves as the Cards upset No. 3 Delaware

By: Lori Korte

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Sophomore Minout Mink scored twice with assists from senior Marigrace Ragsdale and sophomore Hollyn Barr collected seven saves to help lift the ninth-ranked University of Louisville field hockey team to a 3-1 win over defending national champion, third-ranked Delaware Sunday afternoon at Trager Stadium.

"This is a great start to our season," said UofL head coach Justine Sowry. "It's a new year, it's a new team and they (Delaware) are new as well, so we knew that both teams were going to make mistakes. You've got to take care of the critical players and I think we did a nice job of that and in the circle, both on attack and defense. So we're super-excited, but there's plenty of video to watch today, because we were not very good at times. But what was neat about it was that we rebounded from our mistakes quickly and we can improve a lot. So that's pretty exciting as well."

When the two teams last met, Delaware handed Louisville a 1-0 loss – and their only shutout of the year - to end the Cardinals' 2016 season in the first round of the NCAA tournament. The Blue Hens would go on to win the 2016 NCAA Championship.

With the stage set for the opening weekend of the 2017 season, the top-10 matchup lived up to its billing with both teams attacking at a fast tempo and playing solid defense. In the game, the Cards (2-0) held a 12-10 overall edge in shots with each team registering eight shots on goal. The Blue Hens (1-1) had a 7-4 advantage in penalty corners in the contest.

Louisville was the first to strike when freshman Marisa Martin Pelegrina sent a penalty corner pass from the right side of the cage past Delaware goalkeeper Emmeline Oltmans and sophomore Whena Munn was there to send the ball over the line for her first goal of the season.

The Blue Hens answered 10 minutes later on a penalty corner of their own. Greta Nauck's shot was stopped by Louisville sophomore goalkeeper Hollyn Barr, but Taylor Lister connected on the rebound to even the score at 1-1.

The Cards pulled ahead with under two minutes remaining in the first half when Mink powered a shot into the cage with a penalty corner assist from senior Marigrace Ragsdale.

Louisville took the 2-1 lead into halftime after outshooting Delaware 7-5 and owning a 3-2 edge in corners.

The second half brought the same intensity as the first half with the teams continuing to battle. Delaware earned three penalty corners in the first 13 minutes, but it was Louisville who was able to capitalize on its only corner of the half. Once again, Ragsdale set up Mink who fired a shot into the left side of the cage to give the Cardinals an insurance goal and a 3-1 lead with just under 20 minutes left to play.

The Blue Hens would go on to total five second-half corners with each team registering five shots.

Barr collected seven saves en route to her second career win while Mink, who led the Cards in scoring in 2016, moved her career goal total to 17.

Oltmans (1-1) had five stops in the game for Delaware.

The Cardinals have now won 26 consecutive games against non-conference opponents at Trager Stadium.

Louisville will return to action next weekend when they open a six-game road stretch at Ohio State on Friday and face Kent State in a neutral matchup in Columbus, Ohio on Sunday.