No. 11 Field Hockey Travels to No. 14 Northwestern

The eleventh-ranked University of Louisville field hockey team will wrap up a six-game road stretch with a trip to Evanston, Ill. where the Cards will face No. 14 Northwestern on Tuesday at 4 p.m. (ET).

Sept. 19: Louisville at Northwestern
Location: Evanston, Ill.
Venue: Lakeside Field
Time: 4:00 p.m. ET
Television: BTN2Go
Live Scoring: nusports.com

Twitter Updates: @ULFieldHockey

Cardinal Quick Hits
• Tuesday's game will mark the fourth straight top-20 matchup for the Cardinals and the conclusion of a six game road swing.
• The Cardinals bring a 4-3 overall record into Tuesday's game, their first midweek contest of the season.
• Senior co-captain Nicole Woods leads the Cardinals with four goals and nine points. Freshman Marisa Martin Pelegrina also also has nine points with three goals and three assists. Sophomore Minout Mink stands tied for second on the team with three goals.
•Hollyn Barr (4-1) carries a 1.12 goals against average and an .773 save percentage.
• Ayeisha McFerran (0-2) holds a 2.62 goals against average in four appearances after being sidelined due to injury for the first three games of the season.
• Louisville enters Tuesday's contest ranked eleventh in the NFHCA Preseason Coaches' Poll, marking UofL's 45th straight appearance in the top 20 dating back to the 2013 season.
• Justine Sowry is in her seventh season at the helm for the Cardinals. The 2016 NFHCA West Region Coach of the Year has compiled an 84-44 record at Louisville and has an overall 142-75 record while in her 11th season as a head coach.
• The Cards were picked to finish fourth in the ACC preseason coaches' poll. Ayeisha McFerran, Minout Mink and Nicole Woods earned All-ACC preseason honors.
• UofL went 15-6 in 2016 and earned their third consecutive NCAA at-large bid. Louisville returns 14 letterwinners from last year's team and welcomes 10 newcomers.

Cards against the opponents
Northwestern
Series History: UL leads 7-1
Last Meeting: Oct. 9, 2016
• The eighth-ranked Cardinals defeated No. 6 Northwestern 2-0 at Trager Stadium. Nicole Woods and Taylor Stone registered a goal apiece and Ayeisha McFerran had two saves as the Cardinals posted their sixth shutout of the season.
• In the game, Louisville outshot Northwestern 9-4 while the Wildcats held a 3-2 edge in corners. McFerran had two saves in her fifth shutout of the season. Lindsay Von der Luft had four saves for Northwestern.
Scouting the Wildcats: No. 14 Northwestern enters the game with a 5-3 record and on a three-game winning streak. The Wildcast are coming off of a 3-2 overtime win against Ohio State in their Big Ten opener on Friday. Prior that, Northwestern defeated Kent State 2-1 and Temple 9-1 - all at Lakeside Field.
• Puck Pentenga leads the Wildcats with 10 points (2G, 6A) while Saar de Breij and Eva van Agt have scored three goals apiece. Annie Kalfas carries a 1.45 goals against average with an .831 save percentage and two shutouts.
• The teams have had three common opponents so far this season. Both teams have lost to Duke, with the Wildcats falling 1-0 on Sept. 3 and Louisville losing 5-0 last weekend.
Louisville and Northwestern both defeated Kent State with the Cardinals prevailing 5-1 and the Wildcats winning 2-1. Finally, Northwestern is coming off of a 3-2 overtime win against Ohio State and Louisville suffered its first loss of the season at the hands of the Buckeyes on Sept. 1, falling 2-1 in overtime.

Last weekend: The 11th-ranked Cards team fell 5-0 to No. 4 Duke in their ACC opener Friday evening at Duke's Jack Katz Stadium.
• In the game, the Blue Devils outshot Louisville 20-2 and held a 5-2 edge in penalty corners. Junior Ayeisha McFerran (0-2) collected six saves in the game while junior Taylor Stone paced the Cardinals with two shots. Sammie Steele posted her fourth shutout of the season for Duke.
• The loss marked the most goals surrendered by Louisville since Sept. 18, 2015 when it fell 5-0 to then-No. 3 North Carolina in an ACC matchup.

Up Next: After wrapping up a tough six-game road stretch, Louisville will return to the friendly confines of Trager Stadium this weekend where they will face No. 16 Wake Forest in an ACC matchup on Friday at 6 p.m. On Sunday, the Cardinals will face No. 13 James Madison as they play their sixth consecutive game against a top 20 opponent.

Young and talented
The Cardinals' 2017 roster features nine freshmen and six sophomores. Through the first two weeks of play, Louisville's starting lineup has featured as many as three freshmen and three sophomores with all 15 underclassmen seeing playing time.
• Freshman Marisa Martin Pelegrina is tied among the team leaders with nine points (3G, 3A) while sophomore Minout Mink is tied for the team lead with three goals and has one assist. Fellow sophomore goalkeeper Hollyn Barr carries a 4-1 record and 1.12 goals against average.

Balanced offense
Louisville has scored 15 goals in its first seven games of the season with seven different players accounting for the offensive output. Nicole Woods leads the team with four goals while Minout Mink and Marisa Martin Pelegrina have tallied three scores apiece.

Mink Shines
With three goals on the season, sophomore Minout Mink is picking up where she left off after last year's impressive rookie campaign. She garnered 2016 NFHCA All-West Region first team and All-ACC second team honors after leading the team with 15 goals, setting a school record for goals scored by a freshman.

Cards No. 11 in NFHCA Rankings
UofL is No. 11 in the 2017 Penn Monto/National Field Hockey Coaches Association Division I Poll released on Sept. 12, dropping two spots after two weeks at No. 9 where the Cardinals debuted at their highest preseason ranking in program history.
• This week snaps a streak of 12 straight weeks in the top 10 for Cardinals have appeared in the NFHCA top 10 in 12 straight ranking periods dating back to Sept. 8, 2016. UofL finished last season at No. 9 after posting a 15-6 overall record and earning its third-straight NCAA tournament bid.
• This marks the 45th straight week the Cardinals have appeared in the top 20 rankings dating back to the 2013 season.
• On Oct. 7, 2014, Louisville appeared at No. 5 in the coaches' poll marking the second top-five appearance in program history with Louisville achieving a program-best No. 4 ranking in the 2002 season.

ACC strong
All seven ACC field hockey programs are ranked among the top 20 in the nation with six appearing in the top 10. The 11th-ranked Cardinals join Syracuse (No. 3), Duke (No. 4), Virginia (No. 5), North Carolina (No. 7) and Boston College (No. 10) in the top 10 while Wake Forest stands at No. 16.
• Every ACC field hockey team has been ranked for the entirety of the last four seasons, a streak that dates to October of 2012 and includes 49 consecutive NFHCA Polls.
International experience
The Cardinals' roster is bolstered by several players who have gained valuable experience within their countries' national programs. The following is a list of players and their national squads.
Marisa Martin Pelegrina - German U18 Team
Ayeisha McFerran - Irish National Team (2015-present)
      • World League 2 Champions (Goalkeeper of the Tournament)
      • Seventh place finish in World League Semifinals
Meghan Schneider - U.S. U19 Team
Taylor Stone - U.S. U21 Team (USA/England Tour Roster); Also played in 2017 Maccabiah Games in Jerusalem
Nicole Woods - U.S. National Team (Summer 2017)
      • 2017 World League Champions (Johannesburg, S.A.)
      • Bronze Medal 2017 Pan American Cups (Lancaster, Pa.)

Tough road ahead
Twelve of Louisville's 18 opponents appear in the NFHCA preseason top 25. In addition to their ACC opponents, the Cardinals' non-conference slate features matchups against No. 6 Delaware, No. 9 Maryland, No. 8 Michigan, No. 14 Northwestern, No. 13 James Madison and No. 22 American.

Home Sweet Home
Louisville is off to an impressive start to the 2017 season with a 2-0 record at Trager Stadium, bringing its home tally to 34-6 since the 2013 season. In 2016, the Cards posted a 7-2 record at Trager Stadium.
• The Cards were 8-1 at Trager in 2014. On Oct. 17, 2014 Louisville fell 2-1 in overtime to No. 17 Boston College, snapping a 16 -game home victory streak dating back to the 2012 season.
• Prior to the Boston College loss in 2014, the Cards' last home loss came on Nov. 2, 2012 when they fell 2-1 in overtime to then-No. 5 Connecticut in the semifinals of the BIG EAST Championship.
• In 2013, UofL posted a perfect 10-0 record at Trager Stadium, going undefeated at home for the first time in school history.
• Louisville carries a 26-game win streak against non-conference opponents at Trager Stadium. The Cardinals have not lost to a non-conference opponent at home since Aug. 24, 2012 when they fell to Northeastern in their season opener. - Louisville also lost a 2-1 decision to UConn on Oct. 6, 2012 when both teams were members of the BIG EAST Conference.

Championship City
Louisville's Trager Stadium will serve as the host site for two major field hockey championships in November 2017. UofL will kick off the postseason by hosting the ACC Championship Nov. 2-5 and two weeks later will welcome the NCAA DI final four teams. Additionally, Trager Stadium is proud to stage the DI, DII and DIII title games on Nov. 19.
• While this will be the first time the Cardinals have hosted the ACC Championship, it will be the sixth time that Trager Stadium will serve as the host site for the NCAA Division I Field Hockey National Championship. The event was also staged on the Cardinals' home field in 2002, 2005, 2008 and 2011. Trager Stadium has also been selected as the host site for the 2018 NCAA Field Hockey Championship.
• In addition, the NCAA Division II Championship was played at the facility in 2010. Located in Cardinal Park on the UofL campus, Trager Stadium opened in 2000 and was expanded in 2008 with a seating capacity of 2,500.

Barr Tabbed NFHCA Defensive Player of the Week
Hollyn Barr was named the Longstreth/National Field Hockey Coaches Association (NFHCA) Defensive Player of the Week as announced on Wednesday, Aug. 30.
• She became Louisville's first national player of the week since the award was established in 2016.
• Barr helped the Cardinals open the season with a pair of wins over Indiana and defending national champion, third-ranked Delaware. She totaled 13 saves and surrendered only two goals in her first career starts. In the Cardinals' 4-1 victory over Indiana, she posted six saves to pick up her first career win. She followed that performance with seven stops against the Blue Hens on Sunday. In that game, Barr helped the Cardinals hold a Delaware offense that ranked third in the nation in scoring in 2016.

Cards Sweep First 2017 ACC Weekly Honors
Marisa Martin Pelegrina has been named ACC Field Hockey Offensive Player of the Week, while teammate Hollyn Barr was named Defensive Player of the Week.
• Martin Pelegrina made an impressive college debut with two goals and two assists in the Cardinals' season-opening 4-1 win over Indiana on Friday. In that game, she played a part in each of Louisville goals, her two shots in the game resulted in a pair of goals and she delivered assists on the other two goals in the 4-1 win. On Sunday, the freshman dished out her third assist of the season to give the Cardinals an early 1-0 lead against reigning national champion, No. 3 Delaware. Martin Pelegrina led the Cardinals on the weekend with two goals, three assists and seven points.
•Barr finished the weekend with a 2-0 record, tallied 13 saves and while posting a 1.00 goals against average and an .867 save percentage.

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Players Mentioned

Hollyn Barr

Marisa Martin Pelegrina

Ayeisha McFerran

Minout Mink

Meghan Schneider

Taylor Stone

Nicole Woods

University of Louisville Athletics