No. 10 Cards Fall 1-0 to No. 4 Duke in Sudden-Victory Shootout

Friday, October 12

LOUISVILLE, KY

6:00 p.m.

University of Louisville

(10-4, 2-3ACC)

DUKE

(12-3, 4-1ACC)

OT 1

OT 2

OT 3

DUKE

Louisville

Photo by: Jermaine Bibb | Louisville Athletics

No. 10 Cards Fall 1-0 to No. 4 Duke in Sudden-Victory Shootout

October 12, 2018 | Field Hockey

Box Score Duke 1 - Louisville 0 Photo Gallery Justine Sowry Interview

Cards held scoreless for the first time this season in shootout loss

By: Lori Korte

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – The 10^th ranked University of Louisville field hockey team lost 1-0 to No. 4 Duke in a sudden-victory shootout Friday evening at Trager Stadium. The Cardinals (10-4, 2-3 ACC) will return to action Sunday when they play host to Miami (Ohio) in their home finale at 12 p.m.

The last time the teams met resulted in a 3-2 shootout win for Louisville to send the Cardinals to the finals of the 2017 ACC Championship. The 2018 contest was equally as thrilling, but produced a different result with the Blue Devils emerging with a 1-0 win after two sets of shootouts.

"Obviously to lose at the very end after a game like that is heartbreaking. It was a heck of a game against two great teams," said UofL head coach Justine Sowry. "It's always unfortunate when it comes down to that. But, I'm really pleased with our performance during the game. Probably one of our best games that we put together this season - and against a very good team. So, we can still take a lot of lessons from this game."

The top-10 ACC matchup featured a battle through 70 scoreless minutes during regulation with the Blue Devils (11-3, 4-1) and the Cardinals trading possession. Each team had scoring chances with Duke owning a 6-1 lead in shots and the penalty corners even with two apiece, but the defenses proved to be stalwart on both sides.

When the contest entered a sudden-victory overtime period, Duke seemed to gain momentum, firing off three shots and earning a corner in the closing seconds, but the Louisville defense held strong with senior Ayeisha McFerran posting a save after time expired.

In the second overtime, the Cardinals built some momentum of their own, drawing a pair of corners, this time, Duke goalkeeper Sammi Steele turned back a pair of shots by sophomore Bethany Russ and the Blue Devil defense blocked another attempt by sophomore Mercedes Pastor to send the game to a shootout.

In the best-of-five series, Louisville sophomore Meghan Schneider converted her first attempt. McFerran thwarted tries by Rose Tynan and Leah Crouse. Steele stymied attempts by Russ and senior Katie Walsh, but Margaux Paolino found the back of the cage to even the tally at 1-1.

Louisville senior Taylor Stone appeared to push the Cardinals ahead, but after a video referral concluded offsetting infractions, the decision was made to retake the shot. On her second attempt, Stone's shot hit the post to keep the shootout score at 1-1.

Erin Scherrer's goal pulled the Blue Devils ahead 2-1 in the series, but a penalty stroke called on Louisville sophomore Mercedes Pastor's attempt brought Stone back in for the stroke attempt and this time she found the back of the cage and evened the score at 2-2. McFerran held Haley Schleicher at bay to send the contest to a sudden-victory shootout round.

In the second round, McFerran turned back Paulino's attempt and Meghan Schneider's shot sailed wide. Tynan and Pastor each made good on their tries to bring the score to 1-1. Once again Scherrer sent the ball into the cage to push Duke ahead 2-1 and Steele turned away Russ's shot to seal the win for the Blue Devils.

In the game, Duke held an 11-4 edge in shots and the team's earned four penalty corners apiece. McFerran (10-4) collected three saves while Steele had two stops to help keep Louisville off of the scoreboard for the first time this season.

"I feel like defensively, we took some risks and it didn't pay off a lot of the times," said Sowry. "But we also had some opportunities because of those risks that we took. We learned a lot about pressing today, and over the course of the week. So I was really happy with our performance… I thought it was a heck of a game by two great teams and unfortunately, someone was going to lose, and it's a pity that it was us tonight."