Russ's Goal in OT Lifts No. 10 Cards to 3-2 Win against Miami (Ohio)

Sunday, October 14

LOUISVILLE, KY

12:00 p.m.

University of Louisville

(11-4)

MIAMI (OH)

(10-6)

OT 2

MIAMI

Louisville

Russ's Goal in OT Lifts No. 10 Cards to 3-2 Win against Miami (Ohio)

October 14, 2018 | Field Hockey

Box Score Louisville 3 - Miami 2 (OT)Photo Gallery Justine Sowry Postgame Interview Senior Class Postgame Interview

Bethany Russ scores a pair of goals, including the game-winner in overtime to help Louisville beat Miami 3-2

By: Lori Korte

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Bethany Russ's goal in overtime lifted the tenth-ranked University of Louisville field hockey team to a 3-2 win over Miami (Ohio) Sunday afternoon at Trager Stadium. With the win in their home finale, the Cardinals improve to 11-4 while the RedHawks drop to 10-6.

"It was a battle out there," said UofL head coach Justine Sowry. "Miami is a great team. They brought a great competition today to us. We struggled. They're a talented team with talented individuals, and we struggled. We struggled to connect passes today, which is disappointing, I thought we would be better than that. But it's very gritty and gutsy of us to comeback multiple times to send it into overtime."

Russ's game-winning goal came at the 1:42 mark in the overtime period after sophomore Mercedes Pastor earned a penalty corner. Sophomore Alli Bitting got the play started with a feed to Russ who fired a shot into the left side of the cage. After scoring a pair of goals in the contest, the redshirt sophomore now leads the team with a career-best nine goals, with five of them standing as game-winners.

Louisville's overtime victory was the culmination of an evenly-played contest which saw the Cardinals battle to even the score twice in regulation.

Miami broke open a scoreless tie by earning a penalty corner in the closing seconds of the first half. After time expired. Leonor Berlie connected on assists from Estel Roig and Noor Breedijk to give the RedHawks a 1-0 lead after holding a 3-2 edge in shots and a 2-1 advantage in penalty corners in the first half.

The Cardinals countered in the eighth minute of the second half when Pastor drove the ball up the baseline and sent a cross to the right post where sophomore Madison Walsh was waiting to tap in her first goal of the season to even the score at 1-1.

The teams continued to play a midfield game throughout the next 15 minutes and Miami began to gain some momentum, earning a pair of penalty corners in a three-minute span. On their second attempt, the RedHawks capitalized to take a 2-1 lead after Berlie's shot glanced off a Louisville defender's stick.

The Cardinals intensified their attack in the final five minutes of the match, earning two penalty corners and tallying a pair of shots. Louisville capitalized on its third corner of the half which came with under two minutes remaining in regulation. Senior Maria Gomez inserted the ball and senior Katie Walsh provided the stick stop for Russ, who launched a shot past Miami goalkeeper Maddie Passarella to knot the score at 2-2 with 59 seconds left on the clock.

The RedHawks attempted to put together a final push, but Paula Portugal's shot sailed over the cage in the closing seconds of regulation.

In the second half, each team collected five shots while Miami held a 4-3 edge in corners.

The teams entered a sudden-victory 7v7 overtime period with the RedHawks down a player after a yellow card was issued to Noor Breedijk with 32 seconds left in the second half.

Louisville took advantage of the numbers and quickly earned a corner to set up the game-winning play.

In the game, Louisville outshot Miami 9-7 and the RedHawks held a 6-5 advantage in corners. Senior Ayeisha McFerran collected four saves while Passarella had two stops for the RedHawks.

"We were fortunate enough to have a player up multiple times toward the end of the game and into overtime, so that obviously benefitted us," said Sowry. "That's a positive for us as well. In the past when we've been a player up, we haven't really managed that situation that well, but we actually did a really nice job late in the game to tie it up and then also in overtime being a player up. We knew how to press, we knew how to attack, we were able to finish the job."

Louisville will play the remainder of its schedule on the road starting with a pair of contest in New York next weekend. The Cardinals will wrap up ACC play at No. 9 Syracuse Friday at 7 p.m. and finish the weekend at No. 23 Albany Sunday at 1 p.m.

The Cardinals honored seniors Maria Gomez, Ayeisha McFerran, Taylor Stone and Katie Walsh prior to the game. The class has won 53 games while compiling an impressive 34-10 record at Trager Stadium.
• The class has helped the program reach several milestones including NCAA appearances in each of their three seasons.
• Last season, they helped the Cardinals to a program-best 4-2 record in ACC play and finished tied for second in the conference. They each played an integral role in Louisville's historic run to the ACC finals after a dramatic shootout win over Duke in the semifinals.
• Their teams have been a mainstay in the national top 20 rankings throughout their careers, while spending 35 weeks among the top 10, reaching as high as No.7 twice.