Pastor's Goal Sends No. 10 Cards to 3-2 Double Overtime Win at No. 15 Syracuse

Friday, October 19

Syracuse, NY

7 PM

University of Louisville

(12-4, 3-3)

Syracuse

(8-6, 1-5)

OT 3

OT 4

Louisville

Syracuse

Mercedes Pastor and Madison Walsh celebrate a goal during the Cardinals game with Miami (Ohio) at Trager Stadium on October 14.

Pastor's Goal Sends No. 10 Cards to 3-2 Double Overtime Win at No. 15 Syracuse

October 19, 2018 | Field Hockey

Box Score Louisville 3 - Syracuse 2 - 2OT

Cards prevail while playing in third straight overtime contest.

By: Lori Korte

SYRACUSE, N.Y. – Mercedes Pastor's penalty corner goal with 23 seconds left on the clock in double overtime lifted the 10^th-ranked University of Louisville field hockey team to a 3-2 win over No. 15 Syracuse Friday evening at J.S. Coyne Stadium. The Cardinals improve to 12-4 on the season and finish ACC play with a 3-3 record. Syracuse drops to 8-6 (1-5 ACC).

"A great road win against a tough opponent," said UofL head coach Justine Sowry. "I am really proud of our team that refuses to quit. There were momentum shifts all throughout the game but were disciplined enough to come back to the Louisville way. We certainly can take some lessons away from this one but our focus right now is on recovery with another tough game on Sunday against Albany."

Pastor's game-winning goal came after she earned a penalty corner with 39.3 seconds left of the clock in double overtime. Sophomore Alli Bitting got the play started, pushing the ball to her classmate who settled it and fired a shot from top of the circle for her fourth goal of the season to secure the 3-2 win.

Before the final goal was scored, the battle of top-15 teams featured two lead changes and two ties as Louisville outshot Syracuse 11-4 and held an 8-2 advantage in penalty corners.

Louisville struck first in the ninth minute of the match when Pastor sent a cross to freshman Katie Schneider who deflected the ball past Syracuse goalkeeper Borg van der Velde.

The Orange countered on their only penalty corner of the first half with under three minutes left in the frame. Roos Weers connected on her first of two goals in the contest with assists from Carolin Hoffman and Claire Webb to even the score at 1-1.

The teams entered halftime tied at 1-1 after Louisville held a 5-1 lead in shots and a 2-1 edge in corners.

After playing through nine minutes in the second half, Roos struck again, making good on Syracuse's second corner of the game, again with assists from Hoffman and Webb.

With her team down 2-1, Sowry called a timeout at the 60:49 mark in the game. Less than a minute later, the Cardinals prevailed in a video referral that resulted in a penalty corner awarded to Louisville.

During the ensuing corner, sophomore Bethany Russ's shot was turned back by van der Velde, but Bitting was there to redirect the rebound into the cage for her first goal of the season which tied the score at 2-2 with under nine minutes on the clock.

For the third time in as many games, the Cardinals found themselves tied at the end of regulation. The teams entered a 10-minute, 7v7 sudden-victory period. The match remained knotted at 2-2 through the first OT after Louisville held a 2-1 edge in shots and earned a pair of corners, but the Syracuse defense held strong to send the teams to a second overtime.

The teams played through another nine scoreless minutes before Pastor earned Louisville's eighth corner of the contest, setting up her third game-winning goal of the season.

Senior Ayeisha McFerran (12-4) posted one save in the win, pushing her career victory total to 49. van der Velde collected six stops in the game.

The win marks the third straight against Syracuse for Louisville and the first on the road since 2006.

Louisville will continue its road swing Sunday when the Cardinals travel to the University at Albany for a 1 p.m. start.