Field Hockey Summer Recap

Several members of the University of Louisville field hockey team have been busy competing on the national and international levels this summer.

Highlights from the summer include two World Cup team selections, a pair named to the USA Field Hockey Women's National Development and two more Cardinals made their debut on the USWNT Under-21 team.

Taylor Stone, Katie Walsh selected to the U.S. Women's National Development Team.
Rising seniors Taylor Stone (Herndon, Va.) and Katie Walsh (Louisville, Ky.) were recently selected to USA Field Hockey's National Development Team.

The U.S. Women's National Development squad accounts for the transitional phase between the U-21 USWNT and the senior USWNT.

Stone is in her second season with the U21 USWNT and was selected to the squad which traveled to Tucuman, Argentina to play a three-game test series against the country's U-21 team earlier this month. The 2017 NFHCA All-America, All-West Region and All-ACC selection scoring seven goals and dished out three assists during her junior campaign.

Walsh, a midfielder from Louisville, Ky. (Ballard HS) was initially named to U.S. National Development Squad to compete in a four-game test series against Chile's Women's and U-19 Women's National Team from May 15-24 in Santiago, Chile in January 2018. The rising senior started every game for the Cardinals in 2017.

Carter Ayars, Meghan Schneider named to USA Field Hockey Under 21 Women's National Team.
Ayars, (Wilmington, Del.) was a National Field Hockey Coaches Association (NFHCA) All-West Region selection and was named to the ACC Field Hockey Championship all-tournament team. The defender started every game for the Cardinals and was instrumental in guiding a defense which produced a 1.67 team goals against average on the season.

Schneider, makes her first appearance on the U21 squad after spending two years as a member of USA Field Hockey U19 team. The rising sophomore was tabbed for its Ireland Tour in March 2018. As a freshman at Louisville, the San Diego, Calif., native saw action 21 games with five starts in the backfield.

Cardinals in the World Cup
UofL teammates Ayeisha McFerran and Nicole Woods will square off on the opposite sides of the field in Pool B play of the 2018 Vitality Hockey Women's World Cup on Saturday, July 21 at 8 a.m. (EST) at Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park in London.

The event is made up of 16 women's teams, that are broken into four pools of four teams. FIH Hero World Ranked No. 7 USA sits in Pool B with defending Rio 2016 Olympic Gold Medalists No. 2 England, along with No. 10 India and No. 16 Ireland.

The winners of each pool will advance to the quarterfinal. The second place team in Pool B will face the third place team in Pool A, with the third place team in Pool B and the second place team in Pool A squaring off. The fourth place team is eliminated.

Rising senior Ayeisha McFerran was selected to the Irish women's hockey team's 18-player roster while Woods was named to the United States Women's National Team roster.

McFerran is in her fourth season as a member of the Irish National Team and has tallied 64 caps entering the summer. Last year, she was named Goalkeeper of the Tournament after helping the Green Army to the World League 2 title in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Ireland is making its first World Cup appearance since 2002 and enters the tournament ranked No. 16 in the world. The Green Army will compete in Pool B along with host England which stands second in world rankings, No. 7 USA Field Hockey and No. 10 India.

Woods, who completed her collegiate playing career in 2017, has tallied 24 caps after being named to the USWNT in the spring of 2017. Last year she helped the USA qualify for the World Cup by capturing the gold medal in the 2017 World League Semifinals. Since graduating from Louisville, she has competed in the USWNT series against The Netherlands, Chile and Argentina.

Nine Cardinals selected to compete in USA Field Hockey Young Women's National Championship
Nine returning players competed in USA Field Hockey's 2018 Young Women's National Championship (YWNC) while associate head coach Lucas Piccioli served as an assistant coach for the USA Courage team. The Cardinals were represented by Elizabeth Allgeier, Carter Ayars, Alli Bitting, AnnMarie Habelow, Sarah Sabaluski, Meghan Schneider, Taylor Stone, Katie Walsh and Madison Walsh June 25-29 at Spooky Nook Sports in Lancaster, Pa.

The Young Women's National Championship serves as a high-level, international structured competition which is a selection avenue to Junior National Camp and an opportunity for selection to the 2018-19 U.S. U-21 Women's National Team and U.S. Women's National Development Team.

About Louisville Field Hockey
The Cardinals finished the 2017 season with a 14-8 overall record after earning their fourth straight NCAA tournament appearance and posting a runner-up finish in the ACC championship. UofL also posted a 4-2 record in ACC play - the most wins since joining the conference in 2014 - and finished tied for second in the regular season standings. Louisville was ranked No. 8 in the final National Field Hockey Coaches' Association poll after being ranked in the top 10 for six weeks in 2017.

University of Louisville Athletics

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Players Mentioned

Carter Ayars

Ayeisha McFerran

Meghan Schneider

Taylor Stone

Katie Walsh

Madison Walsh

Nicole Woods

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