No. 7 Cardinals Hit the Road for Wake Forest, Appalachian State

The seventh-ranked University of Louisville field hockey team will open a four-game road stretch this weekend when the Cards travel to the state of North Carolina to face Wake Forest Friday and Appalachian State Sunday.

About Louisville
• The Cardinals bring a three-game win streak along with a 6-2 overall record and a 1-1 mark in ACC play into the weekend.
• Redshirt sophomore Bethany Russ leads the team with three goals and six points.
• Senior Katie Walsh has dished out a team-best four assists and stands tied for fourth in the ACC in that category.
• Senior goalkeeper Ayeisha McFerran is the reigning ACC and NFHCA Defensive Player of the Week after posting back-to-back shutouts against a pair of ranked opponents last weekend.
• The Cards stand at No 7 in the NFHCA rankings released on Sept. 18. This marks the 58th straight week Louisville has appeared in the top 20 rankings dating back to the 2013 season.
• Louisville's 1-0 win over then-No. 11 Northwestern on Sept. 16 marked head coach Justine Sowry's 100th win at the UofL.
• Sowry is in her eighth season at the helm and has compiled a 100-51 record at Louisville with an overall 158-82 mark while in her 12th season as a head coach.
• UofL was picked to finish third in the 2018 Atlantic Coast Conference Field Hockey Championship, according to a vote of the league's seven head coaches. Seniors Ayeisha McFerran and Taylor Stone were also named to the Preseason All-ACC Team.
• UofL finished the 2017 season with a 14-8 overall record and made its fourth straight and seventh overall NCAA appearance. The Cardinals reached the finals of the ACC championship after defeating No. 11 Syracuse 3-2 in the program's first ACC quarterfinal victory and following with a thrilling 3-2 shootout win over No. 2 Duke in the semifinals.

Cards Against the Field
Wake Forest
Series History: Wake leads 11-5
Last Meeting: Sept. 22, 2017 - UL won 3-2 in a shootout at Trager Stadium.
Then 15th-ranked Louisville prevailed in a shootout to beat No. 11 Wake Forest 3-2.
• Minout Mink scored a goal in the second half and sealed the win by converting her shootout attempt. Ayeisha McFerran collected five saves and stopped three Wake Forest shootout attempts to earn the win.
Scouting the Demon Deacons: Wake Forest brings a 3-4 overall record and a 0-1 ACC mark into Friday's matchup. The Demon Deacons have won their last two games with a 4-3 victory at Northeastern and a 4-1 showing against William & Mary on Wednesday. Anne van Hoof leads the team with four goals.

Appalachian State
Series History: Appalachian State leads 9-5-1
Last Meeting: Sept. 25, 2016 - UL won 4-1 at Appalachian State
RECAP: Then-seventh-ranked Louisville team got goals from four different players en route to a 4-1 win over host Appalachian State.
• Taylor Stone, Bethany Russ, Nicole Woods and Shannon Sloss scored for the Cardinals who outshot the Mountaineers 27-6 and held a 12-1 advantage in corners. Ayeisha McFerran had two saves while Elina Pereira had one stop for the Cardinals. Rachel Gaines tallied 11 saves for App State.
Scouting the Mountaineers: Appalachian State enters the weekend with a 4-4 overall record prior to a Thursday matchup against Longwood. Most recently, the Mountaineers fell 1-0 to Ohio University in their Mid-American Conference opener. Veerle Van Heertum (3G, 2A) and Chloe Bell (2G, 4A) lead the team offensively. Rachel Gaines carries a 1.87 goals against average with one shutout on the season.

Recapping Last Week
Sophomore Bethany Russ accounted for all of the scoring and senior Ayeisha McFerran collected two shutouts in the Cardinals' 2-0 performance against a pair of ranked teams on the weekend. On Friday, Russ connected on a penalty corner goal with no time left on the clock to mark her first career game-winning goal. She followed with her second career game-winner after connected on a first-half penalty corner goal against No. 11 Northwestern.
Louisville 1 - Boston College 0
Sophomore Bethany Russ delivered a penalty corner goal with no time remaining on the clock tie to lift the eighth-ranked University of Louisville field hockey team to a 1-0 win over No. 9 Boston College in an ACC matchup Friday evening at Trager Stadium.
• The contest was evenly played with each team tallying 11 shots. BC owned a 9-5 edge in corners overall. In the second half, both squads had nine shots and five corners apiece. McFerran picked up her first shutout of the season while collecting five saves. Sarah Dwyer had seven stops for Boston College.
Louisville 1 - Northwestern 0
Sophomore Bethany Russ's first-half goal proved to be the game-winner as the eighth-ranked University of Louisville defeated No. 11 Northwestern 1-0 Sunday at Trager Stadium. The win marked Justine Sowry's 100th victory as the Cardinals' head coach.
• In the game, Louisville outshot Northwestern 10-5 while the Wildcats held a 6-5 edge in corners. McFerran posted one save and sophomore Meghan Schneider collected a defensive save. Kalfas had four stops for the Wildcats.

Up Next
Louisville will continue its road stretch with an ACC matchup at Virginia on Sept. 29.

Cards No. 6 in first NCAA RPI
Louisville appears at No. 6 in the NCAA's initial RPI report of the 2018 season which was released on Sept. 19.
• UofL is no stranger to facing quality competition and this season is no different with eight of its 17 opponents appearing among the top 18. Below is a list of Louisville's 2018 opponents who are included among the NCAA's RPI leaders.
1. North Carolina
3. Duke
7. California
10. Virginia
11. Syracuse
16. Boston College
17. Delaware
18. Northwestern

Cards No. 7 in Penn Monto/NFHCA Rankings
UofL is No. 7 in the 2018 Penn Monto/National Field Hockey Coaches Association Division I Poll released on Sept. 18. The Cardinals moved up one spot after beating then-No. 9 Boston College and No. 11 Northwestern in a pair of shutout efforts last weekend.
• This marks the third top-10 appearance in four ranking periods for Cards this season. Louisville debuted at No. 8 in the preseason poll, the highest preseason ranking in program history.
• In 2017 Louisville appeared in the top 10 six times, reaching as high as No. 7 on Oct. 17, 2017.
• This marks the 58th straight week Louisville has 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.

McFerran earns ACC and NFHCA Defensive Player of the Week honors
Ayeisha McFerran was named the ACC and Longstreth/National Field Hockey Division I Defensive Player of the Week on Sept. 19. This marks her fourth overall ACC weekly honor and the first time earning national player of the week accolades.
• McFerran (Larne, Northern Ireland) collected six saves as Louisville posted back-to-back shutout wins against a pair of ranked opponents over the weekend. The senior goalkeeper had five saves Friday, helping the Cardinals to their first Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) win of the season as they defeated No. 9 Boston College 1-0. She also had a crucial save to ensure Louisville's 1-0 win on Sunday against No. 11 Northwestern University.

ACC Strong
Six ACC field hockey programs are ranked among the top 12 in the nation with five appearing in the top 10. North Carolina (1), Duke (4), Louisville (7), Boston College (9) and Virginia (10) represent the league in the top 10 while Syracuse (12) rounds out the ranked ACC schools.

Tough Road Ahead
Ten of Louisville's 17 opponents appear in the NFHCA top 25. In addition to the aforementioned six ACC opponents, the Cardinals' non-conference slate features matchups against No. 15 Delaware, No. 14 Northwestern, No. 23 Ohio State, No. 25 Albany. and No. 25 California.

Balanced scoring
Eight different players have combined to score 13 goals in the early season. Sophomore Bethany Russ paces the Cardinals' offense with three goals.

Walsh dishing it out
Senior Katie Walsh leads the team with a career-high four assists on the season and is tied for third in ACC standings.

Championship City
For the second straight year and the sixth time overall, Trager Stadium will serve as the host site for the NCAA Division I Field Hockey Championship. The event was also staged on the Cardinals' home field in 2002, 2005, 2008, 2011 and 2017. 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.

Home Sweet Home
Louisville owns a 3-2 record at Trager Stadium this season, with three straight wins at the Cardinals' home facility, bringing its home tally to 44-11 since the 2013 season.
• Louisville compiled a 9-3 record at Trager Stadium in 2017.
• 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.
• The 6-2 loss to No. 4 Michigan snapped a 28-game win streak against non-conference opponents at Trager Stadium dating back to 2012. Prior to the Oct. 22 setback, the Cardinals had 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.

No. 7 Cardinals Hit the Road for Wake Forest, Appalachian State

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Players Mentioned

Ayeisha McFerran

Minout Mink

Bethany Russ

Meghan Schneider

Taylor Stone

Katie Walsh

Nicole Woods

University of Louisville Athletics