Louisville Defeats Delaware 2-1 in a Battle of Top-10 Teams

Monday, September 3

Newark, DE

1:00 p.m.

University of Louisville

(3-1)

Delaware

(2-2)

LOU

Delaware

Photo by: Jeff Fannon

Louisville Defeats Delaware 2-1 in a Battle of Top-10 Teams

September 03, 2018 | Field Hockey

Box Score Box Score: Louisville 2 - Delaware 1

Freshman Biz Allgeier and senior Taylor Stone scored as No. 8 Louisville topped No. 9 Delaware 2-1

By: Lori Korte

NEWARK, Del. – The eighth-ranked University of Louisville field hockey team defeated No. 9 Delaware 2-1 Monday afternoon at Delaware's Rullo Stadium.

The Cardinals (3-1) took a 2-0 lead behind goals by freshman Elizabeth Allgeier and senior Taylor Stone and held on to beat the Blue Hens (2-2).

"The conditions were pretty challenging today with the heat, but we have a fit team. We also kept grinding, so from a defensive point of view, I'm really, really pleased with the entire team from the forward line all the way through to the backfield," said UofL head coach Justine Sowry. "The defensive effort was fantastic. We controlled the play for most of the game, I thought we possessed the ball. Delaware came hard at us in the end and we didn't have good pressure on the ball and our defensive positioning is not as clean, but it's still early in the season."

At the beginning of the contest, the teams settled into a midfield game with Delaware pressuring early and then the Louisville offense began to surge.With the heat index nearing 100 degrees, an officials' timeout for a water break was called at the 17:28 mark. When play resumed after the break, sophomore Meghan Schneider lifted a pass from near the Delaware 25-yard line to sophomore Mercedes Pastor who gathered the ball and delivered it to Allgeier. The redshirt freshman maneuvered past a lone Blue Hen defender and launched a reverse shot that glanced off of Delaware goalkeeper Sydney Rhodes and into the cage for her first career goal.

The Blue Hens had a scoring opportunity in the closing minutes of the half, but senior goalkeeper Ayeisha McFerran picked up a pair of saves and the Cardinals defense held strong to preserve the first half shutout.

Louisville took the 1-0 lead into the break after Delaware held a 4-2 advantage in shots and a 2-1 edge in shots on goal while each team had a penalty corner.

The second half continued to be a tight contest as each team delivered three shots on goal and Louisville owning a 2-0 edge in corners in the stanza.

UofL tacked on another goal with just over 10 minutes left to play after senior Maria Gomez earned the Cards' second corner of the half. Ayars inserted the ball and senior Katie Walsh provided the stop for Stone who rifled a shot into the cage for her first goal of the season, making the score 2-0.

The Cardinals used steady defense, including a defensive save by junior Carter Ayars and another stop by McFerran to hold Delaware at bay throughout the majority of the second half, but the Blue Hens broke through with 5:32 left on the clock when Michaela Scanlon connected on a ball off of McFerran's pads to cut the lead in half.

In the game, Delaware held a 7-5 edge in shots, with four shots on goal apiece. Louisville gained a 3-1 advantage in corners. McFerran (3-1) and Rhodes (2-2) each had two stops in the contest.

Sowry was pleased with the Cardinals' performance after going 2-0 on the weekend. "Two road wins, fantastic weekend," said Sowry. "We addressed concerns with our first game over the weekend – it was a nice learning weekend for us. Our off-ball communication was imperative, both on attack and on defense. Sometimes we can go forward a little bit more to increase the number of opportunities that we have, but overall, it was a fantastic improvement and a step in the right direction. We could tidy up a couple of areas,"

Louisville will return to action next weekend when No. 3 North Carolina visits Trager Stadium for both teams' ACC opener Friday at 5 p.m. The Cardinals will continue their home stand when they take on California Sunday at 2 p.m.