No. 2 North Carolina Defeats No. 11 Louisville 3-1

Friday, September 7

LOUISVILLE, KY

5:00 p.m.

University of Louisville

(3-2, 0-1)

NORTH CAROLINA

(5-0, 1-0)

North Carolina

LOU

Katie Walsh advances the ball in game against UNC on September 7

Photo by: Jermaine Bibb | Louisville Athletics

September 07, 2018 | Field Hockey

Box Score North Carolina 3 - Louisville 1 Justine Sowry Post Game Interview

Cards take and early lead, but fall 3-1 to second-ranked North Carolina

By: Lori Korte

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Freshman Katie Schneider's goal gave No. 11 Louisville an early lead, but second-ranked North Carolina tallied three unanswered goals to beat the Cardinals 3-1 in both teams' ACC opener Friday evening at Trager Stadium.

Louisville (3-2, 0-1 ACC) returns to action Sunday when the Cardinals play host to California at 2 p.m. North Carolina (5-0) will take on the Golden Bears Saturday at 1 p.m. at Trager Stadium.

"We certainly were prepared, and at the beginning of the game there were some nerves there," said UofL head coach Justine Sowry. "We scored first, and I think it almost was a surprise to our team because after that we just let UNC play their hockey."

The Cardinals took a 1-0 lead in the tenth minute of the game. Senior Katie Walsh intercepted a pass near midfield and sent a feed to sophomore Madison Walsh who dribbled into the circle and sent a quick reverse shot toward the cage where Schneider was waiting to deflect the ball past UNC goalkeeper Amanda Hendry for her second goal of the season.

The Tar Heels countered 10 minutes later when Catherine Hayden sent a feed into the circle and Erin Matson was there to lift a reverse-stick shot into the top right corner of the cage to even the score at 1-1.

North Carolina tacked on another goal at the 27:37 mark in the game. Louisville goalkeeper Ayeisha McFerran stopped a shot by Eva van't Hoog, Catherine Hayden was there to send the rebound into the cage to put the Tar Heels on top 2-1.

With just under three minutes left in the half, UNC added an insurance goal when Ashley Hoffman connected on a direct penalty corner shot with assists from Matson and Yentl Leemans to make the score 3-1.

In the first half, North Carolina outshot Louisville 12-4 and held a 5-1 advantage in corners.

The Cardinals regrouped at halftime and gained possession early with sophomore Mercedes Pastor delivering the first shot of the half. The teams traded possessions with North Carolina owning a 4-1 advantage in both shots and corners to secure the 3-1 win.

In the game, North Carolina outshot Louisville 16-5 with a 10-3 advantage in shots on goals and a -9-2 edge in corners. McFerran collected five saves while UNC's Amanda Hendry posted two stops.

"In the second half, we tried to come out and play more aggressively," said Sowry. "I'm not going to deny the effort our team put in. We work hard, we're a gritty team, but we can be smarter with what we do defensively… Credit to Carolina, they're a great team. They're an experienced lineup from top to bottom, and they're going to be a tough team to beat this year. Happy with the effort, but we've got a long way to go."