No. 5 Cardinals Plays Host to No. 9 Virginia Friday

Friday, October 11

LOUISVILLE, KY

5:00 p.m.

University of Louisville

VIRGINIA

Photo by: Adam Creech | Louisville Athletics

October 09, 2019 | Field Hockey

Live scoring ACCNX Watch Link Game Notes vs UVA

Cards and Cavaliers meet in a top 10 matchup Friday at 6 p.m.

By: Lori Harmon

The fifth-ranked University of Louisville field hockey team will play host to No. 9 Virginia in top--10 ACC matchup Friday at 6 p.m. at Trager Stadium. Admission is free.

THE WEEKEND AHEAD
October 11 vs. Virginia
6 p.m. | Trager Stadium
Television: ACC Network Extra
Live scoring: GoCards.com
Series Record: UVA leads 7-3
Last meeting: Sept. 29, 2018; UofL won 2-0 in Charlottesville.
2018 Recap: The eighth-ranked Cards defeated No. 15 Virginia 2-0 behind goals from Bethany Russ and Katie Schneider Saturday at UVA's Turf Field. Ayeisha McFerran collected five saves in the shutout.
Scouting the Cavaliers: UVA enters Friday's matchup with a 9-3 overall record and a 1-2 mark in ACC play. The Cavaliers are coming off of a 3-2 overtime victory against Old Dominion on Sunday in Charlottesville. Prior to that, Virginia dropped a 1-0 decision to then-No. 17 Boston College. In ACC play, the Cavaliers have lost to North Carolina (5-0) and have a win over Syracuse (2-0).
• Makayla Gallen leads the team with six goal and has two assist for a total of 14 points. Anzel Viljoen also has 14 points with four goals and six assists.
• Lauren Hausheer (8-3) carries a 1.06 goals against average with four shutouts on the season.

CARDINAL QUICK HITS
•At 10-1 on the season, Louisville has matched the best start through 11 games in program history - last accomplished in 1977.
• Louisville carries a 2-1 record in ACC play and stands tied for second in the league with Boston College. Virginia (1-2 ACC) is fifth in conference standings.
• The Cards have outscored their opponents 30-11 this season.
• Senior defender Carter Ayars was recently named ACC Field Hockey Co-Defensive Player of the Week on Oct. 8 after helping lead the Cardinals' defense to a pair of shutouts over the weekend.
• Bethany Russ leads the team with eight goals and 20 points. The senior forward notched her first career hat trick in the 5-0 win over Indiana and scored a pair of goals in the 4-2 victory against Kent State.
• Redshirt junior Hollyn Barr (10-1) has started all 11 games and carries an ACC-best 0.83 goals against average. She is also tied with Virginia's Lauren Hausheer atop the league standings with four shutouts.
• Junior midfielder Mercedes Pastor was named to the Preseason All-ACC Field Hockey Team
• The Cardinals were picked to finish fourth in the regular season standings in a vote of the league's seven head coaches.
• Justine Sowry is in her ninth season at the helm. She has guided the Cardinals to 115 wins, four NCAA tournament appearances along with a conference title and a runner-up finish in the ACC Championship.
• Louisville has posted three consecutive shutouts for the first time since the 2015 season. Prior to that, the Cardinals went four games without surrendering a goal in 2014 and 2011, 1983, 1980 and 1977. The school record for most shutouts in a row is seven, set in the 1979 season.
• Louisville leads the ACC in penalty corners (75).

PLAYER NOTES
• Senior Bethany Russ is tied for the ACC lead with 58 shots. For the second straight season, she leads the Cards in goals and points.
        - Russ currently has eight goals, needing three more to tie her career season high of 11 - set in 2018.
        - Russ has four assists on the season, matching her career high set in 2016.
•Senior Carter Ayars scored her first career goal this season in the win against UMass. She now has three goals and a career-best eight points.
        - Ayars recently earned her first career ACC player of the Week honor.
• Redshirt junior Hollyn Barr is having a career-best season with 10 wins and 4.5 shutouts.
        - She leads the ACC and is third in the national stadings with a 0.83 goals against average and stands second in the conference and third in the nation in win-loss percentage
• Junior Alli Bitting has matched her career-best goal total this season.
• Julie Kouijzer one of seven players on the team who has started every game this season - and the only freshman in that group of starters.
•Margot Lawn leads the freshman scorers with three goals.
• Junior Mercedes Pastor has equalled her career high for goals and points in a season (5G, 3A, 13PT.)
• Junior Meghan Schneider has dished out a career-high four assists.
• Junior Madison Walsh is in the midst of a career-best season in goals (6), assists (3) and points (15). She recently registered her first career multi-goal game with a pair of goals in the 3-0 win against Wake Forest.

UP NEXT
Louisville will continue its six-game home stand on October 15 against Stanford.

WEEKLY RECAP
UofL is coming off of a pair of shutout wins last weekend to push their win-streak to four games and improve their home record to 5-0 this season. On Friday, the Cards defeated No. 20 Wake Forest 3-0 and followed with another 3-0 win against Penn State on Sunday.

AYARS TABBED ACC CO-DEFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE WEEK
Carter Ayars has been named the Atlantic Coast Conference Field Hockey Co-Defensive Player of the Week for the period ended on October 6.
• Ayars earned her first weekly conference honor after keying Louisville's defensive unit as the Cardinals blanked No. 20 Wake Forest and Penn State to match best 11-game start in program history.
• The senior defender was instrumental in the back-to-back shutouts, leading the way as Louisville limited the Demon Deacons and Nittany Lions to a combined six shots on goal. Ayars also dished out an assist in the Cardinals' 3-0 win over Wake Forest to help her team improve to 2-1 in ACC play. Louisville has now posted three consecutive shutouts and five on the season.

RUSS RETURNS TO FORM
•Senior Bethany Russ Russ picked up where she left off as the Cardinals' leading scorer in 2018. She now leads the team with eight goals and 20 points on the season.
• She stands fifth in the nation and third in the conference in goals per game and sixth in the national, second in the league in points per game.
• The forward registered her first career hat trick to help the Cardinals to a 5-0 win against Indiana in their season opener.
•After being sidelined by injury in 2017, Russ rebounded last season, leading the team with a career-high 11 goals and 24 points. Six of her 11 goals stood as gamewinners. Russ went on to earn all-ACC and NFHCA All-Region honors.

STINGY DEFENSE
The Cardinals have allowed 11 goals through 11 games this season for a 0.99 goals against average which ranks second in the ACC and fourth in the nation.

BARR SHUTTING TEAMS DOWN
• Goalkeeper Hollyn Barr leads the ACC and stands fourth in the nation with a 0.83 goals against average. The redshirt junior has allowed only eight goals in 575:28 minutes.
• She also stands tied with Virginia's Lauren Hausheer with four shutouts on the season.

BALANCED SCORING
Ten different players have contributed to Louisville's 24 goals on the season with six players tallying multiple goals.
• Bethany Russ leads the team with eight goals while Madison Walsh follows closely with six Mercedes Pastor rounds out the top three scorers with five goals on the season. Margot Lawn and Carter Ayars have three scores apeice. Biz Allgeier, Alli Bitting, Erica Cooper, Whena Munn and Mattie Tabor each have one goal.
•The Cards stand at No. 14 in the nation and second in the ACC with a 2.70 scoring average.

THE YOUNG & THE RESTLESS
While Louisville's roster boasts a core of experienced players, several freshmen are also making an impact in the early season.
• The Cardinals' starting lineup has featured at least three freshmen in every game this season. Julie Kouijzer started every contest, while Margot Lawn, Minna Tremonti, Emilia Kaczmarczyk and Mattie Tabor have also had a least two starts and played in every game thus far.

CardS No.5 in NFHCA Rankings
UofL moved up one spot to No. 5 in the Penn Monto/National Field Hockey Coaches Association poll released on October 8 This marks the second-highest ranking in program history - the Cardinals reached as high as No. 4 in the 2002 season.
Louisville in the NFHCA Rankings
• This marks the 70th straight week Louisville has appeared among the top 20 in the nation dating back to the 2013 season.
• The Cards have spent the last five weeks in the top 10 after starting the 2019 season at No. 12 in the preseason rankings.
• The Cardinals finished the 2018 campaign at No. 14 after spending seven weeks in the top 10, reaching as high as No. 8.
• Louisville appeared in the top 10 seven times in 2018 after debuting 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.
• 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.

ACC STRONG
• All seven ACC teams appear in the top 20, with 2018 national champion North Carolina holding down the top spot. Duke placed fourth in the most recent rankings, Louisville checks in at No. 5 and Virginia at No. 9 to give the ACC four teams among the top 10. Syracuse (No. 14) Boston College (No. 17) and Wake Forest (No. 20) round out the ranked ACC squads

TOUGH SLATE
• Nine of the Cardinals' 18 opponents are ranked among the top 25 in the current NFHCA poll. In addition to its six ACC opponents, UofL's ranked opponents also include: No. 6 Iowa, No. 18 Ohio State and No. 16 Stanford.

CARDS NO. 5 IN NCAA RPI REPORT
• UofL appears at No. 5 in the most recent NCAA RPI report released on October 1. The Cards dropped one spot after spending the first two report periods at No. 4.
• UofL is no stranger to facing quality competition and this season is no different with eight of its 18 opponents appearing among the top 20. Below is a list of Louisville's 2019 opponents who are included among the NCAA's RPI leaders.
1. North Carolina (L, 1-4)
3. Duke (play Oct. 26)
6. Virginia (play Oct. 11)
7. Iowa (play Oct. 20)
13. Syracuse (play Nov. 2)
14. Boston College (W, 3-2)
17. Wake Forest (W, 2-0)
18. Stanford (play Oct. 15)

CARDS AMONG THE NATION'S BEST STATISTICALLY
Louisville is ranked among the top 25 in eight different statistical categories as a team and four individual categories.
NCAA Top 25 stats
• UofL is tied for third with a .909 winning percentage. The Cards are 14th with 6.82 penalty corners per game and stand 11h in scoring margin (1.71). Louisville stands at No. 6 in shutouts per game (.45) and eighth in goals against average (0.99). The Cards rank No. 14 with a scoring avarage of 2.70 and No. 16 with 2.73 goals per game and stand at No. 19 in points per game (7.36).
• Additionally, goalkeeper Hollyn Barr is tied for third with a .909 win percentage and fourth with a goals against average of 0.83. Bethany Russ is ranked 24th with 0.73 goals per game and 1.82 points per game.

Cards in NCAA and ACC Team Standings (as of Oct. 7)
Category                                      Value              NCAA            ACC

Winning percentage                      .889                  T4                T2
Penalty corners per game              7.33                  12                 1
Scoring margin                              1.43                  14                 3
Shutouts per game                         .33                   16                 4
Goals against average                    1.21                  16                 7
Scoring average                             2.63                  17                 4
Goals per game                             2.67                  17                 4
Points per game                            7.00                  22                 4
Cards in NCAA and ACC Team Standings
Hollyn Barr (Win-Loss pct)            0.909                 3                  2
Hollyn Barr (GAA)                          0.83                  4                  1
Bethany Russ (goals/game)           0.73                  24                 6
Bethany Russ (points/game)          1.82                  24                 5

INTERNATIONAL EXPERIENCE
The Cardinals' roster is bolstered by several players who have gained valuable experience within their countries' national programs. The following is a list of players and their national squads.
Carter Ayars - U.S. U21 Team (2018- current)
Mackenzie Karl - U.S. U17 Team (2015-16)
Margot Lawn - U.S. U19 Team (2019); U17 Team (2017-19)
Mercedes Pastor - Argentina U21 Team (2015-17); U18 Team (2013-14)
Katie Schneider - U.S. U19 Team (2019)
Meghan Schneider - U.S. U21 Team (2018); U19 Team (2017-18), U21 Team (2019)

PASTOR EARNS ACC PRESEASON HONORS
Mercedes Pastor was named to the Preseason All-ACC Field Hockey Team and the Cardinals were picked to finish four in the regular season standings in a vote of the league's seven head coaches.
• Pastor (Buenos Aires, Argentina) earned 2018 NFHCA All-America honors after starting every in her first season at Louisville. The NFHCA all-West Region and all-ACC first team selection tallied five goals, including the game-winner in double overtime at No. 15 Syracuse and the deciding goal in overtime against California. Pastor also dished out three assists to bring her point total to 13 in 2018.

2019 ACC Field Hockey Predicted Order of Finish
1. North Carolina (6) - 48
2. Duke (1) - 43
3. Virginia - 29
4. Louisville - 25
5. Syracuse - 18
6. Boston College - 17
7. Wake Forest – 16
(First-place votes)

HOME GROWN TALENT
The Cardinals' roster features six players who chose to play for their hometown school: sophomores Biz Allgeier (Assumption) and Erica Cooper (Assumption), redshirt freshmen Camryn Pichea (Assumption), and Sam Minrath (Christian Academy) and freshmen India Reed (DuPont Manual) and Mattie Tabor (Sacred Heart).

HOME SWEET HOME
•The Cardinals are 5-0 on the season at Trager Stadium, bringing their home record to 51-12 since the 2013 season.
•Louisville owned a 5-3 record at Trager Stadium in 2018.
• 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.