No. 6 Louisville Falls 3-1 to No. 1 North Carolina in ACC Semifinals

Friday, November 8

Newton, MA

1:00 PM

University of Louisville

(15-5, 4-2ACC)

North Carolina

(18-0, 6-0ACC)

Louisville

North Carolina

No. 6 Louisville Falls 3-1 to No. 1 North Carolina in ACC Semifinals

November 08, 2019 | Field Hockey

Box Score ACC UNC 3 - LOU 1 Justine Sowry Postgame Interview

Senior Bethany Russ scores her team-best 10th goal in the loss

By: Lori Harmon

NEWTON, Mass. - The sixth-ranked University of Louisville field hockey team fell 3-1 to No. 1 North Carolina in the semifinals of the Atlantic Coast Conference Championship Saturday afternoon at the Boston College Field Hockey Complex.

The Cardinals (15-5) will learn their NCAA postseason fate on Sunday at 10 p.m. when the selection show airs on NCAA.com.

In the game, UNC outshot Louisville 14-12 while the Cardinals held an 8-7 edge in shots on goal and a 7-6 advantage in penalty corners. UofL goalkeeper Hollyn Barr collected four saves while Amanda Hendry had seven stops.

The Tar Heels (18-0) jumped to an early lead on Erin Matson's breakaway goal in the seventh minute of the game.

UNC tallied another goal three minutes later when Feline Guenther sent a shot into the cage after a pass from Eva Smolenhaars to give the Tar Heels a 2-0 lead.

The Cardinals regrouped and the teams played evenly through a scoreless second quarter which saw the shots even at 1-1 with neither team earning a penalty corner.

Louisville entered halftime trailing 2-0 with North Carolina owning a 6-4 edge in shots and the penalty corners even at three apiece.

The Cards withstood an increased Tar Heel attack as UNC carried a 5-0 advantage in shots and 2-0 in corners, but the score remained 2-0 entering the fourth quarter.

The teams continued to battle, trading possession into the final quarter and Louisville had an opportunity to get on the scoreboard midway through the frame, but senior Carter Ayars' penalty stroke attempt was turned back by Hendry to keep the score at 2-0.

Matson notched her second goal of the game with 3:59 left in the fourth quarter to give North Carolina a 3-0 lead.

The Cardinals turned up their attack and two minutes later broke through when Bethany Russ connected on a penalty corner feed from junior Mercedes Pastor. The senior's team-best 10^th goal of the season made the score 3-1 with under a minute left to play.

Louisville earned a pair of corners in the final minute of the contest, but shots by freshman Julie Kouijzer, sophomore Erica Cooper and Russ were turned back by the Tar Heel defense.

"We started the game really poorly," said UofL head coach Justine Sowry. "When you're playing against the No. 1 team in the country, you've got to be ready to play. You have to take care of the ball and not turn the ball over in critical areas or they will capitalize. And that's exactly what they did and we dug ourselves into a hole in the first quarter. Give credit that we kept fighting back and we started to play some really nice hockey in the second half and particularly the last quarter – but you've got to do that from the get-go… some good things, but also some very disappointing things. Everyone's got to pick up and support each other, you just can't rely on one or two players. We have a great team, so back to the drawing board, we've got to prepare for our first round in the NCAA tournament."