No. 12 Cards Play Host to Indiana, UMass in Season-Opening Weekend

The 12^th-ranked University of Louisville field hockey team will open the 2019 season on August 30 when Indiana visits Trager Stadium for the annual Battle of the Border. The Cards will continue their opening weekend on Sunday when they take on UMass at 12 p.m. Admission is free.

The Weekend Ahead
August 30 | Indiana, 3 p.m., Trager Stadium
Live scoring: Gocards.com
Television: ACC Network Extra | Announcers: Jody Demling (play-by-play); Suzanne Bush (analysis)
Series Record: UL leads 14-7; the Cards have won the last six matchups.
Last meeting: Aug. 24, 2018 | UL won 2-1
• Erica Cooper delivered her first career goal as time expired to lift the eighth-ranked University of Louisville field hockey team to a 2-1 win over Indiana in both teams' season opener in Bloomington.
Scouting Indiana: The Hoosiers open play under new head coach Kayla Bayshore. In 2018, IU posted a 4-13 overall record and a 1-7 mark in Big Ten play. Sarah Ananias, Hailley Couch and Ciara Girouard were named to the 2019 Big Ten Watch List.
Notes: This marks the third straight year the Cardinals and the Hoosiers have faced each other in their season openers - Louisville has won the last two meetings.
•IU's roster features two Louisville natives: Victoria Hill and Mary Kate Kesler, both of whom attended Sacred Heart Academy with UofL freshman Mattie Tabor

Sept. 1 | UMass, 12 p.m., Trager Stadium
Live scoring: Gocards.com
Television: ACC Network Extra | Announcers: Jody Demling (play-by-play); Suzanne Bush (analysis)
Series Record: UL leads 2-0
Last Meeting: Oct. 4, 2015, UL won 1-0 at Trager Stadium
• Nicole Woods' goal with 6:10 remaining in regulation lifted ninth-ranked UofL to a 1-0 win over the Minutewomen.
Scouting UMass: After a 10-10 campaign and a 6-2 record in conference play in 2018, the Minutewomen were picked to finish third in the Atlantic 10 Conference preseason coaches' poll.
• Sophie de Jonge, Lucy Cooper and Georgie McTear were named to the Atlantic 10 Preseason All-Conference team.
Notes: Prior to becoming Louisville's head coach in 2011, Justine Sowry spent four seasons at the helm for the Minutewomen. Since that time, she owns a 1-0 edge against UMass after a 2015 matchup.
• UMass head coach Barb Weinberg (Iowa, 2005) is from Louisville, Ky., and played at Male High School where she was coached by former UofL player Amy Shumate.

UP NEXT
The Cardinals will wrap up their season-opening three-game home stand on Wednesday when they take on Kent State at 3:30 p.m. Following that, Louisville will not return to Trager Stadium until October 4, after a stretch of six road game.

CARDINAL QUICK HITS
• Junior midfielder Mercedes Pastor was named to the Preseason All-ACC Field Hockey Team
* The Cardinals were picked to finish four in the regular season standings in a vote of the league's seven head coaches.
• UofL finished the 2018 season with a 13-6 overall record and ranked No. 14 in the National Field Hockey Coaches Association (NFHCA) poll after earning the No. 3 seed in the 2018 ACC Championship.
• Louisville returns 18 letterwinners from that team including Pastor and fellow All-West Region selections Carter Ayars, Alli Bitting and Bethany Russ.
• Russ led the 2018 team with 11 goals and 24 points. Sophomore Erica Cooper stood second on the team with nine goals and 18 points.
• The Cards welcome six newcomers to the 2019 roster.
• Justine Sowry enters her ninth season During that time, she has guided the Cardinals to 107 wins, four NCAA tournament appearances along with a conference title and a runner-up finish in the ACC Championship. In the eight seasons that Sowry has been at the helm, UofL has produced 12 NFHCA All-America selections and 32 All-Region team members.

CARDS No. 12 in NFHCA PRESEASON RANKINGS
UofL appears at No. 12 in the Penn Monto/National Field Hockey Coaches Association preseason poll released on August 27.
Louisville in the NFHCA Rankings
• This marks the 65th straight week Louisville has appeared among the top 20 in the nation dating back to the 2013 season. 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 18 with 2018 national champion North Carolina holding down the top spot. Duke placed third in the preseason rankings and Wake Forest checks in at No. 10 to give the ACC three teams among the top 10. Virginia (No. 11), Louisville (No. 12) and Boston College (No. 13) and Syracuse (No. 18) round out the ranked ACC squads

PASTOR EARN 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 National Field Hockey Coaches Association (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)

TOUGH SLATE
• Eleven of the Cardinals' 18 opponents are ranked among the top 25 in the NFHCA preseason poll. In addition to its six ACC opponents, UofL will also take on No. 8 Iowa, No. 9 Penn State, No. 14 Ohio State, No. 21 Stanford and No. 25 William & Mary.

RUSS RETURNS TO FORM
After being sidelined by injury in 2017, Bethany Russ rebounded nicely 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.

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)

HOME SWEET HOME
Louisville owned a 5-3 record at Trager Stadium in 2018, bringing its home record to 46-12 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. 12 Cards Play Host to Indiana, UMass in Season-Opening Weekend

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Players Mentioned

Carter Ayars

Alli Bitting

Erica Cooper

Mackenzie Karl

Margot Lawn

Mercedes Pastor

Bethany Russ

Katie Schneider

Meghan Schneider

Mattie Tabor

University of Louisville Athletics