No. 8 Cards Travel to No. 12 Ohio State

Sunday, September 15

Columbus, OH

1:00 p.m.

University of Louisville

Ohio State

Photo by: Adam Creech | Louisville Athletics

September 13, 2019 | Field Hockey

Big Ten Plus Watch Link

Cards will take on No. 12 Ohio State Sunday at 1 p.m.

By: Lori Harmon

The eighth-ranked University of Louisville field hockey team will travel to Columbus, Ohio to take on No. 12 Ohio State Sunday. The matchup will mark the third contest of a six-game road swing for Louisville.

This also marks the first of three straight road contests against top 20 teams. Following this weekend, the Cards will travel to No. 1 North Carolina and No. 19 Boston College.

THE WEEKEND AHEAD
September 15 at Ohio State
1 p.m. | Columbus, Ohio
Television: Big Ten Network
Series Record: OSU leads the series 18-10. The Buckeyes have won the last two games, both in overtime.
Last meeting: Oct. 7, 2018
2018 Recap:
Esther Clotet's goal in the second minute of overtime lifted No. 24 Ohio State to a 3-2 win over No. 8 Louisville at Trager Stadium.
• The Cardinals took at 2-0 lead in the first half behind goals from Mercedes Pastor and Erica Cooper, but the Buckeyes regrouped to tie the match in the second half to force overtime.
Scouting the Buckeyes: Ohio State brings a 3-1 record into the weekend prior to a Friday matchup against Central Michigan.
•The Buckeyes opened the season with wins over UMass (7-0), Boston University (3-2) and James Madison (3-0) before falling 2-1 at No. 11 Virginia last Sunday.
• Esther Clotet-Alsina leads the team with seven points (3G, 1A), Nikki Trzaska follows closely with six points (3G).
• Current Big Ten Player of the Week Aaliyah Hernandez carries a 1.01 goals against average with two shutouts in four games.

LOUISVILLE QUICK HITS
• UofL is coming off of a pair of wins in East Lansing, Mich. The Cards opened their road trip with a 4-1 win over host Michigan State Sunday and followed with a 2-1 overtime victory against UC Davis Monday.
• The Cards have outscored their opponents 16-4 in the early season.
• Bethany Russ leads the team with six goals and 13 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. Most recently, her goal in overtime lifted the Cards to a 2-1 win over UC Davis.
• 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.
• Louisville returns 18 letterwinners from that team including Pastor and fellow NFHCA All-West Region selections Carter Ayars, Alli Bitting and Bethany Russ.
• Justine Sowry is in her ninth season at the helm. She has guided the Cardinals to 112 wins, four NCAA tournament appearances along with a conference title and a runner-up finish in the ACC Championship.

UP NEXT
Louisville will continue its six-game road stretch and open ACC play with a trip to Chapel Hill, N.C., to take on top-ranked North Carolina on Sept. 20.

WEEKLY RECAP
Senior Bethany Russ' goal in the sixth minute of overtime sent the 12th-ranked University of Louisville field hockey team to a 2-1 win against UC Davis Monday afternoon at Michigan State's Ralph Young Field.
• Russ' overtime game-winner happened after the Cardinals overcame a 1-0 deficit in the fourth quarter behind senior Whena Munn's penalty corner goal. In the game, Louisville outshot the Aggies 28-2 and held a 16-1 advantage in corners. UC Davis goalkeeper Chelsea Bigelow held the Cards at bay throughout the majority of the game, collecting 14 saves.

RUSS SHINES IN THE EARLY SEASON
•Senior Bethany Russ Russ picked up where she left off as the Cardinals' leading scorer last season. She now leads the team with six goals and 13 points on the season.
• 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, 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.

STINGY DEFENSE
The Cardinals have allowed only four goals through three games this season for a 0.87 goals against average and two shutouts.
• Additionally, the Cards have allowed only six penalty corners on the season.

BALANCED SCORING
Seven different players have contributed to Louisville's 16 goals on the season with five players tallying multiple goals.
• Bethany Russ leads the team with six goals while Madison Walsh, Mercedes Pastor, Margot Lawn and Carter Ayars have two goals apeice. Whena Munn and Mattie Tabor each have one goal.

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 game, while Margot Lawn, Minna Tremonti, Emilia Kaczmarczyk have appeared in the starting lineup in three of Louisville's five games. Mattie Tabor has also played in every game thus far.

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)

CARDS NO. 8 IN NFHCA RANKINGS
UofL moved up four spots to No. 8 in the Penn Monto/National Field Hockey Coaches Association preseason poll released on September 10.
Louisville in the NFHCA Rankings
• This marks the 66th 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 second in the preseason rankings and Virginia checks in at No. 10 to give the ACC four teams among the top 10. Wake Forest (No. 15), Boston College (No. 19) and Syracuse (No. 23) round out the ranked ACC squads

TOUGH SLATE
• Twelve 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. 7 Iowa, No. 12 Ohio State, No. 17 Penn State, No. 18 Stanford and No. 25 Michigan State.

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 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)

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 3-0 on the season at Trager Stadium, bringing their home record to 49-12 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.