No. 12 Cardinals Welcome Kent State for Wednesday Matchup

The 12^th-ranked University of Louisville field hockey team will complete a three-game home stand on Wednesday at 3:30 p.m. when Kent State visits Trager Stadium. Admission is free.

GAME INFORMATION
September 4 | Kent State 3:30 p.m., Trager Stadium
Live scoring: Gocards.com
Television: ACC Network Extra | Announcers: Jody Demling (play-by-play); Suzanne Bush (analysis)
Series Record: KSU leads 23-13; the Cards have won the last six matchups.
Last meeting: Oct. 28, 2018 | UL won 3-1 at KSU
• 2018 RECAP: Bethany Russ scored a pair of goals to help the 11th-ranked University of Louisville field hockey team wrap up the regular season with a 3-1 win over Kent State at Murphy-Mellis Field.
Scouting Kent State: The Golden Flashes enter the week with a 1-1 overall record after opening the season last weekend at home. Kent State is coming off of a 1-0 loss to Michigan State and opened the season with a 5-2 win against State Francis.
• The Golden Flashes are led by Luisa Knapp's two goals on the season.
Notes:
• UofL has won the last eight meetings. The bulk of the series history between the teams dates back to when Louisville was a member of the Mid-American Conference from 1994-2004.
• Kent State is the alma mater of UofL director of field hockey operations Debbie Bell who played for the Golden Flashes from 2008-11 and still owns the school's career records for goals (97) and points (215).
• Wednesday's game marks a homecoming for Kent State goalkeeper Liza Keadle, who is a 2019 graduate of Atherton High School in Louisville.

CARDINAL QUICK HITS
• UofL is coming off of a 2-0 performance in its opening weekend. The Cards outscored opponents 6-0, defeating Indiana 5-0 and UMass 1-0.
• Senior Bethany Russ leads the team with three goals and six points after notching her first career hat trick in the 5-0 win over IU on Friday.
• 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.
• 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.
• Justine Sowry is in 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.
UP NEXT
Starting this weekend, Louisville will embark on a six-game road swing throughout the rest of September. The Cardinals will travel to East Lansing, Mich. to take on Michigan State Sunday at 11 a.m. followed by a neutral site matchup against UC Davis on Monday.

UP LAST
The Cardinals opened the 2019 campaign with a pair of wins at Trager Stadium over the weekend.
• Louisville defeated Indiana 5-0 in the annual 'Battle of the Border' on Friday. Bethany Russ scored a career-high three goals while Mercedes Pastor and Madison Walsh also added scores.
• Carter Ayars connected on a penalty stroke for her first career goal to lift the Cards to a 1-0 win against UMass on Sunday.

RUSS SHINES IN THE EARLY SEASON
•Senior Bethany Russ registered her first career hat trick to help the Cardinals to a 5-0 win against Indiana in their season opener. Russ picked up where she left off as the Cardinals' leading scorer last season, with a career-best performance against IU. She also paced the Cards with four shots in their 1-0 win against UMass.
•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.

AYARS TURNS IN STELLAR DEFENSIVE EFFORT
Carter Ayars helped lead the Louisville defense to a pair of shutouts in their opening weekend. The senior defender held opponents to a total of six shots, only four on goal, and notched her first career score when she converted on a penalty stroke to break open a scoreless tie in Louisville's 1-0 win over UMass.

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.

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.

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 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 2-0 on the season at Trager Stadium, bringing their home record to 48-12 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.

No. 12 Cardinals Welcome Kent State for Wednesday Matchup

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Players Mentioned

Carter Ayars

Alli Bitting

Erica Cooper

Mackenzie Karl

Margot Lawn

Sam Minrath

Mercedes Pastor

Camryn Pichea

India Reed

Bethany Russ

Katie Schneider

Meghan Schneider

Mattie Tabor

Madison Walsh

University of Louisville Athletics