Louisville Travels to No.1 North Carolina on Thursday Night

Thursday, March 5

Chapel Hill, NC

7 p.m. ET

University of Louisville

North Carolina

Caroline Blalock Louisville Women's Lacrosse

Louisville Travels to No.1 North Carolina on Thursday Night

March 04, 2020 | Women's Lacrosse

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The Cardinals and the Tar Heels will begin play at 7 p.m. ET.

By: Conor Mullaney

LOUISVILLE, Ky.- University of Louisville women's lacrosse (4-3) returns to Atlantic Coast Conference action when it plays at No. 1 North Carolina on Thursday night at 7 p.m. ET.

The Cardinals are 4-3 to open the season, while the Tar Heels are a perfect 5-0.

Junior Caroline Blalock recorded her 100th career point with three points against Longwood on Tuesday. She had two goals and one assist against the Lancers and led the team with three ground balls and three caused turnovers.

Hannah Morris led the Cards with four goals in the win over Longwood and has a team-leading 16 goals on the season. Freshman Belle Dora scored a hat-trick in the game, while also recording her first career goal. Eleven different players scored for the Cardinals, with fellow freshman Nicole Perroni also scoring her first career goal.

Rachel Florek saw limited action in the game against Longwood, only recording two saves, but has put together an impressive start to the season. She has set the program-record with 17 saves in two of the last four games. She also had an impressive 14 saves and .518 save percentage in the win at Vanderbilt.

Through seven games, Florek has 81 saves and a .533 save percentage. Her 81 saves lead the ACC and rank second nationally, while her 11.57 saves per game also rank second in the league. She is ranked fifth in the league with a 11.13 goals-against average.

Maddie Birch and Brenna Shanahan are tied for third in the ACC in caused turnovers per game with 1.57. Shanahan is also 10th in the league with 1.29 assists per game.

UofL is 4-1 against unranked teams and 0-2 against ranked teams. The Cardinals are seeking their first win over a ranked team and their first ACC win since a 9-8 victory vs. No. 7 Syracuse on April 22, 2017.

ABOUT THE TAR HEELS

North Carolina enters Thursday's matchup with a 5-0 record, 1-0 in ACC play. In their last game, they won 18-12 at Virginia on Saturday.

They rank first in the league and fourth in the nation in assists per game (9.8), shot percentage (.560) and free position percentage (.622). They rank first in the league and second in the nation in points per game (29.4) and scoring offense (19.6) and rank second in the league and third in the nation in scoring defense (6.6). North Carolina is also first in the ACC and first in the nation in with a +13.0 scoring margin.

The Tar Heels feature four double-digit scorers, led by junior Jamie Ortega. She has 23 goals, ranking her third in the ACC and fifth nationally. Her 4.6 goals per game rank second in the league and fourth in the nation. Ortega leads the league and the nation with a 1.000 free position percentage and is first in the league and second nationally in shot percentage at .793. Senior Katie Hoeg is second on the team with 16 goals. She leads the team in assists (20) and points (36). Hoeg's 20 assists rank first in the ACC and third in the nation. She also ranks first in the ACC and first in the nation with 7.2 points per game. Junior Taylor Moreno has started all five game in goal for the Tar Heels and has 32 saves and a .571 save percentage. She ranks second in the league and the nation with a 5.88 goals-against average and second in the league and fifth in the nation with a .564 save percentage.

Six Tar Heels earned preseason All-America nods and four players were named to the Tewaaraton Award watch list.

Series History - North Carolina leads Louisville 5-0 in the all-time series. The Cards are 0-2 in Chapel Hill. The two teams last played in North Carolina on 4/7/2018 where UNC won 16-6. Last season the teams met in Louisville on 4/6/2019 where North Carolina won 17-6.

The Last Meeting (April 6, 2019) – Alex McNicholas scored Louisville's lone first half goal leading to the Cardinals trailing 13-1 at halftime. Tessa Chad scored an early second half goal with Ally Hall scoring another just over two minutes later. Chad scored two more goals in under a minute for her ninth hat-trick of the season. Louisville outscored North Carolina 5-4 and outshot them 17-9 in the second half but fell 17-6.

GAME FACTS
Date: Thursday, March 5
Time: 7 p.m. ET
Site: Chapel Hill, N.C. | Dorrance Field
Video: ACCN
Last Meeting: L, 17-6 (April 6, 2019 vs. North Carolina)
Series History: 0-5 (0-3 Home, 0-2 Road, 0-0 Neutral)
Next Game: Monday, March 9 vs. Niagara

For the latest information on Louisville lacrosse, visit GoCards.com, or follow the team's Twitter account at @LouisvilleLax or on Facebook at facebook.com/UofLLacrosse.