Cardinals Fall Short in Sudden-Victory Shootout Against Virginia in ACC Semifinals

Friday, November 5

Syracuse, N.Y.

1:00 P.M.

University of Louisville

(16-3)

Virginia

(12-7)

Virginia

Louisville

Cardinals Fall Short in Sudden-Victory Shootout Against Virginia in ACC Semifinals

November 05, 2021 | Field Hockey

Box Score

By: Lori Harmon

SYRACUSE, N.Y. – The fourth-ranked University of Louisville field hockey team lost 2-1 to No. 14 Virginia in a sudden-victory shootout in the semifinals of the ACC Field Hockey Championship Friday afternoon at Syracuse's J.S. Coyne Stadium.

Louisville (16-3) will learn its NCAA postseason fate on Sunday when the NCAA selection show airs on NCAA.com at 10 p.m. (ET).

"Obviously we are disappointed with the end result," said UofL head coach Justine Sowry. "We played against a very well-prepared Virginia team. They were able to disrupt our game and we were unable to link passes together in the first half. In the second half, I was very pleased with the way that we changed the tempo defensively and put them under a great deal of pressure. I thought we showed a lot of grit in the second half to tie the game and again in overtime."

In the game, Virginia held a 9-5 advantage in shots on goal while each team earned four penalty corners. Freshman Mila de Kuijer collected seven saves and junior Julie Kouijzer posted a defensive save while Virginia's Tyler Kennedy had four stops for the Cavaliers.

After the teams played through a scoreless first quarter, Virginia (12-7) got on the scoreboard with a penalty stroke goal from Rachel Robinson.

The Cavaliers took the 1-0 lead into halftime after outshooting the Cardinals 9-2 with a 5-1 advantage in shots on goal and a 3-1 edge in penalty corners.

Louisville regrouped during the break and countered early in the fourth quarter after earning a penalty corner. Freshman Filippa Niebuhr directed a feed to the post where senior Alli Bitting connected on a shot into the corner of the cage for her third goal of the season.

The game remained knotted at 1-1 throughout the rest of regulation as the Cardinals' defense withstood a flurry of seven Virginia shots and de Kuijer posted four saves during the 10-minute span.

With the score still 1-1, the contest entered a 7v7 sudden-victory overtime period. In the only scoring opportunity of the frame, sophomore Aimee Plumb's shot on goal was stopped by Kennedy. Neither team was able to register a shot in the ensuing second OT and the score remained even.

The game moved to best-of-five shootout which saw converted attempts by Katie Schneider, Emilia Kaczmarczyk, Charlie van Oirschot and Mattie Tabor along with a stop by sophomore Maitland Demand as the teams finished tied at 4-4 in the series. Virginia prevailed 1-0 in the sudden-victory round of the shootout.

"We will learn lessons from today and it will make us better," said Sowry. "Now it's back to the drawing board to tidy up a few things and we'll be ready to go next weekend."

NOTES:
• Today's loss snapped a five-game win streak for Louisville.
• The last time the Cardinals went to a sudden-victory shootout was on May 7, 2021 Louisville fell 2-1 to Michigan in the 2020-21 NCAA semifinals.
• Louisville is now 6-1 in overtime games this season.
• The Cardinals are now 10-3 against top 25 opponents.
• This marked Louisville's fourth ACC Championship semifinal appearance since joining the league in 2014.