Pastor's Hat Trick Pushes Louisville Past Ball State

Sunday, March 7

Muncie, IN

1:00 P.M.

University of Louisville

(1-0)

Ball State

(0-2)

Louisville

Ball State

Photo by: Karthik Kalvakuri | Louisville Athletics

March 07, 2021 | Field Hockey

Box Score Louisville 5 - Ball State 0

By: Hollyn Barr

MUNCIE, Ind. – Senior Mercedes Pastor delivered her first ever hat-trick to lead the seventh-ranked University of Louisville field hockey team to a 5-0 victory over Ball State.

With the win, the Cardinals improve to 9-3 (0-1 ACC) on the season.

"Really proud of our team this weekend given the long road trip and playing on a challenging surface," said UofL head coach Justine Sowry. "Today, at times we played some great hockey, passing and moving off each other. Ball State put us under some pressure in the second and third quarters and knocked us out of rhythm. We need to recognize the moments when we tend to force it or stray away from the game plan. Consistency is going to be our key moving forward, working and staying connected on attack and disciplined throughout on defense."

Louisville jumped on the scoreboard early in the second quarter when Pastor's shot rebounded off of the goalkeeper allowing Aimee Plumb to tap it in.

The Cardinals took the 1-0 lead into halftime after outshooting Ball State 9-4 and holding a 5-2 edge in penalty corners.

Louisville struck again midway through the third quarter when Pastor ripped a shot from the right side of the circle to the bottom left corner. Pastor went on to collect two more goals in the fourth quarter, all scored on penalty corners. The three-goal performance marked the first Louisville hat-trick since August 30, 2019 when Bethany Russ scored three goals against Indiana.

Katie Schneider secured the win with her late goal in the fourth quarter.

In the game, Louisville outshot Ball State 18-5, with a 13-5 lead in shots on goal and 8-3 in penalty corners. Sam Minrath collected a career-high five saves in the shutout.

Louisville will return to action Saturday, March 13 when Virginia visits Trager Stadium for their spring ACC opener.