Third-Ranked Cardinals Set to Face No. 2 Michigan in NCAA Semifinals

Friday, May 7

Chapel Hill, NC

5:20 PM

University of Louisville

Michigan

Louisville v. UConn (Photo by Steve Manuel)

Third-Ranked Cardinals Set to Face No. 2 Michigan in NCAA Semifinals

May 06, 2021 | Field Hockey

Louisville is making its first NCAA Semifinal appearance in program history

By: Lori Harmon

The third-ranked University of Louisville field hockey team will be making its first NCAA Semifinal appearance this weekend when the third-seeded Cardinals take on the No. 2 seed Michigan Friday at 4 p.m. No. 1 North Carolina and No. 4 Iowa will meet in the other semifinal game Friday at 1 p.m.

NCAA Semifinals/Final Information
Site: Chapel Hill, N.C.
Venue: Karen Shelton Stadium
Schedule
Friday, May 7 (Semifinal Games on ESPN3)
Game 1: #1 North Carolina vs. #3 Iowa, 1 p.m.
Game 2: #2 Michigan vs. #3 Louisville, 4 p.m.
Sunday, May 9 (ESPNU)
Game 3: Game 1 Winner vs. Game 2 Winner, 7 p.m.
All times Eastern
Live Stats | Live Video | Championship Central
L ouisville Game Notes

CARDINAL NOTES
• UofL is coming off of a 1-0 win over No. 6 UConn in the NCAA quarterfinals on Sunday at Penn State. As the overall No. 3 seed in the tournament, the Cardinals received a first-round bye to reach the quarterfinals.
• This season marks Louisville's ninth NCAA tournament appearance and the second straight season as a national seed. In 2019, the Cardinals posted their first-ever NCAA victory with a 2-1 double-overtime win against Michigan at Trager Stadium. Louisville would go on to fall 2-1 in a shootout to Boston College in the quarterfinals.
• Louisville brings a 14-5 overall record into the tournament after finishing the spring ACC season with a 3-3 mark in ACC play and registering a fall conference record of 5-1.
• The Cardinals are ranked No. 3 in the latest NFHCA Coaches' poll of the 2020-21 season. Louisville reached the highest national ranking in program history at No. 2 in the initial 2021 rankings and spent two weeks in that slot.
• Louisville placed three players on the All-ACC teams with Mercedes Pastor earning first team honors and Alli Bitting and Charlie van Oirschot named to the second team.
• The Cardinals are led by Pastor who has a career-high 13 goals and five assists for 32 points. She stands second in the ACC in both goals and points.
• Freshman Aimee Plumb stands second on the team with six goals and three assists for 13 points.
• Senior Alli Bitting leads the team and is tied for the conference lead with a career-high eight assists.
• Redshirt sophomore goalkeeper Sam Minrath carries an ACC-best 1.03 goals-against average with 27 saves after making her first career start this spring.
• Two of Louisville's five losses have come at the hands of top-ranked North Carolina, but Louisville also has a win over the Tar Heels in the 2020-21 campaign.
• Pastor was named to the Preseason All-ACC Field Hockey Team while the Cardinals were picked to finish fifth in the league according to a vote by the seven head coaches.
• Seniors Biz Allgeier, Hollyn Barr and Madison Walsh have opted out of the spring season.

FALL 2020
• After earning the No. 1 seed in the 2020 ACC Fall Championship for the first time in program history, but fell 4-2 to the Tar Heels in the finals.
• Julie Kouijzer, Aimee Plumb and Mercedes Pastor were named to the ACC All-Tournament team.
• Louisville finished the season atop of the ACC standings with a 5-1 mark in ACC play, marking a program high for single-season ACC victories.
• The 2-1 victory at Virginia on October 24 gave Louisville the best start in program history (7-0), surpassing the previous mark (6-0) achieved in 2016 and 2019.
• On October 2, 2020, Louisville beat North Carolina 3-1 at Trager Stadium, snapping the Tar Heels' NCAA-best 47-game win streak.

HEAD COACH JUSTINE SOWRY
• Justine Sowry is in her 10th season at the helm. During her time at Louisville, she has guided the Cardinals to 136 wins, six NCAA tournament appearances along with two conference titles, including the 2020 ACC Fall Regular Season title, and a pair of runner-up finish in the ACC Championships.

UP LAST
• Senior Alli Bitting's goal in the first quarter stood as the game-winner as the third-ranked University of Louisville field hockey team defeated No. 6 UConn 1-0 in the quarterfinals of the NCAA Field Hockey Championship Sunday afternoon at Penn State's University Park. With the win, the Cardinals advance to the NCAA semifinals for the first time in program history.
• The game was tightly-contested with each team firing off nine shots and earning seven corners. UConn had five shots on goal while Louisville finished with four.
• Minrath collected five saves in the game as she tallied her third shutout of the season.

CARDS THIRD IN NFHCA COACHES POLL
Louisville field hockey is ranked No. 3 in the Penn Monto/National Field Hockey Coaches (NFHCA) Poll released on April 27. This marks the second straight week at No. 3 in the rankings and the seventh week (every poll) that Louisville has been ranked among the top four in the nation.
• The Cardinals debuted at No. 2, reaching the highest in program history after the Cardinals appeared at No. 4 in the 2002 campaign.
• The Cards have spent 19 weeks ranked in the top 10 spanning back to the 2019 season when they finished at No. 5.
• With the 2020-21 NFHCA rankings released on March 16, the Cardinals have now spent 84 straight weeks in the top 20 in the nation dating back to the 2013 season.

PASTOR, BITTING VAN OIRSCHOT EARN ALL-ACC HONORS
Mercedes Pastor was named to the first team while Alli Bitting and Charlie van Oirschot earned second team honors.
• Pastor, a forward/midfielder from Buenos Aires, Argentina, takes home her third straight all-ACC first team award after leading the Cardinals with 13 goals – five of them game-winners - and adding five assists for 31 points. While in the midst of a career-best season, she stands second in the ACC in both points and goals. The team co-captain and preseason all-conference selection was named ACC Player of the Week four times and NFHCA National Player of the Week three times this season.
• Bitting, a defender from Hummelstown, Pa., earns All-ACC second team honors for the second year in a row. The two-time NFHCA All-West Region selection and team co-captain led the team and is tied for first in the conference with a career-high eight assists. She was named ACC and NFHCA Defensive Player of the Week in October.
• Van Oirschot (Haarlem, The Netherlands) has made an impressive debut in her rookie season, starting all 18 games. The freshman forward has tallied four goals and dished out two assists.

how the cards stack up
• Individually, Mercedes Pastor stands second in the conference with 13 goals/0.72 goals per game and 32 points/1.72 points per game.
• Alli Bitting is tied for the conference lead with eight assists/0.44 assists per game. Meghan Schneider is tied for fifth with seven. (.39 per game)
• Sam Minrath leads the ACC with a 1.1 goals against average.
• As a team, Louisville stands second in the league with 44 goals and a 1.28 goals against average.
• The Cardinals have earned a league-high 118 penalty corners.

KOUIJZER NAMED ACC DEFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE WEEK
• Julie Kouijzer earned ACC Field Hockey Defensive Player of the Week honors for the final week of the regular season. This marks the first weekly honor for Kouijzer and the seventh for Louisville in the 2020-21 season.
• Kouijzer played solid defense and chipped in a goal to help Louisville in the backfield as the No. 4 Cardinals defeated ninth-ranked Wake Forest 4-1 in their regular season finale on Saturday. The defender helped limit the Demon Deacons to only three shots on goal in the contest and contributed her first career goal to cement the win.

ACC STRONG
• Despite a reduced 12-team bracket for this year's event in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, the ACC placed multiple teams in the NCAA tournament field for the 26th consecutive season.
• In the ACC's 38 years as an NCAA Division I Field Hockey conference, league teams have accounted for more than half the total appearances in the national title game (41 of 76).
• The ACC currently has a streak of 32 straight years with at least one team in the NCAA semifinals. Forty-one of the last 69 teams to reach the national semifinals have come from the ACC.
• Last season marked the 20th time in the last 21 NCAA Field Hockey Championships – and the 28th time in the last 31 years – that the ACC placed at least one team in the title game.
• All seven ACC field hockey teams are currently ranked in the top 20. The Cardinals are among four ACC teams in the top 10 with North Carolina leading the way at No. 1, Louisville at No. 3, Boston College at No. 9 and Wake Forest standing 10th. No. 11 Syracuse, No. 13 Virginia and No. 19 Duke round out the ACC teams.

2020-21 NEWCOMERS TO WATCH
This season, Louisville has included five freshmen in the starting lineup.
• Redshirt freshman India Reed has stepped into a starting role in every game so far and has been joined by true freshmen Aimee Plumb, Charlie van Oirschot. Fellow rookies Paulina Mayer and Sofia Pendolino have also earned starting nods
• Paulina Mayer, Back: The youngest - and tallest player of the team just turned 17 on Sept. 17. The Baden-Württemberg, Germany native was a member of the German Under-16 national team and played for Mannheimer Hockey Club.
• Sofia Pendolino, Midfielder: The USA Field Hockey Under-17 Team member earned NFHCA All-America first team honors in 2019 and was a second team selection in 2018.
• Aimee Plumb, Midfielder/Forward: Scored her first career goal in the 5-2 win at Virginia to help the Cardinals seal a share of the ACC regular season title. She is tied for second on the team with six goals. The midfielder/forward from Canterbury, England was a member of England's Under-18 national team for the past two years and, prior to that, was a member of the U16 squad for two years.
Charlie van Oirschot, Midfielder - 2020 All-ACC second team selection..Fourth on the team with four goals, including one in the ACC Semifinal win against Virginia. Registered the game-winning goal against Boston College (Oct. 4). Hails from Haarlem, The Netherlands, where she was a member of the Dutch U16 team and played for Hockey Club Bloemendaal.

RETURNING PLAYER NOTES
• Alli Bitting (team co-captain); 2020 all-ACC second team selection. Leads the team with a career-high eight assists and scored the game-winner in the Cardinals' 1-0 NCAA quarterfinal victory against UConn. Last season she earned NFHCA All-West Region and All-ACC honors, helping the Cardinals' defense to eight shutouts on the season and registering one goal and four assists.
• Erica Cooper was an NFHCA All-West Region selection after finishing her sophomore year with a pair of goals while playing in all 22 games with 16 starts and was instrumental in both offense and defense.
• Julie Kouijzer 2020 ACC Tournament selection. Was one of seven players on the team who started every game last season - and the only freshman in that group of starters.
• Emilia Kaczmarczyk had a solid rookie season in 2019, playing in all 22 games with 16 starts while helping the defense to eight shutouts.
• Sam Minrath in her first season as the Cardinals' starting goalkeeping after serving a penalty stroke specialist in 2019. Leads the ACC with a 1.03 goals against average.
• Mercedes Pastor (team co-captain); 2020 All-ACC first team selection. Two-time NFHCA All-America selection and 2020 All-ACC Preseason honoree. Pastor was a Field Hockey Honda Award finalist in 2019.
• India Reed redshirted in 2019, but has played in every game this season.
• Katie Schneider redshirted in 2019, has played in every game this season, stands second on the team with six goals.
• Meghan Schneider (team co-captain); Anchors the Cardinals' defense... Member of attack penalty corner unit... scored in the 2-1 win against Boston College (Oct. 4)... NFHCA All-West Region honoree has spent the last three seasons on the USWNT U21 team.

MINRATH, MEGHAN SCHNEIDER EARN ACC TOP 6 FOR SERVICE AWARD
Sam Minrath and Meghan Schneider represented UofL field hockey in the ACC Top 6 for Service Award.
• Each year the ACC honors six University of Louisville student-athletes that have shown a commitment to service throughout the school year with the Top 6 for Service award.
• Schneider, a senior on the field hockey team, has done a great deal of volunteer work with the American Red Cross. She has consistently served as an ambassador for the American Red Cross and was an active volunteer for the San Diego Food Bank over the summer. Schneider has dedicated a total of 106 hours to the Louisville community.
• Minrath, a junior on the field hockey team, has a diverse community service portfolio. She has spent many hours donating her blood plasma and platelets for COVID ICU patients to the American Red Cross. She also ran the Cardinal Cupboard on campus, served as a facilitator for One Love programming, and was a note taker for the University of Louisville Disability Resource Center. Minrath has dedicated a total of 78 hours to the Louisville community.

PASTOR NAMED ACC FIELD HOCKEY CO-OFFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE WEEK
Mercedes Pastor has been named the ACC Co-Player of the Week for the period ending on April 4. This marks Pastor's fourth ACC weekly nod of the 2020-21 season, she also earned the award three times in the fall.
•Pastor's goal in the sixth minute of overtime lifted Louisville to a win over then-No. 8 Syracuse Sunday at Louisville's Trager Stadium.

CARDS TIED FOR FIFTH IN NFHCA TEAM ACADEMIC TEAM AWARD
The National Field Hockey Coaches Association (NFHCA) is proud to an
The University of Louisville field hockey team was tied for fifth on the 2020 National Field Hockey Coaches Association Division I National Academic Team Award list as announced by the organization today. This marks the tenth straight year the Cardinals have earned the national team academic honor.
•The NFHCA National Academic Team Award recognizes programs that earned a team grade-point average of 3.0 or higher during the fall semester of the 2020-2021 school year.
• Louisville posted program-best a 3.809 team GPA in the fall semester.

PASTOR NAMED ACC Weaver-James-Corrigan Postgraduate Scholarship RECIPIENT
Senior Mercedes Pastor was one of four University of Louisville student-athletes and 52 selected from throughout the conference as recipients of the 2021 Weaver-James-Corrigan Postgraduate Scholarship Award. Pastor was joined by fellow Cardinals Makenli Forrest (women's track and field), Piper Roe (volleyball) and Nikolina Jovic (women's tennis).
• Pastor, a senior midfielder/forward from Buenos Aires, Argentina currently leads the second-ranked Cardinals with 10 goals and 25 points.
• Louisville's team co-captain is a two-time National Field Hockey Coaches Association (NFHCA) All-America selection, earning first team honors in 2019 and garnering second team accolades in 2018.
• The industrial engineering major was one of four finalists for the Class of 2020 Honda Sport Award for Field Hockey and earned the 2020 Arthur Ashe Jr. Sports Scholar Award winner for field hockey. She is a three-time NFHCA Academic Honor Roll member, earning Scholar of Distinction honors in 2017. Additionally, Pastor was named to the ACC All-Academic Team in 2018 and is a two-time ACC Academic Honor Roll member.
• Pastor is also one of Louisville field hockey's community service leaders. Among her many local volunteer activities, she is active in the Droplet Water Project, a Kentucky-based non-profit organization whose mission is to improve the global effort to provide access to clean drinking water.

CARDS LEAD ALL SCHOOLS WITH 12 SCHOLARS OF DISTINCTION
The University of Louisville field hockey team continues to lead the nation in the classroom with a program-best 12 student-athletes honors as National Field Hockey Coaches Association (NFHCA) Scholars of Distinction.
• The Scholars of Distinction program recognizes student-athletes who have achieved a cumulative grade-point average of 3.9 or higher through the first semester of the current academic year.
• Senior Meghan Schneider earns the honor for the fourth time in her career – becoming only the second player in program history to do so. Sam Minrath and Camryn Pichea collect their third Scholar of Distinction honor while Mercedes Pastor earns it for the second time.
The full list of Louisville's NFHCA Scholars of Distinction include: Mia Duchars, Embry Jane (EJ) Imorde, Paulina Mayer, Sam Minrath, Mercedes Pastor, Sofia Pendolino, Camryn Pichea, Aimee Plumb, India Reed, Meghan Schneider, Minna Tremonti, Charlotte van Oirchot

SMART CARDS
UofL led all schools with a program-record 25 student-athletes named to the National Field Hockey Coaches Association (NFHCA) Division I National Academic Squad.
• The Division I National Academic Squad program honors student-athletes who have achieved a cumulative grade-point average of 3.3 or higher through the first semester of the 2020-2021 academic year.
• Seniors Biz Allgeier, Alli Bitting, Mercedes Pastor, Meghan Schneider and Madison Walsh earned the honor for the fourth time and are joined on the NFHCA National Academic Squad by the rest of the 2020 fall roster.

TOUGH SLATE
• Two-time defending national champion North Carolina headlined a challenging 2020-21 that also featured seven teams ranked among the top 20 in current NFHCA rankings including No. 16 Miami (Ohio).
• Additionally, seven of Louisville's eight spring opponents earned a bid to the 2019 NCAA tournament including national champion North Carolina, and semifinalists Virginia and Boston College.

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 or developmental squads.
Alli Bitting - USWNT U21 Team (2019)
Erica Cooper- USWNT U21 Team (2019)
Mackenzie Karl - USWNT U17 Team (2015-16)
Mercedes Pastor - Argentina U21 Team (2015-17); U18 Team (2013-14)
Sofia Pendolino - USWNT RISE Team
Aimee Plumb - England U19 Team (2018-19)
Katie Schneider - USWNT U19 Team (2019)
Meghan Schneider - USWNT U21 Team (2018-19); U19 Team (2017-18)
Minna Tremonti - USWNT U19 Team (2019)

HOMEGROWN TALENT
The UofL field hockey team features six players who chose to play for their hometown school: juniors Erica Cooper (Assumption), Sam Minrath (Christian Academy) sophomores Camryn Pichea (Assumption) and Mattie Tabor (Sacred Heart). Redshirt freshman India Reed (duPont Manual) and freshman Embry Jane (EJ) Imorde (Sacred Heart).

SISTER ACT
Meghan and Katie Schneider have been college teammates since 2018 when Katie was a freshman and Meghan was a sophomore. After Katie's redshirt season in 2019, the Schneider sisters are back on the turf together with Katie on the forward line and Meghan as a defender and team co-captain.

HOME SWEET HOME
The Cardinals have compiled a 7-0 record in the friendly confines of Trager Stadium this season.
• Facing a daunting home slate in the Covid-19-altered season, Louisville defeated Duke twice in its opening weekend. The following weekend, UofL defeated two-time defending national champion North Carolina 3-1, halting the Tar Heels' 47-game win streak. Louisville wrapped up the home season with a 2-1 win against 2019 semifinalist Boston College. The Cards defeated No. 14 Virginia in the 2021 spring home opener.
• Last year, the Cardinals were 8-2 on the season at Trager Stadium, bringing their home record to 54-13 since the 2013 season.
•UofL 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.

PASTOR EARNS ACC PRESEASON HONORS
Mercedes Pastor was selected to the Preseason All-ACC Team and the Cardinals were picked to finished fifth in the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) Championship in a vote by the league's seven head coaches.
• This marks the second straight All-ACC Preseason selection for Pastor. The senior midfielder from Buenos Aires, Argentina is a two-time National Field Hockey Coaches Association (NFHCA) All-America selection, earning first team honors in 2019 and garnering second team accolades in 2018.
2020 ACC Predicted Order of Finish
1. North Carolina (6) - 48
2. Virginia - 37
3. Boston College - 30
4. Duke - 26
5. Louisville -25
6. Syracuse (1) - 23
7. Wake Forest – 7

LOOKING BACK AT A MONUMENTAL 2019 SEASON
• The 2019 Cardinals posted a 16-6 overall record, tying a program mark for wins and earned the overall No. 4 seed in the NCAA tournament, serving as a host site for the first time in program history. Louisville also made its first foray into the NCAA quarterfinals after defeating Michigan 2-1 in double-overtime in its first-round matchup.
• UofL finished the 2019 season at No. 5 in the NFHCA Coaches poll - the highest final ranking in program history. The Cards spent 10 weeks of the season among the top 10 in the nation reaching as high as No. 5.