2021 Field Hockey Schedule Released

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – University of Louisville head field coach Justine Sowry has released the Cardinals' 2021 schedule which includes nine regular season home contests. The upcoming slate also features four NCAA tournament teams including national champion North Carolina and runner-up Michigan as well as 10 opponents ranked among the top 20 in the National Field Hockey Coaches Association (NFHCA) final 2020-21 poll.

Louisville will get a preseason tune-up in late August when the Cardinals welcome former letterwinners back to Trager Stadium for the annual Alumnae Game on August 21, followed by a scrimmage against Bellarmine University on August 22.

The following weekend, the Cardinals will officially open the season with a pair of matches at Trager Stadium starting with Ohio University on August 27. The Cardinals will conclude the early season home stand against New Hampshire. As play opens at Trager Stadium, Louisville looks to continue its seven-game home winning streak which dates back to the start of the 2020-21 campaign.

The beginning of September will bring a pair of challenging road games against the University of Pennsylvania and 2019 NCAA finalist Princeton.

The Cards will return to the friendly confines of Trager Stadium for a four-game homestretch starting with Indiana in a night game on September 10 and eighth-ranked Liberty on September 12. No. 14 Virginia will pay a visit to Trager Stadium for Louisville's ACC opener on September 17 while NCAA semifinalist, fourth-ranked Iowa will wrap up the weekend.

Louisville will hit the road for the final weekend of September with an ACC contest at No. 19 Duke and a non-conference matchup at Ohio State.

UofL will open the month of October with home matchups against a pair of top 20 teams staring with ACC foe, No. 10 Wake Forest and followed by 2020-21 NCAA tournament participant, No. 16 Miami (Ohio).

The Cardinals will kick off a tough five-game road swing at No. 2 Michigan in a rematch of the 2020-21 NCAA semifinal game which saw the Wolverines prevail 2-1 in a sudden-victory shootout. Ninth-ranked Boston College awaits Louisville next for an ACC contest. UofL will stay in Massachusetts to face Northeastern in a non-conference game. Next up is three-time defending national champion North Carolina in Chapel Hill followed by a contest at James Madison.

Louisville will wrap up the regular season and celebrate senior day on October 29 when the Cardinals play host to ACC foe, No. 11 Syracuse.

The ACC Championship will take place November 4, 5 and 7 at Syracuse's J.S. Coyne Stadium.

About Louisville Field Hockey
UofL finished the 2020-21 season with a 14-6 overall record and ranked No. 3 in the NFHCA coaches' poll and achieved numerous milestones along the way, including reaching the program's first NCAA Final Four. In the fall, the Cards won the ACC regular season title and earned the top seed in the conference tournament after producing a 5-1 record which included a win over two-time defending national champion North Carolina, snapping the Tar Heels' NCAA-best 47-game win streak. Louisville posted a runner-up finish to UNC in the fall ACC tournament.

In the spring, UofL earned the overall No. 3 seed in the NCAA tournament, marking the second straight season as a national seed, and went on to beat No. 6 UConn in the quarterfinals to advance to its first NCAA semifinal. Competing in their first-ever Final Four, the Cardinals battled with the No. 2 seed Michigan but eventually fell 2-1 in a sudden-victory shootout.

Louisville returns 18 players and nine starters including two-time NFHCA All-American Alli Bitting along with NFHCA All-West Region honorees Julie Kouijzer, Aimee Plumb and Charlie van Oirshot.

University of Louisville Athletics

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