Field Hockey Takes Part in Fall Sport Media Day

University of Louisville head field hockey coach Justine Sowry and graduate senior Alli Bitting spoke with the media at the annual Fall Sports Media Day on Tuesday afternoon.

Following scrimmages against UofL alumnae and Bellarmine on August 21 and 22 respectively, the Cardinals will open the season when they play host to Ohio University on August 27 at 3 p.m. at Trager Stadium.

Justine Sowry is entering her 11^th season at the helm. During her time at Louisville, she has guided the Cardinals to 136 wins, six NCAA tournament appearances, reaching the quarterfinals twice, and advancing to the semifinals for the first time in program history in the 2020-21 season. Louisville finished the 2020-21 season with a 14-6 overall record and ranked No. 3 in the National Field Hockey Coaches Association (NFHCA) coaches' poll and reached the NCAA semifinals.

The Cardinals return 18 players from last season's NCAA Final Four squad including two-time NFHCA All-American and All-ACC selection Bitting, who is in her fifth season with UofL. Louisville also welcomes six newcomers to the 2021 team.

Excerpts from the field hockey press conference

Justine Sowry – Complete video
Opening Statement
"We're super excited and pumped to be back for day one. It's a meeting day for us actually. We haven't been on the turf yet, that will be tomorrow morning. After an incredible season – historic in so many different ways team-wise, but also the accolades that some of our individuals collected – it was just an incredible year for us. But this is a new year, a new team and new opportunities and we'll see how we do this year and certainly tomorrow morning when we see everybody on the pitch together again."

On expectations after reaching the programs first Final Four
"Nothing will change from the way I do things or the way the coaching staff will do things. Our mission is to prepare, compete and win championships and to always make the NCAA tournament and then consistently be in the top four, top six in the country. We're that close to winning a national championship, to make a Final Four. In our sport, even making the NCAA tournament is no easy feat. The way we do things, that's not going to change at all… I think there might be an expectation among our players themselves that it can be easily achieved again – and it cannot. Just in the last two or three years, you've had three Final Four programs that didn't make the NCAA the next year: Wake Forest, Boston College and Virginia. So that's in the back of my mind and we'll continue to be hungry and humble every day with what we do."

Alli Bitting – Complete video
On returning to play this season
"I'm really excited. I was excited to have the opportunity to come back for another year just because, with as much success as we had as a team last year in getting to the Final Four, things just weren't the same. Our team wasn't as connected due to COVID and all of that. So I'm excited to get back to somewhat normal this year and use that to my advantage."

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