Cardinals Welcome Alumnae to Trager Stadium

Saturday, August 21

LOUISVILLE, KY

1:00 P.M.

University of Louisville

ALUMNAE GAME (SCRIMMAGE)

The 2021 Louisville field hockey team and alumnae group photo

Photo by: Carl Schmid | Louisville Athletics

August 21, 2021 | Field Hockey

By: Lori Harmon

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – After a week and a half of practice, the University of Louisville field hockey team took the field on Saturday, as the Cardinals welcomed the program's alumnae for a preseason scrimmage at Trager Stadium. UofL will return to preseason action tomorrow when the Cardinals play host to Bellarmine in a scrimmage at 1 p.m.

More than 20 former letterwinners returned to the field including former USA Field Hockey National Women's Team members Nicole Woods and Erin McCrudden as well as fellow National Field Hockey Coaches Association All-Americans Meghan Schneider and Taylor Stone.

"I'm pretty excited about the alums who came back to play today – they were, by far, the best alumni team we've faced," said UofL head coach Justine Sowry. "They really tested us from top to bottom. They had great structure and they were fantastic with the ball. Often with alumnae games, there might be six forwards or, at the end of the game, they might throw in 15 people, so I was expecting that; but they played it pretty seriously and gave us a good game. We're a different team when you lose two talented seniors like we had, but we're just trying to reshuffle the lineup a little bit and find different combinations. The first half was average, the second half we were finding our groove - but that's usually what you expect. We're excited to get back out tomorrow and hopefully see more improvement."

The current Cardinals used a pair of goals each from sophomores Embry Jane Imorde and Charlie van Oirschot while junior Emilia Kaczmarczyk added a score in the 5-0 win. Imorde and van Oirschot each scored in the second quarter to give the Cards a 2-0 advantage at halftime. Kaczmarczyk and van Oirschot added to the lead in the third quarter and Imorde capped the scoring with under a minute remaining in the game.

"A lot of the alumnae that were here today, I actually coached and I'm just so proud of, not only what they did accomplish here as student-athletes, but now they're going on into the workforce and they are productive human beings and great, strong women in the community," said Sowry. "I just have such a great sense of pride in all of our alums and I'm always so happy to see them come back to Trager Stadium. I'm all about honoring the past and I think it's important that our team meet some of the people who helped build the foundation for what we are today. We were glad to have had the opportunity to do that today – it was a great start to the season."