Bitting, van Oirschot Earn Preseason All-ACC Field Hockey Honors

GREENSBORO, N.C. – The University of Louisville's Alli Bitting and Charlie van Oirschot have been named to the 2021 Preseason All-ACC Field Hockey Team and the Cardinals were picked in a three-way tie to finish fifth in the regular season standings in a vote by the league's seven head coaches.

Bitting, a midfielder/defender from Hummelstown, Pa., enters her fifth season with the Cardinals. The two-time National Field Hockey Coaches Association (NFHCA) All-America selection turned in a career-best season in 2020-21 with eight assists and two goals, including one in the 1-0 NCAA quarterfinal win against No. 6 UConn. Bitting is also a three-time all-region honoree and a two-time All-ACC selection. Additionally, she was named to the 2020-21 NCAA All-Tournament team after Louisville's first-ever NCAA semifinal appearance.

Van Oirschot, (Haarlem, the Netherlands) is coming off of an impressive rookie campaign in 2020. She earned NFHCA All-West Region second team honors and was an All-ACC selection. The midfielder tallied four goals and dished out two assists while starting all 20 games.

Three-time defending national champion North Carolina is favored to claim its fifth consecutive Atlantic Coast Conference title. UNC received six first-place votes and placed atop this year's ACC preseason poll with 48 total points. Boston College (30 points) was picked for a second-place finish, while Virginia picked up the remaining first-place vote to hold the No. 3 spot with 25 points.

Wake Forest (24 points) finished fourth in the voting, while Duke, Louisville and Syracuse tied for fifth place with 23 total points.

In the 2020-21 season all seven ACC teams finished among the top 20 of the NFHCA national rankings. The ACC leads all conferences with 21 NCAA field hockey titles and has placed at least one team in the national championship game 29 of the past 32 seasons.

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 reached 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.

The Cardinals return 18 players from last season's NCAA Final Four squad including six seniors. Louisville also welcomes six newcomers to the 2021 team.

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.

2021 ACC Field Hockey Predicted Order of Finish
1. North Carolina (6) - 48
2. Boston College - 30
3. Virginia (1) - 25
4. Wake Forest - 24
t-5. Duke - 23
t-5. Louisville - 23
t-5. Syracuse - 23
(First-place votes)

2021 Preseason All-ACC Field Hockey Team
Margo Carlin, F, Jr., Boston College
Fusine Govaert, M, Gr., Boston College
Jonna Kennedy, GK, Sr., Boston College
Leah Crouse, M, Sr., Duke
Alli Bitting, M, Sr., Louisville
Charlie van Oirschot, M, So., Louisville
Erin Matson, F, Sr., North Carolina
Meredith Sholder, M, Sr., North Carolina
Charlotte DeVries, F, Jr., Syracuse
Amber Ezechiels, B, Sr., Virginia
Meike Lanckohr, M, Jr., Wake Forest

University of Louisville Athletics

Bitting, van Oirschot Earn Preseason All-ACC Field Hockey Honors

Related News

Players Mentioned

Alli Bitting

Charlie van Oirschot

Related Videos