No. 5 Cardinals Down New Hampshire 3-0

Sunday, August 29

LOUISVILLE, KY

2:00 P.M.

University of Louisville

(2-0)

NEW HAMPSHIRE

(1-1)

New Hampshire

Louisville

Photo by: Adam Creech | Louisville Athletics

August 29, 2021 | Field Hockey

Box Score Justine Sowry Post Game Interview Alli Bitting Post Game Interview Photo Gallery Photo Gallery

By: Lori Harmon

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – The fifth-ranked University of Louisville field hockey team used goals from three different players to beat New Hampshire Sunday afternoon at Trager Stadium. With their second straight shutout win, the Cardinals improve to 2-0 on the season and extend their home winning streak to nine games.

Alli Bitting, Katie Schneider and Filippa Niebuhr contributed goals and Julie Kouijzer added an assist to lead the Cardinals offensively. Mila de Kuijer recorded a save in the contest to move to 2-0 on the season.

In the game, UofL outshot New Hampshire 24-2 with a 13-1 edge in shots on goal as New Hampshire goalkeeper Jemma Woods collected an impressive 10 saves in the game. Louisville also held a 12-0 advantage in corners.

"It was a tough day against a quality opponent," said UofL head coach Justine Sowry. "they showed us a little something different that we've not seen so far this year, [they are] very tight in the midfield with their marking. In our last game we were able to distribute through our midfield and we were not able to do that today with the way that they pressed us. Hats off to their goalkeeper [Jemma Woods] she had an unbelievable game, outstanding goalkeeping play. We were actually doing quite well and weren't selfish with our play, we definitely moved her, we created 2v1s, but she was able to really close it down and pull off some spectacular saves. At halftime we just reset and tried to just play our game."

The teams played through 26 scoreless minutes with Woods turning back nine of Louisville's shots on goal before Bitting put the Cards on the scoreboard with under three minutes remaining in the second quarter. After Louisville earned its fifth corner of the game, Woods stopped Aimee Plumb's initial shot, but Bitting was positioned for the rebound and sent the ball into the cage to put the Cardinals on top 1-0.

UofL took advantage of another penalty corner to add to its lead midway through the third quarter. This time Julie Kouijzer's initial shot was tipped by Schneider into the upper right side of goal for her second score of the season.

The Cardinals capped the scoring in the fourth quarter when Charlie van Oirschot dribbled the ball up the field fired a shot from the top of the circle which hit the left post, but Niebuhr was there for the rebound to notch her second goal in as many games.

UofL will hit the road for Princeton, N.J., where they a pair of games next weekend starting on Friday when they take on the University of Pennsylvania followed by a Sunday matchup against No. 13 Princeton.

NOTES:
• Louisville has outscored its first two opponents by a combined total of 9-0 to start the season.
• Six different players have contributed to the Cardinals' goal tally with Katie Schneider, Filippa Niebuhr and Erica Cooper delivering two apiece in the 2021 campaign.
• Schneider and Niebuhr have scored a goal in each of Louisville's games.
• Katie Schneider registered her 12^th career goal
• Alli Bitting extended her career goal total to six
• Louisville has won its last nine home games after going 7-0 at Trager Stadium in the 2020-21 campaign. The Cardinals' last home loss was on November 17, 2019 against Boston College in the quarterfinals of the NCAA championship.
• Head coach Justine Sowry now has 197 all-time wins, needing four more to reach 200 in her career.