Louisville Faces Pitt in ACC Tournament Opener

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – University of Louisville women's lacrosse opens the 2022 Atlantic Coast Conference Tournament against Pitt on Wednesday at 2 p.m. ET in South Bend, Ind. The game will broadcast live on the ACC Network.

The Cardinals are 7-10 overall and 1-7 in conference play. The Panthers enter Wednesday's game at 8-9 on the year and 1-7 in the league.

"We've got to battle, it's a shorter turnaround for us and it's a little bit of a revenge tour," said head coach Scott Teeter on opening the ACC Tournament against Pitt. "I think it's going to be a good battle between two good teams. We were unhappy with our consistency the first time we played them, so we just need to bring it for 60 minutes and give it everything we've got."

Two Cardinals earned All-ACC honors this week in grad student Caroline Blalock and freshmen Ava Coyle. Blalock was named All-ACC Second Team, marking her third time on an All-ACC team in her career. She leads the Cards in assists (18) and ground balls (34), ranks second in points (54) and caused turnovers (17) and third in goals (36) and draw controls (41). Her 18 assists and 41 draw controls mark a career-high.

In the last two games, Caroline Blalock has recorded 12 goals (career-high seven at Niagara, five against Notre Dame) adding six ground balls and six draw controls.

Coyle was named to the All-ACC Freshman team after playing in all 17 games, making 13 starts and recording 15 ground balls and five caused turnovers.

Hannah Morris' 56 goals rank fourth in the ACC and 15th in the nation, while her 3.29 goals per game rank sixth. She has more than doubled her previous season-high of 25 goals in 2021. Her team-high 65 points are also a career-high, surpassing her previous best of 27 in 2021.

In the last three games Morris has scored 11 goals and tallied 14 assists, scoring a career-high six goals at Syracuse, two goals and career-high three assists at Niagara and three goals against Notre Dame.

Nicole Perroni has 45 goals on the season, which rank 13th in the ACC while her 2.65 goals per game rank 14th. She also has 63 draw controls. Perroni entered the season with career totals of 10 goals, 11 points, five ground balls, 11 draw controls and six caused turnovers and has put up 45 goals, 50 points, 28 ground balls, 63 draw controls and 26 caused turnovers this season alone. She has scored at least one goal in all 17 games this season and dating back to last year has a 19-game goal scoring streak.

Perroni has also stuffed the stat sheet in the last three games, netting 12 goals with 14 draw controls, scoring a career-high five goals with one assist at Syracuse, four goals and a career-high nine draw controls at Niagara and three goals against Notre Dame.

Louisville has suffered four one-goal losses this season, which includes two in ACC play, a 12-11 loss to No. 13 Virginia and a 15-14 loss to No. 17 Notre Dame. Louisville is 0-4 in games decided by two goals or less and 1-5 in games decided by five goals or less. Louisville defeated Virginia Tech 14-11 at UofL Lacrosse Stadium on Feb. 26.

UofL is 0-6 all-time in the ACC Tournament and this will be the first meeting against Pitt in the postseason. In the previous two ACC Tournament openers they have faced the No. 1 team in the country on their home field. ACC Tournament history - 2015 - vs. Duke (L, 14-7); 2016 - vs. ND (L, 12-10); 2017 - vs. UVA (L, 13-12); 2018 - vs. BC (L, 19-6); 2019 - vs. BC (L, 15-4), 2021 – vs. UNC (L, 19-6).

ABOUT THE PANTHERS

The Panthers finished their inaugural regular season with an 8-9 record, 1-7 in the Atlantic Coast Conference. Pittsburgh enters the tournament off a 13-8 win over George Mason. Pitt is led by grad student attacker Paige Petty who has 40 goals on the year. Petty is fifth in the ACC with a .542 free position percentage and is 15th in goals. Grad student goalkeeper Paulina DiFatta has been an anchor in net, logging 161 saves with a .447 save percentage while leading the team with 46 ground balls. DiFatta leads the ACC in saves, saves per game (9.47) and ground balls per game (2.71) and is ranked third in save percentage. As a team, Pittsburgh leads the league and is fifth in the nation with a .529 free position percentage.

Series History - Louisville is 0-1 all-time against Pittsburgh, dropping the first meeting earlier this season.

Last Meeting (April 9, 2022) - Hannah Morris notched her 10th hat trick of the year, but Louisville fell 17-10 at Pittsburgh. The Cards got within three in the fourth quarter but couldn't mount the final push to overcome the Panthers in the teams first meeting.

Game Facts
Date: Wednesday, April 27
Time: 2 p.m. ET
Site: South Bend, Ind. | Arlotta Family Lacrosse Stadium
Video: ACCN (Jay Alter, play-by-play; Sheehan Stanwick Burch & Dana Boyle, analysts)
Last Meeting: L, 17-10 (April 9, 2022 at Pittsburgh)
Series History: 0-1 (L1, 0-0 home, 0-1 away, 0-0 neutral)
UofL National Ranking: --

For the latest information on Louisville lacrosse, visit GoCards.com, or follow the team's Twitter account at @LouisvilleLax or on Facebook at facebook.com/UofLLacrosse.

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Players Mentioned

Caroline Blalock

Ava Coyle

Hannah Morris

Nicole Perroni

University of Louisville Athletics