No. 9 Louisville Hits the Road to Face Penn, No. 13 Princeton

The ninth-ranked University of Louisville field hockey team will hit the road for the second straight week when the Cardinals travel to Chapel Hill, N.C., to face Penn on Friday at 2:30 p.m. and Princeton on Sunday at 11 a.m. as part of the ACC/Ivy League Conference Crossover.

Both contests will be played at North Carolina's Karen Shelton Stadium and live streamed on the ACC Network Extra.

NOTE CARDS
• The Cardinals bring a 2-0 record into the weekend after a pair of 2-1 wins against Bucknell and No. 11 Penn State.
• Senior Julie Kouijzer leads the Cards with two goals in the early season while junior Aimee Plumb has a goal and two assists. Graduate transfer Sasha Elliott (2-0) carries a 1.00 goals against average and an .875 save percentage.
• Junior Aimee Plumb has been named to the 2022 Preseason All-ACC Field Hockey team in a vote by the league's seven head coaches. The Cardinals were picked to finish fifth in the regular season
• UofL returns four of its top scorers from last year in Katie Schneider, Plumb, Kouijzer and Mattie Tabor. Schneider led the team with nine goals, followed by Plumb (seven), Tabor (six) and Kouijzer (five). The four of them combined for 27 of Louisville's 47 goals last season.
• In 2021, the Cardinals started the season with a 7-0 record for the second straight year, matching a school record start before falling 2-0 to the Hawkeyes.

SCOUTING THE OPPONENTS
Penn
Series Record: Louisville leads 1-0
Last Meeting: Sept. 3, 2021 - Louisville won 3-1 in Princeton, N.J.
Scouting the Quakers: Friday will serve as the season opener for the Quakers, coming off a 9-7 overall record in the 2021 season. Penn went 5-2 in conference play, which was good for third place in the Ivy League.
• Selected to finish third in the Ivy League preseason coaches poll, Penn returns its top four scorers, who combined for 16 of the team's 25 goals last season. All four of the Quakers All-Ivy honorees return from the 2021 season.

Princeton
Series Record: Tied 1-1
Last Meeting: Sept. 5, 2021 - Louisville won 3-2 in overtime at Princeton.
Scouting the Tigers: Princeton enters the 2022 season at No.13 in the NFHCA preseason poll. The Tigers are coming off a 10-7 overall record in the 2021 season, while going 6-1 in Ivy League play, finishing second in the conference.
• Princeton returns 2021 NFHCA first-team All-American, Beth Yeager, who was also named Ivy League Offensive Player of the Year as a freshman.
•The Tigers were picked to finish second in the Ivy League preseason coaches' poll.

CARDS NINTH IN NFHCA COACHES POLL
UofL stands at No. 9 in the Preseason National Field Hockey Coaches Association Coaches poll released on Aug. 23.
• The Cards have been ranked among the top 10 for the last 31 weeks spanning back to the 2019 season when they appeared at No. 8 on Sept. 10.
• Louisville has now spent 96 consecutive weeks in the top 20 in the nation dating back to the 2013 season.
• Last season, the Cardinals spent all seven weeks in the top five after debuting at No. 2 – the highest ranking in program history – on March 16, 2021. After two weeks in that slot, UofL remained in the top five throughout the rest of the season, finishing the year at No. 5. The Cardinals also concluded the 2019 campaign at No. 5.

UP NEXT
After four straight road games, the Cardinals will open a five-game home stretch starting with Sept. 9 matchup against JMU and a Sept. 11 contest against Michigan.

LAST WEEKEND
• The Cardinals opened the 2021 campaign – and a four-game road stretch - with a perfect 2-0 record in College Station, Pa.
•Louisville began the season with a 2-1 win over Bucknell in a neutral game played at Penn State. Julie Kouijzer notched both goals and Sasha Elliott collected six saves in the game.
• In their second game of the weekend, the ninth-ranked Cardinals fell behind 1-0 at No. 11 Penn State, but a third quarter goal by Katie Schneider and a fourth-quarter penalty stroke from Aimee Plumb combined with eight saves by Elliott gave Louisville a 2-1 win.

HEAD COACH JUSTINE SOWRY
2021 ACC Coach of the Year Justine Sowry is in her 12th season at the helm. During her time at Louisville, she has guided the Cardinals to 153 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. Under Sowry's tutelage, Louisville has tallied three conference titles, including back-to-back ACC regular season crowns (2020, 2021) as well as a pair of runner-up finishes in the ACC Championships.

No. 9 Louisville Hits the Road to Face Penn, No. 13 Princeton

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Players Mentioned

Sasha Elliott

Julie Kouijzer

Aimee Plumb

Katie Schneider

Mattie Tabor

University of Louisville Athletics