Louisville to Face Iowa in NCAA Tournament

The University of Louisville field hockey team earned an at-large bid to the 2023 NCAA Tournament and will travel to Evanston, Ill., to take on Iowa in the first round of the 2023 NCAA Tournament Friday at 3:30 p.m. (ET) at Northwestern's Lakeside Field

Host Northwestern earned the overall No. 2 seed and will face the winner of a play-in game between Miami (Ohio) and California Friday at 1 p.m. (ET) on Friday. The winners of the first-round matches will meet Sunday at 2 p.m. (ET).

Sunday's quarterfinal winner will advance to the NCAA semifinals which will take place Nov. 17 at North Carolina's Karen Shelton Stadium. The national championship game will be held on Nov. 19 at 1:30 p.m.

This marks UofL's fifth straight and 12^th overall NCAA tournament appearance. In 2020, the Cardinals advanced to the NCAA semifinals for the first time in program history.

The 10th-ranked Cardinals (14-6) are coming off of a 1-0 loss to No. 3 Duke in the semifinals of the ACC Championship. Louisville earned the No. 3 seed in the tournament after registering a 3-3 record against league opponents.

Head Coach Justine Sowry on the NCAA selection
"From our point of view, we're very relieved, it took quite some time before our name was called tonight," said UofL head coach Justine Sowry. "Very excited and proud of this group. We've worked very hard this year and I know that they're very motivated to go into the NCAA tournament again. Certainly very proud of our fifth year seniors to go to five in a row, not many can say that. And of course, I'm happy for those who going to the tournament for the first time. It's really hard to make the NCAA tournament and we've been able to do it again, so it's great for our program and for this team. Now we get back to work as we face a formidable opponent in Iowa – it's going to be a fantastic rematch and we're really looking forward to this Friday."

Weekend Schedule at Northwestern (All times Eastern)
November 10, 2023 | First Round
1 p.m. – Northwestern vs. Miami (OH)/California winner
3:30 p.m. – Louisville vs. Iowa
November 12| Quarterfinals
2 p.m. – Game 2 winner vs. Game 3 winner

TOURNAMENT NOTES
• Friday will mark the second meeting this season between the Cardinals and the eighth-ranked Hawkeyes. The teams previous met on Oct. 15 with Iowa prevailing 2-1.
• Louisville also returns to Northwestern's Lakeside Field where they picked up an early season win over the host Wildcats who have since put together an 18-game win streak, entering the tournament with an 18-1 overall record, including the Big Ten title.
• The Atlantic Coast Conference placed five teams in the NCAA tournament field - the most of any conference. North Carolina earned the overall top seed while Duke is the No. 2 seed. Virginia, Syracuse and Louisville round out the ACC teams earning at-large bids.

University of Louisville Athletics

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