Cards Notch Back-to-Back Road Wins With 18-13 Victory Over Bearcats

Wednesday, March 6

Cincinnati OH

12 PM

University of Louisville

3-4

University of Cincinnati

5-3

Louisville

Cincinnati

Lacrosse Celebrates Goal Against Marquette

Cards Notch Back-to-Back Road Wins With 18-13 Victory Over Bearcats

March 06, 2024 | Women's Lacrosse

Box Score

Kokoro Nakazawa recorded her first career sock trick with six goals.

By: Kennedy Knisley

CINCINNATI, Ohio – Kokoro Nakazawa recorded a career-high six goals and Allegra Catalano tied a season-high four goals in leading Louisville to an 18-13 win over Cincinnati this afternoon. Negai Nakazawa followed with her fifth career hat trick in moving the Cardinals to a 3-4 (1-1 ACC) record.

The Cardinals ended the Bearcats' five-game win streak and are 16-1 all-time against Cincinnati, remaining undefeated at Nippert Stadium.

"A win is a win. I am proud of our team for battling but we needed to be better in a lot of different areas going forward," said Head Coach Scott Teeter. "Our start was not as good today as it has been in previous games, so we need to fix that."

Louisville was off to a slow start this afternoon, allowing four straight Cincinnati goals to begin the game. The Cards finally got on the board with four minutes left in the first quarter, thanks to back-to-back goals by Kokoro Nakazawa.

Kokoro picked up her third goal to kick things off in the second frame, followed by Allegra Catalano's first goal of the game. Kokoro scored her fourth but Cincinnati's Camryn Callaghan halted the Cards' momentum with a goal of her own.

Three straight goals from Louisville closed out the first half, highlighted by Maggie McMahon's first career goal and Negai Nakazawa's first goal of the game. The Cards were up 8-6 going into the locker room.

The third quarter was all Louisville as Kokoro Nakazawa, Kylea Dobson, Rian Adkins, Catalano, and Tiffany Natoli each contributed a goal, increasing the margin to 14-8.

Negai scored again on an assist from her sister and Catalano tallied her fourth goal of the game with 10:08 remaining. The Bearcats scored four goals in under six minutes but Negai interrupted the momentum with her third and final goal of the game.

Nicole Perroni closed things out with an unassisted goal in the final two minutes, marking her 43^rd straight game with a goal. Perroni also tied her career-high with nine draw controls.

"We battled. We made some plays defensively and executed well on offense," said Coach Teeter. "It was exciting to see Maggie's first career-goal, I know the team and I are very happy for her."

Louisville had a season-high 31 shots on goal with a .775 shot on goal percentage. However, the Cards had some trouble getting shots in early on with Bearcats goalie Victoria Macres tallying a career-high 13 saves. Defensively, Louisville had just three saves and allowed 16 shots on goal, highlighted by Lauren Ottensmeyer's career-high six goals.

"Systematically, we didn't execute on defense," said Coach Teeter. "We need to learn from today's game and put all sights on Boston College."

The Cards will return home for a ranked ACC match up against No. 3 Boston College on Sunday, March 10. The opening draw will take place at 12 p.m. ET and can be streamed on the ACC Network Extra.