Women’s Soccer to Open the Season Against Bellarmine

Thursday, August 15

LOUISVILLE, KY

7:30 PM

University of Louisville

Bellarmine

Women’s Soccer to Open the Season Against Bellarmine

August 13, 2024 | Women's Soccer

Ferguson-Dayes Season Preview Presser

This will be the first of 11 home games at Dr. Mark & Cindy Lynn Stadium

By: Matt Paras

LOUISVILLE, Ky. — The University of Louisville women's soccer team is ready to kick off the 2024 season as they square off with a cross-town foe this week. The Cardinals welcome Bellarmine to Dr. Mark & Cindy Lynn Stadium for the season-opening match on Thursday, August 15. The season opener is set to begin at 7:30 p.m. ET and it will be streamed on ACC Network Extra. As always, all home women's soccer matches are free admission for the 2024 season.

Head coach Karen Ferguson-Dayes is entering her 25th season at the helm and has a squad that is mixed with returners and newcomers. The Cardinals return 14 players from the 2023 squad that put together a few 'firsts' for the program.

Last season, the Cardinals tallied their first win in program history over Duke when they defeated the 25th-ranked Blue Devils in the season finale. Louisville also recorded its first point in program history over Virginia in the 1-1 draw against the 20th-ranked Cavaliers. The Cardinals set a program record last season with five draws.

Louisville will be looking for new sources of offense this season as it returns just five goals and zero assists from the 2023 season. Molly Cochran and Emersen Jennings are the leading goal scorers returning with two each last year. The Cardinals do have two players returning from injury that can help on the offensive front. Brooke Dardano has four career assists and Amber Jackson has tallied eight goals and eight assists in her career. Returning defender Karsyn Cherry also has a knack for scoring as she had three goals in her freshman season in 2022. In goal, the Cardinals return Erynn Floyd, who has started 32 of the last 34 games over the past two seasons. Last year, Floyd set a career high with 62 saves.

Joining the returners will be 13 newcomers, eight of which are freshmen and five are college transfers. The incoming transfers include Jolie St. Louis (UAB/Seattle), Gianna Angelillo (Miami), Ella Kane (Kentucky), Berkley Patterson (Texas Tech) and Kailey Kimball (Purdue). The freshman class of eight all hail from five different states including Kentucky, Ohio (3x), Washington (2x), Maryland and Georgia.

Thursday's match will be the first time since the 1994 season that the Cardinals and Knights will face off during the regular season. The Cardinals hold a 6-0-0 all-time advantage over Bellarmine. The Knights begin the year under a new head coach that Louisville fans will be familiar with. Former Cardinal midfielder Callie McKinney was named the head coach for the Knights back in March and will start her first collegiate season as a head coach. During her time with the Cardinals, she played in 72 career games with 67 starts and advanced to the NCAA tournament in each of her final two seasons. In her senior season, she guided the Cardinals to a 13-5-2 overall record and scored the game-winning goal against Clemson.

Following Thursday's match against the Knights, the Cardinals will remain at home as they have a three-game homestand to begin the season. Next up for the Cards will be hosting UAB on Sunday, August 18 at 7:30 p.m. ET from Dr. Mark & Cindy Lynn Stadium.