No. 9 Louisville Holds Off Cornell 4-3

Sunday, September 15

LOUISVILLE, KY

4:00 PM

University of Louisville

(3-3)

Cornell

(0-4)

Cornell

LOU

Photo by: Adam Mouchrani | Louisville Athletics

September 15, 2024 | Field Hockey

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Caroline Pusey's first career goal lifts Louisville to 4-3 win, Emily Young collects a career-high 10 saves

By: Lori Harmon

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Caroline Pusey's goal in the fourth quarter lifted the ninth-ranked University of Louisville field hockey team to a 4-3 win over Cornell Sunday evening at Trager Stadium.

Four different players registered goals for the Cardinals while Emily Young collected a career-high 10 saves, including stops on of pair of Cornell penalty strokes en route to the win.

The back-and-forth contest featured a wild fourth quarter that saw a total of three goals, two by the Big Red in a span of just a minute to tie the game at 3-3 before Pusey secured the game-winner with her first career goal just two minutes later. Cornell threatened to strike again late in the game with a pair of back-to-back penalty corners in the final 20 seconds of regulation.

In the game, Cornell outshot Louisville 16-12 with a 13-9 edge in shots on goal while the Cardinals held a 10-6 advantage in penalty corners. With the win, the Cardinals improve to 3-3 on the season while the Big Red drop to 0-4.

"It was a great game, chaotic at times, but that's what we were expecting in terms of the physicality and the back-and-forth," said UofL head coach Justine Sowry. "To be honest, I thought with the ball we played pretty good hockey, but looking at the stats it seems a little odd to me, but we were very undisciplined offensively and we've got to take a long look at why they're getting into the circle so easily… we're going to take a look at that."

The Cardinals struck early, converting on their first penalty corner of the contest when Chloe Cuzzupe connected on a rebound from Aimee Plumb's shot for her second goal of the season. Louisville added another penalty corner goal late in the first quarter to take a 2-0 lead. Sophia Parker got the play started and Tatum Kroon provided the stop for Tyler Everslage who notched her first goal of the season.

Cornell had a chance to score after being awarded a penalty stroke with 32 seconds left to play in the first quarter, but Young stopped an attempt by Uma Kading.

The Big Red broke through in the second quarter when Blake Wilks deflected Georgia Kelly's penalty corner shot to cut the lead in half.

Louisville took the 2-1 lead into the break after a first half that saw Cornell gain a 9-7 edge in shots and the Cards own a 5-2 advantage in corners.

The Cardinals added to their lead in the third frame when Gigi Edwards fired a shot into the circle to find a diving Lauren Masters who registered her first goal of the year to make the score 3-1.

Late in the third quarter, Cornell was awarded another penalty stroke and Young again stood strong, turning back Jenna Villeneuve's attempt. After a video review challenge resulted in a redo, Young came up big again, this time denying Polly Parson's shot on goal to keep the score at 3-1 entering the fourth quarter.

The fourth quarter featured a wild series of events starting with a pair of Cornell penalty corner goals by Julie Ramsey in a span of just over a minute. The scoring began in the fifth minute of the frame when Ramsey connected on a feed from Delaney Keegan. One minute later, Ramsey notched her second goal of the game to even the score at 3-3.

Louisville quickly answered when Pusey created a turnover outside of the Cardinals' attacking circle and dished a pass to Rylie Wollerton who delivered a shot toward the cage. Pusey then redirected the ball past Cornell goalkeeper Martha Broderick to put the Cards back on top with 7:58 left to play.

The Big Red lifted Broderick in favor of an extra field player with 50 seconds remaining in regulation and went on to earn a pair of corners, but Young posted another save and the Cardinals' defense held strong to preserve the 4-3 led.

"We're pretty happy with some of the circle entries and the special effort that occurred today, and I have to say what a fantastic effort by Emily Young in defending those penalty strokes as well."

Louisville will return to action on Friday at 4 p.m. when Stanford visits Trager Stadium for both teams' Atlantic Coast Conference opener.