No. 12 Louisville Shuts Out Stanford in ACC Opener

Friday, September 20

LOUISVILLE, KY

4:00 PM

University of Louisville

(4-3, 1-0ACC)

Stanford

(5-2, 0-1ACC)

Stanford

Louisville

Photo by: Caleb Jones |University of Louisville Athletics

September 20, 2024 | Field Hockey

Box Score Justine Sowry Postgame Interview vs. Stanford Chloe Plumb Postgame Interview vs. Stanford Photo Gallery

Chloe Plumb, Izzy Bianco register goals, Brandelynn Heinbaugh posts three saves in 2-0 win over Stanford

By: Lori Harmon

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – The No. 12-ranked University of Louisville field hockey team opened Atlantic Coast Conference play with a 2-0 win over Stanford Friday evening at Trager Stadium.

Chloe Plumb and Izzy Bianco each registered their first goal of the season and Brandelynn Heinbaugh posted three saves en route to the win in Louisville's first defensive shutout of the season. In the game, Louisville outshot Stanford 12-5 with a 7-3 advantage in shots on goal and owned a 5-4 edge in penalty corners. Louisville improves to 4-3 (1-0 ACC) on the season while Stanford drops to 5-2 (0-1 ACC).

"We haven't played Stanford in quite some time and I think Roz Ellis has done a nice job with her team, they were incredibly competitive," said UofL head coach Justine Sowry. "They disrupted us quite a lot away from our game plan – probably for the first time this year, so there were elements that were disappointing, but give credit to Stanford for that. At the end of the day, we came away with our first Friday win and our first ACC win, so we're ecstatic about that. We've got a lot of work to do and when you play against an opponent that might have a different style and tendencies, it can disrupt us. We have to be able to figure it out and problem solve on the field and to be able to come back to our game plan."

The teams played through a scoreless first quarter before Louisville broke through with 1:51 left to play in the second frame. The sophomore's initial shot was turned back by Stanford goalkeeper Daisy Ford, but Plumb was there to direct the rebound into the cage for her first goal of the season.

Louisville took the 1-0 lead into the break after holding an 8-4 edge in shots while the teams earned three penalty corners in the first half.

The Cards added an insurance goal midway through the third quarter after earning their fifth penalty corner of the contest. Sophia Parker got the corner started and Mia Duchars provided the stop for Izzy Bianco who rifled a shot into the left post for her first goal of the season to give Louisville a 2-0 lead.

Stanford had an early scoring opportunity in the first quarter, earning back-to-back penalty corners, but Heinbaugh posted a pair of saves to keep them off the board. The Cardinal had another chance to score in the opening minutes of the second quarter, but Heinbaugh came up big again with another stop to secure the shutout.

"There's been a lot of pressure on our young defense for the entire year and we've been very happy with what they've been doing the past couple of weeks and they're pretty fired up," said Sowry. "We should give them a lot of credit, to get a shutout collectively with our goalkeeper Brandelynn Heinbaugh today and the defenders in front is a good result."

Louisville will return to action on Sunday when the Cardinals travel to Muncie, Ind., to take on Ball State.