No. 18 Cards Come Up Short Against No. 7 Wake Forest

Friday, October 3

LOUISVILLE, KY

6:30 PM

University of Louisville

(5-5, 0-2)

Wake Forest

(8-2, 4-0)

Wake Forest

Louisville

October 03, 2025 | Field Hockey

Box Score

Cards fall 2-0 to seventh-ranked Wake Forest

By: Ben Teitel

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – The No. 18 Louisville fell 2-0 to No. 7 Wake Forest at Trager Stadium in a thrilling top 20 Atlantic Coast Conference matchup Friday evening.

"We were excited to play against Wake Forest, they've had a great season and I felt like it would be a challenge for us," said Louisville head coach Justine Sowry. "I felt like we put together a pretty good game plan. They've certainly had their way against other opponents with their outlets and I thought we handled that decently well. Then it became just your typical ACC battle, where it ebbed and flowed and it was just a really good contest."

Both teams notched five shots in the game with three of them being on goal. Additionally, each team only attempted one penalty corner, with both coming in the fourth quarter. Ellie Todd from Wake saved three attempts from the Cardinal's offense while Emily Young turned away one.

Wake Forest (8-2, 4-0 ACC) got the scoring started halfway through the second quarter with a goal by Sarah Mudd with the assist coming from Faye Janse.

The Deacs went into the halftime break with a 1-0 lead, after holding the Cards in check, having zeros in every offensive category.

The third quarter saw a defensive battle between the two teams, as Wake was playing keep away from the Cards to preserve the lead, and the Cards were trying to keep the lead to only one goal against a potent Wake Forest offense.

Louisville came out swinging in the fourth quarter with an apparent goal by Gracie Potter, but the goal call was reversed upon review.

The Cards' offense began to ignite from that moment, but Wake Forest goalie Ellie Todd came up big for the Demon Deacons with a very clutch save early in the fourth to keep the game at 1-0.

Wake Forest drew the first corner of the game in a key moment late in the fourth quarter against the Cards, where they capitalized on it with Sarah Mudd finding her way past the goalie for her second goal of the game, with Lena Keller getting the assist giving Wake Forest a 2-0 lead.

Louisville fired back with a corner of its own right after Wake, but the Demon Deacons' defense stood strong with multiple blocks and saved an onslaught of shots by the Cardinals.

"I'm very pleased about some of the progress in this game," said Sowry. "There were some areas we were really happy with, we just got back to Louisville field hockey where we move the ball a little bit better, we changed the point, we went forward. Unfortunately, at the end of the day they were able to put two on the board and we didn't, but the same time we had those opportunities. It was a tight contest and unfortunately they came out on top, but there are a lot of positives to take away."

Louisville (5-5, 0-2 ACC) hosts Bellarmine on Tuesday, October 7 at 5 pm.