No. 16 Louisville Travels to Stanford for ACC Opener

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – The University of Louisville field hockey team will open Atlantic Coast Conference play on Friday when the Cardinals travel to Palo Alto, Calif. to take on Stanford at 8 p.m. (ET).

GAME INFORMATION
No. 16 Louisville at Stanford
Date/Time: Sept. 26, 8:00 p.m. (ET)
Location: Palo Alto, Calif.
Venue: Varsity Turf
Links: Live Scoring | ACCNX

QUICK HITS
• Louisville enters Friday's ACC opener with a 5-3 overall record after wins over then-No. 14 Ohio State and No. 15 Saint Joseph's last weekend.
• The Cardinals stand at No. 16 in the current National Field Hockey Coaches Association rankings. This marks the first time in the poll for Louisville this season, marking the program's first appearance since Oct. 1, 2024 when the Cards were ranked 16th.
• Rylie Wollerton leads the team with six goals and four assists for 16 points this season.
• Overall, nine different players scored at least one goal through the first eight games of the season In addition to Wollerton's six, Annabel Sep and Gigi Edwards have registered four apiece while Gracie Potter, Lauren Masters and Chloe Cuzzupe have notched two goals each. Izzy Bianco, Tyler Everslage and Aubreigh Uba have contributed one goal each.
• Emily Young carries a 1.97 goals against average with 28 saves in 426:18 minutes of action this season. She has registered one shutout and combined on a shutout with Alessia Cicuto.
• Senior Izzy Bianco was selected to the 2025 Preseason All-ACC Field Hockey Team. The midfielder is coming off of a solid junior campaign which culminated in National Field Hockey Coaches Association All-West Region honors.
• Wollerton and Bianco and Masters, are members of the U.S. Junior National Team. The trio recently helped the USA to a silver medal in the 2025 Junior Pan American Games in August.
• Bianco, Masters and Wollerton were named to the 2025 NFHCA Collegiate Watch List
• The 2025 Louisville field hockey co-captains are Bianco, senior midfielder Chloe Cuzzupe and
senior back Tatum Kroon
• Louisville was picked to finish eighth in the ACC preseason coaches poll.
• Louisville's Trager Stadium will serve as the host site for the 2025 ACC Championship. The Cardinals last hosted the event in 2017 when they advanced to the title game.
• Justine Sowry is in her 15th season at the helm. During her tenure, Sowry has guided the Cardinals to nine NCAA tournament appearances, advancing to the quarterfinals in three of the last six years and reaching the semifinals in 2020.

UP NEXT
The Cardinals will continue ACC play on Oct. 3 when Wake Forest visits Trager Stadium for a 6:30 p.m. matchup which will be televised on the ACC Network.

Cards Against Stanford
Series History: Louisville leads 6-2
Last Meeting: Sept. 20, 2024 - Louisville won 2-0 at Trager Stadium. Louisville recorded their first defensive shutout of the season in that game, and outshot Stanford 12-5 with 7-3 shots on goal advantage as well.
Scouting the Cardinal: Stanford (3-5) comes into this matchup on a three-game skid, dropping games to Michigan, Duke, and North Carolina. This begins conference play for Louisville but is the third ACC matchup for Stanford this year.
• Head Coach Roz Ellis is entering her fifth season as head coach after taking over the program in the summer of 2021.
• She led Stanford to an ACC tournament berth in the program's first year in the conference.
• Junior Kate Nemec leads the Cardinal in total points with six. Daisey Ford leads the team in saves with 34 and has started in seven of the first eight games to begin the season.
CARDINAL CONNECTION: Stanford head coach Roz Ellis was an assistant coach at UofL under Justine Sowry for the 2014 season.
• Justine Sowry was an assistant coach at Stanford in 2003.

CARDS RETURN TO THE NFHCA TOP 20
Louisville made its season debut in the National Field Hockey Coaches Association rankings, appearing at No. 16 in the poll released on Sept. 23. It marked the first time since Oct. 1, 2024 when they were also ranked 16th.
• The Cards have made at least one appearance in the NFHCA coaches poll every season since 2013.
• Prior to dropping out of the rankings on Oct. 8, 2024, Louisville spent 122 consecutive weeks in the top 20 in the nation dating back to the 2013 season.

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Izzy Bianco

Alessia Cicuto

Chloe Cuzzupe

Gigi Edwards

Tyler Everslage

Tatum Kroon

Lauren Masters

Gracie Potter

Annabel Sep

Aubreigh Uba

Rylie Wollerton

Emily Young

University of Louisville Athletics