Balanced Effort Leads Louisville to 20-13 Win Over Canisius

Wednesday, February 25

LOUISVILLE, KY

12:00 PM

University of Louisville

3-3

Canisius

4-2

Canisius

Louisville

Balanced Effort Leads Louisville to 20-13 Win Over Canisius

February 25, 2026 | Women's Lacrosse

Box Score Postgame Interview: Scott Teeter, Charlotte Jackson, Erin Nicholson Photo Gallery

Five Cardinals register hat tricks in Wednesday's win over Canisius

By: Lori Harmon

LOUISVILLE, Ky. -Five different players registered hat tricks to power the University of Louisville lacrosse team to a 20-13 win over Canisius Wednesday afternoon at UofL Lacrosse Stadium.

With the win, Louisville improved to 2-3 while Canisius dropped to 4-1 on the season.

"All in all, happy with today's performance," said UofL head coach Scott Teeter. "The girls played hard, and any time you have five girls record hat tricks [that means] they were spreading the ball around. Defense in the first half dictated, Canisus had to claw for everything they were getting. In the second half, we got into a little card trouble, playing a man down a little bit. We fought through some adversity and won the game today, playing for an entire 60 minutes."

Nine different Cardinals contributed goals with Erin Nicholson's career-high four goals leading the way. Charlotte Jackson netted three goals and dished out four assists for a career-best seven points while Ella Berg recorded three goals and two assists, Reese Whiteman added three goals along with an assist and Rian Adkins finished with three scores on the day.

In the game, Louisville held a 30-18 advantage in shots on goal and a 20-13 edge in draw controls, with Olivia Scroggie earned a career-high 15 to notch her second straight game with double-digit draw control wins. Goalie Haley Richards finished the game with 10 saves marking her fourth game with double-digit stops.

The Cardinals jumped out to a 4-0 lead with goals by Nicholson, Adkins, Whiteman and Abbie Dunlap in the first eight minutes of the game before Canisius got on the scoreboard with a score by Ella Forcucci. Louisville answered with a goal by Grayce Kitchen to take a 5-1 lead at the end of the first quarter.

Nicholson opened the second quarter scoring as the teams traded goals, but the Cardinals went on to outscore the Golden Griffins 7-4 in the frame, courtesy of three goals by Nicholson, two goals by Berg and additional scores from Jackson and Maggie McMahon.

The Cards took a 12-5 lead into halftime maintaining a 15-8 edge in shots on goal while each team collected nine draw controls.

Jackson opened the second half with her second goal of the game, but Canisius answered with back-to-back goal from Meg Hiltz and Megan Previdi to make the score 13-7. The Griffins would get no closer as the Cards went on a 4-0 run as Berg, Jackson, Whiteman and Abigail Cole combined to push Louisville's lead to 17-7 at the end of the third quarter.

The Golden Griffins outscored the Cards 6-3 in the final frame, but Louisville maintained a seven-goal cushion throughout the quarter and emerged with the 20-13 win.

Ella Forcucci delivered a game-high five goals to pace the Canisius attack. The Griffs held a 20-18 lead in ground balls with Olivia Licardi's five leading the way. Avery Johnston grabbed a team-best three ground balls. The Cards forced 16 turnovers and committed 11 in the game.

"I thought we had a fantastic start to today's game," said Teeter. "We started out with Erin (Nicholson) hitting the net for the first [goal] early in the game, and we really didn't look back after the first quarter when we built a decent lead, so our start was really good. Another two components that I thought we did very well were that we controlled the draw circle early on and then came out and really increased the tempo. We dictated when we didn't have the ball and forced Canisius into some turnovers, especially through transition, and that was a part of our game plan."

The Cards continue their homestand Saturday when they play host to No. 12 Syracuse at noon in an Atlantic Coast Conference matchup. The contest will air on ACCNX.

NOTES:
• The 20 goals are the most for the Cards since 4/9/2024 against Ohio State (22 goals)
• Olivia Scroggie had career-best 15 draw controls, recording double-digit draw controls in back-to-back games for the first time in her career. The 15 draw controls are the fourth most for a player in a single game in Louisville history.
• The team scooped up 20 draw controls in the matchup, that mark is tied for the 8^th most all-time in program history.
• Erin Nicholson had a career high four goals, registering her first career hat trick of her.
• Charlotte Jackson's three goals and career-best four assists, gives her a new personal record of seven points in a game.
• Reese Whiteman secured her third hat trick on the season and sixth of her career to extend her goal count to a team-best 13.
• Rian Adkins found the back of the next three times to earn the third hat trick of her career and her first since 03/05/2025 against Vanderbilt.
• Ella Berg got her third hat trick of the season to bring her season total to 11 goals.
• Abbie Dunlap scored her first career goal.