No. 18 Cards Earn Shootout Win Over No. 10 Miami (Ohio)

Friday, August 28

LOUISVILLE, KY

12:00 PM

University of Louisville

(0-0)

Miami University (OH)

(0-0)

Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	Final F
Miami (Ohio)	0	0	1	0	0	0	0	1
Louisville	0	1	0	0	0	0	1	2

Photo by: Mallory Peak | Louisville Athletics

No. 18 Cards Earn Shootout Win Over No. 10 Miami (Ohio)

August 28, 2026 | Field Hockey

Box Score Justine Sowry Postgame Interview Emily Young and Gigi Edwards Postgame Interview Photo Gallery

Gigi Edwards scores Louisville's lone regulation goal, Emily Young collects eight saves in the Cardinals' season-opening win

By: Lori Harmon

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – The No. 18-ranked University of Louisville field hockey team opened the 2026 season in dramatic fashion with a 2-1 shootout win over No. 10 Miami (Ohio) Friday afternoon at Trager Stadium.

"To get a win here at Trager in the first game of the season, I couldn't be more happy, and certainly happy for the team," said UofL head coach Justine Sowry. "It was a long, hot preseason, and we had more learning and teaching than ever before. Usually in that first weekend, we play against opponents we don't know very well, but this weekend we know Miami (Ohio) well, we know Indiana well, and they did a lot of homework leading into this game."

Gigi Edwards registered her first goal of the season to give the Cardinals a 1-0 lead in the second quarter. Senior Annabel Sep directed a long outlet pass from the Cardinals' defensive circle up the field and found Edwards who broke away on the other side of the 50 yard line. The senior forward quickly made her way across the circle where she delivered a shot past Miami goalkeeper Nicky Sjouken with 3:43 left in the half.

Louisville entered the break up 1-0 with the RedHawks owning a 3-2 edge in shots with the Cardinals holding a 2-0 advantage in penalty corners.

The RedHawks (0-1) evened the score at 1-1 with a goal by Meg Canfield early in the third quarter.

With neither team able to break through again in regulation or a 15-minute overtime period, the game entered a best-of-five shootout to determine the winner. Seniors Aubreigh Uba and Tyler Everslage converted on their attempts. Louisville goalkeeper Emily Young thwarted four of the RedHawks' tries as Cards prevailed 2-1 in the shootout to earn the top-10 victory.

In the game, Miami outshot Louisville 11-5 with the teams earning three penalty corners apiece, including one each in overtime.Young collected eight saves throughout regulation and overtime. With her first save of the game, the senior also recorded her 100^th career stop.

"When you go player for player, from a skill standpoint, Miami (Ohio) to me is a potential Final Four team, they are a really good team - very technical," said Sowry. "Their IQ is on a whole other level, but it just shows that if you play great team hockey on both sides of the ball and just keep working for each other, that you can have a positive result. It was true and true Louisville field hockey, and it was fantastic to get a [positive] outcome at the end of the day. In the third and fourth quarters, we struggled a little bit, but we just kept it together as a team defensively and struggled through to the shootout. And then Emily Young- what a game she had."

The Cardinals (1-0) will return to action on Sunday when they play host to Indiana at 2 p.m. The Hoosiers will open their season on Saturday against Miami (Ohio) in a neutral site game played at Trager Stadium.