Louisville earned three team (baseball, field hockey and volleyball) and 10 individual ACC Championships in 2021-22.

Louisville finished 34th in the nation in the Learfield IMG Directors Cup standings, the 12th consecutive season that the Cardinals have finished among the top 40 teams in the country. The Cardinals’ women’s sports programs ranked seventh in the nation in the Capital One Cup women’s standings.

UofL student athletes combined to produce an average grade point average of 3.0 or better for the 23rd straight semester. Cardinal student-athletes achieved an impressive 3.256 collective GPA for 2022 spring semester, with 467 earning Athletic Director's Honor Roll accolades (3.0 semester GPA).

In recent national graduation rates released by the NCAA, UofL student-athletes achieved a record 91 percent graduation rate to match the Cardinals' best mark in the Graduation Success Rate (GSR) Report.

Alli Bitting (field hockey), Amaya Tillman (volleyball) and Nick Albiero (swimming & diving) were honored as the ACC Scholar Athlete of the Year in their respective sports. In addition, pole vaulter Gabriela Leon was the 2022 Arthur Ashe Female Sports Scholar of the Year.

UofL’s ACC Champion volleyball team reached their first ever Final Four, remaining unbeaten until falling to the eventual national champion. Two-time ACC Setter of the Year Tori Dilfer and Anna Stevenson were named first team All-Americans and Anna DeBeer was an honorable mention selection. Dani Busboom Kelly was named National Coach of the Year and was the first woman head coach to end the regular season with an undefeated record (28-0) in D1 volleyball history.

Women’s Track & Field captured its fourth NCAA National Individual Champion in school history as Gabriela Leon won the NCAA outdoor pole vault national title.

Louisville's all-girl cheerleading team won its eighth consecutive and 18th overall National Cheer Association championship and its small co-ed team won its 12th national title. The Cardinals' large co-ed earned a third-place finish while UofL's Ladybirds dance team was fourth in team performance and second in the hip hop competition.

Women's basketball finished with a 29-5 overall record and advanced to the fourth Final Four in program history. Emily Engstler earned honorable mention All-America honors and was drafted fourth overall in the WNBA Draft by the Indiana Fever.

Baseball captured its fifth ACC Atlantic Division crown in seven full seasons in the league and reached a Super Regional for the ninth time in program history. Five Cardinals were selected in the 2022 MLB Draft and two others signed free agent contracts.

Field hockey finished with a perfect 6-0 record in ACC play on its way to the 2021 ACC regular season title. The Cardinals matched a school record with 16 wins and reached the NCAA Tournament for the 10th time.

Men's soccer had an outstanding 2021 season, capturing the program's first ACC Atlantic Division title and was back in the NCAA Tournament for the 13th time in program history. Pedro Fonseca was selected by Real Salt Lake in the second round of the MLS SuperDraft, the 26th selection from Louisville all-time.

Swimming and diving turned in another strong season with the women taking sixth and the men 12th at the NCAA Championship. Nick Albiero was named the ACC Swimmer of the Year and ACC Scholar Athletic of the Year.

Final Records and Rankings

Sport	Top Poll #	Final Ranking	Overall
Baseball	No. 3	No. 12	42-21-1	18-11-1 %	NCAA Super Regional
Men's Basketball	--	--	13-19	6-14	--
Women's Basketball	No. 2	No. 4	29-5	16-2	NCAA Final Four
Men's Cross Country	--	--	--	10th*	NCAA Regional: 13th
Women's Cross Country	--	--	--	13th*	NCAA Regional: 23rd
Field Hockey	No. 3	No. 6	16-4	6-0 %	NCAA First Round
Football	--	--	6-7	4-4	First Responder Bowl
Men's Golf	--	--	--	6th*	NCAA Regional: 7th
Women's Golf	No. 25	--	--	10th*	NCAA Regional: t-7th
Lacrosse	--	--	7-11	1-7	--
Rowing	--	--	--	6th*	--
Men's Soccer	No. 14	--	10-7-1	5-3-0	NCAA First Round
Women's Soccer	--	--	7-7-2	3-6-1	--
Softball	--	--	27-25	10-14	--
Men's Swimming & Diving	No. 9	No. 10	--	2nd*	NCAA Championship: 12th
Women's Swimming & Diving	No. 7	No. 10	--	3rd*	NCAA Championship: 6th
Men's Tennis	No. 23	No. 26	19-9	9-3	NCAA First Round
Women's Tennis	No. 65	--	8-15	0-14	--
Men's Indoor Track & Field	No. 24	--	--	8th*	--
Women's Indoor Track & Field	--	--	--	10th*	--
Men's Outdoor Track & Field	--	--	--	9th*	--
Women Outdoor Track & Field	No. 25	No. 25	--	6th*	--
Volleyball	No. 1	No. 3	32-1	18-0 %	NCAA Final Four

* Denotes team finish at ACC Championship
% Denotes regular season ACC Champion

Season Superlatives

Regular Season

Baseball
Field Hockey
Volleyball

Individual

Gabriela Leon (Outdoor Pole Vault)
Synclair Savage (Outdoor Long Jump)
Emily Scott (Outdoor High Jump)
Trey Allen (Outdoor High Jump)
Sterling Warner-Savage (Indoor 60-meters)
Evgenii Somov (100-Breast)
Evgenii Somov (200-Medley Relay)
Nick Albiero (200-Butterfly)
Daniel Sos (400-Individual Medley)
Mitchell Whyte (200-Medley Relay)
Abdelrahman El-Araby (200-Medley Relay)
Dalton Lowe (200-Medley Relay)
Liberty Williams (1650-Freestyle)

Emily Engstler
WNBA, 1st Round/4th overall by the Indiana Fever

Dana Evans
WNBA, 2nd Round/16th overall by the Dallas Wings

Dalton Rushing
MLB, 2nd Round/40th overall by the Los Angeles Dodgers

Pedro Fonseca
MLS, 2nd Round/53rd overall by Real Salt Lake

Jared Poland
MLB, 6th Round/172nd overall by the Miami Marlins

Michael Prosecky
MLB, 6th Round/178th overall by the Colorado Rockies

Ben Metzinger
MLB, 7th Round/222nd overall by the Milwaukee Brewers

Levi Usher
MLB, 10th Round/295th overall by the Kansas City Royals

Season Summaries

Baseball

The Cardinals were back on top of the ACC in 2022, putting together a 42-21-1 overall record and winning their fifth ACC Atlantic Division title in seven full seasons as members of the conference.

Louisville hosted a NCAA Regional for the ninth time in NCAA history and reached its ninth NCAA Super Regional.

Eight Cardinals earned All-ACC honors with Levi Usher taking home the ACC Defensive Player of the Year Award. Dalton Rushing became the 33rd Louisville player to earn All-America status, while Logan Beard was named a Freshman All-American.

Dalton Rushing (2nd Round/Los Angeles Dodgers), Jared Poland (6th Round/Miami Marlins), Michael Prosecky (6th Round/Colorado Rockies), Ben Metzinger (7th Round/Milwaukee Brewers) and Levi Usher (10th Round/Kansas City Royals) were all taken in the 2022 MLB Draft. Carter Lohman (Los Angeles Dodgers) and Cameron Masterman (Oakland Athletics) each signed free agent contracts.

Louisville was a recipient of the 2021-22 American Baseball Coaches Association Team Academic Excellence Award. The Cardinals earned the award after wrapping up their 22nd consecutive semester with a team GPA of 3.0 or higher, posting a 3.428 cumulative team grade point average during the spring, the program's second-highest semester GPA since the fall of 2011.

Men's Basketball

After winning its first four conference games for the second straight year, Louisville posted a 6-14 record in 2021-22 in its eighth season in the Atlantic Coast Conference to finish 11th in the league. Louisville has won at least eight league games in 15 of the last 16 seasons.

Louisville’s 15 different starting lineup combinations was the seventh-most in the nation. Louisville did not have a double-figure scorer on its team, but had 10 players averaging between 4.6 and 9.6 points per game. The last time UofL had finished the season without a double figure scorer was 1943-44. The 2021-22 season marked the first time a Louisville team’s first sub-.500 year since the Cardinals posted a 12-19 record in 2000-01.

Following the season, Kenny Payne was named Louisville’s new head coach on March 18. A member of Louisville’s 1986 NCAA Championship team and a career 1,000-point scorer for the Cardinals, Payne most recently served as an assistant coach with the NBA’s New York Knicks after fifteen years as a college assistant or associate head coach with both Oregon and Kentucky.

Women's Basketball

Louisville finished with a 29-5 overall record to reach 20 wins for the 12th-straight season, extending the program record. The Cards have won at least 20 games in 14 of Jeff Walz’s 15 seasons.

The Cardinals advanced to the fourth Final Four in program history after earning a No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament. They defeated Albany, Gonzaga, Tennessee and Michigan en route to the Final Four in Minneapolis. Hailey Van Lith was named Wichita Regional Most Outstanding Player after scoring 20+ points in each of the first four games of the tournament. Walz becomes one of five active head coaches that have made four or more Final Four appearances.

Emily Engstler earned honorable mention All-American honors from the Associated Press. She was named to the first team All-ACC, ACC All-Defensive team and was a semifinalist for Naismith Defensive Player of the Year and finalist for Cheryl Miller Award. She was drafted fourth overall in the WNBA draft by the Indiana Fever, the third-highest draft pick in program history.

Engstler and Kianna Smith (16th overall, Los Angeles Sparks) were both selected in the 2022 WNBA Draft, the fourth-straight season a Cardinal player had been selected. They have had eight players selected in the past four drafts, which at the time of Smith's selection is tied with Baylor for the most in the NCAA. The pair were the 15th and 16th players in program history to be selected in the WNBA Draft and 14 of those players played under Walz.

Van Lith joined Engstler on the first team All-ACC team and was named to the USA Basketball Women's 3x3 National Team. Van Lith led Team USA to a 4-0 record in pool play and a berth in the quarterfinals after hitting the game-winning bucket in the overtime win over France.

Cross Country

Louisville women's cross country was led by redshirt senior Purity Sanga, who finished in the top-54 and as the Cardinals' top women's performer in all three meets she competed.

Ian Kibiwot finished on the heels of All-Region distinction at the NCAA Region Championships, placing 26th with a 10K debut of 30:01.4. The freshman concluded the fall as the Cardinals' top men's finisher in all five meets.

Both the men’s and women’s teams earned USTFCCCA All-Academic team honors, while Ian Kibiwot was named to the All-ACC Cross Country Academic Team

Field Hockey

The sixth-ranked Cardinals finished the 2021 season with a 16-4 overall record, matching a school record for wins. Additionally, the Cardinals won the 2021 ACC regular season title after compiling a program-best 6-0 record in league play. Louisville earned its 10th NCAA tournament appearance and its seventh at-large bid in the last eight years.

Alli Bitting was named the ACC Defensive Player of the Year, while goalkeeper Mila de Kuijer was selected as the conference's Freshman of the Year and Justine Sowry was tabbed as ACC Coach of the Year. In addition to earning the league's major awards, Bitting and de Kuijer joined teammates Julie Kouijzer and Aimee Plumb on the All-ACC first team while Katie Schneider was selected to the second team. The Cardinals led all schools with four first-team selections.

Bitting, Kouijzer and Plumb earned 2021 National Field Hockey Coaches Association All-America honors. Bitting was selected to the first team while Kouijzer and Plumb were named to the third team. It marked the fifth straight year the Cardinals have had three NFHCA All-America selections, matching a program record set in 2017.

Bitting was named the ACC Co-Scholar Athlete of the Year and earned the ACC Postgraduate Scholarship. Plumb was the NFHCA Scholar Athlete of the Year.

The field hockey Cardinals were also successful in the classroom, ranking among the NFHCA Top Five GPAs and leading all UofL teams academically.

Football

The Cardinals finished their third season under Scott Satterfield at 6-7 and 4-4 in the ACC, dropping a 31-28 decision to Air Force in the First Responder Bowl. The Cards ended the year 21st in the nation in total offense, averaging 448.4 yards per game.

Offensive guard Caleb Chandler earned first team All-American and All-ACC accolades. Linebacker Yasir Abdullah was a second team all-conference performer, finishing second in the league with 10 sacks. Cornerback Kei’Trel Clark earned second team all-league honors for the second-straight season despite playing in only eight games.

Quarterback Malik Cunningham led the ACC in touchdowns with 20 and became the second quarterback in school history to rush for 1,000 yards in a season, finishing with 1,031 yards. Cunningham totaled 3,872 yards of total offense and accounted for 39 total touchdowns.

Cunningham became the second player in FBS history to pass for 300 yards and rush for 200 yards in a game, joining Washington's Marques Tuiasosopo who did it against Stanford on Oct. 30, 1999. Cunningham passed for 303 yards and five touchdowns and rushed for 224 yards and two scores in a 62-22 win over Duke.

C.J. Avery led the team for the third-straight season with 97 total tackles.

Men's Golf

The Cardinals advanced to the NCAA for the fourth consecutive season and the 12th time in school history. Louisville finished in seventh place in the NCAA Norman Regional.

Jiri Zuska earned All-ACC honors after leading the Cardinals with a 71.33 stroke average. The junior posted six top-10 finishes, including a second-place finish at the William Tucker.

Graduate transfer Chris Francoeur finished second on the team with a 71.80 stroke average and registered one top-10 finish, an eighth-place performance at the William Tucker.

The Cards earned a post-season bid after posting five top-five finishes during the 12 events this season, including tying for second at the Bank of Tennessee in October.

WGOLF: Lauren Hartlage punches her ticket to NCAAs

Women's Golf

The Cardinals reached the postseason for eighth consecutive season and 14th time in program history, finishing in seventh place at NCAA Albuquerque Regional.

Kendall Griffin earned All-ACC honors in her first season with the Cardinals. Griffin finished third at the ACC Championship after shooting a 1-under-par 215. She also posted three consecutive top-four finishes by placing second at the Illini Invitational, fourth at the Olde Stone Intercollegiate and second at the Moon Golf Invitational.

Lauren Thibodeau was named the Class of 2022 Honda Inspiration Award winner as announced by Chris Voelz of The Collegiate Women Sports Awards presented by Honda. The Honda Inspiration Award is given to a deserving female student-athlete in Division I, II or III who has experienced extraordinary physical and/or emotional adversity, injury and/or illness, or experienced extraordinary personal sacrifice during her college enrollment as a student-athlete and yet returns to athletic success.

Mairead Martin, Carmen Griffiths, Kendall Griffin and Lauren Thibodeau were named Women's Golf Coaches Association (WGCA) All-American Scholars.

Lacrosse

The Cardinals closed out the 2022 campaign with a 7-11 overall record.

Caroline Blalock was named USA Lacrosse Magazine All-American Honorable Mention and Second Team All-ACC. The five-year captain was named to the Tewaaraton Award Watch List as she led the Cards in assists (19) and ground balls (36), ranked second in points (57) and caused turnovers (18), and ranked third in goals (38) and draw controls (41). She ranked sixth in the ACC with 2.0 ground balls per game.

Hannah Morris and junior Nicole Perroni were named IWLCA All-Region Second Team. Morris led the team and ranked ninth in the Atlantic Coast Conference with 56 goals and 3.11 goals per game this season. Perroni tallied 50 goals on the season, which ranked 13th in the ACC. She led the team with 28 caused turnovers and was second with 34 ground balls and 64 draw controls.

Caroline Blalock, Allegra Catalano, Hannah Morris and Nicole Perroni were named to the All-ACC Academic Women's Lacrosse Team, while 14 Cardinals landed on the IWLCA Division I Academic Honor Roll.

Rowing

The University of Louisville rowing team finished sixth at the 2022 Atlantic Coast Conference Rowing Championship. The fourth-seeded Louisville team qualified all four of the Cardinals' boats for the Grand Finals after the preliminaries for the first time since 2018 that all the Cards' boats made the Grands.

Louisville ended the season receiving votes in the Pocock/Collegiate Rowing Coaches Association Top 20 Poll.

V8 Crew member Caitlin Bentley was awarded second team All-ACC honors. The University of Louisville Rowing team placed nine student athletes on the All-ACC Academic team.

The Cards turned in a team grade point average of 3.217 with 30 athletes making the grade and also had seven athletes with perfect 4.0 grade point averages for the spring semester. The University of Louisville rowing team had 12 athletes named as scholar athletes for the 2022 season by the Collegiate Rowing Coaches Association (CRCA).

Men's Soccer

The Cardinals had an outstanding 2021 campaign, finishing 10-7-1 overall and 5-3-0 in ACC play. Louisville captured the program's first ACC Atlantic Division title and earned a NCAA Tournament bid for the 13th time in program history.

Louisville featured a high-powered offensive attack that ranked second in the ACC at 2.22 goals per match.

Aboubacar Camara, Pedro Fonseca and Sander Roed all earned All-ACC honors. Camara finished with 13 goals, the first Louisville player to reach double digits since 2016 and the third-most in a single season in UofL history.

Pedro Fonseca was selected by Real Salt Lake in the second round of the MLS SuperDraft, becoming the 26th selection from Louisville all-time and the 11th in the last six years.

The Cardinals were a recipient of the 2021-22 United Soccer Coaches College Team Academic Award after posting a cumulative team GPA of 3.101 during the 2021-22 academic year, with 17 student-athletes on the Athletic Director's Honor Roll.

Women's Soccer

Louisville began the season 4-0 for the third time in the previous four seasons and finished the campaign with a 7-7-2 overall record.

Nina Nicosia was named to the All-Freshman team after starting 15 of her 16 matches last season. She led the team in assists and was second on the team in points and third on the squad in goals. She tallied a brace in her first collegiate game in the season-opening win over Western Michigan. She is the second Cardinal to be name to the All-Freshman in the past five seasons.

The Cardinals had another impressive season in the classroom as they had six players named to the All-ACC Academic Team for the second-straight season. Sarah Hernandez, Emma Hiscock, Gabby Kouzelos, Julia Simon, Delaney Snyder and Maisie Whitsett were all named to the team as it ties for the most players to be named to the All-ACC Academic Team in program history.

The team also earned the United Soccer Coaches Team Academic Award for the 15th time in program history. It is the first time the team has won the award since the 2015-16 season.

Softball

The UofL softball team posted a 27-25 record in the midst of a challenging schedule that was ranked 18th in the nation and earned the No. 8 seed in the ACC Championship.

Graduate senior Carmyn Greenwood earned National Fastpitch Coaches Association All-America third team honors, becoming Louisville's ninth All-America selection and the first since 2013 when Katie Keller and Alicja Wolny were named to the second team.

Louisville placed two on the NFCA All-Southeast Region teams with Carmyn Greenwood selected to the first team, Taylor Roby named to the second team.

Three Cardinals earned ACC honors with Carmyn Greenwood selected to the first team, Taylor Roby named to the third team and Korbe Otis tabbed as a member of the All-Freshman team.

Men's Swimming & Diving

The Cardinals finished second at the ACC Championships and 12th at the NCAA Championships. At NCAAs, the Cardinal men had seven All-American swims and two Honorable Mention All-American swims.

Nick Albiero (200-Fly), Daniel Sox (400-IM) and Evgeni Somov (100-Breast) won individual ACC titles, while Louisville's 200-medley relay team of Mitchell Whyte, Evgenii Somov, Dalton Lowe and Abdelrahman El-Araby took home the gold.

Capping off a stellar career, Nick Albiero was named ACC Swimmer of the Year and ACC Scholar Athlete of the Year.

The UofL men were named a CSCAA Scholar All-American Team.

Women's Swimming & Diving

The Cardinals finished third overall at the ACC Championships and sixth at NCAAs.

Liberty Williams won the ACC Individual Gold Medal in the 1650-freestyle.

At NCAAs, the Cards had seven All-American swims and 10 Honorable Mention All-American performances.

The Louisville women were named a CSCAA Scholar All-American Team.

Men's Tennis

The Cardinals achieved impressive results on the court in the 2021-22 campaign, finishing the season with an 19-9 overall record and an at-large berth in the NCAA tournament. Louisville reached the semifinals of the ACC Championship for the first time in program history after earning the No. 4 seed with a program-best nine wins in conference play.

The Cards returned to the NCAA tournament for the first time since the 2017 season and were one of the best home teams in the ACC, posting a 12-1 record at the Bass-Rudd Tennis Center. As a team, the Cardinals appeared in the ITA team rankings 11 times, with a season-high ranking of 23.

Individually, Etienne Donnet earned All-ACC first team honors and spent eight weeks in the Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) singles rankings, finishing the season at No. 88.

Women's Tennis

The Cardinals finished the 2022 season with an 8-15 overall record.

Tatiana Simova led the Cards with a 12-8 singles record, while Andrea Di Palma picked up nine wins at the top singles position. Di Palma and Simova teamed together for an 11-3 record in doubles action.

The Cards turned in a team grade point average of 3.689 and had eight student-athletes on the AD Honor Roll.

Joy Callwood, Dina Chaika, Sasha Gorchanyuk, Tyra Richardson, Chelsea Sawyer, and Tatiana Simova earned individual honors as ITA Scholar Athletes, while the team was recognized as an Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) Academic Team.

Gabi Leon holding her national championship trophy.

Track & Field

Gabriela Leon cleared a height of 4.60m (15' 1") in the pole vault to become the first women's outdoor national champion in program history and lead the women's team to a 25th-place finish, the program's best women's outdoor finish. In total, the Cardinals tallied two first team, three second team and three honorable mention All-Americans. Leon was named the USTFCCCA NCAA Division I Outdoor Southeast Region Women’s Field Athlete of the Year.

Trey Allen recorded a height of 2.18m (7.1.75) to finish seventh and secure first-team All-American honors in the men's high jump. Jeremiah Willis and Sean Roth earned second-team All-American honors in the men’s long jump and pole vault respectively. Katie Martin was a second-team all-American in the women’s 400-meter hurdles.

The Cardinals qualified a program-record 30 student-athletes for 31 entries to the NCAA East Preliminary Rounds and followed with eight NCAA qualifiers – the most since a school record 12 Cardinals went in 2009. In the ACC Outdoor Championships, the Cardinals tallied 17 All-ACC finishes with four event champions. Leon earned her second straight outdoor pole vault title. Synclair Savage secured the women's outdoor long jump title. The Cardinals also swept the titles in the high jump events. Emily Scott cleared a personal-best and facility-record mark of 1.82m (5-11.5) to win the women's title, while Trey Allen recorded a height of 2.18m (7-1.75) to take the men's gold.

Trey Allen tied an indoor personal-best of 2.20m (7-2.5) to earn first-team honors and an eighth-place finish in the men's high jump on the final day of the 2022 NCAA Indoor Championships. Gabriela Leon cleared a bar of 4.41m (14-5.5) for a sixth-place finish and first-team honors in the women's pole vault. Sterling Warner-Savage won the ACC Indoor 60-meter title to lead 10 All-ACC Indoor performers.

Volleyball

Louisville volleyball put together its best season in program history, finishing 32-1 on the year, winning 32 straight games. The Cards achieved their first No. 1 ranking in program history and made the first Final Four appearance in program history falling to eventual national champion Wisconsin 3-2.

Tori Dilfer brought home ACC Setter of the Year honors, while Dani Busboom Kelly was named ACC Coach of the Year. Eight Cardinals landed on All-ACC teams for their efforts to lead the conference. Busboom Kelly earned AVCA National Coach of the Year honor after becoming the first woman in NCAA history to coach an undefeated regular season.

Dilfer and Anna Stevenson became the program's first First-Team All-Americans with Anna DeBeer earning Third-Team recognition after the historic season.

Louisville was the first team to finish the regular season undefeated since Missouri in 2013. The Cards beat three Top Ten teams in nine days: #6 Purdue, #8 Kentucky and #6 Nebraska, with the sweep of Nebraska the first in Lincoln since Wisconsin swept the Huskers on Oct. 5, 2019.

The Cards set a new attendance record of 1,258 for the L&N Arena versus Kentucky, and a new school volleyball home attendance record at Freedom Hall with 5,917 versus Georgia Tech.

Tori Dilfer earned Most Outstanding Player of the Regional round of the NCAA Tournament after helping lead Louisville to wins over Florida and Georgia Tech. Dilfer was the AVCA East Regional Player of the Year with Dani Busboom Kelly taking home Region Coach of the Year laurels. Anna DeBeer, Tori Dilfer, Aiko Jones, Elena Scott, Anna Stevenson and Amaya Tillman earned All-Region honors.

University of Louisville Athletics

Gabriela Leon