The University of Louisville women’s lacrosse team fell 12-8 at No. 14 Northwestern on Sunday afternoon. Senior Hannah Koloski led the Cardinals (9-4) with four goals while the Wildcats (5-5) had five players finish with two goals each.
“This was a tale of two halves,” said head coach Kellie Young. “We executed our game plan in the first half and played well as a team. The second half was a different story. We have work to do.”
Louisville got on the board first when Meghan Siverson found Ashley Lynch in the 27th minute. Northwestern tied the game a minute later then scored the go-ahead goal in the 24th minute for a 2-1 lead. Louisville responded with two straight goals from Koloski to take a 3-2 lead with 5:44 remaining in the first half.
Northwestern scored on the next possession to tie the game at 3-3. Louisville responded with a 2-0 run to end the half. Madison Hoover scored a minute later, then Lynch hit Siverson for a goal and a 5-3 lead at the break.
The Wildcats started the second half with a 4-0 run, taking a 7-5 lead with 27:29 left in the game. The Cardinals responded with a 3-0 run of their own to take an 8-7 lead with 11:36 remaining. Koloski had her hand in all three goals. She scored the first two then found Lynch for the third goal. Northwestern then went on a 5-0 run to end the game with a 12-8 victory.
Both teams finished with 25 shots and 16 ground balls. Northwestern held a 13-9 edge at the draw.
Brittany Read finished with nine saves for the Cardinals while Northwestern’s Mallory Weisse finished with 11. Siverson and Emily Howell led the Cardinals with two caused turnovers. Koloski and Howell led the Cardinals with three draw controls. Hoover finished with three ground balls.
The Cardinals will be back in action on Saturday, April 1 as they travel to No. 12 Virginia Tech for a 1:00 p.m. game.
Kimberli Pemberton
Assistant Sports Information Director
University of Louisville