Mattie Tabor’s first career hat trick keyed the fourth-ranked University of Louisville field hockey team to a 5-0 win over Fairfield Sunday afternoon at Trager Stadium.
In addition to Tabor’s performance, Julie Kouijzer delivered a goal and an assist and Aimee Plumb added a goal as the Cardinals tallied a season high in scoring. Sasha Elliott (7-1) recorded one save en route to her second shutout of the season.
HOW IT HAPPENED
The Cardinals (7-1) opened the scoring with 1:45 remaining in the first quarter when Plumb deflected Kouijzer’s penalty corner shot past Fairfield goalkeeper Payton Rahn.
Louisville kept the momentum in the second quarter when Kouijzer smashed a penalty corner shot into the cage just two minutes into the frame.
Tabor, who would go on to score Louisville’s final three goals, continued the first half offense after connecting on a penalty corner rebound midway through the second quarter.
The third quarter brought another goal from Tabor when she tapped a rebound from Katie Schneider’s shot to push the Cardinals’ lead to 4-0.
Tabor completed her first career hat trick early in the fourth quarter after she collected the rebound from her own penalty corner shot and sent it to the back of the cage to seal the 5-0 win. The senior co-captain from Louisville, Ky. now has four goals on the season and 11 in her career.
In the game, Louisville outshot Fairfield 21-4 with a 15-1 edge in shots on goal and a 9-2 lead in penalty corners. Rahn collected 10 saves in the contest as the Stags drop to 2-6 on the season.
JUSTINE SOWRY ON THE WIN AGAINST FAIRFIELD
“We were nervous about this game because when you come off a game like UNC, and that was a pretty disappointing result, we wanted to make sure we bounce back and came back to Louisville Field Hockey. We’re really pleased with that performance both with the ball, we’re able to keep that tempo up and keep passing the ball and have a go in that attack third, but also keep pretty disciplined on defense as well. So overall, I’m very, very pleased.”
UP NEXT
Louisville will wrap up its five-game home stand on Friday at 6 p.m. when the Cardinals play host to Indiana in the annual ‘Battle of the Border.’
NOTES:
• The five goals mark the most since August 27, 2021 when Louisville defeated Ohio 6-0 to open the season.
• The last time a Louisville player recorded a hat trick was on March 7, 2021 when Mercedes Pastor scored three goals against Ball State.
• The Cardinals have scored 18 goals this season with seven different players contributing to the total and four of those players with multiple goals.
• With four goals on the season, Tabor is tied with Katie Schneider and Julie Kouijzer for the team lead.
| Lori Korte HarmonAssistant Sports Information Director | Louisville Athletics |