The seventh-ranked University of Louisville field hockey team defeated No. 16 Liberty 2-0 Sunday afternoon at Liberty Field Hockey Field.
Junior Aimee Plumb notched her fifth goal of the season and freshman Rylie Wollerton scored her first collegiate goal while graduate senior Sasha Elliott (10-3) registered four saves en route to her fourth shutout.
The Cardinals (10-3) got on the scoreboard in the sixth minute the game when senior Julie Kouijzer’s penalty corner shot glanced off of a defender’s stick, and Plumb was there to send the rebound into the cage.
Louisville struck early again in the second quarter. This time, graduate senior Kelsey McCrudden set the table when she intercepted a Liberty pass near midfield, made her way into the circle and dished a feed to the left post where Wollerton made a sliding shot past Liberty goalkeeper Azul Iritxity Irigoyen.
The Cards took the 2-0 lead into halftime after outshooting the Flames 9-4 with a 5-3 edge in shots on goal and a 4-0 advantage in penalty corners. Iritxity Irigoyen and Elliott collected three saves apiece.
In the third quarter Louisville continued to attack, firing off six shots with Iritxity Irigoyen turning back five of them. Elliott stopped the lone Liberty shot in the frame.
The Flames (8-5) earned their only penalty corner of the game in the fourth quarter, but the Cardinals’ defense held them at bay.
In the game, Louisville outshot Liberty 15-6 with a 10-4 edge in shots on goal and a 7-1 penalty corner advantage. Iritxity Irigoyen totaled eight saves in the game while Elliott had four.
HEAD COACH JUSTINE SOWRY ON THE WIN
“Really proud of our team’s performance today in a place that is difficult to play at. Liberty is a great team with a lethal attack, and we had to be on point if we were going to have a successful outcome. We needed to score early and we did that and our defensive unit was rock solid – phenomenal – limiting their attack to few opportunities. They came at us in the last quarter and we held strong. Another tough weekend on the road and we responded well again.”
UP NEXT
Louisville will return home to face No. 25 Duke on Friday and will celebrate Senior Day on Sunday when Ball State visits Trager Stadium.
NOTES
• Sunday’s contest at Liberty marks the seventh contest against ranked opponent – the Cards are 4-3 in those games with wins also coming against then-No. 4 Michigan, No. 13 Princeton and No. 11 Penn State.
• The Cardinals have registered 25 goals this season with nine different players contributing to the total. Five players have registered multiple goals.
• Plumb leads the team with 16 points (5G, 6A). She is tied among Louisville’s goal scorers with Julie Kouijzer and Katie Schneider who also have five apiece.
• Louisville extends it non-conference win streak to 10-0 on the season.
| Lori Korte HarmonAssistant Sports Information Director | Louisville Athletics |
