Field Hockey Schedule Announced -- THURSDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

2025 Headlined by Hosting ACC Championship

Usually when we get schedule announcements, it means that the season is right around the corner. That isn't quite the case this year, as the Louisville Field Hockey schedule page boasts a countdown that still has over 70 days until the next matchup. Nevertheless, it's exciting to see the schedule announced already, and we can begin to look at what the season might bring for the Cards. Louisville will play a 17-game schedule, with eight of those being in conference. Trager Stadium will cap off the season by hosting the ACC Field Hockey Championship for the first time since 2017. That event will be held November 4th through the 7th. 

The Cards will play 10 games at home during the regular season before hosting the ACC tournament, and they'll play their traditional home scrimmage against Bellarmine to open the year. The Bellarmine scrimmage is a bit unique this season, as the Cards will also take on the Knights later in the year. Bellarmine represents Louisville's only non-conference game once the conference schedule starts, which is a bit of a departure from years past. As you may recall, the expansion of the ACC, and therefore the expansion of the schedule, means Louisville plays eight conference games per season now, up from the six it has been since the Cards joined the league. 

Last year, after Louisville's conference opener against Stanford, they still had Ball State, Ohio State, and UC Davis on the calendar. Those games afforded Louisville the opportunity to get away from the brutal ACC (although Ohio State was no slouch). This season, though, the Cards will play eight of their nine non-conference games before heading to Palo Alto on September 26th. The Cards welcomed Stanford to the league last year with a 2-0 Louisville victory. It turned out to be Louisville's only win of the season in conference play, so they'll look to repeat their winning performance against the Cardinal but parlay that into more conference success in 2025. 

In non-conference play, Louisville will (after scrimmaging Bellarmine at Trager and Miami (OH) in Oxford) open the season by bringing in Michigan State and Ohio University. The Spartans went 8-10 last season and matched Louisville's 1-7 conference record. The Cards are 7-9 against MSU all-time, but while Louisville has won the last five meetings, the teams haven't played since 2019. Coincidentally, MSU did play at Trager last season, but it was in a road matchup against Bellarmine. MSU had six common opponents with Louisville last year (which isn't terribly surprising since the Cards had a B1G heavy schedule), and they matched Louisville's 2-4 record in those games with wins over UC Davis and Ball State and losses to Cal, Maryland, Ohio State, and Northwestern. Ohio (who defeated MSU 3-2 last year) is a team with which Louisville has a rich history. The two have squared off an incredible 41 times since first playing in 1982. Ohio owns the series at a stunning 28-13 clip, but most of those victories were early in the Louisville program. The Cards have won seven straight and nine of ten, with the last meeting being a a 6-0 Louisville win in 2021. The Bobcats were 7-11 last season with a 3-5 MAC record.

Louisville's first road trip will be to Bloomington, Indiana, where the Cards will face Drexel and IU. The matchup against Drexel will be just the second meeting all-time between the Cards and Dragons. Louisville lost the first game 2-1 in 2011. Drexel was 14-5 last season and went 6-0 in conference before their dream year was derailed by a shocking upset against Monmouth in the first round of the CAA tournament which caused them to miss out on an NCAA bid. Three of their four non-conference losses were against ranked teams (Maryland, U Albany, and Saint Joseph's) and the fourth was an overtime loss to Yale. IU also lost in the first round of their conference tournament, falling to the eventual B1G Champion, Michigan. Louisville didn't play IU, who went 9-9 (4-4) and missed the NCAA tournament, last year, but they won the last meeting in 2023 1-0. The Cards are 18-7 against the Hoosiers all-time and have won the last ten matchups. 

The game against IU starts a four-game B1G stretch for Louisville, with the next three coming at home. The Cards face a gauntlet just before conference play, taking on defending national champion Northwestern, Iowa, and Ohio State. Louisville lost 2-0 in Evanston and 4-3 (OT) in Columbus last season, and last played Iowa in 2023. The Cards beat the Hawkeyes 2-1 in that game and are 9-6 against Iowa all-time. Louisville's record against the Wildcats is in the Cards' favor at 9-5, but they're 5-5 in the last ten and have lost two straight. Louisville is 13-19 against Ohio State. After the B1G portion of their schedule, they'll get no real break before playing Stanford, as they hit the road to play Saint Joseph's, last season's NCAA runners-up. 

Conference play begins on the road on September 26th, with a single game weekend against Stanford. Louisville returns to Trager to face Wake Forest on October 3rd and plays Bellarmine on Tuesday October 7th. They'll then grab a bus to North Carolina to play Duke on the 10th for their third game in eight days. UNC on the 12th makes it four games in 10 days and Louisville will be begging for a breather. 

A bye week would be nice, but Louisville does at least get a single game weekend at home against Cal to follow. That game will be on Friday, October 17th, and they'll get a week in Louisville afterwards before playing Virginia at Trager on the 24th. It's an early Friday game, as the Cards have an interesting getaway day from a home Friday match. Louisville travels to Boston College for the Sunday matchup on October 26th. The final regular season game of the season is a Saturday Senior Day against Syracuse on November 1st. 

It'll be a big year for Louisville as they look to recover from a rather disappointing 6-11 (1-7) 2024 season. The Cards won't have an easy road ahead, but they'll get it all started before we know it. 

Until next time, Go Cards!

Case