Women's Soccer Summer Accolades -- THURSDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

Cardinals Honored in Summer Play

As the summer club season comes to a close and collegiate players return to their respective campuses to prepare for fall play, a handful of the many Cardinals to have participated have been acknowledged for their performances over the past couple months. The players announced as receiving awards were all playing for teams associated with the Elite Clubs National League (ECNL) so any players that were participating in USL W play may still be acknowledged if that league decides to do postseason awards. 

In all, 19 players on Louisville's roster participated in summer play in some fashion, with at least 11 of those in the USL W league for Racing Louisville, Lexington SC, Indy Eleven, and NC Courage. That means that, at most, eight players were in ECNL play, though it may have been fewer as some of the clubs are difficult to nail down their affiliation. The reason I mention the numbers is that four Cards were honored in ECNL play, which means that it was at least half of the contingent. Not too shabby.
 

First up was Amelia Swinarski, playing for Internationals SC in northeast Ohio. Swinarski is a sophomore midfielder for the Cards from Madison, Ohio. She earned the best honor of the bunch as she was named the offensive player of the year for the Lake Erie Division. Swinarski played in 13 games for Louisville as a freshman, totaling 1 goal and 1 assist in 391 minutes. Her lone goal was the game winner against NKU. She took four shots, put two on frame, and converted one of those. If you boost the volume of those attempts and put more shots on target, that could turn out quite nicely for the Cards, and it appears to have worked for Swinarski in club play. 

The remaining three players to be awarded were all tagged to the Best XI teams for their respective divisions. Those honors went to Emma Kate (EK) Schroll (Southeast - Peachtree Division), Liza Suydam (Mid-Atlantic - Commonwealth Division), and Kiley Peat (Atlantic - Carolinas Division). Suydam and Peat are both among the many newcomers for the Cards this season. 

EK Schroll is a midfielder for the Cards who will look to expand her role in her senior season. She played in 14 games last season, starting three, and had two assists in 584 minutes. She took nine shots, put three of them on target, but wasn't able to find the back of the net. 

Liza Suydam is a junior midfielder who transferred from Monmouth following the 2024 season. This will be her first of two years of eligibility for Louisville. Suydam had a fantastic two years for Monmouth, scoring 16 goals and totaling 12 assists in her first two seasons. She led the team with 22 points on nine goals and nine assists while starting all 20 games last year and also started all 19 games as a freshman. Those seasons led her to, among other honors, 2023 Rookie of the Year in both the ECAC and the CAA, 2023 Second team All-CAA, 2023 CAA All-Tournament Team, 2024 First Team All-ECAC and All-CAA, and 2024 CAA Co-Midfielder of the Year. Apparently those good vibes continued with her club season. 

Kiley Peat, along with her twin sister Karina, is a freshman for the Cards this season. The Peats have spurned family tradition a bit, as their parents both went to NC State (father - soccer; mother - cheerleading) and their older brother plays soccer for UNC Asheville. Their high school team were two-time MEC Conference Champions and two-time NC 4A East Champions. Kiley, a defender, was named 4A All-State and First Team All-MEC twice and was named to the All-Region team three times. 

Until next time, Go Cards!

Case