Last second heroics give Louisville WSOC a 2-1 win -- Field Hockey takes exhibition -- MONDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

Maisie Whitsett goal with eight seconds left gives Louisville women's soccer 2-1 win over Xavier

The Louisville women's soccer team went to 2-0 on the season with a thrilling, late goal in the first over time in Lynn Stadium last night. As time ticked down on the scoreboard, Allison Whitfield flew down the field, went off the weak side with a cross and Maisie Whitsett found the ball and headed it in to create a pandemonium scene...with the Cardinal players rushing onto pitch to celebrate and congratulate the freshman from San Diego, CA. who gave the Cards the "golden goal" victory. 

For as much as Louisville's first win of the season was an offensive, scoring frenzy in a 8-1 win over Wright State...last night's game was a defensive duel. After an early goal that was called off by Nadage L'Esperance because of a offside call by the referee, the Cards settled in to a defensive battle that went 31 minutes before the Musketeers took a 1-0 lead on an unassisted goal by freshman Sydney Schembri. 

In a match that turned out to feature freshmen getting the goals, Delaney Snyder provided the equalizer in the 34th. minute of the first half when L'Esperance set up the Moon Township, PA. first-year forward with a throw-in that turned into a successful shot by Snyder.  

Louisville had ample opportunities to take the lead in the second half and held a 16-3 shot advantage in the contest but nothing was finding net for the Kickin' Cards. Callie McKinney sent a shot that went just barely high over the net in the final two minutes but the team's entered the first five-minute extra session knotted at 1-1. 

Louisville fired away at the Muskies late in the five-minute overtime session...Brooklyn Rivers had a nice attempt thwarted in the 97th. minute of action by Xavier keeper Toni Bizzarro (great sports name, right) before the "W" gals ended it with eight seconds to spare. 

I was in the press box and about to send out a tweet announcing a second O.T. when I heard the crowd roar and looked up in time to see the bang-bang play that gave Louisville the win and a perfect 2-0 record over the state of Ohio this season.  

Gabby Kouzelos and the Cards defensive line did a magnificent job of keeping their Big East foe at bay for the most part. Only four shots, two of them on goal, were attempted by XU in almost 100 minutes of play. 

The Cards get the win over an Xavier squad that is 13-3 lifetime against Louisville. UofL won the last meeting back in 2004 at Cardinal Park with a 1-0 overtime win. Louisville continues the Ohio overture with a trip to Dayton to face the Flyers Thursday night at 7 p.m. We'll keep you updated on any Dayton or A-10 viewing opportunities on-line. 

We caught up with a complimentary head Louisville women's soccer coach Karen Ferguson Dayes and "Gabby the Goalie" after the match for interviews...you can click the links below to see and hear how they felt about the game. 

KAREN FERGUSON DAYES POST GAME XAVIER

GABBY KOUZELOS DISCUSSES WIN

HIGHLIGHTS FROM LOUISVILLE WIN OVER XAVIER WSOC


FIELD HOCKEY BESTS MICHIGAN IN COLUMBUS 3-1

An exhibition Sunday afternoon at Ohio State against Michigan produced a 3-1 win for  Justine Sowry's Louisville Field Hockey squad. Why at Ohio State? The Wolverines were there as part of a two-game trip to face Louisville first and then Ohio State today in pre-season action. 

Louisville got two scores from senior Taylor Stone in the match and Carter Ayars added a goal in the Cards final pre-season tune-up against Michigan...who advanced to the 2017 Field Hockey Final Four. Coverage was spotty on this, but I was able to follow the updates at Michigan's twitter account before Louisville put up a recap later in the day at gocards.com

Justine Sowry comments: 

"Today gave us an opportunity to be tested by a very good team. They put pressure on both sides of the ball that we had not faced at this early stage". 

Louisville opened the scoring with Stone's first goal in the first half but UM responded to send the teams to the break tied at 1-1. The Cards got a second goal from Stone to take the lead for good in the second half and about six minutes later, Ayars added a bit of insurance with her score. 

Louisville Field Hockey starts the regular season on the road in Bloomington to face the Indiana Hoosiers on August 24th. for a Friday 3 p.m. match. We'll look for viewing options on this one and keep you in the loop. 


MOLLIE ROUSE, ENGLAND IN SEMI-FINAL WORLD CUP ACTION TODAY

Although she's in France, participating in the U 20 FIFA World Cup semifinals with the English, we're pretty sure Mollie Rouse is keeping up with Louisville WSOC success and excited for her return to the squad.

Forgive her if she's a bit pre-occupied this morning...she's also preparing for a semifinal World Cup U 20 game against Japan at 10 a.m. Louisville time. 

Rouse had to sit out the quarterfinal game because of yellow-card collection when the English knocked off The Netherlands 2-1. Expect her to be a viable and contributing force today for England as they play the first of two semifinals games today...with the hopes of meeting the winner of France vs. Spain for the championship match. 

This one listed as being available for watching on Fox Sports FS2 venue free. We'll see how that goes. 

Good luck to Mollie today. Go get your chance to gather some gold! 

UPDATE Japan got a 2-0 win over the English to advance to the finals. More on that in the Tuesday Cardinal Couple. 



paulie
xxxxx