Women's Soccer to Host Opening Round of NCAA Tournament -- TUESDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

Women's Soccer to Host Opening Round of NCAA Tournament

Less than 24 hours after we heard the great news of Field Hockey making the NCAA Tournament and having the privilege of hosting we find out the Women's Soccer will follow suit.

Louisville was named to the 64-team tournament.  The Cards will host Lipscomb on Friday at 6:00 p.m.

Louisville finished the regular season with a record of 12-3-2 but a first round loss in the ACC Tournament adds a tally to the loss column.  The Cards sit in the Top 25 at #22 and have an RPI of 28.

This will be the sixth time Louisville has received a bid to the NCAA Tournament and their second straight.  All six times have come under the guidance of head coach Karen Ferguson-Dayes.

Lipscomb received the automatic bid from the Atlantic Sun (ASun) Conference after defeating Kennesaw State 1-1 (4-3 penalty shootout).  The Bison were the 2-seed and had defeated JIT tom reach the finals.  Kennesaw State was the 5-seed in the six-team tournament and had won two matches, including an upset over 1-seed Florida Gulf Coast, before falling in the final.

The Bisons improved their record to 13-5-2 following the tournament.

Offensively, 10 players have scored a goal for Lipscomb.  Olivia Doak leads the team with 25 points following 10 goals and five assists.  Molly Grant and Maycie McKay are tied for second with six goals and seven assists apiece.

The Bisons average 2.05 goals per match while allowing 0.90 goals per match.  Defensively, Lipscomb has been one of the best, surrendering a mere 18 goals on the year.  Starting goalkeeper Melissa Gray has 77 saves and just 14 goals allowed.  Backup keeper Hannah Parrish has six saves and four goals allowed.

Lipscomb and the Cardinals had no common opponents in the 2019 season. The Bisons are on a hot streak and have won their last seven games. Their victory in the A-Sun Tournament came as a result of a 4-3 penalty kick edge after two overtimes had been played to break a 1-1 tie.

Tickets are on sale for $10 per chair back seat and $5 per general admission ticket.The weather should snap out of this arctic blast we're currently experiencing and , hopefully, be close to 50 degrees by first kick., according to long range forecasts.

Whoever triumphs victorious in this one will face the winner of BYU and Boise State. The BYU Cougars received the #2 seed in Louisville's region and is 18-0-1 on the season and ranked #4 in the nation. Boise State drew the automatic qualifier out of the Mountain West Conference Tournament with a 2-0 win over San Diego State. They are not ranked in the top 25.


Make it a nice day trip to Louisville's Belknap Campus this Friday to see Field Hockey face Michigan at noon and Women's Soccer face Lipscomb at 6:00 p.m.

Both Field Hockey and women's soccer will be holding a press conference today at 1:45 p.m. at the KFC YUM! Center, following the Chris Mack presser, to discuss their upcoming tournament bids. Paulie will be on hand to capture the words, thoughts and comments of Justine and Karen and he'll have that audio for you in the Wednesday Cardinal Couple.

(PHOTOS BY JARED ANDERSON) 


PACKING THEM IN...

The numbers don't lie. The WBB Cards lead the way in ACC WBB attendance this season. There is nothing else to say. We're #1 !!


Happy Tuesday and Go Cards!

Jared