On Bitting, Pastor, Schneider, Kouijzer, Plumb and Van Oirschot...
For the third straight season, the Louisville Field Hockey squad has placed at least six players on the post-season NFCHA All-West Region Team.
Alli Bitting, Mercedes Pastor and Meghan Schneider were named to the first team and Julie Kouijzer, Aimee Plumb and Charlie Van Oirschot received second-team honors.
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| Bitting |
Bitting, a senior midfielder/back out of Hummelstown, PA, earned her third straight naming to the prestigious team. A Cards co-captain and two-time All ACC selection, Alli also was named to the NCAA Tournament team this year for UofL. She was an integral part of a defense that created four shutouts in a 14-6 season, NCAA Final Four appearance and defeat of North Carolina. She is expected to return for the upcoming season.
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| Pastor |
Pastor may be one of the most recognizable players in UofL Field Hockey history. The Buenos Aires, Argentina senior led the Cards in goals on the season(13) and five of those were game-winners. She was named ACC Player of the Week four times during the season and NFHCA National Player of the Diego, CA and was another stellar part of the Cards defense. She stick handling skills are a true work of beauty, skill and art -- the term "you've been pastored" was stuck on many a NCAA defender after "Meche" baffled them with her ball control. Pastor is also expected to return to the team in the fall.
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| Megan Schneider |
Schneider, a senior out of San Diego, CA, was a stellar back in the the Cards defense and started three years for the squad. It's her second time on the NFHCA All-West squad and she was also named the NFHCA National Defensive Player of the Week a couple of times. Her younger sister Katie is also on the Cardinals squad and she went through her time at UofL with a 4.0 GPA. Meghan was also a co-captain on the 2020-21 squad. Her six goals in 2020-21 tied her for second-best on the squad. Meghan is headed to medical school in the fall.
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| Kouijzer |
Kouijzer (pronounced "cow-wiser) is a sophomore defender out of Amsterdam, The Netherlands, and she's been a starter both years with the Cardinals She's earned ACC Defensive Player of the Week honors during her time at UofL and was also named to the ACC-All Tournament team in 2019 and 2020.
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| Plumb |
Plumb comes to the Cards from Canterbury, England and is a freshman forward who came in and had immediate contributions to the Louisville offense. She recorded six goals and two assist in 2020-21, second best on the squad. She also made the NCAA All-Tournament Team. Plumb was a member of the England U 18 squad for two years. She also had six goals for the Cards in 2020-21
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| van Oirschot |
van Oirschot hails from Haarlem, The Netherlands and the freshman came in and started right away for the Cards. She was named to the All-ACC second team. The mid-fielder was fourth leading scorer for the Cards in the 2020-21 season.
We here at CARDINAL COUPLE congratulate these excellent student-athletes that were a part of Justine Sowry's record-breaking squad. The future is bright for the "Cards on the pitch" and, in the words of Sowry...Louisville will be more that ready to "give it a go" this upcoming season
have a wet Wednesday (if you're in Louisville)
paulie
If you ask me, Field Hockey was the most successful team on campus last year and that includes men and women's sports. Who else made the NCAA Final Four? Who else knocked off a #1 in UNC? They got robbed against Michigan late, but, it sounds like Sowry has a ton of talent returning and hopefully, they have some strong freshmen coming in also.
ReplyDeleteNick O.