IRISH, MCFERRAN ONE OF 12 COUNTRIES IN OLYMPICS
We take a great deal of pride here at Cardinal Couple when former Louisville women's athletic participants get the chance to compete on the world stage. Right now, arguably the biggest world stage -- The Olympics -- is underway and former Cardinals great Ayeshia McFerran is the goalkeeper for the Irish National team in the events at Tokyo.
McFerran has been called the world greatest goalkeeper and certainly earned the title at the University of Louisville with her work defending the net. Ayeshia spent four years (2015-18) in goalkeep for Louisville and complied 50 wins and 20 shutouts in her four years for the Cards.
The Cards made NCAA Tournament appearances in three of McFerrans's four years at Louisville and Ayeshia was named an All-American all four years she was at Louisville.
After graduation, McFerran returned to her homeland --Ireland -- and resumed her duties as the goalkeeper for the Irish National squad. The Irish qualified for the Olympics, one of 12 teams to do so, and were placed in Pool A for the Olympics, along with Germany, Great Britain, South Africa, The Netherlands and India.
Sadly, the United States did not qualify for the Olympics in Field Hockey. .
The 12 squads are involved in "pool play" currently and will play each member of their pool once. The top four teams in each pool advance to the quarterfinals. So far, the countries have played two games each and Ireland is 1-1 in Pool A.
The Irish began pool play with a 2-0 win on Saturday, July 24th over South Africa. The competition got much rougher yesterday for Ireland, going up against The Netherlands. The Netherlands are widely considered the powerhouse of Field Hockey and dropped Ireland to 1-1 with a 4-0 shutout..
Ireland returns to play on Tuesday when they'll face 2-0 Germany.
Standings in the pools are determined by a squad getting three points for a win, one point for a tie and no points for a loss. The Irish are tied, with three points, with Great Brittan in Pool A -- The Netherlands and Germany lead the way with six points and India and South Africa are at the bottom of Pool A with no points, so far.
We at CARDINAL COUPLE wish Ayeshia the best of good fortunes in the rest of the Olympic competition. !
paulie
There's a blast from the past in McFerran. It's kind of surprising that Cards Field Hockey actually had their greatest achievement after she graduated and the Cards had a local girl in Minrath at goalie.
ReplyDeleteNick O
Most any goalkeeper will tell you they are only as good as the defensive line in front of them. That Cards Field Hockey defense was super special last year and I have to wonder how McFerran would have fared with them in front of them.
DeleteBlue Lou