KOUIJZER NAMED ACC FIELD DEFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE WEEK
The Louisville Field Hockey squad is off to 4-0 start this season and ranked #6 in the DI NCCAA Field Hockey coaches poll. One of the reasons for the squad's encouraging spot is the Cards shut down defense. Louisville has allowed just three goals in their four wins.
Julie Kouijzer (pronounced cow-wiser) is a junior from Amsterdam,The Netherlands and helped lead her U18 team to the Dutch national high school championships her senior year in high school. You've heard us talk or write here before about the powerful "stick swingers" that The Netherlands produces and Kouijzer is one of three Dutch players on the Cardinals roster.
She began her career at Louisville in 2019 and became the only freshman starter on Justine Sowry's squad to start every game. In 22 games that season, she helped the Cards record eight shutouts and was named to the ACC Academic Honor, as well as the NFHCA National Academic squad. That Louisville squad recorded a 16-6 season and advanced to the second round of the NCAA Tournament.
Last season was the odd split season that the Cards went through due to COVID. Still, the Cards advanced to the NCAA Final Four and National Semifinals. She also won an ACC Defensive Player of the Week honor in 2020 and started each of Louisville's 20 matches....gong 14-6. She was part of that historic win over North Carolina and named to the ACC All-Tournament team. Her defensive saves ranked her second in the ACC and fifth in the nation.
Nicknamed "Jules" by her teammates, she's a defensive back and breaking in her third new goalkeeper in three years. Along with Alli Bitting, India Reed, Emilia Kaczmarczyk and goalkeeper Mila de Kuijjer, she's part of a back line Cardinals defense that is considered one of the strongest in the DI NCAA Field Hockey Nation and wears #28 on the pitch.
She's also got an penchant for providing offense. She scored qa goal each against Penn and Princeton last weekend and added an assist. She's played every minute of the Cards four matches (245 in all) and is concentrating on being just a defensive back this season, after splitting time between back and midfield the past two seasons.
She plans on majoring in History at UofL and is well known for her love of exploring and trying different cheeses. (The Cards are lucky she didn't end up at a cheese-producing state University like Wisconsin). Fortunately, the Badgers only have a club level team and do not participate in DI Field Hockey.
There's no question that Jules is one of the "big cheeses" on the Cards 2021 roster and, slice it anyway you want...she's one of the keys to the Cards FH great start.
Louisville Field Hockey returns to action this Friday when they'll bring in Indiana for a match, followed by Liberty out at Trager Stadium on Sunday. The Hoosiers are 4-1 in 2021, with wins on the road at Central Michigan, Davidson and Miami (OH) -- plus a home win hosting Bellarmine. IU's only loss has been to Lafayette, who bested the Hoosiers 4-0 on Sunday in Columbus, OH.
(photos by Jared Anderson)
Have a wonderful Wednesday!
paulie
Field Hockey is the best women's program on campus in terms of success, next to basketball. Both coaches were hired by Tom Jurich. Any coincidence there? (Saunters off...whistling in the dark)
ReplyDelete