Soccer Begins Final Road Trip at Virginia
The season is winding down and Louisville Women's Soccer left early this morning for Charlottesville for their first match of a two-match road trip. The Cards will face #2 Virginia tonight at 7:00 p.m., on ACC Network Extra.
Louisville's season is on life support with three matches remaining. At 7-5-1, the Cards are not expected to make the NCAA Tournament without a strong performance down the stretch. Their nine points in conference play is tied for eighth with NC State, who holds the tiebreaker. Only the top six teams qualify for the ACC Tournament and the current sixth-place team is Clemson, who has 12 points. The Cards and Tigers play on Sunday.
Virginia boasts a 13-1 record and is undefeated in conference play at 6-0-1. Their 19 conference points is second in the conference, just two points behind Florida State. With Notre Dame on their heels for that 2-seed and a first round bye, the Cavaliers won't hold back.
With 38 goals and 112 points on the year, the Cavaliers rank third in the ACC in both categories. They've recorded 10 multi-goal performances this season and have been shut out once in a 0-0 draw to North Carolina. Diana Ordonez leads the way with 10 goals this season, a mark that is tied for first in the ACC stats. Lia Godfrey has been a big part of Ordonez's success, with 10 assists. They love to shoot the ball, 269 shots, and many have been on frame with a 0.468 shots on goal percentage.
Laurel Ivory has been the primary keeper for Virginia, but Cayla White has seen some time in goal due to the high number of blowouts. Ivory has surrendered seven goals while recording 32 saves. The Virginia defense is strong enough to rarely give up a shot on goal, but when they do, the Virginia goalkeepers have combined for an 0.822 save percentage.
As much as the prevent defense would appear to be the strategy for a team like this, Louisville can't afford a draw or loss. With not much to lose at this point of the season, it needs to be an all-out offensive with the Cards mustering up as many shots (preferably good looks) as they can.
Highlighting a Few Weekend Games
It's a busy weekend again with several UofL sports in action. No game or match for any team should ever be overlooked, but there are a couple primetime matches to tune into this weekend.
#4 Louisville Field Hockey at #10 North Carolina. ACC battles in field hockey are common, but this should pan out to be a good one. North Carolina has been a powerhouse for many years. Despite their 9-5 record this season, the Tar Heels have still shown spurts of the old days for them while holding a 3-1 conference record. UNC is 4-1 at home. The Cards and Tar Heels play tomorrow at 4:00 p.m. RSN (Bally Sports) has the coverage. Wonderful, right?
#2 Louisville Volleyball vs #4 Pittsburgh. The battle for the ACC title makes a stop in Louisville when #4 Pitt comes to L&N FCU Arena. The Panthers are 17-1 on the year with their only loss being at home in a five set thriller against a ranked Georgia Tech team. Pitt has four wins against ranked opponents. This match has a noon start time on Sunday.
Happy Thursday and Go Cards!
Jared
Three huge, conference- position events. The WSOC squad will need their best effort of the season. Personally. I can't see a win here for the Cards
ReplyDeleteVolleyball and Pitt! It's one that the nation has been anticipating. Get it done Cards, I see you winning.
Field Hockey at UNC. Hopefully Sowry's team can put two halves together and not have to scramble from behind again. This isn't the best UNC team Shelton has had, but they're top 10 and at home. Hate to say it but I see them beating Cards.
Nick O.