FH Cards Move Up in NFHCA Poll, Win ACC Awards -- WEDNESDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

 

FIELD HOCKEY NOW #5 IN NFHCA POLL

Not a bad Tuesday for Louisville Field Hockey...

After a successful Labor Day weekend in North Carolina, the Cards moved up four spots in the National Field Hockey Coaches Poll (NFHCA) from #9 to #5.  The Vards benefitted from  their wins over Penn and Princeton in their last two matches. 

Louisville Field hockey probably should have gone to #4, they were just eight points behind 2-1 Michigan. How a 2-1 squad gets a #4 ranking is something I'd probably need the coaches to explain to me, I guess...but, so it goes. The sport still allows overtimes and shootouts to settle tied contests after regulation, and that's OK by me.

Northwestern remains #1 in the poll and North Carolina remains at #2. Both are 4-0, just like Louisville. Northwestern has wins over Maine, UMass, Duke and Boston College -- knocking the latter two off in the BIG Ten/ACC Challenge in Boston. North Carolina's four wins are against Michigan, Iowa, Princeton and Penn.

The top nine in the poll are from either the BIG Ten or ACC. After Northwestern and North Carolina, Maryland checks in at #3, then Michigan and Louisville round out the top five. Iowa, Syracuse and Penn State check in at #6, #7, and #8 and Virginia and UConn fill out the final two spots. 

The remaining three ACC schools that play Field Hockey -- Duke, Wake Forest and Boston College, check in at #16, #18 and #20, respectively. 

The Cards will face unranked JMU at Trager Stadium on Friday before the showdown against  #4 Michigan Sunday. Admission is free for Cards Field Hockey. 

KOUIJZER, SCHNEIDER TAKE ACC AWARDS

Two Louisville Field Hockey stars have gathered ACC Player awards for the week that ended Sept 6th. 

Katie Schneider was named ACC Offensive Player of the Week and Julie Kouijzer got ACC Defensive Players of the Week honors. 

Schneider scored twice in Friday's 4-1 win over Penn and had an assist and a goal in the 2-1 win versus Princeton. She has four goals on the season for the Cards so far. She led Louisville in scoring last year with nine goals and has 23 in her career at Louisville. From San Diego's Serra High School, the graduate player red-shirted in 2019 and played on the squad with her sister Meghan Schneider for several years until Meghan graduated after the 2020-21 season. 

Julie Kouijzer is from Amsterdam and a senior back on the 2022 Louisville squad. She helped the Cards hold Penn and Princeton to a goal apiece over the weekend, and a total of just 12 shots in the two games. Julie is one of three student-athletes on the squad from the Netherlands and has earned the nickname "Jules" on the squad. 

Congratulations to these two Field Hockey stars and to the squad as a whole. !!

paulie