Louisville Field Hockey's Rebuild Season Has Sputtered -- WEDNESDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

 

AT 5-9...CARDS FIELD HOCKEY NOT ACCEPTABLE

On a six-game losing streak and 1-5 in the ACC, it has been a nightmarish season for the UofL Field Hockey program. Most in the know about the program knew that there would be a rebuild necessary after the 2023 season. Louisville graduated Emilia Kaczmarczyk, India Reed, Minna Tremonti, Melijen van der Vegt and Julie Kouijzer...sending Coach Sowry and staff looking for replacements at these key positions on the team...and the 2024 schedule was brutal with seven ranked opponents in the first 12 matches. Few saw the drop as becoming quite this dramatic, though.  And, Louisville is fifth in strength of schedule this year....out of the 82 DI teams listed. ...

Maybe losing their last six games by one goal, each time out, helps explains the fallen fortunes of this year's flock. Yes, the Cards were up against the #1, #3 and #4 teams in DI NCAA Field Hockey in that stretch, but a key goal here or there could have reversed the fortune of the squad.  with three games left, and just one of them at Trager field...against #11 Duke, the Cards will finsh below .500, even if they sweep the rest of the way. And, in the ACC Field Hockey conference standings,  the Cards are cutrently jusr one game ahead of newcomers California and Stanford at the bottom of the conerence standings. Eight of the nine schools will participate in the ACC Field Hockey Tournament, right now it looks like the Cards might just be the seventh or eighth seed. 

Scoring is a problem that can only be solved by either recruitng more prolific players or working with the returning group to develop better scorers on squad or set up better scoring opportunities, The Cards have been outsored 25 to 24 this season, and have scored four goals just twice in 2024 competition, against unranked Cornell and Ball State, back in September.  

Only four Cards have scored four goals or more this season...Rylie Wollerton has five, and the Plumb sisters....Aimee and Chloe... have four total goals each. as does Izzy Bianco. Looking at the 2023 stats, Aimee Plumb and Wollerton led the squad in scoring with five goals each.

The 2023 squad finished 15-7. It's doubtful the 2024 squad will get 22 games in this year, with just three regular season games left, and maybe three at most ACC Tournament games possible. Louisville has virtually no shot at playing in the NCAA Tournament unless they manage to win the ACC Tournament and get the automatic qualifiier bid.

So, how do the Cards get back above .500 and in contention to compete in the NCAA Tourmament in 2025??. 

One would think a growth of the defensive line in front of the goalkeeper would be a priority . next season , Tatum Kroon, Emily Eaton and  Luciana Carpenter have been drawing starts. That's a freshman, redshirt sophomore and junior, so...hopefully this year's experience will help them in 2025. Also, a scorer to replace the graduating Aimee Plumb needs to be developed.

The Cards also have nine freshmen on the roster, roughly 1/3 of the roster. Add in the eight  sophomores, and that is over 2/3rds of the roster...Yes, they are a quite young squad. Youth does gain experience, it is a given fact...but the growing pain are what we are seeing now. 

Sowry is too good a coach to allow this slump to last long. We expect to see a major improvement in the 2025 season. Until then, though, it's weather the storm status at the field next to Mcdonald's and hope for a few breaks in the final three games and ACC Tournament..

paulie.