Field Hockey Takes on Drexel -- SATURDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

Louisville Faces Drexel at 11AM

In a somewhat unusual scheduling set up, I'm left with a Saturday column with no games to recap. Volleyball had yesterday off, and field hockey's round robin event in Bloomington sees them play today and tomorrow instead of the traditional Friday and Sunday games. The Cards will take on the Dragons of Drexel University today before playing the hosting Hoosiers tomorrow. Today's game will be at 11AM, but no video is listed. 

Louisville and Drexel have met just one other time in history, with the Cards falling 2-1 at the hands of the Dragons in 2011. That one was a home match for Drexel, who were 8-4 at home that year. They struggled on the road, going just 1-4 and finished the season 10-9 overall. The Cards were a similar team that year, also going 10-9 and being much better at home (7-2) than they were on the road (2-6). Louisville's schedule back then was quite similar to this season. They also faced Michigan State, Indiana, Northwestern, Ohio State, California, Wake Forest, and Syracuse. Louisville will be looking for a better outcome against Drexel and on the season overall.

Drexel is coming off of a 3-0 loss to Indiana yesterday. The result moved the Dragons to 1-2 on the young season after they won their opener against Central Michigan and lost to Lafayette in game 2. Drexel has scored two goals and given up six so far this season. If Louisville's offense can do anything like what it did in the first two games, Drexel might see some problems. The start is not what Drexel had in mind. After a 14-5 season last year, a season in which they were undefeated in regular season Colonial Athletic Association play, Drexel would have been looking for a hot start to help avenge the sting of losing in the CAA tournament to Monmouth and missing the NCAA tournament. The Cards should try their best not to be the momentum starter for the Dragons this year. 

So far this season, Louisville's offense goes through Rylie Wollerton. The senior leads the team with five goals through two games and is one of just three players so far to record both a goal and an assist. Lauren Masters is second on the team in points by way of scoring two goals, and Izzy Bianco leads the team in assists with three. Gigi Edwards and Gracie Potter have each scored and assisted once. 

Defensively, the Cards have a full-time warrior in Annabel Sep. Other than Emily Young in the cage, the junior from The Netherlands is the only player to have recorded 120 minutes so far this season. Sep also has a goal on five shots. They must be very well conditioned in Holland, as Trijntje Herfkens has earned the second-highest minutes total among field players with 104. 

Louisville is looking to return to its winning ways. Prior to last season, Louisville had not failed to start the season at 3-0 since 2018. The Cards have had a lot of success under Justine Sowry, and everyone wants to be reassured that last season was a blip. Conference performance has been relatively steady at around .500 since joining the ACC, but last season's 1-7 mark was a black eye. While Drexel isn't the strongest opponent, this is Louisville's first test away from Trager Stadium, so a win today would help build their confidence for a tougher match against Indiana tomorrow. 

Best of luck to the Cards as they continue their season. We'll have results and an IU preview tomorrow. 

Cardinal Couple Radio Hour Podcast

It's three on board again this week with Jared on the road. Paulie, Daryl, and I will recap exciting results for all three fall sports before looking ahead to tougher matches on the horizon. You can check out the show after it posts around 1PM, and be sure to subscribe so that it comes to your feed automatically. 

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Until next time, Go Cards!

Case