Field Hockey stumbles against No. 16 Louisville

This Saturday, Davidson Field Hockey took on No. 16 Louisville on the Belk Turf Field on Davidson campus. After coming back to tie up the match twice in the second half, Davidson unfortunately lost 3-5 to the Louisville Cardinals.

The Wildcats came out strong in the first six minutes of the first half, attacking the goal with verve with two early shots in the first minute from Christine Rua '12 and a penalty corner by Annie Evans '13 in the fifth minute. Rua finally sunk the shot in the sixth minute with an assist from Finley Amato '13 for the first goal of the match and Rua's first goal of the season. Louisville came back with a vengeance, scoring in the eighth minute. After a long series of shots and substitutions on both sides, Erin Lou Schneidtmiller scored for Louisville in the last minute of the first half. Davidson retaliated with a shot by Hannah English '12 in the last second of the first half, but the shot went wide to the left and the second half closed with Louisville up one with two goals to one.

Louisville came out strong in the second half with a shot wide to the left of the goal by Caitlin Collins in the first minute. Davidson's Amato answered the Louisville attempt four minutes later with her first goal of the season. Amato took the ball to the goal, stick handling past defenders and rolling inside of the left post to tie the match with Louisville 2-2. Louisville bombarded the goal for the next ten minutes of the match, finally hitting the net off the corner of the near post in the 50th minute. Hayley Lou Turner scored the goal for the Cardinals with assists from two teammates bringing the score to 3-2 Louisville.

After a Davidson timeout and a series of substitutions, Krista Jackson '12 shot a scorcher from the top corner. The ball deflected off a defender's stick and over the goalkeeper to once again tie up the game 3-3. Jackson's game tying goal in the 61st minute was her second career point for the Wildcats. The game did not stay tied for long with Louisville scoring three minutes later from a scramble in front of the goal and again in the 69th minute off a shot by Turner deflected by the right post. The Wildcats fought hard to the finish. The game ended in the 70th minute with a penalty corner by Evans followed by a shot on goal by Amato, which was unfortunately blocked in the last second of the match.

Head Coach Ginny Turner commented on the game against the Cardinals, "I'm disappointed in the final score because we had a lot of opportunities to put the ball in the cage and win, but this was the best we've played this season. We fixed some things from our game last week and came very close to defeating the 16th-ranked team in the country. There are a couple more things we can work on and we'll be right with the top-20 teams."

Amato, Davidson's key player of the match, scored one goal and one assist with a total of four shots overall. Hayley Turner was the key player of the match for Louisville, scoring two goals with five shots overall. Both players spent 58 minutes on the field. The Cardinals outshot the Wildcats 18-14, with both goalkeepers making six saves apiece. Davidson will take on William & Mary next Saturday, Sept. 10th, at 3 p.m. in Williamsburg followed by a series of three more away matches including a Sept. 17th match against No. 17 Albany. The next home game will be held on Sept. 24th against Robert Morris on the Belk Turf Field.