Unbeaten Loyola Outlasts Louisville
by Clare Lochary | LaxMagazine.com | Live Blog Replay
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Loyola goalkeeper Kerry Stoothoff (nine saves) stalks Louisville's Bergan Foley (five goals) as she comes around the cage Friday during the Greyhounds' 14-12 victory at Ridley Athletic Complex. © John Strohsacker/LaxPhotos.com |
BALTIMORE - In back-and-forth, physical Big
East game played in the pouring rain, Loyola head coach Jen Adams
had some pretty simple advice for her team during a second half
time out.
“I wish I could say I had some great speech. I just told
them to take a deep breath and play 'us,'’’ said
Adams.
The Greyhounds responded in kind, and used their physical defense
and intense ride to grind out a 14-12 win over Louisville. The game
featured four ties and the Cardinals briefly took a 10-9 lead on
back-to-back goals from senior attacker Bergan Foley (5g) with
12:58 to play, but Loyola tied the game at 10 with a goal from
senior midfielder Mary Henneberry (5g) and took the lead for good
with a pair of goals from senior attacker Grace Gavin (2g, 1a).
Gavin did not score until the final 10 minutes of the game,
keeping alive a 52-game scoring streak. Her late goals also kept
another important streak alive – Loyola’s undefeated
season. The Greyhounds are now 11-0, and their most recent win came
against one of the nation’s
best offenses.
“We prepared for them. They were one of the best teams
we’ve played, and I think that’s the hardest
we’ve worked this season,” said senior defender Kellye
Gallagher.
Loyola struggled to stay disciplined in deluge conditions,
combining for 29 fouls and three yellow cards. The Greyhounds still
held junior attacker Katie Oliverio, the nation’s top feeder,
to two goals and an assist. Even Foley’s five goals came on
19 shots. Loyola goalie Kerry Stoothoff finished with nine
saves.
“Loyola plays a really aggressive defense, and that’s
not how it’s played where I’m from. And that’s
fine, really, that’s what we’ll see as the Big East
progresses, but it took [Foley] a half to get used to it,”
said Louisville head coach Kellie Young.
The Cardinals defense mostly starved Loyola’s top scorers,
Gavin and Abby Rehfuss (1g, 1a), so Heneberry stepped up to fill
the gap.
“A lot of our goals were scored off re-defending and off the
fast breaks from our ride. I just happened to be at the tail end of
it a lot of times,” said Heneberry, who scored her five goals
on just five shots.
Loyola’s next opponent is unranked Villanova on April 10.
Louisville will play the second game of its East Coast swing versus
Georgetown on the same date. While the Cardinals have fallen to 8-3
after a 6-0 start, Young sounded confident in her team’s
chances in conference play.
“It was a battle, and it doesn’t feel good as a
coaching staff when you give away a game on turnovers. There are
things we have to fix, but we don’t have to fix the fight. We
fought for 60 minutes,” said Young. “Loyola found
another depth. That’s what great teams do.”
