By Dalton Ray

In the season opener the women’s lacrosse team defeated Marquette 14-6. The Golden Eagles scored early in both halves but couldn’t keep up with the Cardinal’s attack.

Jillian Balong, Cortnee Daley and Julia Wood led the Cards in scoring with three goals each.

After the game head coach Kellie Young spoke on the team’s performance.

“I’m always a critical coach so I think we were a little messy at times,” she said. “But we can clean those up as we go along. We got over the early jitters and put together a nice scoring run so I’m happy.”

Marquette tried to spark a comeback in the second half by scoring two out of the three first goals. Louisville answered by scoring the next six and ended their hopes. Last season’s scoring leader Hannah Koloski said the team came out with high energy and looks forward to the upcoming season.

“We came out really hyped up and had a little early game nerves,” Koloski said. “We got it together and came through. Everyone on this year’s team can really contribute, we all have a lot to offer. I really like this year’s team.”

Last year, the ACC ended up with seven teams in the top-25 and three in the top four. Young has big takeaways from her first year in the conference.

“We have to be able to execute (in ACC play) and play for 60 minutes,” Young said. “Today I think we played really hard for about 42 minutes. We have to get those extra minutes in there and put together a full game in the ACC.”

Koloski says the team has big plans for this year.

“We’re ready to redeem ourselves,” she said. “We came out hard early last year and this year we’re really spread out. We’re looking forward to getting more wins in the ACC.”

The senior class is made up of five members and Young says they carry a lot of leadership.

“The group really understands what we want and what are structure is,” Young said. “They keep control on and off the field and keep get their teammates to calm down. They carry a lot of weight but have to realize they can trust their teammates.”

Feb. 2 was signing day for the lacrosse team and the team brings in a quality class. Young is very pleased with the signees.

“Every coach says this every year but I feel like this is one of the most talented classes,” she said. “We’re bringing in a great offensive players who can help us in transition and we’re getting some midfielders as well.”

Of the ten member class is local product Mary Rose Hitt is included, she is just the second player from Louisville to play for the university. Young says the Sacred Heart standout is a “very smart player who can still grow and take on the pressure of being a goalie at the next level.”

Louisville will have a short road trip to Pennsylvania to face Temple and Duquesne. Feb. 20 is the next home game for the Cardinals against the Denver Pioneers.

 

Photo by Dalton Ray / The Louisville Cardinal