By Noah Allison
The University of Louisville’s women’s soccer team season came to an end Saturday
afternoon when they lost to Illinois State in the first round of the NCAA Tournament.
Following a 1-1 regulation and a two scoreless sudden-death overtimes, the Cards were
bested 4-3 in a best-of-five shootout. Head Coach Karen Ferguson-Dayes’ Cardinals finish
the season with a 12-5-2 overall record.
“Losing in penalty kicks is devastating for anyone so I think that that is a pretty difficult
way to lose a game. That being said, I thought we had chances throughout the course of
regulation and certainly in the overtimes for it not to have gone to penalty kicks. But,
unfortunately, we didn’t put those chances away,” Ferguson-Dayes said.
In the 40th minute sophomore midfielder Lexie Niedoba gave Louisville the 1-0
advantage as she scored her first goal of the season. In the 54th minute Illinois Sate’s Hannah
Leinert evened the score at 1-1.
Louisville outshot Illinois State 24-14 with a 12-6 advantage in shots on goal. The
difference proved to be the play of Illinois States goalkeeper Aryn Newsome who had 11
stops compared to Louisville’s Taylor Smith who had five saves on the day.
The Cardinals finished second this season in their one year in the American Athletic
Conference. After a first round bye in the AAC Tournement they fell in double overtime 2-
1 to Memphis.
Senior forward Christine Exeter was named AAC Offensive Player of the Year and senior
midfielder Charlyn Corral was named Midfielder of the Year.
Nine seniors played their last game as a Louisville Cardinal on Saturday and with the new
soccer stadium being built and opening next year the Cardinals have also closed out their
time playing in Cardinal Stadium.