By Dalton Ray–

The University of Louisville’s field hockey, women’s soccer and volleyball teams held a joint media day in Lynn Stadium’s practice facility today. Field hockey’s head coach Justine Sowry, women’s soccer’s head coach Karen Ferguson-Dayes and volleyball’s head coach Anne Kordes all answered questions from the media. After the coaches wrapped up their interviews, players from each team were available for questions.

Kordes was the first coach in line to give her opening statement.

“Returning we have senior Janelle Jenkins, who is a three year starter, Tess Clark, who is a junior, and Molly Sauer is a freshman.” Kordes said. “Sauer garnered ACC Defensive Player of the Year and ACC Freshman of the Year which hasn’t been done before in a power-five conference. With those core pieces mixed with everything else we have we’re excited to get going this year.”

Ferguson-Dayes enjoyed what she seen in the latter part of last season from her team.

“We need to build off the momentum we created late last year. We had a great win against no. 1 North Carolina then we tied against Duke, who went to the Final Four,” Ferguson-Dayes said. “We have 27 players, 12 returning and 15 new, 11 true freshman and four transfers. Three of the top four teams in the country are in the ACC so we have our work cut out for us.”

Sowry took her time during her opening statement to discuss the toughness of the ACC and how her team will look.

“We have seven teams in the ACC and all seven are in the top 10 or 11. It’s more difficult to win a ACC title than it is to win a national title with this conference, which is crazy to think,” Sowry said. “We are more talented and deep throughout the squad, we just have to figure out what combinations are going to work best for us this year.”

 

When a team has a large number of new players, it can potentially cause problems. This isn’t the case for Ferguson-Dayes and her 15 new Cardinals.

“This new group we have has increased our athleticism, increased our talent and frankly, I just love being around them. I like coaching them, they’re eager to learn and they want to watch video. This is a great group, I’m excited for the future of Louisville soccer,” Ferguson-Dayes said.

For Sowry and her field hockey team, they have to replace their top three leaders in assists. The group of three attributed for 20 of last season’s 36 assists.  Senior Lotta Kahlert says they can’t replace players lost but the team can step up.

“You can replace the seniors we lost but you can make up for it. We have so many new players, we can play a whole different game with this group and be successful another way,” Kahlert said.

Kordes isn’t the only Louisville native for U of L volleyball. Sauer, the ACC’s reigning freshman and defensive player of the year, graduated from Assumption High School in 2015. Sauer says it means a lot knowing her coach shares the same stomping grounds.

“Just knowing this is the last job (Kordes) wants makes us feel great. You can feel how much drive she has for her hometown and this fan base. It’s just really cool to have that in a coach,” Sauer said.

Placing in the ACC, U of L women’s soccer has a chance to play some of the toughest teams in the nation at their home field. Gabrielle Vincent and Inger Katrine Bjerke looked back at some of the craziest environments they’ve played during their time.

“I think playing at Wake Forest last year was pretty wild. Their field sits lower so the fans are right on top of you,” Vincent said. “During the game you can hear everything around you and there’s a lot of heckling.”

Bjerke said the in-state rivalry ranks highly for her.

“Last season at UK was a crazy game. The game got delayed because of lightning, there were fireworks, people were shouting all the time. It was just a great atmosphere,” Bjerke said. “Those are the best environments though, we want to perform our highest in a hectic surrounding.”

Taylor Bucklin is a senior goalkeeper who played her first two years at Michigan. Bucklin thinks very highly of  Ferguson-Dayes.

“I always tell people one of the main reasons I came to Louisville is because of coach Ferguson. She’s a great coach and really knows her stuff,” Bucklin said. “She always tells it like it is and doesn’t cut corners. She has made the program what it is today.”

Field hockey has their season opener against Ohio Aug. 18 at 1 p.m. Women’s soccer has their regular season opener on the Aug. 19 when they travel to Indiana. Volleyball has the latest start of the three, they face Oakland in the Bowling Green Tournament on Aug. 26.

Photos by Dalton Ray / The Louisville Cardinal