Field Hockey: Late goal lifts Louisville over Virginia to complete weekend sweep

Louisville completed a weekend sweep of Virginia with a 2-1 win on Saturday at Turf Field.

Louisville (7-0) scored the game winning goal with nine seconds remaining in regulation. Sophomore striker Laura Janssen scored her team-leading fifth goal of the season to provide the offense for the Cavaliers (3-5).

The game scoreless at the half. Louisville would get on the scoreboard first, scoring off a penalty corner seven minutes into the second half.

Janssen tied the game when she corralled a pass from freshman striker Anneloes Knol that was bouncing through the circle and struck it into the net with 9:04 remaining in the fourth quarter.

The Cavaliers had a good opportunity a few minutes later when a pair of Cardinals were issued back-to-back yellow cards, giving UVA a two-player advantage, but Virginia could not capitalize on the opportunity.

The game seemed destined for overtime when, in the final seconds, Madison Walsh picked up a steal and headed off towards the goal on a breakaway, firing off a shot that went through the Virginia keeper and into the net with nine seconds left on the clock.

“We definitely raised our level today over yesterday,” UVA coach Michele Madison said. “We still need to capitalize on our attack opportunities, especially against a really good Louisville team. The only thing our team should be disappointed about is that we didn’t bring that game yesterday, and that we didn’t stick at the very end with what had worked in the whole game.”