Top-seeded Louisville broke open a tie game with three third-quarter goals and went on to down No. 4 seed Virginia, 5-2, in the ACC Field Hockey Championship’s first semifinal match at Karen Shelton Stadium on Friday.
The Cardinals (8-1) earned a spot in Sunday’s noon championship match, where they will face the winner of Friday’s second semifinal between second-seeded North Carolina (8-1) and third-seeded Syracuse (5-3).
Friday’s loss ended Virginia’s fall season at 4-7.
With the score knotted at 1-1, Louisville took control of the match with a three-goal blitz in the first nine minutes of the second half.
Julie Kouijzer started things off with an assist to Katie Schneider, who fired in a short-range shot for the tie-breaking goal. Less than three minutes later, Madison Walsh drilled her third goal of the season from the right side to push Louisville’s lead to 3-1.
Margot Lawn struck again with just a little more than six minutes remaining in the third period, scoring off Alli Bitting’s assist for a 4-1 Cardinals advantage.
Louisville wasn’t finished. Freshman Charlie van Oirschot added the fifth goal for the Cardinals in the opening minutes of the fourth quarter. Virginia junior Peyton Tollaksen closed out the scoring for both teams with her first goal of the season in final minutes.
With the five goals on Friday, Louisville matched its season high (also versus Virginia in a 5-2 win on Oct. 23).
It took less than two minutes into Friday’s match for the Cardinals to get on the scoreboard, as Aimee Plumb’s third career goal staked Louisville to a quick 1-0 lead.
Adele Iacobucci answered for Virginia at the 5:45 mark of the opening quarter, firing in a strong shot with authority from the right side to tie score. The goal was Iacobucci’s fourth of the season.
The 1-1 tie held up until the halftime break, but Cardinals’ goal-filled second half removed any doubt of their returning the Championship finals for the second time since joining the ACC in 2014.
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Chris Graham
