BOONE, N.C.  – Appalachian State University field hockey fell to No. 7 Louisville in a hard-fought battle that ended in a 4-1 decision Sunday in Boone. Junior Taylor Cimbalist struck Appalachian's only connection in the cage for the afternoon.

“I think we rose to the challenge of playing a top competitor in the country,” said head coach Meghan Dawson. “ I think Louisville is in the top ten in the country, and they deserve to be. We came out on fire, and we did all of the things we have been practicing on in practice, and this is an outcome of all of the hard work that we have been putting in. Today we showed our potential and how well we can play together as a unit, and we have to continue to work that hard day in and day out.

The Cardinals (9-1) started off the match with high intensity applying much pressure at the net and found a pair of openings two minutes apart from each other in less than 17 minutes. Taylor Stone executed a polarizing double-assisted shot into the left cage and Bethany Russ reversed a shot into the net to give the Cards the 2-0 lead.

The Mountaineers (1-7) did not back down from the amount of aggression the Cardinals were showing on the pitch. After producing several looks at the goal line, Cimbalist responded to Louisville's attacks with a goal of her own. In the 19th minute, the Virginia native struck a blazing shot into left cage from an assist by Melissa Nobile. At the end of the half, the score froze at 2-1.

Although Louisville orchestrated more shots (16-4) and shots on goal (10-2) in the first 35 minutes of play, the Mountaineers kept the first half close, thanks to seven impressive saves by Rachel Gaines.

After a strong start in the second, the Mountaineers could not generate any more scoring opportunities to respond to the Cardinals' second-period goals. In the 39th minute, Nicole Woods rolled the ball into the cage to score their third goal, and Shannon Sloss delivered the game-winning shot in the 50th minute to end the bout at 4-1.

Offense

Throughout the match, the ACC foe out-hustled the Mountaineers in total shots (27-6), shots on goal (19-4) and corners (12-1). Although the Cards dominated the offensive side of the turf, Appalachian exerted much of their energy toward the net administering four of their six shots towards goal.

Defense

Protection of the backfield was ruled by goalkeeper Gaines who collected eleven saves on the day, matching her single-season high set on Aug. 28 versus Georgetown. Gaines now owns 52 saves on the season. Also, App State gathered four defensive saves off of Louisville's corners.

Up Next

App State will hit the road for two back-to-back matches in Davidson, N.C. On Friday, Sept. 30, the Mountaineers will face off against Davidson and on Saturday, Oct. 1 App will battle against Pacific at 1 p.m. Start time for the Davidson bout will be announced soon.