Feb. 21, 2017
NASHVILLE, Tenn. – The Vanderbilt lacrosse team has had over a week since they last stepped on the field to face an opponent. After a convincing 17-5 win in the home opener against Kennesaw State on Feb. 11, the `Dores have been improving on the practice field and they are anxious for their next game this week. On Wednesday, the Commodores will travel up I-65 and take on the No. 20-ranked Louisville Cardinals at 2 pm CT.
Head coach Cathy Swezey has liked what she has seen on the practice field this past week. She is looking forward to see it play out on the field on Wednesday.
“Practice has gone really well,” said Swezey. “Coming out of the Kennesaw game, obviously we had a good showing and felt really good about our performance. We still felt that there were a couple things that we needed to do a little bit better so we took the first few days to really focus on those fundamental and get a little stronger.”
In the season opener against Kennesaw State, the Commodores played well in all facets of the game.
Julie Blaze led the Commodores on offense with a career game against the Owls. She posted a career-high five goals and six points while adding three draw controls and ground ball. The performance earned her a spot on the BIG EAST Weekly Honor Roll.
On the defensive side, the back-line of Margaret Fee, Eliza Clemens, Lexi Smith and Alex Rasmussen played a majority of the game and kept the Owl attack under control. That group combined for six ground balls and five caused turnovers while limiting the Owls to just five goals.
In the cage, Callahan Kent picked up where she left off last season with another great performance. The Preseason All-BIG EAST goalkeeper made seven saves and held the Owls to just one first half goal and only three for the game. Redshirt-freshman Lily Argyle made her collegiate debut late in the second half and notched her first career save to close out the win.
No. 20 Louisville is coming off a tough loss on the road this past weekend. The Cardinals fell to fellow BIG EAST conference member Denver 11-10 in triple overtime. Louisville is 3-1 to start the season and 1-1 against the BIG EAST. They defeated Marquette on the road 13-12 on Feb. 10.
Swezey notes that Louisville is a very talented team but the Commodores and Cardinals are no strangers this season.
“We have played Louisville three times already in the fall,” Swezey stated. “We are two teams that know each other well, I think both teams are coached well and it is going to be a huge battle.”
Offensively, sophomore Meghan Siverson leads the Cardinals with a team-high 16 goals and 18 points. Fellow sophomore McKayla Conti has tallied 12 goals and senior Hannah Koloski has added 11 of her own.
Stephanie McNamara leads the Cardinals back-line with 11 caused turnovers and nine ground balls. In the cage, Brittany Read has played all 251+ this season for the Cardinals. She has made 38 saves and allowed 8.35 goals per game.
Wednesday’s matchup will start at 2 pm CT and be aired live on the ACC Digital Network. Fans can follow along with the link here or at the top of the page. To stay up to date with everything Vanderbilt Lacrosse, follow @VanderbiltLax on Twitter and Vanderbilt Women’s Lacrosse on Facebook.
