Louisville Cardinals women's soccer

The Louisville Cardinals women's soccer team represent University of Louisville in the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) of NCAA Division I women's college soccer. The team has never won the ACC regular season championship, but has won both the Big East and Conference USA regular season championship once. The team has advanced to the NCAA Women's soccer tournament 5 times, never making it past the second round.[2]

Louisville Cardinals
2024 Louisville Cardinals women's soccer team
Founded1985; 39 years ago (1985)
UniversityUniversity of Louisville
Head coachKaren Ferguson-Dayes (25th season)
ConferenceACC
LocationLouisville, Kentucky
StadiumLynn Stadium
(Capacity: 5,300)
NicknameCardinals
ColorsRed and black[1]
   
Home
Away
NCAA Tournament Round of 16
2011
NCAA Tournament Round of 32
2011, 2019
NCAA Tournament appearances
2006, 2007, 2011, 2013, 2018, 2019
Conference Regular Season championships
2011

History

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1980s

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The Louisville women's soccer program began in 1985, under the direction of head coach Chip Wilkinson. Wilkinson stayed on staff for three years, until 1987. Under his direction, the team never had a winning season, coming the closest in their inaugural season. In 1985 the team finished 8–9–0. Sandy Davis was hired as the head coach for one year, 1988, and lead the team to a 6–11 record. In 1989, Jeff Yan and Melissa Mattingly were co-head coaches and the team saw no improvement finishing 6–10–0.

1990s

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Jeff Yan was retained as head coach for 1990 and 1991, but the team regressed. Finishing a combined 7–27–1 in his two years as sole head coach. To start the 1992 season, Sam Asamoah was hired as head coach. His first season was a struggle, seeing the team improve slightly to finish at 5–12–1. The team saw a big jump in 1993, when they finished with their first winning season in program history at 11–7–0. In 1995, the team joined Conference USA and won a share of the regular season title that year, finishing 4–1–0 in the conference.[3] This success proved fleeting as Asamoah left as head coach after the season. Tony Colavecchia took over in 1996 and the team finished 9–9–2. The downturn continued in 1997 with a 7–13–0 season as Karla Thompson took over as head coach after a 5–1 start and saw out the decade. The 1998 and 1999 seasons, were the two worst in program history. The Cardinals won only one game in the two-year span.

2000s

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To start the decade Karen Ferguson (later Karen Ferguson-Dayes) was hired as the new head coach.[4] Her first season was difficult, with the team going 1–18–1 in her first season. However, the team continued to improve, increasing their win totals each year until 2005. 2004 was a bit of a breakthrough with the team finishing tied for fourth in Conference USA, and qualifying for the conference tournament for the first time since 1997. Following that solid season, the Cardinals moved to the Big East Conference in 2005.[5] Their new venture proved successful, as the Cardinals finished no lower than fourth in their division and qualified for the Big East Conference Women's Soccer Tournament their first four years in the conference. The team finished as runners up in the conference tournament in 2006 and 2007. Along with the runner up finishes, the Cardinals qualified for their first two NCAA Tournaments. However, the team lost in the first round in both tournaments. 2009 proved to be a bump in the road, as the team finished 5–11–1, seventh in the division, and did not qualify for the conference tournament.

2010s

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The 2010s began well, with the Cardinals winning double digit games in the first four years of the decade. They also qualified for the Big East Tournament in 2010 and 2012, including another runner up finish in 2011. In 2013, the Cardinals moved to the American Athletic Conference.[5] Their only season there would prove a successful one. The team finished 12–5–2 and qualified for both the AAC Tournament and the NCAA Tournament. However, the team would lose in the first round of both. Their membership in the AAC would last only one year, and the team moved to the Atlantic Coast Conference in 2014.[6] Life in the ACC would prove difficult at first with the Cardinals finishing with no more than 9 wins in a season between 2014 and 2017. The team did not qualify for the ACC Women's Soccer Tournament nor the NCAA Tournament in any of those years. Their best conference finish during this period was eighth in 2014. 2018 proved to be a turnaround year, with the Cardinals finishing 12–7–0 and qualifying for both the ACC and NCAA tournaments. The season ended with first round losses in both those tournaments. The Cardinals closed the decade with another successful season, finishing 13–5–2 with their best ever ACC finish of fourth place. They made the second round of the NCAA Tournament for the second time in program history.

2020s

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The decade started with a season shortened by the COVID-19 pandemic. The team played only four non-conference games and played a shortened eight game ACC schedule. The team finished in sixth place, but lost in the first round of the ACC Tournament. The team returned to a more normal schedule in 2021 and posted a 7–7–2 overall record along with a 3–6–1 ACC record to finish in 11th place, their lowest conference finish since joining the ACC. 2022 did not bring much improvement as the team finished 6–8–2 overall and 3–7–0 in ACC play to finish in tenth place. In 2023, the Cardinals finished 4–9–5 overall and 3–5–2 in the ACC. The four wins was the program's lowest overall total since 2001. This marked the third straight year with three ACC wins.

Personnel

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Current roster

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As of July 10, 2024 [7]

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Pos. Nation Player
1 GK   USA Kailey Kimball
2 MF   USA Betsy Huckaby
3 FW   USA Mackenzie Geigle
4 FW   USA Jolie St. Louis
5 FW   USA Grace Maddox
6 FW   USA Piper Davidson
7 FW   USA Amber Jackson
8 MF   USA Maya Maxwell
9 MF   USA Molly Cochran
10 MF   USA Lauryn Contini
11 MF   USA Amelia Swinarski
12 DF   USA Avery Oergel
13 MF   USA Ava Nielson
14 MF   USA Lizzie Sexton
No. Pos. Nation Player
15 MF   USA Berkley Patterson
17 DF   USA Brooklyn Lee
18 MF   DEN Wiktoria Wik
20 FW   USA Fina Davy
21 MF   USA Gianna Angelillo
22 DF   USA Karsyn Cherry
23 FW   USA Ella Kane
24 MF   USA AG Gibson
25 DF   USA Hadley Snyder
26 MF   USA Emma Kate Schroll
27 FW   USA Emersen Jennings
28 MF   USA Brooke Dardano
30 GK   USA Erynn Floyd

Team management

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Position Staff
Karen Ferguson-Dayes Head coach
Hunter Norton Associate head coach
Olivia Mills Assistant coach
Declan Doherty Performance analyst
Jing Hughley Director of Operations

Source:[7]

Seasons

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Season Head coach[8] Season result[9] Tournament results
Overall Conference Conference NCAA
Wins Losses Ties Wins Losses Ties Finish
1985 Chip Wilkinson 8 9 0 No Conference
1986 6 10 1 No Conference
1987 3 9 1 No Conference
1988 Sandy Davis 6 11 0 No Conference
1989 Jeff Yan & Melissa Mattingly 6 10 0 No Conference
1990 Jeff Yan 4 15 0 No Conference
1991 3 12 1 No Conference
1992 Sam Asamoah 5 12 1 No Conference
1993 11 7 0 No Conference
1994 7 10 3 No Conference
1995† 9 9 0 4 1 0 T-1st Second round
1996 Tony Colavecchia 9 9 2 5 3 1 4th First round
1997 5 1 0 2 0 0 8th Second round
1997 Karla Thompson 2 12 0 1 6 0 8th Second round
1998 0 17 1 0 11 0 12th
1999 1 17 0 0 11 0 12th
2000 Karen Ferguson-Dayes 1 18 1 0 11 0 12th
2001 4 13 0 2 8 0 12th
2002 5 12 1 1 8 1 14th
2003 7 9 2 2 7 1 12th
2004 12 5 3 5 2 3 T-4th Second round
2005^ 11 8 0 6 5 0 3rd-B Second round
2006 13 4 3 7 4 0 4th - National Runner up First round
2007 13 6 2 7 3 1 2nd - National Runner up First round
2008 9 7 3 6 3 2 4th - National Second round
2009 5 11 1 2 8 1 7th - National
2010 10 9 0 4 7 0 5th - National First round
2011 14 7 3 8 1 2 1st - National Runner up Third round
2012 10 4 4 5 3 3 3rd - National First round
2013‡ 12 5 2 7 1 0 2nd First round First round
2014‡ 7 9 2 3 5 2 8th
2015 8 8 2 4 5 1 9th
2016 7 7 4 2 5 3 10th
2017 9 7 2 3 5 2 10th
2018 12 7 0 6 4 0 T-5th First round First round
2019 13 5 2 5 3 2 4th First round Second round
2020 5 7 0 4 4 0 6th First round
2021 7 7 2 3 6 1 11th
2022 6 8 2 3 7 0 10th
2023 4 9 5 3 5 2 9th

†In 1995, Louisville began play in Conference USA.
^In 2005, Louisville began play in the Big East Conference.
‡In 2013, Louisville played one season in the American Athletic Conference before moving to the Atlantic Coast Conference in 2014.

Notable alumni

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Current professional players

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References

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  1. ^ Louisville Athletics Brand Guidelines (PDF). August 8, 2023. Retrieved September 11, 2023.
  2. ^ "2016 Women's Soccer Record Book" (PDF). gocards.com. University of Louisville Athletics. Retrieved April 11, 2019.
  3. ^ "C-USA Women's soccer Record Book" (PDF). conferenceusa.com. Conference USA. p. 8. Retrieved April 11, 2019.
  4. ^ "Karen Ferguson-Dayes". gocards.com. Louisville Athletics. Retrieved April 12, 2019.
  5. ^ a b Gall, Braden (July 3, 2013). "Conference realignment isn't a new phenomenon and Athlon Sports will prove it to you". athlonsports.com. Athlon Sports. Retrieved April 12, 2019.
  6. ^ "ACC Extends Formal Invitation for Membership to the University of Louisville - the Official Athletic Site of the Atlantic Coast Conference". Archived from the original on December 12, 2012. Retrieved November 28, 2012.
  7. ^ a b "2024 Women's Soccer Roster". gocards.com. University of Louisville Athletics. Retrieved July 10, 2024.
  8. ^ 2016 Record Book, pp. 9
  9. ^ 2016 Record Book, pp. 6–9

Works cited

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