2023 Louisville Cardinals women's soccer team

The 2023 Louisville Cardinals women's soccer team represented University of Louisville during the 2023 NCAA Division I women's soccer season. The Cardinals were led by head coach Karen Ferguson-Dayes, in her twenty-fourth season. They played home games at Lynn Stadium. This was the team's 39th season playing organized women's college soccer and their 10th playing in the Atlantic Coast Conference.

2023 Louisville Cardinals women's soccer
Conference	Atlantic Coast Conference
Record	4–9–5 (3–5–2 ACC)
Head coach	Karen Ferguson-Dayes (24th season)
Assistant coaches	Hunter Norton (8th season) Nick Stirrett (3rd season)
Home stadium	Lynn Stadium
Seasons ← 2022 2024 →

2023 ACC women's soccer standings

v t e	Conf.									Overall
Team	W		L		T		PCT			W		L		T		PCT
No. 1 Florida State  ‍†‍‡‍y	9	–	0	–	1		.950			22	–	0	–	1		.978
No. 16 Notre Dame  ‍‍‍y	7	–	1	–	2		.800			12	–	4	–	4		.700
No. 3 Clemson  ‍‍‍y	7	–	2	–	1		.750			18	–	4	–	4		.769
No. 8 North Carolina  ‍‍‍y	5	–	0	–	5		.750			13	–	2	–	8		.739
No. 6 Pittsburgh  ‍‍‍y	6	–	3	–	1		.650			17	–	6	–	1		.729
Wake Forest  ‍‍‍	4	–	2	–	4		.600			10	–	3	–	5		.694
Virginia  ‍‍‍	3	–	3	–	4		.500			8	–	3	–	6		.647
Virginia Tech  ‍‍‍	4	–	6	–	0		.400			7	–	8	–	3		.472
Louisville  ‍‍‍	3	–	5	–	2		.400			4	–	9	–	5		.361
Duke  ‍‍‍	2	–	5	–	3		.350			6	–	7	–	3		.469
NC State  ‍‍‍	2	–	5	–	3		.350			3	–	9	–	6		.333
Miami (FL)  ‍‍‍	2	–	7	–	1		.250			3	–	10	–	4		.294
Boston College  ‍‍‍	0	–	6	–	4		.200			3	–	9	–	6		.333
Syracuse  ‍‍‍	0	–	9	–	1		.050			2	–	14	–	2		.167
† – Conference champion ‡ – 2023 ACC Tournament champion y – Invited to the NCAA Tournament Source: The ACC As of December 5, 2023 Rankings from United Soccer Coaches Poll

The Cardinals had a rocky start to their non-conference season, with their first win not coming until September 3. That would be their only win during non-conference play and they finished with a 1–4–3 record. They only played one other power 5 school, Indiana, and the Cardinals lost 2–0. They began ACC play with a tie against Virginia who was ranked 20th at the time, and a win over Pittsburgh. However, that momentum did not continue as they lost their next three games. They mustered two more wins during conference play, against Syracuse and 25th ranked Duke to end the season.

The Cardinals finished the season 4–9–5 overall and 3–5–2 in ACC play to finish in ninth place. The team did not qualify for the ACC Tournament and were not invited to the NCAA Tournament. Their four overall wins, were the lowest for the team since 2001. Their three conference wins matched their total in the last two years.

Previous season

Main article: 2022 Louisville Cardinals women's soccer team

The Cardinals finished the season 6–8–2 overall and 3–7–0 in ACC play to finish in tenth place. The team did not qualify for the ACC Tournament and were not invited to the NCAA Tournament.

Offseason

Departures

Departures

Name	Number	Pos.	Height	Year	Hometown	Reason for Departure
Olivia Pratapas	0	GK	5'9"	Sophomore	Clemmons, North Carolina	Transferred to NC State
Sarah Hernandez	2	DF	5'4"	Graduate Student	Moorpark, California	Graduated
Patricia Ward	3	FW	5'6"	Graduate Student	Newport News, Virginia	Graduated
Riley Mullady	6	MF	5'5"	Junior	Dublin, Ohio	Transferred to NYU
Lilly Yordy	9	DF	5'4"	Junior	Hamilton, Ohio	Transferred to Northern Kentucky
Corinne Dente	12	FW	5'5"	Senior	Stamford, Connecticut	Graduated
Riley Goss	17	MF	5'7"	Freshman	Suffolk, Virginia	Transferred to James Madison
Anouk Denton	18	DF	5'4"	Sophomore	St. Albans, England	Signed professional contract with West Ham[1]
Maisie Whitsett	19	MF/FW	5'9"	Senior	San Diego, California	Graduated
Evelyn Pazienza	29	FW/MF	5'7"	Freshman	Wilton, Connecticut	Transferred to North Dakota

Incoming transfers

Incoming Transfers

Name	Number	Pos.	Height	Year	Hometown	Previous School
Malene Nielsen	0	GK	5'11"	Junior	Juelsminde, Denmark	Fairleigh Dickinson
Lucy Roberts	6	DF	5'10"	Graduate Student	Cheshire, England	South Florida[2]
Amber Jackson	7	FW	5'6"	Senior	Susanville, California	Oregon State
Maya Anand	17	FW	5'4"	Graduate Student	Leesburg, Virginia	Binghamton[3]

Recruiting class

Source:^[4]

Name	Nationality	Hometown	Club	TDS Rating
Molly Cochran MF		Madeira, Ohio	Ohio Elite SA	[5]
Fiona Gaißer FW		Munich, Germany	Bayern Munich II	N/A
Betsy Huckaby MF		Crestwood, Kentucky	Racing Louisville Academy	N/A
Emma Sanchez DF		Camas, Washington	Northwest Elite	[6]
Viktoria Wik MF		Roskilde, Denmark	HB Køge	N/A

Squad

Roster

As of November 21, 2023 ^[7]

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

No. Pos. Nation Player 0 GK  DEN Malene Nielsen 1 GK  CAN Alyssa Zalac 2 MF  USA Betsy Huckaby 3 FW  USA Mackenzie Geigle 4 FW  USA Emma Hiscock 5 FW  USA Ravin Alexander 6 DF  ENG Lucy Roberts 7 FW  USA Amber Jackson 8 MF  USA Maya Maxwell 9 MF  USA Molly Cochran 10 DF  USA Autumn Weeks 11 MF  USA Addie Chester 13 MF  USA Ava Nielson 14 MF  USA Lizzie Sexton

No. Pos. Nation Player 15 MF  USA Hayley Howard 18 MF  DEN Wiktoria Wik 19 FW  GER Fiona Gaißer 20 FW  USA Savina Zamborini 21 DF  USA Sophia Zinn 22 DF  USA Karsyn Cherry 23 MF  USA Morgan Bentley 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 32 DF  USA Madison Ellsworth

Team management

Position	Staff
Karen Ferguson-Dayes	Head Coach
Hunter Norton	Associate Head Coach
Nick Stirrett	Assistant Coach
Declan Doherty	Performance Analyst
Jing Hughley	Director of Operations

Source:^[7]

Schedule

Source:^[8][9]

Date Time, TV	Rank#	Opponent#	Result	Record	Site (Attendance) City, State
Exhibition
August 6* 2:00 p.m.		at Miami (OH)	None Reported	–	Bobby Kramig Field Oxford, OH
Non-Conference Regular Season
August 17* 7:30 p.m., ACCNX		Indiana State	T 0–0	0–0–1	Lynn Stadium (437) Louisville, KY
August 20* 7:30 p.m., FloFC		at Xavier	L 0–2	0–1–1	Corcoran Field (1,682) Cincinnati, OH
August 24* 7:00 p.m., FloFC		at Dayton	L 1–2	0–2–1	Baujan Field (724) Dayton, OH
August 27* 7:30 p.m., ACCNX		Northern Kentucky	T 0–0	0–2–2	Lynn Stadium (362) Louisville, KY
August 31* 7:30 p.m., ACCNX		Illinois	L 1–2	0–3–2	Lynn Stadium (372) Louisville, KY
September 3* 7:30 p.m., ACCNX		Central Michigan	W 3–0	1–3–2	Lynn Stadium (395) Louisville, KY
September 7* 7:00 p.m., BTN+		at Indiana	L 0–2	1–4–2	Bill Armstrong Stadium (413) Bloomington, IN
September 10* 5:30 p.m., ACCNX		Wyoming	T 2–2	1–4–3	Lynn Stadium (213) Louisville, KY
ACC Regular Season
September 16 7:00 p.m., ACCNX		No. 20 Virginia	T 1–1	1–4–4 (0–0–1)	Lynn Stadium (221) Louisville, KY
September 21 8:00 p.m., ACCN		Pittsburgh	W 3–2	2–4–4 (1–0–1)	Lynn Stadium (279) Louisville, KY
September 24 12:00 p.m., ACCNX		at Miami (FL)	L 0–1	2–5–4 (1–1–1)	Cobb Stadium (214) Coral Gables, FL
September 30 7:00 p.m., ACCNX		at No. 10 Notre Dame	L 0–3	2–6–4 (1–2–1)	Alumni Stadium (450) Notre Dame, IN
October 5 7:00 p.m., ACCNX		No. 2 Florida State	L 0–2	2–7–4 (1–3–1)	Lynn Stadium (198) Louisville, KY
October 8 1:00 p.m., ACCNX		Syracuse	W 2–1	3–7–4 (2–3–1)	Lynn Stadium (227) Louisville, KY
October 14 7:00 p.m., ACCNX		at Boston College	T 1–1	3–7–5 (2–3–2)	Newton Campus Soccer Field (471) Chestnut Hill, MA
October 19 7:00 p.m., ACCNX		at No. 8 Clemson	L 0–3	3–8–5 (2–4–2)	Riggs Field (362) Clemson, SC
October 22 12:30 p.m., ACCNX		at Wake Forest	L 0–1	3–9–5 (2–5–2)	Spry Stadium (620) Winston-Salem, NC
October 26 6:00 p.m., ACCNX		No. 25т Duke	W 1–0	4–9–5 (3–5–2)	Lynn Stadium (405) Louisville, KY
*Non-conference game. #Rankings from United Soccer Coaches. (#) Tournament seedings in parentheses.

Awards and honors

Recipient	Award	Date	Ref.
Emma Hiscock	ACC Offensive Player of the Week	October 31	[10]
Lucy Roberts	All-ACC Third Team	November 1	[11]

Rankings

Main article: 2023 NCAA Division I women's soccer rankings

Ranking movements
Legend: — = Not ranked

	Week
Poll	Pre	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	Final
United Soccer[12]	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	Not released				—
TopDrawer Soccer[13]	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—