Vanderbilt Lacrosse wrapped up a four-game home stint to start the season on Feb. 27 versus the No. 23 Louisville Cardinals. Despite an encouraging 6-1 run by the Commodores in the fourth quarter, Louisville came up on top with a final score of 15-12.
Going into their 13th matchup in history, the Cardinals lead the overall series with a record of 9-3 against the Commodores. Vanderbilt’s last win against Louisville came in 2019 off a thrilling overtime goal.
The Cardinals came out firing to begin the game, scoring three goals in the opening five minutes to set the tone. Soon after, Nancy Hallerton put the Commodores on the board by scoring her seventh goal of the season. The Cardinals answered back by tacking on three more goals in the quarter to give them a 6-1 lead heading into the second period.
The start of the second quarter displayed an immense amount of grit and determination by the Commodores as Hallerton and Gross scored back-to-back goals to bring the score within two points. Louisville once again answered back, netting three goals with four minutes left until halftime. Gross struck again just before halftime, keeping Vanderbilt in the game,but still trailing 9-5 at the half.
Vanderbilt started the second half on the right foot with Hallerton bringing the score within three and completing a hat trick. Unfortunately, the Cardinals offense kept pouring it on, outscoring the Commodores 5-1 in the third quarter and bringing the score to 14-6 going into the fourth.
In the fourth quarter, the Commodores showed their offensive prowess, outscoring the Cardinals 6-1. Hallerton tallied another two goals bringing her to a match total of five, while freshman Risenhoover scored her first career goals with Hillasback contributing as goal as well. Junior Lexie de Rozierie made her season debut as goalie, tallying 6 saves in 35 minutes of play. Down five goals with six minutes left, Huddles and Finneran each continued the offensive push by the Commodores to bring the score within three, but the comeback eventually fell short with the Commodores losing 15-12.
Up next
The Black and Gold will now hit the road for the first time this year visiting No. 3 Northwestern for a 12 p.m. CST game on March 4 at Ryan Fieldhouse in Evansville, Illinois.
