BLACKSBURG, Va. -- First-year midfielder Kelsey McDowell scored with two seconds remaining in regulation to lift the University of Louisville lacrosse team to a 10-9 come-from-behind win at Virginia Tech Friday afternoon at the Virginia Tech Lacrosse Stadium.

McDowell, a native of Abington, Pa., prevented overtime and completed the Cards comeback from a four-goal first half deficit when she sprinted down the middle of the field after a Virginia Tech foul to score the game-winner. The goal was just the fifth of the season for McDowell and the first since the Cards March 9 win at La Salle.

Louisville (7-2) opened the scoring with the first of two goals for Sierra Smith-Hart less than five minutes into the game and the Cards extended their early lead to 3-1 after a pair of goals for Bergan Foley (22:01, 18:07). However, the lead was short-lived as the host Hokies (2-8) scored five straight goals and seven of the next eight goals to take an 8-4 lead with 3:50 left in the first half.

Liz Lovejoy scored the first of four straight goals for the Cards with 1:41 left in the half to cut the margin to 8-5 at halftime. Louisville opened the second half with three more goals to even things up at 8-8 with 18:28 left in the game.

The Hokies regained the lead at 9-8 with on their only goal of the second half with 13:55 remaining and the Cards tied things up for the fourth and final time on third goal of the day for Foley with 11:52 to go in the game. Things remained tied for the next 11 minutes and 50 seconds before McDowell pushed the Cards in front for good with two seconds left.

Foley, ranked fifth in the nation this week in goals per game, led the Cards for the ninth time this season scoring three goals, while Brittany Poist and Sierra Smith-Hart added two goals each for Louisville. Rachel Culp and Kady McBrearty led the Hokies with two goals each.

The Cards controlled 11 of 20 draws on the day led by McDowells three, and Louisville picked up 22 ground balls led by first-year captain Jamie Wards five.

Up next, the Cards will have more than a week off before returning to action at home on Sunday, March 30 against No. 7 ranked Georgetown in the first of six straight games at home.

Score by Period       1  2  Tot
-------------------------------
LOUISVILLE..........  5  5 - 10
Virginia Tech.......  8  1 -  9
 
Attendance: 243
 
LOUISVILLE SCORING:
GOALS: FOLEY, Bergan 3; SMITH-HART, Sierra 2; POIST; Brittany 2;
       LOVEJOY, Liz 2; MCDOWELL, Kelsey 1.
ASSISTS: ALLEN, Sammy 1; SMITH-HART, Sierra 1.
 
Virginia Tech SCORING:
GOALS: Rachel Culp 2; Kady McBrearty 2; Caitlyn Wier 1; Kate Tracey 1;
       Briana Warner 1; Kristy Zeigler 1; Terri Coover 1.
ASSISTS: Caitlyn Wier 1.
 
SHOTS BY PERIOD       1  2  Tot
-------------------------------
LOUISVILLE.......... 15 17 - 32
Virginia Tech....... 15  7 - 22
 
GROUND BALLS BY PRD   1  2  Tot
-------------------------------
LOUISVILLE.......... 10 12 - 22
Virginia Tech....... 12  8 - 20
 
TURNOVERS BY PRD      1  2  Tot
-------------------------------
LOUISVILLE..........  8  5 - 13
Virginia Tech....... 11  8 - 19
 
CLEARS BY PERIOD       1     2     Total
----------------------------------------
LOUISVILLE.......... 16-16 11-12 - 27-28
Virginia Tech....... 11-11  8-10 - 19-21
 
FREE-POSITION SHOTS    1     2     Total
----------------------------------------
LOUISVILLE..........  0-0   0-2  -  0-2
Virginia Tech.......  3-3   0-2  -  3-5
 
SAVES BY PERIOD       1  2  Tot
-------------------------------
LOUISVILLE..........  2  3 -  5
Virginia Tech.......  8  7 - 15
 
DRAW CONTROLS BY PRD  1  2  Tot
-------------------------------
LOUISVILLE..........  9  2 - 11
Virginia Tech.......  5  4 -  9
 
SCORING SUMMARY:
    Prd  Time Team  Type Goal Scorer           Assists                H-V
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
 1. 1st 25:28 LOU   EVEN SMITH-HART, Sierra... Unassisted...........  0-1
 2.     23:23 VT    EVEN Terri Coover......... Unassisted...........  1-1
 3.     22:01 LOU   EVEN FOLEY, Bergan........ SMITH-HART, Sierra...  1-2
 4.     18:07 LOU   EVEN FOLEY, Bergan........ Unassisted...........  1-3
 5.     16:00 VT    EVEN Kady McBrearty....... Free position shot...  2-3
 6.     13:03 VT    EVEN Kristy Zeigler....... Unassisted...........  3-3
 7.     11:35 VT    EVEN Kate Tracey.......... Unassisted...........  4-3
 8.      5:52 VT    EVEN Caitlyn Wier......... Unassisted...........  5-3
 9.      5:30 VT    EVEN Rachel Culp.......... Free position shot...  6-3
10.      4:51 LOU   EVEN POIST, Brittany...... Unassisted...........  6-4
11.      3:58 VT    EVEN Rachel Culp.......... Free position shot...  7-4
12.      3:50 VT    EVEN Briana Warner........ Caitlyn Wier.........  8-4
13.      1:41 LOU   EVEN LOVEJOY, Liz......... ALLEN, Sammy.........  8-5
14. 2nd 20:26 LOU   EVEN LOVEJOY, Liz......... Unassisted...........  8-6
15.     19:19 LOU   EVEN SMITH-HART, Sierra... Unassisted...........  8-7
16.     18:28 LOU   EVEN POIST, Brittany...... Unassisted...........  8-8
17.     13:55 VT    EVEN Kady McBrearty....... Unassisted...........  9-8
18.     11:52 LOU   EVEN FOLEY, Bergan........ Unassisted...........  9-9
19.      0:02 LOU   EVEN MCDOWELL, Kelsey..... Unassisted...........  9-10

2008-03-21