LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Lauren Pagone scored the game-winning goal with less than four minutes left to play to lift the DePaul Blue Demons to a 2-1 BIG EAST Conference win over the Louisville women’s soccer team on Friday night at Cardinal Park.

The loss dropped the Cardinals to 0-2-0 in BIG EAST play and 3-5-0 overall, while DePaul improved to 6-3-0 overall and 1-1-0 in BIG EAST games.

“This is a disappointing loss for us,” said Louisville head coach Karen Ferguson-Dayes. “I don’t want to take any credit away from DePaul because they absolutely earned the win tonight, but we have to get better at some very fundamental pieces of the game. We’ll do what we always do by taking a look at the video. We’ll work on some specific pieces of the game and move forward from here. I can only hope we’ll provide more effort and that we’ll get stronger from the tough lessons that we’ve learned along the way so far.”

With the game tied at 1-1, Pagone gathered the rebound from Tara Strickland’s shot off the crossbar and connected from nine yards away in the 87th minute for the game-winning goal. The goal was the third of the season for Pagone and was her first game-winner this year.

The Blue Demons opened the scoring in the first minute of the game as Beth Perry connected from 12 yards away along the left side of the goal following a cross by Kelly Blumberg and a heel flick by Tara Strickland. The goal came 31 seconds into the game and was the first of the season for Perry.
 
With DePaul holding the 1-0 lead through the halftime break, Louisville pulled even in the 68th minute as junior Shannon Leamy scored from 16 yards away after controlling a loose ball that got away from DePaul goalkeeper Claire Hanold. The goal was the first of the season and the second of the career for Leamy, a native of Loveland, Ohio.

Overall, the Cardinals were out-shot 14-12 by DePaul, including a 7-5 margin on shots on-goal, while corner kicks were even at 2-2. DePaul finished with 11 fouls, while Louisville was whistled for six on the night.

In goal, Louisville freshman Taylor Vancil finished with five saves, while Hanold had three stops for DePaul. The Blue Demons also added one team save on the night.

Up next, the Cardinals will begin a five-game road stretch on Sunday at 1 p.m. ET, at No. 14 Notre Dame in a nationally televised game on CBS College Sports.Marshall will close its weekend with a Sunday match against Rice University.  Kickoff is set for noon.  The Herd looks to avenge last season’s 3-1 defeat to the Owls.

GameTracker will be available for Sunday’s match by clicking on the women’s soccer schedule.

Women’s soccer youth night was cancelled due to weather but is rescheduled for Friday, October 30th at 7 p.m. when the Herd takes on East Carolina.