The No. 6 Louisville women’s soccer team saw its remarkable 2025 campaign come to an end Thursday night, falling 3-1 to No. 3 Kansas in the NCAA Tournament’s second round at Koskinen Stadium
The Cardinals struck first behind an early spark from Grace Maddox, but the Jayhawks clawed back before halftime and delivered a pair of late goals in the final stretch to seal the result and close out Louisville’s season.
Kansas dictated much of the early play, maintaining long stretches of possession in the attacking third. Even so, Louisville’s back line held firm, denying clean looks at goal until the Cardinals made their first major push on set pieces.
In the 19th minute, Amelia Swinarski’s corner curled dangerously into the box, forcing a tough deflection from the Kansas keeper. Karsyn Cherry’s header bounced off the crossbar, but Maddox pounced on the rebound, volleying home to give Louisville the 1-0 advantage.
The lead, however, would not hold through the half. Kansas found the equalizer in the closing minutes before the break, with Faith Johnston slotting one past Erynn Floyd to level the scoreline at 1-1 heading into intermission.
The Jayhawks came out firing in the second half, controlling the tempo and racking up both shots and corners. By the 80th minute, Kansas held a commanding 10-0 edge in attempts and 6-0 in corner kicks. Their persistence finally broke through when Julian Gregorski capitalized on a rebound to push Kansas ahead 2-1 with under eight minutes to play. Four minutes later, the Jayhawks added insurance with an 86th-minute strike to put the game out of reach.
Despite the loss, Louisville concludes a historic season at 13-5-3 — their highest win total since 2019. The Cardinals returned to the NCAA Tournament for the first time since that same year and advanced to the second round for just the third time in program history, setting single-season records for goals (53), assists (60), and total points (166).
