Nine Louisville women’s lacrosse players were granted releases to transfer this summer, Cardinals coach Kellie Young confirmed Thursday.

Three of the players — senior goalie Brittany Read (Oregon), sophomore midfielder Lexy Biller (Oregon) and junior midfielder Alex Rich (Penn State) — were announced at other Division I programs this week. Sophomore defender Emily Petillo transferred to Florida in early July.

“These kids all have been released and have been supported in their process,” Young said. “We’re trying to build a championship culture here, and if they don’t want to be a part of that, it’s OK. If they want to be a part of it somewhere else, that’s OK.”

Five additional players who were on Louisville’s roster in 2017 — junior midfielders Meghan Siverson, McKayla Conti and Sarah L’Heureux, sophomore attacker Ashley Lynch and sophomore defender Chloe Harris — do not appear on the Cardinals’ current roster as listed on the school’s website.

Young, who has led Louisville to four consecutive NCAA tournaments, declined to disclose the cause of their departures. The Cardinals finished 11-8 in 2017, falling to James Madison in the first round of the NCAA tournament.

Read was a second-team All-American and the ACC Defender of the Year after leading the conference in saves (194), save percentage (51.2) and saves per game.

“We support her and hope she has an amazing year out there [at Oregon],” Young said.

Siverson, a third-team All-American, was Louisville’s top returning scorer (55 goals) and its primary draw specialist (91 draw controls).

Conti, Rich, Lynch and Petillo were starters.

Reinforcements are on the way with a strong freshman class that includes twins Sarah and Caroline Blalock, highly regarded midfielders out of Marriotts Ridge (Md.), and Shayla Scanlan, believed to be the first Seneca Nation female to sign at the Division I level in any sport. The Cardinals also inked Maryland products Lexi Arens (Mount Hebron) and Ally Hall (Severn), D.C.-area standout Kayla Marshall (Bishop Ireton), a former 100-goal scorer out of New Jersey in Maddie Birch (Wall), two-time South Side (N.Y.) captain Alex McNicholas and Cassandra New out of Cardinal Gibbons (N.C.).

Louisville returns five starters from last season, including four seniors. Madison Hoover (team-high 20 assists) will anchor the attack, midfielder Jillian Balog (16 goals) is a three-year starter, Taylor Webster is a top defensive midfielder, and Emily Howell (33 ground balls, 26 draw controls, 18 caused turnovers) will lead the defense alongside junior Casey Cummo.

Former Cardinals standout Faye Brust has returned to the team as an assistant coach after one season as the offensive coordinator at Furman.

“We’re obviously evaluating,” Young said. “We’ve had some face-to-face meetings and a lot of conversations with kids coming back. We met with our leadership. I really do feel like we’re moving in the right direction.”