Women's Soccer Summer Accolades -- THURSDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

Cardinals Honored in Summer Play

As the summer club season comes to a close and collegiate players return to their respective campuses to prepare for fall play, a handful of the many Cardinals to have participated have been acknowledged for their performances over the past couple months. The players announced as receiving awards were all playing for teams associated with the Elite Clubs National League (ECNL) so any players that were participating in USL W play may still be acknowledged if that league decides to do postseason awards. 

In all, 19 players on Louisville's roster participated in summer play in some fashion, with at least 11 of those in the USL W league for Racing Louisville, Lexington SC, Indy Eleven, and NC Courage. That means that, at most, eight players were in ECNL play, though it may have been fewer as some of the clubs are difficult to nail down their affiliation. The reason I mention the numbers is that four Cards were honored in ECNL play, which means that it was at least half of the contingent. Not too shabby.
 

First up was Amelia Swinarski, playing for Internationals SC in northeast Ohio. Swinarski is a sophomore midfielder for the Cards from Madison, Ohio. She earned the best honor of the bunch as she was named the offensive player of the year for the Lake Erie Division. Swinarski played in 13 games for Louisville as a freshman, totaling 1 goal and 1 assist in 391 minutes. Her lone goal was the game winner against NKU. She took four shots, put two on frame, and converted one of those. If you boost the volume of those attempts and put more shots on target, that could turn out quite nicely for the Cards, and it appears to have worked for Swinarski in club play. 

The remaining three players to be awarded were all tagged to the Best XI teams for their respective divisions. Those honors went to Emma Kate (EK) Schroll (Southeast - Peachtree Division), Liza Suydam (Mid-Atlantic - Commonwealth Division), and Kiley Peat (Atlantic - Carolinas Division). Suydam and Peat are both among the many newcomers for the Cards this season. 

EK Schroll is a midfielder for the Cards who will look to expand her role in her senior season. She played in 14 games last season, starting three, and had two assists in 584 minutes. She took nine shots, put three of them on target, but wasn't able to find the back of the net. 

Liza Suydam is a junior midfielder who transferred from Monmouth following the 2024 season. This will be her first of two years of eligibility for Louisville. Suydam had a fantastic two years for Monmouth, scoring 16 goals and totaling 12 assists in her first two seasons. She led the team with 22 points on nine goals and nine assists while starting all 20 games last year and also started all 19 games as a freshman. Those seasons led her to, among other honors, 2023 Rookie of the Year in both the ECAC and the CAA, 2023 Second team All-CAA, 2023 CAA All-Tournament Team, 2024 First Team All-ECAC and All-CAA, and 2024 CAA Co-Midfielder of the Year. Apparently those good vibes continued with her club season. 

Kiley Peat, along with her twin sister Karina, is a freshman for the Cards this season. The Peats have spurned family tradition a bit, as their parents both went to NC State (father - soccer; mother - cheerleading) and their older brother plays soccer for UNC Asheville. Their high school team were two-time MEC Conference Champions and two-time NC 4A East Champions. Kiley, a defender, was named 4A All-State and First Team All-MEC twice and was named to the All-Region team three times. 

Until next time, Go Cards!

Case

WBB Update --WEDNESDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

 WALZ UPDATE ON WBB

From Walz presser:

Many players remained on campus during the summer .Getting Visas straighten out to get to campus for some was another issue and although not a lot of team work was done o organized the group got to know each other better by working out and shooting together each day and Walz says he knows who will be on the roster by now and is getting it set. 

Walz is excited for Steph Norman's chances at Arizona St. She and new head coach Molly Miller have been good  friends for a long time.

 Let's take a look at the "new" coaching assistant layout at UofL, It will be different to look over at the Cards bench and not see Steph sitting over there. 

Brittany Morris did a lot of wonderful things working on Wes Moore's NC State coaching staff for four years and has veteran coaching experience at other schools as well.

Wes Moore went back to the "old" by bringing back Simon Harris. It is the third time in his career that he has rejoined the Wolfpack.

 Who will be the Cards players you'll be watching closely and expecting to lead the way?

It's been a series of changes for the Cards. Look back to 2020. Walz's assistants/associates were Sam Purcell, Norman, Jonneshia Pineda and Beth Burns (although she wasn't officially listed as an assistant, everyone knew she was). . That 2020-21 squad went 26-4, with two loses to NC State. Fla. State and Stanford. What a roster that was with Parker, Smith, Balogun, Evans, Van Lith and Konno...to name just a few

Soo....half a decade later...how will this current group of Cards WBB players match up compared to that group? Roberts, Randolph, Juffermans, Istanbulloglu, Berry and the transfers in?

Stay tuned, it should be a fun ride. 

paulie

Breakout Candidates for Field Hockey -- TUESDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

Breakout Candidates for Field Hockey

Chloe Plumb

The final of our 'Big Three' fall sports to look at breakout candidates is field hockey. Louisville had its worst season in ages last year mainly due to a large graduating class the year before and younger players being thrust into more impactful roles. They should be back on track this season.

As always, players who have already made large impacts or have preseason or postseason accolades are not eligible as they already have high expectations. This excludes players like Rylie Wollerton and Izzy Bianco from being on this list.

Emily Young

Chloe Plumb enters the back half of her collegiate career and is entering her first season without Aimee Plumb being on the team. While she hasn't exactly lived in her sister's shadow by scoring four goals herself last year, this is a prime opportunity for the younger Plumb to have a breakout year.

Emily Young split time in the cage last year and will have some competition for the starting goalkeeper spot again this fall. Having a good chunk of a season under her belt already including a nine-save performance against Cornell, Young is in a good space to command the cage again and be one of the best keepers in the ACC.

Emily Eaton

Emily Eaton had a decent showing as a freshman last year. Oddly enough, she was one of the top offensive players when she graduated high school, tallying 18 goals her senior year, but transitioned into a defensive role at UofL. With a year of Division I field hockey under her belt, I think she'll ease into the defensive role better and help strengthen a defensive unit that struggled greatly last year.

We will have plenty of coverage once the season begins.

Happy Tuesday and Go Cards!

Jared

WNBA update -- MONDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

Good morning readers, 

Welcome back to a new week.  Hope you get to enjoy some of the lovely local temperatures in the coming days.  We've got the KY State Fair coming up in the next couple weeks to go along with a new calendar school year and athletics seasons.  

With not much whispers coming from the UofL athletics departments lets give a quick update on the WNBA season as we are under 40 days from the end of the regular season.

Starting in 2025, the WNBA Finals will be a best-of-seven game series, a change from the previous best-of-five format. This expansion to seven games means the Finals will follow a 2-2-1-1-1 format, where the higher seed hosts games 1, 2, 5, and 7 if necessary. The first round of the playoffs will also see a change, with a 1-1-1 format ensuring all teams in the first round have a home game.

#2 Myisha Hines-Allen -- Photo credit: John McClellan | The Next

As of Sunday evening, the Minnesota Lynx lead the league with an impressive 24-5 record.  They last lost to the Atlanta Dream (18-11) a week ago.  The closest behind them are the New York Liberty at 5.5 games back with a 18-10 record. 

#11 Dana Evans -- Photo Credit: Chris Poss | The Next

Of the former Cardinals currently on WNBA rosters, the Las Vegas Aces (Dana Evans) have the best record at 14-14.   The Mystics lost to the Dream 99-83 and Emily Engstler contributed 4 points and assist and a rebound in 10 minutes on the floor.  Shes averaging 2.7 ppg 3.2 rpg & 1.3 apg.  The Wings lost to the Fever on Friday 88-78 and MHA had 9 points, 5 rebounds and 2 assists.  Shes averaging 6.4 ppg, 5.1 rpg and 2.7 apg.  The Aces beat the Valkyries 101-77 where Evans had 7 points, 4 assists and 1 rebound.  Shes averaging 6.4 ppg, 1.1 rpg and 2 apg on the season.  

As Always,
Go Cards

~Daryl 

Breakout Candidates for Soccer -- SUNDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

Breakout Candidates for Soccer

AG Gibson

Women's soccer looks to take another step in the right direction this fall. After a 7-6-2 season last year, UofL is hopeful to improve on that record. We saw a couple folks transfer out from last year but a good core remained.

No single player had eye-popping stats last year and none earned any All-American or All-ACC honors outside of academic accolades. Karsyn Cherry has proven to be the go-to player the last couple seasons so we will look at players outside of her with potential breakout seasons. Mackenzie Geigle was a scoring machine for the Cards last year so I am considering her ineligible for this list too.

Emersen Jennings

Fina Davy took no time earning a starting role as a freshman last year. Her scoring numbers of one goal and two assists weren't eye-popping, but she kept defenders on their toes when she had possession. She has a chance to make a big jump up this season.

AG Gibson is a local kid that was one of the best in the state during her high school career. She started most of the season her freshman year last year, leading all freshmen on the team in minutes. I don't expect her breakout season to be scoring related as much as helping Louisville establish a strong midfield and have better ball possession against other teams.

Emersen Jennings

Emersen Jennings is entering her final season with the Cards. She's had a couple injuries that prevented her from maximizing minutes on the pitch and usually came in as a reserve player. She appears to be healthy entering this season and can use her speed to stretch the offense and keep defenders on the run.

Louisville starts on the road for the first two games of the year but they will play at Lynn Stadium for the first time in 2025 on August 21.

Happy Sunday and Go Cards!

Jared

Volleyball Preseason Poll -- SATURDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

Cards Receive Preseason Love in ACC 

Earlier this week, Jared wrote about the potential breakout candidates for the Louisville volleyball team. Coincidentally, the ACC preseason polls were announced a few hours later, and the coaches have their own opinions on Louisville's potential stars. 

Three Cardinals were named to the Preseason All-ACC Team: Cara Cresse, Chloe Chicoine, and Nayelis Cabello. None of these players should come as a major shock. Cresse was one of four Cardinals to be named to an AVCA All-American team last season (honorable mention) and Chicoine was on an All-Region First Team. Chicoine was also on the All-Big Ten second team last year. Cabello was named as the ACC Freshman of the Year, so her inclusion on the list is also fairly straightforward. 

What the Cards will be looking for is more players to work their way onto the list. Louisville is second in players named, behind Pittsburgh with four. SMU and Stanford are also tied with Louisville at three. Miami has two, while Georgia Tech, UNC, and Notre Dame have one player each to round out the list. 

The preseason team also fairly well aligns with the Preseason Coaches Poll. Louisville finds themselves in second in the league with 271 points. Louisville trails Pitt, who had 279 points, and narrowly beat out Stanford (264) and SMU (243). Notre Dame is the lowest team with a player named to the preseason team, as the Irish were picked to finish just 12th. At the top, Louisville gathered four of the first-place votes, with Pitt picking up 10. Stanford had the two outstanding votes. 

It's sure to be a tight race in the ACC. Louisville may have hoped that the recent lack of form from Notre Dame, Georgia Tech, and FSU meant that they could focus on the Panthers, but Stanford and SMU have kept it a multi-horse race at the top of the league. With no conference tournament, every match will be critical to determine a champion. We'll see what Dan Meske can do in his first season at the helm. 

No CCRHP This Week

Hosts are scattered this week for various reasons, so we'll have the week off from the show. Next week will mark the last season before competition, so we'll work to bring you an episode looking at the specific upcoming games. 

Until next time, Go Cards!

Case

WTennis adds freshman -- New school year -- FRIDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

FRIDAYS WITH DARYL 

Gooooood morning readers and welcome back weekend.   

Its also a officially a new school year now that we are in the month of August.   We have the new faculty hire orientation today and I'm looking forward to meeting a large group of them and welcoming them to campus.  

There was a very large tree that fell down behind the president's office, Grawemeyer Hall, Thursday morning during one of those strong summer storms so the grounds crew is probably working tirelessly to get that cleaned up last night before the new staff and students start arriving.   They should probably just take the whole tree down as it looks to be very old and not very aesthetically pleasing. 

Photo: Karen Johnson 

Women's Tennis

from gocards.com

-- Anshika Jaswal of Toronto, Canada has been added to the University of Louisville women's tennis roster. She will enter the school year as a freshman for the Cardinals.

In 2024, she was the Bramalea Open Champion and a 2024 Caledon Open Finalist. She was also a finalist in the 2024 Harold Green City of Toronto Championship Open and in the 2024 Caledon Fall Colours.

She was a 2023 and 2024 Under 18 Fischer Outdoor National Championships competitor as well as a 2023 Yonex U16 Ontario Junior Outdoor Closed Provincial Championships Quarter-finalist. In 2021, she was a Yonex Junior Doubles Championships Finalist

She was ranked in the top 60 in Canada G16 and in the top 80 in Canada's G18. She was also ranked in the top 40 Women's Open Ranking in Canada.

"I am excited to welcome Anshika to Louisville Women's Tennis," said UofL head coach Mark Beckham. "She was recommended to me by one of my former players because of her character, work ethic and potential. We need a certain type of person in the program and she is a really good fit. Anshika is joining an experienced team, so she will have time to develop with her teammates and the strong coaching staff I have now. She is definitely going to impact the team in a positive way because she is ready to work and earn everything she gets."

As always
Go Cards, 
~Daryl 

Breakout Candidates for Volleyball -- THURSDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

Breakout Candidates for Volleyball

Jared checking back in this week as we played some musical chairs with coverage this week. All good for everyone here at Team Cardinal Couple. 

With things still pretty slow this summer, we continue to look forward to the upcoming fall seasons. Each season, we see players have breakout years and go well above and beyond what their expectations are. Star players and players that are preseason All-American or All-Conference do not qualify as they are already expected to have big years.

Payton Petersen

With the graduation of key players such as Anna DeBeer, Elena Scott, and Charitie Luper, there are plenty of key roles that need to be filled. Transfer Chloe Chicoine is already a top-tier player with high expectations and returners Cara Cresse and Nayelis Cabello already have preseason and postseason honors to their names, so we won't give them breakout contender marks.

Hannah Sherman has played a backseat role to Cresse and Phekran Kong in past years. PK has graduated so her biggest competition is Cresse. You often rotate a pair of middle blockers in a match so it is Sherman's time to step in and shine. She has shown glimpses of her raw strength in the past and she could be one of the top blockers in the ACC this year.

Hannah Kenny

Payton Petersen played a limited role last year as an outside hitter. She sat behind DeBeer, Luper, Sofia Maldonado Diaz, and Reese Robins, and often only played as a sub in blowout matches. When DeBeer went down, Petersen had a chance to show off what she is capable of and didn't let the fans down. She will see plenty of reps this year and can truly make a name for herself this year.

Hannah Kenny is a true freshman that could see valuable minutes. I think Kamden Schrand gets the nod at libero, but Kenny is similar to Scott in terms of size, versatility, and having a background as a setter in high school. If she cleans up her serve receive a little then she could be fighting for that libero spot by the end of the year.

Hannah Sherman

The Cards are two weeks away from their Red and Black Scrimmage at LN Arena on Friday 6:00pm ET.

Happy Thursday and Go Cards!

Jared

Cards Partner for Kids Running Program -- WEDNESDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

Louisville Track and Field Athletes Give Back

Today's column is a little off the beaten path, but it's inspired by a story I heard on Louisville Public Media's daily morning news podcast. If you aren't familiar with Louisville Public Media, it's the organization that operates WFPL, WFPK, the Kentucky Center for Investigative Reporting, and more. It's a great source for local news and they have a neat app. Ok, random pitch over. 

Anyway, the point of this is to talk about the new program being brought to Louisville called Run Your City. Run Your City is a national nonprofit that, according to the website (runyourcity.org) is "dedicated to building an inclusive running community, giving every child - regardless of ability, gender, or background - the chance to grow [into] healthy, confident, and inspired individuals." The purpose of the program is to provide free access to youth athletics by way of a child-centered coached running program. The organization was founded in 2018 in Charlottesville by UVA athletes and has grown significantly since then, including a chapter in Rwanda.

image from Julia Schmitt via LPM

Three Cardinals have come together to bring a chapter to Louisville. Run Your City Louisville will be a free running program for students in kindergarten through eighth grade. The current plan is to hold weekly sessions on Sundays for six weeks. The Louisville teammates bringing this program together as co-presidents are Riley Griffith, Julia Schmitt, and Layla Roebke. Griffith and Schmitt are redshirt freshman while Roebke recently graduated. All three are cross country and distance track runners. Their goals for the program are to teach about proper running techniques, how to work as a team, and balancing nutrition and exercise. The co-presidents are also joined by UofL students (and teammates) Emma Heckel, Madeleine Seaby, Brooke Lahee, and Lauren Bettencourt. 

Here is a link to the full LPM article, which is absolutely worth reading. One of the main things that stood out from it was the discussion on the inequity of youth sports. Having nieces and nephews currently in the youth sports scene, I definitely understand all that comes with it. Outside of the outright equipment and team costs, there is also time and travel for numerous events and practices. Even having been bombarded with fundraising for various teams, I was struck by the statistic shared from a 2022 Aspen Institute study which says that the average American family spends nearly $900 per year per child for a single season. The wording of that was a little tricky, so I went to the study source and broke it down some. The reported cost in fall 2022 was an average of $883 spent in a year for a single season of a single child's primary sport. That's a lot of money!

Even just looking at that figure, it seems obvious that it would be inequitable across children of different backgrounds, but the study breaks it down further. As the family income rises, so do the costs for travel. Extrapolating, that would imply that affluent families are taking talent even farther away from families with fewer resources, somewhat diluting the talent and experience of others. Families making $150,000 or more spent 65% more on travel than families making between $50,000 and $149,999, while they spent 83% more on travel than families making less than $50,000. The study (linked in the article and here) breaks the numbers down even more across different demographics, but the point is clear: Run Your City can offer an extremely valuable opportunity.

 

stats from Run Your City

Children with access to youth sports don't just experience improved physical health, but improvements to mental health, sociability, and future successful outcomes. Louisville is not alone as a city with an issue in this area, but it is stark. According to Southwest YMCA regional sports director David Oliver, who oversees all YMCA sports programs in west and south Louisville, cost is a significant driver for those programs being much smaller than in other YMCA regions. Even the registration costs can be a deterrent. 

Riley Griffith said it best when quoted by LPM: "We really just want to give  opportunity to get out there and be a part of something and have a fun, low-pressure experience with sports, so that even if they don't stick with running, even if they don't stick with sports, they get to have that opportunity.” 

I can't think of a better statement that I'd rather see from an ambassador for my alma mater. I wish the very best to Griffith, Schmitt, and Roebke as they get the program off the ground and hope for continued success for the program in future years. 

Until next time, Go Cards!

Case

Days Until Each Sport -- TUESDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

Days Until...

As we wind down the days of July, we quickly approach August, which will put UofL sports on the composite calendar. All three of the major women's sports for the fall are on the schedule for August.

Soccer

16 days until the first regulation match against Auburn on the road

23 days until the first home match against Detroit Mercy

Volleyball

17 days until the first scrimmage, Red vs Black

32 days until the first regulation match against Auburn

Field Hockey

24 days until the first scrimmage against Bellarmine

31 days until the first regulation match against Michigan State

We hope to have as much in-person coverage as possible  at the home events for each of the 'Big Three'. We are aware of some changes with media credentialing this season, but do not believe this should impact us as we do not cover football or men's basketball.

Happy Tuesday and Go Cards!

Jared