A Cardinal Couple Worldwide Quiz -- MONDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

 THE LOOKING FORWARD, LOOKING BACK QUIZ

And, in the "Just when you thought you had made it through the summer without one of Paulie's quizzes" department...you know I wouldn't let ya down...

It was mentioned on our immensely popular, low in calories and somewhat shady podcast Saturday that we hadn't had a quiz on the show this year.. And, that was true. We were fortunate to have a lot of things to discuss each week in the world of Cardinals women's sports and didn't need to fill a 20-30 minute gap of dead air with one of my notorious quizzes during "the summer slump".  So, I figured I'd spring one on you as we get ready for fall sports to begin. 

Today's quiz subject will cover things that happened in the 2021-22 season and a glimpse into the future. Remember the rules? (Yeah, I thought not...) Relax, they're simple. Please don't cheat by Googling the answer. Please do not call any coaches, student-athletes or sports information directors for the correct answer. And, in the scoring category...you get 10 points for each correct answer and the option to take a bonus question at the end of the quiz...where you could pick up 20 points, or have 20 points subtracted from your score. Do not pass "Go", do not mix cottage cheese and bratwurst and always flash "the L" the correct way. 

Questions? Comments? Complaints? Take them up with Case...I'm far too busy to put up with your 'points of order' and disputes. Answers at the end of the quiz. You are on the honor system, which is, I know akin to asking a hungry beagle to watch a freshly grilled steak for you while you go to a neighbor's. . 

Ready? Away we go: 

1) Which women's sports below had the best overall record last year (percentage wise)?

(A) Women's Soccer (B) Field Hockey (C) Volleyball (D) Women's Basketball

2) Which squad will freshman Nyla Harris play for? 

(A) Lacrosse  (B) Swimming (C) Women's basketball (D) Mountain Climbing

3) We played our 2021-22 games "at Dobina". We are: 

(A) Softball (B) Field Hockey (C) Chess (D) Lacrosse 

4) I had a batting average of .400 for Softball. I am: 

(A) Cheryl Hines (B) Korbe Otis (C) Burton Ernie (D) Carmyn Greenwood

5) I'll play Field Hockey this year for UofL and I am from Louisville Manual high school: 

(A) India Reed (B) Indiana Jones (C) Sofia Pendolino (D) Malachi Mahan

(HALFTIME...hit the locker room or go outside for some fresh air or perspective . Or a slice of pizza!)

6) Kokoro Nakazawa played which sport for UofL in the 2021-22 season?

(A) Women's basketball (B) Bocci (C) Lacrosse (D) Field Hockey

7) What sport did Sam Booe play at Louisville in the 2021-22 season?

(A) Lacrosse (B) Softball (C) Volleyball (D) Backgammon

8) This squad will travel to South Dakota to face Northern Kentucky in.

(A) Rowing (B) Bowling (C) Women's basketball (D) Volleyball

9) If you are at the "Bass-Rudd" you are:

(A) watching Tennis (B) trying your hand at pole-vaulting (C) watching soccer (D) fly fishing

10) Lauren Thibodeau participated in

(A) Ice Hockey (B) Golf (C) Cross Country (D) Rowing

BONUS: Women's Soccer has an exhibition match Friday against:

(A) Cincinnati (B) Fort Knox (C) Transylvania (D) Austin Peay

Let's see how you did!

1-C  (Volleyball)   2-C Women's Basketball  3-A Softball (Don Dobina Field)  4 -D Carmyn G. 5- A  India Reed  6-C Kokoro a Lax Attacker !  7-B Sam's a softball pitcher  8-D Volleyball  9-A your serve, it's tennis 10-B (Fore! She's a golfer) BONUS-A (WSOC opens against UC), 

IF you scored:

100-120  Go ask Josh Heird for an application! You know your women's sports! 

70-90  Not bad, You can chase errant Lacrosse balls for Scott Teeter

40-60  Not so great. Review your answers with Jared over lunch (you're buying...)

10-30  Never drink before quizzes...

0- -20  You must be a UK fan lurking over here. 

Anyway, thanks for playing and feel free to post your score in the comments section! 

paulie

Not So Busy News Day - Sunday Cardinal Couple

Roster Listings Updated

Friday was busy, but there's not a whole lot happening on Saturdays, yet, though we're in the final countdown to activities happening that'll get the weekends hopping again.

The various programs, and particularly the fall sports playing programs, are getting active with plenty going on, just none of yet really outward facing.  One of those rituals that college sports teams all participate in, is picture day.  The first results we see from that are new headshots on updated rosters, and that's all done and dusted for at least the fall sports teams.

You can check out the updated rosters for Field Hockey, https://gocards.com/sports/field-hockey/roster; Women's Soccer, https://gocards.com/sports/womens-soccer/roster; and Volleyball, https://gocards.com/sports/womens-volleyball/roster.

The roster pages are a great way to get to know who the new players on the teams are, both incoming freshman and transfers, and thanks to the new headshots, put a face to that name.  It can also be interesting to check out the highlight blurb from last year for your favorite player.  Of course, they're also reference material as we start trying to divine what starting lineups we'll see in the teams.

Of course, some of the photos will be used throughout the year in promotional shots, and they could get displayed on scoreboards, banners, posters, and more.

Photo day isn't just about still photos anymore, though.  UofL loves video bits to help fans get to see a bit of the personality and tidbits about the lives of the players.  These are those fun videos played on scoreboards during breaks in the action.  Some of these videos, or snippets from them, have made it to social media, and it looks like they had fun with them.

WNBA

Let's check in on our Basketball Cards in the pros again.

We've only got eight days left in the WNBA regular season.  The Chicago Sky, looking for back to back championships with Dana Evans have a two game lead over the Las Vegas Aces in the standings. at 24-8.  The Washington Mystics with Myisha Hines-Allen are in fifth, four games back at 20-13.  Atlanta Dream who are unfortunately, again, without the services of AD Durr are in seventh at 14-18.  The rookies and their squads are at the bottom of the listings, Kianna Smith who is back with her fourth go around just this season with the Los Angeles Sparks in second to last sporting a 12-20 record, and Emily Engstler's Indiana Fever bringing up the rear at 5-29.

The Fever were in action yesterday in, what you might guess, based on that record, a 95-91 loss against the Dallas Wings.  Engster played right at half the game, got a three pointer, unfortunately missed a pair of free throws, but contributed well on the defensive side of the ball with a trio of rebounds, a pair of steals, and a blocked shot.

In today's action, Evans and the Sky start it off at 1pm against the 3rd place Connecticut Sun.  Find this one on ABC.  Also, Smith and the Sparks visit Hines-Allen and the Mystics at 3pm on ESPN3 or NBC Sports.  Another interesting matchup that doesn't have any UofL rooting interests is the Aces visiting 4th place Seattle Storm, also at 3pm, and on ABC following the Sky game.

Cardinal Couple Radio Hour Podcast

It was a fearsome foursome pontificating on the podcast yesterday.  Case, back off Covid; Jared, with a variety of maladies, and a healthy Paulie and myself all joined in.  Daryl was off baby-sitting, and I don't think anyone can fault her for being an awesome aunt.

We covered news from Field Hockey, Softball, and Women's Basketball, and we previewed our first competition of the season, the Women's Soccer exhibition against Cincinnati.

It's always a good time, and you can check it out at your favorite podcast directory, or go directly to the source at https://anchor.fm/cardinal-couple/episodes/Fall-Sports-on-the-Horizon-e1m66m1.

JMcA

Another Busy News Day -- SATURDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

Verhulst Invited to USA Trials

After the Cards moved into the new Denny Crum Hall earlier this week to get back on campus, Payton Verhulst was packing her bags again right away. Verhulst was invited to the national team trials in Miami this weekend in what is effectively a tryout for the FIBA 3x3 U23 Nations League. The tournament will be played in the Americas conference from August 13th through the 19th. The trials are the 5th through the 8th with training camp beginning on the 9th. It's a a very compressed schedule, but that is why the field is being kept so small. Only 11 players were invited to the trials and only six will make the team. 

This isn't Verhulst's first experience with Team USA, as she was a part of the 2021 U19 World Cup team that won gold and a part of the 2019 U16 team that won gold in the Americas Cup. Verhulst also has 3x3 experience, having played with the Louisville team in last year's Red Bull USA Basketball 3x3 Nationals. In that event, Verhulst joined forces with Liz Dixon, Mykasa Robinson, and Kianna Smith to finish 3rd after being knocked out by the championship winning Force 10 in the semifinals.

As always, we wish all Louisville athletes the absolute best when it comes to getting national team opportunities, as the experience--both on the floor and in life--is unmatched. 

Brooke Gray Commits to Louisville Softball

Image from @brookegray2023

Thursday afternoon saw a big get for Holly Aprile and company when Ballard's Brooke Gray announced her commitment to play for the Cards in 2023. Gray is a pitcher in the class of 2022 and is a key part of the defending state champion Bruins. Ballard went 39-0 last season, and Gray started and earned the victory in 28 of those games. In 29 appearances, Gray was 28-0 with a 0.85 ERA. She threw 15 full complete games, including one that went to 9 innings, and she added five complete games shortened by mercy rule. Gray amassed 350 strikeouts in 165.1 innings last season, good for a K/7 of 14.8. Yes, you read that right. Gray struck out an average of five full innings per game on average. Her best performance came against New Albany, when she pitched a perfect game with 19 strikeouts. She threw three other complete game no hitters and three run-ruled no hitters. 

MaxPreps hasn't listed batting stats for Gray since her eighth grade year in 2018-19, so it is unlikely that she will be a two-way player for the Cards. In that way, she will not be a direct replacement for Taylor Roby. However, we've discussed frequently how much of a strain it puts on a player to be a star at both positions. Tons of the best teams in the country do it without having a star two-way player, so if Gray can continue her success at the collegiate level and Aprile can continue to recruit offense, Louisville may be on to something. We wish Brooke the best of luck in her upcoming senior year.

Will Holt Returns to Louisville

After a brief stint with Indiana, Will Holt has returned to his alma mater to stand by Justine Sowry's side on the bench at Trager. Hot returns as an assistant coach after having served as a student volunteer assistant from 2012-2015. Holt began coaching in 2010 in Europe and returned after graduating to continue his coaching and playing career. He also earned 146 caps with the USMNT from 2014-2017 and scored 85 goals in that time. Coach Sowry calls Holt "a tireless worker" and says he is "the perfect addition" to the staff. 

Cards Face Off in NWSL 

Gaby Vincent returned to Louisville yesterday as a part of the Washington Spirit when they took on the hometown Racing Louisville. After a hot start and a brief stint near the top of the table, Racing has cooled off quite a bit and last night's match was between the 9th and 10th placed teams in the league. The two played to a draw last night, with Louisville taking the lead shortly into the second half and Washington scoring the equalizer 10 minutes later. A draw is the same result the teams played to in June, though they scored a pair of goals each in that one rather than just one apiece. Ekic came on in the 90th minute of last night's match in an effort to provide a spark in the five minutes of stoppage time, but Racing was unable to find a go-ahead goal. Vincent was available as a substitute for the Spirit but did not make an appearance in the game. 

Embed from Getty Images

Cardinal Couple Radio Hour Podcast

We'll be without Daryl this week, but I'm finally back after my time away. We'll have plenty to talk about after taking last week off, so we'll do our best to bring you a great show. As always, you can check out the live stream of the show by going to the Cardinal Couple YouTube page and clicking on the live video. Jeff usually creates that about an hour before the show, which officially starts at 11 AM Eastern. If the live time doesn't work for you, there are plenty of playback options, so be sure to check out whichever is best for you!

Cardinal Couple YouTube: Link

Anchor (podcast host): Link

Apple Podcasts: Link

Google Podcasts: Link

Overcast (free account required): Link

Pocket Casts (free account and app required): Link

RadioPublic: Link

Spotify: Link

Until next time, Go Cards!

Case

Fall Sports Almost Here -- FRIDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

Gainin' On Ya

Happy Friday, Cards fans! I'm not Daryl- she took over Tuesday this week- and I don't think there's a way to match her energy and creativity. However, my excitement builds as we enter our final weekend before fall sports begin. Yes, you read that right- ONE WEEK!

Louisville women's soccer hosts Cincinnati in an exhibition next Friday night at Dr Mark and Cindy Lynn Stadium. Okay, so it isn't officially regular season, but just having some type of action is enough to get the early season jitters going.

Obviously, I'm most excited for any and every opportunity I get to take pictures at the various fall sports. With the retirement of Kenny Klein and the announcement of Nick Evans transitioning to the academics side of campus, a couple key connections with our SIDs have gone and left the rest of their crew scrambling to get everything in order for the 2022-2023 season.

Thankfully, we still have other connections to UofL women's sports like Lori Korte Harmon and Nancy Worley, both whom we believe will be able to assist us in getting back to various events. Paulie is scheduled to meet new WBB, WSOC and LAX SID Nick Paras early next week. There's also talk of a Fall Sports Media Day. 

There's plenty of indirect gameplay intricacies that I'm excited for too. Field hockey has a new turf. I saw the early stages of it this summer, but have been eagerly waiting to step foot on the turf to check it out. 

Before my media days, I was in the soccer supporters section where I met my good friends Jeremy and Toni Wilkerson and Jeremy's mom Kathy. Being loyal supporters of both Louisville women's and men's soccer, I'll have plenty of opportunities to see them again this fall.

Believe it or not, us "workers" here at Cardinal Couple don't actually see each other that often. UofL games is the main way we cross paths in person so I'm certainly excited to run into Paulie, Jeff, Case, Daryl, and Sonya in the coming months.

I don't interact with the coaches or players much in the offseason as Paulie does, so it'll be refreshing to see and catch up with many of them as the fall sports begin. Both Justine Sowry and Karen Ferguson-Dayes can be quite spirited in the early season as things get rolling and are more than happy to provide plenty of insight in postgame interviews.

At this point in my life, UofL sports has become an integral part of my life. As much as the summertime offseason can provide a break, I feel most whole and complete when sports are in action. I find a sense of renewed vigor around this time each year.

Hopefully your excitement for the 2022-2023 season is growing as rapidly as ours is here at Cardinal Couple. We are ready to bring you another great year of strong and accurate coverage and reporting of Louisville women's athletics, still the only site of its kind! Don't forget to tell all your friends!

Happy Friday and Go Cards!

Jared

Tennis Releases Fall Schedule -- ESPN Louisville ESPY's -- THURSDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

Tennis Releases Fall Schedule

Louisville women's tennis released their fall schedule this week. The Cards are set to start in about a month and half, but like past years, the true regular season and record won't be counted until the spring portion of the season begins.

Mark Beckham's squad will head up to Bloomington Sept. 22-24 for the Indiana Invitational Hoosier Classic. This is slated to be a hidden dual match format. Dual matches are often three pairs of doubles teams competing for a collective one point and six individuals competing for one point each.

A trip to West Virginia is next as the Cards will appear in the Martha Thorn Invitational Oct. 6-8.

The ITA Ohio Valley Regionals are next on the schedule Oct. 13-15. Tennessee has been selected as the host school for the event this year. Kentucky, Indiana, Purdue, Vanderbilt, Memphis, MTSU, and Dayton are also slated to appear at the event.

Louisville will close out its fall season at the end of October at the Jon Cade Invitational at Mississippi State.

The Cards will spend plenty of time away from the Bass Rudd Tennis Center this fall, but will certainly have plenty of events this spring.

ESPN Louisville ESPY's

ESPN Louisville held their version of the ESPY's, where they highlighted and feature athletes and sports of various levels here in the region.

The big award (for us, at least) was Female College Athlete of the Year. Rightfully so, Hailey Van Lith received the honor. The sophomore led the Cards in scoring at 14.4 ppg and was top four on the team in rebounds, assists, and steals. HVL also played a crucial role in the Cards' fourth Final Four appearance in program history. "Go f-ing win this sh*t, Hailey" will live on for a couple more years!

Another award to point out is the Kentuckiana Female High School Athlete of the Year- Brooke Gray of Ballard High School softball. Gray is a rising senior who helped lead the Bruins to a 39-0 record and a Kentucky State Championship from inside the circle. The lefty is still officially uncommitted so she is sure to be on the radar for Holly Aprile and Co.

In other news, we extend our sympathy to Paige Bueckers. The announcement yesterday indicated she  will miss the entire 2022-2023 season due to a torn ACL. We have seen more than our fair share of major injuries among dozens of Louisville athletes over the years.

( I wonder if Kentucky has a toll-free food poisoning phone number?) 

Also, thank you to Daryl for covering for me Tuesday. As if a cold and COVID-19 weren't enough to interrupt my July, food poisoning decided to help me kick off August. The unnamed restaurant where I contracted food poisoning then offered me a complimentary meal due to what happened. The irony of "Well it didn't kill him the first time so let's try again" is certainly worth a chuckle. I'm not 100% yet, but glad to be back!

Happy Thursday and Go Cards!

Jared

ACADEMIC HONORS FOR SOFTBALL AND WOMEN'S SOCCER -- WEDNESDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

 NFCA AND UNITED SOCCER COACHES TEAM ACADEMIC HONORS

There are times when we refer to and think of the student-athletes on campuses and forget about the "student" part. Even in these days of N.I.L. fueled promotions and corporate America flocking to climb on the association train of popular college athletes with their products, stores or corporations, let's remember this. You have to make the grades to be eligible and stay in college. This isn't "play for pay"...it's "make the grades to stay". 

Maybe that's why it's refreshing to hear about outstanding academic results for the programs. We feature two of the many awards in the UofL women's sports from 2021-22. Today, we'll look at softball and women's soccer as a couple of examples of "Excellence in academics". 

The NFCA Scholar Athlete Honors are awarded when a student-athlete achieves a 3.5 grade-point average for the year in their academic pursuits  Louisville Softball recently had 10 of their student-athletes honored with this national award. 

Sam Booe, Mia Forsythe, Carman Greenwood, Cassidy Greenwood, Maddi Grant, Easton Lotus, Taylor Roby, Korbe Otis, Jenna Servi and Kendall Smith are the Louisville honorees for 2021-22.Overall, the team posted a 3.415 for the 2021-22 academic year. Three Softball Cards were Dean's Scholars ( 4.0 for the year }.  And 19 softball student-athletes were at 3.0 or better. I like to kid that I had a 4.0 at UofL. I added the 2.0 I got in each semester, and, voila!... there it is. 

Louisville women's soccer was recognized as a College Team Academic Award recipient. This award recognizes those programs who finish the school year witha 3.0 of better GPA. The Women's Soccer Cards had a 3.606 cumulative award for the 2021-22 season. 

Obviously, combining the rigors of being a university athlete and the games, practices and strategy sessions take up a considerable amount of a student-athletes time. Combine that with academics and a bit of a social life, combined with community involvement and you can well understand why college is a time of learning and practicing time management. 

These two sports are just a couple of examples of how all the sports student-athletes spend their years on campus. It's a good preparation for the rest of life as well. Try to remember that... the next time you see a student-athlete make the clutch goal, pass, assist or stop.  

Also remember there are coaches who are helping the process along, as well as academic advisors, professors and teacher's aides. Ask Gabi Leon who helped her become an NCAA Champion. I'm betting the list of people is as long as the winning vault height she turned in at the Championships, and that the list is filled with plenty of people who never touched a pole vaut pole. . 

When you hear the phrase "it takes a team" -- remember the team can be widely variated and encompass all reaches of college life. 

Similar successes can be found in all the other women's sports programs on campus. UofL had brainy basketball players, great GPA golfers, top of the class tennis stars, fantastic Field Hockey student-athletes and the list goes on and on. No, we don't expect to hear a 10,000 fan chant of "Nice GPA !! Norika All The Way !!" later this year...but be proud of the time your Cardinals are devoting to academia...and athletics. 

paulie

SUPER SENIORS -- TUESDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

Good morning all!

Daryl stepping in for Jared this Tuesday.   He wasn't feeling great and I happen to be off this evening with a few thoughts on my mind from the day as I drove back home from UofL Golf Club from the 2022 Press Box Golf Scramble.  I mentioned on the show and here before that this is the event that got me into golf.  It was my 4th time in the event and I am glad to be still a part of it.  There were some familiar faces out there, but definitely not enough women actually playing.  Volleyball head coach Dani Busboom Kelly was out there! I think 4 women played total.   The event did include a slight rain delay, with about 10 minutes of solid downpour. 

Excellent drainage system at the course, however, and that green was clear in 5 minutes after the storm.  But it did make for some muddy walks as we were cart path only! 

SUMMER SPORTS THOUGHTS

For today's summer subject, I wanted to do a broad stroke shout-out to a senior from each squad that I think has established their leadership role for the upcoming seasons and could kick their respective teams into the next gear for the 2022/23 year. 

WSOC

Maisie Whitsett (San Diego, California) - With the most minutes played and game appearances/starts for UofL in the 2021 season, the 5-9 Midfielder/forward is about to begin her fifth season with the Cardinals.  She connected on 2 goals of her own last year and assisted in 2 others for 6 points, 5th on the team in offensive production. 

VBALL

Aiko Jones (Kingston, Jamaica) - The 6-2 opposite and second leading scorer returning will see her fourth season begin with the Cards in a couple weeks.  Jones will pick up where she left off in 2021 with some of the blocking responsibilities and leading the team with 39 aces. 

LAX

Nicole Perroni (Whitby, Ontario) - The midfielder will be the leading scorer to return for the Cards from the 2021 season.  She played in all 18 games with 17 starts and finished the season with 50 goals, seven assists, 57 points, 64 draw controls, 34 ground balls and 28 caused turnovers. 

WBB

Mykasa Robinson (Ashland, Kentucky) - The defensive specialist will be the glue to help hold the rest of the squad together in almost any situation.  Averaging 3 points and 3 rebounds in the 2021 season, its well-known Mykasa is not a stat-sheet filler.. but she gets the w's in the Win column for UofL.  

FH

Mattie Tabor (Louisville, Kentucky) - The 5-8 forward is tied for third on the team with six goals in 2021.  Five of her goals were game-winners, standing second in the ACC in that category.   

SOFTBALL

Taylor Roby (Mount Washington, Kentucky) - The team's homerun leader with 15 in the 2022 season announced her return to the diamond for the Cards using her fifth year option.   Roby is the leader in RBIs returning for the team and lead the work in the circle with a 15-11 win-loss record and handled most of the pitching duties for the Cards. 

Happy Birthday Dana Evans!

The Chicago guard, Gary, IN native is celebrating her 24th birthday on 8/1/2022

Have a great Tuesday!

~Daryl 

What Will Josie Williams Bring to Louisville WBB? -- MONDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

HEIGHT, INTERIOR SCORING AND REBOUNDING SHOULD IMPROVE WITH WILLIAMS ON CAMPUS

We found out at the end of June that the Cards WBB squad was adding a third center to their roster in the form of Utah Valley State senior transfer Josie Williams. Liz Dixon and Olivia Cochran aren't listed as centers but as forwards on the 2022-23 roster, maybe the style of basketball Walz employs doesn't call for a true center -- but for all you fans who have bemoaned over the years that Louisville needs "that one big player" -- Hopefully Liz Dixon and Olivia helped solved your dilemma and Josie will give the Cardinal coaching brain trust a threesome of post players. 

There's a lot to like about Williams. 6'5" being maybe the first thing (you can't teach height. Her senior year at Utah Valley State was impressive in the fact that she had 17.4 points per game and 12.4 rebounds. She shot 55.3% from the floor and 80.1% from the free throw line, too -- a number you love to see from a "big".  She had 24 double-doubles in the 2021-22 (and they weren't in assists and blocked shots). She's doesn't try the "three" very often, but the Cards have several on the squad that are not only three-point shooters...they're makers as well. 

A great quote from her Twitter timeline might add some insight to the person Josie is....

"No matter how talented, educated, funny or wealthy you think you are, how you treat people tells the real story of who you are, how you feel about yourself and what your future will be."     -- Hank Smith

Some of you may be thinking "Yeah, that's great against Abilene Christian, Lamar, Stephen F. Austin and Southern Utah...but can she put up numbers like that against North Carolina State, Georgia Tech, FSU, Duke and UNC? And, of course, the answer is (obviously) we'll have to wait and see. It does give Walz more options in going with two "bigs" at the same time (if you remember the experiments of playing Dixon and Cochran at the same time). Experience and depth in the front court are not a bad thing to have. 

I'll be quite interested in seeing how she (and Alexia Mobley) fit into the scheme of things with Cardinals women's basketball.

When you have seven players on a roster that are 6'2" or taller (Mobley, Cochran, Dixon, Williams, Imani Lester, Nyla Harris and Morgan Jones) you've created a rebounding nightmare for the vast majority of your opponents.  

So, I expect what you can expect out of Williams is her being an inside scorer, good rebounder and one that you'll hesitate fouling when she has the ball. We'll see if the pep band at WBB games learns how to play "Josie" (that great Steely Dan song from 1977). Forgot that classic or never heard it? Well, here ya go...LINK TO STEELY DAN'S JOSIE 

Hoops season is about three months away. Let's not rush it, though...we need to cheer on our fall sports squads first, readers, and we will give you great coverage on those. 

paulie

Anticipation - Sunday Cardinal Couple

Hints of Activity

There are indications on campus of sports gearing up for the beginning of the school year.

Of course, our favorite athletes and coaching staffs keep plenty busy throughout the summer, just in ways that we don't typically see as much.  But some visible signs of the times are starting to be seen.

WBB moves in to the new Denny Crum Hall

Rosters have been updated on the official GoCards site for all of the sports that I checked, with new head shots from recently completed photo days.  Athletes are moving in to their new housing.  And tomorrow, the calendar flips over to a new month where we can see official events.  The first of those events, a Women's Soccer exhibition game, is less than two weeks away, even!

I hope you're as excited as I am getting for fall sports to begin.  It won't be long, now.

Hines-Allen Shoe Auction

The Mystics have created an event where they are auctioning several pairs of custom sneakers, hand drawn by artist Sammy Handler around themes picked by the athlete that will be wearing the shoes.  The proceeds from the auctions will go to charities picked by the athlete.  Myisha Hines-Allen is one of the athletes participating and the theme of her shoes is animal adoption, with proceeds from her shoe auction will go to the Humane Rescue Alliance.

Myisha Hines-Allen and Ace

The shoes are custom Nike Air Force 1s and have depictions of the Washington D.C. skyline, Hines-Allen's number two jersey, the Mystics logo, and most adorably, her dog, Ace.

Beware, if you want to bid, that the current (at the time of writing) bids for all of the shoes are at least $800, with Ace helping to draw a current bid of $1,000.  Elena Della Donne's Pride and The Trevor Project themed shoes are approaching $2,000.

Myisha Hines-Allen's custom Nike Air Force 1s
featuring Ace

CCRHP Break

We took a week off from the Cardinal Couple Radio Hour Podcast this week as a confluence of scheduling events conspired against us.

We should be back next week with, (and if this doesn't drive home how close the fall seasons are getting, nothing will) an actual game preview for Women's Soccer in exhibition against Cincinnati.

- JMcA

More Awards News -- SATURDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

Fourteen Named to IWLCA Honor Roll

Louisville's lacrosse squad is full of student-athletes that excel in the classroom as well as on the field. After having four named to the All-ACC Academic team and putting the entire team on the Athletic Director's Honor Roll, the Cards had 14 players named to the IWLCA Honor Roll. The IWLCA honor is awarded to juniors, seniors, or graduate students who earned at least a 3.5 cumulative GPA. Louisville's awardees were Carolina and Sarah Blalock, Allegra Catalano, Magdalena Foster, Grace Jenny, Sydney Kirchenheiter, Rachel Lifson, Hannah Morris, Ashley Osborne, Kirsten Parker, Kirsten Pezzullo, Paige Richbourg, Abigail Roskovich, and Alexa Steffens. 

Louisville Live Wins NACMA Gold Medal

Louisville basketball's change in venue for Louisville Live this year turned out to be quite popular. The Horses & Hoops event drew a significant crowd to Churchill Downs, and, as it happens, drew the attention of those outside of the Derby City as well. The National Association of Collegiate Marketing Administrators gave their awards for the past year and Louisville's team grabbed the gold medal for Best Event Attendance Promotion. As someone that happened to be at Churchill Downs for a wedding and got to see the event get started, I have to say it looked like quite the spectacle. I think it was a much better setting for fans and hope they continue it in the future.

Cardinal Couple Radio Hour Podcast Break

With the stars aligning against us this week, we'll be taking the week off from the show. Paulie is out and about, Daryl is at Slugger Field, and I can barely string a coherent thought together for more than a couple of sentences at a time. We should be back on track next week.

Until next time, Go Cards!

Case