A Busy Sunday - Sunday Cardinal Couple

Volleyball

 

Greetings from northern Kentucky where the VolleyCards are in the midst of the fourth year of a four team home, home, home, and home, setup with South Dakota, Missouri, and Northern Kentucky.

In this final year, it's the Norse's turn to host.  The Cards lost their first set of the four year set of matches on Friday, but made South Dakota pay for it in the fourth set.

Yesterday, Louisville returned to form with a sweep of Missouri, though that conclusion was not foregone.  The Cards took the sets 25-20, 25-21, 25-18.

In the first set, the teams mostly traded points before the Cards started pulling ahead later in the set for the 25-20 win.

 

The second set, however, saw UofL digging a bit of a deficit, being down by 15-9 about midway through.  Subjectively, the team just wasn't playing clean crisp ball, particularly struggling in serve receive.  Later in the set, they started getting cleaner serve receptions and turned the score back to their favor eventually getting the win.

The third set again was a back and forth affair at the beginning, but the late set play ended up being a set of runs as the Cards pulled ahead on an 8-3 stretch.  Missouri responded with a small run, and after a sideline chat called by DBK, the Cards finished out the set in solid fashion.

I mentioned the serve receive struggles above, and subjectively I do feel like this is the biggest weakness of the team at the moment.  With the team playing the 6-2 offense, which some of us have started to call a 6-3 in honor of Elena Scott's bonus setting presence on the court, the coaching staff has to conserve their substitutions to make sure they don't run out (15 are allowed per set).  That means we're seeing fewer defensive specialists, such as Kamden Schrand, Jessica Drapp, Molly Urban, and Sam Untied, subbing in for hitters as they rotate to the back row.

The coaching staff did bring Kamden Schrand in to replace Anna DeBeer in the back row late in one of the sets, which helped some with serve receive.

The Cards will be back in action at Regent's Hall on the campus of NKU today at 2pm.  Streaming is available only on ESPN+.

The match against NKU really shouldn't be terribly competitive, and let's hope that statement doesn't come back to bite me.  The Norse can be a scrappy team, but ultimately they're not generally playing at the level we are.

Another Personal Note

The volleyball team bussed out to the home of Kamden Schrand's father and step-mother.  They hosted, with support of Kamden's mother and step-father, and Jessica Drapps parents, the team, and other family members in northern KY for the weekend for a meal and socializing.  You may have seen a picture of the team on social media yesterday evening gathering around a lighted "Go Cards" sign.  That was taken on the Schrand's backyard basketball/pickleball court.

They very graciously extended an invitation to me as well, so I got to enjoy about as perfect of weather as you could possibly ask for hanging out with the team, coaching staff, and various player's families.  That included the whole crowd gathering around one of the TV's in the Schrand's basement to watch the ending of the volleyball match where the ACC's Miami Hurricanes upset top-ranked (but not for long) Texas.  A good time was had by all, and I am truly appreciative of the inclusion by the Schrand's and others.

Also In Action Today

Field Hockey

Field Hockey is back in the friendly confines of Trager Stadium and will be hosting Penn at 1:30pm.

Sowry's squad is off to a little bit of a rough start, after the loss Friday to Princeton, and on top of the double-overtime loss to Maryland last week, they find themselves at 1-2.  It's still very early in the season, of course, but this Field Hocke.y program doesn't often find itself with a below .500 record, so they've got some work to do.

Streaming is on ACC Network Extra, so if you're on DirecTV, you'll need to make some alternate arrangements if you want to see this one.  Of course, it's going to be a beautiful day, so if you're in the Louisville area, the alternate arrangements could be going out to Trager to enjoy it in person.

Golf

Golf is competing in the Bettie Lou Evans Invitational in Lexington, hosted by UK.  No video coverage for this seems to be available.

Soccer

Soccer will finish off the weekend, also on Floyd Street, hosting Dayton at 7pm in Lynn Stadium on campus.

Again, video coverage on ACC Network Extra, like Field Hockey, those alternate arrangements could be going to the game in person as it is similarly free to attend.

Cardinal Couple Radio Hour Podcast

The CCRHP crew is all over the place this weekend, and I stupidly forgot to grab my headset on the way out of the door to boot, so no CCRHP this week.

We should be back at it next week.

What would have been my final thoughts:  If you're not paying attention to the overall volleyball scene, beyond just the matches that UofL is playing in, you should check it out.  It is absolute chaos at the top of the rankings.  Of course, early season rankings are always a bit fluid, but nearly every top team has taken at least one big upset.  Our upset loss to Penn State (4 vs 7) looks downright tame by comparison.  Texas is sitting at 2-2, Wisconsin started out 0-3 (and the two wins they've accumulated since then were fierce five set battles), Nebraska lost to new ACC entrant SMU.  About the only teams who have escaped unscathed so far have been Stanford and Pitt.  Neither have faced the strongest schedule so far, though they both have a win over what are nominally considered pretty good teams.  It's pretty likely that one of them will be the number one ranked team when the new poll is released tomorrow afternoon.  Chaos reigns.

-- 

JMcA

Volleyball and FH Split Results -- SATURDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

Volleyball Bounces Back with 3-1 Win 

After a less than stellar performance earlier in the week, Louisville volleyball recovered yesterday afternoon with a 3-1 win over South Dakota. The Cards hit .412 for the match, a stark improvement over the 0.091 they posted Tuesday night against Penn State. Louisville bookended this match with a .579 in the first game and a .632 in the fourth. They had no errors in that last game, absolutely smoking the Coyotes 25-6. 

Louisville got off to a quick start, winning the first game 25-14 and the second 25-17. The Cards led wire-to-wire in both, although a 6-1 run in the first gave the Coyotes a chance at 12-10 and 4-0 run in the second made it 13-11. In both cases, Louisville turned on the jets and left South Dakota behind. The .579 first game was overpowering when compared to SD's 0.043. The second game was Louisville's lowest hitting of the match at .281, but it was still more than enough compared to the 0.074 on the other side of the tape. 

The third game, like all the others, saw Louisville out hit South Dakota. The Cards hit .313, but they had their highest number of errors at six. They also committed three of their nine service errors and gave up two of four aces to South Dakota in the game. To their credit, the Coyotes had their best hitting game at .290, but Louisville still led at 12-7 and 17-15, and they were able to tie it at 23 before a kill and an ace by SD prevented the sweep. 

As I already told you, Louisville came back from the lost game in a big way. The Cards won the first seven points. After a service error gave them the ball back at 8-1, they won the next seven points as well. The only place the Cards weren't absolutely feeling it in the fourth game was the service line. Three of South Dakota's six points came on service errors. That said, Louisville did have three aces in the game to even it out. The Cards only had four of their 14 blocks in the fourth, but those contributed to a -0.136 hitting percentage for the Coyotes in that game. Louisville finished with 12 kills and no errors. 

Funny numbers atop the hitting percentages for Louisville yesterday. Elle Glock led the team with a 1.000 by going 1-1. Elena Scott was tied for third as she picked up a .500 by going 1-2. Officially leading the way among hitters was Charitie Luper, who hit a monster .611 with 12 kills and one error on 18 attempts. Hannah Sherman hit .500 on 14 attempts , Reese Robins hit .462 on 13, Sofia Maldonado Diaz hit .429 on 14, and Anna DeBeer hit .391 on 23 attempts. All in all, a pretty good afternoon.

It was blocking by committee, with just five of Louisville's 14 blocks coming as solo. PK and Sherman each had a pair, and DeBeer picked up the fifth. PK had three block assists as well, but Sherman stole the show there by getting in on six. Robins assisted on four blocks. DeBeer was hot and cold at the serving line, leading the team in aces (4) and errors (3). You don't need me to tell you who led the team in digs, but I will anyway: Scott had 14 while DeBeer finished with 5. 

After a match in which she was effectively benched, this was a great rebound outing from Anna DeBeer, despite some of the negatives. We'll look for her to continue to get back to her dominant full rotation as the season goes on, but it will also be good for her to recognize the incredible team around her. She's capable of carrying the load, but she doesn't need to put it all on her own shoulders.

Interestingly, Cara Cresse wasn't in the lineup this match. We'll see if she returns today when the Cards take on Missouri at 2PM. As NKU are the hosts, the match will be carried on ESPN+. 

Field Hockey Drops Home Opener

Louisville's often prominent offense continues to hide behind the scenes against quality competition as the field hockey squad fell to 1-2 on the early season with a 1-0 loss to #15 Princeton yesterday afternoon. Previously scheduled for 4PM, the game was moved up to a 1PM start to avoid impending storms. They managed to miss the weather, but the Cards may have needed a bit more of a wake-up call with the earlier start (which was officially 1:30). 

An Aimee scored the only goal of the match. Unfortunately for Louisville, her last name wasn't Plumb. Princeton's Aimee Jungfer scored with just under a minute remaining in the third quarter to ultimately set the final score. Louisville's Aimee Plumb had three of the Cards' eight shots, but none were on frame. Louisville finished with just one shot on frame, despite five penalty corners. Princeton also took five corners and put six of eleven shots on target. 

There isn't much to say about this one. The Cards didn't have much for the Tigers. In fact, after the goal, Louisville's offensive production actually decreased. They had no penalty corners in the fourth quarter and only managed one shot in that time. Meanwhile, Princeton had no plans to park the bus. They took five shots in the fourth quarter, putting three on target, and they took two of their penalty corners in the fourth. 

After three matches, Louisville has scored only four goals, and three of those came in one match. It's not the offensive output we're used to seeing, and we'll hope for more in the matches to come. A positive to take away from this one may be that Princeton was potentially underrated. The Tigers were ranked fifteenth, but yesterday's match was their season opener. Perhaps they're better than others expected. Perhaps Louisville isn't quite as good as some people hoped. It's probably somewhere in the middle. 

The Cards will look to get back on track Sunday when they take on Penn at 1:30PM on ACC Network Extra. It should be a beautiful day, so head on down to Trager to show your support if you're so inclined. 

No Cardinal Couple Radio Hour Podcast

With the hosts scattered to the wind this week, we'll have to take the day off. Jeff probably didn't want to recount the Penn State debacle anyway, but I wouldn't have minded eating a bit of crow about soccer's early season returns. The show should return next week, but you'll still be without me. Stay tuned for a final determination later in the week. 

Until next time, Go Cards!

Case

WSOC 2-0 win over UT Martin -- FH Schedule Change -- and VB Gameday -- FRIDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

FRIDAYS WITH DARYL

Dear readers, Happy Friday and thanks for coming back for another recap of the joy and excitement of UofL Women’s athletics. Fall sports are in full swing and we’ve got a boatload to cover so lets jump right in.


WSOC

UofL   2  -    UT Martin   0

Photos: Jared Anderson

Louisville remains unbeaten with the win on Thursday night to move to 5-0-2 on the season (hehe.. shoutout 502!)  It was a nice night for some women's soccer over at Lynn Stadium.  Jared made it out there to cover the action.  

About 20 minutes into the match, the Cardinals had 5 shots, none really on goal but the offense did spend a good amount of time on the attack.   The Skyhawks struggled to find any momentum offensively and finished the night with a single shot attempt.

As the clock wound down in the first half, the Cardinals' Gianna Angelillo found the back of the net to score just before the break and put the Cards up 1-0 in the 44th minute.  It was her first goal of the season 

Not much longer after action returned to the pitch in the second half did the Cardinals put another goal on the board/ Karsyn Cherry connected in the 48th minute.  It was Cherry's 5th goal of the season, a team best.  

Erynn Floyd was in the net for the majority of the contest, more than 63 minutes on the night.  Kailey Kimball spent the rest of the 26 minutes in the net but neither had much work to do back there.   

UP NEXT

Dayton comes to town for a Sunday night match at 7pm and can be viewed on the ACC Network Extra.  

Volleyball

The Cards are back in action Friday at 3pm on ESPN+

South Dakota is 2-0 on the season, sweeping their two opponents Fordham and AirForce. As a team, the Coyotes are hitting .302% with 17 Kills per set and allowing opponents a .140 hitting percentage and 10 kills a set. They’re also averaging about 14 service errors per match and defensively, 18 digs per set.

The Cardinals are coming off a significant loss midweek vs Penn St and looking to bounce back with a no doubt victory.  

Field Hockey

The match between Cards and the Tigers moved up into the afternoon

Friday at 1pm. North Carolina and Penn moved to 11 a.m at Trager....all because of the threat of inclement weather. 

The Cards are 1-1 after beating American University this past weekend 3-1.

About Princeton

15 returnees from last year’s team, seven freshmen, one returnee from the 2022 team (who happened to play in the Summer Olympics this year). 

Beth Yeager was a first-team All-American and the Ivy League’s Offensive Player of the Year in each of her first two seasons before taking the 2023-24 academic year off from Princeton to compete with the United States national team in Olympic qualifying and then the Olympic Games, where she started every game for the USA. Yeager enters her junior year with 29 goals and 15 assists in 33 career games.

As Always, 
Go Cards!

~Daryl 

Soccer Welcomes UT Martin -- THURSDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

Cards Play Second Straight at Home

Louisville women's soccer remains at home tonight with a match against UT Martin. The Cards and Skyhawks are scheduled for a 7:30pm ET kickoff time and will be aired on ACCNX, streaming only.

In their most recent outing, Louisville defeated Evansville 3-0 to improve to 4-0-2. UofL has scored 17 goals in their first six matches and have won all matches where they scored two or more goals. Louisville ranks near the top in the country in several categories including goal differential, total goals scored, total assists, and goals per match.

Senior Brooke Dardano leads the country with six assists, many of those coming off a set pieces followed by a Karsyn Cherry finish. Cherry and Mackenzie Geigle each have scored four goals.

UT Martin enters the match 1-2-2. They recently lost to Murray State 6-1. The Skyhawks have been outscored 9-4 including being shut out in their first two regulation matches. Outside of their match against Murray State, UT Martin has not allowed more than one goal per outing. Four players have scored a goal for the Skyhawks and two players have split time in goal.

Louisville leads the all-time series 2-1, but have not played since 2000. In that match, Karen Ferguson-Dayes earned her first win as head coach of the Cards.

Cardinal Couple plans to have representation at the match.

Happy Thursday and Go Cards!

Jared

PENN STATE BLANKS LOUSVILLE VOLLEYBALL -- WEDNESDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

 LIONS DEVOUR CARDS IN STRAIGHT SETS 

Maybe we can put this one in the "I did not expect that to happen" category. It certainly was a surprise to Cardinals fans, and the squad...as Louisville Volleyball visited Penn State last night and left with a defeat -- in straight set -- in women's college volleyball last nght. 25-15, 25-19, 25-13 was the final set results, in what appears to be not just a defeat, but a rout. A top ten showdown and the Cards got shot down. 

The first set was fairly close early. The Cards and Nittany Lions were tied at 6-6 and Louisville was still fairly close after a Charite Luper point to make it 13-10 P.S.U. Then, the wheels fell off. Penn State went on a 6-1 run to grab a 19-11 lead. PSU's Quinn Nerger's three straight serving successes had Louisville on the ropes. The Cards would not get any closer than eight the rest of the set. 

In set two,  Louisville did grab an early 4-2 lead, after a Penn State servcie error, but the home squad rallied from a 7-4 deficit to tie the conrest at 7-7. The Cards made a contest of the second set for a good while, the score was16-16 at one point, but four straight Penn State points made it 20-16. That turned into a 24-19 lead and the Cards got handed their second loss when Izzy Starck had a set-ending kill, the Nittany Lions freshman setter that was playing like a fifth year veteran..

Louisville (now 2-1) ran into a Penn State squad that wanted to make a statement in the third set...and they did.  Louisville was able to stay close early, but at 9-8, the Nittany Lions (3-0) roared and all of a sudden, it was 12-8 and Louisville needed a timeout. 

The Cards simply got worse the longer the set went. 14-10 became 18-12 and Lousville looked like a defeated squad. Or, as one Cardinals fan put it.."Penn State played out of their minds and we played like crap."  

Louisville went into  the match ranked as the #4 team in the AVCA poll, Penn State...(now 3-0) was listed as the #7 squad by AVCA.  It looked like the reverse (or worse)  Tuesday nght. The Louisville team that romped Tennessee simply did not play well up north. Just when you thought Pitt was the pnly team to worry about in Pennsylvana...guess who showed up on the floor?  A hungry bunch of lions. 

Louisville heads to northern Kentucky for a weekend of matches starting with South Dakota Friday in a tournament hosted by Northern Kentucky University.

paulie

Volleyball Visits Penn State -- TUESDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

Volley Cards Hit Road for Top 10 Match-Up

In a quick turnaround, #6 Louisville volleyball hits the road to take on #7 Penn State. The Cards are fresh off a sweep over #15 Tennessee. Prior to that, Louisville took down #3 Wisconsin 3-1.

Penn State is also off to a 2-0 start to the year. They opened up the season with a 3-1 win at Tennessee and followed it up by sweeping Temple. Tonight's match will be the home opener for the Nittany Lions.

In 2023, Penn State went 23-9 including a third place finish in the Big Ten. They fell to Wisconsin in the Sweet Sixteen but posted a 13-2 record at home.

Outside hitters Jess Mruzik and Camryn Hannah have been the top two attackers with 24 kills and 22 kills, respectively. They both have a +.400 attack percentage. Setter Izzy Starck has 69 assists. Back row defense has been by committee so far with Ava Falduto (18 digs), Izzy Starck (17 digs), and Gillian Grimes (16 digs).

Louisville is 2-7 all-time against Penn State with the most recent match being a 3-0 win in the Cards' favor last season. All other meetings came between 1982-2013.

Tonight's match is scheduled for 7:00 pm and will be aired on Big Ten Network (BTN). 

Happy Tuesday and Go Cards!

Jared

Cards Field Hockey, Volleyball, Women's Soccer get Sunday wins -- MONDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

 CARDS SWEEP SUNDAY IN WOMEN'S SPORTS

A good day for Louisville women's sports as the Cards Field Hockey, Volleyball and Women's Soccer all got wins on Sunday. Here's how it happened...

FIELD HOCKEY

The Cards Field Hockey squad was in Washington, DC to face American University and Rylie Wollerton tallied two goals in a Louisville Sunday afternoon 3-1 win over the Eagles. 

The Cards actually started this one trailing, when American got a goal with 5:34 remaining in the first quarter off their first penalty corner attempt of the season. The lead did not last long, though...as UofL roared back with a score a minute later when they drew a penalty corner, Izzy Bianco's shot was stopped by the AU goalkeeper, but Sophia Parker was there to rebound  the miss and stick it in the net. The score was Parker's second of the season. 

The two squads battled to a scoreless second quarter, each getting a shot on goal. The respective goalkeepers got stops on the attempts. 

Louisville took the lead for good with seven minutes gone in the third quarter. Rylie Wollerton collected a loose ball off a defender's stick and sent it into the net. The quarter ended with the Cards holding a 2-1 lead. 

UofL added an insurance score in the fourth quarter.  They drew a penalty corner with about ten minutes remaining in the contest and Izzy Bianco sent a shot to the right side of the goal, Wollerton reached out her stick and deflected the ball into the net. It was now 3-1..and the teams remained scoreless the rest of the contest. 

VOLLEYBALL

Next, we travel from Washington to downtown Louisville.

The VolleyCards...#6 (for now) in the nation brought in #15 Tennessee for a Sunday afternoon match downtown at the YUM! arena and a nice sized crowd was in atendance to see UofL take a three-game sweep over the Volunteers.  25-14, 25-22 and 25-20 were the scores in the sweep.

Louisville hit an impressive ,371 in the match and had seven aces and 45 kills... to go to 2-0 on the season. They got a huge effort from Sofia Maldonano-Diaz with 11 kills and Reese Robins hit .727 for the match and added eight kills, Anna DeBeer finished with nine kills for the Cards. 

The Vols could only muster .151 hitting from the hardwood and drop to 0-2 on the season. 

Louisville men's basketball coach Pat Kelsey took the first serve yesterday

(We were expecting Jared Anderson photos for VB and WSOC, but had not received them at the time of publication, We will add them when they arrive).

Note from Jared: the photos were added to the Cardinal Couple Dropbox late last night after several hours of editing from volleyball and women's soccer back-to-back.

WOMEN'S SOCCER

Finally, we end up Sunday evening at the south end of the Belknap campus 

Louisville women's soccer was in the familiar venue of Dr. Mark and Cindy Lynn Stadium Sunday night for a match against the Evansville Purple Aces. The kickin' Cards booted their way to a 3-0 win. 

It was a scoreless match for the first 10 minutes or so, before UofL got their first goal...Karsyn Cherry set up MacKenzie Geigle and she did the honors in scoring the match's first goal. With 8:03 remaining in the first half, Louisville struck again, this time it was Cherry with her fourth goal of the season, aided by an assist from Brooke Dardano. The first half ended with the Cards holding the 2-0 edge and a 12-0 shots advantage over the visitors. 

Louisville recorded their final tally when Geigle picked up her second score of the game on a feed from Gianna Angelilio thirteen minutes into the second half.

The Cards go to 4-0-2 on the season and have matched the number of wins they had in 2023. Due to post-game technical issues in the press box and with StatBroadcast, we did not conduct a post-game interview with coach KFD or a player, Not sure who Case and Jared would have chosen, I would have suggested Geigle, but...oh well, there will be other chances to do these later in the season.  

 . 

Paulie

The Cardinals Fall Trio - Sunday Cardinal Couple

The Cardinals Fall Trio

No, we're not going for dinner at Olive Garden, but if anyone is treating, I'm a "yes."  Instead we're talking about the trio of fall sports that we most closely follow here on Cardinal Couple; Soccer, Field Hockey, and Volleyball.

All three are in action today, but only one playing on Floyd Street.

 

Soccer

Let's start on Floyd Street, being the notional home of UofL Athletics.

Soccer continues their non-conference slate by welcoming in the Evansville Purple Aces.  I do have to admit that "The Purple Aces" is one of my favorite mascots across the country, as it's delightfully out of the norm.

The Cards non-conference schedule is somewhat weak overall, and Evansville doesn't do much to dispel that idea.  So far on the season they have a scoreless draw against Lipscomb, a loss to Western Kentucky (1-4), and a win over Lindenwood (2-1).

The Cards will get sufficient strength of schedule in conference play, but need to rack up some wins, and avoid losses in the non-conference section of the schedule.  So far they're doing fairly well at that with no losses and only a single draw.  Let's hope they can get into the win column again this evening.

Game time is at 7pm at the Lynn Stadium on Floyd Street.  If you can't make it out, the stream is available on ACC Network Extra.

 

Volleyball

 

Volleyball is playing a home match today, but it's not at L&N FCU Arena on Floyd Street.  Indeed, today is one of the seven matches that the Cards will be playing at the KFC Yum! Center downtown.  One of those, of course, occurred Tuesday against Wisconsin.  Three more will be played downtown before the Cards return to L&N FCU Arena to start conference play.

Today's opponent is 15th ranked Tennessee.  And the Vols are certainly getting their season started with a bang.  In addition to their match with us today (and, remember we're ranked 6th in AVCA pre-season), their previous match was against 7th ranked Penn State.  Credit to the Vols for not taking it easy in non-conference play.

Tennessee may be thankful for the tougher pre-season as the SEC is looking a little shaky overall in volleyball.  Most SEC teams won this weekend, (and then there's LSU) but many were very close battles against teams that really shouldn't have been.

Of course, it's still extremely early in season, so let's avoid drawing too many conclusions so early (but, really, LSU lost to Troy?).

 

First serve against Tennessee is at 4pm, and if you just got the news that you're coming back to Louisville, but aren't here yet (Congratulations Curtis!), you can catch it on ESPN2.

Field Hockey

And for the only true road game for the day, Field Hockey hung out in the DC Metro area after their bout with Maryland on Friday, and will play American on their home turf in northwestern Washington D.C.

Field Hockey got a later start on their season this year than they typically do, they usually kick it off alongside, and even sometimes slightly earlier than, women's soccer, but they were a week or two behind this year.

What that means is we're also extremely early in the season for Field Hockey as well, too early to be drawing too many conclusions about various teams, where we would normally start to have some idea of how things will shake out by this point.

American, like pretty much everyone in the league, only has a single completed game to look at, and that was an 0-1 loss in the second minute of the second overtime period against VCU.

The Cards will be looking to get into the win column after a similar loss to Maryland on Friday.

Being the host, American's streaming coverage determines the availability, and they're on ESPN+.  The game gets underway at 1pm.

Cardinal Couple Radio Hour Podcast

And, finally, three of us didn't go to the football game yesterday, so we were able to being you the weekly CCRHP.  Of course, we were happy to be able to recap competitions from all three of the above sports, and just about every possible competition outcome, a win, a loss, and a draw.

Check it out!

https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/cardinal-couple/episodes/Across-the-Board-for-Louisville-Sports-e2nrfbu

-- 

JMcA

Field Hockey Drops Opener -- SATURDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

Cards Fall in Double OT at Maryland

Louisville headed up to College Park this weekend where they will play a pair of games. They'll take on American University tomorrow afternoon, but the weekend started with a top-10 matchup against the hosts, 4th-ranked Maryland. The Cards gave it a good run, scoring first and standing strong against a stout Maryland attack, but they ultimately gave up a game-winner with just over a minute remaining in the final overtime period. 

Louisville's goal came from Sophia Parker, which gives the redshirt sophomore her first collegiate goal. Although they don't officially get the credit for a penalty corner conversion, I'm going to say it counts. Chloe Plumb sent the corner to Mia Duchars, who forced a save by the Maryland goalie, Alyssa Klebasko. Klebasko wasn't able to block it very far out of play, and Parker was on hand to score the rebound attempt. 

The Cards' celebrations were short lived. After taking the lead at the 24:27 mark, they gave it up just under a minute later. Maryland earned a corner at 25:15, but they were not able to get a clean shot as a direct result. Louisville couldn't force the offense away, though, and the goal came at the 25:25 mark. That set the stage for a continued tense match, as the two teams would ultimately play just 58 seconds of the 78:42 match not tied. 

Louisville's offense stalled after the first half. Though they put three shots on target in the second quarter, those would be their only three threats of the game. The Cards were unable to find a shot in any of the other three quarters, managed just one off target in the first overtime, and were shut down again in the second OT. Defensively, Louisville was under immense pressure. Maryland had three shots in each of the first three quarters, two in the fourth, and one apiece in the OT periods. Eight of their thirteen shots were on goal, meaning grad transfer Brandelynn Heinbaugh was called on plenty in her first start for Louisville. Heinbaugh finished with six saves, a fantastic effort, but she needed more help from the offense to earn the victory. 

The starting lineup for Louisville was quite different than in their season-ending loss to Northwestern last year. Primarily driven by graduations, the Cards saw just four of their eleven starters from Northwestern game start this game against Maryland. Lauren Masters started in that game but came off the bench yesterday. Subs that moved into the starting line up were the Chloes, Plumb and Cuzzupe, and the only repeat substitute was Tyler Everslage.

While a season-opening loss is unfortunate, let's not forget that it was against a top-5 opponent on the road. Louisville will have many difficult games this season, and this is a good one to get them energized for those big games moving forward. We'll look for a bounce back against American tomorrow at 1PM.

Cardinal Couple Radio Hour Podcast

There will be just three of us today, as Daryl and Jared are both out for various reasons (not least because of a noon kickoff for football). With sports underway, though, we'll have plenty to talk about on the show. We'll talk a huge volleyball win, a fine road draw for women's soccer, and yesterday's tough field hockey loss. 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

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Overcast (free account required): Link

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RadioPublic: Link

Until next time, Go Cards!

Case

WSOC draw at Cincinnati -- FRIDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

FRIDAYS WITH DARYL

Good morning readers and welcome to Labor Day weekend!!  Looking forward to the fall September days and football returning to Floyd Street.  Which also means we are 4 months from wedding day, folks.   Yay!! But also, holy crap!  

Women's Soccer

Final Score
UofL 1, UC 1

The Cardinals move to 3-0-2 on the season.   

The Cardinals headed north for a border rivalry with the Cincinnati Bearcats.   The good news is they did not lose this match.  They walked away with another draw after giving up the tying goal to the opponent.   Both goals came in the second half... a header from Karsyn Cherry and one from a deflected ball netted by the Bearcat's Rylee Felton.  Erynn Floyd was in the net for the Cardinals and she had 2 saves.  

Yellow cards were issued for Lizzie Sexton and Betsy Huckaby and UC's Felton for sticking a foot out here and there.   

Cincinnati's Flower had a nice shot with 3 min left but it was right at Floyd and she made the focused catch.

UofL tried to put a play together in the final few minutes but couldn't find themselves in the right positions to receive the ball and make any sort of attempt at the net.

 UP NEXT

The Cardinals welcome Evansville to Lynn Stadium Sunday September 1st for a 7pm tilt.  

Field Hockey

#7 field hockey team will hit the road to open its 2024 season when the Cardinals travel to College Park, Md., for a top-10 matchup with #4Maryland Friday at 6 p.m.  Louisville will then head to Washington D.C. to take on defending Patriot League champion American University Sunday at 1 p.m.

As Always,

Go Cards

~Daryl