Cards field hockey rocks Radford 7-1

Monday Cardinal Couple covers:

- #12 Field Hockey rolls at home

-Women's soccer loses on the road

-Rowing competes in Lemonhead Regatta

-The Hammond question

A busy Sunday for women's sports at UofL. Let's get to the action and results...

Nicole Youman continued with the hot stick...scoring three goals and adding two assists at Trager Stadium against Radford. The Flock (7-1) used a big second half to defeat the Highlanders (6-1) by six in front of a nice crowd on the Belknap campus.

Radford hit the scoreboard first when Lara Canker popped back a blocked shot by Cards goalie Erin Conrad less than two minutes into the contest. Louisville countered near the 30 minute mark when Youman set up Simone Attles for a score on Jennifer Wisniewski. The score remained tied for the rest of the first session.

Louisville struck early and often in the final stanza. Youman got the scoring started with a penetrate and shot at the 1:24 mark to put the Cards ahead for good. A couple of minutes later, Youman added her second goal...recovering her blocked shot on Wisniewski and finding the net for a 3-1 Cardinal advantage. Youman picked up her second assist minutes later, finding Haley Jurich on the right side...who planted one deep in the net to make it 4-1.

The Cards continued the scoring fiesta when reserve Heather Stevens drove thru the circle and slapped one in for a 5-1 advantage. Youman picked up her third score less than a minute later, guiding the ball in at the 50:16 mark to put the Cards up by five. Freshman Elizabeth Vance recovered a missed Karah Nall attempt and closed out the scoring for the game.

Louisville out shot the Highlander 21-4 and returns to action at #8 Syracuse...who defeated Rutgers yesterday...Saturday, September 25th.

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Soccer lost their first game of the year in Champaign, Illnois...falling to the Illini 3-0. The Cards (7-1) were guilty of 11 whistles in the contest and #21 Illinois outshot Louisville 8-2 on shots on goal.

#16 Louisville hung tough most of the first half but surrendered the only tally of the half when Taylor Vancil just missed blocking a Megan Pawloski kick to the right corner.

Illinois (7-1-1) increased the margin in the final half thanks to a Julie Ewing feed to a wide open Shayla Mutz who took it past Conrad for a 2-0 lead. The Cards surrendered the final goal of the game late in the contest to Marissa Holden's boot past Conrad.

Karen Ferguson-Dayes brings the Cards back home for a Friday match against DePaul. Game time is set for 4 p.m. at Cardinal Park.

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Cardinal Rowing opened the fall season in Bloomington in the Lemonhead Regata on Lake Lemon. (Wonder what color the water was?) The Cards fared well in the dual meet, gathering a win and a tie against the Hoosiers.

In the first race, the Cardinal "A" team defeated the IU "A" crew by three seconds over the three mile course. This one was for crews of four. IU's "B" squad nipped the Cardinal "B" bunch for third.

The Cards and Hoosiers "A" squads battled to a tie in the second event each hitting the line in 17:04 over the distance for crews of eight. Louisville's "B" squad finished third.

Louisville hosts the Red and Black Day next...at the Cardinal Boathouse off River Road on Saturday, October 16th.

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To answer the many e-mails we've gotten about Kentucky girls' basketball star Sara Hammond and her college choice...we can tell you that she's made no decision between UofL and UConn the last time we heard...around 8 a.m. Monday morning...but it's rumored she could announce as early as tomorrow.

We'll keep you posted on any breaking news we hear. Keep those fingers crossed.