Sunday, September 30, 2012

Sunday Cardinal Couple - Field Hockey falls to #1 Syracuse

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SUNDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

-Field Hockey defeated by Syracuse

-Shine advances in womens' tennis

-Sunday schedule

-Your favorite Cardinal womens' athlete?

Undefeated Syracuse shuts out Cardinals

The University of Louisville field hockey squad suffered a defeat against #1 Syracuse yesterday...dropping to 7-4 on the season. The #25 Cards, now 1-1 in Big East play, failed to score on a Syracuse squad allowing less than one goal per game.

Syracuse goes to 10-0 with the shutout. They scored their first goal six minutes into the contest and added another with two minutes left in the first half to take a 2-0 lead to the dressing room.

Erin Conrad with eight saves at goalkeeper against a Syracuse team that has won 33 straight at home.

A short turn-around for Justine Sowry's team...they travel to Albany today for a match against the #23 Great Danes.

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Rebecca Shine advances in Riviera ITA

Louisville womens' tennis star Rebecca Shine advances to the sweet sixteen with a win in the Rivieria/ITA Women's All-American Championships in Palisades Park, CA.

Shine defeated Mia Vriens of Florida State 6-2, 6-4 to get her second win of the tournament.

She and Julia Fellerhoff teamed up in the doubles bracket of the event but were knocked out by Florida State 9-7. Fellerhoff lost in the singles competition 6-7, 6-3, 6-4 to USC.

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Sunday Schedule for Cardinal womens' contests

Women's Soccer @ USF  1 p.m.
Volleyball @ Pitt 1 p.m.
Field Hockey @ Albany 1 p.m.
Softball vs Murray State. 2 p.m. (Ulmer Stadium)

Good luck to all Cardinal athletes today!

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CARDINAL COUPLE presents pick your favorite player

We're proudly announcing our PICK YOUR FAVORITE CARDINAL WOMENS SPORTS ATHLETE CONTEST! We've selected a "sweet sixteen" of student-athletes for you to choose from and you can vote for your favorite over on the infamous left side of the site under the Poll section.

We've got to do something to keep Timmy the Intern busy. His prank phone calls to UofL coaches and ponzi schemes are getting a bit out of hand.

Here are your first round matchups:

Gwen Rucker  vs.  Nikki Boltja
Erin Bennett   vs.  Michelle Molodynia
Katie Keller    vs.  Rebecca Shine
Krissie Brandenburg  vs.  Shoni Schimmel
Caralisa Connell  vs.  Christine Exeter
Lola Arslanbekova  vs.  Patrice Gates
Chloe Kiefer  vs.  Erin Conrad
Monique Reid  vs.  Emily Haas

We'll provide you with a brief profile of each athlete as they appear in the poll. Your first contest features Volleyball middle blocker Gwen Rucker pitted against Lacrosse's leading scorer Nikki Boltja.

Rucker, a senior from Lexington, KY. came to Louisville as a two-sport star (basketball and volleyball) before deciding to concentrate on volleyball after her sophomore year. She's the net-stuffer for the Volleyball squad and has been a valuable asset for Anne Kordes' squad this year.

Boltja, a junior from Medina, OH. jumped into the starting line last season as a mid-fielder and led the Cards with 53 goals in 15 games. She was an All-Region pick and will be counted on this spring to head up the offensive attack for the Lacrosse squad.

BE ADVISED THAT WE'RE ONLY GOING TO LEAVE THESE DUELS UP FOR A COUPLE OF DAYS BEFORE MOVING ON TO THE NEXT MATCH...SO MAKE SURE AND GET YOUR VOTE IN EARLY!!!

WE see this as a way to have a little friendly site-competition and as a chance to give you a little information on the movers and shakers in UofL women's sports. Will their be major upsets? You have the power...organize your friends, family and strangers on the street to get your favorite player to the title!  

Good luck to all participants and let the games begin!
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Saturday, September 29, 2012

Saturday Cardinal Couple --Volleyball, Softball register wins

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SATURDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

-Volleyball downs USF 3-1 in Tampa

-Softball sweeps doubleheader

-Soccer falls on road to Marquette

Lola's 26 kills power Volleyball to win over USF

The University of Louisville Volleyball team improved to 13-2 with a hard-fought 20-25, 25-18, 25-21, 25-23 win over the University of South Florida yesterday evening in Tampa. Lola Arslanbekova led the way with 26 kills in the Cardinal victory and outside hitter Tanya Lukyanenko added a career high 14 slams in the 3-1 defeat of USF.

Louisville fell behind early in the first contest 12-7 and could not rally to catch the Bulls...dropping the first game of the match by five. Were the Cards a little nervous and unsure of themselves on the road against a quality opponent? 

If they were, their fears and insecurities soon dissipated...UofL gaining a 10-9 lead on USF in the second game, stretching it out to 22-18 and winning going away by seven. 

After the break, Louisville grabbed an early lead in game three and led 15-10 midway through the contest. USF rallied for five straight points though and made this one interesting until the Cards responded with four straight scores to go up 19-15 and hold that advantage for a four-point third game victory.

In the final game, the Cards led most of the way...with advantages of 13-9 and 20-17 before the Bulls tied the battle at 23-23. A Lukyanenko kill and USF error provided the final points UofL needed to take the game and match.

Softball takes two with wins over Bellarmine and EKU

Sandy Pearsall's softball squad got the fall pre-season off to a huge start by blasting Bellarmine 10-0 at Ulmer Stadium and squeaking out a close 1-0 victory over EKU in the nightcap.

A seven hit, six run  second inning proved to be all Louisville needed to down the Knights. Caralisa Connell pitched three innings to get the win and Rachel Le Coq fired the final three to preserve the shutout.

The nightcap was a pitchers duel until the bottom of the seventh. Maggie Ruckenbrod reached on a single for the Cards and pinch-runner Chrisanna Roberts scored on Whitney Arion's double an out later to give Louisville the victory. Connell got the win with four strong innings and Le Coq pitched the first three of shutout ball for Louisville.

Soccer falls 2-0 to Marquette in Milwaukee

Lack of offensive production spelled defeat for Karen Ferguson-Dayes soccer tribe yesterday in BIG EAST action.

Louisville surrendered two late second half goals in the loss to the Golden Eagles. The Cards fall to 7-3-1 overall and 2-2-1 in conference play.

Chloe Kiefer recorded eight saves in the loss. The Cards travel to Tampa on Sunday to face the USF Bulls.
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Friday, September 28, 2012

Weekend sports

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FRIDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

-Volleyball travels to USF

-Field Hockey headed to Syracuse

-Soccer to face Marquette

-Softball with Fall Tournament at Ulmer

Three UofL women's sports squads hit the highway this weekend in BIG EAST competition. Pack up the GPS, look for available parking and don't text while driving...here we go.

*****#17 ranked VolleyCards face raging Bulls*****

A tough Friday evening match for Anne Kordes' crew in Tampa awaits against the USF Bulls...who have won seven of their last eight outings. South Florida (9-6, 1-1) has five players with 100+ kills on the season and will throw a very balanced attack against Lola and the other net defenders. After the Notre Dame loss in the the YUM! it's gut-check time for this talented but sometimes inconsistent Louisville Volleyball squad. The environment should be lively and raucous for the 7 p.m. match and hopefully the Cards will be focused and ready to do battle.

It's a change of venue after the Friday match. The Cards will head north to Pittsburgh for a Sunday, 1 p.m. game against the Panthers (10-6, 1-1).

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*****#1 Syracuse awaits Field Hockey team*****

At 9-0, the Syracuse Orange are the #1 team in womens' college field hockey. They'll host the #25 ranked Cards Saturday @ noon on the Syracuse campus. They'll make it tough on the Cards...goalkeeper Leann Stiver allows a scant 0.60 scores per contest and has recorded five shutouts this year. Louisville has lost the last three times against the Orange...all by one goal and the last two went to overtime. Time to notch a "W", Justine...

After the contest, the Cards return to action at Albany, NY against the Great Danes (no, I'm not kidding) of the University of Albany. They're currently
ranked #24 in the nation...so the Cards have their work cut out for them by facing two top 25 teams in a 24 hour time frame.

Crush the Orange and cage the dogs, Cards!

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***** Women's soccer goes to Marquette*****

In a near reversal of what Volleyball is doing, the UofL women's soccer team goes north first to Milwaukee on Friday and then to Florida on Sunday. First up for Charlyn Corral and crew are the Golden Eagles of Marquette. The #19 Hoyas (7-2-1, 3-0-0) have won their last two with shutouts against Seton Hall and Rutgers. Louisville will look to continue the scoring frenzy they exhibited last weekend when the knocked off St. John's 6-0 in Cardinal Park. The 8 p.m. match against Marquette will test the Cards against a close RPI ranked squad....Marquette is 40th. in the NCAA RPI and Louisville 42nd.

After Marquette, Louisville and USF will play Sunday in Tampa.

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***Softball hosts Fall Tournament this weekend***

Not all the UofL women's sports teams are vacating the Belknap Campus this weekend.

Sandy Pearsall's sluggers are hosting a pre-season tournament and Bellarmine, Eastern Kentucky and Murray State are the guests. Admission is free and the schedule of tomorrow's events is below:

FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 29
5 p.m. - Louisville vs. Bellarmine
7 p.m. - Bellarmine vs. Eastern KY.
9 p.m. - Louisville vs. Eastern KY

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Thursday, September 27, 2012

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THURSDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

-Smith's solid start spells success for Cards.

(WE bring you another in a series of the 2012-13 Louisville women's basketball players. Today, we finish up the sophomore class with guard Bria Smith.)

Bria Smith joined the 2011-12 Cardinal women's basketball team as one of the most heralded recruits to wear the Red & Black. A four year starter at Christ the King High School in Massapequa, NY., Smith was the #8 ranked player in the nation by ESPN HoopGurlz and had been selected to play in the McDonald's All-American game.

Originally headed to Virginia, a coaching change made her reconsider the decision and enroll in Louisville instead. It was a lucky day for Cardinal WBB fans when she made the switch.

Smith secured a starting position at guard alongside Shoni Schimmel when Tia Gibbs went down with a season ending injury and never relinquished the spot. Fans were thrilled early on with her tough-as-nails drives to the hoops and inside scoring abilities. She also provided steady defensive skills and demonstrated she was a better-than average interior passer as well. The original plan was probably to have Smith play in tandem with Gibbs and learn from the talented off-guard. Thrown into the fire without baptism most likely helped Smith grow and prosper faster than she might have otherwise.

Second on the squad last year in assists and steals, Smith showed she has the skills and talent to compete with the best the BIG EAST had to offer night after night. As she looks ahead to her sophomore year, she knows there are several areas where she needs to improve upon her game to have an even better season this year. Coach Walz would probably like to see Bria develop an outside shot as productive and deadly as Shoni's. He'd also like to see her cut back on turnovers and lead the fastbreak transitition game more effectively....although she did sparkle at it at times last season. 

With Tia Gibbs scheduled to return to action this fall, it'll be interesting to see just where, when and how Coach Walz uses the 5'10" Smith this season.

One thing we know for sure, her competitive never-say-die nature has made her a Cardinal womens' basketball fan favorite and we'll "see-ya Bria" on the court.

THE SMITH PROFILE

2011-12  GAMES PLAYED  Shooting %  Steals  Assists  Pts.  Avg

             33 (33 started)      .396          63        69      305   9.7

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Wednesday, September 26, 2012

Weekend schedules for women's athletics



(Cardinal Couple staff columnist Jenny O' Bryan brings us the Wednesday edition of CARDINAL COUPLE with a weekend update on wherre and when the various UofL women's sports teams will be participating. Looks like a great weekend for softball and Sandy Pearsall's sluggers are coming off a great season. See ya at Ulmer!) 


It is a quiet week for women’s athletics.  No scores to report. 

Of particular interest this upcoming weekend is the first of two weekends of Fall Ball for the Softball team.   Coming off of the best record in school history, 55-5, the team will take to the filed for two games Friday, against Bellarmine at 5:00p.m. and again at 9:00 p.m. against Eastern Kentucky.  (Bellarmine and Eastern Kentucky will play each other at 7:00 p.m.).   You can find them again on the field Sunday at 2:00 p.m. against Murray State. 

One final weekend of play will be Saturday, October 6 when the team will play a double header against Bellarmine and Tennessee State, respectively. 

The team returns 7 starters and 12 letter winners from last season’s Big East Champions.   It is a short window of opportunity to get a sneak peak of the team we will see again next spring.  Find your way down to Ulmer Stadium this weekend and support your SoftballCards. 
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You can find the Cross Country team at the Greater Louisville Classic at E.P. Tom Sawyer Park on Saturday at 9:30:a.m.

Swimming and Diving opens the season this weekend at Ralph Wright Natatorium on Friday at 3:00 p.m. with an Intersquad Meet. 

All other teams are on the road:
Field Hockey hits the road to face Syracuse and Albany Saturday and Sunday this weekend.

Soccer is on the road on Friday and Sunday to face Marquette and USF.

Volleyball looks to return to their winning ways away from home while facing USF on Friday and Pittsburgh on Sunday. 

Safe travels to the teams on the road, and to all the athletes competing this weekend, Card Hard!

(Due to techincal problems, we are currently unable to add pictures to our writers' columns. The writers' can still do this, but we can't go in after the fact and add photos to their columns. Most of you will probably be happy about this. Sometimes life is so unfair...)
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Tuesday, September 25, 2012

Today laundry features mixed loads needing special attention!

TUESDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

Staff columnist Sandy Walker offers a downpour of valuable information on this rainy Tuesday in Louisville. Grab the raincoat, umbrella and skip the sandals today! 


Tournaments, tournaments and more tournaments – All here on U of L campus facilities.   Recruits, tournament tickets, kitties, L – Club Brick problems and more history.

BASKETBALL
Last week before full practices!!!!
See Tournament Championship ticket information below.
·         Calendar reminder for the women’s basketball tip-off luncheon.  Mark Tuesday October 23, 2012 beginning at noon and held at the KFC YUM! Center. 

Jeff Walz will be the featured speaker.  Check for details at http://www.uoflsports.com/sports/w-baskbl/spec-rel/091312aaa.html .


Emmonnie Henderson

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On campus visits still in process.   Emmonnie Henderson





Mercedes Russell (@MerSladezz)



Mercedes Russell

 are scheduled for campus visits of October 26 with additional home visits by our coaches to be scheduled.

·        
Linnae Harper (@OhH_NaeNae) appears to be a favorite of Mercedes Russell as she indicated as a choice of who she would like to play with.


Linnae Harper




 


Saniya Chong

·  Saniya Chong reportedly is still interested in Louisville. 

       



  • 
    Brianna Ruiz
       Despite a summer knee injury, 5’ 10” Del Oro senior guard Brianna Ruiz
  • is still heavily recruited and is reported to have 20 scholarship offers.  Louisville is to have visited September 20.

·         Imani Wright keeps appearing in multiple web forum rumors and discussions.
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CHAMPIONSHIPS
Due to the work of the Tom Jurich and the University we are fortunate to have the facilities and the personnel to attract the attention of the NCAA and their decision to bring multiple post season games/matches to Louisville.   I know it may seem a bit early but time has a way of sneaking up on us so get your calendars out and set these times and dates to print.
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CROSS COUNTRY
We are fortunate to have the NCAA Cross Country Championships being held at Louisville’s Tom Sawyer State Park on November 17, 2012.  Tickets are available at the park upon arrival and collected as you park.  Entry fee is $10.00 per person.
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VOLLEYBALL
On December 13 and 15 Louisville will host the NCAA Women’s Volleyball Championship.  The events will be held at the best volleyball facilities in the nation, our KFC YUM! Center.  Tickets can be purchased through the NCAA.com website. All-session tickets are $62, and special rates are available for groups and teams wishing to attend.  You can also buy tickets for the event through the Louisville Athletic Ticket Office by calling (502) 852-5151.
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FIELD HOCKEY
The Big East Field Hockey Championship is being held at Trager Stadium on November 2 & 4.  Tickets are available for each days individual sessions at $5.00 for Adults, Seniors and Youths both get in for $3.00 for each session and college students gain entry for free with a valid student ID.
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BASKETBALL
The First and Second Rounds of the NCAA Women’s Basketball Tournament is being held at the KFC YUM! Center on Sunday March 24 and Tuesday March 26.  Other regional game locations will be held either on these dates or on Saturday March 23 and Monday March 25 so you will be able to see other action between the 64 tournament teams.

Tickets are available through the NCAA at NCAA.org, Ticketmaster, the Louisville Athletic Ticket Office at ticketoffice@louisville.eduat or by calling 502-852-5151.   The Ticket Master link opens http://www.ticketmaster.com/event/16004933F2388E3F where then clicking “On sale dates and times” on the right opens a drop down where Season Ticket holders can purchase tickets beginning today, September 25,  and general public ticket purchases begin October 1, 2012.  Tickets are on a first come, first serve basis so let’s make it our mission to show the country the support Louisville has for women’s basketball by filling the arena.  Bring your friends and make it a party.

U of L’s invite to the tournament dance will allow them to not only play their first round game but if successful on the 24th, they will also play their second round game at their KFC YUM! Center home arena.  All-session tickets are $32 or $18 for youth, seniors or college students.
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KITTIES
We still have 4 baby kitties who need help in their upbringing so that as adult Cats they can eventually be the best citizens possible. They cannot help being genetically programmed as baby kitties instead of baby birdies.  Please help me find good U of L foster homes for these orphan babies who have already been to the vet for their healthy baby checkups.  It would be a terrible thing to contribute to the addition of the undomesticated/feral wildcat population.




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Prayers to Deceased Athlete's Family & Friends
By Chad Twaro, Southeast Missouri Sports Information

"CAPE GIRARDEAU, Mo. – On Thursday afternoon, senior Meg Herndon from the Southeast Missouri soccer team passed away at Barnes-Jewish Hospital in St. Louis, Mo.

Herndon suffered severe injuries in an automobile accident on Sept. 9 and had been hospitalized since.
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Herndon played 55 matches in her four years with the Redhawks and started 39 times. She helped lead the Redhawks to an Ohio Valley Conference championship in 2011, starting all 19 matches on defense during that season.

A standout in the classroom as well, Herndon held a 3.83 grade point average as a nursing major. She earned a spot on the OVC Commisioner's Honor Roll three times and was a three-time Southeast Scholar-Athlete."


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L FUND WALL OF HONOR LIMITED TO MEN?

I recently became aware that the L-Club has begun a fund raising campaign which involves the purchasing a $150 brick on the “Letter Winners Wall of Honor”.  The letter-winners wall will be located at the corner of Floyd and Warnock streets with the funds raised will be used to provide scholarships for student athletes.

All of the plans sounds great until and unless you were a female letter winner as the sport name and each row can contain up to 16 letters


"Please fill out the information above.
Each line can be a maximum of "16 characters"


Men's Basketball = 16 letters

Women's Basketball = 18 letters which is > what is allowed.
  

While I absolutely want this project to move forward and be successful, changes need to and can occur.   An additional look at the brick calls for the years of play to be located on the last of 3 available lines.  Perhaps instead of

Name
Sport
Years of Play

The choices could be:
Name
Years with Space then Men’s or Womens
Sport Name such as Basketball

It can be made to work as it would be sad to have a Letter Winner Wall across from facilities which include women athletes with no former women athletes names on the wall.  Contact can be made to the Cardinal Athletics, L-Club at 2100 S. Floyd St., Louisville, KY 40292.


Atlanta Dream with Angel McCaughtry to Play Indiana
in First Round of the WNBA Playoffs

The first game will be played on September 28 at the Indiana Fever’s home court.  It can be watched at 7:00 on ESPN2.
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HOW IT WAS – ANOTHER BLAST FROM THE PAST
The women’s basketball team was to play in a tournament in Lexington on the UK campus.  We were privileged to be provided 2, Get this, 2 University of Louisville owned cars to make the trip.  I am serious when using the word privileged as it was really a big deal.  As normal, time was tight and by the time we and our jammed in luggage arrived in Lexington with very little time so our coach needed to participate in a coaches meeting on campus while we needed to get to our hotel rooms, change into our uniforms and return to the campus for our game.

All was well as we dropped off the coach –- notice no assistants existed – and headed into town to our hotel where 4 players were booked per room.  We circled and circled the streets of Lexington without being able to find the hotel name we were given.  One by one, at red lights, a player would leave the first car, ask a person on the street for information, tell the players in the first car then hop into the second car to share the new directions.   As you might figure, eventually the only person left in the first car was the driver with the remaining players literally crammed into the 2nd car – that is all except me who had actually been successful in learning that the hotel had changed its name and was only a short distance away.  Unfortunately, the light had changed and the cars had left me behind in a pre-cell phone era with no wallet, change, ID or familiarity with the town. 

I made it to the hotel lobby by walking with a helpful downtown shopper while the cars continued to circle for a while longer.  We did make it to the game on time, barely, while making most of our uniform changes in the cars on the way to the arena as there was no time to check into the rooms.  

I am sure that I lost some of the humor in the translation but at the time it was just two car loads of inexperienced college travelers turned loose on the city of Lexington and a story being told 3 decades later.

Sandy W.
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Monday, September 24, 2012

Monday pinch hitting

 

Monday Substitute - Wins for Field Hockey and Soccer

Word is that Paul and Sonja are back, but are cleaning up after the block party we threw Friday night...either that or Paul is fighting some computer troubles, I'm not sure.  Either way, let me see if I can help out a little bit and post an update on Sunday events.

(Editor note...a laptop crash and no PC has us at the mercy of the public library for the next couple of days. We're not sure exactly what happened but Co-Co covering it in banana pudding and trying to feed it to Bill the Gaot probably didn't help any.)

Field Hockey wins convincingly at Kent State

Kent State struck first, early, on a penalty corner, but it was all Cards after that.  The Golden Flashes and the Cards got their first penalty corners, and goals, at 3 minutes and 5 minutes respectively, but that would be the only time Kent State produced.  The Cards picked up another score just before halftime and took the 2-1 lead into the break.

After halftime, the Cards picked up two goals within about a minute and still didn't look back from the 4-1 lead.  Chalking up another point 6 minutes later, and then sneaking one in with less than a minute left in play.

The Field Hockey team next travels to #2 ranked Syracuse on Saturday, and #21 Albany on Sunday.

Soccer puts a hurting on St. John's

It was a high scoring affair for the women's soccer team when they faced St. John's here at Cardinal Park.  The soccer team hasn't scored 6 or more points in a game in eight years.  They get style points for holding St. John's scoreless in the process.

The scoring was fairly evenly spread out in the first half, with goals coming in the 8th, 30th, and 42nd minutes, taking a 3-0 lead into the break.

The Cards scored a bit more rapid fire in the second half...finding the back of the net in the 52nd, 59th, and 61st minutes to finish out the 6-0 win over the Red Storm.

Next up, the soccer teams racks up some frequent flyer miles with a road trip to #21 Marquette Friday night at 8pm, then heading south to USF for a 1p.m. start on Sunday.

Volleyball suffers a setback

Notre Dame came into the KFC Yum! Center with an 8-5 record, but 4 of those 5 losses were to ranked teams.  This is never a team you want to take for granted.

The Cards got off to a good start, with mistake free hitting, great digging, and more than a few service errors from Notre Dame. 

Taking the first set 25-16, they got it done with commendable .350 hitting.

Some cracks started showing in the second set where the Cardinals hitting eased off to .256, but still managed to take the set 25-22.

After the break, the Irish got the defensive game on the right track, with great digging, and some good blocking at the net.  A game of runs, Notre Dame claimed it in the end at 20-25.

Louisville started to look a bit ragged in the 4th set, but lots of scrambling and out-of-system play kept the score pretty close.  The Cards reached match point, but Notre Dame didn't give up and scored 5 straight points to snatch the set victory away at 24-26.

The score pretty much tells the tale for the 5th set.  Notre Dame controlled it from start to finish, taking the game, and match, with a 3-15 score.

One piece of good news is that this match saw Gwen Rucker's return to the court with some limited playing time.  With four kills, and two miscues on nine attempts, and three shared blocks it was a good effort, and I'm sure everyone is glad she's feeling better.

Other commendable play came from Brooke "Stomp" Mattingly who tallied up 12 kills, with only three errors on 28 attempts, for a respectable .321 hitting percentage.  She also got credits for two digs, and a share of four blocks.

Lastly, Caitlin Welch topped her career dig effort with 35.  Records like this may be a bit bitter-sweet since they almost always come from five set matches, and the team would much prefer to bring home a win in three or four sets, but nonetheless, "C-Dub" continues to play very well in the libero role and should be recognized for the crucial role she plays for the team.

Volleyball is also getting their share of frequent flyer miles as well with their own Friday/Sunday road trip to South Florida and Pittsburgh.
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Sunday, September 23, 2012

Sunday funday! Where will you find your fun at today?


Today brings more opportunities to watch some women’s athletics on the court or on the field. 

First up for the day is Field Hockey.   They opened play against Big East competition on Friday night and came away with the win outscoring Georgetown 4-2. 
The Hoyas scored early, and twice.  With a little more than 10 minutes into the game the Hoyas led the Cardinals 2-0.  Before halftime the Cardinals had it all knotted up at 2-2.  Cardinals came out in the second half and held the Hoyas scoreless while adding two of their own.  Cards win, 4-2.  The team heads to Kent State University whom they will face at a 12:00 p.m. start time.  Good luck and safe travels Field Hockey. 

The Women’s Soccer team played Friday night at home against Syracuse.  The game ended in a tie, after going to double overtime.  Sounds like Coach Karen Fergusen-Days was none to pleased with her dribblers on the field after the Friday night effort.   Coach is quoted as saying “ I am really disappointed in our effort in the first half of play….and am at loss for words. “  Coach goes on to state that the team was lucky to get out of the game with a tie.    The Soccer Cards have had a day to regroup and will face St. John’s Red Storm today at 1:00p.m. at Cardinal Park.   It should be a spectacular day in the ‘Ville today, so get outside and get down to Cardinal Park to support women’s soccer. 

Finally, the VolleyCards play again today after a sweep of the DePaul Blue Demons on Friday night.  Check out our very own Jeff’s write up of that affair, which started as a dance party and ended with a clean sweep, on yesterday’s edition at the Couple. 
Today brings a new opportunity for the team to continue their winning ways while facing the Notre Dame Fightin’ Irish at the YUM Center at 2:00 p.m.  While Notre Dame’s record does not look as good as the Cards, don’t be fooled.  The Irish have played a brutal schedule thus far and have lost to very tough competition so far this season.  I look for this to be a great game to be in attendance for.   If you enjoy volleyball more than the beautiful fall outdoors, make your way to the YUM Center for a good match up. 

Following the volleyball match the VolleyCards will hold a free coaching clinic for young players K-8.   Participants will learn some basic skills and compete in drills alongside Coach Anne Kordes and the team.  If interested, fill out the attached waiver and turn it in to volleyball representatives prior to the start of the clinic. 

As always, it is a great day to be a Cardinal Fan.  Find your favorite sport and get out and support our student-athletes!


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With the first day of fall officially in the books, I cannot help but know that basketball is just around the corner!  The cool breeze, the smell of bonfires and the crinkling of leaves under foot are synonymous with basketball (and football) season for me, which cannot come quick enough for this basketball enthusiast. 

While I patiently wait for the start of the season the coaching staff is very, very busy with recruiting.  As we have all read here over the last few weeks, 2013 prospective student athletes have been making official visits to their short lists of schools. 

 Still to come is the visit of the highly touted and # 1 basketball player in the nation Mercedes Russell.  Russell will be joined that weekend by another powerful post player, and highly sought after, Emmonnie Henderson.  They will visit Oct. 26-28.  Both will also visit, together, Tennessee the weekend prior.    While I have not seen anything in print regarding Henderson’s timeline for making a decision, Russell has stated she will make her decision and college choice 2-3 days after her Louisville visit. 

While preparing for what will likely be the last official visitors before the season starts the coaching staff has fanned out across the country making in home visits to the 2013 recruits.  In between visits to recruits homes the staff has also started getting out to watch practices and kids in the class of 2014. 

This is a very busy time for the coaching staff and the program in general.  It won’t be long before we start hearing the decisions of these recruits.  Hang on Cardinal fans this is an exciting time for the direction of this program!    Safe travels to our coaches out on the road.  We thank you for your hard work and look forward to seeing the fruits of your labor as the current team hits the hardwood for practice and a clear picture begins to develop on the future talent and who we will be donning the Cardinal Red.  
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That’s a wrap for this Sunday edition at the Couple.  Look for Paul and Sonja to return on Monday with what is bound to include some very interesting stories as well as results of all your favorite Cardinal teams.