Sunday with Sonja

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SUNDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

**********From the scoreboard*********

- LOUISVILLE Volleyball defeats Cincy in straight sets 25-21, 25-13, 25-21.

- LOUISVILLE and USF tied 0-0 in women's soccer at end of regulation and two overtimes. USF wins 3rd overtime in a shootout 4-3. (More on these Monday...)

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-Field Hockey defeats Providence 2-1 to make BIG EAST Tournament

-Jenny's observations on WBB Scrimmage

-Russell to announce decision Tuesday

-Cards #9 in ESPN Preseason Poll

-Volleyball on ESPNU today


Cards come through in final regular-season game with win.

Knowing that the surest way to qualify for the upcoming BIG EAST Tournament was beating Providence, the University of Louisville Field Hockey team delivered...knocking off the Friars 2-1 yesterday at Providence.

The Cards (12-7, 3-3) clinched the #3 seed and will face #2 UConn Friday night in Trager Stadium at 7:30 p.m. Syracuse and Providence will match up in the first game Friday.

"We are just so proud of our team with the way we have applied ourselves in recent weeks. We knew what was on the line and we continued to stay focused on the process. We are absolutely thrilled that we have made it back to the BIG EAST Tournament and we are playing at home. To have this opportunity is fabulous and much deserved for this team." -- Justine Sowry, Louisville head coach.

The Cards opened the scoring with just 17 seconds left in the first half. Alyssa Voelmle got an unassisted score to give UofL the advantage after a half of solid defense by both teams.

Conrad comes through!

After the break, Providence tied the match seven minutes into the action. Louisville took the lead seven minutes later when the Cards capitalized on a Providence passing error near their net and Becca Maddock found Erin Scheidtmiller with a pass that Scheidtmiller converted into the final score of the game.

Erin Conrad stepped up in a huge way for the Cards with six saves. Providence outshot Louisville 11-9 in the contest.

Tickets for the BIG EAST Tournament are available through the UofL Athletic Office at 502-852-5151. Cost is $5 for adults, $3 for seniors/youth and college students get in free with a valid student ID.

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CARDINAL COUPLE staff columnist JENNY O'BRYAN attended the Saturday UofL men's scrimmage that featured the WBB squad opening the event with a mini-scrimmage. Here are her observations:

The women's team spent 10 minutes before the men's game scrimmaging/playing/practicing against their men's practice players. The women "won" 21-12.

All players played for a few minutes except Tia Gibbs, Asia Taylor and Cortnee Walton. Of the three, Tia hobbled on to the court and looked like she was in pain. Asia and Cortnee "presented" fine...although Asia looked like she was dog tired.

Coach talked for most of the time with P.A. announcer Sean Moth while the team was playing.

Megan Deines came down the court and nailed a three-pointer for the first shot of the scrimmage. She took a second shot a few minutes from beyond the arc and drained it also. She looked quick and agile. Coach Walz joked that those were the first two shots that she had made in a month.

The next three-point Cardinal specialist?

Sara Hammond looked lean and more toned than last year. She had a confidence about her that I did not always see last year. She looked solid and I expect her to have a break out season. Walz stated that she has been putting in a lot of work in the off-season and is looking great.

Shawnta Dyer looked good and showed a lot of strength in the paint.

Mo Reid was only in for a few minutes but was very impressive. Nice score in the paint and great rebounding. I have so missed watching Mo play. Walz stated that Mo is still recovering from her knee surgery and will play the minutes she can play. He expects her to be at full speed by conference play.

- Jenny O'Bryan

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Thanks for the great recap of the Cards 10 minutes, Jenny! In other WBB news, highly sought-after and #1 ranked in the 2013 Class recruit Mercedes Russell was in attendance and her high school coach announced that she will announce her decision Tuesday afternoon at a press conference at her high school. 2:30 p.m. Pacific time.
The date and time were apparently set before her visit to Louisville this weekend.  

Louisville also has a media day planned at the KFC YUM! Center that day. Coach Walz is scheduled to talk to the media at noon and players will be made available at 12:30. This raises some speculation. Will Walz fly to Oregon for Mercedes' announcement and should we read anything into whether he is at the scheduled media address at the YUM! or not? Has the 6'5" center already decided? Will it be a last-minute decision? 
Are we over-thinking things here?

Big things developing for Tuesday. And, the Cards open the season Wednesday with an exhibition game against Eckerd College. Free admission for all at the KFC YUM! Center.

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ESPN has released their 2013 Women's College Basketball Rankings and Polls for Week 1 and the Cards are positioned at #9. They received 657 points. Baylor heads the poll and got 1000 points.

Other BIG EAST schools in the top 25 are Connecticut at #2, Notre Dame at #5, St. John's at #14 and DePaul at #25.

Kentucky is #6 and Tennessee #20. Link below.

ESPN WBB Rankings - Week 1

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See Lola jump, see Lola swing, see Lola kill...

Just a reminder that you can catch Louisville Volleyball today on ESPNU against Cincinnati. First serve is at 1 p.m.

Have a great Sunday everybody and GO CARDS in the BIG EAST SOCCER Tournament against USF today!
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