Lacrosse clobbers Canisius 13-3, Softball outslugs Minnesota

SUNDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

- Early offense, dominating defense corrals Canisius 13-3 

-Softball with 21 hits in 16-8 trouncing of the Gophers

It was a "Golden" day for two Louisville women's sports teams. Lacrosse handled the Golden Griffins by ten and softball blasted the Golden Gophers by eight. Maybe they all went to Golden Corral after the wins...

Al Greener and the pep band were on hand.

A spectacular start for Louiville Lacrosse Sunday afternoon at the Lacrosse Stadium, jumping out to a 5-0 lead in the first 12 1/2 minutes of the first half and shutting down the Golden Griffins to just three goals in a 13-3 opening-day win in front of 300 fans who braved the 40 degree temperature.

After a nicely done rendition of the National Anthem by UofL red-shirt sophomore midfielder Amy Poteet, the teams got busy and the Cards were doing the majority of the work.

Kay Morissette with an impressive start to her career, the freshman scoring four unassisted goals. Louisville goalie Ashley Herbst collecting seven saves and the Cardinal defense limiting Canisius to just 10 shots on goal.

Freshman Erika Eipp scored first for the Cards with only two minutes gone from the clock and another freshman Cortnee Daly followed with the second UofL score with 23:48 left in the first half. Junior Nikki Boltja made it 3-0 Cards just 24 seconds later on a free position shot and the Cards leading scorer from last season took advantage of another penalty shot at 20:42 to put Kellie Young's squad ahead 4-0.

The Cards got a Morissette unassisted goal three minutes later and it wasn't until the 14:47 mark that Canisius hit the scoreboard for the first time. The UofL defense was styming the Golden Griffins attack and the offense was maintainin long stretches of possession.

Faye Brust collected another Cardinal goal near the net and Morissette tallied her second score of the first half as the clock ticked down to 13:02.

The Cards tenacious defense continued to turn the Griffins away and Katie Oliverio registered her first goal of the season with 7:29. When Boltja got her second net-finder of the game...Louisville led 9-1 with 5:33 remaining in the half. Morissette completed the first half hat trick with her third score 15 seconds before half and Louisville took a 10-1 lead into the YUM! Center locker room.

Six Cardinals had scored for Coach Young and Louisville had forced Canisuis into 12 turnovers, while just committing seven themselves. Louisville held a 17-10 shot advantage and Herbst and the defense allowed only five shots on goal.

Canisius switched goalies to start the second half but it didn't appear to be a wise move at first...because
Louisville got off to a speedy start when Oliverio scored on a fast break just 23 seconds into action. Two Canisius goals followed over the next seven minutes, but the Cards defense tightened up and did not allow another Golden Griffith score over the final 22:28.

Morissette notched her fourth score on an unassisted drive at the 15:59 mark to make it 12-3 and Colleen O'Malley closed out the game's scoring on a free position shot three minutes later for the final 13-3 score.

Louisville attempted 32 shots in scoring their 13 goals and held Canisius to 3 for 18 shooting. Morissette led Louisville with four goals on seven attempts, Boltja was three for nine and Oliverio two for three. Eipp, O'Malley, Brust and Daly all had one score each for the Cards.

Six of the 13 Cardinal goals came from the freshman class.

CARDINAL COUPLE (Paulie and Jeff McAdams) caught up with Coach Young after the contest and got these exclusive observations:

On the play of the freshmen:

"They really are a big impact and change for our program, coming in with their talent and what we call LAX IQ. They're fast, they've got great sticks and they're elevating the players around them.

On the defensive effort:

"It was multi-faceted. We stopped them 7-on-7, we stopped them when we were a player down (from penalties). We stopped them in three different sets that we run. They were very consistent in what they did. From top to bottom, I was very happy with our defensive play."

On Nikki Boltja:

"As I just said to her team-mates, we don't want to call out any one player but we go to Nikki a lot because she is literally out here every day. The reason she takes over a game is because she has done the work. She gets her bag of balls, she takes her shots and with as many saves that the Canisius goalies had today (14) you can bet Nikki will be back out here tomorrow taking twice as many shots. She's a fighter. She just wants to put the ball in the back of the net for her team-mates and they follow her lead."

And a battle well-fought today by Boltja and her teammates. Louisville Lacrosse returns to action Saturday with Ohio State visiting the stadium.

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Louisville softball finished their Vegas stay in booming fashion Sunday afternoon, out-slugging Minnesota 16-8.
The Cards had 21 hits and four home runs. Katie Keller went 3-4 with seven RBI's and two round-trippers and Taner Fowler 3-5 with four RBI's and a fence-clearer.

The Cards scored once in the top of the first when Whitney Arion singled home Alicja Wolny. The Cards narrowly missed a second run when Fowler was thrown out at the plate attempting to score.

Minnesota touched Cardinal starting pitcher Rachel LeCoq for four first-inning runs, the big blow a 2 run homer with two outs.

Louisville came back with the bats in the top of the second. A Katelyn Mann single, Maggie Ruckenbrod double and Jasmine Smisthson-Willett walk loaded the bases with no outs. A walk and fly out scored two runs and the Cards were within one. Taner Fowler followed with her first home run of the season... a three run blast to make it 6-4 Cards 

A Minnesota two-run homer with one out sent LeCoq to the dugout and Caralisa Connell took the circle. Carl got the Cards out of the jam and it was 6-6 after three innings.

Louisville took a 7-6 lead on a solo blast by Keller in the fourth and Connell held the Golden Gophers at bay in the bottom half of the inning.

UofL added four more runs in the top of the fifth on six hits...Keller highlighting the inning with a 2 RBI double. Louisville now led 11-6. Carl got the job done again on the mound, holding UM scoreless.

The Cards exploded for five runs in the top of the sixth...Katelyn Mann with a two-run shot and Katie Keller's three run "touch 'em all" had the Cards ahead 16-6. Carl gave up two runs in the bottom of the inning but held on to retire the side and get the win.

Le Coq pitched 1.2 innings and allowed four runs on four hits. Connell's relief effort was 4.1 innings of four run, five hit pitching.

So, the Cards leave Vegas with a 4-1 record. Pitching not quite where it needs to be yet, but the UofL bats have covered it in four out of the five games. Much as Pearsall intimated it might be. Once thing for certain, Louisville appears to be never out of any contest so far, if the hitters are "on". 21 hits is a new Cardinal game record.

Softball returns to action Friday with another three day, five game marathon in the Jacksonville (FL) Tournament. They'll face Stony Brook and Bethune-Cookman on the 15th., Ohio State and Jacksonville on Saturday and Stony Brook again on Sunday.
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