Saturday Cardinal Couple -- Paulie's quarterly grades

SATURDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

-Paulie's quarterly grades on Volleyball, Soccer and Field Hockey

-Soccer in Cardinal Park wins huge!

-Field Hockey hits the road for two

-Volleyball in Lexington this weekend

With Soccer, Volleyball and Field Hockey getting close to reaching the first 1/4 of their seasons being completed, I thought I might do a little "grading" on how well their season have gone so far. Some will disagree and it is purely objective in scope and concept. Agree or disagree, if you wish, in the comments section or e-mail.  Bringing me an apple won't affect scores.

Timmy the Intern will send a sophomoric and irrelevant reply. It's how we roll here...

VOLLEYBALL (2-5)

Grade: C+

I know that Anne Kordes' squad hasn't had a home match yet. I realize that they've had tough competition on the road, including three top 25 teams. I expected 5-2 at this point. The losses in Fargo were surprising. The UK game could have easily been a win. They will get better as the season progresses. Maya McClendon and Janelle Jenkins are a delight to watch. Katie George may be the most passionate player in UofL women's sports this year. It's been an average season so far. I expect it to get much better.

SOCCER  (3-2-1)

Grade: B

One has to love scoring duo of Charlyn Corral and Christine Exeter. Rachel Melhado dominates her area. Paige Brown has been a surprisingly good goalkeeper. And, Karen Ferguson Dayes' team has been dominant statistically offensively. She'll tell you, they need to finish a bit more. UK and Illinois were winnable game. A look at the stat sheets (without seeing the score) would indicate they were the best team on both days. They lost both contests. The AAC looks very winnable for Louisville. I expect this grade to go up also as the season progresses.

FIELD HOCKEY (4-1)

Grade: A-

It might be a bit unfair to grade Justine's Sowry's squad after only four games. They only play 19 total, though before BIG EAST Conference play. The Virginia loss against a ranked opponent wasn't that bad...Louisville was in it the whole way. Beating tough Richmond and William & Mary squads was exemplary. A romp over Ohio was expected (by me) and happened. Things start to get a little tougher for the Flock beginning this weekend (at Michigan). The BIG EAST schedule is demanding and the Cards do play powerhouses Ohio State and Old Dominion out of conference as well. I'd settle for a 3-3 split in the next six games. They'll do their best to prove me wrong and go 6-0.
A wonderful combination of experienced veterans and explosive freshmen....Sowry is sitting on a powder keg.

So, there you have it. We'll re-grade them all in mid- October.

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Kickin' Cards faced Morehead St. Friday in Cardinal Park. A good in-state rivalry and romped as expected 7-2. Six different Cards scored. Christine Exeter and Charlyn Corral had two goals each in the win
 
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Field hockey headed to Ann Arbor, MI to play UC Davis Friday. They'll face Michigan on Sunday as well. Justine Sowry's flock is #16 in the NFHCA poll and it's their highest ranking since the 2011 preseason poll. Louisville is outsocring opponents 19-7 through five games and freshmen make up half that point total.

It was the first meeting ever between the two.

Louisville produced the shutout 5-0.

Justine Sowry discusses below:

“As the game went on, we continued to stick to our game plan and our basic skills and things started to open up for us,” said Sowry. “Overall a good result and now we look forward to matching up against Michigan tomorrow. We’ll have to be a lot sharper on the ball and we’ll be working hard for each other.”

UC Davis. Hmmm...top seven Davis's?????

- Sammy Davis, Jr. (actor)
- Anthony Davis (hoops)
- Willie Davis (baseball)
- Bette Davis (actress)
- Geena Davis (actress)
- Miles Davis (musician)
- Jefferson Davis (Confererate President)


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Once in Memorial Coliseum not being enough....Anne Kordes' Volleyballers headed back to Lexington yesterday to participate in the Bluegrass Battle. They took on Minnesota at 5 p.m. Friday and lost in three sets 25-16, 25-18 and 25-15. They will play Pepperdine today at 5 p.m.

Anne thinks highly of the Gophers:

"After seeing Penn State and Minnesota this season there is no question they are two of the best teams in the country both physically and technically."

It could be a fun weekend if you're going to Lexington for the UofL v UK football game today at noon. Why not catch Volleyball after?

Kordes gets a well deserved trip back home with four in a row in Louisville after this weekend.

The CARDINAL COUPLE RADIO HOUR is also on at 11 a.m. today on CRESCENT HILL RADIO.

Yeah, we've been busy and looks like we'll stay that way.


-Paulie

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