THURSDAY CARDINAL COUPLE
- Previewing the ACC: Boston College
Louisville joins the ACC in July. We've been getting e-mails and inquiries on how the women's sports programs at the various conference member schools are doing. So, we decided to take a look. We're going to do these in alphabetical order...so Boston College starts us off.
Boston College or "BC" as it is often referred to is a private, Catholic Jesuit college located in Chestnut Hill, MA...a suburb of Boston. It is not related to Boston University. It is not related to the comic strip named BC or the headache powder named BC. BC is also a common initialling for the term "before Christ". Like Christ, some of the BC women's athletic squads have been crucified and nailed to the cross. We doubt there will be a resurrection.
The school was founded in 1863 and has 9088 undergrad and 4898 graduate students as of 2014.
Boston College's nickname is the Eagles and their mascot is known as Baldwin the Eagle. His name derived from the combination of the words "bald" and "win". Baldwin the Eagle is not related to the acting brothers...but is widely considered to have superior acting skills.
BC joined the ACC in 2005, leaving the Big East. They play in the Atlantic Division of the conference. Notable athletics include Doug Flutie, NFL star and sports commentator and Matt Ryan, current quarterback of the Atlanta Falcons.
Other notable alumni are John Kerry, former presidential candidate and Senator and Tip O'Neill, former Speaker of the House.
The Eagles compete in 16 women's sports. Basketball, Cross Country, Fencing, Field Hockey, Golf, Ice Hockey, Lacrosse, Rowing, Sailing, Skiing, Soccer, Softball, Swimming and Diving, Tennis, Track and Field and Volleyball. It is doubtful UofL will add fencing, ice hockey , sailing or skiing so they can compete with BC in these sports...
How did they do this year? We'll look at eight of the sports that the Cards could face them in:
WBB: BC went 12-19 overall and 3-13 in conference play.
FIELD HOCKEY: The Eagles were 12-8 overall and 1-5 in conference play. They did not make the NCAA Tournament, the only ACC team in 2013 that didn't. Louisville head field hockey coach Justine Sowry coached at UMass before taking the Louisville job...but we're not sure what her lifetime record is against BC.
LACROSSE: Boston College is 15-5 so far and went 3-4 in conference play. They are still alive in the NCAA Tournament but face powerhouse Syracuse on Saturday. Syracuse is one of the top seeds in the tourney.
ROWING: BC will be competing in the ACC Tournament on May 17th. They have home matches on the Charles River and won a couple of regular season regattas there. Which leads to the query on why Louisville can't have regattas on the Ohio River? Or Beargrass Creek? Or at the Ralph Wright ?
SOCCER: The Eagles were 13-10-1 overall and 6-6-1 in conference. They made the NCAA Tournament and got to the 4th. round before losing to Florida State. Louisville has never faced BC in women's soccer. Probably a good thing that they didn't this year.
SOFTBALL: Boston College went 30-23 on the season and posted a 12-14 conference record. They lost their first round ACC Tournament game to Notre Dame 3-0. They were not selected for the NCAA Tournament.
TENNIS: Overall, they finished with a 14-10 record and were 6-8 in conference. We're pretty sure Fellerhoff and Shine would have beat them.
VOLLEYBALL: The Eagles wide-netters had a rough season with a 9-23 record and 1-19 in the ACC. They appear to be the Cincinnati of the ACC in volleyball. I guess eagles probably can't set or spike so well because of the talons and wings...
Paulie Remembers:
My favorite BC memory is when they brought their football team to the old Cardinal Stadium back in 1990. The Howard Schnellenberger Cards were finishing up a great season and were 8-1-1 when the Eagles came to town on Nov. 10th.
BC caused quite a commotion at halftime when they sent their punter and placekickers out to warm up while the UofL Marching Band was still performing.
The Crunch Zone Crazies gave the Beantown boys the business and they beat a hasty retreat back to the locker room until the band was finished.
Louisville won that final game of the regular season 17-10 in front of a sold out Cardinal Stadium and went on to win the Fiesta Bowl 50 days later over Alabama 34-7.
paulie
Asia Taylor made the Lynx roster. Congrats on coming all the way back from injury.
ReplyDeleteFrom Ohio, terrible injuries, through Louisville all the way to Minnesota, Asia made it. Not only was Asia the very last player picked in the draft, she was also sent to the defending champs team, likely the toughest roster to break in to. The unfortunate injuries to Dev. Peters and Rebekah Brunson no doubt gave Asia the break she needed to show her stuff during game time in preseason games, and she made the most of it.
ReplyDeleteA huge shout out to one of the toughest women to don a Cardinal uniform. Asia, keep doing your thing. Can't wait to watch you play in the big leagues!
We are most proud of Asia (and Shoni) and hope they will do well. Shoni's game will be shown on Fox Sports South Friday at 7:30 pm. No word on Asia's Friday game but the Sunday game the Lynx play will be on Fox Sports North
ReplyDeletePaulie