LACROSSE TRAVELS TO B.C. FOR ACC OPENER
The competition curve gets a lot tougher today, as the Cards travel to Chestnut Hill, MA to open ACC conference play against #3 Boston College. This probably won't be a double-digit blowout that Kaylin Morissette and Faye Brust have been accustom to...so far this this season.
Coach Young has had a knack for finding scorers over the years to replace those that have graduated. Nikki Boltja gone? No problem. Meet Hannah Kolowski and Kelli Gerding.
And Boltja is still on campus to enforce her hard work ethic as a volunteer coach. The girls must be paying attention...
The core that returned to put the yellow balls in the net is dynamic. Morissette and Brust come off an Big East season where they were the alpha dogs and top of the class in goal production. With them is Cortnee Daley as a returner who also has had little difficulty in changing the scoreboard since she has been here. (And they're all great interviews...)Add Heidi Smith, Carissa Corbett, Cat Gordon and Anna Kopecka as attack specialists and midfielders who could break loose at anytime and Young has more weapons that Rick Grimes on The Walking Dead.
It doesn't stop there. The defense is as solid as the support towers for the new I-65 bridge. Goalies Ashley Peacock and Brittany Read, defenders Courtney Boyd, Stephanie McNamara, Emily Howell, Casey Madura and Leigh Gatons have made scoring on Louisville as difficult as accessing the gold in Fort Knox. All of it about to be tested today in the Cards first test in "The League". Make no mistake about it. The ACC IS women's college lacrosse's rarified air. The top of the mountain. Where the rest want to be. #1 and by a wide margin. The NBA vs. high-schoolers. Showtime.
We'll recap the Boston College v. Louisville match tomorrow and we're hoping we're reporting about a Cardinal win in Beantown...Welcome to "The Show" Louisville LAX. You've paid the dues, put in the work and prepared for the battle. Go make it so. 60 minutes to shine, and an opening moment in a conference that will test you each and every step on the way...
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BRACKETOLOGY -- A Commentary
Charlie Creme seems like an OK guy, I guess. I've never met him...wouldn't know him from Jon Bon Jovi...but it seems like he puts a lot of work into tracking and ranking his bracketology predictions leading up to Selection Monday.
Good for him. It keeps him off the streets and a productive member of society.
As of Tuesday morning, he had Walz's Warriors as a #2 seed and headed to College Station, TX. to play on the Texas A&M Aggies court to face a #15 seed. In the Seattle region. Tough travel for Louisville WBB fans, no doubt..but doable.
We could go into the travesty that prevents the Cards from opening in the KFC YUM! Center but...it is what it is and we'll complain no more about the arena hosting MBB and UK
I wouldn't be overly surprised if they assign Louisville a #5 seed and send them to France to play Euroball.
Charlie means well. The Cards resume is sufficient enough to grant a #2 seed. He's done the work and I hope they pay heed to his efforts. I also hope the Chicago Cubs baseball team survives the fourth of July each year without being eliminated from playoff contention. He's looking at stats. He's making projections. Nice work, if you can get it...
The underlying factor is that you have to win six straight games to be crowned the National Champion. You're going to have to beat some pretty good teams to do that. Doesn't matter where you start and how you get there. Survive and advance. Get the "W". Louisville had their shot last year after surviving the cold in Iowa and coming home to gain a third and fourth win. A tough Maryland team prevented a Final Four appearance. Don't think that Sara, Bria, Jude, Megan, "E", Shawnta' and Sherrone have forgotten that. Be assured they've filled in MHA, Arica, Ariana and Mariya on the details.
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This from a reliable source on campus...Jude's X-rays and MRI on the hand came back fine. She'll be good to go for the Big Dance.
This is great news. A one-handed Jude can be effective...we saw that against FSU...but we'd rather see her with 100% limb usage.
Go Cards!
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The University of Louisville softball team will travel to Oxford, Ohio for a midweek game at Miami University Wednesday.
Quick Hits
• The University of Louisville softball team brings a 10-7 overall record into the weekend. The Cardinals are coming off of a 2-2 showing at the Louisville Softball Classic. Louisville fell 11-0 to Northwestern in their opening game and rebounded with back-to-back eight-run rule wins against Ball State and Illinois State before falling 4-3 in eight innings to the Redbirds Monday afternoon.
• Sophomore Jordan McNary leads Louisville offensively with a .471 batting average. Sophomore Maryssa Becker follows at .438 with a team-best four home runs and 13 RBIs. Senior Whitney Arion has scored a team-leading 15 runs.
• Freshman Shelby McCombs (3-2) carries a team-best 2.20 ERA with 19 strikeouts and is holding opponents to a .238 batting average in 35.0 innings. Sophomore Maryssa Becker (2-1) follows with a 2.87 ERA and 42 Ks in 39.0 innings.
paulie
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Knew McNary would have a good season for Louisville Softball. I watched her in high school. Good fundamentals at bat and she is fast down the line.
ReplyDeleteYes, she's getting things done, but doing so quietly. I've only seen two games so far, but my impression was that she is quite the speedster. I mentioned the shot she had Sunday that just cleared the center fielder and bounced to the fence that she managed to turn into a standup triple.
DeleteI'll predict it right now. UofL WBB gets a #4 seed and plays at a host #5 seed school that is the furthest from Louisville.
ReplyDeleteBlue Lou
Hmmm...starting in Stanford, CA? Having to beat Stanford probably to go to the Oklahoma City Regional? Not the way I'd like to see it go down...but you have to win six in a row. Might get a nice Native American fan base in Okla. City if that goes down to support Jude.
DeletePaulie
I was surprised to see us ranked #8 in both polls after the conference tourney. I was also surprised that Charlie had us as a two seed. It would be great but I'm not holding my breath.
ReplyDeleteAs you note at the end of the day it really doesn't matter. We're going to have to really rock to make a big move this year. It's doable particularly now that we hear that Jude's hand / wrist tweak should be OK by tourney time. March is tough enough with an ambidextrous point guard, without one it would be a real problem.
I still think we have some huge games coming from our seniors in the NCAA's. These kids have set a great example for the program and I know they want to go out with a bang.
That baby fist pic is awesome.
Who are your #1 and #2 seeds currently Paulie?
ReplyDelete#1 seeds, IMHO... are UConn, Notre Dame, South Carolina and Maryland.
Delete#2 seeds, IMHO...are Florida State, Tennessee, Baylor and Oregon State.
I see us as a #3 seed. That means the NCAA will see us as a #4 or #5.
Paulie
OSU a #2? Really. Paulie? They lost to Colorado in the first round of the PAC tournament. They were like 6-40 from three-point range.
DeleteI don't see Oregon State as a #2.
UK is definitely a #2.
Matthew Mitchell For Governor
LOL. You're killing me here, Gov. (3) SEC schools in the top eight? When pigs fly. UK deserves the #4 they'll probably get...I'll give you that...and they'll get to play their first two in Memorial Barnyard.
DeleteIs that nine-loss UK? The fifth best team in the SEC. Behind SC, Texas A&M, Tennessee and Miss. State? They should petition for sainthood.
DeleteHas U of L announced a watch party for the selection show yet?
Deletejust did
Deletehttp://www.gocards.com/sports/w-baskbl/spec-rel/031115aad.html
It'll be in Cardinal Arena on campus
DeletePaulie
What are the chances of Jude coming back to the NorthWest? Spokane, is there a tournament here?
DeleteAny chance of catching today's lacrosse or softball on TV anywhere?
ReplyDeleteUnfortunately, no. It's either Gametracker or following the respective sport's twitter account. I'm going to see if Worldwide can get us Twitter account information on all the women's sports at UofL and post it over on the right side of the site. He knows stuff...
DeletePaulie
The current bracketology, IMHO, is the best we could hope for. I also see us as the #1 3 seed. Surprised we are still at 2. There are so many variable the committee looks at that can change things, but typically the overall #1 seed would play the weakest #2 seed. If that holds true, we are headed to Albany. I am hoping one of the variables that have to be accounted for makes it different. Also, the strongest #3 seed would make sense in the current bracketology. Fingers crossed the final bracket looks similar to this one.
ReplyDeleteThere has been a lot of talk of a matchup with Princeton, on their home court in the second game. That scares me. Princeton is 30-0, facing them on their home court makes me a tad bit nervous. Texas A& M on the other hand, is trending downward. The dreaded ACL injury to their point guard has them limping in to the postseason We will know soon enough.
Heartbreaker in Lacrosse today. Cards lose to #3 BC 16-15 in overtime
ReplyDelete