CARDINAL COUPLE

CARDINAL COUPLE
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Friday, April 24, 2015

Duke knocks Louisville LAX out of ACC Tournament....Changes for Softball this weekend -- Friday Cardinal Couple



(We'll take a look at the 14-7 loss #3 Duke put on the Louisville LAXers yesterday in the ACC Quarterfinals and preview the weekend changes for Louisville Softball against Boston College at Ulmer Stadium. A typical weekend for softball...dealing with rain threats. Maybe the next promo for Louisville Softball should be pocket umbrellas...FRIDAY CARDINAL COUPLE is coming at ya...in rain gear and rubber boots!) 


TYPICAL PATTERN EMERGES AGAIN IN CARDS LOSS TO DUKE. 


We've reviewed the basic anatomy of a typical Louisville Lacrosse game in the ACC here several times before. Students, refer to your previous notes and follow along. 

- The Cards stay close early in the contest, even lead. This held true again yesterday against the Blue Devils. Louisville lead 3-1 with about 11 minutes to go in first half action.

- Here Comes the Boom. Duke went on a 5-0 run to take a three goal lead. 

- Cards fight back but fall short. Louisville made a run to get back in the contest twice. The Cards cut it to 6-5 with goals from Kelli Gerding and Hannah Koloski. Duke responded with Here Comes the Boom: The Sequel...four straight Blue Devils scores put them up 10-5. The Cards did cut it to three on Cortnee Daley and Carlissa Corbett scores but a few defensive lapses and thefts allowed the Durham school to post the final four net-finders...including a "really...you needed that?" score with one tick left on the clock from one of the Duke subs.


Seven different Cards had a goal each in the loss. Anna Kopecka, Heidi Smith, Kaylin Morissette, Gerding, Koloski, Daley and Corbett all beat the goalie once. 

Louisville has a 10-7 record and now waits to see if they'll get an at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament. 

In typical, "why do anything normal?" NCAA Lacrosse fashion, 26 teams will vie for the 2015 NCAA title. 13 conference qualifiers and 13 at-large teams. These will be announced Derby weekend. 

May 8th. features 10 first round games at higher seed sites. The May 10th. second round matchups will be contested at eight different sites. So...six teams get first round byes. 



Here's a stellar FINAL FOUR...Sonja, Tillie, MArkie and Poobah  
May 16th and 17th will be the quarter-finals where four games will determine who the FINAL FOUR are and they'll meet in Philly at PPL Park on May 22-23 to determine a national champ. 

Couldn't the NCAA just added six teams and have sixteen first round sites were everybody plays...like the basketball and soccer tournaments do?  Or even eight first and second pods where you send four teams?  You need seven hands (or four people) to count to 32. I guess they were a selection committee planner short...Moe, Larry and Curly couldn't find a "fourth".



"WE got 'next'"
Are the Cards a bubble team? My opinion is "No". i think they are in the NCAA Tournament comfortably. They'll probably drop a spot or two in the national rankings...but should easily be selected for an at-large. I see seven of the eight ACC schools that play Lacrosse getting in and Louisville just might get to host a first round game if things go their way. We draw well, in terms of a fan-base, for Lacrosse. Whether they would stick a admission fee on this because it is NCAA Championships related and they are money-hungry fools remains to be seen.

The month of May is one that Kellie Young and her girls hope keeps them busy to nearly Memorial Day weekend. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


WEATHER NECESSITATES SOFTBALL CHANGES



This was one of the designs we considered for the site
until it was pointed out that we don't have a
women's football team at UofL. Yet. 
Our meteorological prognosticators are calling for rainy weather Saturday. So, the scheduled ACC Softball series against Boston College this weekend has been altered. There was a Saturday doubleheader scheduled against the Eagles and a single game Sunday. This has been re-arranged to a Friday 7 p.m. single game tonight and a doubleheader for Sunday that will start at noon.

BC comes in with a 20-19 record and is 3-13 in the ACC. This places the Eagles tenth in the eleven team conference standings. Louisville (25-14) is fourth.


This will be the first ever meeting between the two schools. BC is on a roll...having won their last four games and most recently shut out Connecticut 5-0 earlier this week. I guess "Stewie", "The Mosquito" and "Moriah" don't play hit and pitch in Storrs. The Cards are fresh off a 8-0 trouncing of the Kittie Kats in Lessington.

With the day off...Louisville should be able to use staff pitching ace Maryssa Becker twice. If Madi Norman and Shelby McCombs can step up and deliver a strong third game...Louisville could sweep the series. A sweep could allow the Cards to move up in the ACC standings...Notre Dame and UNC face each other for three games this weekend also. Here's the top four in the conference:

Florida State     17-3
UNC                  15-4
Notre Dame       16-5
Louisville           12-5

The best case scenario would be if Notre Dame beat UNC twice. It would give both schools six losses. If the Cards sweep, they would still have only five conference defeats and bounce ahead of both schools in the loss column. A #2 seed in the ACC Tournament would be great and keep the Cards out of Florida State's path until the finals. 

Let's just hope the weather guys and girls haven't misread the future...

pauiie
xxxxx





9 comments:

  1. Looks like its official on the Ariana Freeman transfer:

    http://www.dailycamera.com/sports/ci_27977336/cu-womens-basketball-buffs-add-ariana-freeman-roster

    ReplyDelete
  2. I expected the Ariana Freeman move just after the announcement of the recruiting class for 2015. She had no future here and I certainly wish her well. She seemed like a fine young lady.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yep. Too bad. Seemed like a quality kid. Just not enough minutes available. She'll get a chance to play at CU.

      Delete
    2. LOL....if certain things happen...like Arielle Roberson coming here from Colorado...this could almost be considered a trade. Ariana for Arielle. Could we get a "player to be named late", too?

      Paulie

      Delete
    3. Another classic example of one of Paulie's articles getting hijacked in the comments section. I don't know why you even bother with the other women's sports Paulie. Just type WOMENS BASKETBALL into the article subject line each day and turn the minions loose. I'm guessing it took you a little time to get the information together about softball and lacrosse for today and I bet you get more comments on hoops that on the article content. I do appreciate you covering the other women's sports. I hope others do as well.

      The Real Joe Hill

      Delete
    4. I guess this is from a minion that somehow got loose.

      I've gotta say...I'm failing to see how comments about pertinent ULWBB issues somehow take away from Paulie and Sonja's coverage of other UL women's sports generally. It's no secret that CC is unique in their coverage of all UL women's sports, which is great but basketball continues to be by far the most popular. If anything I'd think that the consistent enthusiasm demonstrated via comments about ULWBB might actually set a positive example for fans of some of the other sports to step up and comment more often on their favorite non-basketball sports.




      Delete
    5. LOL...no harm, no foul.

      It's OK Joe...the comments section is here for people to talk about UofL women's sports of any fashion and things that relate to them. As long as we keep it from getting attacks on other posters or foul language, I'll welcome any and all comments on any day on any UofL sports subject,

      It doesn't take an Einstein to figure out that WBB is what draws most readers here and we're happy to discuss it at any time. Jeff Walz says that basketball season is never really over for him...because of the things that need doing when they aren't running up and down the court. The same applies here, as with any of the UofL women's sports.

      Got a take? Post it. We'll bat it around.

      Hey. I let "The Gov" post here. It's obvious that I have no social redeeming qualities :)

      I agree fully with Burn and Jenny. We'd love to see more softball, rowing or women's tennis discussion here..just to use a few random examples....but it's all good.

      Paulie

      Delete
  3. Lacrosse is playing with the big girls now, the ACC is the powerhouse league in more than just basketball (I worked that in just for you Joe H.).
    I have no idea if our gals will make it in the NCAA tourney, but I would be willing to wager the final four will consist of at least 2 ACC teams if not 3.
    I look forward to continuing to watch how this team/program develops in the ACC. Congrats on the season, Ladies.
    Jenny

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I've only really been trying to follow a bit of Lacrosse for the past couple of years, but as far back as I've seen, its been at least 3 ACC teams in the Lax final four. Though those usually include Maryland, so assuming they make it, and its a good bet, then 2 ACC could be a reasonable guess.

      Delete

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