Upcoming Women's Events -- SATURDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

While we're still in the semi-lull that is mid-winter, when only women's basketball games get us through the cold, dark days, there are signs of life from the other programs as spring seasons look to get started. While basketball is back in action tomorrow, let's take a look at some of the other upcoming events this weekend.

Track and Field at Notre Dame

Indoor Track and Field got their season started last weekend at the Gene Edmonds Open hosted by Purdue. Louisville came away with wins in 9 events, which is not a bad way to start the year. Today, they'll see some familiar faces as they participate in the Notre Dame Invitational. Notre Dame also competed at Purdue last weekend, meaning quite a few athletes will be seeing if they can get revenge for defeats from last weekend.

Louisville's women won the 2018 event overall, so we shall see if the Cards can repeat last year's successes and improve on last weekend's performances. The event starts at 11 a.m. and results should be available via Notre Dame's site.

Women's Tennis Set to Start Spring Season

Two teams from the state of Ohio will come into town tomorrow during the winter storm, potentially even on the same bus (I jest). Bowling Green and Miami (OH) will head to the Bass Rudd Center to take on the Louisville women's tennis team in the Cards' first matches of the season. The Cards were 13-13 last season and GoCards notes that the record included two 6 match winning streaks. (Nobody point out that if you win 6 matches straight twice in a season you went 13-13, you probably had some significant losing streaks as well.) Louisville will look to improve upon a season that saw them get their first ever win over Notre Dame and their first road win in ACC play since joining the conference. Bowling Green gets the first shot at the Cards at 11 a.m. and Miami will round out the evening at 5 p.m. If you're the type that likes to get out in a snowstorm, head on over and show your support. The matches will be indoors.

First of Three Women's Soccer ID Camps on Monday

Women's soccer has three "Winter Elite ID Camps" scheduled in the next couple of weeks. The first is on Monday, the second (for goalkeepers) is on February 2nd, and the final camp is on February 3rd. These camps are a single day for players from ages 13-18 to come and get the real experience of a college athletics atmosphere and are great for young players to get training from top coaches.

 These types of camps are also particularly useful for college athletics (especially in soccer). Talent in a sport can usually be parsed at a young age, and that can be even more true for soccer than for other sports. Academies all over the world seek to home-grow players from ages under 10. If you've got talent in soccer, it isn't likely to go away, and it isn't nearly as affected by natural growth over time as sports like basketball and football can be. An extremely talented youth football player may be outgrown by all of his peers and be left behind, while a small soccer player is not really a big deal. For that reason, these ID camps are a great chance for the Louisville coaching staff to get an early look at young players in the area.

It is unlikely that scouts will have missed players in their late teens that are from around here, but it is possible, while the Cards will specifically be looking at players to keep an eye on as they grow into the more mature club scene. It is safe to assume many of the players on Louisville's team from the Louisville area took part in at least one of these camps growing up. Louisville may find the next great homegrown talent in the coming month.

Minor Irrelevance

After Jeff Walz's errant shot Thursday night, plenty of jokes have been making the rounds. I would imagine Coach Walz didn't expect some heat from inside his own staff, though. Lamont Russell, video coordinator for the Cards, added this stat sheet to his Instagram story yesterday, poking fun at Coach.

While the joke is great, and well worth the time taken to make the graphic, I will point out that a three point field goal attempt also counts as a general field goal attempt, so he should be 0-1 in both stats. Use that in your rebuttal, Coach!

Cardinal Couple Radio Hour

It's Saturday, so you know that means that we're coming to you live from the magnificent media mansion on Mellwood Avenue with the Cardinal Couple Radio Hour. Join myself, Jeff, Paulie, and Daryl (while Jared makes change and salts the parking lot) as we bring you the joy and excitement of Louisville women's athletics.

Daryl's "walk up" song makes its debut this morning. What do you think it is?

We'll talk the dominating win over Virginia, I'll assuredly be chided for my tough scoring in the CASE Report (though it's all statistics based), and we'll talk a bit about tomorrow's matchup against Wake Forest. Plus, we'll get to all of the other exciting things going on around campus. Tune in to WCHQ at 100.9 FM, the WCHQ App, wchqfm.com or watch us on Facebook Live at 11 a.m.

Until next time, Go Cards!

-CH-