Lax Crushes Xavier — WBB Bracket Breakdown — THURSDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

Lacrosse Defeats Xavier in Blowout Fashion

Louisville lacrosse made a Wednesday night trip to Cincinnati. The Bearcats weren't the opponent at the end of the trail this time, though. Instead, the Cards had their sights set on the Musketeers of Xavier. Louisville would go on to win, 19-6.

The Cards raced out of the gate with three goals in five minutes. Xavier cut the Louisville lead to one, but the Cards led 7-3 after the first quarter. Louisville outscored the Musketeers 4-1 in the second quarter for a comfortable 11-4 halftime lead.

Coming out of the break, the two teams traded goals. After that, it was all Louisville as the Cards scored five straight to close out the third quarter and lead 17-5 and have a running clock. With the running clock in play for the entirety of the fourth quarter, the Cards were able to relax, but still took the final period 2-1.

10 different Cards scored in the game. Reese Whiteman and Maggie McMahon each recorded hat tricks. J Pleck played the first half in goal, logging five saves to go against four goals allowed. Hanna John took over the second half with four saves and two goals allowed.

Louisville improves to 5-5 on the win. They remain on the road and visit Clemson on Sunday. 

Jared Breaks Down the Women’s Basketball Bracket

Blank NCAA Bracket

We are one day away from the start of the NCAA Women’s Basketball Tournament. Arguably, the best time of the year has finally arrived as we get three weeks of nearly non-stop basketball.

Here at Cardinal Couple, we have a long-standing tradition of hosting the Cardinal Couple Pick Em Contest. We hope to have you participate.

Today, I’ll break down some of my thoughts on the bracket including exciting match-ups and potential upsets. Remember, these will all be my personal thoughts and opinions. You’re welcome to take it into consideration on making your brackets, but do so at your own risk. If I go 0-for-63 and you copied me, well… good luck!

Spokane 1 Region

I like 10-seed Harvard over 7-seed Michigan State for a first round upset. The Ivy League likes to play dark horse when it comes to NCAA Tournament time and Harvard has a good chance to play that role this year.

8-seed Richmond vs 9-seed Georgia Tech is interesting mostly because of 8-9 match-ups have been pretty even. The Yellow Jackets have been trending in the wrong direction while the Spiders had won 17 straight before falling in the A10 Championship. I'm going against the ACC here.

Host seeds rarely lose in the opening round of play, but 4-seed Baylor could fall victim to this against 13-seed Grand Canyon. The Bears have been nearly unbeatable on their home court though. The Antelopes lost just twice all year and have the best win percentage in the NCAA while cruising through their conference.

I have a hard time seeing the regional final being anyone but 1-seed UCLA vs 2-seed NC State. UCLA lost twice all season, both times to USC. Wes Moore is always tournament ready and has a team of veteran players. I'm going with UCLA to go to the Final Four in this region.

Birmingham Region 2

5-seed Alabama seemed to stumble down the stretch over the last two years. Their offense has made up for their porous defense. 12-seed Green Bay is riding a 22-game win streak, but that win streak doesn't feature much top talent. Being a 5-seed can be tough seeing as the 4-seed line and a chance to host was right there in front of them so the homecourt advantage is gone. If there is a 5-12 upset, I think this is the most likely one, but my gut says Bama sneaks by.

2-seed Duke vs 7-seed Vanderbilt is a likely possibility in the second round. Duke has one of the stingiest defenses in the country, which helped them win the ACC Tournament. Vanderbilt has the frontrunner for National Freshman of the Year in Mikayla Blakes, who has scored 50+ points twice. Thor's hammer vs Captain America's shield will be fun to watch.

If 6-seed West Virginia can get past 11-seed Columbia or Washington then I could see them upsetting 3-seed North Carolina. It would be defense vs defense in that game, but the Tar Heels don't have a good offense to begin with.

1-seed South Carolina seems to be a title contender every year. I don't see any reason why they aren't this year. I do think 2-seed Duke squeezes out a tight one against 7-seed Vanderbilt in the second round, but I don't see them being able to take down the Gamecocks.

Birmingham Region 3

5-seed Tennessee has been hit-or-miss this season. They could fall in the opening round to 12-seed South Florida if the Bulls get hot from three, but they could also take down 4-seed Ohio State to advance to the Sweet Sixteen. I'm just not sure the Lady Vols can piece together back-to-back strong performances.

11-seed Iowa State was one of the final teams in but were able to hold on to beat a tough 11-seed Princeton team in the play-in game last night. Last year's "Freshmen Five" took the NCAA by storm. While only four of them returned to the Cyclones for a second year, I like their chances against a streaky 6-seed Michigan team.

2-seed TCU vs 7-seed Louisville will be a must-watch even for non-Louisville fans. Jeff Walz vs ex-Cardinals player Hailey Van Lith could get interesting and have plenty of drama. With TCU playing at home, I have to give it to the Horned Frogs, but I'm going with 3-seed Notre Dame to take them down in the Sweet Sixteen. The Irish went through a questionable two-week stretch to close out the regular season, but a starting lineup full of WNBA players will have things figured out for tournament time.

I think 1-seed Texas is the weakest of the four 1-seeds. Notre Dame got the best of them in December and I think the Irish do that again.

Spokane Regional 4

5-seed Kansas State has been not good since Ayoka Lee went out with injury. She could return for the NCAA Tournament, but if she doesn't then I like the odds 12-seed Fairfield has for pulling off the upset.

6-seed Iowa is not the same without Caitlin Clark, who could solve or hide a lot of problems. They have a tough match-up against one of the hottest offenses in the country in 11-seed Murray State. Without the Hawkeyes playing in the comfort of their home arena, I think the Racers can pull off the upset.

7-Oklahoma State against 10-seed South Dakota State is intriguing. I don't think the Cowgirls will "lose" this game as much as I think the Jackrabbits "steal" it. South Dakota State's schedule was full on NCAA Tournament teams and they still only lost three games. Their only bad loss was losing to to Texas by 46. 

1-seed USC vs 2-seed UConn is inevitable. The Trojans took the regular season meeting by two points. I think this could be the "Game of the Tournament" similar to Iowa vs LSU last year. Paige Bueckers gets her fairytale ending with a Final Four.

Jared's Final Four: UCLA vs UConn and South Carolina vs Notre Dame

Jared's Bracket

UCLA, Richmond, Ole Miss, Baylor, Florida State, LSU, Harvard, NC State

South Carolina, Indiana, Alabama, Maryland, West Virginia, North Carolina, Vanderbilt, Duke

Texas, Creighton, Tennessee, Ohio State, Iowa State, Notre Dame, Louisville, TCU

USC, Mississippi State, Kansas State, Kentucky, Murray State, Oklahoma, South Dakota State, UConn

UCLA, Baylor, LSU, NC State

South Carolina, Maryland, West Virginia, Duke

Texas, Ohio State, Notre Dame, TCU

USC, Kentucky, Oklahoma, UConn

UCLA, NC State, South Carolina, Duke, Texas, Notre Dame, USC, UConn

UCLA, South Carolina, Notre Dame, UConn

UCLA, South Carolina

UCLA - combined final score 120 points

Blank NCAA Bracket

Katy's Bracket

UCLA, Georgia Tech, Ole Miss, Baylor, Florida State, LSU, Michigan State, NC State

South Carolina, Indiana, Alabama, Maryland, West Virginia, North Carolina, Vanderbilt, Duke

Texas, Illinois, Tennessee, Ohio State, Michigan, Michigan, Notre Dame, TCU

USC, Mississippi State, Kansas State, Kentucky, Iowa, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, UConn

UCLA, Baylor, Florida State, NC State

South Carolina, Alabama, North Carolina, Duke

Texas, Ohio State, Notre Dame, TCU

USC, Kentucky, Oklahoma, UConn

UCLA, NC State, South Carolina, Duke, Texas, TCU, USC, UConn

UCLA, Duke, Texas, USC

UCLA, Duke

UCLA - combined final score - 105 points

(today's photos by Jared unless otherwise noted)

Happy Thursday and Go Cards!

Jared