Breakout Candidates for Field Hockey -- TUESDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

Breakout Candidates for Field Hockey

Chloe Plumb

The final of our 'Big Three' fall sports to look at breakout candidates is field hockey. Louisville had its worst season in ages last year mainly due to a large graduating class the year before and younger players being thrust into more impactful roles. They should be back on track this season.

As always, players who have already made large impacts or have preseason or postseason accolades are not eligible as they already have high expectations. This excludes players like Rylie Wollerton and Izzy Bianco from being on this list.

Emily Young

Chloe Plumb enters the back half of her collegiate career and is entering her first season without Aimee Plumb being on the team. While she hasn't exactly lived in her sister's shadow by scoring four goals herself last year, this is a prime opportunity for the younger Plumb to have a breakout year.

Emily Young split time in the cage last year and will have some competition for the starting goalkeeper spot again this fall. Having a good chunk of a season under her belt already including a nine-save performance against Cornell, Young is in a good space to command the cage again and be one of the best keepers in the ACC.

Emily Eaton

Emily Eaton had a decent showing as a freshman last year. Oddly enough, she was one of the top offensive players when she graduated high school, tallying 18 goals her senior year, but transitioned into a defensive role at UofL. With a year of Division I field hockey under her belt, I think she'll ease into the defensive role better and help strengthen a defensive unit that struggled greatly last year.

We will have plenty of coverage once the season begins.

Happy Tuesday and Go Cards!

Jared

WNBA update -- MONDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

Good morning readers, 

Welcome back to a new week.  Hope you get to enjoy some of the lovely local temperatures in the coming days.  We've got the KY State Fair coming up in the next couple weeks to go along with a new calendar school year and athletics seasons.  

With not much whispers coming from the UofL athletics departments lets give a quick update on the WNBA season as we are under 40 days from the end of the regular season.

Starting in 2025, the WNBA Finals will be a best-of-seven game series, a change from the previous best-of-five format. This expansion to seven games means the Finals will follow a 2-2-1-1-1 format, where the higher seed hosts games 1, 2, 5, and 7 if necessary. The first round of the playoffs will also see a change, with a 1-1-1 format ensuring all teams in the first round have a home game.

#2 Myisha Hines-Allen -- Photo credit: John McClellan | The Next

As of Sunday evening, the Minnesota Lynx lead the league with an impressive 24-5 record.  They last lost to the Atlanta Dream (18-11) a week ago.  The closest behind them are the New York Liberty at 5.5 games back with a 18-10 record. 

#11 Dana Evans -- Photo Credit: Chris Poss | The Next

Of the former Cardinals currently on WNBA rosters, the Las Vegas Aces (Dana Evans) have the best record at 14-14.   The Mystics lost to the Dream 99-83 and Emily Engstler contributed 4 points and assist and a rebound in 10 minutes on the floor.  Shes averaging 2.7 ppg 3.2 rpg & 1.3 apg.  The Wings lost to the Fever on Friday 88-78 and MHA had 9 points, 5 rebounds and 2 assists.  Shes averaging 6.4 ppg, 5.1 rpg and 2.7 apg.  The Aces beat the Valkyries 101-77 where Evans had 7 points, 4 assists and 1 rebound.  Shes averaging 6.4 ppg, 1.1 rpg and 2 apg on the season.  

As Always,
Go Cards

~Daryl 

Breakout Candidates for Soccer -- SUNDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

Breakout Candidates for Soccer

AG Gibson

Women's soccer looks to take another step in the right direction this fall. After a 7-6-2 season last year, UofL is hopeful to improve on that record. We saw a couple folks transfer out from last year but a good core remained.

No single player had eye-popping stats last year and none earned any All-American or All-ACC honors outside of academic accolades. Karsyn Cherry has proven to be the go-to player the last couple seasons so we will look at players outside of her with potential breakout seasons. Mackenzie Geigle was a scoring machine for the Cards last year so I am considering her ineligible for this list too.

Emersen Jennings

Fina Davy took no time earning a starting role as a freshman last year. Her scoring numbers of one goal and two assists weren't eye-popping, but she kept defenders on their toes when she had possession. She has a chance to make a big jump up this season.

AG Gibson is a local kid that was one of the best in the state during her high school career. She started most of the season her freshman year last year, leading all freshmen on the team in minutes. I don't expect her breakout season to be scoring related as much as helping Louisville establish a strong midfield and have better ball possession against other teams.

Emersen Jennings

Emersen Jennings is entering her final season with the Cards. She's had a couple injuries that prevented her from maximizing minutes on the pitch and usually came in as a reserve player. She appears to be healthy entering this season and can use her speed to stretch the offense and keep defenders on the run.

Louisville starts on the road for the first two games of the year but they will play at Lynn Stadium for the first time in 2025 on August 21.

Happy Sunday and Go Cards!

Jared

Volleyball Preseason Poll -- SATURDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

Cards Receive Preseason Love in ACC 

Earlier this week, Jared wrote about the potential breakout candidates for the Louisville volleyball team. Coincidentally, the ACC preseason polls were announced a few hours later, and the coaches have their own opinions on Louisville's potential stars. 

Three Cardinals were named to the Preseason All-ACC Team: Cara Cresse, Chloe Chicoine, and Nayelis Cabello. None of these players should come as a major shock. Cresse was one of four Cardinals to be named to an AVCA All-American team last season (honorable mention) and Chicoine was on an All-Region First Team. Chicoine was also on the All-Big Ten second team last year. Cabello was named as the ACC Freshman of the Year, so her inclusion on the list is also fairly straightforward. 

What the Cards will be looking for is more players to work their way onto the list. Louisville is second in players named, behind Pittsburgh with four. SMU and Stanford are also tied with Louisville at three. Miami has two, while Georgia Tech, UNC, and Notre Dame have one player each to round out the list. 

The preseason team also fairly well aligns with the Preseason Coaches Poll. Louisville finds themselves in second in the league with 271 points. Louisville trails Pitt, who had 279 points, and narrowly beat out Stanford (264) and SMU (243). Notre Dame is the lowest team with a player named to the preseason team, as the Irish were picked to finish just 12th. At the top, Louisville gathered four of the first-place votes, with Pitt picking up 10. Stanford had the two outstanding votes. 

It's sure to be a tight race in the ACC. Louisville may have hoped that the recent lack of form from Notre Dame, Georgia Tech, and FSU meant that they could focus on the Panthers, but Stanford and SMU have kept it a multi-horse race at the top of the league. With no conference tournament, every match will be critical to determine a champion. We'll see what Dan Meske can do in his first season at the helm. 

No CCRHP This Week

Hosts are scattered this week for various reasons, so we'll have the week off from the show. Next week will mark the last season before competition, so we'll work to bring you an episode looking at the specific upcoming games. 

Until next time, Go Cards!

Case

WTennis adds freshman -- New school year -- FRIDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

FRIDAYS WITH DARYL 

Gooooood morning readers and welcome back weekend.   

Its also a officially a new school year now that we are in the month of August.   We have the new faculty hire orientation today and I'm looking forward to meeting a large group of them and welcoming them to campus.  

There was a very large tree that fell down behind the president's office, Grawemeyer Hall, Thursday morning during one of those strong summer storms so the grounds crew is probably working tirelessly to get that cleaned up last night before the new staff and students start arriving.   They should probably just take the whole tree down as it looks to be very old and not very aesthetically pleasing. 

Photo: Karen Johnson 

Women's Tennis

from gocards.com

-- Anshika Jaswal of Toronto, Canada has been added to the University of Louisville women's tennis roster. She will enter the school year as a freshman for the Cardinals.

In 2024, she was the Bramalea Open Champion and a 2024 Caledon Open Finalist. She was also a finalist in the 2024 Harold Green City of Toronto Championship Open and in the 2024 Caledon Fall Colours.

She was a 2023 and 2024 Under 18 Fischer Outdoor National Championships competitor as well as a 2023 Yonex U16 Ontario Junior Outdoor Closed Provincial Championships Quarter-finalist. In 2021, she was a Yonex Junior Doubles Championships Finalist

She was ranked in the top 60 in Canada G16 and in the top 80 in Canada's G18. She was also ranked in the top 40 Women's Open Ranking in Canada.

"I am excited to welcome Anshika to Louisville Women's Tennis," said UofL head coach Mark Beckham. "She was recommended to me by one of my former players because of her character, work ethic and potential. We need a certain type of person in the program and she is a really good fit. Anshika is joining an experienced team, so she will have time to develop with her teammates and the strong coaching staff I have now. She is definitely going to impact the team in a positive way because she is ready to work and earn everything she gets."

As always
Go Cards, 
~Daryl