Spring ACC Smart Cards -- THURSDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

Spring Sports See Many on All-ACC Academic Teams

All-ACC Academic Teams are being announced this week, and while we haven't heard about softball yet, the remaining spring sports are well-represented in the league. Requirements for inclusion are a 3.0 GPA for the previous semester, a 3.0 cumulative GPA, and competition in at least 50 percent of the team's contests. 

Tennis announced five honorees. Allie Gretkowski (R-SR; Sports Administration) and Berta Miret (SO; Neuroscience) each earned the nod from the league for the second time. Teammates joining them for the first time were Alice Otis (JR; Marketing), Germany Davis (SO; Political Science), and Elisabeth Iila (Psychology). 

Women's golf had a touch more than a handful, with six golfers being named to the list. That group was led by Carmen Griffiths (SR; Exercise Science) picking up her third All-ACC Academic honor. Beatriz Barrios Fernandez (SR) and Millie Cottrell (SO) are both majoring in Sports Administration (SPAD) and both were honored for the second time. SPAD is a popular major among Louisville athletes, as freshman Bailey Burkett, honored for the first time, is also in that program. The other two first-time honorees were transfer Thienna Huynh (JR; Political Science) and Veronika Exposito (FR; Finance). 

Lacrosse led the way in All-ACC Academic Honors as they placed a program record 23 players on the list. Forgive me for excluding classes and majors for a list so long. You can check out  the full post from gocards here if you want to see them all. Just know that the Business School is heavily represented. 

Three-time honorees: Ava Coyle, Negai Nakazawa, Abby Scully, and Izzy Seikel

Two-time honorees: Rian Adkins, Abigail Cole, Karli Kirchenheiter, Maggie McMahon, and Ashley Osborne

First-time selections: Kelsey Commerford, Abbie Dunlap, Riley Engelberg, Charlotte Jackson, Catherine Kangas, Issy Leech, Sophie Macleod, Erin Nicholson, J Pleck, Cece Reilly, Olivia Scorggie, Ella Terrell, Morgan Vasseur, and Reese Whiteman

Congratulations to all of these Cardinals on their academic accomplishments!

Aimee Plumb Honored by CSC

Formerly identified as the CoSIDA, the College Sports Communicators (CSC) Academic All-America teams have been announced and Louisville field hockey's Aimee Plumb has been named to the At-Large third-team. Plumb is receiving her second national accolade from the group, having been previously honored following the 2022-23 season. Playing in her final season as a graduate, Plumb scored four goals and had four assists, moving up to seventh in program history in points (86) and goals (30) while going to ninth in assists (26). While doing all of this, she maintained a 4.0 GPA en route to graduating with a bachelor's degree in Psychology with a minor in Art.  

Plumb's second naming to the team makes her one of eight players on this year's list to be a repeat selection. It makes her just the second Cardinal to pick up this specific honor multiple times. Plumb joins Jessica Javelet, who made the list in three straight seasons from 2004-2006. 

A huge congratulations to Aimee for a job well done throughout her career. We'll be sorry to see Aimee not suited up for the Cards next season, but we hope to still see her around as her younger sister Chloe looks to help fill the gap in her absence. 

Until next time, Go Cards!

Case

Cards Field Hockey Lands Three on CSC At-Large Academic All-District Team

 Bianco, Plumb, Osborne named to CSC At-Large Academic All-District Team

The qualifications for making the College Sports Communicators At-Large Academic All-District Team are being at least a sophomore academically and athletically at carry at least a 3.5 cumulative grace point average. The women's at-large team consists of the following sports: beach volleyball, bowling, rowing, fencing, field hockey, golf, gymnastics, ice hockey, lacrosse, rifle, skiing, and water polo. Women's athletics at UofL participates in four of these 12 sports  on the DI level...rowing, lacrosse, golf and field hockey. 

Let's look at the three "stick girls" that were named to the All-District team.

--Izzy Bianco is a senior midfielder out of Berlin, New Jersey. Athletically last season she ranked second on the team with five goals and three assists for 13 points. 

Aimee Plumb

--Aimee Plumb is a redshirt senior midfield/forward from Canterbury, Kent England. It is the fourth consecutive time that Plumb has been on the CSC At-Large Academic All-District Team. She finished her career at UofL as a three-time All-American, and scored four goals her final team. 

--Ashley Osbourne is a graduate senior as well. She was a defender out of Ballard High School in Louisville, KY. She was a starter as a junior and graduate senior, and played six games as a senior before getting injured as missing the rest of the season. 

The Field Hockey Cards went 6-11 overall last season and 1-7 in conference play. The 2025 season starts Friday, August 29th against Michigan State. They'll have two exhibition games prior to that against Bellarmine and at Miami (OH). 

paulie

Duchars. Plumb Named to College Sports Commuicators Award -- MONDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

 DUO MAKE ACADEMIC ALL-AMERICAN DISTRICT TEAM

In these days of NIL endorsements and lucrative packages for college athletes, the term "student-athlete" sometimes gets lost by the wayside when discussing those who toil on the athletic fields and courts on the UofL and other campuses. The importantce of academic excellence has not fallen by the wayside, mind you, one still has to maintain the grade-point average to be athletically eligible..but it is somthng that doesn't get mentioned as much as points per game, kills, goals, stops or which corporate sponsor in adorning the player's jersey. .  

So, let's take a look today at two who have exemplified academic success in their time at UofL. Two scholasr from the Cards Field Hockey program continue to "make the grade" and serve as a shining example of how good grades and excellent athletic performance can go hand and hand.

 

Aimee Plumb is a senior forward from Canterbury, Kent, England and has been named named CSC Academic All-District for the third straight year in a row. You can get any better than Amy, she had a 4.0 average and is majoring in Psychology, with minors in Art and Spanish.  A two time NFHCA Academci All-American, She also earned ACC and NFHCA Schola Athlete of the Year awards in 2022-23. 

On the field,  Aimee led the Cards with 18 points, she had a team high eight assists and five goals. We tease abut someone being "Plumb Perfect"  when they've had a good outing or performance, and the tales of the young woman from Cantebury could easlily equal the 24 told in the Tales of Canterbury book.

 

Mia Duchars is also a senior and is from St.Louis Missouri.  She plays defense for UofL and is a biology major. She is a three-time NFHCA National Academic squad selection. Mia is also a two time ACC Academic Team Member. 

She's a two ACC Field Hockey Defensive Player of the Week, and helped the Cards record six shutouts in 2023. Under her defensive guidance, Louisville made the semifinals of the ACC Tournament and quarterfinals of the NCAA Tournament. It's been said that if Duchars was in charge of defending the Golden Arch in St. Louis, nothing would get through it. 

We salute these two excellent "Stick Girls" at UofL .They've stuck to academic excellence, and the Cards keep sticking up winning scores.on the winning side of things.

Plumb and Duchars personify the meaning of a student-athlete. And Chloe Plumb, Aimee's little sister (at least academically-wise) ensures to continue the fine tradition of a "Plumb-er" at Louuisville for a few more seasons...she's a sophomore forward on the Cards roster...

paulie

Smart Cards, Spring Schedule, and Rankings -- TUESDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

Cards Fall to 20th in AP Poll

Louisville women's basketball stayed in the top-25 this week after Sunday's loss but dropped to 20th in the latest AP poll. The Cards slipped to the lowest of the ranked ACC teams, a quintet that now includes two top-ten teams. NC State is sixth, while the league-leading Hokies moved up to eighth. The remaining trio is locked in close proximity in the rankings, just as they are in the ACC standings. Syracuse, alone in second in the ACC with a half-game advantage on NC State, moves up to 17th. Notre Dame, fighting UNC and Florida State with one more loss in the ACC than Louisville, sits one spot ahead of the Cards at 19th in the latest poll. 

Officially, Louisville has just one ranked game remaining: the matchup with Notre Dame in the Joyce Center on March 3rd. As we saw with the game against BC, though, their road game against Georgia Tech will likely be no walk in the park. Meanwhile, Virginia has shown some scrap on the road, winning three of their four conference games away from home. Florida State is sure to give the Cards a fight on Leap Day, as always. 

Volleyball Announces Spring Match Schedule

Louisville volleyball will play four matches this spring, all with plenty of local buzz. The Cards will take on Dayton, Purdue, UK, and Tennessee over a span just longer than a month. The Flyers and Volunteers will bookend the four-match set in the L&N Federal Credit Union Arena while the Boilermakers and Wildcats play hosts. This season's spring matches will be ticketed. Season ticket holders will get first-right-of-refusal on the matches against Dayton and Tennessee in a window from February 26th to 28th before the tickets open to the public. Fans can get tickets to the March 8th match against Dayton starting on March 1st, and the sale will open on April 5th for the Tennessee match on April 13th. Louisville will face Purdue on March 29th and UK on April 5th.

Five Cardinals Named NFHCA Scholars of Distinction

Louisville field hockey had five players earn the NFHCA's Scholar of Distinction award this season. The Scholar of Distinction requires players to maintain a 3.9 GPA during the semester of play. This year's honorees were Aimee Plumb, Minna Tremonti, Filippa Niebuhr, Tatum Kroon, and Lara Niebler. Plumb and Tremonti have earned the award in four straight seasons, while Niebuhr earned her third this year. Sophomore Kroon and Tatum, a freshman, both picked up their first Scholar of Distinction. These five are part of Louisville's 22 players named to the D1 National Academic Squad.

Until next time, Go Cards!

Case

Strong Friday for Louisville Women -- SATURDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

Happy Veterans Day

While yesterday was the workweek observance of the holiday, today is the day to thank all the veterans you know (or don't know) for their service to our country. Memorial Day is a special day to remember those that gave the ultimate sacrifice, but Veterans Day gives you the chance to show your appreciation for those that are still with us. 

My grandfather served in the US Coast Guard during World War II. Supporting the Navy in the Pacific Theater, his ship was sunk by torpedo. To hear him tell it, cowardice from the enemy submarine is the reason he survived and I'm here today. The sub tailed off before the torpedo was fully clear, impacting the trajectory, and causing the torpedo to miss the target of the ammunition hold, which carried resupply ordinance for the majority of the naval ships in the area. 

Dada (as we called him) passed away in 2016 at the age of 93. One of the great honors of my life was escorting him at Butler's annual Veterans Day program. Due to the complicated veteran status of the Coast Guard, he was the only representative of the Coast Guard and one of the only WWII veterans in each of the ten years he participated. I'm extremely proud to say that he was specifically invited to participate in 2006 and 2007, despite neither my sister nor I attending Butler at the time. He asked to speak at the event during my senior year, thanking everyone for their hospitality and announcing that it would be his last year participating as I was graduating. I miss him dearly and think of him fondly often, especially on this day each year. 

Field Hockey Wins Revenge Game Over Iowa

Louisville field hockey last played Iowa in the early stages of a dreadful stretch to end the season. The Cards were coming off of a loss at Duke when Iowa handed them their first home loss of the year. It was the second of four straight losses before Louisville beat Boston College in the finale. That win, and the one over BC four days later, may have been what put Louisville in the NCAA tournament. The loss to Duke is likely what set them up for a rematch against Iowa.

Although the final score ended up the same at 2-1, the way the teams got there was quite a bit different. For one thing, this iteration of the Matchup of the Birds took almost 18 extra minutes of game time to decide. Like in the first game, Iowa drew first blood, but it came in the second quarter rather than the first. It was Dionne van Aalsum scoring for Iowa, which should be no surprise. She scored both goals against UofL a month ago and scored 27 of Iowa's 58 goals this season. The first Iowa goal in October came off of a penalty corner rebound, while this one was open play. As a credit to Louisville's defense, the Cards gave up just two corners all game, and they held Iowa to just one shot on goal and just seven overall. 

While Louisville made the score respectable in the first matchup, the Cards' goal came with just ten seconds left in a game where they trailed by two. This time, Louisville found an equalizer fairly early. It didn't come in the same quarter, but Niamh Gowing scored an unassisted goal midway through the third to tie the game at one. After Louisville's goal, the Cardinal defense went into lockdown mode. For the remaining 40 minutes of play, Iowa would not get another shot. 

Louisville, meanwhile, struggled offensively in the fourth as well. After the goal, they couldn't find another shot in the third, meaning both teams played fairly even ball for about 25 minutes. That set up two already tense teams for an even tenser overtime session. As a reminder, the official* stance of Cardinal Couple is that we hate Golden Goal. (*That's not official but I'm pretty sure most of us feel that way.) The first overtime saw a penalty corner for the Cards midway through that resulted in India Reed (who took the corner) coming up with the only shot of the period. It went wide of the mark. 

The second overtime was just as deadlocked, with neither team making much headway as the clock ticked down toward penalty strokes. Another corner for Louisville gave them a strong chance, with Aimee Plumb firing a shot toward the cage. Minna Tremonti was there to tip the ball around the defenders and the goalie and Louisville advanced to the quarterfinals.

An overtime loss in this one would have been very sore for the Cards, who roundly dominated the match. Louisville had 10 shots compared to the seven from Iowa, and seven of Louisville's shots were on frame. They took four corners compared to Iowa's two, and they held possession of the ball for the majority of the match. If that had all been undone by an unlucky goal in OT, it would have been quite unfortunate. 

In the end, though, the Cards finished off the perfect opening round for the ACC. All five teams that made it into the dance advanced. Since only one of the quarterfinal matchups is an ACC game, that means that the Final Four could be entirely ACC teams. What's more, if the ACC teams (and the higher seeded ACC team in the case of Duke/Syracuse) all win, the semifinals will be a repeat of the ACC Tournament semifinals. Louisville gets Northwestern, a team that will surely be looking for revenge of their own against the Cards as Louisville gave them their only loss of the season, at 2PM on Sunday. The match will be streamed on Big Ten Plus, a paid service.

Hear from Coach Sowry, Aimee Plumb, Emilia Kaczmarczyk, and Minna Tremonti after the game.

Volleyball Sweeps Duke

With things falling Louisville's way nationally in the midweek matchups, Louisville needs only to take care of business to move back into the top five. They're still waiting on a loss from Florida State, but Georgia Tech became the first team to fall out of the tie for first when they were swept by Pitt last night. Louisville, on the other hand, did their job with a sweep of Duke. 

The Cards made things a bit closer than they needed to with a struggle of a third set, but ultimately came out on top with final scores of 25-17, 21, and 22. Louisville hasn't looked particularly sharp for a few matches now. While I wouldn't say it's a major area of concern (except when it leads to losses), it's certainly something to keep an eye on. Louisville hit just 0.206 in the win last night, with an 0.088 in the third set. The Cards committed more errors than the Blue Devils over the course of the match and in two of the three sets. 

While the offense wasn't the cleanest, the defense was there for Louisville. They held Duke to just 0.151 hitting in the match and were only outhit in the third. Louisville had ten total blocks, led by two solos from Aiko Jones, and they went 9/9 at the service line. Duke, on the other hand, went 3/11. The Cards needed those service errors with the unusually tight offense. Louisville's best hitter last night was Cara Cresse, who managed a 0.538 from the middle. On the outside, Charitie Luper continues to grow into her own as a Cardinal with a 0.407. Luper led both teams with 13 kills, narrowly beating Duke's Kerry Keefe (12) and Gracie Johnson (10). Cresse had nine kills and Anna DeBeer finished with eight. DeBeer finished with a positive hitting percentage as well, hitting 0.192 but committing only three errors. She was well defended, as her percentage was brought down by the fact that she took 26 swings, just one less than Luper.

DeBeer also led the team with three service aces and had no serving errors. She added ten digs, matching Elle Glock and Elena Scott. Credit goes to Duke for sticking with a game plan to try to keep Louisville out of system by targeting Glock. I wouldn't say it's an "underrated" part of her game since most people are aware of it, but Scott's background as a setter greatly aids Louisville when teams attempt to target their setter. 

As far as the actual gameplay goes, it looked like a concerning start for Louisville when Duke went up 2-0 on a PK error and a block on an Aiko Jones attempt. The Cards won the next four points and wouldn't cede control for the remainder of the set. A late five-point run stretched the lead to 20-12 and Louisville put it away from there. The second, again, saw Duke go up 2-0 and, again, saw Louisville with an early four-point run. The Blue Devils stayed closer in the second, managing to use a three-point burst to get within one at 21-20. Louisville responded in kind, though, moving to set point at 24-20. Rachel Richardson nailed a kill to stay alive in the set but followed it up directly with a service error. 

The third looked as though Louisville had sorted things out at halftime. The Cards won the first five points, and continued to hold an advantage by pushing to 8-2 and 10-5 leads. Duke hung around, keeping within the same range for most of the set, before a quick run from 16-10 made it 16-13. Louisville looked to weather the brief storm, trading pairs of points to go up 22-17. Duke stopped trading after that, rattling off five straight to erase the early Louisville advantage and give us a new game at 22-22. Three of their five points in that run made up three of their seven total blocks on the match. Undeterred, Louisville's stars closed it out. DeBeer nailed a kill from Glock, followed it up with an ace, and Luper closed it out off of a pass from Scott. 

The Cards will host another resident of Tobacco Road on Sunday when they take on UNC. I'd joke about them taking the same bus, but it would have been tough since UNC played Wake Forest last night and Duke is at UVA tomorrow. UNC won in five sets last night on the road less than a week after losing to the Demon Deacons in five sets at home. The win moved the Heels to 6-9 in conference and 12-12 overall. Louisville should have no issue with the Baby Blues at home, but that's why they play the games. Tomorrow's match is at 1PM and will stream on ACC Network Extra.

Cross Country Wraps Season at Regionals

We haven't talked much about Louisville's running sports this year with everything else that has been going on. As a result, the women's cross country team quietly put together a strong season in their first year under a new program director. Rylee Penn, a grad transfer from Cincinnati led the way for Louisville in yesterday's final meet in the NCAA Southeast Regional, finishing the 6K run in 20:45.2. Her pace was good enough for 31st overall, just missing out on All-Region honors. Louisville placed four more runners in the top 100, with Lexie Paszkiewicz finishing 56th, almost 100 spots better and more than two minutes faster than last season.

Overall, the Louisville women finished 9th in the event. That's their best finish in the regional meet since 2017 and improves on a 22nd place finish in the event a year ago. With no one advancing to the national events, the Cards will get nearly a month off before Indoor Track and Field season begins on December 2nd. 

Cardinal Couple Radio Hour Podcast

We're without Jared this week, as he doesn't want his in-laws to join him on the show or something. The other four knuckleheads (that's right, we've got Daryl back) will have plenty to discuss, as we talk about the continuation of the fall sports seasons and the season opening win for Louisville women's basketball. As always, you can check out the live stream of the show by going to the Cardinal Couple YouTube page and clicking on the live video. Jeff usually creates that about an hour before the show, which officially starts at 11 AM Eastern. If the live time doesn't work for you, there are plenty of playback options, so be sure to check out whichever is best for you!

Cardinal Couple YouTube: Link

Anchor (podcast host): Link

Apple Podcasts: Link

Google Podcasts: Link

Overcast (free account required): Link

Pocket Casts (free account and app required): Link

RadioPublic: Link

Spotify: Link

Until next time, Go Cards!

Case

Cards Overcome Slow Starts for Friday Wins -- SATURDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

Field Hockey Takes Shootout Victory Over Wake

Louisville field hockey's defense continues to impress. They've now held up for three straight shutouts after having just one on the season prior to the streak. The Cards needed that shutout yesterday, as the offense was unable to capitalize on their fairly significant offensive advantage against Wake Forest. The Cardinals and Demon Deacons needed every minute available to crown a winner, as both teams were scoreless throughout the 60-minute match and both 10-minute 7-on-7 golden goal overtime periods. Louisville ultimately came out on top after they scored on their first four stroke attempts, putting the game out of reach after a pair of misses by Wake Forest.

Louisville was the dominant team on offense in this one, and they jumped on Wake right out of the gate. With a pair of penalty corners in the first minute, you might be wondering why I'm claiming they had a slow start. That would be because those two corners led to one shot and were the first two of nine unsuccessful corners for Louisville on the evening. Wake put a shot wide of the cage in the middle of the quarter and both teams entered the break with just one shot attempt.

Just as they began the first quarter, Louisville opened the second with a shot saved off of a penalty corner. This time it was Julie Kouijzer taking the shot instead of Emilia Kaczmarczyk, but Kazzy got the rebound opportunity and, unfortunately, put it wide. Three more corners for Louisville in the quarter saw two more shots blocked or saved and the Louisville offense was being frustrated at every turn. Wake attempted to steal a goal as the game headed to halftime, getting their second (and final) shot of the game with less than 30 seconds to go in the second quarter. Like the first, it was off target and the teams went to the locker rooms tied at 0-0.

As good as Louisville's defense was at preventing Wake from even attempting to get at goal, Wake's defense was incredible in front of goal. Louisville finished the 80 minute open play periods with 11 shots. Only five of those are listed as on goal, as only five required a save by the Wake goalie. However, Louisville only had two shots go wide of the mark. The other four were blocked away by Wake Forest defenders. Louisville was dangerously close to winning the game a number of times and Wake just kept hanging on. Louisville's 0-9 on penalty corners was an unfortunate final tally, but they at least prevented Wake Forest from taking any. The Cards also kept the Deacs from attempting a shot in the second half or overtime. 

Heading into the shootout, Louisville was at risk of dominating an entire game and still moving to 1-2 in the ACC to match their foe on the night. In pretty much any sport, a shootout is a game of mostly luck. Louisville made their own luck. Izzy Bianco took the first attempt of the shootout for both teams and slotted it home. It looked like we might be in for a stressful shootout when Wake's first shooter also knocked the ball home. Lara Niebler got the second opportunity and, again, put Louisville in front. Then came Merlijn van der Vegt. Wake stepped up to attempt to equalize the shootout and MvdV said, "No, thank you." That brought Rylie Wollerton up to give Louisville a 3-1 lead, which she promptly did. MvdV was up to the task again, holding Louisville's 3-1 advantage with another Wake miss, which gave Aimee Plumb (who else?) the chance to ice the game for the Cards. She did so.

Louisville moved to 10-1 on the season and 2-1 in conference play, with the lone loss coming against UNC. The Cards have now outdone their conference win total from a year ago and have looked capable of winning in many different ways. To grind for so long in a game like last night's and not be able to break through would be a perfect opportunity for an opponent to take advantage of a mental lapse. Louisville showed no such weakness. In the end, they came out victorious in what Coach Justine Sowry called a "ripsnorter." Hear that line and more from Coach Sowry at the link below and also hear from senior midfielder Minna Tremonti, who played nearly the entire match for the Cards.

Coach Justine Sowry Postgame

Minna Tremonti Postgame

Louisville is back in action tomorrow when they take on Central Michigan at noon at Trager Stadium. The Cards will try to keep their unblemished home record intact before their next home game welcomes the Iowa Hawkeyes on October 15th. Tomorrow's match will air on ACC Network Extra.

Volleyball Beats UNC 3-1

Louisville volleyball avoided a complete nightmare road trip in North Carolina after their loss on Sunday by recovering from a tough first set to beat UNC 3-1. The win over the Tar Heels was fairly critical as, after a few years of the ACC being Louisville, Pitt, and everyone else, the Cards now find themselves tied for third with Georgia Tech at 4-1 in conference. Miami sits in fifth at 4-2 after they prevented NC State from making it a three-way tie at 4-1 last night. FSU came back to beat Miami in five sets earlier this week to move to 5-0 alongside Pitt, who gave GT their first loss last night. The Seminoles will get a chance to push NC State further down the order when they face off tomorrow.

Enough about the conference standings. Louisville struggled in the fourth set on Sunday, hitting just 0.083 on their way to a 25-15 loss for just their second match loss of the season. Last night, that struggle continued in the first, as Louisville hit just 0.125 with nine attacking errors. They added five service errors and a handling error while giving up three aces to lose that first set 25-19. Apparently the officiating crew was struggling a bit too, as there were at least five challenges in the first set and about 10 on the match. Allow me to remind you that teams get two challenges before the fifth set that they lose if the challenge is unsuccessful.

From there, Louisville turned it up and Cards fans viewing from afar were treated to more of what they expected. Louisville would improve their hitting percentage for the match to 0.246 and committed just 16 errors (still too many) over the next three sets. The Cards also settled in behind the service line, committing just two more service errors over the next three sets and adding three more aces to bring their total on the match to six. 

While Louisville ultimately came out ahead, things were nervy in the second, which very nearly went to extra volleyball. The Cards went up 1-0 and 2-1 before an extended service run by Marissa Meyerhoefer saw UNC jump out to a 7-2 lead. Louisville bounced back with a run by Elena Scott to tie the set at 7, but another stretch by UNC moved the score back to 11-8. The teams continued to trade haymakers and Louisville saw themselves trail as late as 18-17. Three straight points to go up 20-18 and another pair to move to 22-19 seemed to put the Cards in the position to put the set away. Two kills and a block from the Tar Heels put the set in question, though, as they tied it at 22. After the block, Elle Glock went right back to Anna DeBeer, who hadn't had the greatest night to that point, and DeBeer put the Cards within touching distance of the win. Another UNC point tied it at 23, but it was DeBeer once more that gave Louisville set point. PK slammed home an over pass by UNC to take the set 25-23.

The third set gave Louisville the chance to regain their composure. This time it was the Cards that used an early run to seize control of the set, as they took a 9-3 lead and extended it to 11-4. UNC wasn't going away in the 1-1 match, though, especially not at home. The Tar Heels stayed within striking distance for the first half of the set before a four-point run gave Louisville a 22-15 lead. UNC immediately responded with four points of their own to get the deficit back down to three points, but Louisville had seen enough. The Cards won three of the next four points to take the third set 25-20 and move ahead 2-1 in the match.

The fourth was more of the same, but this time with a bit less drama. Louisville again used a pair of early runs to take 6-2 and 10-3 leads. As in the third, UNC tried to hang around, but they were never able to find the big run they needed to get back into the set. The Heels did outscore the Cards 16-15 over the remainder of the set, but when those 15 points were enough for Louisville to win the match, UNC needed a few more to extend it. 

Charitie Luper led Louisville in this one with 15 kills. She did so as a pin hitter with a 0.375 hitting percentage, as well, which is nothing to slouch at. In addition, Luper picked up eight digs, an assist, an ace, and two solo blocks, while contributing one of Louisville's service errors. It was quite the evening for Charitie Luper, and it came when Louisville really needed it. Anna DeBeer was second for Louisville with 12 kills. While her 0.026 hitting percentage is certainly nothing to write home about, recovering to it after hitting -0.429 in the first isn't too shabby. DeBeer matched Luper in digs, aces, and assists, and had a block assist. DeBeer, unfortunately, was the only Cardinal to commit multiple service errors, finishing with three, but it happens. She was still an integral part of the victory.

Joining those two in double digit kills were Cara Cresse with 11 and Aiko Jones with 10. Jones was just one dig off of a double-double and she added four assists, two aces, and two block assists. Cresse had seven digs as UNC did their best to avoid hitting the ball to Elena Scott on defense. Scott still finished with 19 digs, though. No big deal. It was a double-double watch all over the place, by the way, as Scott had seven assists. That means five Louisville players were within three of some stat (digs for four hitters and assists for Scott) of the feat. UNC, for the record, did get a double-double as Louisville hounded the setter defensively. The Tar Heels had three players in double-digit digs and Anita Babic led the way with 13 while claiming 35 of the team's 45 assists.

Both teams finished with seven total blocks, though Luper's were the only solo blocks of the night for either team. The Cards finished even in the service battle, scoring six aces to UNC's five but committing eight errors compared to their seven. Oddly, both teams finished with a pair of handling errors. That said, given some of the calls made on the evening and the number of challenges won, maybe four handling errors in the match isn't too surprising. 

At the end of the night, despite the excitement, Louisville moves to 4-1 in conference and 13-2 overall. UNC drops to 7-7 on the year and now sits in a four-way tie for last among teams not named Syracuse. The Orange's woes continue as they are 2-13 on the year. The Cards will face another team with an upside-down conference record on Sunday when they drive down the road to face the Duke Blue Devils. 

Duke avoided being another team just one game ahead of Syracuse when they beat Notre Dame last night. The Blue Devils are 11-5 on the season and their only home loss was a sweep against Pitt in the first match of the conference slate. Duke opened the season with a pair of losses against Purdue and Loyola Chicago before beating Creighton to start a nine-match win streak to close the book on non-conference play. They went to five sets against Creighton and WVU in that time but lost just two sets in the other seven matches. After losing to Pitt, Duke swept (now 1-4) UVA before a Florida swing saw them drop a pair to Miami and FSU.

Louisville may have started this three-match stretch in North Carolina already looking ahead to Pitt. If so, they paid for it on Sunday against NC State and recovered last night. They cannot afford to overlook Duke, despite the match in the KFC Yum! Center looming. I'm sure they're circling Friday on the calendar as a chance to claw Pitt back down into their clutches in the race for the conference title, but that only works if they take care of business tomorrow. Tomorrow's match is at 1PM on ACC Network Extra, so you'll have to figure out exactly how you plan to watch the end of field hockey (noon) and women's soccer (1PM) at the same time.

Cardinal Couple Radio Hour Podcast

I'm out this week and Daryl is traveling to Albuquerque in a hot air balloon or something, but the rest of the crew should be in the house for an exciting show. Field hockey continues to look strong, women's soccer showed fight against one of the country's top teams, and Jeff is sure to have thoughts after this week's results for volleyball. As always, you can check out the live stream of the show by going to the Cardinal Couple YouTube page and clicking on the live video. Jeff usually creates that about an hour before the show, which officially starts at 11 AM Eastern. If the live time doesn't work for you, there are plenty of playback options, so be sure to check out whichever is best for you!

Cardinal Couple YouTube: Link

Anchor (podcast host): Link

Apple Podcasts: Link

Google Podcasts: Link

Overcast (free account required): Link

Pocket Casts (free account and app required): Link

RadioPublic: Link

Spotify: Link

Until next time, Go Cards!

Case

All photos by Jared Anderson

Cards Pick Up Top-Ten Win -- SATURDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

Field Hockey Knocks Off No. 7 UVA

Louisville field hockey faces a tough schedule every year by virtue of being in the ACC, a league not far removed from having all 7 teams make the NCAA tournament. This is nothing new, and the Cards have been one of the teams making conference play a nightmare for others. Something that comes along with that tough conference schedule, though, is benefit of the doubt that may run out if you aren't consistently winning some of those conference games. Last year the Cards went 1-5 in conference on their way to finishing 12-8 overall. They were still well regarded for the most part, but it's important to show that was a fluke and not a new normal.

Louisville got on their way to proving the doubters wrong yesterday with a 2-0 victory over seventh-ranked Virginia. It was a home match, sure, but it was still a ranked win and a shutout, Louisville's second straight. The Cards used a goal in the second to take momentum into the locker room and scored another in the fourth to ice the game. Defensively, Louisville had Virginia locked down, as the Hoos only managed a pair of shots on goal, both in the fourth quarter. On the whole, Louisville outshot UVA 7-5 and put six of their seven shots on target.

As they did last week, Louisville came out firing, earning a penalty corner in the first five minutes of the game. The ensuing shot was blocked, and neither team would do much for the remainder of the first period, aside from a pair of shots that missed the cage by UVA. The second started as slowly as the first ended, but a substitution bringing Aimee Plumb on halfway through the quarter paid off immediately. Fifteen seconds after the substitution, Louisville earned a penalty corner. Chloe Plumb played the ball in to her older sister, who laid it off for Minna Tremonti to put the Cards up 1-0. Before the end of the half, Aimee Plumb nearly doubled Louisville's advantage, forcing a save by UVA on a shot from open play.

The third quarter was passive once more, with neither team making many inroads into the opposing defense. Louisville finished the quarter with only substitutions on the stat sheet, while UVA had one shot blocked. The Hoos also picked up their first of three yellow cards in that third quarter. In the fourth, things got a bit more frantic. Virginia opened the quarter with possession, pushing hard for the equalizer and forcing Merlijn van der Vegt into action two minutes in. Another yellow card followed shortly after the shot, and Louisville went to work with their advantage. The Cards earned a corner in the 51st minute and saw three consecutive shots saved.

A couple of minutes after that heroic effort, Louisville earned another penalty corner and made sure to put the first shot home. Lara Niebler put the ball in play to Mia Duchars, who sent it to Izzy Bianco. Bianco fired it home to put the Cards up 2-0 and make the remainder of the match much more comfortable. Less than a minute later, UVA tried to cut the deficit back to one, earning a penalty corner and forcing van der Vegt's second save. Despite their 2-0 mountain to climb, Virginia never pulled their goalie, trying to play traditionally to get back into the game. It didn't work, and Louisville moved to 1-1 in conference play.

The Cards needed a win like yesterday's. Before the Miami match, Louisville's only shutout had been in the 1-0 win against Northwestern. After yesterday's game, Louisville has two straight shutouts and have won three straight by multiple goals since losing the conference opener at UNC. Those three multiple goal wins are Louisville's only of that type since the season opening 3-1 win against Northeastern. The Cards now get another weekend at home before a strong late season stretch. Louisville faces Wake Forest next Friday with a chance to beat their ACC record from last season before taking on CMU on the following Sunday. After that, Louisville goes on the road to face IU and Duke before returning home to host Iowa and Syracuse. That's an extremely difficult four-game stretch and another pair of wins ahead of it will do wonders for the team's confidence.

You can hear all about what Coach Justine Sowry had to say after the game and hear from the goal scorers at the links below.

Minna Tremonti and Izzy Bianco Postgame

Justine Sowry Postgame

Cardinal Couple Radio Hour Podcast

We'll have four in play for today's show, with Daryl riding the wave of the Ohio River Valley fall allergy season. Dr. Paulie has prescribed a handful of Hot Toddies with double bourbon to clear the sinuses so we'll hope to get her back in the game for next week. (Although it might be fun to talk with her today after a few of the "remedies") There's plenty to discuss this week, with Louisville seeing wins from field hockey and volleyball and a top-ten matchup for women's soccer this evening. As always, you can check out the live stream of the show by going to the Cardinal Couple YouTube page and clicking on the live video. Jeff usually creates that about an hour before the show, which officially starts at 11 AM Eastern. If the live time doesn't work for you, there are plenty of playback options, so be sure to check out whichever is best for you!

Cardinal Couple YouTube: Link

Anchor (podcast host): Link

Apple Podcasts: Link

Google Podcasts: Link

Overcast (free account required): Link

Pocket Casts (free account and app required): Link

RadioPublic: Link

Spotify: Link

Until next time, Go Cards!

Case

All photos by Jared Anderson

Field Hockey Wins; Volleyball Looks to Follow; Basketball Announces Schedule -- WEDNESDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

Field Hockey Scores Ranked Road Win

Louisville's offense applied significant pressure in the first half but scored both of their goals on just three shots in the second against #25 Miami (OH) yesterday afternoon. The Cards held possession and had plenty of chances, but you wouldn't want to use them as film in a scoring clinic. Ultimately, Louisville came away with a 2-0 victory in just their second shutout of the season. The Cards remain undefeated in non-conference play and pick up a critical win on the road. 

Despite 11 penalty corners and 10 shots in the first half, Louisville was left scratching their heads as they entered the locker room tied at 0. Perhaps it should have been counted as an omen when Louisville earned a penalty corner less than two minutes into the game and failed to attempt a shot. After the first one, penalty corners came in bunches. For the remainder of the half, Louisville never took just one penalty corner in a sequence. seeing a run of three near the end of each quarter split by two pairs. The Cards would end the game 0-12 on penalty corners, so there goes our progress toward a better conversion rate. 

Louisville was at least getting quality shots up in the first, they forced six saves from Isabelle Perese in the first half. Perese would get just one save in the second half, giving up Louisville's two goals on their other two shots in the half. Ironically, Perese's lone second half save came on Louisville's lone second half corner attempt. Fate can be cruel. Although they didn't use a corner to make it happen, Louisville struck quickly in the second half, taking the advantage on a Tyler Everslage goal 27 seconds into the quarter. It was the freshman's third goal of the season, making her alone in third in goals scored. Entering the game, Emilia Kaczmarczyk and Aimee Plumb were tied at four, with Kazzy helped by her brace last week. Plumb made sure they left the game with a gap between them, as she scored the insurance goal with just over 12 minutes to play in the game.

Plumb's fifth goal of the season came shortly after she had been frustrated by a save on a penalty corner. After the clearance from the goal, Louisville immediately stole possession and moved down the field where Lauren Masters sent the ball in for Plumb to knock it into the cage. After the insurance check was in the bank, Louisville's offense hung it up, adding no more stats for the remainder of the game. They ultimately wouldn't need any more offense, though, as Miami could only muster their first and only shot of the match shortly after their first and only corner . Merlijn van der Vegt was up to the task, stopping that one shot and staying awake for the remainder of the match.

The box score doesn't offer a ton as far as how the game looked, but it does paint a picture of dominance for Louisville in this one. They took 13 (8) shots compared to just the one for the Redhawks and had the aforementioned 12 penalty corners to Miami's 1. Granted, as I noted before, Louisville's offense was all for show in the first half. They were clean and efficient in the second with a sharp .667 shot conversion percentage. It was also a deep bench for both sides. Louisville played nine bench players while Miami spread the wealth by playing twelve starters.

Ultimately, the Cards come out with a win against a ranked opponent on the road. It's hard to top that. The Cards will get a couple of days off as their next match isn't until Friday when they host Virginia. Virginia is currently ranked seventh after a rough week saw them need overtime to win one game in their stretch of three in one week.  The Cards and Hoos will get back in action on Friday at 3PM on ACCNX.

Volleyball Takes on Notre Dame

The Louisville volleyball team looks to continue their good vibes after the romp of Syracuse and the moderately less comfortable win over BC when the lights come up for ACCN tonight. Louisville is taking on Notre Dame, who is looking much more this season like a contender or at least a spoiler. After opening the season 2-2 with losses to Texas Tech and Santa Clara, ND has gone undefeated in their last six. Granted, those matches include home against Illinois and Oklahoma, a home-home with Toledo, and the same two conference foes Louisville has beaten. Notre Dame also swept Syracuse (raise your hand if you, personally, have swept Syracuse this season. Don't be shy.) but needed one set more than Louisville to put away BC. 

The Cards and Irish will be on ACC Network proper, which means this one is almost certainly going five sets. Tune in at 7PM and strap in.

ACC Announces Basketball Schedules

Louisville women's basketball now knows what the entirety of their 2023-24 schedule looks like since the ACC has announced conference schedules. There will be a larger schedule breakdown coming, I'm sure, but let's hit the highlights.

In what is likely the last season for awhile that Louisville will play multiple conference opponents more than once in a regular season (with Cal, Stanford, and SMU joining the ACC next year), the Cards will once again get four teams twice. This season, those teams are Pitt, Boston College, Syracuse, and Notre Dame. Louisville will play the first game in three of four of those pairings at the Yum! Center.

Outside of those four, Louisville will host Duke, Wake Forest, Virginia Tech, Virginia, and FSU. That leaves, as I'm sure you're aware, Miami, Clemson, UNC, NC State, and GT as road games. The Cards open and close the conference season on the road, playing Miami on New Year's Eve and getting the honor of being Notre Dame's Senior Day. Louisville will honor their seniors on Leap Day against FSU. 

An interesting quirk of the way the calendar lines up this year means that Louisville will play nine games in February. It would take some individual calculation to determine the last time Louisville played nine regular season games in a month, much less in February, but let's all go ahead and assume it's kind of weird. Please no one ruin this for me.

As I mentioned earlier, more to come on basketball as the season draws nearer. For now, let's continue to support our fall sports teams that are in the full swing of their seasons!

Until next time, Go Cards!

Case

Cards Take Care of Business -- SATURDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

Field Hockey Returns to Winning Ways

After suffering their first loss of the season on the road last week against UNC, Louisville field hockey returned home to face a James Madison team that was not quite as big of a threat as they may be normally. At 2-5 entering the game, JMU was looking to get their season back on track with a big road win against a top-5 opponent, but Louisville had other plans. The Cards struck early and often, with Emilia Kaczmarczyk scoring a brace, to cruise to a 4-1 victory.

Louisville (and Kazzy) very nearly kicked things off even earlier than they actually did, as the Cards earned a penalty corner just two minutes into the game. Kaczmarczyk forced a save on the attempt, but it wouldn't be until later in the quarter that Louisville would score their first. I wasn't able to watch the game, and the box score is quite confused about the sequence of events, but the Cards nabbed the lead on a Chloe Plumb goal halfway through the quarter. Plumb was assisted by Julie Kouijzer, but the question is whether it was a penalty corner goal or not. Louisville took two in the quarter, and the second is listed directly above the goal. However, it is also listed as occurring four minutes later. To further complicate the matter, below Plumb's goal, the play-by-play indicates "tipped penalty corner shot." Either way, Louisville held a 1-0 lead.

JMU tried to answer at the end of the quarter, earning a shot from open play, but Merlijn van der Vegt was up to the task, picking up one of two saves on the day. In the second quarter, Louisville wasted no time doubling their advantage. After a hectic play in the circle, Aimee Plumb ultimately came out ahead, scoring her fourth goal of the year on an assist by Riley Wollerton 1:43 into the quarter. A minute later, Louisville earned another penalty corner, but Kouijzer's shot went wide. The Cards continued to apply pressure and picked up a flurry of shots from the Plumbs in the 22nd minute of the match. Chloe had a shot saved away, but Louisville quickly reapplied pressure. Aimee took a shot that was blocked and bounced directly to Chloe, who fired one more at the cage but missed high. A minute and a half later, Emilia Kaczmarczyk put the Cards up 3-0 with a reverse shot assisted by Lara Niebler. 

JMU decided it was time for a goalie change at that point, replacing Brandelynn Heinbaugh with Katie Frick with five minutes left in the half. The change came in response to Louisville winning yet another penalty corner, but the JMU coach used the opportunity to challenge the call. The call was overturned, though Louisville would earn a fourth penalty corner shortly before halftime. The play resulted in nothing for the Cards, and the teams hit the locker rooms with Louisville still holding a 3-0 lead.

Louisville's offense was slowed in the second half, with the Cards being outshot for the first time in the third quarter. Overall, Louisville led the shot battle 10 (7) to 5 (3). Three of JMU's shots came in the third, as they controlled possession for nearly the entire quarter. The Dukes earned a penalty corner six minutes into the third but couldn't get a shot off. A few minutes later, they earned a shot from open play but it was high. Encouraged by the attack, they kept it up, finally scoring with six minutes to go in the quarter. A pass from the right side ended up right in front of the cage and was knocked in. Coach Justine Sowry asked for a video referral, but the call was upheld, and Louisville's lead was cut to 3-1. Louisville earned a corner a minute later, but Izzy Bianco's shot was saved. Another penalty corner for JMU was the last recorded effort of the quarter, with van der Vegt again stepping up for the save. JMU was ultimately 0-3 on penalty corners.

Just like the second quarter, Louisville opened the fourth on the attack. A penalty corner 1:24 into the quarter saw the play go just as they drew it up. Aimee Plumb put the corner into play, where Tatum Kroon stopped the ball for Kazzy to step up and fire it home. Louisville moved their advantage back to three goals with a 4-1 lead and improved their penalty conversion to two (or one?) of six. JMU would get one more chance to cut into that lead with ten to go in the game, but their penalty corner shot was blocked away. 

The Cards were largely dominant in this one, which is what you'd expect in a match against a 2-5 mid-major opponent. You can check out what Coach Justine Sowry and Kazzy had to say after the victory at the links below. Louisville has another non-conference match before returning to ACC play, this time with an unusual Tuesday midday game at Miami (OH). The Cardinals and Redhawks will get underway at 2PM, and no video is listed.

Justine Sowry Postgame

Emilia Kaczmarczyk Postgame

Volleyball Opens ACC with Sweep

In case you weren't already aware, Syracuse isn't quite the threat they used to be in volleyball. As some would say: "How the mighty have fallen." The Orange entered yesterday's match in L&N Federal Credit Union Arena at just 2-8, with wins over Cornell and Morgan State by a combined 6-1 score. All eight losses had been sweeps, including by teams such as Delaware State, Belmont, and Colgate. It has been a tough year. Louisville didn't make that year any easier, sending the Orange up the road to Notre Dame with a 25-15, 25-11, 25-8 sweep. 

Syracuse held a 2-0 lead in the second set. It was their only lead of the match as Louisville dominated while playing a largely rotated lineup. The Cards hit .452 as a team in the match while holding Syracuse to just -0.056. They did so with just eight blocks, meaning Syracuse had 17 "unforced" hitting errors. Yikes. Louisville committed just five errors themselves, with two of those being Syracuse blocks. 

As I mentioned, the Cards put a lot of players on the floor, with 15 earning at least one set played. Aiko Jones and Elle Glock nursing injuries made way for Brigitta Petrenko and Alanna Bankston to see a lot more time. Cara Cresse also sat this one out, allowing Reese Robins and Hannah Sherman to show their stuff in the middle. The middles had perhaps the biggest coming out party. Robins and Sherman combined for 11 kills, with Robins' seven being second on the team behind nine from Anna DeBeer. Robins also added four block assists to Sherman's three BAs and two solo blocks. Bankston had a nice day as well, coming third on the team in kills with six on fourteen attempts. 

Petrenko played well in relief of Glock, picking up 23 assists on Louisville's 36 kills. Glock had 9 more. It was a relatively muted day at the serving line for Louisville, with a final total of four aces and seven service errors. They did still win that battle, though, with Syracuse matching the number of errors and having just two aces of their own. Louisville got one ace each from Petrenko, Elena Scott, serving specialist Kamden Schrand, and redshirt freshman setter Alexis Finnvold. 

In addition to her four kills on four attempts, Aiko Jones added a solo block in her limited minutes. Elena Scott was the usual stalwart at libero, picking up 15 digs. Depending on which stats you look at, that puts the junior at 999 career digs. The problem is that we can't figure out what stats are being used to give her that number. Disagreements between the stats on the volleyball team page and Scott's individual player page are leading to the confusion, with no obvious distinction to identify why the numbers are different. By our calculations, Scott joined the 1000 dig club earlier this season. At any rate, she's sure to meet the mark on Sunday against Boston College.

Louisville was never in danger in this one, with even the 2-0 deficit in the second quickly turning into a 6-2 and then 10-3 advantage. The first set, ultimately the closest, saw Syracuse hang around early, keeping within touching distance by making the score 7-5. The Cards then won five of the next six points to make it 12-6. A service error made it 12-7, but the Orange would get no closer in the set. Up two sets to none entering the third, Louisville put Syracuse out of their misery quickly. Louisville won the first six points and extended their lead to 13-2. After a few traded points kept the deficit at 11, Louisville went on another five point run to go up 22-6. Believe it or not, Syracuse was unable to win 18 of the next 20 points that they would need to extend the set. 

The win was a good one for Louisville to open conference play, coming off of the unfortunate reverse sweep to start the week against Stanford. Sunday's match against BC will give the Cards another chance to get back in their groove before a Wednesday night match on the road against the always irritating Notre Dame. Louisville and BC will get started at 1PM and the match will be on ACCNX.

Cardinal Couple Radio Hour Podcast

The crew will be a bit lighter today as Daryl and I continue to abuse our bodies (primarily ears, feet, and skin) with another day at Louder Than Life. Paulie, Jeff, and Jared will make sure the show goes on, though, and there's plenty of positive and exciting stuff happening for Louisville on campus to discuss in this week's episode. As always, you can check out the live stream of the show by going to the Cardinal Couple YouTube page and clicking on the live video. Jeff usually creates that about an hour before the show, which officially starts at 11 AM Eastern. If the live time doesn't work for you, there are plenty of playback options, so be sure to check out whichever is best for you!

Cardinal Couple YouTube: Link

Anchor (podcast host): Link

Apple Podcasts: Link

Google Podcasts: Link

Overcast (free account required): Link

Pocket Casts (free account and app required): Link

RadioPublic: Link

Spotify: Link

Until next time, Go Cards!

Case

All photos by Jared Anderson