Softball travels to BC -- KY Oaks Day -- FRIDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

Happy Derby/Oaks weekend Louisville, KY!

Glad to see the festivities back on the first weekend in May. Normalcy. Be safe, wear your sunscreen and stay away from strangers if you're heading over to Churchill this weekend... wait.. do that anywhere you go, every weekend! Those are general pieces of life advice!

There are a couple picks I've got my eye on.. I like one of the favorite's Travel Column & Coach for the long shot. 

Post time: 5:51 p.m. Friday at Churchill Downs. Purse: $1.25 million. Grade: 1. Distance: 1 1/8 miles. TV: NBC Sports Network.



Who do you got winning the Lillies?  Let us know in the comments. And you can see Paulie's Picks for the Oaks, and the Derby tomorrow by going to his horse racing site:  PAULIE PICKS

Fun fact, my boyfriend is the person who ordered the Lillies/Roses for the winners circle.  He is in floral wholesale and imported the roses from Columbia & the lillies came from California.  He sells them to Kroger every year for the events. 

SOFTBALL

Louisville (17-23-1, 11-17-1 ACC) is eighth in the current ACC standings while Boston College (11-27, 6-19) is 13th.  The Cards are coming off of a stretch of nine straight games played against top-25 opponents after a four-game series against then-No. 21 Duke, a midweek game at No. 14 Kentucky, followed by last weekend's four-game set against No. 7 Florida State. In that stretch, the Cardinals went 2-6-1 with three games going into extra innings and three games decided by one run. And an 11-inning 0-0 tie against the Seminoles.

Louisville leads the series 8-4. Carmyn Greenwood leads the team and the ACC and stands eighth in the nation with 59 hits.  Taylor Roby has a team-high 12 home runs and 36 RBI standing tied for second in the ACC in home runs and fourth in RBI. She has also produced a team-best 10 multi-RBI games.

Roby (10-9) leads the team with a 2.54 ERA in 30 appearances and 129.1 innings of work.  Its evident that this team is at its best when Roby starts in the circle for the Cards. 

For the Eagles, junior catcher Gianna Boccagno has one of the strongest arms behind the plate in the country. The Florida native leads the ACC with 15 runners caught stealing in 2021.  In all, opponents are just 22-of-37 in stolen base attempts against Boccagno this season.  BC leads the ACC with 17 runners caught stealing.

ACC Team Leaders Caught Stealing

1. Boston College 17

2. Pitt 13

    L'ville 13

Its Senior Weekend for the Eagles. Junior pitcher Susannah Anderson is among the ACC leaders in several categories this season. The ace of the BC pitching staff, Anderson is 7-15 with a 2.40 ERA in 25 appearances in 2021, good enough for 13th in the ACC.

CARDINAL COUPLE RADIO HOUR PODCAST

We've decided to take the weekend off from podcasting with it being a slow weekend on news/games and or teams on the road.  Plus, with the festivities, its a good opportunity to spend time with our people.  We hope you get to spend time with yours too.  

Go Cards

~Daryl 

Lax Falls to UNC -- Golf Hosts Regional -- THURSDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

 Lacrosse Bows to North Carolina

North Carolina has not lost since May 24, 2019. The Tar Heels are the clear and obvious choice as the favorite to be taking home the hardware at the end of May 2021. Along the way, North Carolina wants to take home another ACC title and no one is going to stand in their way.

Unfortunately for Louisville, the Cards were the first off the chopping block with a first round match-up with North Carolina. Louisville fell to the #1-seed 19-6.

UNC scored less than 90 seconds into the game, but Louisville had an answer roughly a minute later as Caroline Blalock found the back of the net. Over a span of the next 10 minutes, North Carolina went on a 6-0 run to take a big lead.

The Ally's took turns trading goals as Ally Hall had an unassisted goal at the 15:54 mark to end the run. UNC's Ally Mastroianni responded with a goal over her own shortly after. Louisville's Ally Hall did find the back of the net one more time before halftime for her 100th career goal.

North Carolina would go on to score after Hall's second goal of the match before Louisville put two shots back-to-back inside the net. Nicole Perroni would score unassisted while Hannah Morris would feed a pass from Blalock two and a half minutes later to score and get the Cards within 9-5. The Tar Heels would close out the half scoring the final two goals for an 11-5 lead at the break.

Things turned sour in the second half. UNC scored eight straight over the span of 23 minutes. The 19-5 lead was more than enough to trigger a running clock.

Caroline Blalock did score the final goal of the match with just 21 seconds remaining to bring the score to 19-6.

For the Cards, they drop to 5-11 on the year but remain in the Top 25 for now. They will now be at the mercy of the selection committee to deem them worthy of making the tournament this year. Louisville faced 12 ranked opponents on the season and had one of the toughest schedules in the country.

Rachel Florek had a notable performance in goal. Despite the onslaught she faced from the UNC offense, the senior keeper recorded 13 saves to go with a .406 save percentage for 54 minutes of play.

Hall, who reached the century mark in goals, is just the 11th Cardinal to do so.

Paulie caught up with Louisville Lacrosse head coach Scott Teeter after the match and you can hear his remarks below: 

LINK :  SCOTT TEETER POST UNC GAME

Golf to Host an NCAA Regional

On the lighter side of news, Louisville women's golf will make history as they host their first ever NCAA Regional. 

For the seventh straight season and 13th time in program history, Louisville golf will be competing in the postseason. They are one of 18 teams that will be in the Louisville Regional, which will be played at the University of Louisville Golf Club in Simpsonville, KY.

The Cards have some tough competition in town for it featuring six ranked teams: #1 South Carolina, #8 Auburn, #9 Florida State, #16 Arkansas, #18 Texas, and #21 Texas Tech.

The top six teams as well as the top three individuals not from one of those six teams will qualify for the NCAA Championships. The Louisville Regional will be held May 10-12.

Derby Festivities

www.kentuckyderby.com

Typically, today we would see the Pegasus Parade marching down Broadway as well as many Louisvillians participating in Thurby at Churchill Downs. With COVID-19, things are still altered, but fans are allowed at Churchill Downs. The parade did not happen like it has in past years, but the City of Louisville did take Pegasus around town a couple different days for people to watch from home and cars. At the track, a 50% capacity is the mandate, and if you go, take a poncho -- it's gonna rain on you. 

We are quickly approaching Oaks and Derby (and Paulie still hasn't given us good picks for the two events *cough cough* all eyes on you Paulie). Many folks have some wonderful Derby traditions. I've had my fair share of going to different Derby parties as well as the opportunity to perform "My Old Kentucky Home" with the UofL Marching Band three times.

You can follow Paulie Picks daily this week to see how he's doing each day with the picks and the results at Churchill. He does well, as a rule, with what he gives you -- and it doesn't cost you a penny to look at his selections !! 

LINK:  PAULIE PICKS

There was no live performance of it last year, but UofL invited current members and alumni as well as other colleges and universities in Kentucky to perform and was featured May 2020. You can enjoy that video below.

Do you have any Derby traditions? We'd love for you to share those!

Happy Thursday, Happy Derby season, and Go Cards!

Jared 

ACC Lacrosse Tournament -- Thank You Softball Seniors -- TUESDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

 ACC Lacrosse Tournament Set

The ACC Lacrosse Tournament is all set. Unfortunately for Louisville, Virginia Tech was sneaky and cheated the Cards out of the 7-seed. Louisville is the 8-seed and will face 1-seed North Carolina.

Louisville (1-9 ACC) beat Virginia Tech (1-8 ACC) in the regular season and would have given the Cards the tiebreak over the Hokies. However, Virginia Tech had a couple schedule changes between weather and COVID-19 protocol and were not eager to make up their final game, giving them a half game edge over the Cards.

The Cards, who are ranked #19 in the most recent poll, seem to be in a position to still make the NCAA Tournament, but upsetting an undefeated Tar Heels team would guarantee a bid.

Louisville hosted North Carolina earlier this season at Cardinal Stadium. The Cards had a couple offensive spurts, but like everyone that has faced UNC, Louisville fell by a large margin in the end.

UNC has not lost since 2019, when they fell in double overtime in the NCAA Semifinals to Boston College. The Tar Heels are also looking to win their fifth straight ACC title (there was no tournament in 2020).

For the Cards, Ally Hall is two goals short of scoring 100 career goals. Rachel Florek has 335 career saves, ranking first in program history. Her .427 career save percentage is third in program history. 

This match is scheduled for Wednesday at noon on the ACC Network. In other action Wednesday, #4 seed Notre Dame get #5 seed Duke at appox. 2:30 p.m., #2 seed Syracuse faces #7 seed Virginia Tech at5:00 p.m. and #3 seed Boston College will go against #6 seed Virginia at 7:30 p.m.

Softball Concludes Home Season, Thank You Seniors

Louisville Softball concluded its home season on Sunday with a doubleheader against #7 Florida State. The Seminoles took the first game by Mercy Rule victory while the second game ended in a 0-0 tie after 11 innings and more than three hours due to a scheduled flight home.

A 1-2-1 series against one of the favorites to win the NCAA title is a plus in my book. It also knocked the Seminoles out of first in the conference and allowed Clemson to take the lead in the conference. Somewhere our buddy Arthur has a big smile on his face.

Louisville recognized a total of eight players, seven from the current season and Caitlin Ferguson, who played her final season in 2020.

Both Paige and Riley Schindler have had some unfortunate luck with injuries, which prevented them from playing the last couple years. Madison Ciaccio had appearances in dozens of games throughout her career and often subbed in at first base. Jordyn Wolfe has seen plenty of action in the outfield and as a pinch runner but also has been plagued by an injury the last couple of weeks. Jennifer Leonhardt joined Louisville for her final year of eligibility and has made a significant contribution in the circle and is second on the team in strikeouts. Maddy Newman spent four years as a starter at second base and has been a behind-the-scenes leader for much of her career. Celene Funke repped the Louisville jersey for five seasons and was one of the most recognizable student-athletes at Louisville known for her charisma and energy.

This senior class has had to overcome a great deal between a mixture of injuries, a coaching change, COVID-19, and now having one of the toughest schedules in the country. Even with so many obstacles, this senior class has proven to be strong leaders and kept the energy level high. We thank all of the seniors for everything they've done for this program.

The Cards sit at eighth in the ACC currently. They have eight games remaining: a four-game series at last place Boston College and a four-game series against North Carolina, who is currently 10th in the conference. Louisville is 3.5 games ahead of Pitt, who is 11th. The Cards need to finish in the top ten to qualify for the ACC Tournament at Ulmer Stadium in mid-May.

(Softball and Lacrosse photos from Jared Anderson) 

Other News

Louisville head Field Hockey Coach Justine Sowry has a press conference this afternoon to discuss the upcoming NCAA Field Hockey Tournament. The Cards still have a few more days before their quarterfinal match-up on Sunday. We'll bring the words to you in tomorrow's Cardinal Couple.

It is Derby Week in the Ville so the parties have begun. Our horse handicapper extraordinaire Paulie is hard at work doing his research for your Oaks Day and Derby Day picks. Stay tuned this week to see what advice and recommendations he has....he's handicapping Weds. thru Sat. this week. Check out his handicapping site PAULIE PICKS at: 

Paulie Picks

The "naming" of Derby Day weekdays began a few years ago with "Thurby" for Thursday at the Downs. Of course, Firday has always been Oaks Day and Saturday is Derby Day -- but recently someone came up with "Mondby" for Monday "Tuesby" for Tuesday and Wednesday has now become "Louisville's Day at the Track"  Someone offered "Wednesby" but that's just going too far, right? 

Happy "Tuesby" and Go Cards!

Jared