We report on the joy and excitement of UofL women's sports here. Thanks for checking us out! Click the picture of Louie to hear the latest Cardinal Couple Radio Hour Podcast!!
We're stepping away from Louisville Women's Basketball for a day to look back at a fall sport and some awesome academic accomplishments for some of the student-athletes. Louisville Field Hockey is one of the smartest team sports due to the hard work and effort of many of the players on the team.
The Cards placed seven student-athletes on the All-ACC Field Hockey Academic Team. The requirements to making the teams are a cumulative 3.0 GPA for your career and a 3.0 GPA in each of the last two semesters. So, averaging a 3.0+ GPA for your career but having a semester where you had a sub-3.0 GPA gets you off the list.
Maintaining a 3.0 GPA or better is already difficult for any student due to the amount of work and studying involved, but adding the athlete part of that (practices, workouts, matches, travel) makes it that much more impressive.
Alli Bitting, Erica Cooper, Mila de Kuijer, Julie Kouijzer, Aimee Plumb, Katie Schneider, and Mattie Tabor were all named to the All-ACC Field Hockey Academic Team.
Bitting had even more great news come in as she was named the ACC Field Hockey Co-Scholar Athlete of the Year. North Carolina's Erin Matson shares the honor with Bitting.
Bitting, who graduated in December with a degree in sport administration, was named to the Dean's List and AD Honor Roll every semester she was a student at Louisville. She is also a four-time ACC Honor Roll selection. On top of her academic accomplishments, Bitting is a three-time NFHCA All-American (first team 2021, second team 2020, 2019) and will have her banner hung alongside the other All-Americans at Trager Stadium.
As much as we love reporting the on-field successes of our student-athletes, we love reporting on their academic successes even more.
Louisville has always prided itself on the academic successes of its student-athletes and it's great to see that tradition continue.
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We're in a three-day break from any women's sporting events. Jeff Walz's squad breaks that hiatus with an 8:00 p.m., tip-off against Florida State on Thursday. The Cards look to extend their winning streak and solidify their second spot in the ACC standings above Georgia Tech and Virginia Tech, both whom are looming nearby. Including Thursday, UofL has 11 games remaining in the regular season, and we know A LOT can change in that time span.
Louisville entered yesterday afternoon's match with a share of the ACC regular season title in hand, but the number one seed in the ACC tournament--and the bye that comes with it--was still up for grabs. As the last home match of the regular season, yesterday marked Louisville's Senior Day. The Cards honored Alli Bitting, Erica Cooper, Mackenzie Karl, Sam Minrath, Camryn Pichea, and Katie Schneider. Outside of Minrath, every other senior earned a start. In a big game for the team and the players, the Cards responded with a big win.
The top-ten matchup was expected to be a tough one, as Syracuse was nearly undefeated in the ACC just like Louisville, though they dropped their last match against Virginia. As expected, it delivered with a close match in the end. The two teams hounded each other offensively, with both registering double-digit shots. Louisville turned fifteen shots into nine on target, while the Orange put six of eleven toward goal. Both goalies were up to the task as well, as they combined for 12 saves. Though Coach Justine Sowry lamented her defense sagging a bit in the second half, the Cards were stout when it mattered, keeping Syracuse out of goal on all five of their corner attempts in the first half and not allowing them to earn any in the second half.
Of those five corners Syracuse earned, four came in the first quarter. In fact, all four came in a row. Just under four minutes in, the Orange worked their way into the circle and fired a shot toward the cage that was blocked by a defender. The block gave Syracuse a corner, and the sequence began. Their first corner came to nothing, though it was put out for another opportunity. The second resulted in a shot, and Mila de Kuijer was up to her first test. The ball wasn't cleared, however, and another corner was given. Third time wasn't the charm, as again it came to nothing but another corner. On the fourth opportunity, Louisville again prevented a shot, this time finally clearing the ball to end the threat. To recap, Syracuse had four corners in 30 seconds and turned them into one shot, which was saved. Bravo to the Cards.
After that, it was Louisville's turn. A couple of minutes later, Charlie van Oirschot found herself with an opportunity on goal and fired a shot that was saved. She'd recover the ball and get another chance, but that shot went wide. Shortly after that sequence, Sowry went to a round of offensive substitutions, and they paid off. Nine minutes into the quarter, five minutes after Syracuse's barrage, Louisville found themselves in position to run the offense. That opportunity resulted in Aimee Plumb finding Filippa Niebuhr in the circle. Niebuhr fired a shot to the right side, and the Cards led 1-0. Syracuse would grab two more shots in the first quarter, but neither were on frame, and Louisville took their lead into the quarter break.
In the second quarter, it was the Cards that came out firing, and it looked as though they may be able to extend their advantage. Mattie Tabor put the first shot of the quarter towards goal just 40 seconds in, but the shot was wide. A couple of minutes later, Louisville started a sequence similar to the one Cuse had in the first quarter. Tabor again got a shot off in open play, and this one was one target but saved. The save resulted in a corner, which saw Emilia Kaczmarczyk have her shot blocked. For the second corner, Aimee Plumb turned the ball over to Alli Bitting to play in. Bitting returned the favor by sending it back to Plumb, who fired a shot on goal, only to have it saved. Bitting recovered the rebound, but her second effort was wide of the cage. After a pair of traded green cards, Syracuse got another chance with a pair of shots, one coming from a corner, but de Kuijer responded with a pair of saves to keep the score line at 1-0 as the teams hit the locker room.
As we have often seen with this team, they come out of the halftime break with intensity. Yesterday was no different, as Louisville found themselves in attacking position just a couple of minutes into the half. After earning a corner, Karl had her shot saved, but another corner was awarded. This time, it was Kouijzer who took the reception, but she passed it instead of firing a first time shot. This proved quite fruitful, as Erica Cooper fired a shot towards goal, and the Syracuse defender who tried to block it away succeeded only in deflecting it past the goalie. Cards led 2-0.
It would be nice to say that the Cards coasted off into the sunset to collect their ACC trophy after that, but then I would be lying. With five minutes left in the quarter, Syracuse worked their offense forward to put a shot on target. This one snuck past de Kuijer, but a defender's stick managed to find the path and earn a defensive save. Unfortunately, the joy was short lived, as the rebound went right back to Syracuse, who knocked it into the cage. 2-1 Cards. On the sequence, Bitting earned a yellow card, giving Syracuse a player advantage and a bit of momentum. They used that momentum to work out another shot a couple of minutes later, but de Kuijer was back on form to pick up the save. A Syracuse yellow card evened the field once more and the score remained as the quarter ended.
Louisville opened the fourth quarter with a flurry of activity. After a couple of minutes to get their feet under them, the Cards went on the attack. Over a minute and change, Louisville grabbed five total shots and two corners, resulting in three saves and a block. Ultimately, the fifth shot was wide and the threat was ended, but it was clear that Louisville was not satisfied with the one-goal lead. Two minutes later, it appeared they would get another opportunity to widen the gap when Syracuse saw a yellow card, but Louisville could do nothing with the advantage as Minna Tremonti got the same treatment 18 seconds later. Syracuse would go on to get one more shot in the match, but it was blocked. Unlike UNC, Syracuse did not gamble with an early goalie pull. They would employ the tactic, but they did it with four minutes left. It would prove to be too late, as the Orange could not even put up a shot with the extra attacker.
Here's what Sowry, Bitting, and Cooper had to say after the win:
Louisville's 2-1 victory gave them 16 wins on the season. That mark ties the school record for most wins in a season, and the Cards will certainly be hoping to break that record as early as next week. I'm sure they'd love to blow it out of the water by winning their remaining five potential games to snag the ACC and NCAA tournament titles, neither of which the Cards have ever claimed. Louisville will get the winner of the BC and UVA game on Friday at 1PM, as they automatically advance to the ACC Semifinals.
Cardinal Couple Radio Hour Podcast
Jeff is back this week so the live YouTube portion of the show should return. We'll see about that, though, as we've been haunted by technological issues recently. At any rate, we'll have four in the house to recap the week that was. Volleyball was off yesterday so we'll have plenty of time to talk about the big win over Pitt from Sunday, the field hockey regular season title, and the wrap up of the women's soccer season. If there's time, we'll look at the WBB Tip-off Luncheon, which Paulie will cover in more detail next week. 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!
When I first looked at what the Louisville Field Hockey squad might look like in the 2021 season, several questions came to mind. The questions probably closely mirror what Coach Sowry was musing as well -- a team that made it to the final four, returned a lot of pieces but also had some huge question marks.
I wondered how they would start out. I reviewed how the past five UofL Field Hockey teams had begun their campaigns and found that, in their first five matches, the Cards were a cumulative 22-3. Perfect 5-0 starts in 2020, 2019,and 2016. A 4-1 beginning in 2017 (falling to Ohio St.) and 3-2 in 2018 (with losses to Ohio St. and UNC).
2021 has been a grand start . The Cards are 2-0, with wins over Ohio and New Hampshire, and (if you count the scrimmages against the alumnae and Bellarmine) have not allowed a single goal in 16 quarters of play -- while scoring 26. .
I also wondered who would pick up the scoring that left with All-American Mechi Pastor when she graduated. Would it be "scoring by committee" or would one or two players assume control of goal-scoring? We won't count the "scrimmage goals" here -- but in the nine regular season goals, six different student-athletes have found net success. Erica Cooper, Filippa Niebuhr and Katie Schneider have two goals each and Mattie Tabor, Mia Duchars and Alli Bitting one each. Bitting is a grad student, Cooper and Schneider seniors, Tabor a junior, Duchars a sophomore and Niebuhr a freshman.
It's a long season -- 16 matches remain, and then an ACC Tournament and (hopefully) NCAA Tournament run. -- so I won't read too much of a trend into the scoring contingent of Louisville yet, Let's just say that there are many capable and keep in mind that these multiple goal-scorers from last season (Aimee Plumb, Charlie van Oirschot and Emilia Kaczmarczyk) haven't put one in the net yet. Plumb was the Cards second leading scorer in 2020 (with six) behind Pastor, who had 13 of the Cards 46 goals.
I also wondered about the progression of goalkeeper in year three without Ayeshia McFerran. Hollyn Barr (who is not on the roster this year) and Sam Minrath were the previous two keepers of the net. I didn't know if Barr would return and if Minrath would continue to shine and stop shots.
Imagine my surprise to find out it's been neither of the two, so far. Freshman Mila de Kuijer, from the Netherlands, has received all 120 minutes in goal. We've gotten no official word on Minrath, we assume it's an injury that is keeping her from dressing out, but you can't fault what de Kuijer has done so far.
Strength of schedule so far hasn't been that strong, but that'll soon change.-- with conference foes around the bend and a potential tough trip coming up next for Louisville Field Hockey to Princeton to play Princeton and Penn. The Cards are ranked fifth in the nation and fifth in the ACC, but that should be changing pretty soon for the better.
One school that has been a bit of a surprise is UNC. the TarHeels are 0-2 after losses in Iowa City, IA to Iowa and Michigan.
I've missed not attending the home slate so far for UofL FH. I'm hoping my health will allow me some chances this year to see live events at Trager. It's one-day-at-a-time right now though, and hope for the best.
In a match that, in a normal year, would've been Senior Night, the wide net Cards finished off the complete sweep of a good Syracuse squad. In the CCRH, we all concluded that last night's volleyball match should be closer and more competitive than the Friday night match. While the results were still a 3 set sweep, the play was much more competitive, and the set scores show it, 25-18, 25-21, 27-25.
Amaya Tillman and Aiko Jones probably getting a block
The Syracuse squad in L&N Federal Credit Union Arena last night was much more like the Syracuse squad we all expected to see here in Louisville. The Orange outblocked the Cards 9-7, and held Louisville to just .216 hitting. Of course, the New Yorkers only hit .136. The lesson being that just slowing down your opponent's offense isn't enough, you have to generate some offense of your own if you want to win games.
Things started well for the Cards, with a jump out to a 8-2 lead in the first set before the Orange seemed to wake up a little bit. The two team would largely trade points the rest of the way through this set, but Syracuse would not be able to close the gap. In the end, a powerful hit by Anna DeBeer would get the Cards the early set lead.
Louisville would play from behind in the 2nd when Syracuse got a 4-0 run early in the set to pull out from a 5-5 tie to 9-5. More even play in the set would see Syracuse maintain that lead through 16-12 when the Cards would go on a mini run of three to shrink the gap, but not close it. Finally, the Cards had enough and went on a six point run to take the lead and stretch it out to 22-18, helped in the process by Tori Dilfer's strong serving. Syracuse could do nothing to close the gap, and Anna Stevenson would close this one out with a bit of an awkward looking, but effective, hit in the middle.
Aiko Jones getting to the hit before the blockers can close out
The last set was a game of runs. It started inauspiciously for the Cards with a pair of attack errors, but they quickly composed themselves and took a 6-2 lead including a string of three straight Aiko Jones kills. The Orange would immediately get three of those back on good serving by the Israeli member of the Syracuse team, Ella Saada. The Cards offense was playing well, but errors, mostly from the service line, kept them from putting together the next run. The Cards would push out a slim lead 13-9, but then the Syracuse blocking would be instrumental in an 8-1 run to eliminate a four point Cardinal lead and get out in front at 18-15. A pair of three point mini runs by the Cards would close down that lead and push the set into needing bonus points, tying it up at 24. Finally, Aiko Jones would say, enough is enough and with a kill, a joint block with Amaya Tillman, and another kill would put the bow on this one, and send Syracuse back home without a set win in the weekend at all.
From a subjective and stats driven analysis, the same conclusions. Our passing and digging were better this match. This has been the weakest link of a pretty strong chain, but the numbers look good, with 16 digs for Libero Alexis Hamilton, and 12 for full-rotation player Claire Chaussee, the rest of the squad was all in the low to mid single digits. I'd like to see more out of the DSes that are seeing time on the court, mostly Ayden Bartlett who only had a pair, but none from Alexa Hendricks, Mia Stander, and Ceci Rush is a little concerning. To be fair to this trio though, they are mostly being used as serving specialists right now, so their time on the floor is limited. Credit Claire Chaussee and Aiko Jones being fully capable of playing full rotations for limiting the role of the DSes.
Freshman Anna DeBeer showing her power
In hitting, Aiko Jones led the team with 17 and a reasonable .270, the newcomer, freshman Anna DeBeer showed her power with 12 on .259. Perhaps keep an eye out this week for a Freshman of the Week honor? I haven't looked around the league to see what others have been up to in comparison, but I'll be keeping an eye out. The other Anna, Stevenson, only had seven kills, but it was an extremely efficient seven on nine attempts and only a single miscue, for .667. A trio of service aces is a decent showing, but more importantly, keeping the service errors from getting out of control with only five helps.
Louisville will take the next week off, and then finish off the season the week after with perhaps the biggest challenge of this odd-ball season by heading up to Pitt for a pair of matches.
Field Hockey Wins
Wake Forest and Hurricane (well, Tropical Storm by that point) Delta made things interesting in Winston-Salem yesterday in Field Hockey. The Cards would get the win 2-1 with scores in the 1st and 4th quarters.
A significant discussion point around this one was the impact tropical system Delta would have on the play and the field. It wasn't clear, even as game time approached, just how much rain would be involved, and based on the comments from the play by play and color people on the telecast, it was looking like they would get away with minimal impacts, right up until the first pass.
But the heavens would open up and a significant amount of water would fall in the 1st half of play. Normally I would point out that turf fields are routinely sprayed down with water to improve the playing surface for field hockey, so a little bit of rain just means a lower water bill for the hosting team. However, in this case, there was enough rain in a short period of time to cause ponding on the field and that will have a dramatic impact on passes and part of the game, even altered how injections on penalty corners were attempted by the team to try to avoid water puddles.
The rain would largely stop, or at least slow down to a very light rain, and the field drained well for the 2nd half.
Beyond Delta, Wake Forest would keep things interesting as well, equally the Cards mark for Shots on Goal with 5, keeping Hollyn Barr busy in the cage. When you broaden to overall shots, the Cards only held a slim edge at 12-10.
The Cards scoring got started late in the 1st quarter with Erica Cooper picking up a cross from Madison Walsh and firing it home. That was Cooper's 2nd goal of the season. Wake would press their attack in the 2nd quarter, but Barr would get a pair of excellent saves to keep the Demon Deacons off the scoreboard in the first half.
That wouldn't hold in the 3rd quarter, though as Anne van Hoof would get a score four minutes in. And, yes, van Hoof is indeed from the Netherlands as you might have guessed from her name. The Cards would press their attack in the later part of the quarter, with eight shots and five penalty corners, but would not be successful in any of them.
The offensive attack would pay off in the opening minute of the 4th quarter, with the injection from Alli Bitting to Meghan Schneider for the stop to present the shot to Emilia Kaczmarczyk who fired it into the cage. That would also be Kaczmarczyk's 2nd goal of the season.
Meche Pastor lead the team in shots, with 6, but she only put one on frame. To her credit, however, for much of the game, she was drawing two and three defenders off of other Cardinal players to contain her.
The Cards will face Wake Forest again today at 2pm, again on RSN (so look around at the various Fox Sports Channels, Fox Sports South is a likely candidate). This match up will not count for the conference record, but will apply to the overall record of the teams, the joys of being in the ACC, the only conference in NCAA DI playing field hockey at all.
Cardinal Couple Radio Hour
Finally, I think it was a winning outing for the Cardinal Couple Radio Hour. With the normal full house, Case, Jared, Paulie, and myself ran through analysis and results of Volleyball, Field Hockey, and Women's Soccer in our ongoing quest to share the joy and excitement of UofL women's sports.
A fun hour, that we kept pretty close to the hour limit so we could shift our attentions over to the field hockey game starting right after.
If you missed it, of course you can join the fun below, or via the Cardinal Couple Radio Hour podcast which should be available at this point via all your normal podcast outlets and directories.
One caveat we have seen here hold true at Cardinal Couple since the days of Louisville joining the ACC is...that if it is ACC competition, it's going to be tough competition. This especially holds true in Field Hockey, where the other six schools that compete in the sport besides Louisville all finished in the top 20 in 2018. Add in four other schools on the schedule that finished in the top 20, plus one that played in the NCAA Tournament, and the 2019 Louisville Field Hockey slate looks daunting, challenging and highly competitive. It is also an interesting schedule in terms of travel and home games. The Cards will play their first five contests (which include the annual Alumnae Game and a scrimmage) at Trager Stadium. Then, it's on the road for six straight. Beginning in October, it's back to Trager for six in a row, and then two on the road before the regular season home finale. From 2018, the ten top 25 on the schedule are #1 UNC, #3 Duke, #7 Iowa, #9 Penn St. #12 Wake Forest, #13 Virginia, #14 Boston College, #20 Syracuse, #21 Ohio St. and #23 Stanford. North Carolina was the NCAA Tournament Champion. 2019 LOUISVILLE FIELD HOCKEY SCHEDULE (home games in bold italics) ( * indicates conference game) AUGUST Saturday, August 24th. -- ALUMNAE GAME 1 p.m. Sunday, August 25th. -- Scrimmage vs. Miami 2 p.m. Friday, August 30th. -- Indiana 3 p.m. SEPTEMBER Sunday, September 1st. -- UMass noon Wednesday, September 4th. -- Kent State 3:30 p.m. Sunday, September 8th. -- at Michigan State 11 a.m. Monday, September 9th. -- UC Davis (at Mich. St.) 11 a.m. Sunday, September 15th. -- at Ohio State 1 p.m. *Friday, September 20th. -- at North Carolina 5 p.m. *Friday, September 27th. -- at Boston College 6 p.m. Sunday, September 29th. -- at Providence 1 p.m. OCTOBER *Friday, October 4th. -- Wake Forest 6 p.m. Sunday, October 6th. -- Penn State noon *Friday, October 11th. -- Virginia 6 p.m. Tuesday, October 15th. -- Stanford noon Saturday, October 19th. -- Longwood noon Sunday, October 20th. -- Iowa 1 p.m. Thursday, October 24th. -- at William and Mary 6 p.m. *Saturday, October 26th. -- at Duke noon NOVEMBER *Saturday, November 2nd. -- Syracuse 1 p.m.
November 6th.10th. ACC Tournament Chestnut Hill, MA. November 16th.-17th. NCAA Tournament 1st and 2nd rounds November 22nd.-24th. NCAA Tournament Championships Winston-Salem, NC
The era of All-Universe goalkeeper Ayeshia McFerran has ended with her graduation. Senior Hollyn Barr saw the backup minutes between the pipes last year and the Cards also have sophomore Sam Minrath, from Louisville's Christian Academy, for goalkeeping needs. Besides McFerran's graduation, the Cards also lose Maria Gomez, Taylor Stone and Katie Walsh via diploma route. Who's back? Some names you might want to get familiar with are: On the attack, the Cards have their top three leading scorers back in Bethany Russ, Erica Cooper and Mercedes Pastor. Complimenting them on offense are Alli Biiting, Katie Schneider and Whena Munn. Katie's sister Meghan Schneider returns and veteran Carter Ayars will grace Trager also. The Cards return 19 letter-winners in all from 2018. Justine Sowry also has seven freshman for the 2019 class on campus. From Louisville, Mattie Tabor (Sacred Heart) and India Reed (Manual). Joining them are a pair of players from the Netherlands in Julie Kouijzer and Thirsa Kho. Emilia Kacmarczyk hails from England and Minna Tremonti (Ann Arbor, MI) and Margot Lawn (Pasadena, MD) round out the newbies. The Cards went 13-6 last season with a 3-3 ACC record. They fell to Wake Forest in the first round of the ACC Tournament and were not selected for the NCAA Tournament. 88 days until the water cannons and competition begin at Trager. We'll keep you updated here at CARDINAL COUPLE with news as it develops. Have a thoughtful Tuesday, Paulie
Sunday was a good day for the Louisville Field Hockey, women's Soccer and Volleyball squads...all winning their matches against foes. The action began late Sunday morning for Cardinal squads and ended up late Sunday afternoon in Louisville, Chapel Hill, NC and Boone, NC...despite the different locations...the results were the same...wins for UofL teams!
FIELD HOCKEY GETS A SUPER COOPER EFFORT
Justine Sowry's stick swingers traveled to Boone, NC to take on the Appalachian State Mountaineers in Field Hockey on Sunday and got a great performance from freshman Erica Cooper offensively in a 4-0 win. Cooper, a freshman from Louisville's Assumption high school, delivered all four of the Cardinal scores and didn't waste anytime in getting started. Just 30 seconds into the contest, she took a feed from sophomore Bethany Russ in the middle of the circle and sent a shot toward the net that found success and the Cards first score. That 1-0 lead increased just 90 second later to 2-0 when Cooper positioned herself low in the circle and got a tap-in against App. State goalie Rachel Gaines. The Cards kept firing, they ended up with 14 shots in the contest...10 of those on goal...and Cooper became the first Card to turn in a hat trick since Nicole Woods last year against Kent State when she followed up a rebound of a shot she took 30 minutes into the first half and guided that rebound into the net to make it 3-0. The first half ended that way 3-0 and Sowry encouraged The Stick Girls to continue to work hard and stay mentally focused in the final 35 minutes.
Aussie "Nic" Youman was a Cardinal FH great.
Cooper's final tally came with ten minutes left in the contest. Mercedes"Meche" Pastor attempted a shot that was blocked by a App. State defender and Cooper was there to follow up the loose ball and knock it in. With the score, Cooper became the first Cardinal to reach four goals since September 17th, 2010 when Nicole Youman produced a four-bagger against Georgetown. With the win, Louisville improves to 7-3 on the season. They'll return to action Saturday when they travel to Virginia for a match against Wahoo Nation...UVA. SOCCER SCORES LATE TO DOWN SYRACUSE 1-0
Louisville women's Soccer took the field Sunday afternoon in overcast and blustery conditions to face 3-7 Syracuse in ACC play. Most figured the 8-1 Cards would take the contest over the Orange...but few could have predicted just how they did it. The Cardinals began the first half, and spent much of the game, in Syracuse territory trying shots against both Syracuse goalkeepers (they switched the net-tenders at halftime) but the crosses weren't quite connecting and after 45 minutes of play, the teams were still right where they started...locked in a 0-0 contest. We don't know exactly what Louisville head soccer coach Karen Ferguson Dayes said to the squad at halftime...Coach told us post game that she'd been "rough" on the girls lately during the intermission breaks...but whatever she said seemed to inspire a more consistent and organized attack on Syracuse. The emotion level seemed to be more pronounced in the Cardinal players in the final half. The shots kept coming...Louisville had a 9-4 advantage in shots in the first half and a 10-3 domination in the final 45...but the Syracuse goalkeepers combined for 10 saves in the contest. Still, nothing was crossing the line and as time ticked down, it certainly appeared that we would be heading to overtime soccer. Then, the "Rivers" flowed. With 15 seconds remaining in regulation, Maisie Whitsett drove toward the goal for what appeared to be another attempt to score. She deftly got a pass to Brooklynn Rivers on her left, though...the pass fooled the Orange keeper and Rivers drove it home with nine seconds on the clock. A beautiful cross...and the Cards had a 1-0 lead. Pandemonium erupted on the field nine seconds later and the Cards were now owners of a 9-1 record and 3-0 in the ACC.
Our photographer Jared Anderson captured the celebration post-game. Another late win for Louisville, against a determined Syracuse squad that didn't play like a team that was 3-7 and 0-2 in conference. Cardinal goalkeep Gabby Kouzelos had a relatively quiet event, only having three shots on goal to defend. The 19-7 Louisville shot advantage included 11 shots on goal, Emina Ekic and Callie McKinney trying four shots. We caught up with a joyful Rivers after the contest. You can hear both her and Coach K's post-game remarks below: POST-GAME BROOKLYNN RIVERS
One of the best starts in history for Louisville women's soccer. A team that was pre-season picked to finish ninth in the ACC now sits atop the conference standings with North Carolina. That showdown between #1 and #2 looms.... Louisville returns to action September 29th., when the Cards travel to Chapel Hill, NC to face the North Carolina Tar Heels.
(Thanks to Jared for the WSOC pictures you see in today's column and the post-game remarks.)
VOLLEYBALL WINS IN FIVE OVER UNC The Serve and Volley Cards completed the Sunday activities for Louisville women's sports and survived a five-set, back and forth tilt with the TarHeels in Chapel Hill...25-20, 22-25, 25-20, 25-27, 15-13.
A match that featured 19 Melanie McHenry kills and 18 from Megan Sloan. It came down to a 13-13 tie in the fifth set. For UofL, though, Amanda Green stepped up with two straight kills to clinch game, set and match for the Cards...who go to 9-4 on the season and 2-0 in the ACC. A relatively easy first set for Dani Busboom Kelly's squad, jumping out to a 7-2 lead and leading 18-12 before taking the five-point victory. Emily Scott had three straight points in the set (two blocks and a kill) and Jasmine Bennett delivered the final kill to put the first one in the win column Set two featured a high hitting average for UNC (.353) and the Tar Heels held a 21-16 lead before Louisville battled back to get within two at 23-21. North Carolina took two of the final three points, thoug, to get the three-point win. UofL rallied back after the break despite a slow beginning to the third set...trailing 7-1. The Cards evened the match at 15-15 on a McHenry kill and found themselves knotted with UNC 20-20 before running off the final five points. McHenry's service ace closed out the 25-20 Louisville win in set three.
A back and forth set followed, the Cards leading early 5-1 but NC rallying to tie it at 8-8. Plenty of ties in the set (14) and it came down to a 25-25 tie before two straight North Carolina kills closed it out and a fifth set awaited. Louisville returns to the hardwood later in the week with another road trip...beginning Friday, Sept 28th. in Atlanta against Georgia Tech and then to Clemson to face the Tigers on Sunday, Sept 30th. A great Sunday for Cardinal women's athletics. Despite a rather dismal start to the weekend...when Cardinal Football fell on their face at Virginia 27-3...the sun came up Sunday morning and the Cards gather three wins. Have a great week, everyone! Enjoy what Jared and Case provide here the rest of the week and I'll "see you on the radio" and Facebook Live on Saturday with The Cardinal Couple Radio Hour. paulie xxxxx
Volleyball Earns Sweeps in First Two Matches of Season
Louisville Volleyball opened their season yesterday in the Cardinal Classic, hosting three teams in Cardinal Arena. Louisville played their first game against UT Martin and showed the fans on hand that last season's performances were no fluke by putting together a dominant performance against the outmatched Skyhawks. The Cards finished the match hitting .478 as a team and had a whopping 10 aces. UT Martin was outscored 75-36 over the duration of the match, with the closest game of the three coming at 25-17.
Despite Melanie McHenry and Amanda Green both finishing with 9 kills, it was really Piper Roe who paced the office, converting 8/11 attempts with no errors to finish the night with 8 kills and a .727 hitting percentage. Roe also added 5 block assists and a dig to round out a very solid match. My player of the match would have to be Wilma Rivera, though. Rivera picked up right where she left off and finished the first match of the day with 2 kills (on 2 attempts), 23 assists, 4 aces, 2 blocks, and 7 digs. Rivera was the Setter of the Year last year and it is good to see her come out of the gate strong.
Unfortunately..we found out before the first game, Louisville lost a key contributor on defense in Alexis Hamilton. It was confirmed by her family at the later game that Hamilton tore her ACL and will likely miss the remainder of the season. Look for Coach Dani Busboom-Kelly to apply a medical redshirt to Hamilton this year to give the sophomore an additional year of playing time.
In their second match last night, Louisville took on the Salukis of SIU. The team from Illinois put up a bit more of a fight, scoring a total of 42 points, and pushing one game to 25-19, but in the end, Louisville walked away with a second sweep. The Cards again hit well as a team with a .443 performance, and finished the second match with 7 aces. Unfortunately, the aces were outnumbered by service errors, and you know that I like to look for the bad in the good to find things the team can improve.
Despite her effectiveness in the first match, Piper Roe did not start the second match. Roe came away ok with her limited opportunities, though, earning a kill on 4 of 6 attempts, but erring on the other two. It was Emily Scott that started in place of Roe and Jasmine Bennett that played a similar game to Piper. Bennett finished the match with 10 kills on 15 attempts with just one error for a .600 hitting percentage. McHenry and Green were again strong, with 10 and 8 kills respectively, and Rivera again put together a solid match with 38 assists. The new transfer, Marijke Van Dyke, finished the second match completing 4/5 attempts with no errors and may find herself moving up the depth chart if such success continues.
Louisville will wrap the Cardinal Classic today against IUPUI at 5PM and will look for another strong outing. Winning 9 straight sets would be a good way to start the season. I will be looking for the Cards to perform better in the second set, as that was where the best games came from both opponents yesterday. Jeff will have plenty more to say about this opening weekend in his writeup tomorrow so be sure to check back in then!
Field Hockey Defeats Indiana in Opener 2-1
The Cards opened and closed the scoring yesterday with both goals coming on converted penalty corners. Shout out to the box score play-by-play for calling them "penalty kicks". Maybe they let Paulie at the controls for a moment. Louisville's first goal came after 23 minutes from Bethany Russ. Russ was active on the ball yesterday, taking a total of 6 shots and putting 2 of them on frame.
The Louisville lead would last only 4 minutes, as Indiana scored a goal in the run of play after a bad pass from the defense led to an open breakaway. To the potential surprise of many, Ayeisha McFerran heard her number called yesterday to start the game in goal. She gave up the one goal (but it is hard to blame a goalkeeper for getting scored on in a one-on-one situation) but finished the game with 4 saves, including 3 during a tied second half.
After Indiana's goal, the two teams went on the be frustrated for about 43 minutes before Louisville's Erica Cooper prevented overtime with a goal with no time on the clock. Louisville was awarded a penalty corner as time expired, and field hockey rules state that the penalty awarded team must be allowed an untimed play to complete their offensive attack. Indiana was unable to clear the ball, and a second attempt from Cooper saw her loft a shot over the IU keeper for a buzzer beating goal. It was the first goal of the freshman Cooper's career at UofL, and it came at a pretty good time for the Cards.
The goal gave Louisville a 40% completion rate on penalty corners for the day while the Cards successfully defended all 5 attempts from the Hoosiers. The defense for this team will be a strong point for Louisville, but the passing and possession out of the back will need to be cleaned up to prevent more open attempts like came in the first half of yesterday's game. It was good to see McFerran back in the goal so quickly and playing well when it was expected that she would miss a few games.
Louisville field hockey is back in action tomorrow at 1PM against Ohio State at Trager Stadium. The game is available on ACC Network Extra.
Rouse and England Place Third
Like Ayeisha McFerran, Mollie Rouse will be returning from international duty with some hardware in tow. The Young Lionnesses were bumped from the finals in a defeat by Japan earlier this week, but took on the host team France in the third place game yesterday morning. Japan went on to defeat Spain 3-1 in the championship. It took penalties for England against France after the teams were tied at 1 with both goals coming in the second half. England converted 4 of their 5 penalties in the shootout and held France to just 2 of 4 (the last kick by the hosts being moot). Rouse will likely not return to the squad before tomorrow's match against Michigan, but may be back with the team by Friday's match against Kentucky. Match fitness shouldn't be an issue after starting nearly every game for England, but her team cohesion, as mentioned before, may be. However, with the surprising speed of McFerran's return to the field hockey starting lineup, I'll be keeping an eye on Coach Karen Ferguson-Dayes onboarding of Rouse. The Cards take on Michigan tomorrow at 2PM. No video is listed for the game.
Cardinal Couple Radio Hour
We're without Jared today, but should have plenty to fill our Cardinal Couple Radio Hour as more fall sports have gotten underway. We'll talk women's soccer, volleyball, and field hockey as all three have been active and will do our best to generally present the joy and excitement of Louisville women's sports. As always, join us on WCHQ at 11AM via 100.9 FM, wchqfm.com, the WCHQ app, or on Facebook Live.
