Cards WSOC upsets Pitt 3-2 -- Field Hockey and Volleyball today -- FRIDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

CARDS OUTSCORE PANTHERS TO GET FIRST ACC WIN

It was a nice turn of events Thursday night for Louisville women's soccer. They jumped out to a 2-0 lead against a Pitt WSOC squad that had been outscoring opponents 21-7 on the season. Pitt made a run, you almost expected they would, but Louisville held firm in the final minutes and walked off the Lynn  Stadium turf with a "W"

How did Cards head WSOC Coach Karen Ferguson-Dayes and her players feel about the 3-2 win? Hard to say, since the team did not do any post game interviews. 

The win was Louisville's second of the season and one that the Cards never trailed in. A huge "thank you" is due goalkeeper Erryn Floyd, who was making some incredible stops out on the pitch and ended up with six saves. She'll also get my "Player of the Week" award...she was spectacular in holding Virginia to just one goal earlier in the week. Credit Emma Hiscock, Emerson Jennings and Mackenzie Geigle as well, all with their first goals of the season. And, credit a tenacious Cards defense that bent a few times but never completely broke. The 3-4-3 alignment seemed to work, and it definitely had the Panthers confused at times. 

If you saw this one as a "back against the wall" scenario for Louisville coming into the match, you weren't far off. The Cards needed a quality win or two to give them some inspiration and hope going into ACC play. The tie on Sunday against Virginia was a sign of things moving in the right direction. Last night's win added fuel to the fire. 

We, at Cardinal Couple, hear all the speculation and murmurs about it maybe being "time for a change" at UofL in WSOC leadership. I can't subscribe to the theory, though. We did see it as a rebuilding year for Cards WSOC and the rebuild has just taken a bit longer than we figured it might. And, the Cards are doing it without Maya Maxwell, Lizzie Sexton and Autumn Weeks....out with injuries or other unspecified situations. 

A long homestand stretch comes to an end, and...the rigors and uncertainties of the road begin, with a trip to Miami for a Sunday match.  Sebastian the Ibus' squad is at 2-4-3 on the season and took a shellacking at the hands of Clemson (in Coral Gables) 5-0 Thursday night. 

Let's wish the "kickin" Cards" the best of breaks and a few wins over the next four matches. Notre Dame, Florida State and Syracuse all have very, very good squads this season and the Cards defense will get a test in the next four. At least Syracuse and FSU are playing in Lynn. 

253 is a sad number for attendance, though, Cardinal fans. Especially for a free match. Maybe a bunch of would be fans were over at Louder Than Life over at the KEC, but the players do respond to and notice cheering crowds. If Dayton can bring in 2,000 for a home game, you'd think we'd could beat that. Maybe the 8 p.m. start played a role in the low attendance (it was a school night, after all)  but...what the ACC Network wants, it usually gets. 

After Friday's matches the Cards are alone in second place in the conference standing with four points. FSU, UNC and Notre Dame are tied for first with six points and 2-0 records. Overall the Cards are 2-1-4. I'm still not sure if I like this new rule about no overtimes until playoff or tournament season. Sure, it shortens a game up, but...maybe, just, maybe the fans who do show up would like to see a winner. Why not go to Field Hockey's reduced players on the pitch and a shoot-out to settle these ties?  The age-old cry of 90 minutes is enough to settle a contest doesn't appear to be holding water this season. There are 29 "ties" on the combined ACC schedule results so far. That's out of about 120 "results" (win, loss or tie)

I could never be a head soccer coach. The "tie" was something I never grew up with playing basketball and rarely encountered on the gridiron. 

I hope to see you out for WSOC on Oct 5th at Lynn. It's the Noles coming to call. With me, it's usually health-related if I don't show, these days. 

Don't lose those new home uniforms, equipment operations crew...they're on a one-game win streak.

( PHOTOS BY JARED ANDERSON)                                  

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A doubleheader on Floyd Street awaits you today. Field Hockey starts it off with a 5 p.m. match against JMU over in Trager and Volleyball hosts Syracuse at 7 p.m. in the LNFCU. I hope to see you at Field Hockey and Jared will be dragging his bad back to both events, most likely.

paulie

WSoc beats NC State 1-0 -- Louisville LIVE -- FRIDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

FRIDAYS WITH DARYL

Hello readers and hello weekend!  It is going to be a great weekend in the Ville with the temperatures going back up (enjoy it while it lasts!) 

SOCCER

The Cardinals break the losing streak to the Wolfpack...winning 1-0 on the road Thursday night. 

Corrine Dente connected for the game winning goal in the 28th minute, assisted by Morgan Bentley.  Maria Echezarreta, goalkeeper for the Wolfpack, had her work cut out for them, registering 14 saves compared to UofL's Erynn Floyd just saving 2 in the entire match.

First half

In the game's first substitutions, Bentley and Dente both entered the match in the 27:47 minute mark and connected under a minute later to put the Cards ahead for good.   It was Dente's second career goal and first since 2019.  The goal was the 7th shot attempt by the Cards at that point in the match.  The Cards had 11 shots in the first half while NC State had just 3.  

Second half

The Cards continued to pressure the Wolfpack registering 13 shots in the second half compared to NC State's two...late in the 49th minute by Leyah Hall-Robinson and then Mia Vaughan in the 67th minute. Neither could get it past Floyd.  In the span of the 70th to 72nd minute, the Cards had 4 shot attempts, two each by Bentley and Karsyn Cherry respectively.  

With the win, Head coach Karen Ferguson-Dayes collected her 200th career win.  The Cards move to 6-6-2 on the season and 3-5 in the ACC. 

UP NEXT 

Louisville at #10 Duke 

Sunday 1:00PM
ACCNX

FIELD HOCKEY

#4/5 Louisville at #12 Syracuse

6:00PM

ACCNX

Currently 12-3 on the season, the Cards hit the road for the final road trip of the season. UofL is 9-12 against Syracuse all time, winning the previous two meetings against the Orange. It is the 8th ranked matchup for the Cards where the Cards went 5-3. Syracuse is 7-0 at home this season and the Cards are looking to spoil that and pick up their 2nd ACC win.

Louisville's Sasha Elliott carries a 0.92 goals against average, standing second in the ACC and fifth in the NCAA. She also leads the nation with an .846 save percentage. Elliott is the reigning ACC and NFHCA Defensive Player of the Week - she has earned both honors twice this season.

Graduate senior forward, Quirine Comans, leads Syracuse with 12 goals on the season. Senior forward, Charlotte De Vries leads in assists with 9 while also taking the teams most amount of shots.

Fun Fact: Freshman midfielder, Lindsey Schiavone, from Louisville KY is on the roster for the Orange. No stats to report. She went to Sacred Heart, winning two state titles.




VOLLEYBALL

#2 Louisville at Virginia

7:00PM 

ACCNX 

Louisville is 17-1 overall and 8-0 in ACC and ranked . The Cardinals have won 37 consecutive league matches. The last team to beat Louisville was Pitt on Oct. 23, 2020.  Louisville leads the all-time series with the Cavaliers, 9-3, beginning in 1995. The Cardinals are winners of the last five matchups against UVA. 

UVA is 9-10 on the season and 1-7 in the ACC.  Outside hitter Grace Turner leads the team with 263 kills. She had 15 kills against FSU and 16 against Miami last weekend.

Middle blocker Abby Tadder posted a career-high 18 kills and hit .517 to lead the Cavaliers to their first win over the Seminoles since 2010.  Virginia is currently 2-76 all-time against AVCA ranked foes, 0-17 all-time against AVCA top-10 and 0-9 against top-5.  

After a career weekend last week for Claire Chaussee and Amaya Tillman,  Louisville has a top 10 showdown with the #8 ranked Pitt Panthers airing on ESPNU at 1:00PM on Sunday afternoon.  




LOUISVILLE LIVE

 

8:00PM 

Louisville Slugger Field

Doors open at 7:00PM 

ACC Network

 

Since the event is being held at Slugger Field, I have the opportunity to work it so I will definitely be out there to 'work' (but mostly cheer) the celebration for the 2022-23 basketball squads.

I can't wait to see Juniors HVL and Olivia out there vibing with each other and the crowd!  I like that this event is 'touring' the city at different iconic local venues.  I hope the fans show out!

 

   

News:  Olivia Cochran is one of 20 watch list candidates for the 2023 Katrina McClain Award. Louisville is one of three teams to have a player named to each of the four positional watch lists so far this season.

Chrislyn Carr was named to the Lieberman Award Watch List, Hailey Van Lith was named to the Ann Meyers Drysdale Award Watch List and Morgan Jones was named to the Cheryl Miller Award Watch List.

As Always 

Go Cards! 

~Daryl