LOUISVILLE, KENTUCKY FACE OFF IN WOMEN'S SOCCER
There will be 16 events between Louisville and Kentucky in the 2018-19 schedule for Louisville Athletics. 14 sports go head-to-head, with Softball and Baseball meeting twice. 8 on the men's side, 8 on the women's side.
The first "Battle of the Bluegrass" takes place tonight in Louisville's Lynn Stadium...when the Cards and Cats take to the pitch at 5:30 p.m.
Tonight's contest is part of a soccer double-header at Lynn, with Louisville Men's Soccer facing St. Louis after the women's game. The match has been designated a "Red Out", so make sure you're sporting your red Cardinal gear if you go. (Unless you're a Cat Fan, of course).
Karen Ferguson Dayes and her Cards come in unblemished after four matches this year. Louisville has earned wins over Wright State, Xavier, at Dayton and at Michigan so far in August. Brooklynn Rivers and Maisie Whitsett lead UofL in scoring with three goals each.
- Rivers' scoring came in one game, when she pulled off the hat-trick against Michigan. The Cards have scored 14 goals in their four wins, while allowing just three to be scored against them.
UK enters Lynn with a 3-1 record. They recently fell against Wisconsin in Lexington and have gained victories over Morehead, SIUE and Arkansas-Little Rock. Kentucky was pushed to overtime in the Morehead and Arkansas-Little Rock wins. The Cats are led in scoring by Yuuka Kurosaki and Hollie Olding...who have three goals each on the season.
Last year, Louisville visited Lexington and came home with a 3-1 win in rainy Bell Soccer Complex. It broke a six-game UK winning streak over Louisville women's soccer.
Keys to a Cardinal win tonight? We'll look at three things in Paulie's Pre-Game Primer.
1) Shutting the door. Louisville's defensive middle of "Gabby squared"...keeper Gabby Kouzelos and Gabrielle Vincent have proven to be a tough task for offenses to overcome so far this season. They'll need to stay strong on the stops to ensure the Cards outscore the Cats. Freshman Sarah Hernandez and Arianna Ferraro have also helped build that impenetrable wall by the net and continued success from those two will be needed if the Cards are to push the win streak to two against Big Blue.
2) Flying Freshmen. The Cards have received a pleasant burst of efficiency and scoring from their freshmen this season. In addition to Whitsett's three scores, Delaney Snyder has found net success twice. UofL has also gotten valuable contributing minutes from first-year student-athletes Anna Henderson, Amari Hopkins and Morgan Jackson . Anything the freshman can contribute tonight will only boost UofL's win chances.
3) Ekic Energy. The scintillating sophomore Emina Ekic has two goals on the season and had two goals against Kentucky last year. She's a marvel and joy to watch on the pitch and seemingly fully recovered from the ACL that ended her season in 2017. A midfielder from Louisville Manual High School, Ekic knows one speed -- full throttle. We would like to see her duplicate her scoring total from last year against UK. Know this -- a good Ekic performance tonight is essential for a Louisville victory.
This one will be available on the ACC Network Extra and ESPN + at 5:30 if you can't get out for it. There is a 40% chance of rain and temperature is expected to top out at 90.
Good ol' muggy Louisville weather, right?
VOLLEYBALL FACES UCF IN FRIDAY FLORIDA ACTION
Moving on to a different type of net and different player personnel, Dani Busboom Kelly takes her Louisville Volleyball squad to Gainesville, FL for action in the Bubly Tournament...hosted by the University of Florida. No pre-game tailgating for the Louisville/Alabama football game for these set and serve stars...they'll be involved in three games in three days and start it off against an Orlando squad and former conference foe in Central Florida.
Jared Anderson gave you a great preview of all three matches in the Thursday CARDINAL COUPLE and I encourage you to check out his article. He's down in Orlando, doing whatever Jared and Katy do, but it's rumored he'll be tweeting and taking phone pics. Follow him at @MrAndersonJared.
The Cards found net success in their season opening Cardinal Classic tournament with convincing wins over Tennessee Martin, Southern Illinois and IUPUI...sweeping the three game round robin.
Louisville's offense, so far, has been led by Amanda Green and Melanie McHenry. They lead the Cards in kills with 28 and 26 respectively. Senior Molly Sauer stands out for the defense with 40 digs. She was also the Cardinal Classic MVP and joined on the All-Tournament team by teammates Jasmine Bennett and Wilma Rivera.
The competition goes up a few notches this weekend, starting with UCF. They began their season with two wins and a loss in the Sunshine State Challenge....downing Florida Gulf Coast and Florida Atlantic but falling to ACC opponent Miami.
MYSTERY AND INTRIGUE...PLUS THE CARDINAL COUPLE RADIO HOUR.
We'll have more on the other two opponents (Florida on Saturday and Southern California on Sunday) as those matches draw closer. Viewing for UCF today is allegedly available at the link below:
http://www.espn.com/watch/_/id/3429012/ucf-vs-louisville-w-volleyball
The listing at the link, though, shows the match will take place Sunday at 1 p.m., which is incorrect, according to what we've heard. The Golden Knights and Cards are scheduled for a either 4 p.m. or 6 p.m. start (once again, two sources, two different game times listed).
You can also supposedly follow action at the stats link below...I tested it, however, this morning and I got a "not valid URL" message :
http://www.sidearmstats.com/florida/wvball/
We'll have a recap of the opener in Florida for you regardless of time and stat availability, though, here in the Saturday Cardinal Couple column and we'll also recap it on Saturday morning's broadcast of THE CARDINAL COUPLE RADIO HOUR at 11 a.m. on WCHQ 100.9 FM and Facebook Live. No mystery or intrigue there, as far as we know.
We'll have Ky. Women Talk Sports co-host Daryl Foust joining Worldwide Jeff McAdams and I for the broadcast along with River City Cards managing editor Mike Gilpatrick. It should be a legendary show...don't miss it!
paulie
xxxxx
WOMEN'S SOCCER HOSTS THE RAIDERS TONIGHT AT 7:30
It's here! The official start of the Louisville 2018-19 fall and women's sports schedule.
Louisville women's soccer gets things underway this evening with a 7:30 p.m. match against the Wright State Raiders in Lynn Stadium. It's good to be writing about events again and getting official stats and (hopefully) interviews for you to read and reflect on here at Cardinal Couple.
The Kickin' Cards bring in Wright State, a foe that is (surprisingly) 12-3-1 all-time against the Cards. Louisville did take the 2015 match up between the two the last time they met 2-1...at Lynn Stadium.
ABOUT THE FOE:
Wright State, located in Dayton, OH, went 12-8 in 2017 and 6-3 in Horizon League play. They finished fourth in the conference last year and are picked to finish third in a Horizon League preseason poll.
Two of their three leading scorers return. Mattie Cutts, a senior out of Colorado Springs, CO. (Jeff Walz's favorite destination) and Jordyne Helinski, a junior from Bellville, OH. (which is just off I-71 and located in north-central OH) will headline the attack for Coach Pat Ferguson. He's been the Raiders head coach since 2005 and complied a 204-156-41 record at Wright State. Also keep an eye on senior forward Aaliyah Patten.
The Raiders went 1-1 in preseason exhibition matches. A trip to Indy to face Butler ended up revealing that "the Butler did it" in a 4-0 shutout win. WSU hosted Bowling Green at home in their final exhibition and bested the Falcons 3-2.
The Wright State match is the first of two for Louisville Women's Soccer that'll take place in Lynn over the next four days. The Cards welcome in Xavier on Sunday.
CONCERNING THE CARDS
Louisville returns nine starters from the 2017 squad which complied a 9-7-2 record. The Cards were prognosticated to finish ninth of out 14 ACC teams in preseason predictions. The top three scorers for Louisville return in Emina Ekic, Brooklyn Rivers and Allison Whitfield.
The Cards strong middle defense with Gabby Kouzelos and Gabrielle Vincent (Gabby squared" ) also returns for the Cards. Niamh Nelson, Kennadi Carbin, Sarah Feola and Nadege L'Esperance should also provide a strong scoring ability for UofL. Mollie Rouse, a sophomore midfielder for Louisville, is currently in France playing for England's U 20 World Cup squad and will miss a few early games. When she returns depends on how well the English do...they face The Netherlands Friday night in quarterfinal action.
Karen Ferguson Dayes has 18 seasons in the books for Louisville and has a career record of 157-149-35.
Louisville has two exhibitions in the books...one we know the results of...a 4-0 win over Morehead State University back on Saturday night and a scrimmage against an "unknown opponent at an undisclosed location with a unrevealed result."
STUFF YOU MIGHT WANT TO KNOW:
-- You might pack rain gear (in clear plastic containers) when you head out for tonight's contest. It's been raining since Wednesday night in Louisville and there is a 70% chance of rain for Thursday.
-- Tickets for tonight start at $5 for general admission and can be purchased at the door about an hour before the contest, via TicketMaster or over the phone at (502)GO-CARDS. Season Tickets are available as well at the phone option listed above.
-- You might want to leave early or be prepared for delays. It is the first night of the Kentucky State Fair and traffic could be snarly around the Crittenden Drive, Eastern Parkway and I-65 areas near the stadium.
-- Tonight's contest will be shown on the ACC Network Extra. No word on who has the call yet. I'm 99% sure it won't be me or Cardinal Couple soccer aficionado Case Hoskins.
-- We do know Cardinal Couple official photographer Jared Anderson will be there "snapping" things, in addition to banging drums, shouting and other non-sense... so shout out "Hi, Jared" when you see him down on the turf. Refrain from tossing him small treats...once you feed him, you'll have a hard time getting him to leave. As for Worldwide Jeff, I'm forecasting a 40% chance of him showing up. Thursdays usually have him playing trivia or haunting Bardstown Road if he isn't swimming in the digital ocean.
Go Cards tonight and hopefully we'll see you at Lynn for a Cardinal win!
SYD STARS FOR G.W IN SPAIN
Sydney Zambrotta, who played for the Cards WBB squad for two seasons, has transferred to George Washington...as most of you are aware of. She's with the GW team in Spain this late summer...transfers are able to play in events like this even though they have to sit out a season in NCAA competition...and she led George Washington in scoring with 19 points in a 63-58 win over S
panish team CD Cref in Madrid. She had 13 of the 19 in the second half.
No box-score that I could find on this one...but Syd was 3 for 5 from three-point range.
paulie
xxxxx
LOUISVILLE WSOC -- TALENT RETURING, TONS OF FRESHMEN
Over the next several days this week, we'll be looking at some of the Louisville women's fall sports and trying to provide a pre-season analysis of how they might do and who will be doing it in their contests.
We'll start with Louisville women's soccer, who actually have started their season with a 4-0 exhibition win over Morehead State Saturday night in Louisville at Lynn Stadium.
Cardinal Couple's Case Hoskins will provide a lot of the breakdown and analysis of the WSOC games this year -- he'll be our "lead" when it comes to the sport -- and his thoughts may differ from mine (Paulie) or the other staffers...but I'll also be at all the home contests I can make and will offer today my "take" on the season and squad. Plus, I hope to have plenty of post-game interviews with Coach Ferguson-Dayes and players through-out the 2018 season.
30 student-athletes are listed on the 2018 Louisville WSOC roster and 13 are freshmen. When 43% of the roster are freshmen, it can be a bit of an uncertain...but exciting and maybe a little nervous time for a coach. Ask Karen Ferguson Dayes. Out of the freshmen, it's our best guess that we'll see significant playing time from defender Sarah Hernandez, forward Delaney Snyder, midfielder Anna Henderson, defender Morgan Jackson and forward Amari Hopkins.
Out of the returning 17 Cardinals, Emina Ekic returns from a season-ending knee injury last year and should be very influential in the offense. Midfielder Mollie Rouse is still in England playing for the English U 20 World Cup squad and, depending on how they do (they've already qualified for the quarterfinals), she may not be back until the Michigan or Kentucky game in late August. "Gabby squared" -- Gabby Kouzelos at keeper and Gabrielle Vincent at middle defender, give the Cards a strong middle in the defensive set. Those two were a strong presence in last year's defense, which produced eight shutouts. Lana Batson provides strong backup as a reserve keeper.
Niamh Nelson, Nadege L'Esperance, Taylor Kerwin, Brooklyn Rivers, Allison Whitfield and Kennadi Carbin all provide excellent scoring potential for the Louisville offense...the state of Kentucky trio of Ekic, Rivers and Whitfield were the leading scores last year for the squad. Nine starters from last year return.
A roster breakdown by state (and country) shows six players from Kentucky (five from Louisville), six from California (four from San Diego) and five from Ohio. Two players from Colorado and one each from New Jersey, Virginia, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Wisconsin, Tennessee and Washington. Two Cardinals are from Canada and one is from England. By class the roster has 13 freshmen, seven sophomores, eight juniors and two seniors.
The schedule features 17 games before the ACC Tournament. Nine will be played at Louisville's Lynn Stadium. There are ten conference matchups, Louisville playing each of the 10 schools once. There are actually 14 teams that play women's soccer in the ACC, the Cards will not face Boston College, Clemson or Florida State in regular season play. That might work out well for Louisville...FSU is ranked #10 in preseason polls and Clemson is in the "also receiving votes" column.
In 2017, the Cards went 9-7-2 overall and 3-5-2 in conference.
The Cards open the regular season with two home games... Wright State, from the Horizon League (12-8, 6-3 in 2017) followed by A-10 school...Xavier (8-8-4, 4-3-2). I will predict the Cards put both in the win column.
Trips to another A-10 school in Dayton (9-9-2, 4-4-2) and the Big 10's Michigan (6-6-6, 3-5-3) follow. I'll predict a win over Dayton and let's go with a tie against the Wolverines.
The Kentucky Wildcats (8-12, 3-7) visit Lynn Stadium on Aug. 31st. Louisville defeated the SEC school at Lexington last year 3-1 in a rain-soaked affair and I choose Louisville as the winner again this year.
Next the Kickin' Cards travel to Purdue (10-7-2, 5-4-2) on Sept 6th. The Boilermakers have looked pretty good in exhibition play, beating Indiana State and battling preseason #14 Notre Dame to a scoreless tie. I'll say Purdue in a low scoring affair up there.
Louisville ends the non-conference part of the schedule against Eastern Kentucky from the OVC (11-5-4, 6-1-3) at Lynn and I'll go with a UofL victory prediction here.
ACC play begins Set 15th. at Pittsburgh. The Cards were predicted in the preseason poll to finish ninth out of the 14 schools. I think they'll do a little better than that and be one of the eight schools that make the ACC Tournament. Against Pitt (0-9-1, 3-12-3) I see Louisville winning their first conference game.
Thursday, Sept. 20th. features Notre Dame coming to town. The Irish were 9-8-5 overall in 2017 and 5-3-2 in conference. They finished the season ranked 18th. in the polls. The prediction here is a hard-fought battle that ends in a tie.
Louisville hosts Syracuse (7-8-2, 2-6-1) on Sept 23rd. and I'll go with the Cards getting their second conference win in this one.
A trip to North Carolina (17-3-2, 8-0-2) follows on Sept 29th. Last year, the Cards pulled off a major shocker against the #8 school in the nation with a scoreless tie. The TarHeels are preseason-ranked at #6 this year and I hate to say it, but I think they get the better of Louisville in 2018.
October features six ACC matches. Virginia (13-7-4, 5-2-3) comes to visit on Oct. 4th. The Cavaliers finished 2017 ranked #9 in the nation and took Louisville 1-0 last year in Charlottesville. I'll hope for a loud and rowdy Thursday night crowd that will help Louisville get a tie against Wahoo Nation this year.
Sunday, Oct 7th. brings Miami (1-9-1, 5-11-0) to "the Ville" and I think the Cards pick up their third conference win in this one over Bassy the Ibus and company.
Louisville goes on a three game tour of the state of North Carolina next, beginning with a October 12th. stop at Wake Forest (13-7-4, 5-3-2). UofL tied the Demon Deacons last year in Lynn Stadium 0-0 and I'll call for another tie this year in Winston-Salem.
The road trip continues in Durham on Oct 21st. with a Sunday match against Duke (10-0-0, 23-2-1). The Blue Devils are placed #3 in the nation in preseason prognostications and I'm afraid they'll have a little more than the Cards can handle and defeat UofL.
The tour of Carolina ends with a Oct 21st. visit to Raleigh and the North Carolina State WolfPack (15-5-2, 6-3-1). The Cards visited there in 2017 and left a 2-1 loser. N.C.State finished 21st. in the nation in 2017 and they'll give Ms. Wuf a reason to dance and they'll probably best the Cards again this year.
Louisville ends the regular season on Oct. 25th. when they host Virginia Tech (1-5-3, 7-6-5) on a Thursday night. These two did not meet in 2017. I'm predicting a Cardinal win to end the regular season.
So, let's recap. I'm calling for a 10-3-4 overall finish and 4-3-3 ACC mark. That would equal out to 15 "points" in conference standings. That's also four more points than Louisville amassed in 2017. Boston College was the final qualifier for the ACC Tournament with 13 points in 2017.
Feel differently about the season? Agree with me? Let me know in the comments section.
Injuries, weather conditions and players who shine in reserve roles can obviously affect a season...as any coach will verify. Here's hoping for a minimum of "dings and dents", bearable temperatures with clear skies and lots of Cards contributing on the pitch.
Join in the fun at Lynn this season, won't you?
paulie
xxxxx
UK enters Lynn with a 3-1 record. They recently fell against Wisconsin in Lexington and have gained victories over Morehead, SIUE and Arkansas-Little Rock. Kentucky was pushed to overtime in the Morehead and Arkansas-Little Rock wins. The Cats are led in scoring by Yuuka Kurosaki and Hollie Olding...who have three goals each on the season. 
Moving on to a different type of net and different player personnel, Dani Busboom Kelly takes her Louisville Volleyball squad to Gainesville, FL for action in the Bubly Tournament...hosted by the University of Florida. No pre-game tailgating for the Louisville/Alabama football game for these set and serve stars...they'll be involved in three games in three days and start it off against an Orlando squad and former conference foe in Central Florida. 
