Cardinal Couple Countdown -- MONDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

We're in the heart of the countdown to fall sports here at Cardinal Couple.  It's only about 5 days (Friday) until the beginning of Fall sports, even if only in exhibition, with Men's Soccer kicking it off Friday evening at Lynn Stadium (the one on Floyd St, of course).  Women's Soccer and Volleyball start off the women on Saturday with the Volleyball Red and Black Scrimmage, and a Women's Soccer scrimmage against Butler.

To say that I'm excited for the season would be understatement that is beyond quantifiable.  And as much of a volleyball fan as I am, it's not just the wide net sport that I'm getting hyped for.  I don't tend to make it out to too many soccer games, and am thankful for the excellent coverage and analysis of Soccer by our resident soccer guru, Case Hoskins.  I am also getting excited for Field Hockey, though.

I've enjoyed watching field hockey for several years now, and this year doesn't look to be any exception.  We heard from Coach Justine Sowry the other day in one of Paulie's late summer interviews and I'm raring to go on this season.  Of course, we have a little longer wait for the first field hockey pass-back as they don't get their exhibition game against the FH alumnae underway until the 24th with a scrimmage against Michigan State on the 25th.

If you've followed Cardinal Couple over the past week or so, you probably know all of this, at least in broad strokes.  Here we come to a little bit of cruel irony about the run-up to fall sports, though.  All of the teams are heavy duty into the midst of pre-season practices, which means there is even less outward facing activity than there is over the bulk of the summer.  This is a case of "No news is good news", of course, as the only news I would expect to hear out of pre-season training would be injury reports, and I'll be quite a happy camper to not have any of those to report on.

Are you ready for the sports year to get underway?  I suspect many of you are just as excited as I am.  If you're not, I've got one more thing, if you haven't seen it yet, that might get you there.  Last week, the Louisville Athletics twitter account posted the video below.  Surprisingly, I haven't seen it made available anywhere since, but if this thing doesn't get you ready to run through a wall, I'm not sure what will.

Persevere.
Rally.
Overcome.
Triumph.
𝗥𝗶𝘀𝗲.#WeRiseAsOne | #EarnYourWings pic.twitter.com/JJ0jDFOebI

— Louisville Athletics (@GoCards) August 5, 2019

I'll see you Saturday at 6 o'clock in the L&N Federal Credit Union arena, formerly Cardinal Arena, on Floyd street.

--
JMcA

Sunday Cardinal Couple - Ranting, Baseball, Track&Field, and Soccer

Cardinal Couple Radio Hour

We're going to start off with the CCRH show from yesterday.  First and foremost, if you didn't hear it, you can check it out:

https://www.facebook.com/WCHQfm/videos/2045317638824842/

Case didn't make it into the studio yesterday...he was apparently too busy turning left...or something like that, but Jared, Paulie, and I were there and we had some good conversation.  We had praises for UofL Baseball (more on that below), Track&Field (again, more below), and even some Lacrosse honors.  Much of the time, however was spent ranting about the NCAA and their hypocritical and uneven standards of behavior for their participating institutions and personnel.

Of course, we were talking about the one game suspension handed down to Coach Jeff Walz for supposedly aggrieving NCAA officials on the sidelines of the National Semifinal game in Columbus for the terrible, horrible, no-good, very-bad officiating on display.

We were all in agreement that Coach Walz can occasionally be...aggressive...in his language, and honestly, the punishment probably fits the crime here pretty well.  And when we're playing Upper East Southwest Albuquerque State Community and Technical College of the Ozarks (a name I hope is sufficiently absurdly made up to not bear any resemblance to any real school, and if it somehow does, I assure you I mean no ill will towards it) in the first round of the 2019 NCAA tournament, I suspect having Walz more-than-sidelined, will not cause CardNation any real heartburn.  Coach Norman, the Coaches Sam, Kate Williams, Lamont "Mr. Russell, sir" Russell, and the rest of the UofL WBB staff will surely have everything well in hand.

No, the vitriol here comes from the hypocrisy and unevenness of NCAA punishments, as well as complete lack of trust and respect that the NCAA has engendered towards itself.

The NCAA apparently thinks it's critical to punish a coach for using some salty language, but all but
completely ignores decades of "paper classes".  They have already demonstrated a willingness to give in on sexual abuse scandals by rescinding the bulk of the punishments doled out to Penn State in the wake of their sexual abuse scandal, and by all accounts are poised to take very little action against Michigan State in their unfolding scandal. The Auburn softball scandal mysteriously "went away" after Clint Myers resigned as head coach. The NCAA has not pursued it, a travesty in itself.

On a less societally impactful facet of the discussion, but more on point for the punishment in question, the NCAA has built a monumental trust deficit, specifically when it comes to WBB officiating.  I've said before, and I'll say it again, WBB officiating (and this is at nearly all levels of WBB, not just NCAA Div 1) is awful.  There is no sugar-coating that, it is terrible.  As a product, it is, or at least should be, embarrassing to those who have a had in creating it.  The NCAA, by completely shielding officials from any formal or public criticism, have utterly and completely destroyed any trust the the public, or school officals and coaches, can have that the obvious and egregious shortcomings are being addressed in any meaningful way.

The NCAA is weaponizing concepts like "amateurism", "respect" and "sportsmanship" to suppress and marginalize anyone that isn't on board with their agenda.  By, from a position of "authority", imposing their own notions and form of "respect" and "sportsmanship" they can, and are, shutting down opposing voices who are able to see the shortcomings of the NCAA process and organization.  It's a playbook seen in authoritarian political regimes and even some that ostensibly aren't necessarily (said with a nervous glance towards Washington D.C.).

The NCAA is a diseased organization.  It's time for its constituent schools, via their Presidents and Athletic Directors, to stand up and refuse to abide by the hypocrisy and authoritarian-style undermining of the very concepts the NCAA claims to uphold.

Baseball Wins Again

OK, on to more positive things.  The idiocy of the ACC pool play format is over, and UofL, with a
minor upset, and a major margin of victory, over Duke advanced to the 4-team single-elimination tournament Semifinals.  There they met with Pitt, a team that the Cardinals had played only two weeks ago in the three game series in conference play on Pitt's home field.

Pitt, valiantly, scored two upset wins in their pool to advance despite being the lowest seed in the competition at #12.  The Panthers would be no match for the Cardinals, though, with Dan McDonnell's squad advancing with the 5-2 win over Pitt.  Devin Mann and Josh Stowers continue to be among the names to mention with heroics at the plate.  Mann took one yard, and hit for a triple in his 2-3 appearance, while Stowers was 2-4 with a double to his credit.

Nick Bennett pitched 6 innings of keeping the Panthers off the scoreboard, but allowed 2 before being replaced by Adam Elliot to finish the 7th.  Austin Conway kept the Panthers off the board in the 8th and 9th to finish out the game.

The Cards will face FSU today at noon on ESPN.  The Seminoles advanced over 2 seed Clemson, to eliminate the last of the chalk from the ACC Baseball Tournament.

UofL will learn its fate for the NCAA tournament at noon tomorrow on ESPNU with the NCAA Baseball Selection Show.  There remains a slim chance that UofL could host a regional, and a win today, in addition to the awesomeness of winning the conference championship, would go a long way in convincing the NCAA that this team is peaking at the right time and should be considered for a host berth.

Track&Field

Four more UofL athletes were able to punch their ticket to Eugene, OR with their results in the
NCAA Track&Field Regional competitions.

Makenli Forrest advanced with a 9th place finish in the hammer toss with a distance of 61.62 meters.

Damar Robinson and Jerin Allen finished 3rd and 8th in the high jump to clear their way to the west coast competition.  They cleared 2.16m and 2.11m respectively.

Bailey Davis finished 5th overall in the 5k run with a strong kick to earn the trip to Oregon.

Congratulations to these Cardinal athletes on their success so far.

Soccer

Lastly, lets jump over to the professional athletics ranks for a moment.

Any time a Louisville team beats a Cincinnati team in Nippert Stadium is going to grab my attention, and last night the Louisville City FC USL soccer club were able to beat Cincinnati FC 2-0 in full time with goals by Cameron Lancaster in the 15th minute, and George Davis IV in the 73rd.

In another interesting note for Louisville City FC, they advanced this week in the Open Cup with a 1-0 win at Lynn Stadium over Saint Louis FC.  Their next opponent in the Open Cup will be the New England Revolution at Lynn Stadium on June 6th, an MLS team.  Of particular note is the re-uniting, in Louisville, on the University of Louisville campus, of Paulo Delpiccolo of Louisville City, and Andrew Farrell of New England.  Both were players at UofL some years back.  They're also notable as the hosts of the "Shakin' It Up with Salt 'n Peppa" video series (findable on Youtube) in which the two of them challenged various UofL student athletes of the era to competitions usually related to the other student athletes sport.  My favorites of the series were the volleyball competition with Katie George and Lola Arslanbeckova, and the soccer goalkeeping competition with Gorgui Djeng.

Louisville City FC currently sits atop the USL rankings (with Cincinnati FC in 2nd) after winning the league last season.

--
JMcA

Saturday Action recap and The Cardinal Couple Radio Hour -- Sunday Cardinal Couple

Lacrosse

The Lacrosse season is winding to a close, and unfortunately, the rebuilding Teeter squad is still looking for its first conference win.

The Laxers tangled with UVA for their final home game of the season, but went down to defeat 18-10.  The first half went swimmingly (if you'll pardon the word play on the generally rainy conditions for the day), with the lead being exchanged several times on the way to a 6-6 halftime tie.  UVA went on a 6-0 scoring run in the second half to achieve the solid win over UofL and sink the Cards' chances for a winning season.  Cardinal goals came from both Blalock twins, Caroline had 4, Sarah had 1, Madison Hoover with a pair, and Tessa Chad, Jillian Balog, and Ally Hall each finding the back of the net once.

After graduating four in 2017, and having 10 athletes leave the program via transfer, a coaching change (prompting one of those transfers to reverse course), we knew this year was going to be a rough season for Lacrosse.  The squad did reasonably well in non-conference play, but when it came to the brutal competitiveness of ACC play, the level of play for UofL just hasn't been there.

While there will be post-season play for the Laxers, all 8 ACC Women's Lacrosse teams go to the ACC tournament in Durham, NC, the prospects for NCAA tournament play are pretty much non-existant.

Now the next bit of bad news for UofL Lacrosse competitiveness.  Yesterday's loss to UVA was
senior day, and the Cards honored 11, count them 11, seniors.  Many of these players are names that we've written amount on these pages frequently:  Jillian Balog, Lexi Cheetam, Leigh Gatons, Madison Hoover, Emily Howell, Casey Madura, Taylor Webster, Julia Wood...and several more.

Scott Teeter is a fantastic coach, but he has a real rebuilding job ahead of him, and that process will almost certainly continue next year.  If there's an upside to the large degree of turnover, it helps Teeter bring in his process, tactics, and player types faster.  That is not to suggest in the slightest that the carryover athletes from the previous coaching tenure are in any way obstacles to Teeter's success as I believe the Louisville Laxers that have remained with the team deserve nothing but the utmost respect, but it leads to a different relationship and environment when the coaching staff has had a hand in the recruitment of players rather than inheriting them from another coaching staff.

Coach is adamant that the team has continued to improve as the season has progressed. Let's remember this is the ACC...the toughest Lacrosse conference in the universe. We have no doubt that once Scott is able to hit the recruiting trail and gather more student-athletes -- plus teach his system -- "The Teeter Way" of lacrosse. there will be much success ahead and continued improvement for the "Girls of the Ellis".

The Cards will wrap up the regular season next Sunday at Syracuse with a 1pm first draw. ACC Conference play follows that.

LINK TO POST-GAME BELOW:

POST GAME VIRGINIA WITH SCOTT TEETER, MADISON HOOVER AND JILL BALOG WITH PAULIE

Softball

 Softball was supposed to be in action in Syracuse yesterday to wrap up that series after splitting a double header on Friday.  Softball in April in Syracuse is always dicey, and sure enough, the rubber match was cancelled due to cold and falling temperatures.

Pearsall's squad will continue their road trip Wednesday with a visit just up the road to IU in Bloomington.  Hopefully better weather awaits.

The road trip continues the next weekend in Tallahassee with a series against league leading Florida State.  Our own Jared Anderson will be in attendance for two of the games, I believe, presumably wearing black, red, and likely a camera.  He will be joined by his lovely girlfriend, who will almost certainly be decked out in garnet and gold.  We're skeptical of how successful this relationship will be between a Cardinal and a Seminole, but also a little bit jealous that we haven't gotten a chance to meet Katy, yet.  Have a good trip and visit, Jared!

Volleyball

The ever-active Jared also was at the final UofL Volleyball Spring match with camera in hand.  The Cards welcomed Butler into Cardinal Arena.  The fans were left to their own devices, with no PA announcer on hand at all, but that didn't stop the Cards from rolling over the Bears.

The Cardinals theoretically won the match in a 3 set sweep, but with this being Spring exhibition play...a chance for teams to get extra practice and playing time under their belts, both coaches decided to go ahead and play a 4th set to 15.  The Cards won that one, too.

As with any sporting event, there are places to tune and improve, but the Cardinals looked great last night against this Butler squad.  In the extra 4th set, the Libero jersey got exchanged, with Alexis Hamilton donning the odd-man-out jersey, giving her some extra playing time.  She continues to impress your intrepid reporter.  I don't believe I've ever seen a DS fly around the floor quite like she does.  She's athletic, quick, covers an absolutely ridiculous amount of territory with accuracy and success in improving the ball that is, at times, just mind boggling.

Brianna Lester, as we reported, has returned to UofL, after a year at Pepperdine playing basketball, and a red-shirt freshman year on the UofL Volleyball squad.  She saw some significant playing time and impressed as well.  Look for her to be a 3rd middle blocker/hitter behind Jasmine Bennett and Piper Roe.  Speaking of Jasmine Bennett, maybe the highlight play of the night was Jasmine thunderously returning a Butler overpass.  I think proud papa Winston Bennett bounced as high out of his courtside seat to cheer as the ball did.

This wraps up the spring schedule for Volleyball and yours truly will certainly be ready for an exciting season that should start right at the end of August.  4 and a half months sure feels like a long time for this fan.

CCRH

The knuckleheads put on a good radio show yesterday.  The studio contingent was Paulie, myself and recurring guest Mike "the man with 4 first names" Gilpatrick.  We saw Daryl Foust pop into the Facebook live chat as well. The Cardinal Couple Radio Hour -- never a dull moment or waste of an hour. We even have podiatrists listening while they examine feet!

A good discussion ensued about Myisha Hines-Allen's prospects along with long-time Cardinal Couple favorite Asia Taylor with the Washington Mystics.  We recapped various events of the week, got a full Scheduling and Twitter segment in with only minimal interruptions, and even discussed some potential future in-studio guests.  Nothing is lined up for sure at this point, but we're hopeful.

Check out the stream at https://www.facebook.com/WCHQfm/videos/2002164653140141/.

(Photos today by Mr. Jared Anderson...the tall, smiling guy with the camera and good source of gossip!) 

--
JMcA

Happy Easter! -- Sunday Cardinal Couple

HAPPY EASTER!

From all of us to all of you, Happy Easter! It is also April Fools Day, so one could surmise...are we kidding you? Nevertheless, hope your Sunday devotion went well, your Easter basket was full of goodies and you eat your Easter Dinner to your heart's content.

It's kinda wind-down time after the hectic pace of UofL WBB these past few weeks, but...we'll still be here bringing you the Spring schedule for UofL women's sports....Softball, Lacrosse, Swimming, Track and Field, Golf, Tennis and plenty more!  

-- Paulie-- 

Cardinals All Over the Map

From San Diego, to Raleigh, to Texas, The Cardinals were all over the map yesterday...and that's just Track&Field.

In action at the San Diego Collegiate Open, the Raleigh Relays, and the Texas Relays, the Track&Field squad split up yesterday, and even that is only the start of the Cardinal's locations yesterday.

Tennis was competing at Duke, Rowing some successes in the PAC-12 Challenge, Baseball was in Tallahassee, while Softball and Lacrosse were at home on Floyd Street.

Results on some of these competitions are a bit scarce, but we'll cover a few.

Softball

Softball finished out their conference series with NC State with a solid win, 7-0, with consistent
scoring throughout the game.

The masked one, Megan Hensley pitched the complete game shut-out, as well as supporting her cause at the plate getting hits all three times at bat, making it around the full base circuit twice, and contributing an RBI.  She is now 10-4 on the season and cementing her place as the ace pitcher of the staff.

Celene Funke brought the funk with a 3 for 3 showing at the plate, with Sid Melton going 3 for 4 to add to the good day for the Cards on the basepaths.

Pearsall's squad was definitely consistent, leaving only one frame, the 3rd, without a score, and while putting up a pair in the 1st and 4th.

Rivalry week is back, and Softball will be participating with a mid-week Wednesday game against Kentucky in Lexington at 7pm.

Baseball

Baseball capitalized on a good start in Tallahassee to get the win over a quite good Florida State team, getting the win 6-1.  All 6 Cards runs were on the board before FSU were able to get any successful offense.  UofL was able to get a run in each of the 1st, 2nd, and 4th innings, with 3 scoring in the 3rd to reach their tally before FSU plated a run in the bottom of the 4th for their only offensive success of the day.

Baseball will also be participating in rivalry week, with a 6:30 start in Lexington on Tuesday.

Lacrosse

Paulie was able to make it to the Louisville Lacrosse Stadium to catch a thrilling game against a good ACC opponent (yes, "good" and "ACC opponent" are redundant in Lax terms).  The Cards come away on the losing side of this one, 15-14.  Virginia Tech is currently tied for 2nd place in conference standings with a 3-1 conference record.  Overall, the Hoos are 10-4, while the Cards are still looking for their 1st victory in conference after 4 competitions, with an overall 6-7 record.

We've said it before, but we knew this would be a challenging year for Louisville Lacrosse with the loss of so much talent after last year.  Tessa Chad, who transferred in to continue to play for Scott Teeter has continued to be one of several bright spots for the Cards, scoring 5 in the contest.  Stalwarts for the Cardinals, Madison Hoover and Jillian Balog each got hat tricks, both with the requisite 3 goals to reach that mark.  Another 4 year Cardinal, Julia Wood picked up 1, along with freshmen, Alex McNicholas and Caroline Blalock.

VT got the hot start, quickly jumped out to a 4-0 lead, but UofL was able to then go no the 6-0 run to take a 2 goal lead.  It would hold a lead through late in the 2nd half, but VT went on a 5-0 run to retake the lead, reaching their final tally, 15-13 at 4:01.  The Cards would score one more, but it wouldn't be enough.

Lacrosse won't be participating in rivalry week as Kentucky doesn't have a Lacrosse team, but they will be playing next against UNC in chapel Hill Saturday at 3pm.

Paulie's Post Game Interview with Scott Teeter

I Heard It On the Radio

The crew was limited in the WCHQFM studios, but we had a great show with Mike Gilpatrick joining Paulie in-studio and Case Hoskins plus Jeff McAdams via phone. 

A few "knuckleheads" shy of a basket but a special "thank ya" to the guy with three first names for shrugging off the sleep deprivation and spending the hour with Paulie. 

It was a lot of post-WBB game therapy and speculation going on for us and a thoughtful and excellent hour! 

Here's the Facebook Live feed: 

https://www.facebook.com/WCHQfm/videos/1984623254894281/

JMcA

Christmas Eve - Cardinal Couple -- SUNDAY CARINAL COUPLE

What have we been up to? 

Paul, Sonya, and I did help WCHQ get all of it's gear moved from the old studio location to the new yesterday with a crew of about 10-15 various on-air personalities.  In doing so, we got a sense of what the new space will be like for the first time, and as excited as I was about the new studio space when I wrote the article Friday, I am even more excited now.

The facility has extra space in an upper floor that hasn't been finished out yet, and Kathy, Paul, myself, and others were all discussing out the radio station might make use of that space.  The Cardinal Couple suggestion was to use one of the rooms as a recording space unconnected to the broadcast portions of the station to give groups a chance to come in and do pre-recorded shows and not have to worry (as much, at least) with scheduling around on-air activities.  Another room will probably be built out and used as an office space (Kathy's suggestion), which I'm sure will help her, and others involved in the administrative aspects of the station.  That still leaves another area of the upstairs to be decided on.  The possibilities are fantastic, and we can't wait to be a part of it.

Christmas Wishes

As we have already been looking towards next year with the studio update, and today is Christmas Eve, I guess this is the time to write about some Christmas Wishes.

Women's Basketball

My wish for WBB is for the best start in program history.  We're almost there, with just wins over
Georgia Tech and NC State needed to get us to that mark.

Within WBB, a few wishes for some individuals:

Kylee Shook - a wish to learn how to use her size to better advantage.  She's on the cusp of being a great basketball player, and it feels to me like she's just a bit hesitant to really mix it up to step up and be that better player.

Myisha Hines-Allen - this one is easy.  More double-doubles for DOU-BLAY!

Sam Purcell - another easy one.  Clothes.  The man can make anything look good, and I do mean anything.  Take advantage of it.  The more outlandish, the better.  And maybe with a little work on the ice, he could even join the Norwegian Curling team.

Jeff Walz - Wins.  Good defense.  And some family time with Kaeley, Jacob, Lola, and Lucy, and certainly not to be forgotten, Lauren.  Coaches are on the road a lot, be sure to take some time for some self-care Coach.

Attack Yorkies - Mostly Jess and Dana, we love ya, and my wish for you is all the steals and deflections that your heart desires.  Some commentators love offense *cough*Antonelli*cough*, but I'm a defense guy.  Go get em'!

Volleyball

For Volleyball overall, more of the same.  This past season was a overachievement of epic proportions, lets see more of it!

Molly Sauer and Alexis Hamilton - Another DS to step up into that rotation to join the two of you.  GabMolLexis was a potent trio that got the team's offense started, with Gabbie graduating, we need a DS to step up into that other slot to fill out that trio.  Will GabMolLexis become MagMolLexis?  Maybe NatMolLexis?  I'm not sure, but I'd love to see a modified trio emerge that is every bit as effective as what we had this past season.

Piper Roe - a starting role.  Your time has come.  You've learned from some amazing middles for a couple of years, watch Tess Clark, and Maggie DeJong dominate in the role, and cheering as Jasmine Bennett has become a force of her own with her amazing float time and length.  Now is your time to shine.  My Christmas wish for you is for you to become as great of a middle hitter and blocker as you are a person.

Megan Sloan - a swing set?  No wait, I'm reading my list wrong.  Swings...all the swings you want.  We still have some outside hitting to fill in, and my hope is that you can step up and fill that role.  With you, Melanie McHenry, and Amanda Green patrolling the pins, we've got height, power, and smart play there to take this team to the next level.

Incoming Freshmen - to the six new Cardinals joining this team next year, I wish you as much fun and success as so many had on this team this year.  Claire, Emily, Aiko, Mia, Maggie, and Anaya, you're joining a wonderful group of young women, and my wish for you all is a wonderful year to learn from them, get to know them, come to love them as teammates, and accept the love they will show for you.  You all are the future of this program, and I, for one, can't wait to meet you all and cheer you on in the stands of Cardinal Arena.

Field Hockey

Wow, what a year you all had.  Much like Volleyball, my wish is for more of the same in the year to come.  This is an easy list to put together...an ACC Championship, a deep NCAA tournament run and continued health and happiness.

Justine Sowry - Your enthusiasm and kindness is infectious, my wish is that you get as much as you give in this.  You got the win over your mentor and friend Pam Bustin, so that's one wish crossed off my list.  You clearly love to travel, and I'm sure you will make that happen in the coming year, and I wish safe travels to you.  Find some great potential Cardinals out there and show them what you and Louisville has to offer.

Ayeisha McFerran - Your senior year is coming, that goal is yours to own...not that you haven't already really done that.  I don't know what Irish National Team opportunities await you in the coming your, but I have no doubt there will be some, again, nothing you haven't already tackled.  I wish you all the success you could hope for both at UofL wearing the Cardinal logo, but also in representing Ireland.  A wish for clean slates all around.

Minout Mink - My wish for you is to ignore the ridiculous standards that the likes of Jared Anderson place on you.  You score goals.  It's what you do, and you do a great job of it.  You're also pretty fun to do a post-game interview with.  My Christmas wish for you is that we get to do more of those interviews because that means you're scoring, and I know how happy that makes you...and Coach Sowry.

Sam Minrath - You're one of the few Field Hockey players, and the only incoming freshman, I have had the opportunity to meet in person.  As an incoming freshman GK next year, you'll have the opportunity to learn from a couple of the best in the business - Coach Sowry, and Ayeisha McFerran.  My wish is that you grab hold of it and soak in as much of it you can.  Your time to shine between the pipes at Trager will come quickly, make the best of the opportunity to sit back and learn in the meantime.

Erica, Caitlin, MacKenzie, Taylor, and Camryn - the rest of the incoming freshmen class.  I haven't had the opportunity to meet you all as I have Sam, but if Coach Sowry and crew recruited you, that speaks well of you as Field Hockey players and as young women.  Welcome to Louisville (OK, you're not here, yet, I know, but it won't be long).  Much like my wishes to the incoming freshmen for Volleyball, my wish is that you embrace this team that you're joining as well.  Some of you may be called on to contribute significantly in the fall, some may take some time to develop, my wish is that you grab hold of whatever role you may be in and do your best at it.  A few of your are from Louisville, so you know how wonderful it is here, for the rest, I hope you come to love this city as much as I do.

Cardinal Fans

My wish is that all fan of the Louisville Cardinals, if they haven't already discovered the joy and excitement of UofL sports beyond Basketball and Football, is to do that.  I keep telling people how much fun it is to watch the game of Lacrosse, and everyone that has taken me up on the suggestion of coming out to watch has commented about how right I was.

Volleyball is, of course, one of my great joys, and my wish is that more discover this hidden gem on campus at UofL

In general, I wish for the Cardinals fanbase to discover some of the 21 other sports at UofL that don't get so much attention beyond Men's Basketball and Football.  Come out and cheer and get a greater understanding of what it means to be playing the game purely for the love of the game.  As the NCAA says, most of these young men and women will be going pro is something other than sports.  They're doing it because they love doing it.

Chuck sang it best...Run, run Rudolph.  Hear it hear: RUN, RUN RUDOLPH

-- 

JMcA

Summertime? -- Changes ahead -- FRIDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

One could be excused for thinking it's summertime for the moment.

In addition to the mid to upper 50s temperature...ok, that's not quite summertime temps, but still pretty warm for December...and a bit of a lull in athletic activity happening at UofL, we have a bit of a reprise of the summertime lull.

WCHQ new home (by day) 

Let's talk a little bit about WCHQ, our wonderful hosts for the Cardinal Couple Radio Hour on Saturday mornings.  As we've mentioned before, we won't be the air this Saturday or next because WCHQ is in the process of moving their studio facilities.  WCHQ will no longer be "A Basement on a Hill", in fact, it will no longer be in a basement at all.  The station manager, Kathy, who we refer to as Monk on the show, has purchased a building at the corner of Mellwood and Stevenson Ave...perhaps dangerously close to Apocalypse BrewWorks.  Much of the "disassembly" process of the gear at the Frankfort Avenue location has already been in progress.  The streaming systems have already been relocated to the new facility which already has new Internet access setup and running.

The new facility will have a whole new control board setup...one created from day "1" to be used to manage a radio station, rather than cobbled together tour gig equipment patched together to get the job done (Kathy's description).  The current/previous location of the studio, and it's proximity to some other residences and businesses, really limited what could be done in studio for live performances.  They needed to heavily restrict drum sets and amplification in-studio in order to try to be good neighbors to the restaurant upstairs as well as some residences in close proximity.  Load in and load out of equipment will be much easier at the new facility because it will be on the ground floor and there will be fewer, and more easily negotiated steps.  Not being in a basement and having challenging steps will also just generally make the studio more easily accessible for mobility challenged folk...people with bum knees, for example.

The new studio space is freshly renovated and painted, making for a nicer atmosphere overall, it also will have some amenities that the previous one did not, such as a green room.

WCHQ new home (by night).

Much of the work to move equipment will be done this weekend, Paulie, Sonya and I will all be there to help out as much as we can, and the new studio is anticipated to be up and running by January 2nd so you can look for the return of the Cardinal Couple Radio Hour on January 6th.  We're excited for the new digs and are proud of our association with this up and coming resource for local music, activity, and news.  We have our niche in covering UofL women's athletics, and I don't think we could have a better radio host and partner than WCHQ in town.

Paulie's side show, Handicapping Heroes, a look at handicapping/horse-racing, will also emanate from there when the ponies return to Keeneland this spring.

With all of that said, that means that there will not be a Cardinal Couple Radio Hour broadcast this Saturday nor next Saturday.  We had toyed with the idea of pre-recording something to send in and get on the playlist, but the stars did not align correctly for that (and frankly, I've been busy doing last minute Christmas shopping).

Looking forward to settling in to a new seat "to the left" of Paulie.

--
Jeff

A Brief Edition -- SATURDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

The Cardinal Couple Radio Hour

The last couple of days have been articles mostly related to news, rather than sport. I haven't seen any new stuff come across the wire since yesterday, and Jeff covered graduation in his Friday piece. I briefly perused the Louisville athletic site to determine if there was anyway to find out the majors of some of our favorite players, but was unable to do so. At any rate, with a big game tomorrow, and nothing much having happened this week, I figured I would leave the rivalry preview for tomorrow and I would give our readers a bit of a break, as I need one myself after a long couple of weeks at work.

While there isn't much I have to say on the pages this morning, I feel quite confident that the words will flow at the microphone during the Cardinal Couple Radio Hour. As many of you may have seen via Facebook and some mentions here at the site, the studio for WCHQ FM is moving locations. During this transition period, there will be no live shows on the channel. That means today is the last live Cardinal Couple Radio Hour that you will find until the New Year. There will be quite a bit of basketball and the bowl game for football between today and the next show. From what I hear, Paulie may be trying to work out a brief recording to fill some space so that your weekly "Cardinal Couple Radio Hour" time is not completely empty. If you really need your fix, you can go to the WCHQ website and access past broadcasts just to hear us rib each other.

Sometimes it can feel a bit wild in studio.

Today's show is sure to be full of basketball chatter. All of our other fall sports are done or otherwise irrelevant at the current moment, and there are big games on the horizon for Louisville WBB. Paulie, Jeff, and myself will be joined in studio by Julie Sullivan, another knowledgeable fan of WBB. Paulie will bring you the insider info many others don't have, Jeff will bring the snark, Julie will bring the true fan view, and I'll try to hold everyone (including myself) together. We'll see how well I can achieve my task. The Cardinal Couple Radio Hour airs on 100.9 WCHQ FM from 11AM to noon. Today's broadcast will take you right up to the men's basketball game against Memphis State. If you aren't in the broadcast area of the station, you can listen along on the WCHQ app or the website, at WCHQFM.com. Come along and join us!

Until next time, Go Cards!

-CH-

HAPPY THANKSGIVING! -- THURSDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

From all of us at CARDINAL COUPLE to all of you, Happy Thanksgiving wishes and we'll return to these pages on
                                           Friday 



--  Paulie, Sonya, Jeff, Case, Jared and Julie

Sunday Cardinal Couple

Romping Time, Swimming and Rowing

Rowing competes this morning at the UVA hosted, wonderfully named, Rivanna Romp.  They made an appearance yesterday at the dual swim meet where the Cards were competing with UVA and Princeton.  The results were overall mixed for the Cards, but they did win 6 races and both diving events, an encouraging continuing development on the diving side of the sport.

The Rowing event, competing against UVA, Clemson, Duke, Miami, Columbia, and Pennsylvania, will see 9 Cardinal boats competing in 8s and 4s.  6 of those boats will be in the varsity 4s, 2 in the varsity 8s and 1 freshman 8.  This event caps off the fall season for Rowing, and they won't be back in action until March 17th-18th in Oak Ridge Tennessee.

Volleyball Romp Today

It doesn't have romp in the name anywhere, but I do expect the volleyball match today to be a bit of a
romp with Virginia Tech calling at Cardinal Arena.  The Hokies come into the match in the bottom quarter of the ACC standings at 3-12, and 9-17 overall.  While this should be a relatively easy win for the Cardinals today, they do need to ensure they get the win to maintain their position at the top of the ACC standings, tied with NC State and Pitt.  Again, technically NC State is in the sole 1st place spot currently since they played a Thursday/Saturday schedule this weekend, and swept Georgia Tech last night, but with expected wins from Louisville and Pitt today (Pitt is playing Duke...a match that will be no cake-walk for Pitt, but they are certainly favored to win) the tie should be restored at the top by the end of the afternoon.

Part of the tie will be resolved Friday, when NC State comes to Cardinal Arena.  The losing team will drop out of the 1st place tie, while the winning team then gets to cruise to at least a share of the ACC championship, and a guaranteed entry into the NCAA tournament.  The biggest challenge NC State will face the rest of the schedule after Louisville will be Duke and Notre Dame, and they close the season with Wake Forest who shouldn't be much of a threat.   After Virginia Tech today, and NC State Friday, the Cards will still face UNC, who already proved they can be a threat, and then close the season on the road with Boston College and Syracuse.

Come out to Cardinal Arena to catch today's match at 2pm.  If you can't make it, it is available on ACC Network Extra.

Not Calling Women's Basketball Game a Romp

Jeff Walz and his squad have themselves a real early season challenge today in Columbus playing 8th
ranked Ohio State.  OSU's previous game saw them knock off an always talented and quality 9th ranked Stanford team in a substantial 85-64 win.  If you're not on the road to Columbus already, you can catch this one on ESPNU at 4pm.

Paulie will be in attendance, and if we ask nicely, we might even get a report from Cardinal Couple Alumna Jenny O'Bryan who will also be in attendance.

Men's Basketball Might Be a Romp

The men's basketball team hosts George Mason, and I would expect this one to be a bit of a romp as well.  They also tip at 2pm, and it's available on Fox Sports South, and via the Fox Sports Go app.

Radio and Donation Drive

Jeff: " I heard Paulie's on the road."
Sam: "Ohhh...Hell, no!!! Pull over!"

Paulie is driving today, he's driving to Columbus and back to bring you personal coverage of Women's Basketball.  He drove yesterday (as did Case, Jared and I) to the WCHQ Radio Studios to bring your the incomparable Cardinal Couple Radio Hour.  This is just the stuff we do to bring you your daily web site dose of Cardinal's Athletics and weekly radio coverage.  We think we bring a unique perspective and coverage of UofL Athletics that you just might not hear about at all, otherwise.

Your support of Cardinal Couple, and not just monetarily, keeps us going, and motivates us to do what we do.  We can't express how thankful we are for that.  Cardinal Couple is a non-profit, we're not here to make money, your donations go to cover the cost of the website, and to defray some (but certainly not all) of the expenses we take on bringing this to you.


Send your checks to:

CARDINAL COUPLE
c/o PAUL SYKES
PO BO 91521
LOUISVILLE, KY  40291

We do appreciate it. You are Cardinal Couple and we never forget that. 

If you didn't catch the radio show yesterday, it should make itself available in the near future at https://soundcloud.com/chradio/cardinal-couple-20171111.  A good time was had, as usual.

-- 

JMcA

Football Wins 42-6-3, Volleyball, Soccer, and Field Hockey on tap

Football Play Takes Social Media by Storm

If you were on twitter yesterday, you saw the play of the day at Papa Johns Cardinal Stadium.  In a game that was otherwise a pretty mismatched set of opponents between UofL and Kent State, the biggest cheering of the game came in support of a squirrel that found its way out to mid-field.  It, probably scared out of it wits, then made a break down field and found its way to the back of the end-zone for 6.  An appreciative crowd cheered it on, and Wes Durham of Fox Sports did a play-by-play call of the score for the crowd at home watching on TV.

Sean Moth was reportedly out looking for a bag of Texas Roadhouse peanuts to give to the little guy as a reward. 

Final score, UofL 42, squirrel 6, Kent State 3.

Squirrel goes for six: Touchdown Squirrel! 

Volleyball, Soccer, and Field Hockey Take the Field

Field Hockey has a noon start against out-of-conference James Madison.  Looking to continue on their home success after a good upset win over Wake Forest on Friday, the Cards will be looking for a victory over the Dukes ("Duke Dog" is their mascot name).  A win for the Cards here will be another upset, with the #15 Cards taking on the #13 Dukes.  For the record, Wake is #11 currently.

Women's Soccer continues their homestand against Floridians with Miami coming in to play.  It's still very early in conference play, but both teams will be looking for their first conference victory and looking to stay above .500 is overall.  This one could be evenly matched, and a barn burner.  The game gets underway at 1pm.

It'll be a warm one at Trager and Lynn, so if you want to stay indoor in air conditioning, well, I don't blame you.  You might want to check out Volleyball, on the road in North Carolina.  They'll be taking on the struggling Tarheels.  They're a big a strong team, but not consistent, and tend to make a lot of errors.  We've got a 1pm start on this one.

First to identify this young lady gets entered in a drawing
for a $20 Panera Card. 

All three of these are on The ACC Network Extra, so fire up your laptops and other devices and take your pick of which one you want to watch if you're not going to be out at Trager or Lynn.  I'll be at Trager, so look for some live tweeting from the CardCoupleRadio account.  I may try to push the technological boundaries and have streaming of both Volleyball and Soccer on the screen, too.

It's a busy afternoon of Cardinals athletics, check it out!





The Cardinal Couple Radio Hour

Our show was prerecorded yesterday and consisted of a lot of interviews but it doesn't mean we didn't have any lack of material. Interviews with Sowry, Walz, Pearsall and the introducion of a new segment...BRYAN COHEN LOOK S AT THE SPORTS WORLD. 

It's all great fun and knowledgeable. Here is the link:  The Cardinal Couple Radio Hour 9/23

-- 

JMcA

Monday Cardinal Couple - Busy Sundays

The three main Cardinal fall sports that we follow here at Cardinal Couple were all in action yesterday, and all with a 1pm start time.  We divided our forces and covered everything as best we could.

Field Hockey

Coming off of a 3-1 loss against conference foe Boston College Friday, the Cards were ready to come out, play aggressively, and get back to the winning ways.  It was an unusual weekend in that the non-conference foe was considered the stronger opponent compared to the conference matchup.

The Northwestern Wildcats came to Trager stadium and tangled with a rejuvenated Cardinal squad.

They left with their tail between their legs after losing 2-0.  Nicole Woods and Taylor Stone were the two that got on the board.  The early goal by Woods was a deflection on a shot by Bethany Russ.  So Woods gets credit for the goal, and Russ gets the assist 7 minutes into the game.  The other goal, by Taylor Stone came off of a penalty corner with assists to Stephanie Byrne and Marigrace Ragsdale 20 minutes into the 2nd half.

The Cards played good possession Field Hockey for most of the game, able to mostly keep the ball in the attack third of the field and keep the pressure on Northwestern and that shows in the stats.  The Cards managed to get 9 shots, with 6 on goal, while Northwestern only got off 4 shots, with only 2 on goal.

Sowry's team looked like a much better team than the one we saw Friday vs Boston College, and the
results show it.  Nicole Woods fired 3 shots, Taylor Stone attempted 2, and individual shot attempts were taken by Bethany Russ, Erin McCrudden, Lizzie Gittens, and Lotta Kahlert.

Northwestern did pull their goalkeeper near the end of the game, going with an open goal to try to push some offense.  Paulie has refused to comment.

( Editor's Note -- No need to ruin Coach Sowry's mood with my controversial stance on pulling goalies. I've been instructed in the reasoning and strategy behind it and we'll just agree to disagree. Did it win the game for the Wildcats? Did they score? )  -Paulie

Listen to The Cardinal Couple Radio Hour this Saturday for the post game interview with Coach Sowry...she opines briefly on the open goal strategy and the efficacy of the prevent defense in American football.

After the game, the Field Hockey squad celebrated two new All-American banners at Trager for last year's honorees.  New Zealander, and current volunteer assistant for the Cards Vic Stratton was honored, and her parents were able to be in attendance as well.  The other honoree was for Ayeisha McFerran.

Field Hockey continues their homestand with a somewhat unusual Saturday conference game against UNC.  This one is a 1pm start, and then they play Kent State to wrap up their homestand on Sunday with a noon start.

Soccer

Soccer tangled with conference foe Clemson, and the felines came away with the victory on this one.

Paulie was in attendance for this one, perhaps we can get some of his comments chipped in on this one.  The over/under for the number of trains passing by Lynn was against set at 4, and again the under takes it with 2.  It may be time to move that line slightly.

In more important matters, Clemson does come away with a 1-0 win.  At about 34 minutes into the game the Clemson attacker was able to get in behind Taylor Bucklin, always a bad situation for the defenders, and was able to finish the shot.  Otherwise, Bucklin tallied better overall stats with 7 saves, while the UofL team is credited with one as well.  Clemson got the better of the offensive attempts with 13 shots, and 9 on goal, while UofL had a respectable 10 shots, but only 4 on goal.

This was senior day for the Soccer squad.  While the Cardinal women's soccer team does have another home game, it's a Thursday night tangle (against Virginia), which is less conducive for family to be able to make the trip to Louisville to be part of the honors.

Soccer heads back out on the road for a Sunday game at Virginia Tech, with a 1 pm start.

( Another Editor's Note -- Save for a mistake on defense that led to the Clemson goal, I thought Louisville played well enough to win. I did chat briefly, off-the-record, with the Clemson head coach after the game. He seemed more excited about both Louisville and Clemson's football teams than women's soccer. Clemson had a nice contingent of fans at the contest. I got him to chuckle when I asked him if the visitor's attendance was normally this big or if it was weather-related. Got a chance to talk (once again, off the recorder) with a couple of Clemson fans. They loved Lynn Stadium and Louisville fans and our fans hospitality. They were there because of a daughter on the team but traveled in from North Carolina and were expecting the worst, weather wise, around their home. )   -Paulie

Volleyball

The only squad on the road this weekend was the Volleyball Cards.  They were able to gut out a 5-set
win over Boston College Thursday, but weren't able to repeat the feat vs Syracuse.  I was able to watch this one, somewhat distractedly, on my phone in the press box at Trager Stadium while I was watching Field Hockey as well.

This one was a battle and the scores generally remained close throughout the whole match.  Syracuse takes this one 22-25, 25-23, 25-20, 23-25, 15-10.

Despite the Cards hitting percentage ending up lower than I would prefer, this appeared to be some of the best volleyball I've seen this play since the first weekend at Bowling Green State.  I'm quite willing to accept some lower hitting numbers thanks to the ever-excellent blocking of Syracuse.  The head coach at Syracuse is, of course, Leonid Yelin, the previous head coach at UofL.  He always has a good blocking team...he did when he coached UofL, and he does again in Syracuse almost always with a strong dose of eastern European/western Asian players, though his numbers seem to be a little down from usual in this area this year with "only" two Russians and an Uzbekistani.

In any case, Syracuse totaled 14 blocks, compared to UofL's 5.  The bulk of our blocking gets credited to Morgan Miller, who was a part of 3, and Jasmine Bennett, who got a piece of the action on 4.  Miller and Bennett really were the heart of the squad in this match, leading the team in hitting averages and in total kills.  Miller put 23 down, but she was busy, with 73 attempts (.192 avg).  Bennett is becoming one of my favorite players on the squad, putting 14 down on 27 attempts for a very respectable .370.  Melanie McHenry got 13 kills, and Tess Clark collected 10.

Missing in action in this match was Janelle Jenkins, who was on the trip, and did play against Boston College.  We have no word on the reason for her absence in this one.

Remember this early article header for the site? 

On the defensive side of things, we always have to give our due to Molly Sauer, putting up 22 digs in
this one, and anchoring this team.  Gabbie Wiley, Kali Eaken, and Morgan Miller each had 11, giving Miller a double-double.  Melanie McHenry continues to show some all around prowess with 9, Tess Clark got a pleasantly surprising 8, and Nikki Koval got in for 6.

Volleyball returns home for a Thursday evening match against middle-of-the-pack NC State at 7pm, and then number 9 in the country, and leading the ACC, UNC comes into town Sunday the 16th for a 1pm start.

-JMcA

Alex Wilharm promoted to Associate Head Volleyball Coach -- THURSDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

RAPID RISE THROUGH THE CARDINAL RANKS FOR BIG RED

If you have ever attended a Louisville Volleyball game over the past four years, chances are you've seen Alex Wilharm. Towering over six feet, a shock of bright red hair and patrolling the sideline with the frequency and intensity of his head coach Anne Kordes...Alex isn't just another face in the crowd or body on the sidelines. 

He arrived at Louisville in 2011 as a volunteer assistant. Fresh from graduating from Clarke University in Iowa, he had been the Male Athlete of the Year and led the Crusaders to the NAIA national finals in Volleyball. The school is similar to Bellarmine here locally...a small liberal arts Catholic university with it's roots in Dubuque. The son of a high school Volleyball coach...he got his feet wet in the coaching pool while in college...working with club teams and even coaching the women's team his senior year at Clarke in the fall before playing for the men's team in the spring.  

He moved quickly through the UofL ranks...starting as a volunteer assistant..to assistant coach and now as an associate head coach. Earlier this year he was named as one of The American Volleyball Coaches Association Thirty Under 30 award recipients. The honor recognizes up-and-coming coaching talent at all levels of the sport.  

Louisville will probably not be the last stop for Alex. Under the careful tutelage and learning experiences from Anne Kordes...there will be head coaching possibilities down the road. He's known as an excellent recruiter...being a part of bringing three Top 25 classes to Louisville. 


Bright skies ahead for the Iowa native as Louisville prepares to get the 2016 season underway with a trip to Bowling Green, OH to participate in the Hampton Inn Bowling Green Tournament. The Cards will get in three games in two days on the Falcon campus in the Stroh Center starting tomorrow. 

Louisville will face Oakland at 10 a.m. Friday to kickoff the action. As my co-host on THE CARDINAL COUPLE RADIO HOUR pointed out to be Saturday, this is not the Al Davis, John Madden, Fred Bilitnekoff band of Raiders from the Bay area...it's the Horizon League Golden Grizzlies from Rochester, MI. Worldwide is attending the events and will have reports on our Saturday morning show about the games vs. Oakland and the Friday 4:30 p.m. match-up against Virginia Commonwealth. The Wide Net Cards will also take on host Bowling Green on Saturday.

Oakland went 18-13 last year and is expected to contend for the Horizon League title this season with five starters returning. Bowling Green struggled through a 7-22 year in 2015 and is a part of the MAC Conference. VCU ended last year with a 14-17 record and plays in the CAA. 

Not top notch, stellar competition for the Louisville Wide Netters...but a great chance to test a young team's skills on the road early in the season. We'd be surprised if the Cards lose a set in any of the three matches...but all three opponents could add a significant feather to their cap by knocking off the #23 squad in the nation early on. 

Fall sports. They're here and coming rapid fire at us now. 

Besides Volleyball..we have Field Hockey (at IU) and women's soccer (vs. UAB) on tap Friday also. Plenty of chances to get out and cheer on the Red and Black! Next week gets even crazier...but don't fret...your Cardinal Couple tour guides are here to navigate you through it all. 


Seats upright, tray's locked...prepare for takeoff, fans! 

paulie
xxxxx