Golf coverage coming to Cardinal Couple -- FRIDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

Goooood Friday morning readers and welcome to the Holiday weekend. 

If you are traveling, please be safe!   I will be enjoying some time at home this weekend for some R&R. 

Last weekend, I was able to make it out to Valhalla for the PGA Championship which was so incredible.  I was already considering attempting to cover the UofL golf team for Cardinal Couple but I think last weekend solidified that desire. If you’ve following me for a while now you’d know I caught the golfing itch back in 2019 and haven’t looked back!   

Paulie has been good at covering big events in the past here on Cardinals women's golf and had done interviews with head coach Whitney Youn and Lauren Hartlage. I hope to cntinue in that fine fashion of coverage. 

Daryl in the "Gilligan"hat...

My dad swears he used to encourage me to play golf in High School but I guess I was too busy on the softball field to hear any of that from him but I sure do wish I took his advice! If I could offer one piece of advice it’s this…. Listen to your parents, people!!

So lets look at the Women's golf program at a glance! 

photos from: gocards.com

Some big time names in the Program’s history

Adrienne White – Big East Player of the Year 2006 & 2007

Cindy LaCrosse - Big East Player of the Year 2009

Sara-Maude Juneau – Big East Player of the Year 2010 & 2011

Lauren Hartlage – ACC Freshman of the Year 2017

Head Coach – Whitney Young

Head coach since July 2019 – moved to head coach after being the assistant coach for two seasons.

Young enjoyed an exceptional collegiate playing career at Georgia that included three top-10 finishes at the NCAA Championships. She aided the Bulldogs to 10 team tournament titles, most notably the 2007 SEC Championship. She is one of just three Georgia and seven SEC golfers to earn first team all-SEC honors four times.

The squad and season

The golf team typically will consist of 8-10 players with 5 of them playing in a tournament. The season starts at the end of the year in September and continues into May for the NCAA tournament. The Cardinals will fly south to the warmer states and even play outside of the USA (Mexico last year) in the cold winter months.

History

Lauren Hartlage holds the record for the lowest round score at 65 set on 10/20/19 at the Cardinal Cup. 
Cindy LaCrosse leads the program with the most career Top 5 finishes with 17 from 2005-2009 and more recently, Hartlage has the most career Top 10 finishes with 23 from 2016-2021 but she is tied with Margot Bechadergue

Home course 

                                  Cardinal Club Golf Course

                                 401 Champions Way, Simpsonville, KY 40067

I will probably find my way to a driving range this weekend to hit some bombs if the weather permits!!! My golf goal this year is to chip one in from the fringe! 

As Always, 

Go Cards!!! 

~Daryl

Hartlage Ties for 51st in US Women's Open -- MONDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

 HARTLAGE COMPLETES US WOMENS OPEN AT 10 OVER PAR.

As you probably know, if you've been reading Cardinal Couple this week or heard our Saturday podcast, Cardinals alumnae standout Louisville golfer Lauren Hartlage participated in the US Women's Open at Pine Needles Golf Course in North Carolina this week, starting Thursday.

72 holes later, the meet has drawn to a close and Hartlage finished with a 10 over par total of 294. That was good for a tie for 51st., and earned her $24,103. Lauren was four under par with a score of 140 after Friday's round, but shot a 78 on Saturday and a closing round of 76 on Sunday. The final score of 294 seemed to be a popular one in the field, six other golfers besides Hartlage had 294 for the 72 holes. 

The event was won by Minjee Lee with a four round total of 13 under par 271. That score was the lowest ever in the history of the event and four strokes better than second-place finisher Mina Harigae. Lee hails from Perth, Australia and has a brother on the men's PGA Tour. She's been on the pro circuit for eight years.  

Making the "cut" for women's golf's biggest event for the year is quite the feather for the "rookie on the tour" Hartlage and one can only anticipate what lies in wait next for, arguably, the best golfer to ever graduated from the University of Louisville. I, as well as many others...I would expect,  look to the future with excitement on just how good Hartlage will be eight years from now. Or even eight months from now. 

Being on the professional tour, I would assume, takes a golfer awhile to get into the routine, travel, different courses each week and different climates. Going from a college atmosphere, focus and competition into the professional ranks is, obviously, quite a change in routine. Hartlage was fortunate to have a college coach in Whitney Young, who had played on the tour and was available to help Hartlage prepare for what life might be like "in the bigs". 

It's a whole different realm than the cart golf I played when I participated in the game. A good day was losing less than half a dozen golf balls and getting the rare chance to actually putt for par. I'm sure my compadres here at Cardinal Couple could join me in telling some stories about life on the course. To do what Lauren, of any pro golfer or excellent amateur does never ceases to amaze me. 

We here at Cardinal Couple wish Lauren all the best a her journey continues. 

DANA DOES IT

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT, we have a clip below of Dana Evans incredible shot from beyond half court yesterday in the Sky vs. Mystics game

LINK:  Dana Delivers

Chicago downed Washington 91-82 and is now two games out of first place in the WNBA East at 7-3. Evans played 19 minutes yesterday and had 12 points, 4 assists and 2 rebounds. On the Washington side, Myisha Hines -Allen had 13 points in 22 minutes.

paulie

Jeff Goes in 4 directions -- SUNDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

Guess Who's Back

Yes, I've been gone from the pages of Cardinal Couple for a couple of weeks taking a big vacation, but I'm back in the chair, refreshed and rejuvenated, and ready to bring you some joy and excitement around UofL women's sports.

As we are diving into the heart of summer, we will be doing a lot of checking in on former Cards now playing at the next level of their sports, mostly professionally.  Today is certainly no exception.

WNBA

No WNBA play yesterday, so no scores or updates to bring you, but that does mean pretty much the whole league will be hitting the court today.

Asia Durr with the New York Liberty will be hosting the Minnesota Lynx.  The Lynx did have Angel McCoughtry on their roster, but bought her out for the season giving her more time to recover from nagging knee troubles.  2 pm tip time.

Emily Engstler joins her Indiana Fever in a road trip to Atlanta to play the Dream.  3pm start.

Dana Evans and Chicago Sky play host to Myisha Hines-Allen and the Washington Mystics at 6pm

TV coverage for these games is all over the place.  The Fever may have something on their Facebook page?  The Sky/Mystics game seems to be primarily available on Amazon Prime streaming?  It sure would be nice to have something nice and consistently available.

US Open

We've been following former Card Lauren Hartlage as she starts to show up in the LPGA.  The current event is the US Open at Pine Needles in South Carolina.

A rough day yesterday for Hartlage as she tumbled down the ranks with a +7 round.  That puts her 18 strokes away from the lead, in a tie for 53rd place in the event.

Volleyball Nation's League

The Volleyball Nation's League has been playing their first week of play with the first selection of players that, for the US, included former Card Anna Stevenson.

The US squad faced off against Brazil, a country with quite a great tradition in volleyball.  Despite that, the US wins this in a 3-0 sweep; 25-21, 25-20, 25-18.

For Stevenson's part, she's playing in her usual middle blocking position paired with Dana Rettke in the other middle rotation.  Stevenson got four kills and a pair of blocks against Brazil.

Overall in the VNL, the US has not dropped a set, yet.  Their first match in the overall event was against the Dominican Republic, 25-21, 25-17, 25-18.  Then after a couple of days off, they swept Canada on Friday; 25-14, 25-22, 25-19, before taking on Brazil yesterday.

The last game of this first week of VNL play for the US is today at 4pm EDT against Japan.  These matches have been played in Shreveport, LA.

The VNL is a multi-week event with the teams able to make different roster selections every week.  So it's possible that we won't see Stevenson play after this week.  The 2nd week of play opens June 7th, so we can check rosters then and see if she made the roster selection for the coming week, at least.

NWSL

Two former Cards are on rosters in the NWSL, of course.  Emina Ekic is making some noise with the local club, Racing Louisville FC, as we well know.  Gaby Vincent, however, is still making appearances with the Washington Spirit.

Both teams were in action yesterday, but both went down to defeat.  Racing lost in a disappointing 3-0 decision against the NC Courage.  Ekic came on in the 67th minute for Alex Chidiac.

The Spirit lost 1-0 against the NY/NJ Gotham FC.  Vincent was not listed as being available for selection in this one.

Both teams in action next Saturday, though the Spirit do have a mid-week game at Chicago against the Red Stars on Wednesday.

Cardinal Couple Radio Hour Podcast

The CCRHP is also back.  Case is ensconced in his new home office, Jared, Paul, and myself were all on the call.

The group spent a fair bit of time discussing the permanent hiring of Josh Heird as Athletic Director at UofL.  We also showed some love for Carmyn Greenwood getting the All-American tag in Softball, Kelsi Dahlia joining the Notre Dame Swimming coaching staff, and Lauren Hartlage in golf.  We took a quick look at the Women's College World Series, and a swing around the WNBA.  We had a quick discussion about the WNBA, the Cards playing in it, a few who are not, and potential expansion of the league and potentially coming to Louisville.

It was a full hour for sure.  Check it out at:

https://anchor.fm/cardinal-couple/episodes/News-Galore-in-Cardinal-Country-e1jgfvv

JMcA

Hartlage Moves Up -- SATURDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

Lauren Hartlage Moves Up to 17th

After her even-par performance on Thursday, Lauren Hartlage shot two-under on Friday to move up from T28th to T17th in the United States Women's Open. Her round included a 50-foot putt for birdie to help her towards that two-under. She remains seven shots off the lead after the Friday leader, Mina Harigae, also fired a two-under second round. With the cut line at +3, Hartlage was safe by quite a bit, and players have shown big movement in the two days so far. We'll keep an eye on her as she finishes out the weekend. Hartlage will tee off at 12:05 today.

WCWS Update

The Cards aren't in it, but that doesn't mean the Women's College World Series isn't a fun event to keep up with. Last night's action saw the first elimination games, as UCLA and Arizona ended the dreams of Northwestern and Oregon State. Both Arizona and Oregon State were unseeded, so the unseeded ranks were bound to lose one member yesterday, but the other unseeded team in Oklahoma City, Texas, won their first game. The Longhorns' 0 loss stat will be put to the test this afternoon when they take on their rival, the Sooners of Oklahoma, who just happens to be the #1 seed. The Sooners let Northwestern score first in their game Thursday before going on to win 13-2. Texas scored first against UCLA on a controversial error before going on to win 7-2. That game will get underway at 3PM on ABC. On the other side of the bracket, 7-seed Oklahoma State will take on 14-seed Florida at 7PM on ESPN.

Cardinal Couple Radio Hour Podcast

We're back this week! I suppose I should say I'm back since the show has gone on in my absence, but after taking last week off, we'll have four in the booth for today's show. Though the end of the UofL seasons is on the horizon, we'll still have plenty to talk about. 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!

Cardinal Couple YouTube: Link

Anchor (podcast host): Link

Apple Podcasts: Link

Breaker: Link

Google Podcasts: Link

Overcast (free account required): Link

Pocket Casts (free account and app required): Link

RadioPublic: Link

Spotify: Link

Until next time, Go Cards!

Case

Carmyn Greenwood All-American Honors -- Kelsi Worrell Dahlia Retires -- Lauren Hartlage -- THURSDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

Good morning and Happy Thursday to all of our Cardinal Couple readers! After a brief hiatus I am back. Thank you to Daryl for filling in and taking over on Tuesday for me.

Katy and I made a road trip down to Fort Mill, S.C. to see her family and have our engagement photos taken. We also picked up our marriage certificate (we have roughly a year before the big day) so it was a rather eventful weekend and trip.

Carmyn Greenwood Named All-American

Louisville softball will have a new name and jersey to hang up at Ulmer Stadium. Carmyn Greenwood was named to the NFCA All-American third team. Greenwood is the first Cardinal to earn the All-American honors since 2013 when Katie Keller and Alicja Wolny were named to the second team. 

Greenwood wrapped up her time at Louisville with several notable statistics. She led the team with a .400 batting average, 14 doubles, seven triples, 70 hits, 54 rbis, 1.270 on-base + slugging percentage, and 54 runs scored. The seven triples was an ACC best while her total hits and her combined on-base and slugging percentage were second in the conference. Her runs scored ranked third and rbis ranked fourth. 

Greenwood also now holds the program record with a .408 career batting average. Her .657 career slugging percentage ranks second in school history. She also sits high in many categories such as career on-base percentage, single season batting average, hits, runs scored, home runs, and total bases.

Heckuva way to go out for one of Louisville's best.

Kelsi Worrell Dahlia Retires from Swimming

An absolute Louisville legend and multi-time NCAA national champion announced her retirement via social media this week. Kelsi Worrell, now Kelsi Dahlia has retired from swimming.

Dahlia spent the last several years with Team USA swimming and appeared in the 2016 Olympics. She won two national titles at Louisville in the 100m butterfly and was national runner-up her sophomore year. She also set an American and NCAA record during her Louisville career.

We would like to wish Kelsi Worrell Dahlia a happy retirement on a highly successful career.

Lauren Hartlage to Compete in 2022 US Women's Open

Following a successful career with Louisville women's golf, Lauren Hartlage is now enjoying her professional career and will compete in the 2022 US Women's Open.

The event is being held at the Pine Needles Lodge & Golf Club from June 2-5. Her tee time is 2:46 p.m.

Hartlage qualified for the event after medaling in Columbus earlier this season.

We wish Hartlage the best of luck!

Happy Thursday and Go Cards!

Jared

Women's Golf In 4th at Blessings -- WEDNESDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

CARDS WOMEN'S GOLF IN FOURTH PLACE IN ARKANSAS

It's been awhile since we've covered Louisville women's golf here at Cardinal Couple -- and with WSOC off until tomorrow (at Notre Dame), Volleyball not scheduled until Friday (hosting Boston College and Field Hockey resting up for a couple of days before returning to practice Thursday and then going to #2 Michigan on Sunday -- I thought it might be a good time to catch us up on Louisville women's golf. 

The "chip and putt" Cards are in their third invitational of the fall season -- getting ready for their final day of action at the Blessing Invitational in Fayetteville, Ark.  No doubt, an interesting name for a invitational -- no philosophical or attitude-oriented significance here -- it's just the name of the golf course the team are participating on. Previous outings had the Cards finishing 6th in the Wolverine Invitational (three guesses on who was the home squad for that one) and Mason Rudolph Invitational in Nashville, where Louisville finished in a tie for ninth.

In case you wondered, the Mason Rudolph tournament was named after the professional golfer, from Clarksville, TN, who was on the PGA Tour in the 50's and 60's and not for the NFL quarterback on the Pittsburgh Steelers squad. 

Louisville is currently in fourth place at the Blessings Collegiate  Invitational after 36 holes. There are ten universities participating in the event, with Arkansas (the host school) leading the way with an 11-stroke advantage over second place UCLA. The Cards are ten strokes back of third-place Texas Tech.

Leading the way for UofL is junior Hana Ryskova, who has put together rounds of 71 and 74 to sit at seventh place overall with her 1-over-par, two-day total. Graduate student Kendall Griffin, who came to the Cards this season from LSU, fired a even-par 72 Tuesday and is tied for 13th-placce overall with her two-day total of 149. 

Mairead Martin 

Senior Lauren Thibodeau is tied for 20th place after her 74 Tuesday. Freshman Carmen Griffiths, out of Scotland, has a two round total of 153 and Irish native Mairead Martin checks in at 159.

Other 2021 Cardinal women's golfers, who did not make the trip to Arkansas are freshman Gabi Betancourt, sophomores Carly Haines and Molly Lyne and junior Agustina Gomez Cisternos. 

                                                                ***************

Lauren Hartlage

It seems a little strange to be discussing Louisville women's golf and not bringing up Lauren Hartlage....but she did graduate in the spring and is competing on the Symetra Tour, along with former Cardinal golfer Laura Restrepo.  The Symetra Tour is the official qualifying tour for the LGPA tour. 

                                                               *****************

The Blessings participants should have a great day for golf today, no rain forecast and temps in the mid-70's.  

Have a wonderful Wednesday! 

paulie

 

A Short News Day -- SATURDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

 Hartlage Named All-American

Despite a final couple of rounds she might like to have back in the NCAA Tournament, Lauren Hartlage had a fantastic season. Her 12th place finish at the tournament was the sixth best by a Cardinal all-time and her accolades for the season continue to come in. This week, she was named a second-team All-American by the Women's Golf Coaches Association. Second-team honors are tied for the highest honor a Cardinal has ever achieved, first set by Cindy LaCrosse in 2009. The honors are also the highest of Hartlage's career, though she has been named as an honorable mention All-American three times before. 

Hartlage's career was one of the best at UofL. Per GoCards, she's the fourth Cardinal to be named to an All-Conference team four times. She's also the first Cardinal to average below par for a season. Her final season average of 72.05 strokes gave her the UofL program record for career average at 72.53, just a half stroke over par for her entire career. She also earned the school's best ACC tournament finish this year.

As a fifth-year senior, this is likely it for Lauren Hartlage in a Louisville uniform, but she is poised for success in her post-college career. Already she has been invited to the 2021 Augusta Women's Amateur, and I doubt it will be long before she makes her way to the LPGA. Congrats to Lauren and good luck going forward!

MHA Earns Double-Double in Loss

Myisha Hines-Allen didn't earn the nickname Dooblay while she was at UofL for nothing. Despite a rocky start to her pro career, MHA has now settled in with the Washington Mystics, especially in the continued absence of Elena Delle Donne. Despite carrying a one-point lead into the fourth quarter last night against the Connecticut Sun, the Mystics were unable to close out and ultimately lost 86-81. The team struggled from the field, shooting just 39.4% from the floor collectively. Hines-Allen certainly didn't help, shooting just 3-14 from the field in her 33 minutes. Despite the cold field goal percentage, she still managed to add five free throws to her six floor points to finish with 11, the fourth highest total on the team. She also added ten rebounds for a double-double and turned in three assists. Her +3 was the highest +/- on the team and she played the fourth most minutes.

The Mystics are struggling so far this year, as they're off to a 2-4 start, but they are still working to integrate all of their pieces into the lineup. We'll see how they continue to get on as the season progresses, and we'll keep an eye on MHA and other Cardinals around the league throughout the summer.

Cardinal Couple Radio Hour Podcast

The Cardinal Couple Radio Hour Podcast returns this week after a scattered week off last week. I'll still be out (my hiatus is nearly over), but the rest of the crew should be on board for the first true summer episode of the show. It may be quiz time, though it still may not, and you'll just have to tune in for yourself to find out. Check out the Cardinal Couple YouTube Channel at 11AM for the live show or catch the recording any time after that. If you're looking for the podcast, I apologize. It will for sure return when I do, and we'll work to do a better job after that of keeping it on track when I'm out.

Until next time, Go Cards!

-CH-

WTen Season Ends -- WNBA -- TUESDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

We had a pair of Cards in action yesterday and some former Cards that played in the evening so we take a break from reviewing the different seasons to look at what went on throughout the day.

Women's Tennis Falls in NCAA Tournament

The Cardinals #13 ranked duo Raven Neely and Tatiana Simova fell to Florida's #7 ranked McCartney Kessler and Marlee Zein 6-1, 6-3 in the opening round of the NCAA Women's Doubles Championships.

Florida started hot in the opening set by racing out to a 5-0 lead before the Cards mustered up a point. Florida would go on to take the next point to claim the set.

The second set looked promising as the two foes traded points on service with Louisville going up 3-2. The Gators would go on to take the next four points and breaking the Cards twice to claim the win.

Louisville's pair of Neely and Simova finished the year 11-6 and was the first UofL doubles team to qualify for the NCAA Championships since 2015.

WNBA

We saw a trio of former Cards playing last night in the WNBA. The Dallas Wings traveled east to take on the New York Liberty last night. The game ended up being live-streamed for free on the WNBA twitter account. The Liberty improved to 4-1 with an 88-81 win while the Wings dropped to 1-2.

Dana Evans came off the bench for the Wings and saw nine minutes. She missed a three-pointer while committing one turnover and one foul.

Kylee Shook and Jazmine Jones both started on the bench but saw valuable minutes on the floor. Shook dropped two points with three rebounds, one assist, and two fouls on 13 minutes. Jones played 18 minutes and had five points, three rebounds, one assist, and one steal to go along with a turnover and three fouls.

Tonight, the Washington Mystics will visit the Indiana Fever at 7:00 p.m. I do not think Myisha Hines-Allen is back with the Mystics yet. She has been playing in Europe this spring. 

On Thursday, the Dallas Wings will visit the Atlanta Dream, so we get to see Dana play for the second time this week.

LAUREN HARTLAGE

University of Louisville senior Lauren Hartlage golfing days in college came to an impressive conclusion with a 12th-place finish at the NCAA Championship at the Grayhawk Golf Club in Scottsdale, Ariz., on Monday.

The senior, who was in contention after the second round, finished the tournament at 1-over-par, carding 73-68-75-73=289 to end as the fourth-best individual in the tournament.

We look forward to see how her career progress as she moves on to the pros ! 

Happy Tuesday and Go Cards!

Jared

Hartlage third round action -- Liberty face Wings tonight -- MONDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

 LAUREN HARTLAGE AT EVEN PAR FOR NCAA CHAMPIONSHIPS 

The golfing continues in Arizona for the collegiate NCAA Championships today, as the participants enter their fourth round of play. University of Louisville golfer Lauren Hartlage fired a 75 Sunday to slip out of a tie for second and slide into a tie for 10th after 54 holes. 

Hartlage remains as the participant with the best score for golfers not playing for the team title, but as individuals... with an even par 216 after the third round. The Stanford golfers had the right answer for the Grayhawk Golf Club course in Scottsdale, AZ....three of their team participants were on fire with Rachel Heck putting up a 70 to go to -10 under for the 54 holes, Angelina Ye carding an eye-popping 65 for Sunday to move to -5 for the event and Brooke Seay firing a 68 Sunday to go to -1 under. 

Hartlage began well Sunday with a birdie on the first hole, a par 4, and stayed at -1 under until the eighth hole, where she recorded a bogey on the par 3. She finished the first nine with an even par 36. 

The final nine was a bit more turbulent for the Elizabethtown, KY graduate student. It began well with a birdie on the par 4, Hole 10 and she stayed at -1 under until a bogey on the par 3 13th hole. Lauren recovered to fire a birdie on the par 4 -14th hole. 

The final four holes were a roller coaster ride for Hartlage. She fired a par on 15, a par 4, but produced a double bogey 5 on the par 3 - 16th hole. Holes 17 and 18 were bogeys for Hartlage for the final round score of 75.   

She takes to the links at 12:33 today (Mountain Time Zone) 

In team competition, Stanford has run away and hid from the rest of the field with an impressive -18 par after three days.  ACC member Duke is in second, 20 strokes back at +2 for the 54 holes. The Blue Devils are one of three ACC schools in the top ten team competition -- Wake Forest is in seventh place with a +16 and FSU stands in eighth place with a +17 mark after three days. The PAC 12 also has Arizona State, Arizona and Oregon in the top 10 and the SEC is represented by Ole Miss. The Big 12 is doing pretty well with 3rd place Okla. St and 4th place Texas. 

Here's hoping Lauren can solve the mysteries of the Par 3's in Scottsdale and finish strong in Day 4. 

DALLAS COMES TO BROOKLYN TONIGHT

The Dallas Wings bring their game to the New York Liberty in the (Brooklyn) Barclays Center tonight -- meaning we get a matchup of former Cards Dana Evans (Dallas)  against Jazmine Jones and Kylee Shook.

The trio aren't a major factor in either lineup, so far, in the early season WNBA contests  

Yesterday, New York downed the Chicago Sky 93-85 to improve to 4-1. It was the Betnijah Laney (20 points) and Sabrina Ionescu (19 points) show for the Libs  -- who broke open a halftime 52-52 tie to outscore the Sy 41-33 in the second half. Kylee Shook produced five points and six rebounds in 18 minutes for New York and Jaz Jones added three points and three grabs in ten minutes.

Dallas sits at 1-1 after an overtime 100-97 loss to Seattle on Saturday. It continues to be the combination of Arike Ogumbowale (28 points) and Marina Mabrey (26 points) piloting the Wings...Dana Evans got seven minutes Saturday and contributed five points, after seeing two minutes in the season opener for Dallas against the LA Sparks. 

Sadly, viewing options for this one tonight consist of just a broadcast on the YES Network, which is a "pay" network that primarily covers New York City professional sports squads. It's also on FUBO, if you have that. I have neither.

I can't figure out, after due deliberation in this senile brain, why aren't these WNBA games aren't getting more ESPN or another readily available sport network coverage? The WNBA is a popular, resurgent and growing-in-popularity professional sport and one would think it would draw more viewers than cornhole contest or the Monaco Grand Prix Formula One racing...but I'm looking at it through a basketball junkie's viewpoint. 

I'm no network executive, though, so take the rant for what it's worth.

Nevertheless, let's hope Dana has a good game but the Libs continue their winning ways and Kylee and Jaz have big nights !! 

Have a marvelous Monday!

paulie

Lauren Hartlage -- Olivia Cochran -- SUNDAY CAARDINAL COUPLE

 Lauren Hartlage

Lauren Hartlage had a late day surge to move into a tie for second in the NCAA Golf Championships in Scottsdale Arizona.

In the first round, on Friday, Hartlage shot a one over par at the Grayhawk Golf Club, which was good for 19th place after the round.  The senior lit the course on fire with a round of four under to move into a tie for second.

Hartlage started play on the 10th hole recording pars on every hole until she circled all the way around to the fourth hole.  With birdies on holes four, five, seven, and eight, she recorded the third best round of the day at four under.  She is still five strokes behind Rachel Heck of Stanford in first place, but there are still two rounds to play.

After today's third round, the top 15 teams, and the top nine individuals not on an advancing team will play the final round on Monday.  Hartlage has obviously placed herself in a position to reach Monday's play and take a shot at the individual championship. We wish her smoothing putting and long drives ! 

Olivia Cochran

Olivia Cochran was selected to play in the USA Women's National 3x3 Team training camp.

Featuring a game roster of Stefanie Dolson, Allisha Gray, Kelsey Plum, and Katie Lou Samuelson, the team is competing in Voiron, France at the Big 12 International Tournament.  This tournament will wrap up play today.

After this, the team will move on to Graz, Austria to compete in the FIBA 3x3 Olympic Qualifying Tournament.  Three teams at the OQT will get berths in the Tokyo Olympics.  Four other teams have already qualified based on points totals from previous FIBA competitions, and the eighth and final Olympic Berth will go to the winner of the FIBA 3x3 Universality Qualifying Tournament which will have six teams competing from countries that did not have a basketball team in the 2012, or 2016 Olympics.

Cardinal Couple Radio Hour Podcast

The CCRHP took a break yesterday.  Daryl was avoiding pushing any buttons on vacation, Jared was going to have to leave early to make it to a event to push his camera buttons, Case was off doing...I'm not sure what, exactly, and Paulie apparently had a rough travel day Friday.

We should be back next week better than ever.  Will we see the return of the quiz next week?  It's about time for it.

JMcA

Season Review: Field Hockey -- FRIDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

We take a week off from "Friday's with Daryl" as Daryl is enjoying a well-deserved vacation right now. Besides being a regular writer and radio show participant, Daryl also balances several jobs that include working in the ACC Network studio on campus and running the camera crew at Louisville Bats' games. She's also one heck of a fantasy football player, which she hopes to win another title this season. She also celebrated her birthday earlier this week right about the same time Celene Funke (softball) and Shayla Scanlan (lacrosse) celebrated theirs.

Her regularly scheduled Friday report should resume next week, but for now we hope Daryl enjoys her vacation. Daryl, if you're out there celebrating by drinking I'll take a rum and coke!

Season Review: Field Hockey

We can go ahead and look at another team whose season wrapped up recently.  This team had arguably the most success this season. We look no further than field hockey.

Justine Sowry's squad achieved several accomplishments in the dual season. They reached the #2 ranking, which is the highest in school history and they advanced to the program's first ever Final Four and were one lucky shot away from going to the championship. Personally, I think the Cards should get credit for a #1 ranking after their upset against North Carolina back in the fall, but there were no polls for the fall season.

Louisville finished the season with a 14-6 record and officially had a 3-3 conference record. They went 11-5 against ACC schools, but not all were considered conference games.

The fall season started out hot with back-to-back wins against Duke, outscoring the Blue Devils 6-1 in those two matches. It was followed by a 3-1 upset against North Carolina and capped off with a 2-1 revenge win against Boston College. The Cards would go on to win three more before falling to Syracuse by one goal in the fall regular season finale. The Cards cruised by Virginia in the ACC semifinals before falling to North Carolina in the conference title game.

They opened the spring season against UNC, which turned into a loss too. They would go on to win the next three matches by a combined score of 9-2 before trading off on wins and losses the rest of the regular season.

Louisville earned the 3-seed in the NCAA Tournament and received a first round bye. In the NCAA Quarterfinals the Cards topped UConn 1-0, relying on a goal in the first quarter.

2-seed Michigan squared up against Louisville in the NCAA Semifinals and it was a battle. After a scoreless first half, the Wolverines got on the board in the third quarter. We saw all sorts of different colored cards get thrown at players from both teams in the second half (did you know there was a 10-minute penalty?!) before Louisville capitalized on a corner with 1:18 remaining in regulation to send the game to overtime. The two foes played a pair of empty sudden victory overtime periods and proceeded to a shootout. Even the normal five-person shootout wasn't enough as it was not until a sixth person that Michigan rushed the field as they advanced to the national championship.

Coach Sowry mentioned the most difficult part for her team was adjusting to the roster changes between the fall and spring seasons. Quite a few players retired after the fall as their education and life opportunities took them elsewhere and a player or two transferred out of the program.

Louisville outscored opponents 47-27 on the year and even posted three five-goal performances. They were shutout only twice with both of those being on the road against ranked ACC opponents. The 2.35 goals per game was quite a feat and ranked 15th in the country while the 1.35 goals allowed per game was a compliment to a stellar defense and goalkeeping situation.

Mercedes "Mechi" Pastor proved to everyone once again why she should be in the running for the best player in collegiate field hockey. The senior, who was not recognized on Senior Day (potential foreshadowing for next season perhaps?), scored 13 goals and added six assists for an impressive 32 points. Players are credited two points per goal and one point per assist.

Aimee Plumb and Katie Schneider each scored six goals while three more scored four. A total of 11 players recorded a goal and 14 recorded an assist.

In the cage, Hollyn Barr took the fall duties and Sam Minrath took over the duties in the spring. Barr allowed 13 goals over 10 games while Minrath surrendered 11 goals over 11 games.

Our goalkeepers had plenty of support in the backfield. Meghan Schneider was a force to be reckoned in the back and was often the last line of defense before opponents came face-to-face with the keepers. She had plenty of help as Alli Bitting remained rock solid in the back and India Reed made a name for herself on defense.

Like lacrosse, field hockey plays in the undisputed top conference in the country. Having to face a team like North Carolina three times in 20 games is a difficult task. An eye-popping stat is that 19 of the 20 total games the Cards played were against ranked opponents with Ball State being the odd one out. Nine of the games were against teams in the top 10, where they went 5-4. Three of those four losses came against the #1 and #2 teams.

Corners and set pieces seemed to be the toughest issue for Louisville this year as they had 133 penalty corners and converted on less than 15% of them. Get that percentage up to at least 25% and the Cards could have added another four wins this year.

The squad has plenty of talent returning in players like Sam Minrath, Charlie van Oirschot, Aimee Plumb, Emilia Kaczmarczyk, and India Reed. We hope to see some of the seniors return but have received no confirmation on any yet.

LAUREN HARTLAGE

We also want to wish Lauren Hartlage, who starts the first day of the three-day NCAA Championships. We know she will represent UofL well and will provide updates after each day. She will tee off on the par-72 course at 8:13 a.m., MT (10:13 a.m. ET). Want to see her progress? Go to golfstat.com 

Happy Friday and Go Cards!

Jared

Hartlage Advances to National Championship -- Softball Starts ACC Tournament -- THURSDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

 Hartlage Advances to the National Championship

The third and final day of the NCAA Regional proved to be harsh for the Louisville women's golf team. The Cards entered the final day sitting fourth and had a four-stroke lead over the seventh place team at the time. The top six teams qualify for the NCAA Championship.

Over the course of the day, Louisville shot a 10-over-par to drop down to 11th overall and miss out on the NCAA Championship. Head coach Whitney Young hinted that the Cards struggled on the green, proving to be their downfall.

However, Lauren Hartlage performed well enough to qualify. The fifth-year senior shot a two-under-par 214 for the tournament for fourth place overall. Hartlage is the team's first individual qualifier since 2016.

Hana Ryskova finished 16th overall at two-over-par 218. Margot Bechadergue and Molly Lyne both shot a 10-over-par 226 to tie for 51st. Carly Haines only played the last two rounds but finished 94th from the two rounds after shooting 159. Cardinals golfer Mairead Martin and Agustina Gomez-Cisterna -- who competed in the ACC Championships for UofL, did not play in the regional. 

Despite the third-day plummet, things still went better in the Louisville Regional vs. the Baton Rouge Regional. Poor weather led to the regional never being played. By NCAA rule, the top six seeds advance to the NCAA Championship. There was no rain on Wednesday and the committee that made the decision said the course was playable, but not for a "championship level", sparking major outrage and controversy.

Softball Begins ACC Tournament vs Duke

It's do or die time for Louisville softball. After a first round bye, 6-seed Louisville gears up to face 3-seed Duke tonight at Ulmer Stadium.

Duke won the regular season series 3-1 after the Cards had stolen the series-opening win 2-0. Duke went on to win the next game 9-1 to even the series. The final two games were much closer with the Cards falling 5-4 in both of them.

Louisville struggled in the final couple weeks of the regular season against teams near the bottom of the conference standings. The Cards went 2-2 against both Boston College and North Carolina.

This game is set to start at 7:30 p.m., but being the fourth and final game of the day I highly doubt this game will start on time. You can catch this game on television on the ACC Network.

I plan to be out there to capture this game on camera and hopefully a Louisville win.

Happy Thursday and Go Cards!

Jared