WBB Update --WEDNESDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

 WALZ UPDATE ON WBB

From Walz presser:

Many players remained on campus during the summer .Getting Visas straighten out to get to campus for some was another issue and although not a lot of team work was done o organized the group got to know each other better by working out and shooting together each day and Walz says he knows who will be on the roster by now and is getting it set. 

Walz is excited for Steph Norman's chances at Arizona St. She and new head coach Molly Miller have been good  friends for a long time.

 Let's take a look at the "new" coaching assistant layout at UofL, It will be different to look over at the Cards bench and not see Steph sitting over there. 

Brittany Morris did a lot of wonderful things working on Wes Moore's NC State coaching staff for four years and has veteran coaching experience at other schools as well.

Wes Moore went back to the "old" by bringing back Simon Harris. It is the third time in his career that he has rejoined the Wolfpack.

 Who will be the Cards players you'll be watching closely and expecting to lead the way?

It's been a series of changes for the Cards. Look back to 2020. Walz's assistants/associates were Sam Purcell, Norman, Jonneshia Pineda and Beth Burns (although she wasn't officially listed as an assistant, everyone knew she was). . That 2020-21 squad went 26-4, with two loses to NC State. Fla. State and Stanford. What a roster that was with Parker, Smith, Balogun, Evans, Van Lith and Konno...to name just a few

Soo....half a decade later...how will this current group of Cards WBB players match up compared to that group? Roberts, Randolph, Juffermans, Istanbulloglu, Berry and the transfers in?

Stay tuned, it should be a fun ride. 

paulie

Yevheniia Putra will add depth to Louisville WBB front line --WEDNESDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

 6'3" UKRAINE CENTER HAS A WEALTH OF INTERNATIONAL EXPERIENCE.

Jeff Walz Has done well with tall European and Russian players over his time at Louisville. Cardinal fans rave over Elif istanbulloglu, who will be a junior on the 2025-26 squad. Many Cardinals fans will remember Yuliva Tokova. Yacine Diop was invaluable for the Cards front line in her playing days  

The newest name to the "EuroCards" list is Yevheniia Putra, a 6'3" freshman that hails from Kyiv, Ukraine. She played for the Ukrainian Senior National team on the 2025 FIBA Women Eurobasket Qualifiers. She played in all six games of the qualifiers and her best performance was against Portugal where she had 13 points and three rebounds. 

She has played in multiple International league and the 20 yr. old freshman and will joiN seven returning Cards as part of a six-player incoming freshman class. There is additional height in the incoming class...with Grace Mbugna from Danville Christian measuring in at 6'5" and transfer, 6'2" Laura Ziegler from St. Joseph. 

In addition, the Cards return 6'4" Isla Juffermans from Austraila and 6'3" sophomore Anaya Hardy  are back.

It will be interesting to see how Walz forms and aligns the 2025-26 Cards. The Cards did have 6'5" Eseosa Imafidon transfer out to Providence but she was seldom used in her two years as a Cardinal. Walz will probably lean on Imari Berry, Taj Roberts and Mac Randolph in the upcoming season...and Reyna Scott comes in from Oklahoma with impressive numbers. 

We wait anxiously for the opener against UCLA in Paris. 

How about a little Grace Potter and the Nocturals to tide us over until then? 

If I was from Paris

paulie

Laura Ziegler, Yevhenian Putra joins Cards WBB-- Sunday Cardinal Couple

 6'3" FORWARD FROM UKRAINE NEW CARD FOR 2025

Jeff Walz is well known for his wide range on recruiting area in his nearly two decades as a head WBB at Louisville.. He's had his share of European players on the squad, and the newest addition to the Cards from Europe is 6'3" forward from Kiev, Ukraine named YEVHENIIA PUTRA.

 She is no ordinary freshman.

Putra has stops at the United Kingdom, Spain, Romania, Scotland and her home country Ukraine playing basketball. She has mostly been a center....but Louisville is listing her as a forward. She also played on the Ukraine National Team from 2023-25. 

A player with such extensive experience will be a welcome addition to a Cardinals roster that has just two seniors on the roster.  

Although the Cards are relatively young, there is vast experience. Imari Berry, Mac Randolph, Elif Istanbulloglu, and Taj Roberts all played extensively last season for Jeff Walz, and Skylar Jones, who is transferring in from Arizona...is an experienced guard/forward as well. Reyna Scott also joins the roster from Oklahoma, where she played a lot, too. 

Yevhenia's recent play with MBK Ruzomberok, a club team in Slovakia will make her a valuable addition to the Cards front line.

ZIEGLER POISED TO BE IMPACT PLAYER FOR CARDS

Let's not forget transfer in Laura Ziegler, who spent her previous three seasons at St.Joseph. The 6'2" forward was All-A10 last season

Ziegler: started all 31 games last year at St. Joseph and was the second leading scorer on the team. Her time at St. Joseph is chock full of awards and honors, including:

--14.3 points and 9.4 rebounds last year at St..Joseph

--13 double-doubles on the season.

-- Had 27 points against Duquesne

-- 84 assists last season, second highest on the squad.

We welcome both these newcomers to Cards WBB, part of a six-player new group for the 2025-26 Cards. 

paulie

- 

Miscellaneous Monday -- MONDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

Good Monday morning readers, 

No games on Sunday or Monday means some random coverage can be shared to hold us over.

Softball

With WKU heading to Ulmer stadium on Tuesday evening, it got me thinking about the in state rivalries and the record against those squads.  Louisville is 4-1 against in-state teams and almost winning that one vs UK was very frustrating.

Beat WKU in Bowling Green back on March 25 a month ago 3-2.  Here's some of my favorite shots from Mr. Jared Anderson at Ulmer this season. 

WBB adds KY kid, Peyton Bradley to the roster

 


Head coach Jeff Walz announced today the signing of one of Kentucky's top prep stars, Peyton Bradley of Meade County High School, to the Cardinals 2025 recruiting class.

Bradley, a 5'8 guard from Brandenburg, Kentucky had over 3,000 career points during her high school career. 

As a freshman, Bradley made an immediate impact by leading Meade County to a Girls' Sweet 16 appearance, scoring 23 points and dishing out six assists in her state tournament debut. She led Kentucky in three-point percentage that year and has consistently been among the state's top scorers ever since.   Bradley suffered a torn ACL her junior season, but she returned stronger than ever in her senior campaign. In her final season, she averaged 28.2 points (ranked #2 in state), 5.4 rebounds and 4.6 assists with multiple 30-point performances. Bradley shot 41.6% from 3-point range and ranked second in the state with 114 makes from behind the arc. She holds the Meade County program record for career points and three-pointers made. Her 510 three-pointers made ranks second all-time in Kentucky state basketball history. Bradley was named Courier Journal First Team All-State, the second Louisville signee in the class to receive the honor.



What Walz said...

 "She's a relentless scorer with a high basketball IQ, and what impresses us most is her toughness. She came back from a major injury and somehow elevated her game even further. She fits the culture and competitive mindset we value here at Louisville."

What Bradley said ...

"I've always dreamed of playing at the next level, and Louisville felt like home the minute I stepped on campus," Bradley said. "The program's tradition, the coaching staff's energy, and the way they push their players to grow — it's everything I wanted. I can't wait to compete in the ACC and give it my all."

As Always, 

Go Cards

~Daryl 

ACC Awards Curry, Roberts, LAX at Vandy, ACC WBB Tournament and Cardinal Couple Pick Em -- WEDNESDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

 CURRY, ROBERTS ALL-ACC

The ACC announced yesterday that Jayda Curry was named to the first team All-ACC, Taj Roberts to the second team and Roberts was also named to the All-Freshman squad. 

Curry joins three FSU Seminoles on the squad -- Ta'Niya Latson, Makayla Timpson and O'Mariah Gordon, plus Notre Dame's Hannah Hidalgo, Sonja Citron and Olivia Miles, NC State had three also in Aziaha James, Saniya Rivers and Zoe Brooks . Virginia's Kymora Johnson, North Carolina's Alyssa Ustby, Pittsburgh's Khadija Faye, Georgia Tech's Kara Dunn, and Duke's Toby Fouriner also made the first team squad. 

Roberts and five others made up the All-Freshman team. She joins Fouriner, Georgia Tech's Dani Carnegie, Tilda Trygger from NC State,Lanie Grant from North Carolina, and Notre Dame's Kate Koval  

 

On the second team -- along with Roberts  -- are Haley Cavinder (Miami), .Joanna Krimili (Cal), AshlonJackson (Duke), Liaua King (Notre Dame), Maria Gakdeng (UNC), Tonie Morgan (Ga Tech), Reniya Kelly (UNC), Nunu Agara (Stanford), and Nya Robertson (SMU) 

Congratulations to the Cards players named and to all the players making the lists. We wonder why Olivia Cochran and Nyla Harris weren't selected to either the first or second team All ACC...but, with 18 teams voting, it looks like the anti-Louisville prejudice has gotten stronger in the league. 

Wes Moore won ACC Coach of the Year honors in a landslide over Niele Ivey of Notre Dame. 

LAX TRAVELS TO VANDY

Louisville Lacrosse steps out of conference play to travel to Vandy today to face the Commodores. Louisville goes into the contest 3-3, coming off a home loss to #2 North Carolina. 

The Cards have won the last three meetings between them and the 'dores...Vandy last played and lost to visiting Ohio State. The Cards have also beaten by the Buckeyes this year.  

Sophomore Reese Whitman leads Louisville in scoring with 10 goals, 

It's a 1:00 p.m. game (ET) and will be available on ESPN+

ACC WBB TOURNEY BEGINS TODAY

Three games kick off the ACC WBB Tournament today in Greensboro. 

Wednesday action: 

#13 seed Syracuse starts the action when they face #12 seed Boston College at 1 p.m. today. The two schools met just three days ago to end their regular seasons -- Syracuse getting a 25 point win over the Eagles in the Dome. A different venue probably won't help BC that much -- look for the 'Cuse to move on to Thursday

#15 Pitt faces #10 Virginia in the 3:30 game. Pitt barely got in the tournament, edging out Miami by one game. The Panthers fell two weeks ago to the Cavs by 13. A neutral court probably won't make it any better for the Pitt squad, we see Virginia moving on to Thursday. 

#14 Clemson vs #11 Stanford. Stanford isn't nearly as good as the power house squads they had a few years ago...and Clemson is just flat pitiful under first year coach Shawn Poppie...but the Tigers did beat Stanford this year, in Clemson...by five.. On a neutral site? Your guess is as good as any in the 6:30 p.m. closer for Day One. I went with Stanford. 

For the Cardinal Couple ACC Pick 'Em, you have until noon today to get your picks in.  enter them in the comments section. Also pick a final total score and don't forget to put your name. 

The Real Joe Hill sent these to us yesterday:

Syracuse, Virginia, Stanford UNC, GT, Cal. Louisville ,FSU, NCST, Cal, Louisville, FSU, Louisville, Louisville. Points 139.

Good luck and have a fun tournament !!

paulie

 

  

WBB defeats Clemson 78-52 -- SB & LAX Preview -- FRIDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

FRIDAYS WITH DARYL 

Good morning readers, welcome back to another weekend and the end of the month of February.

Hard to believe the last home WBB game has come and gone and we’re looking ahead to March Madness. But the spring time sports are in full swing as the softball squad opened its home schedule this week with a local foe.

Lets get right into it!



WBB 

Louisville 78  vs Clemson  52



The program honored seniors, Ja'Leah Williams, Jayda Curry, Merissah Russell and Olivia Cochran prior to the match.

Recap

End of 1Q. 16-15 Clemson
FG %
6-14 42.9% Cards
6-12 50% Clemson
Reb.  8-5 Clemson
3-pt %
1-3 33.3% Cards
2-5 40% Clemson



After Clemson started the game with a 5-2 lead, the two squads battled back and forth until the first media timeout with the Cardinals owning a 11-10 lead.  Loyal McQueen had 6 of the Tigers 16 points.  

End of 2Q 16-14 Cards

Photo from Jared Anderson

FG %
6-14 42.9% Cards
6-17 35.3% Clemson
Reb. 12-9 Cards
3-pt %
2-5 40% Cards
0-1 0% Clemson

Clemson pushed it to a 20-15 lead to open the second quarter. A defensive trap forced Clemson to call a timeout with 6 min left till halftime and the score 22-20 Tigers. Olivia Cochran put one up and in to tie it 22 all. Clemson then pushed the pace again to score 4 unanswered. A blocking foul put Taj Roberts at the line where she went 1-2.  Cards regained the lead 27-26 on a Arenas 3 pointer but not to the discouragement of the Clemson as they would not go away so easily. 

HALF 31-30

End of 3Q 24-16 Cards

FG %
7-14 50% Cards
4-11 36.4% Clemson
Reb. 10-6 Cards
3-pt %
3-5 60% Cards
1-3 33.3% Clemson


The Tigers came up blank in their first possession while the Cards opened their offensive possession with a layup underneath assisted by Harris. When it was 37-35 the Cards went on a 6-0 run.  At, 49-38 Olivia Cochran got elbowed in the chin and called for her third foul and the Clemson player went to the line to shoot three. Word on the street is that the crowd is still at the Yum Center booing the refs. They even reviewed it! So Cochran went to the bench for a breather. The whistles didn’t get any better for the next few minutes as the quarter expired.


End of 4Q   23-6 Cardinals 



FG %
9-16 56.3% Cards
2-16 12.5%  Clemson
Reb.  15-7 Cards
3-pt %
2-6 33.3% Cards
0-6 0%  Clemson

Taj Roberts had 4 buckets in the first 4 minutes to be the lone scorer and push Louisville's lead to 66-46. The Cards did what Walz said they would do when someone has the hot hand, feed them the ball. Roberts nailed another 3 pointer with ease. And she held the pose afterwards. Cardinal fans could finally breathe with under 5 minutes left in the game. With just under two minutes left Walz called a timeout to pull the seniors for their final farewells from the Cardinal fan base.  

Photo from Jared Anderson

You can list to Coach Walz Post game  >>>>  Right Here

UP NEXT

Louisville vs Notre Dame

Sunday March 2

12pm ESPN

FRED REPORT

Jacksonville Jaguar, Fred Taylor

FREE THROWS -- Louisville went 14-20 which just meets the Cardinal Couple benchmark for 70%.  Nyla Harris went 6-6 at the line so I'm giving it a Capital F 

REBOUNDING --  UofL outrebounded the Tigers 42-30 with two Cardinals pulling down 10 boards, Curry and Cochran.  Olivia had 5 offensive rebounds.  CAPITAL R 

EFFORT/EXECUTION --   I just know Walz had quite the halftime speech for this squad.  I'm chalking up the first half up to the fact that the squad was still wiping away tears from Senior night festivities and hearing their names called on the PA system one last time.   i give it a CAPITAL E for a second half runaway effort on Senior night.  

DEFENSE --  As the halftime and final scores show, there wasn't much defense going on in the first half, as the small statured Clemson team played quite largely.   The Cards turned up the offense in the second half which lead to better defense and a runaway victory in front of the home squad.  Capital D



FINAL FRED TALLY: F-R-E-D





LAX preview

Louisville vs #2 UNC
12pm

The Tarheels are 4-0 coming off two back to back Top 5 wins against #5 Florida and #4 Syracuse. Grad student, Ashley Humphrey and redshirt freshman sister pair Chloe Humphrey combined for all 14 points in the 14-9 win over #5 Florida. Together, Ashley and Chloe Humphrey have combined for 23 goals, 15 assists and 38 points. That's 35.8%, 34.3% and 38.5% of UNC's total offensive production, respectively. UNC is undefeated against Louisville. UNC has outscored its opponents 67-20. They are third in the NCAA (first in the ACC) in scoring defense with 5.0 goals allowed/game. UNC is also second in the NCAA (first in the ACC) with 9.75 assists/game. In the net, Betty Nelson had a career-high nine saves vs. Syracuse. Her .568 save percentage ranks first in the ACC and seventh in the NCAA. Her 5.43 goals-against average is first in the ACC and third in the NCAA.

Softball 

Louisville vs Central Michigan
First pitch is 12:30pm
ACCNX

The Chippewas come to Louisville with a 1-8 record on the season with their lone win coming as an 8-0 run rule against Tennessee State in the Trojan Classic in Troy, Alabama. CMU is being outscored 34-48. It appears that the pitching duties are split pretty evenly between 3 Chippewas, junior lefty Cierra Laska, redshirt sophomore righty, Mackenzie Langan and sophomore Brooklyn Compau. Freshman Tori Briggs is leading the team with a .423 batting average on 11 hits and 4RBIs. Carly Sleeman has a team leading 3 homeruns on the season.

Louisville vs Longwood
First pitch is 5:30pm
ACCNX

Longwood University is coming off a run rule loss to the University of Virginia but winners of the 3 games prior including two run rule victories in a double header against North Carolina Central. They are 5-7 on the season and 0-3 on the road. They faced #1 Texas in their second game of the season and got run-ruled. They also faced the #10 ranked Georgia Bulldogs and lost 5-11. Louisville leads the series 4-0. Circle duties belong to Junior right-handed pitcher Maggie Chapin and sophomore lefty Cierra Gawryluk were named to the preseason all-Big South team, along with Sophia Knock. Knock, a first baseman, was tabbed Preseason Big South Player of the Year on Jan. 22.






As Always
Go Cards!

~Daryl

WBB stats --ACC Pick em --WEDNESDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

 TAJ ROBERTS, JAYDA CURRY LEAD CARDS WBB IN SCORING

With two games left in the regular season, it looks like a two way battle to see who will lead this 2024-25 UofL WBB team in scoring. Freshman Taj Roberts has 13.2 points in 27 games and senior Jayda Curry has 13.0 points per game in 23 contests. Only one other Card is in double figures and that is grad student Olivia Cochran.

Roberts and Curry are also the 1-2 punch in three-pointers...45 for Roberts and 43 for Curry. Curry is the clear leader in free throws made, with 73, and also the most accurate with a sizzling 92% success rate. 

Her  high school jersey in background, we all  know 

                                         "O" is #44.

When it comes to rebounding, it's Cochran leading the way with 177 on the season, followed by Nyla Harris with 152. 

After 27 games, the Cards have scored  5450 points and their opponents have also scored 5450 points. I don't think I have ever seen a team and its various opponents tied in scoring this late in a season. 

96-57 is the largest margin of victory this year for UofL WBB (over Grambling) and the Cards biggest loss came to UConn (52-85) . 

Louisvill'se eight losses have come to: UCLA, Kentucky, Oklahoma, UConn, NC State, Virginia Tech, Notre Dame and North Carolina. Seven of these schools are in the AP Top 25. 

If the ACC Tournament were starting tomorrow, Louisville would earn a #4 seed and get a double bye...they are tied at 12-4 with FSU and Duke but own wins over both. With two regular season games left (Clemson and Notre Dame), if the Cards finished 20-9...they would watch with great interest that season ending battle between FSU and Duke, which could determine if UofL gets the double bye. FSU has to also go to Notre Dame, so, it appears their battle to earn the double bye might be the toughest of all...Duke's other final games, beside FSU,  is hosting UNC, another tough task. 

It's the final season for the ACC Tournament in Greensboro, I'd surely love to be there this year, but odds are I won't get to make the trip. 

For Louisville, the key is to...at least go 1-1 to have a shot at that coveted ACC Tournament double bye....along with Notre Dame, UNC and NCST 

ACC PICK EM

We'll be running our annual ACC Tournament "Pick Em" Tournament this year.. with some major changes in the judging crew of your entries. Jared , former bracket czar, has stepped aside from the duties this year, so it'll be me and Cardinal Couple writer Case Hoskins doing the tracking and judging.

You'll need to get your entries in before the first game on March 5th.  We'll also request that all entries be posted in the comments sections of articles...we won't track any entries sent to us other ways. 

We have two great gift cards in the prize vault...one for legendary Wagner's Restaurant (near Churchill Downs) and one for Cracker Barrel. 

One entry per participant and we'll offer an entry format example (from the lovely Sonya) once the seeds are revealed. 

paulie 

Cards WBB loses heartbreaker to #9 UNC 79-75 -- SOFTBALL RESULTS. -- LACROSSE RESULTS -- Monday CARDINAL COUPLE

 CARDS WBB FALTERS IN FINAL MINUTE TO #9 NORTH CAROLINA

(taken at halftime when the Cards were up 35-29. Paulie, "mayor for life" Jerry Abramson, and Sonya . Photo by Mike DeZarn

So...when you lead a team for 39 of The 40 minutes you play them, and put six players in double figures...YOU'D NORMALLY EXPECT TO PUT A "W" in the win/loss column for your squad. But this UofL team has shown a penchant for fading and faltering in the fourth quarter of contests. And it happened again Sunday afternoon in front of 11.280 in the KFC YUM! Center.

On a afternoon when Cardinals greats Angel McCoughtry and Myisha Hines-Allen were back in the house and greeted the crowd, the Cards were outscored 29-20 in the final quarter to go down in defeat. Walz probably would have liked to suit up Angel and Myisha for this one...Keep in mind, it took UNC and entire first half to score 29 points...but the TarHeels discovered late that they could use tthe dribble drive and score at will on the Cards defense and proceeded to do just that.

Guess who? 

Louisville made exactly one basket in the final five minutes of the fourth quarter, and was out scored 13-5. And, that is the telling stat. A 5'9" ,5'7" and 5'8" guards combined to score 26 points on the Cards in the final ten minutes. 

Louisville went for the win with six seconds left in the game and down by two, when Jayda Curry tried a three-pointer. It was a clear, open look at the potential game winner, but the shot missed and UNC got the rebound and was fouled and sank two free throws with a second to play for the 79-75 final. A lot of discussion followed among some of the media on going for the win instead of a tie...but Walz seemed convinced it was the best thing to do in his post game remarks.

Louisville shot 39% for the game while UNC was at 49%. The Cards ruled the boards, as we'll point out in the FRED report, but, UNC used a 38-15 bench scoring advantage for the win. And, the TarHeels were minus two starters. 

All in all, the Cards lost to a higher ranked team that shot better than them and scored the game's final six points. And, it's a game where the most points win. 

FRED HECHINGER is an actor who was in Gladiator II

THE FRED REPORT

FREE THROWS -- The Cards went 21-26 from the free throw line. that' 80% and that will get them a CAPITAL "F" Free throws certainly didn't lose this one for UofL. Ja'Leah Williams and Tajianna Roberts were 9-9 .

REBOUNDING -- Louisville outrebounded the taller TarHeels 42-27. Olivia Cochran led the way with 10. We award  CAPITAL "R" here. 

EFFORT/EXECUTION -- UofL won the second chance points battle 18-5. They won points off turnovers 16-5. Three point shooting was maybe a bit off at 4-13(30.8%) but that didn't lose the game for them...getting outscored 29-20 in the first quarter did. Especially after limiting UNC to 29 points in the entire first half.  Louisville lost, so we will just award a small case "e".

DEFENSE -- Louisville allowed 79 points...second most this season. UNC shot 49% for the game. UNC won the second half 50-40. i can't call this a great defensive effort. NO LETTER.

FINAL FRED TALLY:   F-R-e-_

The Cards return to action Thursday when Clemson comes to town. It's the final regular season home WBB game of the season

WBB Photos by Jared Anderson 

POSTGAME JEFF WALZ REMARKS HERE

POSTGAME UNC REMARKS HERE

SOFTBALL

Louisville played Wisconsin on Sunday in the final day of the USF Tournament in Tampa. An early start to this one (9 a.m) and early success for the Cards, jumping out to a 3-0 start after one inning and extending that to 5-0 after two...ending up winning 5-1

Alyssa Zabala got the win, going to 5-1 on the season and the Cards improved their record to 10-5 on the season. Zabala went four innings, allowing the lone Wisconsin run, and Sam Booe got the save with three innings. The Cards hit two home runs in the contest, both in the first inning, from Bri Despines and Char Lorenz. The Cards allowed just three Badger hits, and the UofL pitchers recorded six strike outs. 

The Cards Florida extended stay ends...and Louisville returns home to face Bellarmine on Wednesday Feb. 26th...first game of a 13 game home stand. 

LAX WINS AT CALIFORNIA. 

The Lax Cards got a double overtime win out in Berkley, California Sunday 10-9. 

Izzy  Seikel had the winner, and Reese Whitman had a huge game for Scott Teeter's squad with five goals. 

Louisville is now 3-2 on the season and 1-0 in ACC play. The Cards come home for another ACC match... to face UNC on Friday at noon at the Louisville Lacrosse Stadium

paulie

SB vs USF cancelled -- WBB at #11 DUKE tonight -- THURSDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

  Good morning readers, Daryl checking in a day early this week.   Another shake up in the usual lineup around here as UofL closed its campus for a snow day on Wednesday which meant a nice day at home for myself and the cat.  Jared asked for some extra coverage so we made it work and Case will cover the early weekend.  

Softball

Photo by: Kennedy Knisley | Louisville Athletics

Some other shake ups include the Softball Cards cancelling their first matchup with the USF Bulls on Wednesday due to the lingering storms in the Tampa Bay area.   The squad will look ahead to facing Kent St, USF, Michigan and Wisconsin in the USF tournament over the weekend.  

Alyssa Zabala Named ACC Co-Pitcher of the Week

After going 3-0 on the weekend and shutting out #25 FAU, Zabala moves to 4-0 on the season. She recorded a 0.75 ERA in 18.2 innings, tallying 12 strikeouts and allowing only two runs and four walks in 79 at-bats.

WBB

Photo: Jared Anderson

The WBB Cards are back in action after a weeklong break when they head to Durham to play the #11 Duke Blue Devils at Cameron Indoor Stadium.    This one will be available on ESPN2 tip off set for 7 p.m.   

Louisville is coming off one of its best games of the season vs #21 FSU and the Dukies are coming off a 64-49 loss at #1 Notre Dame on Monday night.  

The last time these two faced off was 1/4/2024 when the Cards got the 61-44 victory at the Yum! Center.    Olivia Cochran had 13 points on 6-11 shooting and led the Cards in rebounding with 6.  Merissah Russell had 10 points on 4-6 shooting and a couple steals.  

UofL is 6-1 in the last 7 meetings with Duke, 8-4 all time and 2-4 on the road.

The Blue Devils overall record is 20-6 and they are 11-3 in ACC play. They are the 10th ranked opponent Louisville has faced this season.  As a team, Duke is averaging 75.4 PPG while holding its opponents to an average 58.7 PPG which is good for second the ACC in scoring defense.  

Toby Fornier leads Duke in points per game with 13.4 which is what Taj Roberts is averaging for Louisville.   Ashlon Jackson looks lead the 3 point shooting efforts for the Blue Devils shooting 41% on 62 connections from beyond the arc.  Kara Lawson is in her 5th season at helm for Duke.  

As Always, 

Go Cards 

~Daryl

NOTRE DAME atop ACC WBB standings --WEDNESDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

 IRISH LEAD ACC WBB...CARDS TIED FOR FOURTH 

With all 18 ACC schools that participate in WBB  now having at least 10 conference games played, it seems as good a time as any to look at the conference standings...

Atop the league, and 10-0 in  conference play is Notre Dame. The Irish get five of their final eight conference games at home...and their next two are in South Bend when they bring in the west coast contingent...Stanford and Cal . Overall, UND is 19-2, their only two defeats coming in the Cayman Island after Thanksgiving...to Hailey Van Lith and TCU and Utah.

RIght behind them is NC State at 10-1 in conference.  Wes Moore's squad hs just fallen to California, in Berkley on 1/9/25 and doesn't play Notre Dame until 2/23...and gets them in Raleigh. NCST has faced Louisville, and we won't go into that one again...it wasn't pretty for the Cards. 

Tied for third in the conference are FSU and Duke.at 8-2 . The Cards haven't played either yet..and have to go on the road to face both...on Feb.13th and 20th. 

Louisville and UNC are tied for fourth with 8-3 conference records.  The Cards conference losses have come to NCST, Virginia Tech and Notre Dame.

Right behind the Cards and TarHeels is California, who is Louisville's next opponent on Thursday, Feb. 6th,

Georgia Tech is 6-4 and Virginia Tech is 6-5.to round out the teams with over .500 conference records. 

A three-way tie occurs between Boston College, Virginia and Clemson at 4-7 in conference play, right behind them is Stanford at 3-7. Also with three wins, at 3-8 is Miami. 

Syracuse is 2-8 and SMU is 2-9...With one win is Pitt at 1-9 and Wake Forest at 1-10. 

Looking ahead to the ACC WBB Tournament, despite the addition of three schools to the conference, only 15 schools will participate. And, the top four teams will still get a double bye. The tournament moves from Greensboro to Charlotte this year...One would have thought a 16 or 18 team format for the tournament would have been considered. But the conference officials still wanted to award the top four finishers in regular season play with an additional bye. Right now, the top four would be Notre Dame, NC State, FSU and Duke...and SMU, Pitt and Wake Forest would be staying home.

The order and standings in conference are probably going to change, with most teams having eight conference games left to play. Notre Dame still has NC State, Duke ,FSU and another game with the Cards left on their schedule and that NC State game in Raleigh looks to be the most likely one to put a "L" on the Irish's record. if anyone can at all. Jared seems to thnk UND will be out next National Champion. Based o what i saw when the Irish came to town and played and beat the  Cars, he may not be wrong. They are deep an talented and Hildago and Miles may be the best 1-2 scoring punch in the DI realm. . 

The Cards still have three of the top four on their schedule (Notre Dame, FSU and Duke) and could create a few ripples in the standings should they pull off wins. it's way too early for speculation, but, that never stopped me before, i am going to predict Louisville is one of the top for teams in the league at the end of regular season ACC WBB play and gets a double bye for the CC #BB tournament. 

We'll have more on the standings as we get closer to tournament time...

paulie

 

Happy Thanksgiving Break for Women's athletics -- FRIDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

FRIDAYS WITH DARYL

Hope everyone had a great holiday as we look ahead to the weekend!  UofL athletics are back in business tomorrow but they enjoy the extra day for a break today so I'll share some of my favorite team pictures from Jared Anderson so far this season! 

Field Hockey

Volleyball

Women's Basketball

Women's Soccer

Looking forward to some more nationally ranked Cardinals volleyball action and safe travels to Colorado for the WBB squad this weekend. 

And... thankful for the opportunity to share Cardinal athletics with friends and fans with you all here every day.   

As Always

Go Cards! 

~Daryl 

CARDS WBB ANNOUNCE COACHING ADDITION AND PROMOTION --- WEDNESDAY CARDINAL COUPLE-

 Tuesday was a big day for Louisville women's basketball. The Cards announced the hiring of Amanda Butler as a assistant coach and the promotion of Cortnee Walton to Director of Basketball Operations. 

BUTLER NAMED ASSISTANT COACH

Truth  be told, the Amanda Butler hire was well known in a lot of circles a couple weeks before Tuesday. W]hy the annoucement was delayed is anyone's guess...but the actual hire is a stroke of brillance by Jeff Walz and the Cards.  

We last saw Butler in her head coahing role at Clemson last year. She spent six years in Littlejohn Coliseum, getting the Tigers to the NCAA Tournament once. The 2023-2024 season had to be disappointing to her, and . obviously ,  the Clemson WBB fan base. The Tigers went 12-19 overall and 5-13 in the ACC. 

Butler made $305,000 a yr, at Clemson, No details were given on whatshe will earn at UofL. She'll reunite with the five star recruit she had pegged for Clemson last season -- Imari Berry. When Bulter was fired in mid m March, Berry decommitted a week later, Berry had been the highest rated recruit in the history of Clemson WBB.  Berry going to Louisville may have been a catalyst for Butler to apply for the vanat coachng jon and follow her former recruit, but  that's just pure conjecture. 

Walz on Butler; "She's a phenominal coach and a exceptional leader.  Her commitment to excellence and abilty to connect with players on and off the court make her a perfect fit for our program We re beyond excited to welcome her to Louisville.." 

She's a class act, She was at Florida and at Clemson prior to the Louisville hire. We fel here at Cardinal Couple that you're gonna love her as an assistant  and we are happy to see her on the staff. 

CORTNEE WALTON PROMOTED TO DIRECTOR OF BASKETBALL OPERATIONS 

As they used to say in the old RonCo TV Commercials..."But, wait, there's more !!!"  

The Cards also announced Tuesday that Cortnee Walton has been promoted from Alumni Relations and Director of Player Relations to Director of Basketball Operations. It's a huge move fo rthe Cards, but no one is more deservng than Walton for the role. Walton replaces Macey Ford in the position. 

Walton was a five year letter winner in her playing days for the Cards WBB program and was previously at Georgia Tech as a Director of Recruiting Oeprations. At Louisville, her new duites will include overseeing the daily operations of the Cards WBB program and scheduling, team travel and other administrative duties. 

Walton on the promotion: "I am incredibly excited and honored to take on the role of Director of Basketball Operations. Lousville has always been home to me and I'm thrilled to be continuing to contribue to the success of our program.." 

Walz on Walton: Cortnee has alleays exemplified the qualitites we value in our program. Her leadership and understanding of what it takes to excel both on and off the court will make her the perfect fit for this new role." 

We love this for "Cort" and know she will do a great job as DOBO. 

paulie

Searching for Joy and Excitement - Sunday Cardinal Couple

Softball

 

(photo credits to Jared Anderson)

 

In our quest to share the joy and excitement of UofL women's sports, sometimes it's easier to find and share than others.

Ally Alexander holding it down at 2nd

The easiest place to find it this Sunday morning is from yesterday afternoon's extra inning Softball win over 4th ranked Duke.

While we've talked a bit about looking for offensive production from this team, the victory yesterday a low scoring affair, 2-1.  Credit, of course, also has to be extended to the opponents, Duke in this case, for a low scoring game based on and good defensive play and good pitching holding scoring opportunities low.

Regardless, it's a win over a Top 5 team, and they'll get another bite at the apple today at noon to try to win the series.

The game was scoreless through three innings with the Cards starting Sam Booe in the circle.  Duke would break through with a run in the 4th, but that would be all they'd get in the game, and the Cards would immediately answer to tie the game back up.

Just a head's up, the score recaps are going to be brief in this one.

With two outs in the 4th, Gabby Holloway homered to center field.

There's a Katie Thatcher in there
celebrating somewhere.

Again the game went fairly quiet with no scoring through the rest of regulation.  It would be in the bottom of the 8th inning that Katie Thatcher pinch hit for Chelsea Mack, and took advantage of the opportunity by lifting a long shot onto the right field berm.

Boom, two home runs, and a 2-1 signature win for the Cards.  If that's not joy and excitement, I'm not sure what is.

 

Booe pitched four innings, Gabby Holloway came in for 2.2, and Alyssa Zabala finished off the last 1.1.

Alyssa Zabala in relief

Check out Jared with the postgame interview with Thatcher:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5AhWyIRN6wE 

As mentioned, the series continues today with a noon start for the rubber match.  Again the Cards will be looking for another signature win and the series win over a ranked team, a rare achievement in the UofL Softball program.  ACC Network Extra has the feed, which means we will likely be back to Suzanne Bush and Joanna Lane on the call.  You'll get no complaints from me on that announcing team.

Lacrosse

A little harder to find too much joy and excitement here with an 18-12 loss to North Carolina the main news du jour.  There are bright spots to be found, however.

Nicole Perroni continues here consecutive game scoring streak finding the back of the net four times.  The Nakazawa sisters continue to impress accounting for a cumulative hat trick as Negai scored switch and Kokoro adding another.  And otherwise we see a multitude of offensive options.  Kylea Dobson scored a pair, Abby Scully, Tiffany Natoli, and Izzy Seikel all adding a goal to the mix.

North Carolina was just too much for the Cards, though.  Sara Adeche played three quarters getting five saves and J Pleck played the last only allowing one goal and stopping another.Louiville Lacrosse, The Cardinal Couple Radio Hour Podcat

I did, individually, get a moment of joy and excitement with the Lacrosse team as I got tapped to pick up my niece at the airport from a flight arriving at close to midnight.  As I walked in, there were two "GoCards" minibuses waiting in the pickup lane, and I surmised there must be a team returning and my best guess was that it would be the Lacrosse squad, and sure enough they came cruising through  the terminal where I was waiting for my niece.  I did speak, very briefly, with Coach Teeter, but it was nothing much more than a greeting.  After a mid-day game and then spending the rest of the day in travel, the team and coach were clearly ready to collect their gear and head back to campus to sleep in their own beds.

The Cards will be next in action, welcoming Xavier for a 7pm game.  With the evening game and lighting situation, this one will be held at the L&N Federal Credit Union Stadium (not "Arena" as my fingers so desperately wanted to type).

Swimming and Diving

The splish splash Cards rounded up their NCAA Championship efforts with a podium finish in the 400 free relay.   Christiana Regenauer, Gabi Albiero, Julia Dennis, and Lucy Mehraban were the personnel in the third place finishing squad.

Add in a program best 4th place finish in platform diving for Else Praasterink along with the other performances and Louisville finished in 6th place overall.

Until the past few years, the team has not had a competitively relevant diving representation, but Praasterink has changed that, and has brought along another couple of divers to help out.  Hopefully we're on the verge of emergence of diving as a perennially competitive part of the program at UofL.

With that event completed, the team portion of the Swimming and Diving is complete, as well as the yard-measured portion.  The starting platform will now get shifted back about seven feet to begin the individual portion of the season where swimmers will be in action for their own individual glory, and racing in meters rather than yards.

Basketball

Wait, joy and excitement in basketball at this point for the Cards, well, yes, indirectly.

The Athletes Unlimited Basketball season wrapped up last night and former Card Emily Engstler finished in 7th place overall.

In last night's final game, she scored 11 points on five field goals, one of which was a three.  The real joy and excitement, however, comes from the rebounding stats.  Engstler set the record for AU with 19 rebounds in a single game.

Quite impressive, and very on brand for the Engstler we knew here at Louisville.

Cardinal Couple Radio Hour Podcast

Jared was at the helm of the CCRHP yesterday, with Daryl, Case, and myself participating.  Paulie was sidelined by Internet connection problems.

We searched for joy and excitement where we could find it, though the task was tough indeed.  We did cover the latest in basketball, softball, and lacrosse.

https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/cardinal-couple/episodes/Yes--Were-Mad-About-the-WBB-Upset-e2hff60

Cardinal Couple NCAA Bracket Challenge

We have gone from 64-32 in two days of WBB Madness, and we have a close pack battling for the lead in our Bracket Challenge. Atop the standings are Nick O and Thomas at 30-2 . Right behnd the are Perry, Jason and K Starks at 29-3. And the log jam at 28-4 stretches all the way back to Mt. Washington. 

We are just half way theough, too...so grrab some ppocorn, put Jared on your speed dial and enjoy the show  despite out Cards leaving early  due to (fill in your own answer, there are no wrong ones)...

Here' s what Jated and Paulie have verified in the race: we've listed those with 20 or more wins. 

30-2   Nick O, Thomas

29-3  K Starks, Perry, Jason

28-4   Blue Lou, Karen, Jared, Wahoo Card, Katy

27-5   Jeff McAdams

26-6   Paulie, Kenny S.

25-7   Case, Curtis F

24-8   Sonya, Cindy

23-9   Arthur

21-11 Daryl

--

 

.  jmca

-- 

JMcA