Final Batch of All-ACC Academic Teams Announced -- SUNDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

T&F, Rowing, and Softball Smart Cards

First - I apologize for the late post today. Second - if you thought we were done with All-ACC Academic teams, surprise! But this is the last one for the 2024-25 seasons. The league finished announcing the remaining honorees, so here goes nothing. As I mentioned the other day, the requirements for inclusion are a 3.0 GPA for the previous semester, a 3.0 cumulative GPA, and competition in at least 50 percent of the team's contests.

Rowing topped lacrosse for the most honorees, surpassing lacrosse's 23 with 31 of their own. That's quite the feat, since the roster holds only 43 names overall. That's 72% of their players, which also tops the 64% from lacrosse. All in all, very impressive, and it's a program record. Thirty-one players is quite the handful to name, but you can see the entire list here on gocards.

Track and field had 32 players overall announced, but that is inclusive of the men's and women's side. The women made up 20 of those, which is quite the showing. Those honored, and their T&F specialty, were Olivia Alessandrini (distance), Keira Antoni (sprints/hurdles), Ashley Callahan (pole vault), Sophia Day (jumps), Lucy Fellows (multis), Maya Follmer (multis), Emma Heckel (distance), Soledad Jean (jumps), Olivia Jenkins (sprints), Demaria King (throws), Ellie Maurer (distance), Sharvari Parulekar (jumps), Layla Roebke (distance), Synclair Savage (jumps/sprints), Maddie Seaby (distance), Lydia Stuart (pole vault), Iliana Triantafyllou (pole vault), Jade Whitfield (throws), Chelsea Williams (sprints), and Kiyah Yeast (sprints).

Last, but not least, comes softball. Softball had a strong list as well, and some of the first-time awardees may very well have been multiple if they weren't transfers. Softball has a unique addition to the requirements, based on how the positions work with playing time, so pitchers need only to have appeared in 20% of the team's contests. In all, the softball team had thirteen honorees. Three players made the list for the third time: Ally Alexander (SR), Sam Booe (SR), and Alyssa Zabala (JR). Four more were honored for the second time: Maddi Grant (SR), Easton Lotus (SR), Chelsea Mack (JR), and Katie Thatcher (SO). The first time honorees were Bri Despines (JR-transfer), Riley Janda (FR), Camryn Lookadoo (SO-transfer), Char Lorenz (SO), Taylor Monroe (FR), and Madison Pickens (FR). 

Once again, congratulations to all of these Cardinals on a job well done on the playing surface as well as in the classroom. 

Until next time, Go Cards!

Case

WOMEN'S COACHES COACHES RECEIVE CONTRACT EXTENSIONS -- WEDNESDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

 TEETER, COPELAND GET CONTRACT EXTENSIONS

Two of the coaches in the University of Louisville women's programs recently received contract extensions.

Scott Teeter, head women's lacrosse coach, got contract enhancements and a three year extension, thru June 30, 2028. Teeter is in his eighth year at Louisville, and came in and basically rebuilt the program after the Kellie Young debacle. In 2024 Lacrosse reached the ACC Quarterfinals, and has also set a new record for goals and saves in a game by a player and the team. 

All-American Nicole Perroni ended with a 55 game scoring streak and a 54 game goal scoring streak. Perroni was also naked as an assistant coach for Colgate University for the 2025 program and the program is 7-6 this season and is in fifth place in the Patriot  League, currently on a three game win streak. 

Teeter's squads get it done in the classroom as well, achieving the IWLCA GPA Award in four of his years here. 

Derek Copeland also received an extension on his contract...the Cards head women's rowing coach has rebuilt and revitalized the program, while competing in one of the toughest conferences in women's rowing. Copeland was named head coach in 2014 and was the guiding force behind the continued improvements of the multi-million dollar Louisville Rowing facility on River Road. the G. Garvin III Rowing Center. The facility has offices for Copeland, two assistant coaches, boathouse manager and a graduate assistant. It also has a student study area and lounge, showers and can accommodate 80 student athletes with an equipment room and weight training center. 

Congratulations to both these hard working dedicated coaches, who may not always receive the notoriety and public recognition as some of the others in the women's programs but are important program builders and leaders in the UofL coaching community. 

paulie

Perroni Awarded; Rowing at ACCs -- SATURDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

Nicole Perroni an All-American (Again)

After having been named as an Honorable Mention All-American by USA Lacrosse and selected to the First Team IWLCA West/Midwest Region, Nicole Perroni has picked up another honor for her outstanding season. Perroni was second in the ACC in caused turnovers per game (11th nationally) and led the league in ground balls and free position goals per game. Those numbers helped propel her to an Honorable Mention from Inside Lacrosse on their All-America list. The news was announced Thursday.

In addition to those strong stats league wide, Perroni scored 45 goals and had 10 assists this season. She scored a point in 55 straight games and a goal in 54 straight. Both of those look to stand as program records for quite a while. Perroni has been a keystone for the team since Scott Teeter took over, and her time ends with her ranked in the top-ten in program history in draw controls (fourth), turnovers caused (tied for first), goals, points, and ground balls. Louisville will miss the First Team All-ACC midfielder greatly, but we wish her the best going forward. 

Paulie and Jared will catch up with Nicole for an interview today on campus and Jeff will run the article in the Sunday edition of Cardinal Couple.

Cards Send a Boat to Grand Finals

Photo from @LouisvilleROW on X

Louisville rowing is currently competing in the ACC Championships in Raleigh, North Carolina. The program continues to make incremental headway into success in the league. They saw another step toward that yesterday with the qualification of the second varsity eight boat for today's grand final event. The events of the day will wrap up early, with the last race in which the Cards will participate (the V4 petite final) starting at 9:20 AM. Best of luck to the team as they work to earn a strong finish in the ACC Championships. 

Cardinal Couple Radio Hour Podcast

We should have a full house on board for this foggy morning's podcast episode. With the summer slump nearly in full effect, we don't have much to talk about in the way of results, but we'll carry the joy and excitement of Louisville women's athletics nonetheless. 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

Spotify: Link

Apple Podcasts: Link

Google Podcasts: Link

Overcast (free account required): Link

Pocket Casts (free account and app required): Link

RadioPublic: Link

Until next time, Go Cards!

Case

National Letter of Intent Day -- THURSDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

N.L.I. DAY

Yesterday was a bit of a busy day for many of our women's teams. National Letter of Intent day came and went we have a ton of future Cardinals ready to gear up in their red and black.

Here's how our various women's teams fared with their new prospective players:

Women's  Basketball Adds

Tajianna Roberts, guard, 5'10 from San Diego, California

Anaya Hardy, forward, 6'4 from Detroit, Michigan

Isla Juffermans, forward, 6'4 from Australia

Note: Izela Arenas has verbally committed to Louisville but has not signed her national letter of intent yet.

Volleyball Adds Three

Neyellis Cabello, setter, 6'0 from Clermont, Florida

Payton Peterson, outside hitter, 5'10 from Dike, Iowa

Ava Utterback, outside hitter, 6'0 from Plainfield, Indiana

Field Hockey Adds Two

Emily Eaton, defender from Charlotte, North Carolina

Mary Woldermann, midfielder/forward from Mickleton, New Jersey

Rowing Adds Three

Olivia Koproski from Dayton, Ohio

Keira Krebs from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

Clara Van Dyk from Port Colborne, Ontario, Canada

Soccer Adds Eight

Lauryn Contini, midfielder, 5'5 from New Philadelphia, Ohio

Grace Maddox, defender, 5'9 from Statham, Georgia

Brooklyn Lee, defender, 5'8 from Tacoma, Washington

Fina Davy, forward/midfielder, 5'7 from Delaware, Ohio

Piper Davidson, forward/midfielder, 5'5 from Wenatchee, Washington

Avery Oergel, defender, 5'5 from Fulton, Maryland

Amelia Swinarskil, midfielder, 5'6 from Madison, Ohio

Anna Grace (goes by AG) Gibson, midfielder, 5'4 from Louisville, Kentucky (Assumption High School)

Softball Adds Six

Riley Janda, infielder from Greenwood, Indiana

Mikayla Milby, infielder from Louisville, Kentucky (Ballard High School)

Taylor Monroe, infielder from Spencer, Indiana

Madison Pickens, outfielder/pitcher from Flowery Branch, Georgia

Ryann Sanders, right-handed pitcher from Bella Vista, Arkansas

Jordan Williams, outfielder from Cumming, Georgia

Several teams have not announced those who have signed their national letter of intent yet. We may also see a few more added to the teams that did announce some commits already. Don't forget that we also live in the age of the transfer portal and NIL deals so you never know what additions these women's teams might have later.

Happy Thursday and Go Cards!

Jared

Assistant Coaches Added to Several Teams -- THURSDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

New Faces in familiar places for Cards

After nearly two weeks away, I'm back. Katy and I had a wonderful honeymoon on our cruise ship in the Caribbean and exploring various islands and countries. I'd like to take a moment to thank the rest of the crew here at Cardinal Couple for stepping in and covering for me in my absence.

It appears UofL has been busy while I'm gone, most recently announcing the hire of assistant coaches to three teams. Louisville softball, track and field, and rowing all added new assistant coaches to their respective staffs recently.

Louisville Softball Adds Bryan Sabatella

Bryan Sabatella has joined the Louisville softball staff as an assistant coach specializing in working with hitters. Sabatella comes from Utah Tech, where he spent the last two seasons as an assistant coach.

During his time at Utah Tech, which has been a DI program for three seasons, the Trailblazers ranked as one of the top offenses in the country with a .342 team batting average and 12 doubles this past season. Utah Tech also went 35-18 and won the Western Athletic Conference (WAC) regular season.

Sabatella played baseball at Quinnipiac and was then drafted by the Seattle Mariners in the ninth round of the 2005 MLB Draft.

Louisville Track and Field / Cross Country Adds Wyatt Rhoads

Wyatt Rhoads was announced as the new assistant coach for Louisville track and field and Louisville cross country. Rhoads is the first hire under new Track and Field/Cross Country Director Joe Franklin. He spent the last two seasons at New Mexico and will serve as both an assistant coach and the Director of Operations.

While at New Mexico, Rhoads was assigned to coach the pole vaults, javelin throws, jumps, and multi events (ie heptathlon). New Mexico had an individual win the 2022 Mountain West Indoor title in the heptathlon. 

Prior to New Mexico, Rhoads spent one season as a volunteer coach at Texas Tech. He competed in track and field and football at both Colorado and Iowa State University.

Louisville Rowing Adds Egan Berne and Brian Reifsnyder

Louisville rowing added to assistant coaches to the program in Egan Berne and Brian Reifsnyder. Berne was most recently at Michigan State while Reifsnyder came in from Old Dominion.

Berne had been at Michigan State since 2020 where she coached the Second Varsity 8+ and was one of their leaders in recruiting. Before her time at Michigan State, she spent time as both an assistant coach and interim head coach at Colgate and Gonzaga.

Reifsnyder was most recently an assistant coach at his alma mater at Temple. He was a 2016 graduate and spent time as a coach since 2021. Prior to his coaching time at Temple, Reifsnyder was an assistant coach at La Salle for three seasons, focusing on recruiting, budgeting, and compliance.

UofL's fiscal year begins on July 1 every year so it makes sense for several hires to be announced around this time. The budget was recently approved by the Board of Trustees, which allows various departments and sub-departments to be assigned their budgets, including Louisville Athletics and its teams.

We look forward to seeing what the addition of each of these coaches brings.

Happy Thursday and Go Cards!

Jared

ACC Championship Season -- SATURDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

Track and Field Hold 8th

After a successful start to the ACC Championship meet on Thursday, Louisville women's track and field didn't make much impact on day two. On the men's side, Louisville got a big win in the Decathlon from Paul Kallenberg. His ACC title came after setting a facility record and placing second in the all-time school record for total points in the event. The points from his victory helped pull Louisville up to 7th on the men's team side. On the women's side, Louisville fell to 8th. 

Scott looks to repeat her
victory from 2022

The Cards got second place finishes from Synclair Savage (long jump) and Aliyah Welter (pole vault) on Thursday to help them accrue 19 points, good for third overall. Carly Pujol scored a seventh-place finish in the pole vault to score the remaining points for the team. Katie Martin also set a new school-record in the 400M hurdles (breaking her own mark) to qualify for today's final. 

On Friday, Louisville saw three Cards set new personal bests. Madeline Castleberry (3000m steeplechase), Alba Cuns Iglesias (triple jump), and Brooklyn Hammons (shot put) all broke their own records, but only Cuns Iglesias scored for the team, taking home eighth to score the Cards' only point on the day. Saturday will see the Cards compete in seven of the twelve events. Those will start at noon, after a change to the schedule. Emily Scott, Jenna Hensley, and Soledad Jean will take on the field in the high jump, with Scott looking to defend her title. Zoe Yeast and Brooklynn Hammons will compete in the discus throw to round out the field events. On the track, the Cards will compete in the 4x100, 4x400, 400m hurdles, 200m, and 5000m races, with two runners in the distance race. 

Rowing Sends One Boat to Grand Final

The ACC Rowing Championship is being held at Lake Wheeler in Raleigh, North Carolina. Yesterday saw prelim action with Louisville having four boats compete. The Cards sent three Varsity Eight boats and one Varsity Four boat. It's the III Varsity Eight squad that qualified for today's Grand Final, after they edged UNC by just 0.4 seconds over a 7-minute race. Odds are that by the time you're seeing this, the races have already concluded, with action scheduled to begin at 8:05 this morning. Louisville's other three boats will all compete in the Petite Finals after finishing below the cutoff for the Grand Finals in their respective heats.

ACC Softball Continues

Despite Louisville's knockout, the ACC Softball Championship continues through the weekend, with the results potentially having an impact on Louisville's tournament hopes. With the long softball season, single elimination tournaments won't likely have much impact on resume building for teams that aren't actually participating, but you never know. That's particularly true in the event that a bid is stolen. 

That isn't particularly likely to happen this year. After knocking off Louisville in the 4-5 game, Virginia Tech had the great honor of being run-ruled by the top-seeded Seminoles. FSU took care of business with a 9-1 win in six innings. With VT being the only team seeded lower than Louisville playing on Friday, there wasn't much chance of anyone other than them having to "steal" a bid, as the top-three teams in the league should be comfortably in.

Photo via ACC

Taking on the 3rd-ranked FSU squad will be Duke. Outside of the shocking pair of losses to Notre Dame, Duke and FSU are the only two teams to beat Louisville in conference this season. The Cards didn't play Clemson or Virginia Tech in the regular season. Duke had to get through the Tigers to advance, and they did so in fairly spectacular fashion: by getting a no-hitter from a freshman. Cassidy Curd is one of two Blue Devils that kept Sarah Gordon out of the top-ten finalists for the Freshman of the Year Award. Perhaps someone should have told the ACC voters that, since Gordon won the league's honor. Either way, Curd threw 113 pitches to earn her 16th win of the season, ringing up eight strikeouts and hitting two batters. The two HBP were the only marks that kept the game from being perfect. The Duke offense did just enough to support the pitching effort, scoring one run each in the second and third innings to lead to the 2-0 win. 

Today's championship will be played at 1PM on ESPN2.

Cardinal Couple Radio Hour Podcast

We'll be back on the airwaves (Kind of? Maybe? I'm a little shaky on the physics of the internet.) this week after taking Derby Day off. There will be just four of us, so you can stop holding your breath if you listened to Daryl yesterday. Jared will be out as he attends commencement for his wife-to-be. We'll have plenty to keep us busy as spring sports seasons wind down and we try to forecast softball's NCAA hopes. 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

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

WBB Hosts IUPUI -- Fall Signing Day -- THURSDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

Louisville Hosts IUPUI

Following a Monday night victory over Cincinnati, Louisville women's basketball turns around to host IUPUI at the KFC Yum! Center at 7:00 p.m. You can catch this one on ACCNX with Jeff Greer and Jess Laemmle on call. You can also tune into 93.9 FM to hear Nick Curran and Cortnee Walton call the game on radio.

Louisville opened the season with an 87-68 win against former Big East rival Cincinnati with Hailey Van Lith scoring 28 points. 10 of the 11 Cards that saw action scored with the same number pulling in a rebound. Paulie broke down the game and what to expect from any of the players this year. I'm in full agreement with Paulie that a Final Four is  entirely possible, but there is a long season ahead of us first.

IUPUI is the next challenger and the Jaguars are looking to break their 0-6 all-time record against the Cards. Last year, IUPUI almost became a dark horse in the NCAA Tournament. A 24-5 record and Horizon League Championship helped the Jaguars earn a 12-seed. They faced 5-seed Oklahoma in the first round and gave the Sooners a run for their money before ultimately falling 78-72.

In their first game of the 2022-2023 season, IUPUI fell to UIC, 52-50. Jazmyn Turner transferred in and was an immediate bright spot going for 20 points and eight rebounds. Six of the Jaguars' 13 active players are listed as seniors or graduate students, giving this team quite a bit of experience.

Paulie and Daryl will be courtside reporting on the match while I'll be on the court with my camera ready to go. The first rule of being a basketball photographer is protecting your equipment. While my equipment was safe from harm against Cincinnati, my body wasn't so lucky as a UC player found out that forward momentum was not on her side as she ended falling on me late in the game.

Don't forget to pack the KFC Yum! Center for the last home game until Black Friday.

Fall Signing Day

Yesterday was fall signing day and we saw the announcement of several new Cardinals joining the ranks of some of our squads.

Volleyball

REESE ROBINS

Louisville volleyball added five new players to next year's roster- three liberos/defensive specialists, one outside hitter, and one defensive specialist/opposite side hitter. Jeff has mentioned the need for more defensive specialists for next season and Dani Busboom Kelly seemed to agree with the addition of three freshmen.

The five signees are:

Alanna Bankston, 6-1, outside hitter from Omaha, Neb.

Jessica Drapp, 5-6, libero from Cincinnati, Ohio

Reese Robins, 6-5, middle blocker/opposite hitter from Mansfield, Texas

Kamden Schrand, 5-6, libero from Villa Hills, Ky. (Notre Dame Academy)

Molly Urban, 5-4, libero from Martinsville, Ind.

Soccer

BETSY HUCKABY

Karen Ferguson-Dayes added three new faces to the Louisville women's soccer roster next year. A pair of midfielder and a defender signed with the Cards yesterday.

The three signees are:

Betsy Huckaby, 5-7, midfielder from Crestwood, Ky. (South Oldham High School)

Molly Cochran, 5-8, midfielder from Madeira, Ohio

Emma Sanchez, 5-7, defender from Camas, Washington

Rowing

Rowing added a trio of new Cardinals for next season. Not much information has been released about the new Cards yet.

The three signees are:

Riley Vincent from Mamaroneck, NY.

Emma Bik from Evergreen Park, Ill.

Dayanara Wilde from Saskatoon Saskatchewan, Canada

Swim and Dive

Louisville swim and dive only announced two signees so far- one woman and one man.

The lone signee is:

Samm Helmboldt from Midland, Texas

Softball

The only spring sport to announce signees so far is Louisville softball. Two signees were announced yesterday.

The signees are:

Ava Venturelli, outfielder from Taunton, Mass.

Katie Thatcher, first base/outfielder from Rock Falls, Ill.

Field Hockey

As of late last night, we only saw one new face for Louisville field hockey. We presume there are more, but with the Cards up in Ann Arbor, Mich. gearing up for the NCAA Tournament tomorrow, we will cut them some slack.

The one signee is:

Tyler Everslage, forward from Louisville, Ky. (Assumption High School)

I'm sure more will pour in today.

Justine Sowry did provide a pre-Penn State rundown Wednesday. The Cardinal Couple crew was unable to attend, but here is the You Tube clip of it: 

JUSTINE SOWRY ON NCAA TOURNEY AND PENN STATE

For now, let's hope for a women's basketball win tonight, some fall sports victories tomorrow, and a safe trip down to Clemson for Katy and I this weekend. Her brother attends Clemson and her parents are making the drive in for Fort Mill to get the family together to go to the Louisville at Clemson football game. My cameras will be coming with us too as I'll be on the field "working" (taking selfies) on Saturday.

Happy Thursday and Go Cards!

Jared

Card Earns Post-Grad Scholarship -- FRIDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

With the Bats in town, Daryl is otherwise indisposed pressing buttons at Slugger Field. In the case of Thursday's game, those buttons probably included "seek shelter" due to the thunderstorms that rolled in. At any rate, I'm feeling well enough to get back into these pages as I'm just about fully recovered from my first bout with Covid (nearly 900 days before I finally got got), so you'll get me today and tomorrow.

Michaela Dukes Named NCAA Post-Grad Scholar

Every year the NCAA hands out 126 postgraduate scholarships: 21 each to men and women from the three collegiate sports seasons. The scholarship is a one-time $10,000 award granted to a student-athlete continuing their education in an accredited graduate program. Any student-athlete who has graduated is eligible to be nominated by their school for selection. In addition to athletic and academic performance, community service, leadership, and other extracurricular categories are evaluated to determine the recipients.

This year, Michaela Dukes was named as one of the awardees. Dukes is a Kentucky native on the rowing team who graduated with a degree in Health and Human Performance / Biology. She was named to the Dean's List twice and was named a Dean's Scholar in six other semesters. In 2020-2021, Dukes was named to the All-ACC Academic Rowing team. Athletically, Dukes competed on the V8 boat for the Cards. She was on the crew that placed sixth in the Grand Final at the ACC Championships and picked up multiple victories during the season. 

Until next time, Go Cards!

Case

Buncha Nuthin' -- SUNDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

No Weekend News for Louisville Women's Athletics

With all but one women's sport having concluded for the 2021-2022 school year, our days of reporting have gone rather quiet this Sunday. Summertime sees us phase away from previewing and recapping games and phase into writing about whatever comes to mind first and getting off-season interviews with players and coaches. 

With the approaching lull, Jeff took the day off from writing so I stepped in to cover for him. He should be back next Sunday.

Louisville track and field will have a couple dozen student-athletes competing in the NCAA Championships beginning later this week. Several of the women's athletes have a strong chance of landing on the podium so we will highlight those as they come along. The opening day of the events will be Wednesday. Case mentioned many of those competing in yesterday's post.

Also, mentioned yesterday, the NCAA Championships for rowing are approaching. Louisville was not one of the 22 teams to receive a bid. 11 were automatic qualifiers and the other 11 received at-large bids. Virginia took the AQ spot as ACC Champion. Duke and Syracuse are the other team ACC teams competing.

The WNBA season is well underway and plenty of former Cards have had strong starts. Dana Evans has been one of the top scorers for the Chicago Sky. Emily Engstler has had an impressive rookie campaign so far with the Indiana Fever. Myisha Hines-Allen continues to be a force to be reckoned with with the Washington Mystics.

On an unrelated women's sport but pertaining to Louisville, we do want to wish Louisville baseball a congratulations on winning the ACC Atlantic Division yesterday. Being a popular spring sport, it's a great place to run into several of our women student-athletes hanging out and an opportune time to interact with them. 

Happy Sunday and Go Cards!

Jared

No News? -- Season Recaps -- TUESDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

ALL QUIET ON THE CARDINAL FRONT

With Louisville softball not being named to the 64-team NCAA Tournament, only Louisville track and field has anything remaining on their schedule this season. They will begin the NCAA Outdoor Championships beginning next Wednesday, May 25.

So, for the next week, we don't have enough games or meets to report on. Summertime arrived quite fast for us here at Cardinal Couple.

What do we talk about now? Well, whatever we want.

Before we eagerly look ahead to the 2022 fall sports seasons, we should take a moment to reflect on the spring sports.

Lacrosse

Still tapping on the door of a breakout season, Louisville lacrosse went 7-11 on the year with an early exit in the ACC Tournament. The Cards won one ACC game on the year, matching the previous year's total.

The Cards lost four matches by one goal each as well as one loss by three goals and four goals each. The difference in all of those games was the winning mentality that is still being established at Louisville. Turn those six losses into wins and it was a remarkable season.

The Cards relied on a pair of inexperienced goalkeepers that were near the bottom of the conference in goals allowed per game. With a full year under the belts, both keepers should be on pace for big seasons next year.

On the offensive end, seven Cards totaled double-digit goals with two scoring 50+ on the season. Three of the top five scorers were recognized at senior day, but Hannah Morris hinted on social media that she might return for her COVID year of eligibility. Bringing back last season's top scorer would be a major boost.

Where Louisville needs to focus on in the offseason is transition defense and draw controls, both categories that hurt the Cards throughout the season, especially in late-game situations.

Softball

Injuries and a few players with an early exodus from the program proved to be the Achilles Heel for Louisville softball. The Cards lost Charley Butler before the start of the season and Chardonnay Harris midway through the season. Easton Lotus went down halfway through with a knee injury and Hannah File nursed a leg injury on and off throughout the year. Gabby Holloway also ended her season early in the circle with a chest and arm injury.

There were positives, however. Holly Aprile had a fairly young squad. All six freshmen on the roster played key roles at some point throughout the year. Two of the four freshmen were key contributors or starters with the other two sophomores being the top pinch runners.

The supposed return of Taylor Roby next year is a giant plus on both sides of the ball. Roby was the top pitcher by more than 100 innings and led the team in home runs while standing top three on the team in RBIs, slugging percentage, walks, and plate appearances.

The Cards had a strong offense for much of the year, but went cold over the final four games of the season, scoring a combined two runs in those outings. Louisville batted .278 on the year and outscored opponents 276-260.

A 27-25 overall record and first round exit from the ACC Tournament left them on the outside looking in for the NCAA Tournament. Based on the teams that made the field, the Cards were presumably a first four out or next four out team.

With several pitchers slated to return next year and an expected healthy roster, the 2023 team has the potential to make some noise and get to the mid-30s in win total.

Tennis

Louisville tennis has had a love-hate relationship with their season. The Cards went 0-14 in conference play but had an incredible 8-1 non-conference outing for a grand total of 8-15 this season. The ACC is another dominant force in tennis and the Cards suffer from that.

Titiana Simova was the only player above .500 in individual matches with a 12-8 record. Andrea Di Palma went 9-11 and Chelsea Sawyer went 8-13 while the rest of the team combined for 15 wins.

Minus the shortened COVID-19 season, Louisville has not had a winning season since 2016-2017 and has plenty of work to do to get back to that point.

Rowing

We were able to go over the season for Louisville rowing on our podcast over the weekend in depth. The Cards have had a slow, but steady climb over the last several years.

While program bests and stronger finishes continue to become more common, there remains a noticeable gap between the Cards and the top teams in the conference.

Patience might be the biggest key for Louisville rowing in the next few years.

Golf

Without a doubt having the best spring season of the recognized Louisville women's sports, Louisville golf had another great season. The Cards went to an eighth straight NCAA Regional.

They had a pair of wins in the Illinois Invitational and The Club at Olde Stone Intercollegiate. The Cards then sat in the middle of the pack going into the final day of the ACC Championships before struggling on the final day and dropping down. They wrapped up the season finishing tied for seventh in the NCAA Regional behind all higher-ranked teams.

With the exception of Kendall Griffin, Louisville can bring back the rest of the team in terms of eligibility as Mairead Martin and Lauren Thibodeau both have a COVID year should they choose to use it.

Track and Field

Their season isn't quite done so we won't recap their season yet, but they had a strong outing at the ACC Outdoor Championships with a plethora of individual honors and podium finishes. Could the Cards bring home some hardware from the NCAA Championships? Absolutely.

Happy Tuesday and Go Cards!

Jared

Conference Championships Results - Sunday Cardinal Couple

Rowing

With all of the entrants in the ACC championships for the Cards in Rowing advancing to the Grand Finals, Louisville had a chance to put up a decent showing in the overall standings.

OK, 6th place overall may not be something to do backflips over, but it's not bad in the ACC field.

Virginia took the top spot with 98 points, and in similarly shocking pronouncements, grass is green, and something about bears in woods.  The second place finish was a tight one, with Syracuse edging out Duke with 83 and 82, Clemson got the 4th spot with 60 points.  Miami was 5th with 52, and Louisville tallied 43 for the 6th spot.

The rest of the field was Notre Dame - 29, Boston College - 26, and North Carolina - 21.

The NCAA Selection for Rowing will be Tuesday, and UofL will await their fate.  The Cards, and Clemson, are the top two teams in the "Receiving Votes" section of rankings.  Rowing ranks 20 teams, and the NCAA championship takes 22 teams with 10 being automatic qualifiers.

To me, that looks like a stretch for Louisville to make it, but I'll remain hopeful.  The Championship competition will take place May 27th through 29th in Nathan Benderson Park in Sarasota, FL.

Track & Field

Congratulations to Emily Scott, who gets to claim two ACC Championships in the same academic/sports year, in two different sports.  Not too many people get to make that type of claim.

Emily, of course, claimed an ACC Volleyball ring by being part of the undefeated-until-the-Final-Four volleyball squad.  After volleyball was done, and she had made the decision not to come back for her Covid year and...she thought she might try her hand at high jump.

Turns out she's pretty good at that, too.  Scott was the only competitor to clear 1.82m (5' 11.5"), and did so on her 3rd attempt.  She gave it a go at 1.85m, because why not at that point, but wasn't able to clear.  At 1.82m she, as mentioned, won the event and her 2nd ring of the academic/sports year, but also set a facility record and personal record in the process at Morris Williams Stadium at Duke University.

In other Track & Field action, Katie Martin set a school record, good for 2nd place in the competition in the 400-meter hurdles with a time of 57.57 seconds.

Overall, the Women's Track & Field squad finished out in 6th place.

The assumption is that Scott, along with other top Cardinals finishers such as Gabriela Leon in Pole Vault, and Synclair Savage in Long Jump will get bids to the NCAA Championship Preliminary meet, but we'll have to wait for that selection to be sure.

Presumably Louisville athletes would compete is the eastern preliminary meet in Bloomington, Indiana instead of the western one in...Fayetteville Arkansas?  Is that right?  I'm not sure I call Arkansas "West"...but hey, this is the NCAA we're talking about, here.

The prelims will take place May 25th through 28th, with the Championship meet in Hayward Field in Eugene, Oregon, June 8th through 12th.

Louisville Softball

We find out tonight whether Louisville Softball will receive a bid to participate in the 2022 NCAA Softball Tournament.  64 teams will hear their names called tonight

The selection show will be tonight on ESPN 2 at 7 p.m.

The Cards (27-25) are ranked 44th in the NCAA DI Softball RBI numbers. Checking a couple of NCAA DI Softball Tournament Bracketology sites (yes, they do exist for softball) both have the Cards as being 'out' of the tournament. and six ACC squads (FSU, Clemson, Notre Dame, Virginia Tech, Duke and Georgia Tech) as "in". Georgia Tech with a #24 RBI...so the Cards are hoping for a record seven ACC schools getting invites and them being one of them...but it has to be considered a definite longshot   

Cardinal Couple Radio Hour Podcast

We were a threesome for yesterday's Cardinal Couple Radio Hour Podcast

Jared, Paulie, and I on the call yesterday.  Daryl was busy with the Bats, and Case is moving house, both worthy endeavors and understandable absences.

Plenty of good discussion with just the three of us, though.  Softball being the biggest subject, with a big look ahead to next season.  Basketball news, Rowing updates, some Track & Field...we go where the sports take us.

You can check it out on the Youtube replay at:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K3pmzBU0c-U

JMcA