2024 Recap -- Jared's Favorite Photos -- TUESDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

2024 Recap

Happy New Year's Eve! What a wild 2024 it has been for Louisville Athletics. While it may not have been the most successful year across women's sports at Louisville, there was still plenty of joy and excitement across the board.

Women's basketball made the NCAA Tournament again. Their regular season was packed full of ranked ACC opponents- Notre Dame, Virginia Tech, North Carolina, NC State, and Syracuse. The Cards have a winning record to start this new season despite facing a plethora of ranked foes again.

Lacrosse had one of its best seasons in the Scott Teeter era. They upset ranked Clemson, set a program record for regular season ACC wins, and advanced to the second round of the ACC Tournament for the first time ever.

Softball finished the season above .500. We saw the return of alumnae Carmyn Greenwood and Taylor Roby, who are coaching for Western Kentucky and Clemson, respectively. The Cards had upset wins over Arizona, Duke, Florida State, and Clemson.

Field hockey, relying heavily on younger classmen, had a down year. Their strength of schedule remained in the top 15. A majority of the starting roster is eligible to return next year.

Women's soccer finished above .500 and had a much improved offensive production from the previous year. They did get an upset win over ranked Cal.

Volleyball had a majorly successful season. The Cards opened the season with a win over top-10 Wisconsin at the KFC Yum! Center in the AVCA Showcase. Their season concluded as National Runner-Up at the KFC Yum! Center. The season saw wins over ranked opponents in Pitt (a big Final Four win), Stanford, Purdue, Kentucky, Wisconsin, Creighton, Tennessee, and Georgia Tech. Anna DeBeer, Elena Scott, and Charitie Luper were all taken in the Pro Volleyball Federation draft.

2024 also saw Paulie take a short hiatus from Cardinal Couple following a medical procedure. The rest of the crew stepped up to cover games in his absence and welcomed his return with open arms. 

Jared's Favorite Photos

I take thousands of pictures each year, partly due to covering over 100 Louisville games each year. 2024 was no different. While it would be impossible to share every picture I've taken over the last year, I do want to share a few of my favorites.

Volleyball celebrates a trip to the Final Four

Elena Scott gets a kill during warm-ups

Women's soccer celebrates a goal

Field hockey scores a goal

A rainbow shines over Trager Stadium

Anna DeBeer gets air time for the kill

Field hockey celebrates a goal

Louisville stretches out for a goal

A runner is tagged out at the plate

A plane flies over the lacrosse stadium before Thunder Over Louisville

The Cards celebrate a walk-off victory

The Ladybirds show off their Daytona routine

Co-Ed Cheer shows off the Daytona routine

All-Girl Cheer shows off the Daytona routine

Softball celebrates a home run

RBI hit for softball

Player intro "selfie"

Finger roll layup

Behind the back goal for lacrosse

Louisville celebrates an upset victory

Last but not least, the Cardinal Couple Crew (not one I took)

I look forward to many more photos and much more to celebrate across Louisville women's sports in 2025!

We also wish our good friend and writer Daryl Foust the best day ever today, as she marries her long time beau...Thomas Irwin. It is always a joy to get opinions and articles from Daryl and we wish her all the happiness in the world. She's a great example of the joy and excitement of women's  sports, here in out neck of the woods.  

Happy Tuesday, Happy New Year's Eve, and Go Cards!

Jared

A Fuller Calendar - Sunday Cardinal Couple

A Fuller Calendar

Good morning fair readers of Cardinal Couple.  I woke up this morning and had trouble shaking the notion that today was Monday instead of Sunday.  It's been a little disconcerting, but the bonus is that it feels like an extra day off this weekend.  I'll take it.

 

The UofL Athletics calendar has at least one event every day this week with the single exception of tomorrow, though not all of those are teams that we cover here at Cardinal Couple, of course.  The pace is ramping up, although we're not yet in official play for all of the teams, with one more exhibition outing for Field Hockey.

Field Hockey

So let's start with the Sowry Stick Squad, they head up...well, not quite just up I-65, you do have to kind of take a left turn for a bit...to Bloomington Indiana to play their final exhibition warm up with Indiana.  First pass back is at noon on Deborah Tobias field.

The Hoosiers are building a program in Field Hockey, and Head Coach Kayla Bashore's website bio boasts a litany of firsts for the IU program under her six years of leadership.  They're not a national powerhouse, but as I so frequently say about the potential for coaching hot seats, if I were the one making the decision, as long as progress is being demonstrated, it's good.

As is typical, we don't expect full stats to be available from the event, as it is just an exhibition, but we hope to hear a general report by way of the Field Hockey Sports Information Director.

Field Hockey will kick off their official season Friday traveling to College Park to play Maryland.

Soccer

Women's Soccer is also in action today.  With a later, though still certain to be quite warm, start at 5pm.  The kicksters have headed up I-71, with bit of a right turn at the end, to Northern Kentucky University.

Coming off of a disappointing draw against New Hampshire, the Cards look to continue their season opening undefeated run, but also get back into that winning column.  This won't get easier for them in conference, so they need to be racking up some wins here in the non-conference slate.

The Norse are looking to get out of the losing column after opening the season with a 3-0 loss to Western Michigan, and a 4-0 loss to Ohio.  They had a couple of exhibition games vs Cincinnati and Butler, but of course no results are readily available for those contests.

Soccer will then continue their I-71/I-75 area road trip on Thursday, playing at Cincinnati.

Volleyball

Also on the calendar for the week is, of course, Volleyball with the AVCA First Serve Showcase at the KFC Yum! Center Tuesday evening.  We've talked about that quite a bit.  Lower bowl tickets are still available if you want to come out to the event.  Yes, it's going to be a late one, but with four top 10 ranked teams playing, it may be some of the best volleyball of the year anywhere in the country.  These matches are official matches and do officially kick off the volleyball season across the country.  Other teams, not involved in the First Serve Showcase, will have to wait until Friday to kick off their seasons.

A Personal Note...

When my niece was born, the firstborn of my brother and sister-in-law, they lived in Philadelphia.  Shortly after her birth a small crew made the drive up to give some support, lend a hand, and just generally visit and meet the new one.

Unkey the Monkey sporting
his latest 'fit.

I took with me a stuffed animal that I had bought for her, a monkey.  I looked for a good quality stuffed animal, hoping it would stand up to the abuse of being a child's plaything.  The monkey was quickly named "Unkey the Monkey" (spelling on Unkey is still not clearly decided to this day), so named because I, to my niece, am "Uncle Jeff".

This weekend, my niece, along with her mother and father, made the drive down to Atlanta, where they helped move her in to her dorm room at Agnes Scott College for her freshman year.

Unkey the Monkey also made the trip, and is now sporting some Agnes Scott apparel of his own.

To say that I'm proud of my niece and wish her the absolute best as she takes the next step of her education and independence from her parents would be the understatement of the year.

I'm super glad, and honored, that Unkey the Monkey made the cut of things she deemed important enough to take with her to college, and you know I'll be looking for excuses to road trip down to Atlanta, now.

Cardinal Couple Radio Hour Podcast

Case and Daryl both had last minute conflicts, but the show goes on with Jared, Paulie, and I.  We really get back into the swing of things for the fall with discussion of our big fall three sports that we most heavily cover.  We start with Soccer, covering the disappointing draw against New Hampshire, preview the season and cover what we know from the exhibition win over Bellarmine, and share some observations from Volleyball's Red & Black scrimmage and look forward to the First Serve Showcase.

Check it out at:

https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/cardinal-couple/episodes/A-trio-of-hosts--a-trio-of-sports-e2njajv

-- 

JMcA

Cardinal Couple picks Performers of the 2023-24 seasons -- FRIDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

FRIDAYS WITH DARYL 

Good morning and happy weekend everyone.  We are super busy on campus onboarding medical staff so I am looking forward to this weekend to catch up on things I have been putting off.  

So lets get right into some Cardinals content.... 

from gocards.com

Jayden Ulrich has been named the Atlantic Coast Conference Outdoor Women's Field Performer of the Year

The junior also captured a pair of titles at the ACC Outdoor Championships while setting a new meet record of 61.31m (201-2) in the discus. Over the course of the season, Ulrich posted program-record and personal-best marks of 18.66m (61-2.75) in the shot put to win the NCAA East Regional title and 64.29m (210-11) at the Pacific Coast Invitational to move into the top-10 in NCAA history and establish a new ACC conference record in the event.

The native of East Alton, Ill. earned a total of seven event victories and 12 top-two individual finishes while eclipsing the 60-meter mark in the discus in six meets on the season and going over 18 meters in the shot put in three different meets.

Ulrich will look to continue her success at the United States Olympic Trials which will take place June 21-30 in Eugene, Ore. at Hayward Field as athletes from all over the nation will compete for a chance to represent Team USA at the 2024 Paris Olympic Games. She will contest both the shot put and discus throw.

_______________________________________________________________

So I tossed this topic out into the Cardinal Couple group chat and asked who each of the contributors thought would be considered the 'performer of the year' across some of the programs we are most familiar with

photo by Jared Anderson)

(Alyssa Zabala)

for me (Daryl)
Anna DeBeer for volleyball

Alyssa Zabala for softball 

Olivia Cochran for basketball 

Jeff McAdams
Good call in vball, (Agreeing with Anna DeBeer) I think...only other contender there would be Elena Scott
For softball...Alyssa Zabala or maybe Riley Frizell

(Aimee Plumb)

Jared's Anderson's picks
FH: Aimee Plumb

Vball: Elena Scott
Soccer: Addie Chester
Basketball: Olivia Cochran 
Lacrosse: Kokoro Nakazawa 
Softball: Alyssa Zabala
Swim/Dive: Else Praasterink
Track/Field: Jayden Ulrich 

(Olivia Cochran)

Paulie 
Basketball. Olvia Cochran.
Cross Country.Rylee Penn
Field Hockey Aimee Plumb
Golf Hana Ryskova
Lax Kokoro Nakazawa 
Soccer Ravin Alexander
Softball Daisy Hess
Swim and Dive Gabi Albiero
Track and field Jayden Ulrich
Volleyball Anna DeBeer

(Erynn Floyd)

Case
Women's soccer -- Two of the people I'd be most likely to say both left (Addie Chester and Hailey Howard). Erynn Floyd or Karsyn Cherry would be the easiest answer.  I'm gonna stick with Addie Chester.

"GEE..ALREADY"  ? NEWS FLASH

It is also officially summer!  Its gross hot outside here in the Ville so make sure you wear your sunscreen and stay hydrated. 

As Always,
Go Cards

~Daryl 

2024 Cardinal Sports Countdown -- FRIDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

FRIDAYS WITH DARYL 

Hello again readers and happy summer!!

Baseball and wedding planning have consumed most of my time but I am definitely already looking forward to the next Cardinals seasons too!

Women's Soccer 

70ish days until WSoc.  Surprisingly to me, the actual women's schedule wasn't posted yet on gocards. com yet especially considering the men's schedule has been posted but we can assume on previous years' schedules that itll be the middle of August when students get back on campus. 

Field Hockey

77 days until FH scrimmage on Friday 8/23/24 and then again that Sunday against Bellarmine and Indiana respectively.  This is a great local series for fans to attend.

 

Volleyball

82 days until the two monumental Final Four implicating volleyball matchups down at the KFC Yum Center.  This will draw as many visiting fan bases as it will locals so plan ahead, Cardinal fans!! 

Women's Basketball

150ish days until WBB.  Actual schedule not posted yet but we know about when they'll tip off.  The last couple seasons its been on a Monday night in the beginning of November. 

Looking forward to spending another Cardinal season with you! 

As Always, 
Go Cards

~Daryl 

Women in Sports; FRIDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

FRIDAYS WITH DARYL 

Hello readers and happy weekend.  

I decided that for today's topic we will mention a couple Cards but the main topic will be, you guessed it, women - more specifically female athletes. 

We at Cardinal Couple dedicate an insane amount of time and energy towards covering and investing in the female athletes at UofL and beyond.  I've talked about it before but I am very proud of the men of Cardinal Couple who put in the work for the Louisville ladies, including myself.   Jeff has become an established figure at L&N Arena with UofL volleyball, even traveling to support them.  Case is a soccer and statistical guru and I learn something new in all of his contributions.  Jared is a staple on the sidelines of every sport in the book and enhances our daily posts at Cardinal Couple as well as the athletes and their parents' who aren't able to regularly come to games get to see themselves/their kids in action.  And then there's Paulie who is recognized by every coach in the press conferences, edits/shares our daily posts and steps up when the rest of us can't - Paulie IS Cardinal Couple. 

With all of that said, I wanted to talk more about women and their role in the athletics world - where we are, where we are going and how we can do better.  

We've touched on some topics at Cardinal Couple - mine being wanting to support the WNBA Cards by buying their jerseys and planning trips to see games.  In particular, buying female athlete jerseys for my avid jersey wearing boyfriend.  I think Kobe Bryant would agree that having a man wear women's jerseys can have a huge impact.  As seen below when Kobe wore the iconic Orange WNBA hoodie in 2019.  

Last December, the Sports Business Journal named it the “Best Fashion Statement of the Year.” It is the best-selling WNBA item ever, and it coincides with a period of digital growth for the W. Since the start of the 2020 season, the league has seen an increase in its digital footprint, gaining more than 275,000 followers across its social media platforms, and an increase in average actions per post across Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. Ratings for the WNBA Finals were also up 15% from 2019.

When Bryant donned the hoodie at the Lakers-Mavericks game, sales of the pullover spiked. After his and Gianna’s sudden deaths in January 2020, it popped off again. The image of Bryant wearing the WNBA hoodie with Gianna courtside became plastered across stories on the relationship between the two of them and his passion for women’s basketball.

“It was just a fan thing before he wore it,” says Jones, who is no longer with the WNBA and is now self-employed as a social media and marketing consultant. “But when Kobe wore it, it became a fashion statement.”

https://www.si.com/wnba/2021/05/10/orange-hoodies-kobe-bryant-aja-wilson-eb-jones

This week, I proudly gifted my guy with his next new summer 'fits. See the proud new owner of a couple pro-Cards, Class of '21 Dana Evans and Class of '22 Emily Engstler, who are blossoming into their roles with their respective squads.  

  

               

Emily Engstler averaging 5 points and 6 rebounds in 19 minutes per game.

Dana Evans averaging 5 points an assist and rebound in 13 minutes per game.

Even though these two did not get to benefit from the NIL world, we still try to support our Cards after they graduate. 

Speaking of NIL.. Eric Crawford put out an article this week covering NIL now that we're a year into the monumental decision.  You could probably guess some of the obvious facts from the first year of athlete endorsements.  Football brings in the most moolah, quarterbacks lead the deals and SEC country is leading the charge. 

-- The source of NIL deals for men and women is telling, with corporations and other brands spending more of their money on women, and fans and donors overwhelmingly backing men.

-- NIL LEADERS. In a section with more athletes who are leading in the NIL era, Opendorse listed two from the University of Louisville on a page with 25 others. One will not surprise you. Hailey Van Lith has long been reported to have major NIL potential, with 717,000 Instagram followers and 63,800 on TikTok, where she recently posted as a sponsor for Dick’s Sporting Goods.

The other Louisville name might surprise you. Katie Beiler was senior rower for Louisville last season, and her 16,600 TikTok followers had liked her posts more than 2 million times on that platform.

Check out the rest of the interesting facts from the article below.

https://www.wdrb.com/sports/crawford-nil-turns-1-a-first-look-at-some-national-data-and-who-is-getting/article_8cc8cce6-0328-11ed-bfa7-df9c37da9336.html

All in all, to say this is, that if you keep supporting women, women will support you.  These are our daughters, sisters, friends and mothers.  Women who have dedicated thousands of hours and years of their lives to wear that Cardinal bird across their chest.   Yes, its for education but its also for family.  I can think of several examples of new families and lifetime friendships that have formed because of UofL.  When we fan the flames of those unions, we inspire the next generations and find ourselves with something to cheer for for life. Buy that jersey, go to the game, even giving them follows on social media is a free way to show support!

These two in particular -

Dana Evans - Gary, Indiana
https://www.chicagotribune.com/sports/sky/ct-chicago-sky-dana-evans-20220714-o5xjfbifjzfj5bmpqz7ao7wgpm-story.html

Emily Engstler - Queens, New York

The second I knew Dana was going to Chicago in 2021, I called and emailed the team store to inquire about purchasing her jersey since her name wasn't available online.  About 13 months later and many of back and forth with the merchandise sales team, it was in hand, and it is INCREDIBLE!  They explained that the jersey wouldn't be available for some time because the demand just isn't there.  It did help that the Sky won the championship in 2021. 
Just a few days after Emily was drafted, I called the Pacers (because the Fever do not have their own building EYEROLL) to inquire about a jersey.  I received the amazing Stranger Things themed jersey with a $30 discount for signing up for Fever emails within 3 days of purchasing. 

I am very pleased with my purchase and its the best way I could think to support the women who gave UofL Final Fours. 

Cardinal Couple Radio Hour Podcast 

I'm sure we will cover more of this on this week's episode.  I hope you can catch the show live or the recording shared on Sunday post. We should have a good crew on hand. 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

As Always, 
Go Cards

~Daryl 

Kouzelos Named Top 10 Goalkeeper -- THURSDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

 Kouzelos Named Top 10 Goalkeeper

Gabby Kouzelos was named a Top 10 Goalkeeper for the 2020 season by Top Drawer Soccer.  The senior has been the starting goalkeeper for the last three seasons for the Cards.

She is one of three ACC goalkeepers to make the Top 10 list, joining Laurel Ivory from Virginia and Claudia Dickey from North Carolina.

Kouzelos led the Cards to a 13-5-2 record last season that featured a second round appearance in the NCAA Tournament.  She recorded a career-high 51 saves and recording 10 shutouts while posting an incredible 0.87 goals against average- ranking second all-time in program history.

"She may not have the stereotypical goalkeeper frame, but she makes up for any concerns there with good positioning and sharp shot-stopping reflexes.  Unafraid to come off her line and stand up strong, she's one of the more underrated goalkeepers in DI women's soccer.  After the 2019 season she earned All-ACC Second Team honors.  In her three seasons with the Cardinal[s], she's played every single game when healthy." -Top Drawer Soccer.

We at Cardinal Couple are familiar with Gabby.  She's always been a fun interviewee, providing plenty of insight while also being able to handle Paulie's witty humor. Below, a link with "the Gabs" after a win over Clemson. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3v1y5xCaMfs

On the pitch, Kouzelos can often be heard as the loudest voice.  She commands the team with assertion and will often find herself near midfield to help coach on offense.

One of the many reasons we will see a highly successful 2020 season, for the few matches that they can play, is because of Kouzelos' leadership and skills.

WNBA: Mystics Down Dream

A huge night for UofL WBB great Myisha Hines-Allen last night as the Washington Mystics downed two-win Atlanta 98-91.

"Doo-blay" went for 23 points, and was 10-14 from the floor! She also nailed three-three pointers. Myisha came into the game with just six "makes" from beyond the arc for the season. 

Washington led 78-63 going into the fourth quarter and was able to hold off a late Atlanta run to improve to 4-7. The win broke the Mystics seven-game losing streak.

Also huge for the Mystics was rookie Stella Johnson. The Rider U. graduate had 25 points and hit six three-pointers for Washington in the first start of her career. I expect she'probably won herself a starting role with that performance.   

Katy is Here!

The best news in a while for me is Katy's arrival to Louisville.  After 3 1/2 years of long distance dating we finally will be living in the same town.

I'll help her move onto Louisville Presbyterian Seminary's campus bright and early today and will no longer worry about the long trips to Florida State or her home in South Carolina.

Although Katy is a bit camera shy I'm sure I can get her to pop on Skype to say a few words Saturday Saturday morning.

Continue to stay safe and healthy, everyone!

Happy Thursday and Go Cards!

Jared

Number, please? -- Podcast -- SUNDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

NUMBERING THE FRESHMEN, CHECKING THE LINEAGE 

(We're playing a bit of Chinese Fire Drill this week here at the Couple. I'm writing today and Paulie tomorrow, Case takes Tuesday and Thursday, Jeff steps up Wednesday and Friday and Jared will be writing Saturday. Jared and Paulie taking a few days off this upcoming week.) 

David Watson

Some of you may remember the old days when you could have the operator assist you on your rotary dial phone to reach another phone number. You'd get this "Number, please?" request from the operator, you'd give her (it was rarely a 'him") the seven digits and the operator would try to connect you with it. My, how far we've come! 

Speaking of numbers...

Numbers for the incoming freshmen/transfers for UofL WBB squad have been assigned for the 2020-21 season. 

We'll start with Hailey Van Lith. She'll sport #10 for the Cards. The last #10 in a Cardinal WBB jersey was no other than Sydney Zambrotta, the three-point shooting star for the Cards who took her fortunes to George Washington. Syd, by the way, was a part-time starter for GW last season and shot 29% from beyond the arc. 




Next up, Ahlana Smith. The Florida Gulf Coast transfer will don #2 for UofL WBB. Yacine Diop wore the number last season, and -- before that, most of us remember Myisha Hines-Allen traversing the court in "the deuce". Let's hope good fortunes of having that jersey number wear off on Ahlana. She's got some pretty big shoes to fill to live up to that number's storied history. ''

We find Merissah Russell sporting #13. Here's a bit of a pop quiz for you, can you remember who the last Cardinal WBB player was that wore #13?  I had to do some checking, as well, and it turns out that one of my all time favorites -- Cortnee Walton -- last wore it. She was an inside Cardinal force from 2012-17. If Merissah can duplicate "Cort's" efforts on the court, I think we'll all be happy campers. 

Last but not least, Olivia Cochran, will run the floor in #44. This one really took a lot of research, in terms of finding out who wore it. It turns out that Lori Nero (2002-03) was the last Cardinal WBB player to wear "double fours". Nero went on the be the second UofL WBB player to go to the WNBA. She was a second round pick for the Houston Comets in 2003.  The Comets were the WNBA's first dynasty team but ceased operations in 2008 over financial woes.

If Olivia can have that magic of #44 rub off on her, I suspect she'd probably be quite happy being Louisville's leading rebounder and shot blocker, like Nero was in 2002-03 and then going on to play in the WNBA. I've got a special love for number #44, it's the number I wore in basketball in my playing days. 

Best of luck with these identifying digits to these four. Let's hope we hear a lot of opposing coaches scream out things like "someone pick up and stop #2, you gotta keep #44 off the boards, #10 is killing us from outside and #13 is scoring way too easy inside" in this upcoming season. 

What's in a number? We're hoping tons of points, assists, rebounds, defense and highlights. No operator assistance required with these numbers, and we hope successful connection for them. 



CARDINAL COUPLE RADIO HOUR PODCAST

Three of the four "A" Team members joined the Skype broadcast of The Cardinal Couple Radio Hour Podcast Saturday (Paulie, Jeff and Case) and they had a rollicking good time discussing the joy and excitement of UofL women's sports for over an hour. Jared was busy rolling change and denying loans at his financial institution, so he wasn't on hand to successfully defend his title on our Cardinal Couple Quiz. Paulie even came up with call letters for the broadcast -- WCHR -- (meaning Worldwide's Cozy Home Residence) as an emanating point for the weekly show. Jeff even drove his motorcycle live on the air for us -- listen for it. 

He denies it. 


It was a nail-biting, exciting quiz. The test was centered around the ACC and Case pulled out a last question, come-from-behind win over Jeff on the bonus question. 

"Did you catch the latest Cardinal Couple Radio Hour
Podcast, Dee?" 

The boys also discussed the fledgling FGCL Summer Softball League and the Cardinals participating in it, Celene Funke's latest honor, Dana and Kianna's teleconference, Cardinal women's golfers on the course and much, much more!  

You can listen to the rebroadcast and try your luck on the quiz at the link below.

Let us know how you did on the quiz in the comments section. 




LINK:  THE CARDINAL COUPLE RADIO HOUR PODCAST 6-13-20 \


Have a safe and super Sunday! 

Dave O