Women's Soccer Draws; Volleyball and FH in Action -- SUNDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

Cards Score Late to Draw BC 1-1

Louisville WSOC entered last night coming off of their second win of the conference season. They were set to face an opponent that had yet to pick up a point in conference play. And they were doing so with a win being critical to keep their chances of making the ACC tournament alive. Unfortunately, Louisville was unable to take advantage of BC's woes, and the Cards were only able to pick up a draw in the match. While a win would have been much better, Louisville isn't completely out of the hunt just yet. Some other results went their way this week, and Louisville is just one point back of the sixth spot in the tournament, as they've moved to 8 points. Louisville fans will be rooting for Virginia in their cross-state rivalry when the Cavaliers take on the Hokies tomorrow. A Virginia Tech win would move them to 12 points and put them just about out of Louisville's reach.

For all of the talk about Boston College being a doormat in ACC play, Louisville had to fight to pick up a draw in this one. The teams entered the half tied at zero. Both teams had taken five shots with one on frame, earned four corners, and Louisville had committed seven fouls to BC's six. One of those fouls earned Lizzie Sexton a yellow card. The second half saw BC with a fair amount more chances, as the Eagles took six shots to Louisville's two. They put three shots on goal in the second half, netting the first goal in the 56th minute. Louisville was under siege, with BC putting up three shots in five minutes. The first was over the goal, while the second forced a save from Erynn Floyd. The third was a well played ball that beat the defense for the go-ahead goal. 

Louisville fought back, holding possession for the majority of the remaining 35 minutes. The Cards weren't able to do much with that possession, though. They earned a total of five corners in the half, but they were only able to turn those into two shots. They also drew eight fouls out of BC, while committing only four of their own. One of those corners was productive, as Addie Chester's ball in found Lucy Roberts in the box. Roberts knocked it home for her second goal as a Cardinal to pull the Cards level in the 84th minute. BC would attempt to find a later winner, but despite three successive corners, they couldn't get a shot. Their last effort came in the final minute, as a shot went wide of the goal. 

In addition to Roberts' goal, Louisville's other two shots on goal came from Addie Chester and Hayley Howard. Fiona Gaißer, Emersen Jennings, and Lizzie Sexton took the other shots for the Cards, with Sexton being the only Cardinal to attempt two shots. Last night's game also saw the return of Viktoria Wik, who had been out with an injury for quite a few games. The freshman played 15 minutes in relief. Interestingly, Autumn Weeks didn't appear in this game.

Louisville next heads to Clemson on Thursday night. That game will be available on ACC Network Extra at 7PM. The Tigers are tied for second in the ACC with Pitt and Notre Dame, with all three teams at 5-1-1, trailing FSU by a win. The Cards handed Pittsburgh their only ACC loss of the year (and one of only two overall losses), so never say never about their match Thursday. With Louisville unable to take care of business against BC, they must average at least a point over the last three matches to make the tournament, and they'll probably need more than that. We'll see how the rest of the season shakes out.

Sunday's Matchups

Floyd Street will feature two big matches today that are important for different reasons. 

Louisville field hockey hosts the sixth-ranked Iowa Hawkeyes. The Cards are coming off their second conference loss of the year and need to bounce back as they head down the stretch. Iowa is 11-2 on the year, even in losses with Louisville and just one win back. Like the Cards, both of their losses came against tough conference foes. Unlike the Cards, both of their losses came at home. Louisville beat both Northwestern and Ohio State this season, and the Cards are 7-0 at Trager Stadium. The Hawkeyes won the last matchup against Louisville within the friendly confines of Trager, though. Louisville will look to extend their series lead to 9-5 at noon on ACCNX.

Volleyball is facing Virginia. While it doesn't sound like a major matchup, Louisville will need to avoid coming down off of a high after their sweep of Pittsburgh in a return to L&N Federal Credit Union Arena. The Cavaliers are just 8-9 this season, and they're a woeful 1-6 in conference, but Louisville gets every team's best shot. After the Cards took care of business against Pitt and GT took down FSU, it's a whole new conference season with all to play for at the top. Louisville can't afford to slip now. The match will get underway at 1PM on ACCNX.

Cardinal Couple Radio Hour Podcast

We were on yesterday, and our shorthanded staff for the show became more shortened when Paulie's internet decided to go kablooey. Jeff and I talked about women's soccer, field hockey, volleyball, and women's basketball. You know, the works. You can hear it all on this week's episode at the links below.

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

All photos by Jared Anderson

WSoc Plays Even with Ranked Virginia -- Volleyball Welcomes Stanford -- SUNDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

Women's Soccer Draws with #20 Virginia

The Louisville bench celebrates a goal

Happy Sunday, Cards fans! While most of the attention was turned towards a certain game in Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis (a Louisville team won that game) we turned our attention to a Louisville game happening on campus. Louisville women's soccer welcomed #20 Virginia to Dr Mark and Cindy Lynn Stadium. The Cards and Cavaliers played to a 1-1 draw.

Paulie, Sonya, Case and his wife Lindsay, and I were in attendance. They were present for the entire match while I arrived for the second half. Photographing two sports in two different states in the span of a few hours proved to be pretty exhausting and I needed a quick break before heading over to Lynn Stadium. 

Autumn Weeks heads the ball

Lucy Roberts recorded her first goal as a Cardinal and seventh of her career early into the second half before Virginia answered with 10 minutes remaining into the match. Virginia had allowed just two goals on the season coming into the match so a Louisville team that has struggled on offense being able to score is huge.

The first half proved to be fairly quiet. Virginia had an opportunity midway through the half on a good ball into the box that found its way close to the far post, but Erynn Floyd was able to handle the shot for one of her four saves.

Lucy Roberts scores for Louisville

Louisville had a solid look right before the half on a corner with a few seconds left. The ball was served into the box and ended up at the feet of Karsyn Cherry, who quickly took the shot. Virginia got the save right as the clock hit zero to go into the half.

Early in the second half, Louisville pressured the Virginia back line both on offense and defense. The Cards earned a free kick right in front of their own bench. Addie Chester took the kick and sent it to the middle of the box where Fiona Gaißer received the pass and set the ball up at the near post for Lucy Roberts. Roberts sent the shot across the goal to the opposite corner for the Louisville lead.

Erynn Floyd records a save

Over time, Virginia began taking control of possession and spent a good chunk of the time pressing forward. Lizzie Sexton went down with a lower body injury that appeared to be serious based on her struggles at walking off the field following the match. The Wahoos capitalized on the Cards losing one of the their top defenders and quickly pressed on that side. UVA relied on quick passes to move the ball from the near side to the middle of the box and got the shot to the far post away from Erynn Floyd for the equalizer.

UVA seemed to have momentum over the final few minutes but the UofL defense stood firm and refused to surrender a second goal.

Louisville's record now stands at 1-4-4. They host Pitt this Thursday at 8:00 pm.

Volleyball Welcomes Stanford to KFC Yum! Center

Phekran "PK" Kong with a block

As you may have noticed, Jeff and I traded writes this week. He took over Thursday to provide an excellent recap of Louisville volleyball sweeping rival Kentucky. It also gave me a chance to edit those game photos and get to bed a little before midnight. In return, I get to preview another ranked volleyball match today at the KFC Yum! Center.

Louisville plays host to #5 Stanford at 1:00 pm today. This one is slated for ESPN2.

The Cardinal (no S, get it right ESPN) come into the match with a 6-2 record. They fell to #4 Nebraska in four sets earlier this week. Their other loss came to a top-10 Florida team, but Stanford does have wins against ranked opponents in Texas, Ohio State, and Minnesota.

Kamden Schrand celebrates a point

Kendall Kipp (opposite) and Elia Rubin (outside hitter) have carried a good chunk of the attacking with the duo averaging 3.79 and 3.37 kills per set, respectively. Caitie Baird is another outside hitter with strong numbers with 3.29 kills per set. Of course, setter Kami Miner and libero Elena Oglivie have been having All Pac-12 Team seasons so far. The battle of the Elena liberos (Scott for Louisville and Oglivie for Stanford) should be a fun one to watch.

The silent killer for Stanford appears to be its serving, averaging just shy of two aces per set. It's a high risk high reward for the Cardinal, as they also have tallied 110 service errors this season.

The Cardinals and Cardinal have played just once before, with UofL getting the win at the Maples Pavilion last year. We will have multiple Cardinal Couple representatives at today's match.

Where is Field Hockey?

The end of the rainbow is at Trager Stadium

You might be asking why we aren't previewing a Louisville field hockey match today. The answer is simple: off day. After a 6-1 start to the season, the Cards have a well-deserved off day. They've already logged three ranked wins with two of them coming on the road. Most recently, Louisville fell on the road to #2 North Carolina 2-0 but this is still one of the best starts in program history for the Cards. They return home on Friday to host James Madison at 5:00 pm.

Happy Sunday and Go Cards!

Jared