CARDS AT ACC WBB TIPOFF -- FIELD HOCKEY NEWS -- WEDNESDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

 ACC TIP OFF MEDIA DAY REPRESENTED BY WALZ, VAN LITH, SMITH

The University of Louisville women's basketball team has three representatives in Charlotte, NC  today for the 2021 ACC Tip-Off, 

Jeff Walz is in attendance and will appear on the ACC Network's Packer and Durham show at 10 a.m this morning. Hailey Van Lith and Kianna Smith are also attending and will be on the network's Nothing But Net programming around 12:15 p.m. 

The three will be involved in various events throughout the morning. You can using the hash tag #ACCTipoff to follow along, or just tune into the broadcast, The event begins at 7 a.m. this morning and runs through 3 p.m.

It should be interesting to see what the three have to say about the upcoming season, who is asking the questions and what they'll be asked. 

FIELD HOCKEY NOW #4

The latest NFCHA Field Hockey Coaches poll came out yesterday and the Louisville Field Hockey squad slid one spot from #3 to #4. The Cards took their second loss of the season Sunday at Michigan-- 2-1. 

It's a Big 10 dominated top of the poll, with Iowa at #1, Michigan at #2 and Rutgers climbing over the Cards to take the #3 spot. Louisville is at #4, followed by #5 Penn State and #6 Northwestern. Thee ACC does have Syracuse at #7...UNC checks in at #10, Boston College has moved up to #12, Virginia is #14 and Wake Forest completes the top 15 at #15. Duke, despite their 5-8 record, is at #23. 

The Cards are on the road this weekend, with stops at Boston College Friday at 1 p.m. and then Northeastern on Sunday at noon. 

PASTOR, McFERRAN NAMED TO QUALIFIER SQUADS.

 

We found out yesterday that Cardinals Field Hockey greats Ayeshia McFerran and Mercedes Pastor have been named to 2021 Women's European Qualifier teams. 

McFerran, as you might have guessed, will compete for Ireland in the the field-of-eight teams.

Pastor is on the Italian roster, a bit of a surprise to us at Cardinal Couple. Last we heard, she was competing professionally in Belgium. It seems Meche has a dual citizenship in Argentina as well as Italy. She's certainly well-travelled...

The tournament will take place October 21-22 in Italy and the winner gets an automatic berth in th 2022 Women's Field Hockey World Cup. Besides Italy and Ireland, France, Russia, Belarus, Wales, Scotland and Poland are in the field. 

The Irish start out against France and Italy gets Wales in the opening round.  

The 2022 FIH World Cup will be held in July 2022. 

Have a Wonderful Wednesday!

paulie

Basketball Adds to the Non-Conference Schedule -- Mechi Pastor Interview -- THURSDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

 Basketball Beefs Up Non-Conference Schedule

As COVID-19 cases continue to surge as the Delta Variant makes its way to our area, Louisville decided to give us back-to-back days of nice additions to the Louisville women's basketball schedule.

The big name back on the schedule after a one-year hiatus is Kentucky. The rivalry is back! Fans were disappointed when the SEC announced no non-conference games last year as a Dana Evans led UofL team vs. a Rhyne Howard UK team would've been a fun one to watch.

Louisville vs Kentucky will be part of this year's Jimmy V Classic, with the Cards hosting at the KFC Yum! Center on Sunday, Dec. 12 at 1:00 p.m.

Louisville has won four straight against the Wildcats, most recently a nail-biting thriller at Rupp Arena on Dec. 15, 2019. UK missed a last second shot as the Cards held on to win 67-66. Paulie, Sonya, and myself were all in attendance for this one, and we needed some oxygen at the end.

Michigan will also be on the schedule for this season. The Cards and Wolverines got the draw for the ACC/Big Ten Challenge. This game will also be at the KFC Yum! Center with a Thursday evening primetime game on Dec. 2.

Michigan was a 6-seed last season in the NCAA Tournament and fell in overtime to Baylor in the Sweet Sixteen. Louisville is 4-1 all-time against the Wolverines.

Both Kentucky and Michigan are expected to be ranked when they visit town so Louisville has a good chance at improving their NCAA Tournament seeding with wins against both. And, don't forget the Cards start the season against another quality opponent in Arizona in South Dakota! 

As of right now, Louisville is at 100% attendance for fans, so we hope to see large crowds at both. However, I would not be surprised to see that attendance policy drop down between now and then.

Mechi Interview

M

ercedes Pastor has concluded her time with UofL field hockey, but she was gracious enough to give us an interview before she heads overseas in a couple weeks. Unfortunately, Paulie was not able to make it last minute so I had Katy join me with the promise of buying her dinner.

Mechi, arguably the best field hockey player in the NCAA last season, will be playing professionally in Belgium while pursuing her master's degree at Louisville's Speed School of Engineering.

We got a chance to ask her about how she got started in field hockey, what brought her to UofL, her experiences in her time here, and her future plans.

I don't want to spoil all the fun from the interview so you'll want to check it out here!

We thank Mechi for her time at UofL and could praise her accolades and accomplishments over the next week, but we do wish her the best playing professionally!

Cardinal Couple Radio Podcast

We are back on air, well, not AM or FM radio, but through our various outlets for the Cardinal Couple Radio Podcast. YouTube is one of the more popular methods of listening in, but Worldwide did provide eight other locations you can listen in his Sunday article.

We are working on a way to add photos and videos to future episodes to add visuals as we talk over them. Photos are a bit easier to get away with, but videos often have a copyright on them from the NCAA, ACC, or UofL. We'll let our mastermind engineering crew work on all of that for us.

Happy Thursday and Go Cards!

Jared

FIBA 3x3 -- TUESDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

 Engstler and Van Lith at FIBA 3x3

Photo from GoCards.com

Yesterday kicked off the three-day FIBA 3x3 U23 Nations League. The Cardinal duo joined forces with Oregon's Kylee Watson and NC State's Madison Hayes.

Team USA was part of Group A, which included Spain and Israel. The USA swept Group A, defeating Spain 16-9 to open the event and then taking down Israel 21-10. By winning Group A, Team USA faced the winner of Group B, France.

France looked scary good after winning their opening game over Great Britain 21-3. France then defeated the Netherlands 18-11. France cruised to a 21-10 team win over the USA in the final.

Today's event, Stop Five, regroups the teams with France and Great Britain joining the USA in Group B. Stop Six is Wednesday where the US will be in Group A with Great Britain and Israel. The format remains the same with all teams playing a round robin tournament in their group with the two group winners facing off in the final.

Due to the focus on the 3x3 Olympics, USA Basketball's website did not provide stats for the games. However, we know that HVL and Engstler each had three points in the final, tied for leading the USA.

The FIBA 3x3 Twitter account (@FIBA3x3) shared a video of an interview with HVL. She talked about some of her favorite things such as her favorite basketball move, music, tv show, and sport outside of basketball. Did you know she considered being a dual sport athlete with the second sport being softball? Van Lith loves to say "and one" as her most common trash talk line. Dana Evans was often heard using the same line on the court.

We will have a rundown of today's events in tomorrow's article.

Other News

Although it is not joyful or exciting, and it certainly isn't directly related to UofL women's athletics, we would be remised if we didn't address Coach Quentin Hillsman resigning for Syracuse. The now-former Syracuse women's basketball coach was the winningest coach in program history and even made it to the national championship game in 2016.

Coach Q was under fire due to several accusations regarding abuse and mistreatment of players as well as unwelcome advances. The findings of the investigation have not been released, but all signs point to the accusations being true. Any type of inappropriate behavior or abuse of players should not be permitted despite the successes of the coach.

We will continue to follow this story as more news develops.

On a much lighter note and actually pertaining to UofL, Paulie and I are trying to work our magic with Mechi Pastor before she heads overseas to play professional field hockey. She will remain a student at UofL, as she completes her master's degree at the JB Speed School of Engineering. English is not Pastor's first language, which is why she was absent from Cardinal Couple interviews in the past, but she is confident enough in herself and her English skills to try her hand at one now and we are excited at the chance to talk with her!

Our illustrious writer Case Hoskins is a Speed School graduate and Worldwide spent a couple semesters over there so they can tell you how challenging the program is and how impressive it is that Pastor will complete her master's while playing professionally. I had a world cultures class held in one of the Speed School buildings, but engineering was not my strong suit. I'd probably derail the train.

Happy Tuesday and Go Cards!

Jared

Pastor Award -- Golf Transfer -- TUESDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

 Pastor Wins Award

Louisville Field Hockey's Mercedes Pastor is remarkable player and the rest of the country continues to recognize that. The Argentinian was named the NFHCA West Region Player of the Year.

This is her third straight NFHCA All-West Region honors. She was named ACC Player of the Week four times and the NFHCA Player of the Week three times.

The NFHCA Awards Show will be live-streamed on YouTube next week on June 15, 2021. At that time, the All-Americans and the National Player of the Year will be announced. Pastor will join the other Region Players of the Year Erin Matson (UNC, South Region), Jonna Kennedy (Boston College, Northeast Region), Sophie Hamilton (UConn, Mideast Region), and Gianna Glatz (Rutgers, Mid-Atlantic Region) as nominees for National Player of the Year.

Pastor has hopes to return to Louisville for one final season this fall and we all hope that we will see her rep the red and black jersey one more time.

Kendall Griffin Joins Golf

Louisville women's golf signed a transfer with Kendall Griffin coming to Louisville for her final year of eligibility.

Griffin joins the Cards after four years at LSU where she accumulated a 75.28 career stroke average. She had two top-10 and one top-five finish as a senior and finished tied for fifth in the SEC Championship.

"We're so excited to sing Kendall as a graduate student," said Coach Whitney Young. "She has had a very successful career at LSU and we look forward to bringing her energy, experience, and passion to the University of Louisville. She will make an immediate impact on our program and help us in reaching our National Championship aspirations for 2022. The addition of Kendall really caps off what was an already exciting 2021 class."

Adding Griffin will be a huge asset as Lauren Hartladge has concluded her collegiate career. The Cards made the NCAA Regional round this season and hosted their first ever NCAA Regional.

WCWS Set

I opted to watch the new Conjuring movie (did you know there's eight films in the Conjuring Universe now?) over the WCWS. The action, though, was dramatic and surprising for those who did and those who played.

In the first game of the day, James Madison University started the game with a first pitch home run for a quick 1-0 lead. It was all Oklahoma after that as the 1-seed scored seven unanswered to win 7-1. However, the attention was focused on Oddicci Alexander and the career she had with JMU.

The second game saw 10-seed Florida State square off against 3-seed Alabama. The Seminoles started the game with a three-run home run off Montana Fouts, In fact, Fouts got pulled early as FSU held an 8-2 lead after three innings. The Crimson Tide tried to rally but it ultimately was the ACC powerhouse earning the 8-5 win.

Game One of the best-of-three series between Oklahoma and Florida State begins tonight at 7:30 p.m. You can check that game out during commercial breaks of the Lynx vs Mystics and Wings vs Mercury games. Myisha Hines-Allen had an incredible welcome back performance for the Mystics and she will try to help Washington break their losing streak.

Happy Tuesday and Go Cards!

Jared

Field Hockey Lands Six on the NFHCA All-West Region Team -- WEDNESDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

 

On Bitting, Pastor, Schneider, Kouijzer, Plumb and Van Oirschot...

For the third straight season, the Louisville Field Hockey squad has placed at least six players on the post-season NFCHA All-West Region Team. 

Alli Bitting, Mercedes Pastor and Meghan Schneider were named to the first team and Julie Kouijzer, Aimee Plumb and Charlie Van Oirschot received second-team honors. 

Bitting

Bitting, a senior midfielder/back out of Hummelstown, PA, earned her third straight naming to the prestigious team. A Cards co-captain and two-time All ACC selection, Alli also was named to the NCAA Tournament team this year for UofL. She was an integral part of a defense that created four shutouts in a 14-6 season, NCAA Final Four appearance and defeat of North Carolina. She is expected to return for the upcoming season. 

Pastor

Pastor may be one of the most recognizable players in UofL Field Hockey history. The Buenos Aires, Argentina senior led the Cards in goals on the season(13) and five of those were game-winners. She was named ACC Player of the Week four times during the season and NFHCA National Player of the Diego, CA and was another stellar part of the Cards defense. She stick handling skills are a true work of beauty, skill and art -- the term "you've been pastored" was stuck on many a NCAA defender after "Meche" baffled them with her ball control. Pastor is also expected to return to the team in the fall. 

Megan Schneider

Schneider, a senior out of San Diego, CA, was a stellar back in the the Cards defense and started three years for the squad. It's her second time on the NFHCA All-West squad and she was also named the NFHCA National Defensive Player of the Week a couple of times. Her younger sister Katie is also on the Cardinals squad and she went through her time at UofL with a 4.0 GPA. Meghan was also a co-captain on the 2020-21 squad. Her six goals in 2020-21 tied her for second-best on the squad.  Meghan is headed to medical school in the fall. 

Kouijzer

Kouijzer (pronounced "cow-wiser) is a sophomore defender out of Amsterdam, The Netherlands, and she's been a starter both years with the Cardinals  She's earned ACC Defensive Player of the Week honors during her time at UofL and was also named to the ACC-All Tournament team in 2019 and 2020. 

Plumb

Plumb comes to the Cards from Canterbury, England and is a freshman forward who came in and had immediate contributions to the Louisville offense. She recorded six goals and two assist in 2020-21, second best on the squad. She also made the NCAA All-Tournament Team. Plumb was a member of the England U 18 squad for two years. She also had six goals for the Cards in 2020-21

van Oirschot

van Oirschot hails from Haarlem, The Netherlands and the freshman  came in and started right away for the Cards. She was named to the All-ACC second team. The mid-fielder was fourth leading scorer for the Cards in the 2020-21 season.

We here at CARDINAL COUPLE congratulate these excellent student-athletes that were a part of Justine Sowry's record-breaking squad. The future is bright for the "Cards on the pitch" and, in the words of Sowry...Louisville will be more that ready to "give it a go" this upcoming season 

have a wet Wednesday (if you're in Louisville)   

paulie

Cats vs. Cards in SB tonight -- Pastor Named ACC FH Co-Player of Week -- Balogun? -- WEDNESDAY CARDINAL CPUPLE

 

CATS AND CARDS IN SOFTBALL TONIGHT AT ULMER

The Louisville and Kentucky softball squads go to battle tonight in Ulmer Stadium at 7 p.m. this evening. It'll be shown on ACCNX and a limited free walk-up tickets wiil be made available for those who want to attend. The berm, of course, is open --we've heard about some restrictions and distancing policies being implemented out there as well. 

Of note, in pregame ceremonies, the Cards will honor 2020 senior Caitlin Ferguson. The former Cards shortstop will go through her delayed senior Night honors at 6:45 p.m. Caitlin played in 175 games in her time at Louisville, scoring 89 runs and driving in 94. She started at short all four years she played at Louisville, and was on the 2017 ACC All-Freshmen team and 2018 All-Southeastern Regional second team.  

The Cards are 13-15 coming into tonight's contest and have won three of their last four games. Louisville rediscovered the bats at Pittsburgh and exploded for 29 runs in the four game series against Panther pitching. A big part of that has been from Carrmyn Greenwood, who leads the team with a .437 batting average....which is second-highest in the ACC.  Taylor Roby has been hitting the ball well also and leads UofL with 29 runs-batted-in. She's also pounded nine home runs this season, tops on the squad.  

Makayla Hurst is currently on a seven-game hitting streak for Louisville. 

Looking at the Cats, they come in as the #10 ranked team in the USA Today/NFCA poll. 

UK has built a 27-6 record and most recently took one out of three at Tennessee.  UK has seven players averaging .300 or better at the plate and Kayla Kowalik carries an impressive .482 average. Erin Coffel is the long ball threat for the Wildcats -- she's sent 14 Spaldings over the fence this season.

Louisville won the last time these two met 8-7. Taylor Roby belted a one-out single in the bottom of the seventh inning that scored Celene Funke for the "W". 

PASTOR NAMED ACC CO-PLAYER OF THE WEEK

Mercedes "Meche" Pastor has been named the ACC Co-Player Of the Week.

It's the fourth time she's gotten the honor in the 2020-21 Field Hockey season. Pastor was responsible for the only goal -- in overtime -- in Louisville's 1-0 win over Syracuse on Sunday at Trager Stadium. 

Pastor leads the Cards in goals scored this season with 11 and has knocked in five game winners for the 12-4 Cards. 

Also, Louisville Field Hockey has moved up a couple of spots to #3 in the NFHCA rankings this week, behind North Carolina and Iowa. The ACC continues their strong showing in the rankings, with four of the top 10 and seven of the top 20 in the weekly rankings.  

Louisville Field Hockey takes to the road nest -- to play #15 Duke on Saturday 

BALOGUN

Elizabeth came to Louisville as a 
transfer from Ga.Tech with Liz Dixon

At the time of this article (early Wednesday morning) there has been no official UofL WBB announcement on whether Elizabeth Balogun has entered the transfer portal or not. Balogun has released nothing on social media, either. 

I know that several sites and publications are reporting she's in the transfer portal. That might be. I also remember several sites reporting Jeff Walz was leaving Louisville last year. Give me the, facts, just the facts, as Joe Friday used to say...

I've received a lot of inquiries about this from our readers and have made inquiries within the program to get a confirmation or denial of the Balogun transfer/portal status but have received nothing official yet from Louisville WBB. . 

A source close to the program indicated to me that she would "most likely be leaving" but we deal with the facts and official statements when it comes to player movement here at Cardinal Couple, so we won't come out and confirm her status until we hear something from her or Walz or the program. 

Balogun was 24-75 from the floor in the 2020-21 season for Louisville (a 32% rate from the floor) and appeared in 29 games for the Cards, starting 16 of them.

Balogun led Louisville in blocks with 43 for the season and had a season high of 14 points twice -- against Miami (FL) and Clemson. 

When, and if,  further and official information becomes available on her future, we'll bring it to you here at Cardinal Couple. 

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

(On a personal note, I received my second COVID 19 vaccination on Tuesday. i used the drive-thru operation UofL is running off Brook Street downtown and have received the Pfizer doses.  No side effects except a slightly sore left arm and I went to bed early last night -- that might have been because I was tired of watching UK Baseball pound Louisville pitching on TV) If an old fart like me can go through it, you can too.) 

I've never been one for flu shots, but, I would encourage you to get this shot. The more people that get vaccinated, the less cases there will be. If you want to talk to me about the procedure, feel free to shoot me an e-mail at:  

cardinalcouple@twc.com 

It doesn't hurt, and that was especially important to me, because I HATE needles,  so go get the shots. 

Have a Wonderful Wednesday!

paulie

Awards and Speculation -- Wednesday Cardinal Couple

 

CARDS GARNER HONORS IN FIELD HOCKEY AND VOLLEYBALL

A great week for Louisville Field Hockey and Volleyball when it comes to ACC Honors! Two Field Hockey student-athletes and one Volleyball student-athlete were recognized by the ACC for their accomplishments. Let's take a look. 

FIELD HOCKEY

A tip of the hat to Mercedes Pastor and Alli Bitting, who received ACC Field Hockey Offensive and Defensive Player of the Week honors.

Pastor was her usual brilliant self in the Cards two games at Virginia. She tallied three goals and added an assist in Louisville's sweep of the Cavaliers. It the third time this season that "Mechi" has gotten the honor. 

On the defensive side of things, senior Alli Bitting is a huge part of the Cardinal defense that held the Cavs to just three goals in two matches and has limited opponents to just seven goals in seven contests. Bitting is also second in the ACC in assists per game. 

Louisville ends the regular fall slate of their schedule at Syracuse on Friday. The Cards have already clinch a portion of the regular season title and a win would give it to them out-right with a 8-0 record. That would also give UofL the top seed in the upcoming ACC Tournament. There is no "official" rankings this fall, but, when you are the only undefeated team in DI...well, you can figure out the rest. 

VOLLEYBALL

Anna DeBeer walks away with the ACC Freshman of the Week honors after the Cards split matches with Pittsburgh last week. DeBeer "led 'em all" with 22 kills in the Cards four-set win Sunday over Pitt and she was one of three Cardinals with seven kills in Friday's match.

The freshman outside hitter from Louisville Assumption has, obviously, had a huge impact on the Cards building a 5-2 record in the shortened fall slate. Look for the VolleyCards to "bring on DeBeer" a bunch in the spring, when things will hopefully get back to a larger slate of game and a NCAA Tournament will follow.

THINGS STILL UP IN THE AIR FOR ACC WSOC TOURNAMENT SEEDINGS

Only eight teams will make the ACC WSOC Tournament in November. 10 out of the 13 squads still, mathematically, have a shot at getting an invite. It's a situation where we may need Cardinal Couple columnists Worldwide Jeff and Case to step in and develop a "cheat code" or draw up an extensive blueprint for the final slate. 

Points are the key to earning the trip to the WakeMed Soccer Complex in Cary, NC starting November 10th. Just to refresh you, soccer squads get three points for a win and one for a tie. With the teams have either one or two matches left, let's take a look at the current point totals and scenarios as we go into the final week of the fall schedule. 

NORTH CAROLINA sits atop the ACC, in a tie with FSU, with 18 points. their final two matches are at Louisville and hosting Notre Dame. The TarHeels could end up with 24 points, depending on how it goes. They are definitely "in" the ACC Tournament and are playing for top seed. 

FLORIDA STATE also has amassed 18 points. They finish up hosting Clemson and Duke for their final two matches. So, wins could have them tied for first...they didn't play UNC, so the tie-breaker here could fall into play. 

CLEMSON has earned 12 points. They, too, have two matches remaining...with Pitt coming in and then a trip to FSU. They could vault themselves into a tie for the top of the conference if they win over both and UNC and FSU lose their remaining two games. Doubtful but still a possibility. Winning at FSU seems to be a tall order for anyone...

LOUISVILLE also has 12 points but just one match remaining and that's a doozy, with North Carolina tomorrow night at Lynn Stadium. The Cards could secure a berth in Cary with a win. A loss or tie makes it interesting...

NOTRE DAME has just one match left and they, too, have their work cut out for them -- travelling to North Carolina. They have to wait until Sunday to face the Tar Heels. A win would help ensure they're going to post-season. 

DUKE sits with 11 points and has two matches to go. They hit the road for contests against Miami and FSU, so they could possibly pick up six points. They'll probably handle Miami with no problem, FSU is a different story. It's possible they could end with 14 points, though, and vault over Clemson and Louisville, if those squads "lose" out. 

VIRGINIA has 10 points but could really advance if they take their final two contests on the road against Boston College and Syracuse. These are two squads who are pretty much eliminated from going to the ACC Tournament and the Blue Devils might find themselves with 16 points if they can pull off the road wins. 

PITTSBURGH checks in with 9 points. They have two matches remaining...at Clemson and Wake Forest. Winning both would propel them to 15 points. It's a tall order, but, that's why they play the games...

WAKE FOREST has 7 points and,, quite frankly,...needs a lot of help to make the top eight. They go to Pitt and Virginia Tech and have to win both, plus hope for some losses in teams ranked above them, to pack their bags and head to Wake Med. 13 points might get them in if they win out but the odds are stacked against them. 

VIRGINIA TECH has accumulated 6 points and needs a miracle of huge proportions to get to the ACC Tournament. They end with road trips to Boston College and Wake Forest. Sure, they could win both, wind up with 12 points and get a bid...but the chances of that are fairly remote. 

Teams that are mathematically eliminated are Boston College (3 points) Miami (0 points) Syracuse (0 points) The best they can try to accomplish now is being a spoiler with wins over teams with more points . Where's NC State, you might ask? They're sitting out the fall in Raleigh. Georgia Tech doesn't field an ACC WSOC squad. 

And there you have it. All clear, right? I hope so for you,,,all this speculation and "ciphering" gave me a headache and just may send me to the refrigerator for a little Bailey's with my morning coffee. 

This should be fun. By Sunday night, we'll know. My best guess is that the Cards are probably in, with 12 points, if they lose to UNC, but they'll be a #7 or #8 seed. I'd sure love to see UofL knock off the Tar Heels in Lynn and will root for that! 

Having to face either UNC or FSU in a #1 vs #8 or #2 vs #7 quarterfinal matchup isn't the best of luck in the draw, obviously...but, it's 2020 and we can all attest that it's been one strange year. And, NEVER underestimate a team that has Gabby and Emina...just sayin'. 

Have a Wonderful Wednesday

Cards get ACC recognition -- WEDNESDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

After a weekend that saw both Louisville Field Hockey and Women's Soccer score big wins on Floyd Street -- the ACC has taken notice and three Louisville women's sports student-athletes have received conference honors. For Louisville Women's Soccer, Emina Ekic has been named ACC Offensive Player of the Week and in Louisville Field Hockey, Mercedes Pastor was selected ACC Offensive Player of the Week and Meghan Schneider ACC Defensive Player of the Week.  

EMINA EKIC

The preseason All-ACC star was a part of all five Louisville goals this past week. Louisville defeated Syracuse 3-0 and Ekic had an assist and two goals against the Orange. In a 2-0 win over Boston College on Sunday, Ekic assisted on the Cards first goal and she scored the final goal in the match at Lynn Stadium. 

Ekic, a senior, who attended Louisville Manual High School, has now been selected ACC Offensive Player of the Week three times in her time at Louisville. 

She is second in the ACC in points (13) in 2020. The scoring for that is based on goals scored (two points) and she's had five of those. Ekic has three assists as well and receives one point for those. 

Louisville women's soccer (3-1) was most recently ranked #13 in the United Soccer Coaches poll, one of seven ACC squads in the top 15 of the poll. 

The Soccer Cards return to the pitch when they travel to Virginia next week for a Thursday, Oct 15th. battle against the Cavaliers. 

MERCEDES PASTOR

The ACC Offensive Player of the Week goes to Mercedes Pastor for the second straight week in a row. 

Pastor has the Cards second goal and the first assist of the match against the North Carolina TarHeels last Friday in Louisville 3-1 upset of the perennial powerhouse. She had an assist to help Louisville grab a 1-0 lead over Boston College in Louisville's 2-1 win on Sunday. 

A senior who hails from Buenos Aires, Argentina...Pastor is a three-time All-ACC First Team selection for Louisville Field Hockey. Nicknamed "Mechi" she has scored 17 goals and recorded 10 assists in her three-year stint as a Cardinal student-athlete. 

MEGHAN SCHNEIDER 

Meghan Schneider was an integral part of a Louisville defensive that allowed just two goals last weekend. She's also a member of the Cards penalty corner unit and picked up assists against Boston College and UNC. 

The senior from San Diego, CA also has a sister on the squad (Katie) who is a redshirt-junior. 

Schneider's defensive work against 2019 NCAA leading scorer Erin Matson (UNC) on Friday was impressive. She held Matson to just one goal. Against Boston College, Meghan scored a goal to give the Cards a 1-0 lead. 

Louisville Field Hockey (4-0) has completed their fall home slate of games and will travel to Winston Salem, NC this weekend for a coupe of matches against Wake Forest. 

SEATTLE STORM THE 2020 WNBA CHAMPS

The Seattle Storm took the WNBA Finals playoff series last night with a convincing 92-59 win over the Las Vegas Aces. 

Las Vegas had an early lead over the Storm, but behind Breanna Stewart, the Seattle squad came back to take a 23-21 first quarter lead over Las Vegas and outscored the Aces 69-38 in the remaining three quarters. 

Louisville women's Basketball G.O.A.T. Angel McCoughtry saw 20 minutes of action in the final game of the season and had seven points for the Aces. 

Stewart was one of four Seattle players in double figures and led all scorers with 26 points. 

Have a wise Wednesday!

paulie

Big Win for FH; Volleyball Returns -- SATURDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

 Field Hockey Upsets UNC

For the first time in nearly three years, UNC Field Hockey has been beaten. The last loss for the Tarheels came in the NCAA semifinals in 2017, the same year that Louisville last beat them (though the Heels got revenge in the ACC championship). Louisville came into this one an underdog, as anyone does when they go up against a two-time defending champion that is on a 47-game winning streak, but they came out on top, and now sit 3-0 (2-0) on this shortened season.

Unlike the first two games against Duke, in which Louisville took until the final minute of the first half to score, the Cards set the tone early against UNC. In the first quarter, Louisville earned a penalty corner which saw Mercedes Pastor score her third goal of the season, assisted by Alli Bitting and Meghan Schneider. Late in the first half, in the final minute in fact (funny how the Cards like scoring then), Louisville doubled their lead. Again, Meche was involved, as she assisted Margot Lawn on a goal from open play. It was Lawn's first goal of the season, but not her last of the game.

The second half saw play tighten between the two when UNC pulled a goal back in the third quarter. Five minutes after the half, UNC's Erin Matson found space in the circle and put a reverse shot past Hollyn Barr. Based on the nearly 1-on-1 nature and the placement of the shot, Barr had little to no chance. Up until that point, Louisville had been fairly dominant defensively, and they were for nearly the whole game. The Cards led in both shots and corners, so it was good to see them take advantage of the strong offensive game they were having and put balls in the back of the cage. There is nothing more frustrating than beating your opponent on the offensive end but being unlucky and losing a close match. Fortunately, Louisville was playing from ahead, which allows you to play a bit looser, especially against a Goliath like UNC.

In the fourth quarter, with UNC pressuring significantly, Louisville was unable to capitalize on back to back corners. In the first, Alli Bitting was the recipient of her own corner after a scrum in the circle, but her shot went just wide off of the post. After those two corners, the Cards were on the back foot for much of the final period. UNC refused to go down quietly, and they were willing to be aggressive. The Heels went so far as to pull their goalie with more than seven minutes remaining in the game. With that extra field player, they were able to keep Louisville from getting on the break and kept the ball in the Louisville half for much of the remainder of the game. As time wound down, it looked like Louisville might be able to pull it off with some great defensive play to prevent UNC from scoring with their advantage. As the seconds clicked toward zero, the Cards found their way on a quick break, and Margot Lawn found herself standing alone in the UNC circle. Louisville went up 3-1 with 6 second remaining and that was that. After the game, Paulie sat down for a postgame interview with Coach Sowry, which you can watch here.

After all we talked about in the preseason about the challenging field hockey conference schedule and Louisville's lack of non-conference games to get warmed up, the Cards have come out on fire. With already 9 goals scored in three matches and a 2-0 conference record after facing Duke and North Carolina, Louisville is in a bit of a driver's seat. While every conference match is a tough one, Louisville has now knocked off two of their biggest problems to open the season. The Cards will get a chance at revenge over Boston College, who knocked them out of the NCAA tournament last year, tomorrow when the Eagles come to town. Louisville won the regular season matchup in Chestnut Hill last year 3-2. If the Cards can get a victory tomorrow, they'll be sitting with a worst possible record of .500 in conference. That's a pretty nice place to be when you're only playing conference games against the toughest conference in the country. Tomorrow's game gets underway at 1:30 PM, and it will be available on ACC Network. Paulie will cover that one while I head over to Lynn to watch soccer take on BC as well. I wonder if they traveled together.

Volleyball Gets Back on Track with Sweep

Since it is apparently Louisville vs BC weekend, Cardinal Volleyball is taking on the Eagles as well. Louisville traveled north yesterday, without starting setter Tori Dilfer, for a two game set against Boston College. The Cards were just 0-1 on the year, having taken the loss to Notre Dame and then postponing the second match, but had still found themselves ranked 11th in the coaches poll. In the matchup against BC, Louisville showed why voters had so much faith in them.

As I mentioned they were playing without normal starting setter, as Tori Dilfer did not travel with the team (draw your own conclusions), but that didn't slow down the Louisville attack. Rachael Demarcus stepped in to fill the void and assisted on 29 of Louisville's 34 kills. The Cards managed to hit a crisp .474 on the night with Demarcus in relief, and it seems clear that there may be a setter battle for Coach Busboom-Kelly now. 

While Boston College not being particularly strong at the net (just two blocks) may have helped Louisville's attack efficiency, the Cards were also doing a great job finding open space with their shots. With only 7 errors on the night, Louisville managed to have a third set with none, hitting .667 in the 25-9 trouncing. Freshman Anna DeBeer had 8 kills in 12 attempts with no errors, Claire Chaussee went 11/18 with just one error, and Aiko Jones, who is typically keyed on, managed 8/16 with just three errors. The Cards were hot yesterday and we'll see if they can keep it up today.

Despite the strong offensive showing, Louisville still has work to do on the serve. The Cards had just four aces compared to six errors. Serving issues were part of the reason they lost to Notre Dame last week, and they need to find a way to get that to a positive ratio. Giving away points is not a great key to success. Fortunately, it didn't matter in the match last night, but it would be good to see improvement against the outmatch Eagles in tonight's match. Louisville and Boston College will get underway at 7:30PM, with the match listed as an ACC Network Extra production once more.

Cardinal Couple Radio Hour Podcast

We're back on our regular schedule this morning, with no Saturday home game to get us off track. We've got plenty of results to talk about, with Louisville women's soccer joining in on the big wins this week. We'll also talk about other news around campus as well as the WNBA Finals getting underway. Tune in to the Cardinal Couple YouTube for this week's live show at 11AM or stay tuned for the podcast to come to your phone following the recording. 

Until next time, Go Cards!

-CH-

Las Vegas Aces headed to WNBA Finals -- Mercedes Pastor named ACC FH Offensive POW -- WEDNESDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

 

ASIA, A'JA AND ACES ASCEND 66-63

The Las Vegas Aces overcame a 13 point first quarter deficit last night to win Game Five in the WNBA Semifinals and they did it by employing two basic fundamentals of basketball: 

1) Keep the opponent from scoring. 2) Hitting your free throws. 

A 13-0 run in the third quarter gave Las Vegas the lead in a stretch where Cardinal Forever Angel McCoughtry and A'ja Wilson carried the offense and erased a 10-point deficit to regain the lead. 

Consider that Connecticut only scored 33 points in the final three quarters after putting up 30 in the first ten minutes. Beside Alyssa Thomas, the Sun couldn't do what almost basketball coach would put at the top of their keys to winning games -- putting the ball in the basket and preventing the other team from scoring. Give Thomas credit for battling to keep the Sun in the game, though, and she was doing it with a bad shoulder.  She never left the court in the 40 minutes and had 22 points for the Sun

But...give huge credit to A'ja Wilson. The Aces got her the ball in the final quarter, after McCoughtry carried the team for the first 30 minutes. Wilson did what she does best, go to the basket and create offense. Connecticut couldn't stop her, so they fouled her...and Wilson made nine out of ten free throw attempts in the fourth quarter. Wilson finished with 23 points and played all 40 minutes of the game.

"Playoff Angel" logged 32 minutes and sparked the offense in the comeback attempt in the first half with 15 of her 20 game points. She also hit two of her three three-point attempts. She also made six of her seven free throws. 

So, we are down to two teams. The top two seeds going into the playoffs and the best two teams in the WNBA will meet Friday for the finals. In a year of unpredictability and change, the WNBA ran true to form. The top two teams all season long will battle it out for the crown. 

Angel and A'ja vs. Sue and Stewie. This should be fun...

MERCEDES PASTOR NAMED ACC FIELD HOCKEY OFFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE WEEK. 

You can call her Mercedes the Magician. Call her "Mechi" if you want. But, you can also call her the ACC Field Hockey Offensive Player of the Week. 

The University of Louisville's Mercedes Pastor has been named the ACC Field Hockey Offensive Player of the Week as announced by the league office today.
 
Pastor, a forward/midfielder from Buenos Aires, Argentina, helped the Cardinals to a 2-0 record with wins over visiting Duke in their opening weekend. The 2020 preseason All-ACC selection tallied a pair of goals in Saturday's conference game that keyed a 3-0 victory and dished out an assist to give Louisville a 1-0 lead in Sunday's 3-1 win over the Blue Devils. For the weekend, Pastor led the team's attack with eight shots, five of which landed on goal.
 
UofL (2-0, 1-0 ACC) returns to action this weekend with a pair of ACC contests. The Cardinals will play host to two-time defending national champion North Carolina Friday at 4:30 p.m. followed by a matchup with 2019 NCAA semifinalist Boston College Sunday at 1:30 p.m. Both games will be televised on the ACC Network.

 Have a wise Wednesday!

paulie

 

No Volleyball but big Field Hockey win -- Cardinal Couple Sunday

Volleyball

And now the recap on volleyball yesterday...

oh wait.

Alas, as we covered yesterday, the volleyball match originally schedule for yesterday was postponed due to "Covid protocol".  We here at Cardinal Couple speculated, and it was acknowledged as speculation and inferences, that the problem stemmed from the Notre Dame side of the equation.

With new information, it appears that this is a result of a positive test in Louisville's personnel.  Of course, the best wishes of the Cardinal Couple staff are with them, and let's hope that the testing regimen and protocols have caught it quickly enough to isolate it and prevent further spread.

Field Hockey

Field Hockey did happen yesterday, UofL's and Duke's season opener with a good win for the Cards, 3-0.  This is a very slight upset from pre-season rankings with Duke having been voted 4th with 26 points, with UofL immediately behind in 5th with 25 points.

Mercedes Pastor was the main difference maker in this one, tallying two of the three goals. 
Freshman Charlie van Oirschot (who joins countless others of UofL players who have challenged the Cardinal Couple staff on getting name spellings correct) picked up the other goal on an assist from Minna Tremonti.  Pastor's two were fed from Mattie Tabor and Madison Walsh.

The first goal, by Pastor was in the closing seconds of the 2nd quarter with the cross just in front of the goal from Mattie Tabor.  This was the only shot by the Cards in the 2nd quarter, which itself was the only quarter where Duke got off more attempts than UofL did (2-1).

van Oirschot picked up her goal about 10 minutes into the 3rd quarter with Tremonti's cross from the right side to the front of the cage.

Finally, Pastor would finish up the scoring for the game just a couple of minutes later.  Pastor's shot (though listed as a save in the play-by-play) bounced off the post, was recovered by Madison Walsh who sent the ball back to Pastor for the followup that found the back of the cage.

As was mentioned, this is a very slight upset with Duke only one spot, and one point, ahead in the pre-season voting.  This speaks volumes for the progress that UofL has made over the years.  To put a goose-egg on a perennially good Duke field hockey team and be able to compete at the ACC level is impressive and suggests that the development of this UofL program under the tutelage, originally, of current Duke head coach Pam Bustin, and for the past decade, Justine Sowry.

Cardinal Couple Radio Hour

The CCRH yesterday was...technologically challenged.  No, don't pin this one on Paulie at all, while we joke about his challenges dealing with technology, he had no hand in this one.  The stream has (and apparently had live) no audio through about half of the show.  I do have a complete recording and will be uploading it to Youtube to replace the stream that is there, but it is a large file and will take some time.  I will come back and include it here when that is done.

Case also had some challenges around getting a recording for his work to publish to the podcast feed, but hopefully he can get that sorted out as well.

We ask your indulgence as none of us are broadcast or recording engineers...this is a learning work in progress.  We're trying out various technologies to try to improve the quality of our recordings and streams, but any change adds an opportunity for mistakes to creep in.

JMcA

Well, that certainly took longer than I thought it would.  Check out yesterday's CCRH below.

Predicting Fall Records: Field Hockey -- TUESDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

 Predicting Fall Records Part Three: Field Hockey

With two days remaining until the first UofL women's sporting event for the Fall 2020, we come to the third chapter of looking at fall sports and predicting their record.

Field hockey is the last of the three major women's fall sports to start their schedule.  Their first game is not until the very end of September, with a two-day double header beginning Sept. 26.

Of the three fall sports, field hockey appears to have the toughest schedule.  When it comes to field hockey, the ACC is THE conference to look to, with all seven teams being ACC contenders and national championship contenders every year.

As we discussed last week on the Cardinal Couple YouTube-Skype-SoundCloud-Anchor Hour Podcast, the ACC is only counting the opening game for conference standings, when they play an opponent twice, although teams will play a few more than the six-game schedule. Welcome to 2020...

The Cards kick off the season by hosting Duke for a two-game series on Sept. 26 and 27.  The Blue Devils have reached the Final Four six times since 2003.  Their 1-5 conference record last year is their worst record since before Louisville joined the ACC.  Pam Bustin, who used to coach Louisville before Justine Sowry, has had Duke as a national powerhouse every year.  This is a tough match-up for the Cards that I see them going 1-1-in, with Duke taking the first game.

North Carolina visits Louisville on Oct. 2.  Arguably the best program in NCAA field hockey history, the Tar Heels have four national championships in the last 13 years.  You can add five national runner-up finishes and three Final Four (non-championship game) appearances in that span.  North Carolina is incredible and is a favorite for a three-peat national title and the Cards will be one of the victims along the way.

The final home game is on Oct. 4 in a match-up with Boston College.  The Cards upset the Eagles in Chestnut Hill 3-2 during the regular season, but faltered in a sudden death shootout in the Elite Eight.  Boston College is no walk in the park, but I see the Cards finding a way to grind out a victory on Senior Day to improve to 2-2.

The road portion of the schedule begins with a stop in Winston-Salem for a two-game series against Wake Forest on Oct. 9 and 11.  The Demon Deacons were voted to finish last in the conference this year.  This is a team the Cards blanked 3-0 last year, but fell to twice the previous year.  Playing on the road in the ACC is tough but I see the Cards going 1-1 while getting the win in the first game.

Virginia is next on the list for the road trip, with games on Oct. 23 and 24.  The Wahoos finished second in the conference last year, advanced to the Final Four, and are preseason number two in the conference.  This is a team that has averaged about 2.5 losses at home per season over the last decade.  Like the Cards, a normal home schedule typically features 9-12 home games.  UofL will not be able to break through at Virginia, falling in both games to drop to 3-5.

Syracuse is the final stop on the schedule the day before Halloween.  The Orange are typically a middle of the pack or lower level team when it comes to the ACC.  Louisville fell to the Orange in overtime on Senior Day last year before winning in regulation to open the conference tournament.  Louisville won the three previous match-ups, with two of them going into double overtime.  This is typically an exciting game, but I think the Cards will come out on top.

If my math is correct, UofL will finish the season 4-5 by my prediction.  That also should have the Cards finishing 3-3 in conference play, which is on par for them.

So... with a tough schedule ahead here are some of my bold predictions:

-Madison Walsh will outscore Mercedes Pastor in goals scored.  With Bethany Russ graduated, the biggest offensive threat is Mechi, who scored nine goals last year.  The senior will draw heavy defensive attention.  Walsh finished last year with eight goals, but has flown slightly under the radar, giving her a good advantage.

-The Cards will average 1.25 goals per game.  This is a team that averaged 2.23 goals per game a year ago, but they don't have the luxury of dropping 3-4 goals against non-conference opponents.  They scored 10 goals in six regular season games last year, an average of 1.67 goals per game.  Carter Ayars and Bethany Russ, two of the top four scorers from last year are gone and the ACC is going to be tough.

-The sophomore class will be the most impressive class for field hockey this year.  The senior class is stacked so this is an ultra-bold prediction.  But look at some of the members of the sophomore class: Sam Minrath, Margot Lawn, and Julie Kouijzer, among others.  Only two players make up the junior class so much of the responsibility falls onto younger players.  This season will be a make or break year depending what the sophomore class does.  Coach Sowry is one tough cookie and she has high expectations and demands of them.  By them stepping up they will impress all of us.

How do you think field hockey will fare this season?  Are the bold predictions completely insane?

We still have some time before we find out, but it is coming quick.

Piggybacking Paulie

No, Paulie is not giving out piggyback rides.  He wouldn't make it too far if he tried.  However, I was in the same stadium as he was Saturday evening.

First of all, wear the mask.  The rules don't state that you can take them off altogether or pull them below your chin once in your seat.  UofL can quickly pull fans from all sporting events if they think the fans are responsible enough to handle themselves.  I'm sure Worldwide would love to keep up his volleyball tickets and Case his soccer tickets, but if fans cannot handle themselves at football then UofL has no problem putting their foot down on the other fall sports.

I, too, had some unpleasant experiences with WKU fans.  Mine involved four very drunk frat boys a couple rows behind me.  Their antics featured no masks and a 10-word vocabulary made up primarily of words I cannot repeat here.

Fans are typically better at women's sporting events with a few exceptions.

Happy Tuesday and Go Cards!

Jared