Former Cardinal Leads Racing Louisville -- SATURDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

Racing Louisville GM a WSOC Alum

With Racing Louisville knocking off the team currently in second place in the table last night as part of their best start to the season since the team began, it's worth taking a look at the new face turning the knobs and pulling the levers. Racing announced in mid-May that their interim general manager, Caitlyn Flores Milby, would have the interim tag removed and serve as the permanent general manager. Flores Milby's contract goes through the 2026 season with an option for 2027. At the time of the announcement, Racing was 3-2-3 (W/D/L), which was already the team's best start through eight games. Since then, they've continued their good run of form, going 3-0-2 and scoring fewer than two goals in just one game over the last five. Racing is currently fifth in the league, with the top eight making the playoffs. The team has not made the NWSL playoffs since the team's inception in 2019. 

Photo via Racing Louisville Communications

But let's look back at who is driving this. Obviously the players on the field and head coach Bev Yanez are playing huge roles, but it's important to remember the issues the team was having under previous administrations. With Flores Milby taking over, she brings excitement and joy to the program, while still being a home grown talent. Flores Milby attended the University of Louisville, rostering for the women's soccer program as a freshman in 2014. After only seeing action in one game that season, Caitlyn (then just Flores) transitioned into a role as team manager. She received her bachelor's degree in sports administration from UofL before returning to her home state to pursue a master's degree in sports leadership at Virginia Commonwealth University. 

Flores Milby remained tied to Louisville, coming back after her master's to begin work with Soccer Holdings (the ownership group of Racing and Louisville City) to intern as an operations and Merchandise intern in 2017. During that time, she continued her relationship with Karen Ferguson-Dayes and the UofL program. Since that first season with the organization, Flores Milby says it has "been [her] goal to make professional soccer successful in Louisville." In her own words, she's been willing to do whatever it took, including "setting up on-field signage at Louisville Slugger Field on game day, selling merchandise, bringing thousands of people to our state-of-the-art facilities through our recreational leagues, or ensuring Racing Louisville’s players received the support they needed." Her rise through the organization saw her hold roles as Event and Selection Program Coordinator for ECNL, League Manager for LouCity and Racing Academy, and Racing Louisville Director of Operations starting in 2022. 

Flores Milby wants everyone to be able to see that anyone can have a role in professional sports. The team and UofL put together a video celebrating her that was released yesterday. 

"Cardinal Forever. General Manager. Mother" on Instagram

We wish the very best for this Cardinal Forever in what is hopefully the beginning of a long and successful career at the helm. 

Cardinal Couple Radio Hour Podcast

We're back this week, and it'll be Paulie, Daryl, and me putting the show together. Who knows what we'll talk about. It's the summer slump and some of the news that we've gotten so far this summer isn't quite so joyful. We'll do our best to keep it all about the joy and excitement of Louisville women's athletics, though, so be sure to tune in! Check out the show after it posts around 1PM, and be sure to subscribe so that it comes to your feed automatically. 

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Until next time, Go Cards!

Case

Geigle Set for USLW Championship -- SATURDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

Mackenzie Geigle and NC Courage Vie for Title

Earlier this summer I wrote an article about the Louisville players representing local teams on club rosters. The information was a little hard to come by, and it seemed potentially incomplete. In what I have to assume was a direct troll of my lack of information, Louisville Women's Soccer made an Instagram post later that week about all of the players competing for professional clubs over the summer. Gee, thanks...

One of the players I missed was Mackenzie Geigle. Geigle is a rising junior from Raleigh, North Carolina, so it makes sense that she would play for her hometown NC Courage. She has competed with the club's development program since high school. Last season she played in 16 games for Louisville with one goal in 567 minutes. Geigle has the potential to be a key contributor going forward, so I'm excited to see her take the next steps. 

In the USLW season, the Courage have been unbeatable... literally. The team was top in the South Atlantic division with 34 points. They drew their first game of the season before going on an 11-game win streak. In the regular season, their goal difference was +50. The Courage weren't the only undefeated team in the league. The Florida Elite Soccer Academy bested NC by posting a 12-0-0 season for 36 points. Unfortunately for that squad, they bowed out in the first round of the playoffs. 

Geigle and the Courage will host the Colorado Storm (not to be confused with the California Storm or the South Georgia Tormenta or the Northern Colorado Rain; a fair amount of weather event names in the USLW) in Raleigh for the Championship match this evening at 6:00 PM. Geigle has played in all 12 games for the Courage this season and has started eight of them. She is averaging 49 minutes per game and has scored seven goals while tallying two assists. As I mentioned, she could be due for a big step up in contribution for the Cards this year. We wish her the best of luck in the final. 

For some additional background on the USLW Season, the Valley Division (which only played 10 games each) saw Indy Eleven finish top with 23 points. Racing Louisville and Lexington SC finished tied with 14 points. I haven't quite figured out why, but Lexington is listed above Racing, despite the squad in lavender posting a better goal differential. Either way, neither team made the playoffs. Like I said the other day, I'm excited to see this squad get back together and get to work next month. 

Cardinal Couple Radio Hour Podcast

We'll be without Daryl or Jared this week, so you'll have a return to the days of the basement on Crescent Hill with Paulie, Jeff, and myself. There's plenty to cover despite the late summer slump, and we'll be happy to bring it to you. 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

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RadioPublic: Link

Until next time, Go Cards!

Case

Kouzelos Looks for NWSL Call-Up -- SATURDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

2022 NWSL Draft Takes Place Today at 2PM

I'll bet you didn't expect to see a soccer focused article in the middle of December. However, with the last basketball game coming on Thursday and the next tomorrow, both of those games are out of my purview, and, unfortunately, Louisville isn't in the volleyball championship match for me to preview. If, like me, you had to step away after the heartbreaking Louisville loss, let me inform you that Pitt also lost. So, instead of a potential All-ACC final, it's an All-B1G matchup. Given the details of DBK's new contract, I'm not sure if we want Nebraska to win so that they stay happy with their coach or lose so that he doesn't feel satisfied and want to retire. That match is tonight at 7:30 on ESPN2. (Also, if you're like me and use YouTube TV, you officially can't watch this due to the contract breakdown that pulled ABC and ESPN platforms off of the service effective immediately.)

Anyway, I intended this to be a soccer article, and I've gotten off track. After the NWSL Expansion Draft for the two new teams, Angel City FC and San Diego Wave, took place on Thursday, a flurry of trades happened yesterday to set up the full rookie draft today. Racing Louisville lost one player in the expansion draft, a defender to San Diego, after the Christen Press trade with Angel City prevented the team from LA from selecting any Louisville players. Racing had protected Emina Ekic and Emily Fox, among others, from potential selection by San Diego.

Last night, RLFC announced a trio of trades, with two garnering the most attention as they were effectively one move. The team traded Savannah McCaskill, a fan favorite, for the 6th overall draft pick, which did not make very many people happy. The team will not use that 6th pick this afternoon, though, as they turned around and traded it as well. With that trade, Louisville brings in Jess McDonald, the all-time assist leader in NWSL. McDonald has also won the NWSL championship three times and has a World Cup trophy. The veteran presence will help guide the young team and winning experience is always welcomed.

Racing Louisville will add to their youth today. The addition of the two California teams brought the league to 12 total, so today's draft will feature four rounds and 50 overall picks (there are 14 picks in the second round for whatever reason). Louisville will be busy early as they draft second and fourth. The team will have just one pick in each of the final three rounds, giving them five new players via draft. We'll see if they hang on to those two first round picks or try to leverage them into a known quantity from a different team.

As for why this all ties in to UofL, that's owed to Gabby Kouzelos. The super senior finished her sixth season with the Cards as the all-time leader in minutes played and shutouts earned. Louisville played 36 straight games in which she was in goal every minute, and she became the fifth Louisville goalkeeper to finish with more than 200 career saves. Her final tally of 257 gives her the fourth place ranking in team history. 

Hey look, she already knows how to wear purple!

Kouzelos is the only Louisville player on the NWSL draft eligibility list this season. The list includes 189 players vying for 50 available slots, so quick math tells you there's about a 30% chance she's selected. Of course, the math isn't quite so simple, as the teams will weight field players over goalkeepers due to flexibility. On the Top Drawer Soccer list of the top-30 players available for the draft, only one is a goalkeeper. Eighteen players on the eligibility list have goalkeeper as their sole position, with a handful of others including it in their list of positions. 

Gabby was a wonderful player for UofL in her time on campus. She was an exciting player to watch and a joy to speak to. I think I speak for the whole Cardinal Couple crew when I wish her the best of luck today and moving forward. The NWSL draft starts at 2:30PM and will stream on Paramount+ and CBS Sports HQ. 

Cardinal Couple Radio Hour Podcast

This week's show doesn't get to be quite as joyful as we're finally forced to cover a loss by UofL volleyball. Jeff and Jared were in Columbus for the match, so we'll hear from their first hand experiences. We've also got a pair of Louisville WBB wins over in-state foes to cover, as well as the matchup against UCONN to preview. 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

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Overcast (free account required): Link

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Until next time, Go Cards!

-CH-

Sunday Cardinal Couple

 WNBA

Sundays are "Cards in the Pros" days it seems in the summer.  Today is no different.  The big crazy news stories like changes to NIL rules always happen during the week, but summer weekends means Pro play and we want to keep you up to date with what our former Cards are doing.

We start with the WNBA.  The New York Liberty put it to the Atlanta Dream yesterday.  A close first half, but the Liberty drew out to a good lead in the second.  101-78 was the final.  You might think the team was bolstered by the attendance of Asia Durr, who was in the stands for this one.  Durr is out for the second consecutive season dealing with the lingering effects of Covid.  After the win, pretty much the whole Liberty squad came over to embrace Durr and catch up, showing how much they miss her presence on the squad.

Kylee Shook continues in the starting lineup with the Liberty.  She played about 27 and a half minutes yesterday, got six field goals, and did a great job cleaning the boards on the defensive side, getting 11.  Also chalk her up for a blocked shot and an assist.

Jazmine Jones makes the most of her bench time, entertaining the WNBA crowds and the camera crews, but she is also getting some decent playing time as well.  We all know some of Jaz's contributions don't show up on the stat sheet, but she put some numbers in a few columns yesterday.  In almost 18 minutes of playes, she did get a field goal, a free throw, a couple of rebounds and a couple of assists.

The Dream will be looking for revenge when these teams meet again Tuesday again in Hotlanta at 7pm.  You can catch this one streaming on ESPN3.

Dana Evans is in Connecticut with the Chicago Sky team.  They'll be playing the Suns at 2pm today.  No easy viewing options for this one, unfortunately.

NWSL

The hometown Racing Louisville FC club were on the road yesterday, playing the Chicago Red Stars.  Chicago may be The Windy City, but it was rain that delayed the start of the game yesterday.

Emina Ekic played 26 minutes in this one, but it was after all the scoring was finished for the game.  Racing won this one by a convincing 3-0 score.  Ebony Salmon justifying her late arrival to the squad got it started in the 38th minute.  Yuki Nagasato got her first goal in lavender in the 56th, and Savannah McCaskill finished the trio of goals in the 62nd.

By the way, if you're a fan of Jazmine Jones in part because of her antics on and off the court, you should check out Yuki Nagasato.  She's got all the spirit and playfulness of Jones and has contributed tremendously to the success of this Racing team.

Gaby Vincent is the other Card in the Pros with the NWSL, playing for Kansas City.  The stats are incomplete for this game, and I didn't get to watch it live, but Gaby did see the field. We don't have info on how long she played as the minutes played column of the stat sheet is blank.  Vincent did get a shot, but it wasn't on-frame.

Kansas City will play again on Friday at 7pm, and Racing Louisville FC will take the field Saturday at 7:30pm.  Both will be streamed on Paramount+.

CARDINAL COUPLE RADIO HOUR PODCAST

Speaking of professionals.  The Cardinal Couple Radio Hour Podcast is definitely not.  Jared, Paulie, and I were on the call this week.  Daryl and Case missed out on a fun mascot quiz, but the recent developments in Name, Image, and Likeness rules, regulations, and yes... even court cases, dominated most of the discussion in this one.

Check it out below.

JMcA

Emina to Racing Louisville -- Dana Ranked #2 Player -- Cards Host BC -- THURSDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

 Whew, we have ourselves a busy Thursday. Or more accurately, I have A LOT to write about. Thankfully, everything I get to write about is good or great news.

Emina Ekic Drafted by Racing Louisville FC

First, let's revisit last night. The 2021 National Women's Soccer League (NWSL) Draft took place. Louisville grad and superstar Emina Ekic was a projected late first round or early second round pick and Racing Louisville FC had three of the top 11 picks.

UNC's Emily Fox was arguably the best player in the entire draft and Racing Louisville needed some help on the defensive side. It was no surprise Racing Louisville went with Fox for the first overall pick.

Then we came to the fifth overall pick. The NWSL allows a five minute timeout period for teams if they need more time making decisions or toying with the idea of making trades. By taking their timeout, Racing Louisville had us on the edge of our seats. They did not disappoint.

The announcement of Emina Ekic being selected by Racing Louisville FC with the fifth overall pick led to plenty of celebration and our Cardinal Couple group chat was ready to pop some champagne.

From duPont Manual High School, to the University of Louisville, to Racing Louisville FC, Ekic has had a rare luxury of being able to remain in her hometown while continuing to follow her passion.

Ekic is the first player to attend UofL to be drafted into the NWSL. 

Although Racing Louisville is not UofL, I have pitched the idea of covering some RLFC matches for the purpose of covering Ekic to Paulie. That is still in the works and we have plenty on our plate as is, but maybe we will see that in the future? We don't want to take away from or distract our ideals of the Joy and Excitement of UofL Women's Sports, but we do like to keep up with our Cards in the pros and one of them is just right down the road.

I think I can speak for all of us when I say "Congratulations, Emina!"

Dana Evans Ranked #2 Collegiate Women's Basketball Player

A small group of folks over at ESPN pieced together their Top 25 players in women's college basketball and released that yesterday.

It goes without saying Dana Evans should be in their top five. In fact, Evans found herself ranked #2. The Louisville senior sat only behind Kentucky's Rhyne Howard.

We have seen Dana grow enormously during her career at Louisville. She was ACC Sixth Player of the Year her sophomore year. Then she was named ACC Player of the Year her junior year. Now she is competing to be named the National Player of the Year.

Her 2020-2021 stats have been a mark tough to beat around the country. Evans is averaging 19.7 points per game to go along with 4.2 assists per game and 1.7 steals per game. Don't forget, as the Cards have had several blowout wins, Evans hasn't played a heavy load of minutes in many games so her stats could be higher.

Louisville to Host Boston College

Ah, we finally get to something happening today. We stay on the topic of women's basketball as Louisville prepares to host Boston College.

The Eagles enter the game at 5-5 with a 1-5 record in conference play. Boston College started the year 5-0 before concluding their nonconference schedule. ACC play has been rough for them with their sole win coming at home against Notre Dame. On Sunday, the Eagles lost at Wake Forest 68-48.

Surprisingly, Boston College leads the ACC in forced turnovers per game at 20.3 and the Eagles have 99 steals on the season. Offensively, things have been nearly nonexistent. They are shooting 38.2% from the field and averaging 69.2 points per game.

Taylor Soule has been the leader for the Eagles. The junior has averaged 16.0 points per game and 6.7 rebounds per game.

On paper, if you take away the forced turnovers, Louisville *should* dominate this game. We are in conference play and still dealing with the craziest season we may ever see so you never know what will happen.

UofL is 8-1 all-time against Boston College. Since joining the ACC, the Cards have been perfect at 7-0. Last year, Louisville won at home 68-48 on Feb. 27. Kylee Shook posted a double-double (18 points, 10 rebounds) and Dana Evans was not available for the game. 

This late 8:00 p.m. tip-off is set to be aired on ACC Network. We all love a true televised game instead of fighting to find a working live stream. You can also still enjoy the love play-by-play and color commentating on air by Nick Curran and Adrienne Johnson. They broadcast on 790 AM Cards Radio WKRD. 

 

Schedule Changes

Stop me if you've heard this before- a women's basketball schedule change. NC State is now on COVID-19 protocol so the Wolfpack will not be in town Sunday.

Instead, Louisville has scheduled Florida State on Sunday at 3:00 p.m. The Cards and Noles were postponed on Jan. 10 and then scheduled for Feb. 23 before now being scheduled for this Sunday.

(Now, this game is still a few days away so things could change again so I recommend putting this in pencil for now.)

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

One thing you can always count on is our weekly Cardinal Couple Podcast, which is back on Saturday. We have plenty on our plate this week, which is a good thing. It airs at 11 a.m. and is available on Anchor FM, and many outlets. Catch the Saturday article from Case Hoskies for the various ways to catch it, and -- if you miss the live feed -- we post the rebroadcast here on the site for you Sunday morning. 

I also should not be balancing my weeks of Cardinal Couple Podcast and Saturday morning work duties anymore- good news coming from that later on!

Happy Thursday and Go Cards!

Jared

NWSL Draft Approaches -- SATURDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

Racing Has Picks, UofL Has Prospects

The NWSL draft has been long awaited in this area since the announcement of the formation of Louisville's expansion team, Racing Louisville FC. Excitement grew in November when the expansion draft allowed Racing's roster to really start to take shape, and the final step toward the first gameday roster will take place this week. The NWSL rookie draft is set for January 13th at 7PM, and Racing has five picks in the four round draft. They'll get the first player off the board in each round, as well as the fifth pick in the first round.

 

Prior to the last week or so, the process was pretty straightforward for the draft, and we only knew of one Louisville player making herself available for the draft, Emina Ekic. The NCAA approved a waiver late last year that would allow any eligible player to register for the draft and then decide whether to report before or after the collegiate spring season, but we haven't seen news of any other Louisville players electing to register for the draft. There are plenty of seniors on the squad, so you would expect they might want to take advantage of that, but they also have an additional year of eligibility on hand, so perhaps they'd rather ply their trade in college for one more year. Ekic has already announced that she will forego the spring season completely, leading me to believe that she is already working with draft assurances.

I said that was straightforward until last week because the NCAA and NWSL announced another rule change. This one granted blanket draft registration to any college player that has exhausted three years of eligibility. This comes without a formal draft declaration. It's similar to baseball, in that the expectation could be that players will not join the team, but it's much riskier since there are 40 picks over four rounds rather than hundreds of picks over 40 rounds. A team like Racing Louisville can hardly afford to use one of their five picks on a player that will not report. 

Another change in the rules is the extension of the protected player period. When a player is drafted and does not report, the professional team still retains their rights until the end of the subsequent season... typically. This year, however, and this year only, the protected period has been extended until the start of next season. This article goes into whether or not that's good for players' rights, but it is definitely interesting for selecting players this year, and signing them after the 2021 fall college season. Whether or not that will happen, Louisville went from one player registered and likely to be taken to a whole host of "registered" players. The following is a list of players that were redshirt sophomores or beyond on Louisville's 2020 roster:

Hanna Wise, GK

Gabby Kouzelos, GK

Sarah Hernandez, D

Nadege L'Esperance, MF

Ravin Alexander, D/MF

Emina Ekic, MF

Taylor Kerwin, MF

Shay Hampton, F

Kiana Klein, MF

Lana Batson, GK

Maisie Whitsett, F/MF

Delaney Snyder, F

Cassie Amshoff, MF

Now, obviously, most other programs' eligibility lists look like this, but there are some very interesting undeclared players on this list. The most obvious is Gabby Kouzelos, who seems destined for higher play. Is she ready? I don't know the answer to that question, nor do I know what NWSL front offices think of her, but the extended protection period means that teams could take a flyer and allow a player to develop further in college. Other interesting players in that vein would be Sarah Hernandez, who has proven to be a top defender as a three year starter, and Delaney Snyder, who appears to be a rather good goal scorer. Whether either of their play translates to the next level is up for debate, but, like I said, it's not such a black and white answer. 

All of our questions will be answered next week, and by the end of the month, as drafted players have until January 22nd to decide whether or not they will join the team. The draft will air in full on NWSL's Twitch Channel at 7PM on January 13th.

Cardinal Couple Radio Hour

Jared is out banking this week, but we'll still have a four-stack in the booth this week. Paulie will be back at the helm, thankfully, and Jeff, Daryl, and I will be along for the ride. We'll discuss the week that was in Louisville women's basketball, and then move on to look ahead at the upcoming week. There's plenty of joy and excitement to go around. Tune in at 11AM on the Cardinal Couple YouTube Channel for the live show, or check out the replay or podcast following the conclusion of the show.

Until next time, Go Cards!

-CH-