Saturday News Roundup -- SATURDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

As the days until organized competition for Louisville women's athletics grow ever fewer, we are still stuck in the summer slump. There has been a bit of news that has gone on in the last few days worthy of coverage here at Cardinal Couple, though, so let's take a quick look.

Jeff Walz Leads USA vs Belgium

Louisville WBB head coach Jeff Walz has been in charge of the USA's FIBA U19 Women's World Cup team this summer. If you didn't know that, you must be living under a rock, or this is your first time to this site. If so, thanks for joining us. The USA has advanced to the semi-finals and are playing this morning for the opportunity to advance to take on Australia in the championship game. Australia defeated Spain 64-55 earlier this morning. At time of writing, Team USA holds a narrow lead over Belgium, 33-26 at halftime. Tune in tomorrow for what should see a full write-up of today's game and hopefully later next week for a write-up of the championship game.

Swimmers Keep Swimming

Louisville swimmers continue to impress as they compete for their countries at the FINA World Championships. Two names that frequenters of the site know quite well have been solid this week as they compete in some of their best events. Yesterday saw Kelsi Worrell Dahlia advance to the finals of the 50m butterfly when she finished second in her heat (fourth seeded overall). Mallory Comerford was also in action yesterday, finishing seventh overall in the 100m freestyle. Fellow American Simone Manual posted a new American record of 52.04 on her way to winning the event. Dahlia will compete in the butterfly final today.

Gaby Vincent Inks Deal with Utah

Gaby Vincent is "officially" a pro soccer player. Despite making numerous appearances for Utah Royals FC this season in the NWSL, Vincent had previously been only a member of the "supplemental roster." The supplemental roster is exactly as it sounds, allowing players to be used for competition while others are away, doing things such as competing in the Women's World Cup. Earlier this week, URFC made it official and signed Vincent to a full roster spot, despite the fact that both players she had been replacing this summer have returned from National Team duties. Vincent has her work cut out for her to get playing time for the rest of this year, as one of those players that is in front of her on the depth chart is the USA's Becky Sauerbrunn. However, being signed fully means that the club sees some future for Vincent, which can be very motivating in itself. Vincent has played 585 minutes in 7 games (6 starts), during which time the Royals have allowed 6 goals. She has 36 clearances, a 45% success rate on tackles, and an 84% passing rate, with 92% passing in the defensive half. Gaby is set up for success in the league as long as she continues to receive opportunities. We wish the Cardinal Forever the best of luck as her career plows forward.

Cardinal Couple Radio Hour

The Cardinal Couple Radio Hour returns this week, as it does nearly every Saturday, for another look at what's going on in the world of Louisville Women's Athletics. Jeff will not be joining us this week, but we'll have Daryl taking his spot. Daryl, Jared, Paulie, and I will do our best to get you through one of the final weeks of the summer slump, and I'll be doing my best to master the show controls in Jeff's absence. We'll discuss the goings-on from this week and Paulie brings us a quiz based on the world travelling Jeff... Walz that is. Tune in to WCHQ at 11AM this morning for the show. Find WCHQ at 100.9 FM, wchqfm.com, the WCHQ App in the App Store or Google Play Store, or follow along at Facebook Live. Links are on the sidebar of the site.

Until next time, Go Cards!

-CH-

Jared's Weekly Edition of the history of UofL women's sports -- USA U 19 over Canada 81-46 -- FRIDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

SOFTBALL -- A HISTORY OF -- by JARED ANDERSON

Louisville Softball was founded in 2000 as part of a mass addition of sports programs shortly after Tom Jurich took over as athletic director in 1997. They prepare to enter their 20th season this upcoming school year.

Sandy Pearsall had been a head coach at Miami (OH) for the previous six seasons and was brought in to build the program from the ground up. And she did just that. Pearsall built a strong program that saw plenty of time nationally ranked and commonly appeared in NCAA Tournaments. The Cards won several championships during her reign and spent time in the Big East, AAC, and ACC. Pearsall recently retired following the end of the 2018 season. She finished her time at UofL with 718 wins.

Holly Aprile came in from Pittsburgh for the start of the 2018 season. She is only the second head coach for the softball team. During her first year as head coach the Cards upset rival Kentucky and took down Florida State twice in a three-game series. She prepares for her second season as head coach.

Softball has had one home in it’s entire history. Ulmer Stadium is part of Cardinal Park and was constructed solely for softball. When the Cards played their first home game it was the first UofL event at any part of Cardinal Park. The stadium has a capacity of approximately 2500 people and has been the host site for conference and NCAA Tournament games. Ulmer Stadium has also played host to high school softball events as well.

There have been seven All-American selection at UofL. Alicja Wolny and Katie Keller are the most recent with their selections in 2013. Wolny is a favorite to make the Great Britain Olympic team.

Louisville’s first win was a 1-0 victory against Western Illinois in their second ever game. They got wrecked 10-2 by Alabama in their very first game but finished the year with a winning record. 2002 and 2003 would end up being the only losing seasons in program history. The 55-5 record in 2012 has been the best season to date.

The Cards return a solid lineup for the 2020 season, despite graduation of "do-it-all" star Megan Hensley and Sidney Melton at "the hot corner". They return the NCAA leader in triples last season -- Celene Funke -- and eight starters. The pitching staff loses just Hensley and the incoming freshmen and transfers will create a  spirited competition to gain playing time. 

Even in their short history the Cards have faced a great deal of opponents. Their 27 wins against USF is the most against an individual opponent while their 25 losses against DePaul is the most losses. Their head-to-head record with rival Kentucky is even.

You can catch Paulie and Worldwide in the press box, often accompanied by Cardinal Couple friend Daryl Foust. You can find myself somewhere near the field taking pictures or cheering in the stands. Admission is usually free to softball games....the UK matchup  and NCAA Regional play would be exceptions to that. 

USA 81 - CANADA 46

Jeff Walz has always placed great emphasis on the squads he has coached playing solid defense. He got that early this morning when his FIBA USA U 19 squad crushed Canada 81-46 to advance to the semifinals in World Cup action.

USA held the Canadians to 16 first-half points.

"We did exactly what we have to do in order to win" Walz commented after the win.

After falling behind early 4-2, Walz's squad took control of the action and led 26-9 after the first quarter. They continued the defensive pressure and took the next ten minutes 24-7 over Canada. The Canadians shot just 30% from the floor for the game -- USA went 36-72 for 50%. Walz's squad had 13 steals and forced 22 Canadian turnovers.

Rhyne Howard rediscovered her shooting touch after an off-night against Germany with 14 points on 6-8 shooting. She hit two of her three trifecta attempts. Queen Egbo recorded a double-double with 10 points and 10 rebounds. USA out-rebounded Canada 52-29.

The USA U 19 squad advances to play Belgium...who knocked off Japan this morning 63-43. The other two semifinalist squads are Spain and Australia .  

Happy Friday and Go Cards!

Jared

Interview with Scott Teeter -- THURSDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

TEETER GETTING READY TO COACH TEAM CANADA IN WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS

(SCOTT TEETER'S THOUGHTS ON TEAM CANADA, THE RESPONSIBILITY, HIS PLAYERS AND STAFF.) 

Q: You’ve been associated with Team Canada since 2011, but you have to be excited for the World Championships coming up in August.

COACH:  “It’s sort of two-fold. Being the defending world champion and having the opportunity to defend our gold medal is phenomenal. But, the most important is hosting the World Cup in Peterborough, Ontario, which is only two hours from where I grew up. It will be the first time that I have coached on Canadian soil.”

Q:What would it be like to defend that world championship in your home country?

COACH:  “I’m excited to show the growth of women’s lacrosse the last decade across Canada. To be able to show that we are world champions to our supporters and our fans would be amazing. Having my friends and family there to support will be great, my grandparents will be in attendance for the first time in my career, which is very special.”

Q: How different is it preparing for this tournament when you have such a short amount of time to prepare?

COACH:  “It seems like we’ve been a camp behind with this team because of some negotiations with the Canadian Lacrosse Association and the Players Association, so we have a bit of a delayed start. Everything is moving quite quickly. We just named the final 18 with alternates a few weeks ago and we have a three-day camp before we hit the World Cup. It’s definitely doable, the players are excited. It’s the most talented and deepest team that we’ve had at the U19 level. The Americans will be one of the teams to beat, but the bullseye will be on our back because we are defending champions. We only have to be them (USA) on a given day and we have enough talent to do so and we’ll have the help of our Canadian fans.

Q:What are some of the strength and weaknesses of the team, and what do you need to do well to defend your title?

COACH:  “We have depth at every position. We have skill and we have our Canadian flare with tons of creativity. There are really no holes on this team. One thing we might not have is that clear cut superstar. We have a lot of talent across the board, but not a superstar and it’s always great to have a superstar players as a coach.”

Q: Nicole Perroni will be a freshman next year at Louisville and is on your Canadian team, which is something she’ll bring to the team?

COACH:  “Nicole brings a lot of grit and determination. What I love about her and her style of play, she has that one foot over the line constantly. She toes that line and leaves it all on the field. We’re going to use her in the transition game, she plays tremendous defense and she’s very athletic. When she has the ball, she can just run with our fastest players. She knows her role on offense and can score some big goals. I think she’s going to have a really good World Cup.”

Q: What’s it like to get a chance to coach her at the World Cup?

COACH:  “Any time you get a chance to coach your players, you get to know them a little bit better. And we get to experience this together. She has had this goal to make Team Canada the last ten years of her life, to represent her country. This is why I coach, to give back to the country of Canada. For us to experience together, it’s something that no one can ever take away from us. And when we get to Louisville, we can quickly transition her game into her freshman year. She’ll be used to division I speed, which will make the transition easier. In the past, it has helped players excel.”

Q: How difficult is it to balance everything when you are with Team Canada, but you have recruiting and others things to do back in Louisville preparing for next season?

 COACH:  “I have a great staff here and having Kay (Morissette) on both of my staffs, at Louisville
and Canada, really helps. But, we’re really relying on Renee (Poullott). They have done a fabulous job recruiting while I’ve been away. I have seen as many players as a I can recruiting throughout the summer, but it makes it a little more hectic. I get back on August 12 and the players return on August 14, so there’s not a lot of time to get things ramped up again. There’s always a lot of excitement when the players get here to prepare for the upcoming season.”

Q: How does this help Kay and her development as an assistant?

COACH:  “It’s great development for her. She’s working along my other assistant, Allison Daily, who took over for me when I left Canisius. They are working together under my mentorship. I’ve given them the offense, they are running the offense. I give them my opinions and some pointers, but the offense is theirs, which is a great opportunity for growth. They know my philosophies as well as any of my former players or coaches. Just seeing her come out of her comfort zone is nice to see and she’s doing a great job.”

Q: Will it ever get old representing Canada and what is that feeling?

COACH “It’s obviously a tough feeling to explain. It’s a great feeling. When you hear your national anthem before every game and your players are standing beside you and your staff, and your singing like you did when you were in grade school every day, that just puts all of the hard work into perspective. And to see where Canada lacrosse has come over the last decade, while I’ve been involved has been phenomenal. Winning the gold medal in Scotland four years ago was surreal. It took three weeks for it to set in that we were world champions. In a couple of weeks, it won’t just be our team, it will be all of our supporters and a filled stadium, which will touch home even further.”

(A special thank you to Nick Evans for the interview with Teeter article!) 

paulie

xxxxx

Jared reveals his favorite players -- WEDNESDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

Jared’s Favorite Players

*Note: the opinions below are Jared’s and may not reflect the views of the rest of Cardinal Couple*

As we continue to go through summer my article ideas continue to slim down. I figured a good one would be my personal favorite all-time Cardinals. I’m going to limit it to from the time I started as a student in the fall of 2012 to now.

Women’s Basketball

There’s plenty of players in the running for this one. Some of the players I thought about included Jazmine Jones, Monique Reid, and Shelby Harper. Ultimately I went with Myisha Hines-Allen. I met Myisha through a friend early on and remain friends with her up through today. Back when she was a student we would carry on the occasional conversation on Snapchat.

Field Hockey

I don’t have much of a personal connection to the field hockey players as much as I do with some other
sports but there have been plenty of exciting players over the past few years. My favorite during my time is Minout Mink. Although Mini Mink transferred out of UofL and went back home she has been one of the most exciting players I’ve watched, including her performance in the ACC Tournament in 2017.

Volleyball

For me, there’s not much competition here. Katie George is my all-time favorite. I knew Katie pretty much from her first game and was a good friend of my roommate and I. I stay in touch with Miss Kentucky to this day and am happy to call her a friend.

Soccer

Many recent players have a strong case to be my favorite including Emina Ekic, Taylor Kerwin, Jill Vetere, and Tori Gabor. My favorite, though, is Gabrielle Vincent. Gaby is one of the few UofL players to come to a concert of mine, which means a lot to me. I got to know Gaby’s parents very well at the game and would talk and learn soccer from “G$”.

Softball

This might have been the toughest to decide. I am a huge fan of several players like Sidney Melton, Morgan Meyer, Celene Funke, and Maddy Newman. However, it was Nicole Pufahl who originally got me to a softball game, which later progressed into my arrival here at Cardinal Couple.

I’m not ignoring the other sports and their players. I just haven’t followed many of the other sports well enough or closely enough to really have gotten a favorite player yet.

WCHQ Donation

Cardinal Couple is fortunate to have WCHQ as our host station, allowing us to be on air every Saturday from 11-12. They are having an “All Day On Air Fundraiser” today. 100.9 FM WCHQ is a non-profit that relies heavily on donations to stay up and running. Besides hosting CC, they bring in the best local music you can find. Please check it out! 

All Day Today, Wednesday July 24. 24 Hour On Air Fundraiser Help Us to Continue Our Mission of Bringing All Local Music to the Airwaves. Click Here to Donate Now

Have a great Wednesday!!

Jared Anderson 

USA U 19 ROMPS HUNGARY TO SWEEP GROUP C -- TUESDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

95-50 ROMP OVER HUNGARY HAS USA 3-0 IN GROUP C

After a night off in FIBA U 19 action, Jeff Walz's USA U 19 squad came back in fine fashion and form, romping Hungary 95-50 early this morning. 

Rhyne Howard (Kentucky) scored a game-high 18 points on 4-of-7 shooting from 3 and 6-of-6 from the free throw line; Paige Bueckers hit 5-of-7 from the field in scoring 13 points and dished out six of the team’s 20 assists; Francesca Belibi tallied 11 points and 13 rebounds; and Aliyah Boston registered 10 points on 5-of-11 shooting from the field. Naz Hillmon-Baker came within a point of a double-double after registering nine points and 10 caroms.

Coach Walz was pleased. He cited better passing and finding the open player as the keys to the win.

Using a 24-4 run in the first quarter, USA lead 33-16 at the end of the first 10 minutes and extended that to 57-20 at the half. 

With the win, USA sweeps Group C competition with a 3-0 record and waits to see "who's next"? That opponent will come from Group D and whoever the four seed ends up being. Lativa is 3-0 in Group A play, 

USA won the rebounding battle 60-33, and had a great shooting night with a 55.6% on 20-36 makes and attempts.  

Apologize for the short article today...my Internet coverage is spotty at best where I am today.


Terrific Tuesday to you! 

Paulie

Cards in WNBA -- MONDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

HOW ARE ASIA, ASIA AND MYISHA DOING SO FAR?


Former UofL WBB stars Asia Taylor, Asia Durr and Myisha Hines-Allen are the three active Cardinals participating in the WNBA currently. Angel McCoughtry is probably out for the season with Atlanta, so we hope ice cream sales are good for her and we'll hope she comes back to the league next year with that McCoughtry magic we've come to know and love.

There were rumors back in June that the Dream were looking to trade her but head coach Nikki Collen shot those down. For what it's worth, this is the second time McCoughtry and Collen have crossed paths...she was at Louisville as an assistant on her husband Tom's staff, then a radio analyst when Angel was a freshman and sophomore for the Cards. McCoughtry blossomed into the star she is after the Collen's departed for Arkansas.

McCoughtry has been a crowd favorite and about the only hope Atlanta has had since she's been there. Numerous coaches, sweeping roster changes over the years -- Angel even played on the same team as Shoni at one point in time -- and Angel has remained the drawing card. And they want to trade her? The Atlanta management needs to wake up. 

The Washington Mystics have Myisha on their roster and they are currently in second place in the Eastern Division with a 11-6 record...one game back of the Connecticut Sun. She has seen action in 14 games as a reserve and get about 8.4 minute per game. She averages 1.9 points a night and 2.5 rebounds. Her season scoring high came against Connecticut back on May 25th., when she totaled eight points.

The New York Liberty are the home team for Asia Durr. New York is 8-10 on the season and four games out of first place in the Eastern division. "Nite-Nite" has had some groin issues lately and  has been sitting out recently, but she has started in 13 of her 14 contests and plays about 30 minutes a game. She averages 11.1 points per game, is shooting 46.7% from the floor and has 10 steals. Her single game scoring high is 20 against Minnesota on June 12th.



Asia Taylor started the season with the Indiana Fever but was released by them. The Minnesota Lynx picked her up around the 4th of July and she's played in seven games for them with no starts. Averaging 2.4 points a contest, her season high came against Chicago on July 18th. when she scored 13 points. She started her WNBA career with Minnesota back in 2014 and played with three other WNBA squads before returning to the Lynx. 

Taylor's major successes have come in Australia since graduation. She's consistently ranked as one of the top five players in "the land down under" .

Here at Cardinal Couple we keep a running log of how these players are doing and you can find it over on the right side of the site. We go back about a month. 


Have a marvelous Monday!

Paulie

Basketball in Bangkok - Sunday Cardinal Couple

Basketball in Bangkok

We have been covering the U19 Women's Basketball World Cup being held in Bangkok Thailand, both to follow the accomplishments of Coach Jeff Walz with the USA team, as well as giving a little bit of attention to UofL signee Norika Konno.

The Japanese lost to Spain in their last outing, 79-65, with Norika starting and contributing 7 points with a pair of field goals and 3 free throws, shooting 40% from the field, and 75% from the stripe.

The US beat South Korea 89-67, with the top scorers being Fran Belibi with 18, Rhyne Howard with 17, and Queen Egbo with 14.  Rhyne Howard, who the Cards with face in the Governor's Cup game with Kentucky a just ridiculous 5 of 7 from three point range while Belibi and Egbo took care of the close-in game, each with 8 shots, Belibi dropping all 8 of hers, and Egbo draining 6.  The US shot, overall, 57.9% from the charity stripe, which definitely won't be getting them an F in the Fred Report, Norika will be taking that one home for the day.  They will get the R in the report, though, by out-rebounding the Koreans 55-23.

The US currently sits atop Group C with 2 wins, with South Korea still looking for their first win, leaving Hungary and Australia both at 1-1.  The US still has to face Hungary, who downed South Korea 92-68, and lost to Australia 81-71, on Tuesday.

Vlogs

Last night I discovered that Aiko Jones, who will be a red-shirt freshman with the volleyball team in the fall, has been semi-regularly updating a YouTube channel with Vlogs of her experiences here in the US.  Aiko hails from Kingston, Jamaica, so she has an unusual perspective on American mid-west culture.  I've had the opportunity to chat with Aiko a few times and have found her to be an intelligent and insightful young woman.  She's got a great head on her shoulders and has a great attitude on life.

Jones started the Vlog entries late in her senior year of high school in Kingston and has periodically updated it throughout the year, with the most recent being from a trip she took over the 4th of July holiday to Sun Prairie, WI with Claire Chaussee to her home for a visit.  You can see her skill, both at being in front of the camera, and filming herself, as well as with editing and putting together a story, develop as the Vlog progresses.  Some of Aiko's skills as a presenter come naturally, with her mother hosting a morning drive-time radio show in Kingston. (maybe "Mom" could assist the woeful Cardinal Couple Radio knuckleheads).

As someone born and raised here in Louisville, I find some fascination in the perspectives and experiences of someone from another country, climate, and culture, to come to Louisville and the midwest and experience life as we do.

Cardinal Couple plans extensive Volleyball coverage, as we do every year...so we'll be following all of Dani Busboom Kelly's wide-netters all season.

You can check out her Vlogs on her YouTube channel at:

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCJ5eMHe41l1pLy6T9NLBcSQ/videos

Cardinal Couple Radio Hour

They still haven't changed the door and alarm codes at WCHQ, so the knuckleheads were back on the
air again, yesterday.

We covered the US U19 FIBA play, you can her me say, "Leggo my Egbo", so check out what that's all about.  Case brought us up to date on some UofL golfer outings, a brief bit about Case's extended family, sports equipment, and had a mascot edition of the Cardinal Couple Quiz.

Good fun was had as always, check it out on Facebook Live at:

https://www.facebook.com/WCHQfm/videos/635276230293953/

-- 

JMcA

USA U 19 over Australia -- Golf on the Mind -- SATURDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

USA U 19 wins opener against Aussies 79-56

The Jeff Walz coached USA U 19 team used a 16-2 third quarter run to pull away from Australia in Bangkok early this morning and went on to win thei opener in Group C play 79-56.

Walz started Rhyne Howard, Naz Hillmon-Baker, Aliyah Boston, Hailey Van Lith and Paige Bueckers and USA jumped out to an early 5-0 lead. That early lead held through the first 10 minutes and the first quarter ended with USA up 19-14. 

Australia came out strong in the second quarter and cut the lead to 21-20 with 7:40 left in the first half. They tied it at 21-21 and remained close the remainder of the second quarter, although they never took the lead. Reserve Queen Egbo scored four straight points to give USA a 34-32 lead with 1:49 left in the half and a Bueckers three made it 37-32 with a minute left. The Aussies ended the half on a 3-0 run, though, and the USA went to the half with a 39-35 lead.

Walz brought the same starting five out to start the second half, and increased defensive pressure paid dividends. A 6-0 run got USA off to a good start and they got two straight threes from Howard to push the lead to 55-37. It was a 16-2 run for the Americans and they ended the third quarter with a 60-39 lead, outscoring Australia 21-4 over the ten minutes. 

The Aussie would never get closer than 16 points in the final ten minutes, as Walz tried a variety of combinations on the court. 

Five in double figures for USA -- Bueckers led them with 11 points -- and Van Lith, Egbo, Hillmon-Baker and Howard totaled 10 each. USA shot 33% from the floor and held the foe to 27.7% shooting. USA won the rebounding battle 62-52 and forced 22 Australian turnovers. 

USA U 19 continues Group play tonight at 1 a.m. against South Korea.

You Tube has replays available in case you don't want to staay up that late. No commentary or play-by-play -- just straight out basketball...which is different but interesting.

. 

Thibodeau Could Join Hartlage

Last week I wrote about Lauren Hartlage qualifying, yet again, for the U.S. Women's Amateur Championship. Earlier this week, teammates Lauren Thibodeau and Delaney Shah were set to compete in Massachusetts to join her. The event in Brockton took place on Monday and four women qualified to advance to the championship. Neither Cardinal was one of the four. As far as I can tell, Shah never competed in the event, as her name does not appear on the results page, even as having withdrawn. However, Thibodeau does still have a chance to make it to the Championship. Lauren shot a 1-over on the course, tied with two others for fifth place. For reasons unknown, she is listed as the first alternate should one of the four qualifiers drop out. We wish her the best as she waits it out and Lauren Hartlage the best of luck at the Championship event in early August.

The Open Championship

One of golf's biggest weekends is underway, as the major across the pond has been ongoing since early Thursday morning. A couple of connections drew me to this topic this morning. First, Louisville golfer Matthias Schmid qualified for the event. Schmid finished last season at UofL with the best stroke average in school history. He qualified for The Open by winning the European Amateur Championship last month. I'm not sure how competing in professional event in golf jibes with all of the NCAA rules, but the NCAA rules around player compensation are so goofy I don't even feel like exploring it this morning. Schmid played decently Thursday and Friday, shooting +4 and +1, respectively, but failed to make the cut to continue the weekend. It was a tough course, but the cut fell in at +2, putting Schmid out in the cold with the likes of Rory McIlroy and Tiger Woods. At least he didn't shoot +27 like David Duval. 

The second connection to The Open is Kentuckian (and my cousin) J.B. Holmes leading the dang thing. After a Thursday in which he was one of three people to reach -5 on the day and the only one to stay there, J.B. had a solo lead. He continued to shoot well enough on Friday, notching a -3 on the day to sit tied after two days for the lead with Shane Lowry. Holmes has five tour wins since joining in 2006. He has finished in the top five at a major twice, both in 2016 with his best finish being 3rd at The Open that year. He and Lowry will tee off in the final pairing later this morning.

Cardinal Couple Radio Hour

As Jared mentioned yesterday, we are back today for the Cardinal Couple Radio Hour on WCHQ FM. All four primary fools will take their seats in the studio and we'll see if we are closer to or farther from some sort of UofL athletics topic this week than last. Apparently there will be a quiz and there is a good chance it is about mascots. As all of us performed fairly well on the last mascot quiz, I imagine this one will take a turn to the more difficult side. Catch WCHQ at 100.9 FM, the WCHQ App, wchqfm.com, or on Facebook Live. The Cardinal Couple Radio Hour is live at 11AM and available linked in Sunday's article (typically) as a replay.

Until next time, Go Cards!

-CH-

Louisville Women's Golf -- Chapter 8 in Jared's History of UofL women's sports -- FRIDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

A HISTORY OF LOUISVILLE WOMEN'S GOLF

Happy Friday and welcome to another session of A History of Louisville Women’s Sports. We hit the two-thirds mark as we hit Chapter 8. Today, we look at Women’s Golf. For the rest of the article we will refer to them simply as “Golf”.

When Tom Jurich was first hired as athletic director at UofL in October of 1997,, he soon added three teams. Golf was one of those. Kelley Meyers (later Rothberg) was tabbed the head coach. Their inaugural season was in 2000, where they finished second in Conference USA. Katherine Mowat also won an individual conference championship while Meyers was named Conference USA Coach of the Year. She would lead them to an NCAA Regional the very next year.

In the fall of 2002, Louisville hosted its first Cardinal Cup, a popular tournament still hosted today. They competed at a golf course in Simpsonville, KY, then owned by University Clubs of America.

It wasn’t until 2006 when golf won its first conference championship, claiming the Big East title down in Florida. Adrienne White also won the Cards’ first individual Big East title that year.

Courtney Trimble took over as head coach over the summer of 2012. She held that position through this
most recent, before stepping down to enjoy life. The Cards have several seasons where they were ranked in the Top 25 under Trimble and advanced to the NCAA Championships in the spring of 2018.

Whitney WadeYoung will take over as head coach for the start of next season. She has been an assistant with Louisville since 2017.

The University of Louisville Golf Club has been around longer than many think. It was originally constructed in 2001 by University Clubs of America and Palmer Golf Management operates the facilities.  It was bought by Champions Way LLC in 2003 and they owned the place for about a decade. UofL bought the property in early 2014 and re-branded the facility as the UofL Golf Club. Both the women’s and men’s teams have used the facility since it first opened but have been able to officially call it home since then. The course is open to members and other events when UofL is not using it.

Many excellent golfers have stepped foot on campus over the years. Meghan Little was one of the biggest names early on. Little won several titles early on and competed in the 2005 NCAA Tournament. Adrienne White was teammates with a little for a while and won a conference championship.

Cindy LaCrosse came in a couple years later and won a school record four tournaments in her career. She ended up with many other UofL records during her time. Sara-Maude Juneau and Laura Anderson are both in this decade and made headlines when they played internationally and combined to win four consecutive tournaments in 2009. Emily Haas came in just a few years ago and earned several Big East honors and owns the Cardinal Cup record at 209.

The 2019-20 squad features several golfers quite capable of shooting low scores. Returnees include Margot Bechadergue, Lauren Hartlage, Mairead Martin, Delaney Shah and Lauren Thibodeau. Their season takes place basically all year round and will start on Sept 9th in the Minnesota Invitational.

Hartlage recently qualified for her third straight appearance in the US Women's Amateur. The event takes place August 9-11 at the Old Waverly Golf Club in West Point, Mississippi. Thibodeau is listed as an alternate for the field of 156. 

We rarely get out to the UofL Golf Club to do live in-person coverage events like we do many other sports but the location is a beautiful one to visit. Make sure to head out to Simpsonville to see the Cards in action. Make a pit stop at the outlet mall to go shopping while out there. The adidas store usually has some affordable UofL gear in stock.

RADIO DAYS

Jared's Fan Club watching the show from across the street

You can catch the A-team on air for the second straight week tomorrow on The Cardinal Couple Radio Hour. .

The show starts at 11 a.m. Saturday and can be accessed many different ways.

www.wchqfm.com is the stations website and the show can be accessed there. It is also on Facebook Live. In the Louisville area, we're on FM at 100.9 and you can download the WCHQ app at the site and listen that way.


A bit of warning about our summer feature which you are welcome to participate in. A little bird is whispering in my ear that the Worldwide Cardinal Couple quiz MIGHT BE ABOUT MASCOTS.

Happy Friday and Go Cards

Jar-head

Bionca Dunham Interview -- THURSDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

"B" IS PLANNING A SURPRISE FOR CARDINAL FANS

Wednesday morning found me on the UofL Belknap Campus, arriving safely after the pigs made a break for it on I-65 earlier in the day. The destination was the SAC Building and the new, spacious office of Louisville women's basketball S.I.D. Nick Evans -- located on the second floor of the multi-purpose building. 

The objective was an interview with student-athlete and rising senior Bionca Dunham. What ensued was a pleasant and informative 10 minute chat about her, her life, her beliefs and the revealing of a surprise about her and basketball. 

What is the surprise? Well, you'll have to listen to our chat at the link below: 

BIONCA DUNHAM INTERVIEW

Dunham's role on the 2019-20 version of the Cards is multi-faceted. Her rebounding will be essential. Her role as a leader will be needed and expected. 

The Philly native started 31 of 36 games last year for the Cards, averaging about 22 minutes a night -- fifth highest on the team. Her 7.6 points per game was tied for fifth-best on the squad (with Jazmine Jones)...and she grabbed 169 rebounds, which was third highest on the team.

We went with her nickname "B" during the interview and the Cardinal coaches and squad will "be" expecting "B" to "be" aggressive, a leader and a force in the paint. Her effort is certainly no "B" grade, though...straight "A's" for her in hard work, perseverance and dedication during her past three years is the determination of the facts, as I see it.   

Majoring in criminal justice, "B" aspires to "be" a crime scene investigator after giving professional basketball a whirl. Who knows, maybe she and Jaz will open a private-eye firm together---combing solving criminal cases along with a pretty effective inside-outside game. 

One thing is fairly certain, "B"'s effectiveness this final year for her could "be" a huge factor in Louisville getting to the Final Four. And, if her secret weapon comes full circle...a lot of opposing players and coaches could "be" looking at each other and asking themselves..."who done it"? 


(A special "Thank You" to Nick Evans for making the arrangements for the interview and the photos in today's article).  


Paulie
xxxxx