Lax, Tennis, Softball and More -- SATURDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

 Lacrosse Survives Central Michigan

In their first game ranked higher than #20, Louisville Lacrosse had a bit of a scare. Central Michigan took a one goal lead with 11:39 remaining in the match before the Cards scored five of the final six goals to take an 11-8 victory in Mt. Pleasant, Michigan yesterday afternoon.

"We are happy that we got the win today, but overall I didn't think it was our best performance," said Scott Teeter. "You have to give Central Michigan a lot of credit, but luckily we were able to make enough plays down the stretch to get the win."

It was certainly far from being Louisville's best performance of the season, the Cards found themselves tied 4-4 going into halftime. The Cards held a 3-1 lead but the Chippewas chipped away at that lead to even the score. Louisville scored the first two goals of the second half to go up 6-4. All six of the goals at that point were scored by different Cardinal players.

Central Michigan had an answer by scoring three straight over the next nine minutes, sparking Teeter to call a timeout in an attempt to halt CMU's momentum.

The timeout proved fruitful on the defensive side as the UofL defense silenced Central Michigan for seven minutes. Caroline Blalock solved the CMU man-to-man defense and scored her second goal of the match to even the score at seven apiece. Bella Karstien gave the Cards the lead with her fourth goal of the season.

CMU's Sara Tisdale saw their chance slipping away and quickly called a timeout for the Chippewas. She drew up a play and her Chips converted to even the score 8-8 with just under five minutes remaining.

It became upperclassman time for the Cards and they responded. 

Ally Hall scored what would be the go ahead goal 34 seconds later. Caroline Blalock, who was recently named to the Tewaaraton Award Watch List, had enough vof this CMU hanging around and closed the door with two final goals -- the last coming with 53 seconds remaining. 11-8 Cards win. 

Here's Coach Teeter's post-game comments in the link below when he spoke with Paulie: 

LINK:  SCOTT TEETER AFTER CMU GAME 3/12/21

The Cards improve to 3-2 on the year and travel to Marquette on Sunday at noon.

Women's Tennis Falls to NC State

The Louisville women's tennis woes continued as they dropped their fourth match in the last five outings. #10 NC State was in town and downed the Cards 5-2.

The Wolfpack started by taking the doubles point highlighted by the #2 doubles team in the country in Anna Rogers and Alana Smith. NC State then took four of the six singles points to close out the win.

Raven Neely topped #38 Adriana Reami and Chelsea Sawyer defeated Jaeda Daniel for the two Louisville points.

Louisville hopes to bounce back on Sunday against Wake Forest.

Softball Hosts Red and Black Challenge

As Daryl mentioned yesterday, the Red and Black Challenge schedule was altered due to the forecast. The forecast changed again but they're leaving the schedule where it's at.

The Cards will start today off at 11:30 against Valparaiso. Louisville will then take a break as Western Kentucky and Valparaiso play at 2:00. Saturday's action will then conclude at 4:30 when the Cards take the field again against WKU. Sunday features a game between Valpo and WKU but Louisville will be off.

Both of Louisville's games will be on ACC Network Extra so you can catch these online or the ESPN app. The Cards hope to improve their record to 9-7 over the weekend.

I'll be out at Ulmer Stadium for both games so we will feature some of the photos tomorrow. Perhaps Paulie or Worldwide may make it out for the latter game.

Volleyball Visits Duke

After Clemson had some issues with COVID-19, Louisville volleyball changed their travel plans and ended up going to Duke. The Cards and Blue Devils will square off at Cameron Indoor Stadium today and tomorrow both at 2:00 p.m.

An NCAA Champion

Daryl gave us the great news yesterday, but something of this nature for a UofL student-athlete deserves a second day of recognition.

Makenli Forrest won the NCAA 2021 Indoor Weight Throw title with a 23.26m toss. The mark is also .5m better than the old program mark as Forrest now owns the school record.

Field Hockey To Face Virginia

Louisville  Field Hockey returns to Trager Stadium today for a noon match against Virginia.  

The Cards bring a 9-3 mark into the contest today, after starting the spring season with a 2-0 loss to North Carolina on the road and the travelling to Ball State, where they captured a 5-0 match in Muncie.

Virginia comes in aat 4-8 on the split season and began the Spring session with a 2-0 loss vs. Duke. 

This one can be found on the ACC Network Extra.  

Cardinal Couple Radio Hour Podcast

It's going to be like the old days with the Cardinal Couple Radio Hour today. Case is out today (also why I'm taking over for today's article), Daryl is doing some ACC Network duties to make sure the video cameras stay on me, and I'll be faking knowing how to use a camera for more UofL photos. Don't worry, Case will be back next week.

Paulie and Worldwide will handle a schedule that's longer than the dictionary and covering all sorts of UofL teams. There will also probably be some talk of the upcoming NCAA Women's Tournament and the Selection Show on Monday.

Happy Saturday and Go Cards!

Jared

Softball Schedule Changes, Lacrosse looks to bounce back: FRIDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

FRIDAYS WITH DARYL

Hello weekend, Louisville fans. Typical spring sports scheduling shifts thanks to the weather forecast.  The good news is that we will also look forward to 'Spring Forward' this weekend!  Roll the clock up an hour on Saturday night (if any of you still possess a digital or analog clock).

Softball schedule update

The most up-to-date change to the Cardinals softball schedule from what we know at CardCouple..  

SATURDAY @ Ulmer Stadium

CARDS vs Valparaiso (4-6, 0-0 MVC) 11:30AM

CARDS vs Western Kentucky (9-3, 0-0 C-USA) 4:30PM

Louisville's two opponents will face off in-between the Cards game so fans will have a chance to grab some lunch or take a walk around campus. 

 

 

I recommend the banana milkshake at Dairy Del and or Dairy Kastle's taco in a bag.. A couple wins for the Cards would be a nice cherry on top. Burger Boy on S Brook St. also makes a classic burger and fry plate if you're looking for a place with more food options.  I think all that should satisfy your game day hunger.  This has been your first edition of Daryl's game day pit stop for fans. Ha ha

(EDITOR'S NOTE: Daryl was not paid for these food establishment props.  Knowing her, shee's probably working on some kind of endorsement, though. ) 

LACROSSE GAMEDAY

#19 University of Louisville women's lacrosse travels to Mount Pleasant, Mich. for a matchup with Central Michigan on Friday at 1 p.m. ET.

Coming off a hard-fought loss at No. 8 Virginia, the Cardinals are 2-2 overall and 0-1 in ACC action. The Chippewas enter Friday's game 3-2 on the season and 1-0 in MAC play.

NATIONAL CHAMPION - Women's TRACK & FIELD

University of Louisville senior Makenli Forrest captured the 2021 NCAA Indoor Weight Throw title with a heave of 23.26m (76-3.75) Thursday at the Randal Tyson Track Center in Fayetteville, Ark. The feat marks the third NCAA Indoor Weight Throw title in program history and the first since 2010 when D'Ana McCarty secured her second consecutive championship in the event.

Forrest's personal best mark breaks the school record of 22.76 (74-8.25) that stood prior to Thursday's competition, it also stands as the top collegiate throw this year.

One couldn't blame the Louisville Track and Field squad if they used an alternation from a popular move and exhorted "Throw, Forrest, THROW!"  when she enters the circle. 

Volleyball News

The VolleyCards are going to Durham for Volleyball, instead of playing Clemson, as originally scheduled.  They'll have Saturday and Sunday matches against the Blue Devils, as far as we know, for now. 

Cardinal Couple Radio Hour Podcast

I'm making it a short one this week as the spring sport schedule is really starting to gear up, I am getting back into the swing of things with the button pushing career.  It was today last year that COVID really took hold of our country.  I'm grateful to see teams back on the fields! With the softball schedule changes, I will be out for radio tomorrow.  Case will also be taking the week off to be with his family.  Jared will likely be out at Ulmer to fulfill his button pushing duties as well.  So it looks like a classic edition of CCRHP with Jeff and Paulie to cover this week's event's and more. 

Be safe out there! & Go Cards 

~Daryl

Volleyball Schedule Changes -- Payton Verhulst -- Scott Teeter -- THURSDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

 Volleyball Alters Schedule

Louisville's Volleyball trip to the ACC pod this weekend in Clemson is no more after Clemson has gone onto COVID-19 protocol. Duke was also scheduled to compete in this pod.

Instead, the Cards will now travel to Cameron Indoor Stadium for a two-match series against the Blue Devils. The matches will be on Saturday and Sunday, both at 2:00 p.m.  Only the first match will be considered ACC play, but both will go on the overall record.

Louisville is 2-0 in the spring with an overall record of 7-2. The schedule seems to be changing every few days, but their schedule shows eight matches remaining in the regular season.

If you're lucky enough to snag a ticket Louisville returns home March 26 and 28.

Payton Verhulst Named All-American

Louisville womens' basketball commit Payton Verhulst has been named a Naismith High School All-American. She was listed on the All-American Second Team, which would place her in the Top 10 players in the country.

Verhulst also received McDonald's All-American honors recently. Last year, Verhulst was named the Kansas Gatorade Player of the Year.

The 6-1 guard is in her final year of high school and will be repping the Cardinal Red and Black next season. Personally, I'm excited to see what she and Hailey Van Lith can do as a back court duo with Dana Evans graduating.

Scott Teeter Interview

Paulie had a chance to chat with lacrosse coach Scott Teeter yesterday. Make sure to check it out as the LaxCards have broken the Top 20 in three polls and gear up for another tough match-up.

They also have a Thursday night primetime match-up a week from today. I'm ready for a game under the lights and perhaps I can convince Paulie to get out there for this one.

LINK TO TEETER INTERVIEW:  SCOTT TEETER INTERVIEW 3/10/21

Happy Thursday and Go Cards!

Jared

Cards Softball beats Bellarmine 8-1 -- WEDNESDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

 CARDS HIT TWO HOME RUNS IN WIN OVER KNIGHTS

The Louisville Softball squad found their bats and exploded for eight runs on ten hits last night in Ulmer Stadium -- downing the Bellarmine Knights 8-1.

In the first "Battle of Eastern Parkway" since the Knights joined the A-Sun Conference and Division I Athletics, Louisville got home runs from Makaya Hurst and Carmyn Greenwood in the seven-run win. Starter Taylor Roby and Jen Leonhardt combined for a six hits allowed, and a one run performance from the circle to even the Cards record out to 7-7 and drop the Knights to 4-8.

Louisville started the contest in a big way with Greenwood tripling in the bottom of the first inning, but was picked off at third by an alert throw from Knights catcher Sydney Young and Louisville did not get on the board in the opening inning.

 

The Cards struck for a run in the second, and that run came from the bat of Hurst, The first baseman from St Louis, MO sent a towering blast to center field that easily cleared the fence and probably startled some of the patrons viewing the contest from the outfield berm. It was 1-0 Cards after two innings. 

Roby retired the Bellarmine batters in top of the third, after allowing an opening walk and UofL added three more runs to the scoreboard in the bottom of the third frame. After Maddy Newman started the inning with a single to left, the older Greenwood sister (Carmyn) blasted an ball down the left field line for two RBI's  to make it 3-0 Cards. Jordyn Wolfe followed with a triple to left and that closed the book on Bellarmine starting pitcher Carson Goatley. Kaylee Terral entered the circle for the Knights, but threw a wild pitch that allowed Wolfe to cross the plate. The Cards would touch Terral for a single (Roby) and draw a walk (Rebecca Chung) but a Cassady Greenwood fly out to center got the Knights out of the inning. After three innings, the Cards held a 4-0 lead. 

Roby allowed a walk and single in the top of the fourth but the Knights could not plate either of the two runners.  In the bottom of the inning, the Cards added two more runs -- on a Taryn Weddle walk, Maddy Newman single and two out, two RBI single from Wolfe. Going into the top of the fifth, UofL was comfortably in charge 6-0. 

Jen Leonhardt assumed pitching duties in the fifth after Roby delivered a four-inning, four hits allowed and two strikeout performance. Leonhardt struggled a bit at the start with the top of the Bellarmine batting order, allowing a single to left by Grace Werner and RBI double to Knights second baseman Hannah Webb. She quickly regained control, though, and struck ou the next three Knights batters to end the BU part of the inning. The Cards responded  with two more runs in the home half of the fifth when Leonhardt started things with a single. After Cas Greenwood reached on a hit-by-pitch offering from Terral, Weddle drove home two more Louisville runs with a single up the middle. That bumped the score to 8-1 Cards. 

Leonhardt allowed a walk and single in the top of the sixth, but the Knights couldn't plate either runner...Leonhardt recording the final two out by striking out the Knights plate visitors.  The Cards sent three to the plate in the bottom of the sixth, but they went down in order, with two groundouts and a swinging strike out. 

Bellarmine had one more chance to score in the top of the seventh, but Leonhardt retired the side in order. Your final:  Louisville 8 - Bellarmine 1

A beautiful, balmy night for Softball last night at Ulmer for the Cards vs. Knights and some impressive pitching from both Roby and Leonhardt.  

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

Head Louisville Softball coach Holly Aprile spoke about the win after the contest: 

APRILE ON CARDS WIN OVER BELLARMINE

Up next, The Cards were scheduled to play Valparaiso on Thursday, but that one has been postponed until Sunday due to Valpo travel issues. Louisville does welcome in Western Kentucky for the Red and Black Challenge on Saturday as well, but, we'll keep an eye on the weather and changes could occur if the expected rain alters action. We'll update you on any changes here at your #1 source for the joy and excitement of UofL womens' athletics.

(Special thanks to UofL Softball S,I,D Lori Korte for sending the Aprile audio and to JAred Anderson for today's photos) 

Have a wonderful Wednesday 

paulie

Softball Hosts Bellarmine -- Lax Climbs Rankings -- TUESDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

 Softball Welcomes Bellarmine to Ulmer

Louisville and Bellarmine are no strangers when it comes to softball. The two foes have scrimmaged each other several times, especially in the Sandy Pearsall days. This time will be different as both teams will meet for their first official time as D1 rivals.

The Cards are fresh off a 3-1 weekend performance in the Cardinal Classic and will have had 48 hours to rest and prepare. Louisville sits at 6-7 early in the season and looks to get back up to .500.

Taylor Roby has been a do-it-all player so far. She leads the team with a .400 batting average and has hit four home runs so far. Her most recent home run landed on the top level of the berm. She has been in the circle longest while facing 129 batters.

Jennifer Leonhardt has taken a lot of pressure off of Roby by facing 77 batters and only giving up a .156 batting average. She has struck out a team-leading 22 batters. She has struck out nearly 30% of the batters she has faced.

Carmyn Greenwood has been solid as a leadoff batter with a .316 average. Over the weekend, the redshirt senior went 7-for-11. Greenwood has crossed the plate seven times already.

Celene Funke has used her speed to continue racing into the record books. The redshirt senior has 20 career triples, good enough for second in school history. The record is 26. Her 63 career steals is third all-time in school history and needs five more to move into a tie for second.

Bellarmine comes into the game with a 4-7 record, according to their website. This will be their first game on the road, even if it is no more than 10 minutes down Eastern Parkway. Their wins include a two-game sweep over Western Michigan and series splits with IUPUI and Dayton. 

The Knights carry a .289 batting average while averaging 3.73 runs per game. They have not been much of a threat with the long ball- just three home runs- but have been successful with base running and knocking runners in. Bellarmine has been successful on all 10 steals.

This game is set to start at 6:00 p.m., on Don Dobina Field at Ulmer Stadium. Attendance inside the stadium remains 20% with no tickets for sale. However, the berm allows for plenty of room to spread out while still having a good view of the game.

Lacrosse Climbs Rankings

Louisville Lacrosse took down Cincinnati 13-5 last week before falling to #8 Virginia 13-12 on the road just a few days ago. Still, the performances were enough to impress those who control the polls.

Three different polls have moved the Cards up in their most recent release.

-- Inside Lacrosse (IL) moved the Cards from #27 all the way up to #17. US Lacrosse Magazine moved the Cards from #20 up to #18. The Intercollegiate Women's Lacrosse Association (IWLCA) moved Louisville from #25 up to #19.

Sitting at 2-2, Scott Teeter's squad has turned some heads this year. They are on a short scheduled break before visiting Central Michigan for a Friday afternoon match. The word is that Paulie has plans for an interview with Teeter before they head to visit CMU. We'll run it here when it happens. 

Cardinal Couple Pick Em

Paulie posted the final results in yesterday's article and it came down to the wire. Worldwide Jeff held a small lead up through the final day but NC State beating Louisville by a slim margin allowed David Watson to turn things around.

"Dave-O" gave his victory speech in the comments section yesterday. We are sure he'll be ready to take on a tougher challenge with the NCAA Tournament Pick Em, which is roughly a week and a half away. Pending the NCAA doesn't decide to give the Cards the bird (pun intended) Louisville will be dancing and seem to be borderline 2-or-3-seed.

In case you are going through bracket
withdrawals, here's a fast food Pick 'Em 

The Selection Show will be held on Monday, March 15, at 7:00 p.m., on ESPN. You will then have a few days to get your picks together. Once again, you can share in the comments section or by emailing Paulie (cardinalcouple@twc.com) or myself (eupherjared@gmail.com). We will try to post the picks from emails in the comments to add a level of transparency for those who like to keep their own tally.

Who knows what prizes Paulie will have for those who can win. Personally, I'll take a full-sized country ham or a peanut butter milkshake.

Happy Tuesday and Go Cards!

Jared

A grimace in Greensboro for WBB -- FIeld Hockey, Softball and Volleyball results -- MONDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

 NCST 58 - LOUISVILLE 56

The University of Louisville women's basketball squad saw an early fourth quarter eight-point lead over NC State disappear and fell 58-56 to the WolfPack yesterday in the finals of the ACC women's basketball tournament yesterday in Greensboro Coliseum. 

Transfer guard Raina Perez hit a jumper with 2.1 seconds left on the clock to give the Raleigh, NC squad the final, two-point lead that held -- as the Cards missed on two attempts to tie or win the contest after Perez's shot. 

Louisville held a eight-point lead with 8:58 left in the final quarter after a Dana Evans three, but NC State methodically climbed back into the contest and regained the lead at 55-54 after two Elissa Cunane free throws with 2:23 left in the final quarter. The Cards went back up with 1:59 to play 56-55 after a Evans jumper, NC State tied it at 56-56 after one Cunane free throw with 47 seconds remaining, but Perez's jumper gave the Pack their second straight ACC Tournament title   

A tough loss, no doubt for Jeff Walz's squad, but Walz went for the win on the final play of the game, after an attempted lob to Hailey Van Lith on the right side of the court failed and went out of bounds. Kianna Smith's inbounds pass to Evans resulted in a three-point attempt that grazed the front of the rim but would not go in.

Evans led the Cards in scoring with 15 points, another slow start for Dana, but her 13 second half points (nine in the fourth quarter) kept the Cards in the fray and had them leading --  as the final ten minutes wore down.  Cunane took over for Wes Moore's squad late and she was named MVP of the tournament. 

The NCAA Tournament still looms large for Louisville (although just where the NCAA Bracket folks will seed the Cards is anyone's guess) and the Cards need to develop a short memory, focus on the task ahead and take care of business in the Lone Star State, beginning March 21st. 

For the Cards, Kianna Smith carried the load before Evans hot-hand took over, Kianna had 13 points for Louisville. Olivia Cochran added eight points and eight rebounds for UofL, who goes into the Big Dance with a 23-3 mark. 

THE FRED REPORT

(Yeah, we weren't too pleased with the final score either, Fred Thompson.)

FREE THROWS -- Once again, we saw a scarcity of Cardinals getting to the stripe. The officiating crew of Joe Vaszily, Eric Brewton and Dee Kanter called 22 fouls in the contest, 15 on Louisville. Formulate your own thoughts on that discrepancy. The Cards got four free throw attempts and dank two of them. Only  three Cards went to the line in 40 minutes. NC State, on the other hand went 10-12 from the charity stripe. We cannot award a letter here for the 50% mark by Louisville but have to raise an eyebrow on Cunane for NC State getting eight attempts. 

REBOUNDS  -- The Cards did close the gap from the first time these two met back on Feb 1st and lost the boards battle by just four. Besides Cochran's eight, Hailey Van Lith nabbed seven and that ridiculous "team" entry had six grabs -- all on the defensive end for Louisville. I cannot award a letter when you lose the rebounding battle, despite the improvement from the previous meeting.

EFFORT/EXECUTION -- Louisville shot 42.4% from the floor (25-59) and had seven assists on those baskets. A sub-par 4-16 (25%) from three-point range didn't help the Cards chances, but the Cards did fight their way back into this one from a seven-point deficit with 6:44 left in the third quarter to that eght-point lead in the fourth, so the effort and execution was certainly there for awhile. and, Louisville won the points-off-turnovers battle 16-7.  I'll go smallcase "e" for this category --no win means no capital letter. 

DEFENSE -- You really can't come down too harshly on the Cards "d" yesterday. They held NCST to 58 point, 43.1% shooting, forced 13 turnovers and had five  steals. The 18-13 NC State edge in the fourth quarter was fueled by NC States 5=6 from the foul line, the Cards were not awarded a free throw in the final 10 minutes. Dixon and Cochran picked up four fouls each in their efforts to contain Cunane and Ramani Parker had two fouls in 10 minutes. I'll go smallcase "d" here because of the Wolfpack point total and fact they had just one double-digit scorer. 

FINAL FRED REPORT:  _-_-e-d  

So, not the best result in Greensboro yesterday, but what's the use in dwelling on it. To use the overworked phrase: "it is what it is".

You move on.

It could have been a joyous celebration, if Perez's final shot bounced off the rim and/or Dana's three attempt went in. You congratulate NC State,  learn from the defeat and now turn the focus in planning for The Dance. 

FIELD HOCKEY BLANKS BALL STATE

It was a bird battle in Indiana yesterday and the #7 Louisville Field Hockey Cardinals soared over the Ball State Cardinals 5-0 yesterday

"Meche" (Mercedes Pastor) recorded the first "hat trick" of her long and illustrious time as a student-athlete with Louisville Field Hockey in the Cards 5-0 win at Ball State Sunday.  With the win, Louisville goes to 9-3 in the split season. 

A defensive struggle early, Louisville taking a 1-0 lead into the locker room in Muncie at the half. Pastor was involved in that lone score, her shot on goal bounced off the keeper and Aimee Plumb was there to collect it and fire it onto the back of the net. 

The Cards pushed the lead to 2-0 when Pastor connected in the third quarter on a shot from the right side of the circle into the bottom left corner of the goal. It was Pastor again (twice) in the final quarter, getting goals off penalty corners. Katie Schneider completed the Cards scoring with four minutes left in the contest. 

The Cards defense allowed just five Ball State shots in the match. Goalie Sam Minrath recorded the shutout and had three saves. Louisville took 18 shots, 13 on goal and Pastor had 12 of those attempts and nine of the ones on goal. 

Louisville gets their spring home opener Saturday when Virginia visits. 

VOLLEYBALL SWEEPS WAKE FOREST SUNDAY

On Senior Day in the L&N Federal Credit Union Arena on the Louisville campus, the VolleyCards swept the Wake Forest Demon Deacons 25-19, 25-18, 25-18.

Sophomore Aiko Jones had 15 kills for the Cards and two block, as Louisville sweeps the weekend matches over the Winston-Salem visitors. 

Louisville hit .337 for the match and 48 kills to WFU's 29. The Cards also got strong play from seniors Piper Roe and Alexis Hamilton, Roe had five kills and six blocks and Hamilton produced 13 digs. Also stepping up big for the Cards was Anna Stevenson, with 10 kills and three service aces. 

The Cards are now 7-2 on the split season and travel to Clemson next, where they'll face the Tigers on Friday and then take on Duke on Saturday in Clemson's arena -- part of the pod format being used this season.

SOFTBALL SHUT OUT BY MIAMI (OH) 4-0 

It wasn't a Sunday to remember for Louisville softball, the Cards managed just four hits against Miami (OH) in the final day of the Cardinal Classic. The Cards ran into a strong performance by RedHawks senior pitcher Courtney Vierstra, who fanned 12 Cardinal batters in her fourth win of the season.

Miami used a three-run homer in the first inning from Adriana Barlow's bat to register all the runs they'd need in this game.  

The Cards had chances. 

In the bottom of the sixth, Carmyn Greenwood smacked her second double of the affair and advanced to third on Taylor Roby's single...but both were left stranded. In the bottom of the seventh, the Cards filled the bases when Greenwood, Jennifer Leonhardt and Jordan Wolfe all reached safely but Celene Funke was caught looking at a called third strike to end the game and Cardinal late rally. 

Bellarmine comes to Ulmer for a Tuesday night contest next for Louisville 

CARDINAL COUPLE ACC TOURNAMENT PICK 'EM CONTEST

David Watson won the Cardinal Couple ACC Tournament Pick 'Em contest, by successfully choosing NC State in his bracket to defeat the Cards. 

It's the second straight year for a win for "Dave-O" in the contest. Cardinal Couple columnist Jeff McAdams finished second, choosing the Cards in the final game. Both contestant went 10-2 over the five-day event, Watson getting the win by turning in his entry earlier than McAdams. Only three of the 22 contestants had NC State as their winner. 

Full order of finish: 

10-2:  David Watson, Jeff McAdams

9-3:  LouavulFan 35, KStarksr, Case, Jared

8-4:  Arthur, Vivian, Daryl, Clemson Cuz

7-5:  Nick O, Paulie, Blue Lou, Kenny S, Phil, Doug A., Sonya

6-6:  Ramblin Eric

5-7:  Curtis, Joe Hill, Nole Knowledge

4-8: Cardinal Couple Chimps

Knowing Watson, I expect he'll pop in here sometime today with a celebratory remark or two. He wins the $25 gift card to Cracker Barrel and we're going to recommend he give it to one of his three kids. A concession speech from "Worldwide" probably won't occur -- he rarely comments on articles. 

A huge "thank you!" to all who participated (it was our largest ACC Pick' Em ever -- entry wise -- with 22 participants)  in the history of the contest, and we'll probably offer a NCAA WBB Pick 'Em as well, if our Bracket Czar Jared is willing to compile the entries and results. We'll keep you updated on that. 

have a menaingful Monday! 

 

paulie

Championship Sunday and More -- Sunday Cardinal Couple

Saturday Rundown

The calendar is bursting at the seams with events this weekend, so let's work our way through the day in order of how it happened.

First off, the Cardinal Couple Radio Hour Podcast kicked off an hour early.  This was a late decision in the week.  We felt very strongly that we did want to have the show with it being ACC Women's Basketball week, but challenges with the sports scheduling were arising.  With Lacrosse starting at 11am, and some of the Cardinal Couple crew needing to be exiting by 11am in order to make it to their respective stations for various sports events, we decided to start an hour earlier.

Lacrosse

As mentioned, Lacrosse did get underway at 11am, an early start to be sure.  The opponent was Virginia, and yes, since it's an ACC opponent, they are a ranked squad, coming in around 8th or 9th in the rankings, depending on which poll you're looking at.  The Cards took this one down to the wire, but did come out on the short side of the 12-13 score in the end.

The Cards made a great game of this, mostly trading goals with UVA, though the Hokies were able to extend a little bit of a lead, out to 8-4 at halftime.  The 2nd half opened with a bit more back and forth, the score reach a similar four point lead, 11-7, after 10 minutes of 2nd half play.

The Cards would go on to outscore UVA 5-2 the rest of the way, tying the score at 12-12 with 12:30 left in the game.  The defenses on both side stepped up their intensity at that point, but UVA would break through with the final goal of the game with 5:46 on the clock.

Hannah Morris came off the bench for four goals, with Caroline Blalock, Allega Catelano, and Alex McNicholas each contributing a pair.  Ally Hall and Kokoro Nakazawa found the back of the net once each as well.  Rachel Florek continued her great play in the net with 10 saves.

Lax will be back on Friday at Central Michigan with a 1pm game.

Women's Tennis

Louisville women's Tennis was also in Virginia, and dropped their match 6-1 in the noon start.

The Cards did lose the doubles point, which has been a rarity for the team this year.

Rhea Verma got the only point for the Cards in a 6-2, 6-2 win over Vivian Glozman.

Tennis will be back in the Bass-Rudd Center for noon matches against NC State and Wake Forest Friday and Sunday.

Softball

Also starting at noon, Softball vs DePaul.  UofL won this one 3-0 behind the good pitching combo of Taylor Roby and Jennifer Leonhardt.  Roby pitched the first five innings, with Leonhardt finished out the last two.

Jordyn Wolfe would be the first to cross the plate for the Cards, using a trio of singles from herself, Carmyn Greenwood, and Taylor Roby to do it in the 3rd inning.

Rebecca Chung said, "Goodbye Mr. Spalding" in the 4th inning to get herself across the plate.  Then in the 6th inning Chung would use a fielder's choice to reach, got lifted for the speedier Sydney Bickel who would then cross the plate on a Leonhardt double.

Softball will be in action at Ulmer again today at 2pm, against Miami (OH).

Women's Basketball

Also also at noon, Basketball tipped it off vs Syracuse in the ACC Tournament Semifinals.  The Cards
would win this one 72-59 with a spread offense.

Q's Cuse were a bit injury depleted in this one, with their star point guard Tiana MangaKahia down with a "lower body injury", though she is expected to return for the NCAA tournament.  Priscilla Williams was also out for the game recovery from her terrifying fall in the game on Friday.  Williams stayed at the team hotel watching the game "in a dark room", but was reported to be doing well considering the fall that she took.

Despite the Orange's overall length, the Cards won this one mostly on close-in shots.  The Cards did get six shots from three point range, with a pair each from Hailey van Lith and Norika Konno, but would get 32 points in the paint.  The Cards also outrebounded Syracuse, 39-37 with the two rebound edge coming in offensive rebounds.

Ultimately, credit the Cards defense in this one, holding the Cuse to only 30% shooting.  For the Cards the offense came by committee, Dana Evans bounced back a little to get 13 points, Kianna Smith got her offense unlimbered a bit with 11.  Olivia Cochran and Norika Konno joined them in double digits with 10 apiece.  Hailey van Lith and Liz Dixon counted for eight with Mykasa Robinson close behind with seven.

The play was generally steady, the Cards won all four quarters, but the 2nd and 4th only by a single point.

FRED REPORT

Two ACC Tournament Wins, one to go! 

F- Good Free Throw shooting for both teams in this one.  Syracuse shot 84% from the line, but the Cards kicked it up to 94%, definitely good enough for the capital "F".

R- UofL won the battle of the boards, but not by a big margin, 39-37.  The margin was on of the offensive boards, which is nice, and almost earns the uppercase, but I'd like to see the boards get crashed a bit more aggressively, so I'm only awarding the lower case "r" here.

E- Assists were even between the teams at 10 apiece.  The Cards did come out positive on the assist to turnover ratio, but again only just barely.  The nine turnovers are at the high end of what I'm comfortable with for the effort and execution category, particularly when looking ahead to NC State's stiff defense.  I'll grudgingly give the upper case "E" here, mostly because of the 19 points off turnovers for the Cards show we were taking advantage of the Syracuse mistakes.

D- All four blocks of the game went to Syracuse, which isn't terribly surprising given their length.  The Cards did get Syracuse to commit 15 turnovers though, six of which were steals.  Not bad, not bad at all. I'll give the capital "D" here.

Fred recap: 

F-r-E-D, may be a bit generous, but with little time to prepare in the grueling tournament schedule, it's time to keep our chins up and keep winning.

In the other semifinal yesterday, NC State's defense just smothered Georgia Tech in the 4th quarter after a big 2nd quarter for the Yellowjackets earned them the lead at halftime.  The Ramblin Wreck would hold the lead through the 3rd quarter before the ol' 1930 Model A final broke down under the withering NC State defense in the 4th quarter.

That sets up today's noon tip before NC State and UofL for the ACC Championship.  Elissa Cunane is back in top form, with Kayla Jones, Kai Crutchfield, and Jakia Brown-Turner all playing good supporting roles.

Volleyball

Volleyball is back, and I'm a happy camper.  Particularly after the Cards cruised to an easy 3-0 sweep of Wake Forest in the L&N Federal Credit Union Arena yesterday.

This was a late add of a match after Virginia Tech got postponed due to Covid issues within the VT program.  Because it's a late add, it will not be considered for conference standings, but did serve as a good opener for both squads to unlimber from the over-winter break.

Claire Chaussee, well she's a Wisconsinite, so it's no surprise that she apparently made the best of the winter and came out and hit a torrid .714 hitting percentage to lead the Cards with 16 kills on only a single error.  Her calling card had been "high risk, high reward", but she cut down the risk factor quite a bit yesterday, let's hope she keeps it up.

Most of the A-Team showed up and played well, Anna Stevenson and Aiko Jones both chalked up 10 kills, with Amaya Tillman putting another six down.  Anna hit .467, which is good, even for a middle, and Aiko hit .421, which is quite good for a pin hitter.  Alexis Hamilton lead the team with 10 digs, a nice sum.

Getting away from the A's, Tori Dilfer tallied 32 assists, a very nice number indeed for the 3-set match.

Volleyball will play Wake Forest again today at 2pm, but this one does count for conference standings.

Soccer

Last, but certainly not least.  Soccer came out on top in a defensive battle against Dayton 1-0  up in Ohio.

Looking for the next leader on the squad after Emina Ekic took her game farther downtown to Racing Louisville FC, Massie Whitsett got the only score of the game.  We have, of course, heard the Whitsett name alongside Ekic for some time, so it'll be no real surprise if she steps forward to take the reigns of this squad going forward.

Soccer gets a bit of a break, and will be back in action on the 20th back in the Dr. Mark and Cindy Lynn Stadium when Auburn comes to visit.  First kick at 5pm.

Field Hockey

Not in action yesterday, but with a game today.  Field Hockey heads up to Muncie, Indiana to play one of those other Cardinals squads in Ball State.

1pm for the first pass back for that one.

Cardinal Couple ACC Tournament Pick'Em 

As we go into the final game of our Pick 'Em, it looks like Jeff McAdams entry is the leader with a 10-1 record. He can win the Pick 'Em with a UofL win today.

Right behind him at 9-2 are David Watson, LouavulFan35, KStarks, Case and Jared. If NC State wins today, then David Watson gets the title. Second place is a bit more complicated, Paulie will straighten that out in Monday's column per bracket Czar Jared's ruling. 

At 8-3 -- Arthur, Daryl, Clemson Cuz and Vivian

At 7-4 -- Nick O, Paulie, Blue Lou, Kenny S, Sonya and Doug

At 6-5 Phil

At 5-6 Curtis , Eric and Nole Knowledge

At 4-7 -- Cardinal Couple Chimps, Joe Hill 

Cardinal Couple Radio Hour Podcast

Finally, as mentioned earlier, the whole crew did get together for the Cardinal Couple Radio Hour Podcast, though with an early start time of 10am.

Good discussion of the progress of the ACC basketball tournament, coverage of softball, field hockey, lacrosse, volleyball, and a brief shout out for Dairy Del and Daryl's delightful banana milkshake.   You can check it out below.

JMcA