Lacrosse falls to #8 Duke 12-10 -- WSOC vs Volunteers Cancelled -- FRIDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

FRIDAYS WITH DARYL 

 

Good morning Louisville fans, 

   

Not a lot of great news this morning as we've seen a loss on the lacrosse front, a cancellation for the women's soccer program and softball schedule has another shake-up in their jam-packed week of operation. I'll make it a quick one to keep you up to date on the latest from Louisville women's sports front. At least Scott Teeter was bright, festive and styling. 

LACROSSE

The #15 ranked Cards fell for a second time at Cardinal Stadium in three weeks, again to a team from North Carolina, this time the #8 ranked Duke Blue Devils.  It was a strong defensive effort for UofL as the team forced 14 turnovers but the Cards were unable to overpower Duke and fell 12-10 Thursday night.  

The Cards were outscored 7-6 in the first half, 5-4 in the second.  After a quick two goals scored by Duke, they went scoreless for almost 17 minutes as the Cards went on a 5-0 run.  Duke then went on a 5-0 run of their own to make it 7-5.  The Cards were led by Ally Hall with 3 goals and an assist.  Its the Cards fifth loss in the last six matches.  Duke had two players who scored three goals, Katie Cronin and Eva Greco. It was Greco's first goals of the season.

"It was a good lacrosse game, it was a game of runs as both teams battled back to take leads," said head coach Scott Teeter. "We had opportunities down the stretch, but unfortunately their goalie made some key saves and she won them the game."

HERE ARE ALL OF TEETER'S COMMENTS IN HIS POST GAME PRESSER WITH PAULIE:     SCOTT TEETER POST DUKE 4/8/21

Rachel Florek finished the game with nine saves and a .429 save percentage. Duke goalkeeper Sophia LeRose had 14 saves, 13 of which came in the second half.  The Cardinals' aggressive defense led to 14 caused turnovers, while Duke had just four, but draw controls weighed heavily in the Blue Devils' favor, 19-5.

Louisville continues its three-game home stand as Syracuse comes to UofL Lacrosse Stadium for the first of two meetings on Friday, April 16 at 3 p.m. ET.

WOMEN'S SOCCER

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – University of Louisville women's soccer announced today that its home match against Tennessee on Saturday has been canceled.
The cancellation is "due to a lack of available players for Tennessee" and the match will not be made up.

Louisville concludes the spring portion of the schedule against Wake Forest in Johnson City, Tenn., on Saturday, April 17 at 12 p.m. ET.

SOFTBALL

Due to persistent rain in the forecast in the Atlanta area, the University of Louisville softball game at Georgia Tech has been moved to 11 a.m. after originally being slated for a 4 p.m. start.

The Cardinals (13-15, 7-10 ACC) are currently ninth in the ACC standings while the Yellow Jackets (10-18, 4-14) are 12th.
• Louisville has won three of their last four games after taking a four-game ACC road series at Pittsburgh.
• Carmyn Greenwood leads the team and stands second in the ACC with a .437 batting average. She also leads the way with eight doubles, 17 runs, seven stolen bases and 13 multi-hit games.

Scouting the Yellow Jackets: Georgia Tech (10-18, 4-14 ACC) has been idle since March 26 when they beat Middle Tennessee 10-1. The Jackets' ACC series with North Carolina was postponed due to COVID-19 protocols within the UNC program and then weather conditions cause the postponement of the series at Syracuse.
• Georgia Tech is led offensively by Tricia Awald who is hitting .402 with seven home runs. Cameron Stanford has belted out five home runs and a team-best 25 RBIs.
• Madison McPherson (2-5) carries a 3.77 ERA with 28 strikeouts in 65.0 innings of work. Blake Neleman has registered a team-high 48 Ks in 33.0 innings.

WNBA jersey unveiling

 

Have you seen these things yet?? I'm very excited about these new jerseys unveiled by the WNBA Thursday.  Each organization has 3 versions of the team name to represent different ideals.  “Explorer” “Rebel” as well as the the majority-white “Heroine” jerseys.  I can't wait to see which one of these kits Dana Evans will don next year.   What I really have my eye on is one of those Angel McCoughtry Aces jerseys though.  Perhaps next payday...

The players around the league are also excited... Here's some of the former Cards words... 

Have a great Friday, folks.  Go Cards!!

~Daryl

Lax Tonight -- Softball Postponed -- Swim News -- THURSDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

 Lacrosse Hosts Duke

For the second time this season, Louisville Lacrosse will play a match under the lights of Cardinal Stadium. Another blue team from the state of North Carolina ranked in the Top 10 will take on the Cards at Louisville's football stadium.

#8 Duke will square off against Louisville at 7:00 p.m. The Blue Devils are 6-5 on the year with a 2-5 conference record. They ride a three-match losing streak into tonight with all losses coming against Top 10 ACC opponents.

Their conference wins have come against #18 Virginia Tech and #9 Virginia. Duke is averaging 13.7 goals per match on the year while they allow just under 11 goals per match.

Senior Katie Cronin has led Duke with 23 goals and is second on the team with eight assists. Fifth-year Catherine Cordrey has 20 goals. Grad transfer Gabby Rosenzweig has a team-high 18 assists to go along with 17 goals. Rosenzweig played four years at Penn where she set the school record for career points and single season assists.

Duke has rotated their goalkeepers with a trial and error basis. Sophia LeRose has appeared in nine matches and started seven while allowing 78 goals to go along with 58 saves. Chase Henriquez has played in eight matches and started four while allowing 41 goals to go with 20 saves. Stephanie Zempolich has filled in in a couple matches to record two saves while allowing one goal.

For the Cards, Ally Hall leads the way with 27 goals. That mark is also fifth-best in the ACC. Hannah Morris has scored 21 times while Carolina Blalock has added 20 goals. Blalock also has a team high 10 assists.

Rachel Florek has allowed 125 goals while recording 103 saves per GoCards.com. The NCAA only has the senior with 102 saves, putting her seventh in the country. If credited with 103, she would be in a tie for fifth. Florek ranks 27th in saves per game.

Louisville hopes to get their second ever win against Duke. You can catch this one on ACC Network starting at 7:00 p.m.

Softball News

Louisville was all geared up to host rival Kentucky last night for a match-up that was circled on the schedule from day one. Mother Nature had other plans.

The game was set to start at 7:00. Thunderstorms rolled in shortly before 6:30 and a tarp was placed on the field. Then came the downpour. Fans were sent to their cars or the Student Activities Center for safety measures as lightning struck overhead.

Things looked promising around 7:45 as the sun reappeared and the rain died down, but a quick meeting between the coaches and facilities crew left fans disappointed. With more storms quickly approaching and the Cards preparing for an early morning bus ride to Atlanta it was decided to postpone the game to an unspecified date.

There is speculation the two foes will play a double header on April 21 when the Cards were already scheduled to travel to Lexington. Many fans would prefer to still see one of these games hosted at Ulmer Stadium due to the limited seating from social distancing guidelines.

Softball did see some good news in Carmyn Greenwood. The elder Greenwood sister was named ACC Player of the Week.

Greenwood went off during Louisville's series victory at Pitt. She went 11-15 at the plate with six doubles. She also had five RBI's and five runs scored. Her on-base percentage was an incredible .750. Greenwood leads the team with a .437 batting average, eight doubles, 17 runs scored, and seven stolen bases.

Swim News

Both Arthur Albiero and Nick Albiero received ACC accolades. Coach Albiero was named ACC Men's Coach of the Year while his some was named ACC Swimmer of the Year.

The Louisville's men's swim team won their first ever ACC Championship this year. The men also recorded two NCAA Championships including Nick Albiero's 200 butterfly.

The fall season should pick up around November and the father-son duo shall return.

Happy Thursday and Go Cards!

Jared

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

 

CATS AND CARDS IN SOFTBALL TONIGHT AT ULMER

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

PASTOR NAMED ACC CO-PLAYER OF THE WEEK

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

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

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

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

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

BALOGUN

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

cardinalcouple@twc.com 

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

Have a Wonderful Wednesday!

paulie

Softball Clinches Series -- Volleyball Awards -- TUESDSAY CARDINAL COUPLE

 Softball Clinches Series at Pitt

Louisville softball clinched their first ACC series yesterday by defeating Pitt 9-5. The Cards recorded a season-high 12 hits including three home runs.

Pitt stole a game from Louisville on Easter when they hit a walk-off home run to bring the series to 2-1 in Louisville's favor. The Cards would not allow the Panthers to even the series and keep the race for ACC Tournament qualification any tighter.

Celene Funke found herself on base in the top of the first inning and did what she did best- run. The senior stole second and then relied on a fielder's choice later in the inning to zoom home for the 1-0 lead.

Louisville added a pair of runs in the second starting with a Maddy Newman single. Gabby Holloway got Newman to third on a single and then was replaced by Jenna Servi on the base path. Servi stole second to get both runners in scoring position. Sydney Bickel's sacrifice fly plated Newman and Carmyn Greenwood followed by a single to score Servi.

The scoring continued into the third inning for the Cards. Makayla Hurst used a hit up the middle to reach first. Taryn Weddle came up later in the inning to send a shot over the center field wall to push the lead to 5-0.

Bickel found herself at the plate again, this time in the fourth inning, and beat out an infield hit. The older Greenwood sister would come up big again with a double to the outfield wall that sent Bickel all the way home for the 6-0 lead.

Pitt would not go down without a fight as they would put multiple runners on base in the fourth inning and used back-to-back hits to score two runs.

After a quiet fifth inning the Louisville bats (lowercase "b" as to not be confused with the Triple-A team that plays at Louisville Slugger Field) awoke once more. Louisville did all their damage with two outs started with a Funke single. She then recorded her second steal of the game which later proved irrelevant as Taylor Roby sent a blast out to left field for her ninth home run of the game. Hurst would follow for a solo shot as she enjoyed her fifth trot around the bases.

The Panthers did add a run in the sixth to put the score at 9-3. A two-run shot in the seventh cut Louisville's lead to four, but the Cards registered three outs over the next four batters to seal the win.

The Cards improve to 13-15 on the year with a 7-10 ACC record. A .412 win percentage puts the Cards at ninth in the conference out of 13 teams. Only the top ten teams qualify for the ACC Tournament at Ulmer Stadium in May. There are still 20 conference games remaining.

Louisville returns home on Wednesday to host a Top 10 Kentucky team. Let's hope we see the same result as the last time the Wildcats stepped foot on campus.

Volleyball Rakes in Awards

Louisville Volleyball seemed to assert their dominance over the rest of the conference this week as they swept the weekly awards and claimed four of the five major postseason conference awards.

Anna Stevenson was named ACC Player of the Week had a strong presence in the Cards final two matches of the year. She recorded 11 of Louisville's 22 blocks while also posting 21 kills and adding five digs and a pair of aces.

Anna DeBeer earned her third ACC Freshman of the Week honor. The younger of the two Anna's, DeBeer tallied 24 kills, nine digs, four aces, and three blocks with most of those coming in the season finale.

Although Pitt's Kalya Lund earned ACC Player of the Year, the Cards took the other four awards.

Dani Busboom Kelly was named ACC Coach of the Year after leading the Cards to their third ACC Championship under her tenure. Louisville finished 14-2 on the year and earned the overall 11-seed in the NCAA Tournament.

Senior Tori Dilfer earned ACC Setter of the Year after commanding the position all season. Her 10.93 assists per set ranked one of the highest in the country.

Amaya Tillman was named ACC Defensive Player of the Year after an impressive showing all season. Her 1.65 blocks per set ranked first in the ACC and third in the NCAA.

DeBeer heard her name called again, this time for ACC Freshman of the Year. Her 3.17 kills per set ranked 10th in the conference and she recorded a .283 hitting percentage.

DeBeer, Dilfer, Stevenson, and Aiko Jones were named to the All-ACC First Team. Tillman was named to the All-ACC Second team and DeBeer was named to the All-ACC Freshmen Team.

The Cards open the NCAA Tournament on April 15 at noon on ESPN3 (online). The 11-seed Cards will face the winner of San Diego and Corpus Christi. A victory would guarantee Louisville's sixth ever Sweet Sixteen appearance.

Happy Tuesday and Go Cards!

Jared

Volleyball Receives NCAA Bid -- FIeld Hockey and Softball Results -- MONDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

 

VOLLEY BALL GETS FIRST ROUND BYE IN NCAA TOURNAMENT

The NCAA had their selection show for the 48-team NCAA Tournament yesterday and the Louisville Cardinals squad received a first-round bye and will open action April 15th in Omaha against the winner of the San Diego State/Texas A&M Corpus Christi first round game. 

Louisville received the #11 seed overall in the 48-team  bracket and was one of four ACC teams to get "into the dance" , joining Georgia Tech, Notre Dame and Pitt. Florida State did not receive a bid. 

The Cards won the ACC title with a 14-2 record overall and a 12-2 ACC mark

No silly landmark names for the four regions, the Cards are in the same region as #3 Minnesota, #6 Washington, Georgia Tech, Pittsburgh and Dayton. Interesting that they'd group three of the four ACC NCAA participants in the same region. All matches will be held in Omaha. 

If the Cards get past the second round, they could face either Washington, Towson or Dayton. 

Washington is the #1 seed overall, Kentucky is #2 and other commonwealth of Kentucky schools participating are Morehead State and Western Kentucky.  

Best of luck to our VolleyCards in Omaha, the early round matches will be shown online at ESPN3 and Louisville is scheduled for a noon, April 15th opening volley. 

FIELD HOCKEY TAKES 1-0 WIN OVER SYRACUSE

#5 Louisville faced off against #8 Syracuse yesterday at Trager Stadium and the Cards got a 1-0 win in overtime over the Orange. 

It was Mercedes Pastor connecting in the sixth minute of the extra session to improve the FH Cards to  12-4 overall and 2-2 in the ACC. Pastor took a feed from Charlie Van Oirshott and drove it into the right side of the cage for the sudden victory win in the 7X7 overtime format. 

The win was a bit of revenge for the Cards, who fell to Syracuse 2-1 in Syracuse back in the fall. 

"I'm proud of the performance of the team, from front to back." Justine Sowry stated after the match. "A game like that is going to ebb and flow, and momentum is going to shift, but we stayed committed to our game plan We wanted to work hard and have poise on the ball and communicate, because of their pressure". 

The Cards got nine shots off in the 65 minutes, five on goal -- while Syracuse attempted just two, none on goal. 

 A weird situation in the fourth quarter when the Syracuse goalkeeper was issued a green card and had to leave the game. The Cards appeared to get a successful shot in the net after that from Katie Schneider, but the officials ruled the attempt was too high and the goal was disallowed.   

The Stick Girls return to action Saturday when they travel to Durham to face Pam Bustin's Duke squad.

SOFTBALL FALLS 9-7 TO PITT 

A three-run homer by Pitt in the bottom of the seventh gave Pitt the walk-off win against UofL yesterday in Pittsburgh. 

Louisville had built a 7-4 lead in the top of the sixth when Jennifer Leonhardt and Taylor Roby crushed homers against the Panthers, but Pitt cut that back to a one-run lead in the bottom of the sixth and then touched Roby (5-6) for the winning blow after the Cards failed to score in the top of the seventh.

With the loss, the Cards fall to 12-15 overall and 6-10 in the ACC. Pitt goes to 10-20 and 5-15 in conference play. 

The two squads will wrap up the four-game series at it again today at noon and you can follow the action on ACCNX. 

NCAA WBB TOURNAMENT FINAL AND PICK 'EM RESULTS. 

In case you missed the NCAA WBB Championship game last night, Stanford survived a last-second three point attempt by Arizona's Aari McDonald and escaped with a 54-53 win over the Wildcats. 

It was a dramatic finish to what was an exciting tournament, despite Louisville getting eliminated in the Elite Eight.. We saw Geno's squad look un-UConn-like against the AZ Wildcats and we saw got to see Kim Mulkey experiment with mask adjustments mid-post-game interview.

Stanford grabbed an early 16-8 first quarter lead, but Arizona win the final three quarters. Yeah, A PAC-12 Final was a bit anti-climatic, but...that's the way the ball bounces. 

Hailey Jones provided the winning bucket plus one for the Cardinal, putting them up 54-50. She led Stanford in scoring with 17 points, McDonald led all scores with 22

In our CARDINAL COUPLE NCAA TOURNAMENT "PICK 'EM", I believe Kenny S., edged me out for the title. I'll let Bracket Czar Jared go into that more tomorrow,  Kenny did successfully pick Stanford to win it all. 

Have a meaningful Monday!

paulie

Sunday Cardinal Couple - Softball and Lacrosse Register Wins

 Lacrosse Gets a Conference Win

Lacrosse went to Blacksburg, VA yesterday and got a 13-9 win over Virginia Tech.  This is the first conference win for the Cardinals since 2017, and the first conference win under Coach Scott Teeter's tutelage.

The Cards jumped on the board quickly with a trio of goals in the first five minutes of play.  Caroline Blalock, Ally Hall, and Kokoro Nakazawa each being responsible for one.  Hall would go on to get the hat trick secured only a quarter of the way through the game.  Allegra Catelano, would also contribute one in that time frame to get the score to a 6-2 lead for the Cards.  Hannah Morris scored with about three minutes left to get the score to 7-4 to go into halftime.

Morris also got the scoring started in the 2nd half, and after letting VT have a goal, the Cards then reeled off four straight.  Hall, and Nakazawa each scored one, and Blalock got another pair.  VT put a stop to the run, then Hall would score one more to bring her game total to five.  The Hokies finished out the game on a 3-0 run.

A great performance by Ally Hall, combines with continued good play by Caroline Blalock to give the Cards a solid core of play.  Add in the potential that the freshman Kokoro Nakazawa shows, and contributions from Allegra Catelano and the Cards have a solid team to build on and continue to grow.

And you certainly can't forget the performance of Rachel Florek in goal.  Chalk up 10 saves for her in playing nearly the full game and we have a solid last line of defense.

Lacrosse comes back home for a three game homestand.  It starts with Duke Thursday night, under the lights in Cardinal Stadium.  The first draw will be at 7pm, and you'll be able to catch this one on the ACC Network.

Softball Wins a Pair

After a couple of weeks of playing top 25 teams, Softball gets a little bit of a respite this weekend.  In Pittsburgh, with a weather altered series, UofL got the series started off well yesterday with a pair of wins, 6-4, and 7-4.

Carmyn Greenwood and Taylor Roby get top billing in yesterdays game.  Greenwood went 7 for 7 at bat, and Roby sent a pair of yellow orbs out beyond the fence.

Greenwood sent the second pitch of the game out to the centerfield fence for a double, advanced on a Celene Funke sacrifice.  Taylor Roby singled to score Greenwood.  Makayla Hurst ripped a home run out to center field to complete the trio of runs in the first inning.

The third inning saw Roby hit a double, get lifted for Jordyn Wolfe to finish out the base running for her, who then scored on an error.

In the 5th inning, yes, it was Roby again with a solo touch-em-all.

The 6th inning would finish out the scoring, UofL got started with Charley Butler taking advantage of an error, and eventually scoring on a Carmyn Greenwood single.  Pitt would score their quartet of runs in the 6th inning as well, but they were unable to tack on any more in the 7th, leaving them short for the game.

Taylor Roby was in the circle for most of this one, with Jennifer Leonhardt coming in to strike out all three batters in the bottom of the 7th.

The 2nd game of the day took on a different early feel.

Again, Carmyn Greenwood led things off well, getting a double in her lead off duties, and then scoring on a Makayla Hurst single.  But then things took a turn.  In the bottom half of the 1st, Pitt would again score all four of their game runs in a single inning.

UofL chipped away at that lead for the next couple of innings.  Elana Ornelas reached on a fielder's choice, got to 2nd on a pitch that got away from the Pitt catcher, and scored when the perfect-on-the-day Greenwood singled.

The chip in the 3rd, well, it was more than just a chip shot.  It was more like a long drive when Taylor Roby got her 2nd homerun of the day straight away to center.  The dinger narrowed the Pitt lead to 4-3 after three innings.

UofL would say, "enough is enough" in the 5th.  Carmyn Greenwood came up to bat and got another single, of course.  Roby got to take a leisurely stroll to first with the base-on-balls.  Makayla Hurst hit into a fielder's choice, in which everyone managed to find a base safely, loading the bases with two outs.  Greenwood finished her circuit on a wild pitch to even the score at four apiece.  Charley Butler, who is not particularly known for power hitting, decided to show off and took one yard out to left field for the three run dinger.  That reached the final score of 7-4.

Gabby Holloway started out pitching in this one, with Jennifer Leonhardt taking over after three innings.  Taylor Roby would come in for a single out in the 7th.

The series has been weather altered, as mentioned.  Originally scheduled for a game Friday, a double header yesterday, and a game today, it was shifted to be the double header yesterday, a game today at 2pm, and a game Monday at noon.  Curiously, UofL's schedule does not have any video listed for today's game, but ESPN does have it listed as being available on ACC Network Extra.

Field Hockey Hosts Syracuse

Also in action today, Field Hockey hosts Syracuse.  The Orange are 8-4 overall for the season, 4-2 in conference if you include the fall portion of the season, but are in 2nd in the conference standings currently with an official 1-0 in-conference record based only on spring conference competition.

Because Field Hockey scheduling has been particularly weird in this overall weird school year, that 8-4 record does include Syracuse's win over Duke and loss to UNC in the ACC tournament in the fall, but also those conference tournament wins and losses don't count as conference games in the current conference standings.

In the spring portion of play, Syracuse is undefeated, with a pair of wins over Saint Joseph's, though one was a scrimmage, a win over Towson, and a win over Duke.

As with all ACC Field Hockey games, the competition will be stiff, and UofL will need to get their offense going, which has been a little bit of a challenge in this spring schedule, being blanked by both Boston College and UNC.

Today's game is at noon, at Trager Stadium, and is, of course, on ACC Network Extra.

Volleyball Selection Show

The 48 teams for the NCAA Volleyball Tournament will be announced at 4pm today on ESPNU.  UofL is guaranteed to be in the brackets by virtue of their win over UNC on Miami's court on Friday that gained them the outright ACC Championship.

The Cards are currently ranked 13th in national rankings.  What that translates into for tournament seedings is anybody's guess.  Traditionally the volleyball tournament leaned pretty heavily on geographic clustering, but with the whole tournament being played in Omaha this year, that is pretty much out the window, so your guess is as good as mine.

Cardinal Couple Radio Hour Podcast

And finally, Paulie, Case, Jared, and myself held down the fort for the Cardinal Couple Radio Hour Podcast.  Daryl was off again pushing buttons, we think for baseball this time?

Basketball, Volleyball, Field Hockey, Lacrosse, and vaccine side effects were part of the discussion.  I was feeling pretty crummy during the show, and the rest of the day yesterday due to side effects from the Covid vaccine after I got my 2nd shot Friday.  I am feeling back to normal this morning other than my shoulder still being sore.

Check it out below.

Volleyball Wins ACC Title -- SATURDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

Volleyball Sweeps UNC for Title

Louisville Volleyball completed the spring portion of their regular season yesterday and, in doing so, claimed their third ACC title since joining the league in 2014. The title is their second outright, after they shared the crown with Pittsburgh in 2017. The title gives Louisville the automatic qualifying bid for the ACC in the upcoming truncated NCAA tournament which will feature only 48 teams. The Cards are ranked in the top-15, but were not mentioned in the most recent top-ten power rankings. Louisville will learn their fate during the NCAA's selection show on Sunday at 4PM. The selection show will air on ESPNU. 

As for yesterday's match, Louisville came out attacking early, as they jumped out to a 6-2 lead before UNC began to claw back. The Tarheels would get closest at 7-9 before Louisville went on a run to stretch their lead. Ultimately, the Cards would use a few point spurts, outscoring the Heels about 4-1 en route to a 25-15 first game victory. It wasn't all good for the Cards in the first game, as Ayden Bartlett went down with an apparent knee injury. This gave Cici Rush and Claire Chaussee a bit more playing time as the two would appear in all three sets following the injury. 

The second game was much tighter. Louisville was again able to pull out to a 12-8 lead, but UNC was not so easily deterred this time. The Heels pulled back level and the two teams traded points into the 20s. UNC grabbed a game point at 24-23, but Louisville was able to fight it off with a huge block by Amaya Tillman. After a couple of more trades, Louisville finally won the game at 28-26. The second game was Louisville's best attacking game, yet ended up being the closest of the three. The close loss gave UNC a big motivational boost heading into the third game.

The Tarheels came out hot, zipping out to a 7-1 lead. Louisville held strong, though, and three straight errors (two blocks) brought Louisville right back into the game. After a few more traded points and a tie at 11, UNC took a 12-11 lead for their last lead of the match. From there, Louisville went on an 8-1 run to snag a 19-12 lead, which UNC could not overcome. The Cards cruised from there to a 25-18 victory. 

On the whole, Louisville had an encouraging match in their final regular season action before the NCAA tournament. They hit for .288 and held North Carolina to just .080 hitting. The Tarheels did outblock the Cards at 9-8, though Louisville's were a bit more timely. The stat that still needs cleaning up has been persistent for Louisville throughout the season, and that is on the service side. The Cards finished with six aces compared to ten errors. The Heels finished with four and four. Louisville will need to clean that up to ensure advancement in the NCAA tournament. 

Stanford vs Arizona for the Title

It's a shocking all PAC-12 final in the NCAA Women's Tournament after a pair of buzzer beaters missed for South Carolina and Arizona led wire-to-wire against UCONN. No Cardinal Couple Pick'em Brackets selected this title matchup.

The first game of the night saw a pair of teams desperate to get through, as South Carolina fought back from multiple large deficits against Stanford. The Cardinal held the lead for most of the game and were the beneficiaries of a few helpful non-calls. The two worst offenses came when a blatant kicked ball was missed and led to a runout that gave Stanford a five point lead with under two minutes to go. A couple of plays later saw a full shove in the back go uncalled which prevented a South Carolina layup. On that possession, the Gamecocks were probably better served by not getting that call, as the out of bounds play resulted in a three pointer. 

Despite the calls seeming to all go against USC, they can't cry foul too much, as they still had multiple chances to win. They led by one with under 45 seconds to go but quickly ceded the lead. A turnover on the drive to the basket with 13 seconds left set up a foul fest to end it. With two fouls to give, USC had a couple of chances to steal out of bounds rather than send Stanford to the line. They did just that, stealing and driving with five seconds left. A layup attempt fell off the rim and fell to Aliyah Boston who had just enough time to catch and shoot as the buzzer went off. The ball clanked off the back iron and Stanford escaped.

In the nightcap, Arizona struck early and often. The Wildcats scored the first basket of the game, a three pointer, and never looked back. UCONN closed the gap to 9-8 with just under three minutes remaining in the first quarter before a 7-2 run gave Arizona a 16-10 first quarter victory. They would go on to win the second quarter by four and carried a ten point lead into the half. The third quarter saw the most scoring for both teams, and it was also the only quarter UCONN would win. The Huskies scored 21 in the third, beating the Wildcats by one in the segment. It wouldn't be enough to spark a big run, though, as Arizona got their one point back in the fourth quarter, winning by ten in a game that was never really in doubt.

The title game on Sunday will be the third matchup between Stanford and Arizona. The Cardinal won the first two games by 27 and 14 points. The Wildcats will look to continue the trend of cutting that deficit and make it a closer game. Stanford reaches their first title game since 2010-11 and is seeking their first championship since 1991-92. Prior to this year, Arizona had reached the Sweet 16 just once and had not made the tournament since 2005. If you're looking for a Cinderella, you'll have to pull for a team with the same name as the team down the road.

Cardinal Couple Radio Hour

What a week it has been! From the Sweet 16 and Elite 8 to the volleyball ACC title, Cardinal Couple has been there for it all. We'll do our best to break it all down in this week's Cardinal Couple Radio Hour. With softball and lacrosse being on the road, we should have a full house for the first time in awhile. Tune in to the Cardinal Couple YouTube Channel at 11AM for the live show, or check out the podcast or rebroadcast following the show's airing. As always, we look forward to bringing you the joy and excitement of Louisville women's athletics.

Until next time, Go Cards!

-CH-

VB beats Miami in 4 sets - WBB adds two grad transfers - SB schedule altered; FRIDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

FRIDAYS WITH DARYL

Good morning L'ville fans.. It has been a roller coaster of basketball experience over the past week so I'll give a few thoughts on that.  Want to also include a personal note that my work schedule has picked back up since last year's shut down.  I'm excited to get back out at the ballfield at Slugger this year for Bats baseball games as well as continuing to work at the ACCN building for Olympic sport video production.  I plan on being out there for the entire ACC tournament!

Now that basketball is over in the Ville, I'm flipping to the diamond sport mode!

A quick reflection- We were blessed with an Elite 8 berth by the WBB program, a #1 ranking and regular season title, another ACC Championship appearance and the fierce, fabulous and classy career of Dana Evans, who took this program to new heights.

  

On Sunday the Cards beat the Ducks to advance to face the tournament's overall #1 seed, Stanford.  I do believe we witnessed Dana return to the confident scoring machine we know and love as well as the establishment of next year's team leader, Mykasa Robinson.

Speaking of next year's squad... The Cards did end up being a landing spot for a couple grad transfers!  One of them I am particularly a fan of!

Louisville Adds Emily Engstler, Chelsie Hall to 2021 Class

Engstler joins the squad after three seasons at Syracuse, Hall the last four seasons at Vanderbilt.

Engstler, a 6-foot-1 guard from New York, N.Y., started all 31 games for the Orange as a sophomore prior to coming off the bench as a junior last season and earning ACC Co-Sixth Player of the Year honors.

As a junior, she nearly averaged a double-double with 10.5 points and 9.1 rebounds per game. She had 12 double-digit scoring games and seven double-doubles last season. She finished with a season-high 21 points, while adding 10 rebounds in the ACC Tournament matchup against Louisville. She also had 16 points, 11 rebounds and a steal on 7-14 shooting % against the Cards as the team debut their first ever #1 ranking.

Engstler was named the 2018 New York State Gatorade Player of the Year and a McDonald's All-American.

"We are thrilled to add such a talented player and quality person to our roster. Emily is one of the top rebounders and shot blockers in the country," said head coach Jeff Walz. "Emily's versatility, size and strength will be a huge addition to our team. Her passing, basketball IQ and toughness will be contagious. We are looking forward to getting her on campus and beginning her new journey in a Cardinal uniform."

"I'm grateful to be given a new opportunity during this time in my life," said Engstler. "I hope for a new beginning that's filled with hope and much to celebrate."

Hall is a 5-foot-7 guard from Boca Raton, Fla. She spent the last four seasons at Vanderbilt. She was named to the SEC All-Freshman team in 2017-18 after starting all 31 games and averaging 11.9 points and 3.5 rebounds during her rookie campaign. During that rookie season, she played at the KFC Yum! Center with Vanderbilt, finishing with 16 points, three rebounds and two assists.

As a junior, she started all 30 games and was named to the SEC Academic Honor Roll after leading the team in free throw percentage (.813), assists (117) and minutes (972). Her 3.9 assists per game ranked eighth in the SEC. She averaged 10.6 points per game and reached double-figures in 18 games, including two 20-point performances.

In 2020-21, Hall started all eight games of Vanderbilt's shortened season. She reached 1,000 career points on January 10 against Alabama.

Hall attended Seffner Christian in Tampa, Fla., and was a first team all-state selection as a junior and senior.

"We are excited to announce the addition of graduate transfer Chelsie Hall from Vanderbilt. Chelsie is a consummate floor general who is poised and plays with great pace," said Walz. "She is a seasoned SEC guard who has started all four years for the Commodores. She brings with her a career positive assist-to-turnover ratio and she is a 1,000-point scorer."

"I am grateful and excited for this new journey," said Hall. "I can't wait to be a part of this special program."

VOLLEYBALL WINS AT MIAMI

#13 UofL got the 3-1 win over Miami in ACC volleyball action Thursday evening in Coral Gables, Fla. 25-12, 23-25, 25-23 and 25-16 were the set numbers. The VolleyCards clinched a tie for the regular season ACC title with the win. 

Nena Mbonu tied a career-high with 14 kills to lead. UofL hit .276 with seven aces, 14 blocks and 49 digs. Joining Mbonu in double digit kills was Anna Stevenson with 10 kills and seven blocks and Anna DeBeer with 11 kills and ace. Alexis Hamilton paced the defense with 12 digs and Amaya Tillman recorded six blocks. Tori Dilfer ran the offense with 49 assists and added six blocks.
Miami hit .127 with four aces and eight blocks. The Canes were led by Elizaveta Lukianova's 18 kills and four blocks.

The win clinches at least a share of the ACC crown as the Cardinals move to 12-2 in the league as Notre Dame (13-3) swept Georgia Tech to bump the Yellow Jackets out of the top two. Louisville will need to take down North Carolina to clinch the ACC's automatic qualifier for the NCAA Tournament.

The Cardinals face the Tarheels this afternoon in the regular season finale. First serve is scheduled for 2 p.m. It will be the Heels' 4th consecutive ranked opponent.. UNC 1-2 in those matches, losing the previous two.

SOFTBALL

UofL softball series at Pittsburgh has been altered due to cold weather projected in the area. This will be the second delay for the series. The teams will now open the series on Saturday with a doubleheader starting a 2 p.m. at Pitt's Vartabedian Field. The Cardinals and the Panthers will also play a single game at 2 p.m. on Sunday with the series finale taking place on Monday at 12 p.m. All games will be shown on the ACC Network Extra.

The Cards will return home following the series to face #8 Kentucky on Wednesday night April 7th at 7 PM. The Cats will face the #21 Tennessee Volunteers on the road this weekend before meeting the Cards at Ulmer Stadium for a midweek matchup.

NCAA WOMENS FINAL FOUR

If you happen to still care... the WBB Final Four starts tonight in San Antonio.  Personally, I'll be rooting for Dawn Staley and the USC Gamecocks to cut down the nets.  Not sure I'll actually tune in for the games, however. 

Stanford vs South Carolina 6:00PM

UCONN vs Arizona 9:30PM

I have a few meetings planned for Saturday with softball out of town so I am out for radio, Jared might be tied up with family so it should be Jeff Paul and Case to dissect the weeks events.  

Until next time Cardinals fans! 
~Daryl 

Vball Enters Final Weekend -- Attendance Update -- WBB Reflection -- Pick Em -- THURSDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

 Volleyball Enters Final Weekend in First Place

Louisville heads into their final two matches of the regular season in first place in the ACC. This would be the first time since 2017 the Cards have finished atop the conference standings.

The Cards travel to Coral Gables for both matches. They will square off against Miami tonight at 5:00 p.m., and North Carolina tomorrow at 2:00 p.m.

Miami is 10-6 this season and have lost two of that last three. Most recently, the Hurricanes took down Virginia Tech. 

The Tar Heels are 10-6 on the year and are on a two-game losing streak, both against ranked opponents. They are a good serving team, averaging 1.5 aces per set. North Carolina is also careful with the ball and commit just a little over one error per set.

Here's where things get tricky due to the standings, which I added down below:

Louisville can win the ACC outright by winning both of their matches, putting their conference win percentage above all other teams. If they were to go 1-1 then a lot of it comes down to Georgia Tech vs Notre Dame, who play each other tonight. The winner of that match would then need to lose their other match since everyone has two matches remaining. If the Cards lose in both matches then they cannot win the conference.

Even if the Cards do not win the conference to earn the automatic qualifying bid for the NCAA Tournament they have a strong chance to make it based off their record and #13 ranking.
Tonight's match can be viewed on ACCNX.

Louisville Athletics Updates Attendance Capacity

As things become more relaxed with COVID-19, Louisville has altered some of the attendance capacity for outdoor sports.

Ulmer Stadium's chairback seating capacity remains the same. There is not a way to allow for more seating while maintaining the six foot social distancing rules. However, the outfield berm remains open with plenty of room to spread out.

Baseball is in the same boat at Jim Patterson Stadium and their seating. Fortunately for the Cards at the corner of 3rd and Central, they have plenty of seating already when including the foul lines and left field seating.

Dr. Mark and Cindy Lynn Stadium will allow more fans though. Capacity has increased from 405 fans to 655 fans. Prior to this announcement, only the chairback seating on the south side of the stadium was available. They will now allow seating in their berm areas. Men's soccer has two remaining matches while the women's sole home match is April 10.

Reflecting on Women's Basketball

I'll keep this short and sweet. Now that we are more than 24 hours past the loss to Stanford I have had some time to reflect on the loss and this season.

A 26-4 year, ESPECIALLY during a COVID-19 year, is quite remarkable. The Cards had some milestones including reaching a #1 ranking for the first time in school history. They also advanced to their sixth ever Elite Eight.

Louisville had some struggles this year including struggling to close out games. They also had some lapses on offense that kept games tight against lesser opponents (ie Marist and Northwestern).

The Cards had a great first half against Stanford, but did we really expect the top overall seed to continue their abysmal shooting performance? I joked on Twitter that Stanford sold their souls at halftime for them to shoot lights out in the second half. They're the top overall seed for a reason and Tara Vanderveer did not become the winningest coach in college basketball history by sitting back and giving up

.

It's sad to see the season and Dana's career at Louisville come to an end. It'll take a few days to get over. Thankfully, Katy's parents come in town tonight and will stay through Easter so I won't be forced to watch the final three games of this tournament and pour salt in an open wound.

Also, we're not sure what's going on in Syracuse to spark over half of their roster entering the transfer portal. Most of us are Coach Q fans and hope things are okay up there. I'd be surprised if Coach Walz doesn't at least make a phone call to a couple of the players searching for a new home.

Cardinal Couple Pick Em

Did your bracket fall short of expectations? That seems to be the annual theme. It was still (and still is) a great Pick Em tournament this year.

We had 20 entries, which I believe is the most ever for our NCAA Tournament brackets. Other than the Chimps everyone else finished above .500. We're still not sure what Timmy, Tammy, Tommy, and the rest of them were doing when filling out their bracket.

Our updated standings after 60 games is as follows:

49-11 Paulie

47-13 Kenny S, Callie Blue

45-15 Jason Wyrick

44-16 Arthur

43-17 David Watson, Worldwide

42-18 Jared

40-20 Blue Lou, Clemson Cuz, Vivian

39-21 Case, Kenneth Stark Sr

38-22 Sonya, Nole Knowledge

36-24 Nick O, Bea

35-25 Curtis

32-28 Joe Hill

24-36 CC Chimps

Based off future picks some brackets are already done. These brackets are final:

45-18 Jason Wyrick

43-20 Worldwide

40-23 Blue Lou

39-24 Kenneth Stark Sr

38-25 Sonya, Nole Knowledge

32-31 Joe Hill, Clemson Cuz

38-28 Curtis

36-27 Bea

24-39 CC Chimps

Louisville was a favorite among 11 brackets entrants to win it all and gave some people's brackets an early finish.

We still do not have a decisive first place finish despite just three games to go. Our co- founder and managing editor Paulie holds that lead with 49 wins. He can add three more wins to that if UConn beats South Carolina in the final. Kenny S is close behind with 47 wins and can get to 50 wins if Stanford beats UConn in the final. Since both brackets have UConn winning their next game it comes down to what happens on the other side of the bracket. Kenny needs Stanford to win it all which would put the two in a tie at either 49 wins or 50 wins (depending on what happens in UConn vs Arizona). Kenny entered his bracket before Paulie so he would hold the tie break.

Callie Blue also has 47 wins, but with Kentucky out of the tournament Callie Blue can only add one more win to that final score if Stanford wins tomorrow. Callie Blue cannot get enough wins to beat Paulie. Since Callie Blue and Kenny S each have Stanford winning the next round Kenny S would hold the tiebreak if they finish tied.

Since Jason's bracket is final with 45 wins it does secure Callie Blue for third in the Pick Em That's not half bad for a first time entry!

April Fools Day

(The following section is a parody. That means it is NOT real - don't take it seriously.) 

It is the first day of April, campers, and in years past -- we've run parody articles here. Keeping in that tradition, Cardinal Couple has gotten wind of a startling development on the UofL Campus. 

It seems all the streets leading into campus will undergo a name change. They will all be re-named Vince Tyra. There will be a Vince Tyra Boulevard, Vince Tyra Highway, Vince Tyra Lane and Vince Tyra Avenue. The circle by Ulmer Stadium will also be now known as Foul Ball Circle. 

When asked about the impending change, Tyra refused to comment, but Louisville Lacrosse head coach Scott Teeter was allegedly reached for comment and possibly said:

  "Whatever... I live in Indiana and I just get off I-65 and go right to my office in the Koerber. I've never noticed the names of the roads.  Just as long as they don't put up another toll." 

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

(The above three paragraphs were parody. Louisville has no plans to change the names of the streets leading into campus, that we know of. But, it would be kind of funny if they did...imagine giving directions.) 

"You take Eastern Parkway to Vince Tyra, then turn right on Vince Tyra and hang another right on Vince Tyra at the light...and then turn right again on Vince Tyra, before the underpass. If you get to Vince Tyra, you've gone too far. "  

Happy Thursday and Go Cards!

Jared