WBB Prepares for Miami -- THURSDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

Louisville Closes Regular Season with Two Home Games, Hosts Miami Tonight

The women's basketball regular season wraps up this weekend for most teams. For Louisville, their regular season will conclude with a pair of home games- Thursday against Miami (Fla.) and Notre Dame.

Louisville welcomes Miami to the KFC Yum! Center for a 6:00 p.m. tip-off today. The early start time is the result of the game being aired nationally on ACC Network. Pam Ward and Stephanie White will be on the call on tv while Nick Curran and Cortnee Walton will continue to cover radio duties on 93.9-FM.

A new jersey will make an appearance for the Cards, as Louisville recognizes and celebrates Black History Month. The jersey will be primarily white with red and black letters and numbers, and the sides of the jerseys will consist of a variety of colors.

Most recently, Louisville defeated Boston College by 10 following a monstrous fourth quarter rally. The win moved Louisville to 20-9 on the year and a tie for fourth place in the ACC at 11-5. Louisville finished the 9-5 in true road games in the regular season this year.

For Louisville, a win tonight would guarantee a top five finish in the ACC and their final position would be decided following their game against Notre Dame on Sunday. The Cards could potentially still be tied for fourth even with a loss tonight, a tie that could consist of four teams depending how other games around the league play out. Just win and not put yourself in that position, right?

Miami enters the game with a 17-10 record and 10-6 in the ACC. The Hurricanes have lost two of their last three including a nine-point loss at Syracuse last weekend. The current Bracketology by Charlie Creme puts Miami as one of the "last four bye" slots and a projected 9-seed.

The Hurricanes have had a productive offensive output this year. They average 71.9 points per game. Their .432 shooting percentage (taken from Miami's website) and 14.7 assists per game both rank fifth in the ACC. They shoot a respectable .307 from three-point range and their .730 free throw shooting is one of the best in the league.

Senior transfer Haley Cavinder leads the team in scoring, averaging 12.8 points per game. Her 68 assists rank second on the team and her 92% free throw shooting is one of the best in the conference.

(remember when COVID cancelled games?)

Destiny Harden has been the do-it-all player for the Hurricanes. She is second on the team in scoring at 12.3 points per game and she has a team-best 5.6 rebounds per game. She also leads the team with 44 steals.

While Ja'Leah Williams has been an average scorer at 7.3 points per game, her 76 assists lead the team.

(did someone say cookies?)

Miami does like to run with some size, with four players ranging between 6'4 and 6'6. Lola Pendade has been the primary post player this year for the Hurricanes.

Louisville has owned the series against Miami, 7-3, and they are 7-2 since Jeff Walz took over. Miami won the most recent match-up, a 61-59 game in the quarterfinals of the ACC Tournament. The Hurricanes outscored the Cards 23-7 in the fourth quarter.

The Cards had won the previous three games against Miami, two on the road and one at home. The most recent three games in the series all were all a three-point margin or less.

Paulie, Daryl, and I plan to be in attendance for this one. Hopefully Paulie's birthday festivities (he celebrated his birthday yesterday) will continue today with a Louisville win!

Wednesday Pressers

Coach Walz and the six seniors on the UofL WBB squad met with the media Wednesday. The pressers were divided into three segments, and you can listen to them below! 

JEFF WALZ PRESSER 2/22/23

JONES, CARR and WILLIAMS PRESSER 2/22/23

KONNO, ROBINSON and DIXON PRESSER 2/22/23

Cardinal Couple Pick Em

We're working on the prizes for the winners and runners-up for the ACC Tournament Pick Em and NCAA Tournament Pick Em, but word on the street is that it's food related and who will say no to a gift card for food?! We would love your participation and even invite your family and friends!

Happy Thursday and Go Cards!

Jared

SCOTT TEETER INTERVIEW -- WEDNESDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

 

SCOTT TEETER INTERVIEW

I was able to catch up with Louisville head Lacrosse coach Scott Teeter Tuesday afternoon in his office and we were able to get in a great interview about Louisville Lacrosse so far this season. 

It's almost always a great visit to the Kueber Center where the Lacrosse offices are, and, as a added bonus, I got to see my love...basketball's Cortnee Walton TWICE while there and also met (relatively) new lacrosse assistant coach Allison Daley for the first time...plus running into my favorite draw control champ of all time and assistant LAX coach Kaylin Morissette.

Yes, a great day to be vertical, indeed....for ol' Paulie. 

Here's what Scott and I chatted about:

PAULIE: Your thoughts on the season so far?

SCOTT:: We've come out of the gates running and it hasn't been perfect lacrosse but we've been playing pretty well. Our first game our defense and goalkeeping carried us and our offense got us to the quick start vs Denver but couldn't score in the second half. The offense got it figured out in the next two games and those resulted in wins. Defense very solid against both Colorado and Lindenwood. 

Now it's about putting it all together. With Sara (Addeche) in net. We're getting the lead to start each of our three contest, we just need to come out as strong to start the second halves. 

PAULIE: Defense and playing the full 60 minutes are your things to do then...

SCOTT:  60 minutes is key. Our defense a bright spot. Sara credits the defense in front of her. We're making the saves that maybe we weren't last year. It's also been good to see our attack players get involved a little and not just our midfielders. 

PAULIE:  You're #23 in the nation in one poll...#19 in another...going into Virginia. Is the attitude a "We've gone this Far, can we go a little further?"  feeling? 

SCOTT:  Definitely. One of my old coaches taught me..."Don't get too high on your highs or too low on your lows". We downplay the national ranking a little bit, Now, it's an opportunity vs. Virginia whose in the top ten. 

PAULIE: Let's talk Nicole Perroni. 

SCOTT: She's hit her stride, had a huge summer and was ready to roll for her senior season. She brings confidence and leadership to our program. She's developed into that leadership role. She taken Negai Nakazawa under her wing on the field, letting her sister Kokoro handle all the off-field things and when it comes to Lacrosse Negai goes to Nicole.  Nicole is getting the other team's top defender and still producing, which is great. 

PAULIE: Sara Addeche at goalkeeper. You had choices. What put her in the starting role?. 

SCOTT: We didn't name a starter for a long time. Even in mid to late January, we hadn't named one. Sara ended up actually being the most healthy when we finally named a starter and she's taken it and ran with it. She's the first goalkeeper we have ever had .in the time I've been here, to be named ACC DEFENDER OF THE WEEK and she'll always the first one to credit the defensive line in front of her for the defense's successes. If there was ever any doubt, she's solidified her spot as our #1 goalkeeper right now. 

PAULIE: A great thing to see is the roster at full strength with almost 40 players and if I'd mentioned "full strength" a couple of years ago to you, you would have rolled your eyes and slapped your palm up against the side of your face. Out of this current roster, 13 are freshmen and 12 are sophomores. That's a pretty amazing youth movement.

SCOTT: We're balanced and we have younger players that are competing. Sophomores like Tiffany Natoli, for example, starting and producing. A freshman like Negai Nakazawa. A player that could be our future. Rian Adkins, from Columbus, OH....already doing great things .A lot of upside. Her composure.  And defensively, we're able to rotate five or six girls in, so we can stay a little fresher as the game gets deeper.. It's building a program, not just a team. When great players graduate, we want to have experienced players ready to come in and become those next great players. .And getting up to the speed of the ACC is big, also.

PAULIE: That getting up to speed in the best lacrosse conference in DI has to be so very important, yet difficult...also, . 

SCOTT: Very important, but they ALL have the opportunity to earn playing time. To succeed and learn how to earn success. When I took over, we were just trying to get 18-20 girls that were healthy to play.

It's good to have a full roster now, for sure. 

PAULIE: The Nakazawa sisters. A great story on this team. How did you get involved with them and ultimately getting them both to campus from Japan? 

SCOTT: Through my Canada connections. I had a guy on one of my Canadian All-Star rosters who knew a lot about scouting Japanese lacrosse. I went over to Japan several times. Kokoro was the first to impress me. And to see her develop, especially now that her little sister is here,  has been so wonderful. They'll joke around with me now and try to play tricks on me, before she'd walk around me on eggshells. Negai has made Kokoro better, her wanting to improve her skills to match Negai's. 

PAULIE: Is there a third sister in the family?.

SCOTT: (laughing) There's not a third, but they did prank me by saying there was another sister, named Nicole. I caught on they were referring to Nicole Perroni

(Not a Nakazawa sister, biologically)

PAULIE: The lack of splits between playing conference and nonconference squads? Does it affect you?

SCOTT: You've got to do it, because of the length of the season and everyone wanting to play an ACC, in-conference opponent on the weekend. We have four games coming up in eight days now, and that's a lot. At Virginia Saturday, at Vanderbilt Monday, then home to play Cincinnati on Friday and finally Pitt on a Sunday, March 5th. 

PAULIE: Final words for the Cardinals fanbase...a pep talk to get them out to matches?  

SCOTT:  We're on the up and up...being nationally ranked and looking to stay there. We play in the ACC. That sells itself, right there. The University of Louisville's Athletic department sells itself. We have the only 'lacrosse only' facility in the ACC...Our support staff and network is tops. We have all the bells and whistles. We're in year six of the rebuild. Come out and be a part of it and join the great fans and spectators already out there.

(before the press box was built...)

I appreciate Scott taking the time to speak with me on Tuesday and look forward to LAX at Louisville rising to the top of the ACC. The dedication, backing and foundation is there. Join me in watching it grow. 

(We hope you have enjoyed the Scott Teeter shots we have collected over the years and used in today's article.  Many are from the lenses of Jared Anderson).

paulie

 . 

 

Lax Moves Up in Rankings -- WBB Stays Put -- TUESDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

LAX CLIMBS, HOOPS MAINTAINS

Fresh off a spectacular weekend for Louisville Athletics- no joke, both basketball teams won, baseball swept their series, softball won a pair of games, women's and men's tennis each were victorious, and women's and men's swim and dive both finished third in the ACC Championships- we get back into the regular workweek for the rest of us. A couple of our women's teams kept their eyes on the updated rankings this week.

Lacrosse Moves Up to #23 in Coaches Poll

Louisville Lacrosse moved up one spot to #23 in the latest Coaches Poll following their 14-7 victory over Lindenwood over the weekend. The Cards are one of seven ACC teams currently in the Top 25.

#12 Virginia hosts Louisville on Saturday at 1:00 p.m., opening up conference play and also being Louisville's first road game of the year. The Cards won't face another ranked opponent until they visit Boston College on March 11.

Women's Basketball Stays Put

Following a 10-point win at Boston College and a two-point overtime loss at #10 Notre Dame on Thursday, Louisville women's basketball remained in the receiving votes category of the AP Poll with seven votes.

Five ACC teams are currently in the Top 25 with NC State and Louisville both hanging around close behind.

The latest bracketology has not been updated but Louisville was most recently projected to be a 6-seed on 02/17/2023, the day after their loss to Notre Dame. A road win certainly shouldn't hurt their seeding

.

In the ACC standings, Louisville and Florida State are tied for fourth at 11-5. The Cards hold the head-to-head tiebreaker so Louisville would have a double-bye if the ACC Tournament started today. Duke and Notre Dame are tied for first at 13-3 and Virginia Tech is hot on their tails at 12-4.

Louisville hosts Miami on Thursday at 6:00 p.m. The Hurricanes are tied with North Carolina for sixth in the conference at 10-6 in conference play. The Cards currently hold the head-to-head tiebreaker against North Carolina if that became a factor.

Cardinal Couple Pick Em

We are bringing back the popular Cardinal Couple Pick Em Contest again this year for both the ACC Tournament and NCAA Tournament. Get your study guides out now to start prepping! We'll have more on this later, but expect a wild and crazy battle in each bracket. 

Happy Tuesday and Go Cards!

Jared

Four Sunday Wins for Louisville women's sports -- MONDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

 SOFTBALL, W. BASKETBALL, LACROSSE and W. TENNIS TAKE VICTORIES SUNDAY

In horse racing parlance, taking down the "Pick 4" is usually a sign you're having a good day. Louisville women's sports took down the Pick 4 with four wins in four events that ranged in location from Boston, MA to Atlanta, GA...and two on the Cardinals campus.

 A dramatic, bottom of the seventh "W" for Holly Aprile's softball squad in the Peach State, a fourth quarter 12-2 scoring finish for Walz's crew in Beantown, Scott Teeter's LAX squad taking control early and levelling Lindenwood at the Louisville Lacrosse Stadium and Mark Beckham's Louisville Women's Tennis defending the Bass-Rudd with a convincing win over Memphis. 

Let's look at each one a little closer. 

LOUISVILLE SOFTBALL 2 - WISCONSIN 1

Big blows and spot-on pitching were the keys for Cards softball Sunday morning on the final day of the ACC VS.BIG10 Challenge. The Cards were facing Wisconsin, a school they had handled 2-0 in the opening game of Saturday action and the Cards found themselves batting against the Badgers on Sunday's 10 a.m. eye-opener.

Wisconsin grabbed an early 1-0 lead with three hits in the top of the first inning, but freshmen hurler Alyssa Zabala was able to shut the door after that. Louisville evened it up in the bottom of the first when Taylor Roby sent one grass, track, and back, back, back over the wall into the center field trees. For Taylor, it was her 42nd career home run, which tied her for the all-time home run total (set by Courtney Moore 2004-07). 

And that's how the score stayed until the bottom of the seventh. The Cards infield helped keep the slate clean by turning double plays in the top of the sixth and seventh innings. Vanessa Miller led off the bottom off the seventh with a single and then proceeded to steal second base. She saw the next two batters return to the dugout, though, before Easton Lotus came to bat and smashed a deep double to right field that easily got Miller home for the win. 

Zabala improves to 3-1 on the season with the win in the circle and the Cards will return to play when they travel to Orlando, FL for the UCF Golden Knights Classic, where they'll face UCF Friday night to begin their stay. 

WBB BESTS BC LATE FOR 62-52 WIN

A 12-2 game-ending run led Louisville women's basketball to a win in Boston over the Eagles next on Sunday. 

The Eagles proven to be a foe that would not go away most of the afternoon.  The Cards got off to a grand start, with an early 10-0 run in the first quarter forcing the Eagles into playin catch-up the rest of the quarter. The 14-10 first quarter lead was good to have, naturally, but one got the sense that Boston College was nowhere ready to raise the white flag and surrender. 

And the second quarter was a prime example off that unwillingness to surrender. The Eagles scored eight of the first 10 points of the second quarter. But, the Cards faced the 18-14 deficit and took off on a 12-0 run. As if on cue, the Cards stopped scoring for the remainder of the half, but held a 32-26 halftime edge. 

BC must have heard something at halftime from head coach Joanne Bernabei-McNamee that fired them up. They went on an 11-0 run to start the second half and built a 37-32 advantage. Louisville didn't score a bucket until six and a half minutes had gone by in the third quarter. 

The Eagles actually led Louisville by eight points deep into the third quarter before the Cards rallied to make it 44-40 B.C. after three.

What kind of fourth quarter would it be for Louisville? 

The Cards scored twice early in the fourth to tie it at 44-44 and battled with the Eagles to a 50-50 tie with 5:03 to play. And, then, the Cards got the final run. Merissah Russell sank a layup, and added a free throw a few seconds later. A Chrislyn Carr second-chance three increased the lead to 56-50. B.C. would counter with a basket, but Russell drained two more free throws and a Van Lith jumper set the tally at 60-50 with 1:34 to play. Free throws added the final two UofL points and the Cards had pulled off the 10-point win on the road.

(Fred says, two points and no more for you...Eagles, in the final three minutes)

THE FRED REPORT

FREE THROWS --  10-14 just barely squeaks the Cards past the 70% mark (71.4%)) and tat's all we require for a CAPITAL "F"  Russell and Van Lith were 3-4 each.

REBOUNDS -- 52-39 in favor of UofL and that'll work just fine for a CAPITAL "R". How about Liz Dixon with 12 to lead everyone, in just 30 minutes! 

EFFORT/EXECUTION -- 18 assists on 24 made baskets is superb and just 12 turnovers is encouraging. The 35% floor shooting is subpar, though, and those stretches were the Cards simply couldn't score lead me to award just a small-case "e" Consistency for 40 minutes would be nice...

DEFENSE -- Holding BC to 32% from the floor is note-worthy and watching BC go 5-23 from three point range was almost comical, allowing just 52 points admirable as well, but the Cards defense didn't really wake wake until the final 10-12 minutes of the game and I can't award a letter for that. No letter.

FINAL FRED COUNT:  F-R-e-_

The Cards invite Miami in for a visit next, on Thursday

POST GAME WALZ:  WALZ POST GAME B.C. 2/19/23

LACROSSE SHUTS DOWN LINDENWOOD 14-7 

Louisville Lacrosse got four goals each from Nicole Perroni and Kokoro Nakazawa and build a first quarter 5-1 lead that the Lindenwood squad could never overcome Sunday afternoon at the Louisville Lacrosse Stadium. 

Kylea Dobson started the Cardinals scoring barely three minutes in the contest and Louisville got their second score after Tiffany Natoli connected. After a Lions score, the Cards countered with net-finders from Allegra Catalano (her first goal of the year), Perroni and Kokoro Nakazawa for the 5-1 first quarter lead.

Perroni added two quick goals in the second quarter and Kokoro Nakazawa's score sent the Cards to a 8-1 advantage. Lindenwood would counter with three of the final four goals of the quarter, but the Cards were ahead comfortably at the half 9-4. 

The Cards extended the lead to 12-5 after three quarters and the squads had two goals each in the fourth quarter for the 14-5 final. J. Pleck relieved Sara Addeche at goalkeeper and had two saves in the final five minutes of play. Louisville won the draw control battle 15-10 and the Cards outshot the Lions 36-26. 

Lacrosse takes their first road trip of the season next week, beginning at Virginia on Saturday.

(LACROSSE PHOTOS BY JARED ANDERSON)

POSTGAME TEETER, KORORO NAKAZAWA and TIFFANY NATOLI:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=an7RNVaW5CE

WOMEN'S TENNIS DOWN MEMPHIS 5-2

Louisville women's tennis won the doubles matches and also four singles matches to down Memphis at the Bass-Rudd Center on campus

#1 doubles pair Andrea DiPalma and Rhea Verma were successful and #2 squad CiCi Xin and Jamila Snells also won their doubles match 

In singles, Maria Campos, Rhea Verma Tyra Richardson and CiCi Xin got wins in their matches. 

Louisville brings in Clemson next, on Fri., Feb 24th. 

paulie

. 

Gamedays Galore - Sunday Cardinal Couple

Multiple Gamedays and Recaps

Lots of UofL Sports activity to recap from yesterday, and preview for today, so let's dive in.

Swim & Dive

Despite the "let's dive in", Swim & Dive is not in action today, though they did wrap up the ACC Championship meet yesterday, the fifth day of the event.

The most notable result of the day was the 400 Freestyle Relay, with Gabi Albiero,  Christiana Regenauer, Julia Dennis, and Ella Welch, setting a school record, but still only managing to come in a reasonably close second to UVA's quartet.

The team finished 3rd in the overall standings behind nationally top ranked Virginia and 4th ranked NC State.

Softball

UofL Softball is in the midst of their traditional season opening swing through the south in search of warmer weather with another two weeks before the home opener at Ulmer.

This weekend is the ACC/Big 10 Challenge with Georgia Tech hosting, but alas not streaming to ACC Network Extra.  The Cards and the Yellowjackets are playing against Wisconsin and Illinois.

A double-header for UofL yesterday to play against both foes.  The day started early with the first pitch at 10am against Wisconsin.  The game started with a defensive clinic, playing through six inning scoreless before UofL was able to put a pair on the scoreboard in the top of the 7th.

Transfer extraordinaire, Daisy Hess singled, moved to 2nd on a sacrifice by Sarah Gordon and scored on a Vanessa Miller double.  Miller subsequently scampered home on an Easton Lotus infield hit.

Taylor Roby played the complete game in the circle.

Next up was Illinois who put six across for the 6-1 win over UofL on Friday, but yesterday's contest would prove to be more competitive.

Illinois scored first, in the 2nd inning, with UofL not getting an answer on the board until the 5th.  Maddi Grant, with two outs already recorded, doubled into the right center gap.  Madison "Pickle" Winkler came in to pinch run and scored on a pinch hit single to left field by Makayla Hurst.

The Cards would threaten another run in the 7th after Korbe Otis ripped a triple out to left field, but the Illinois pitching was able to sit the next two batters down to freeze Otis at third.

Illinois would score the game winner in the bottom of the 8th.  Gabby Holloway started the game, was relieved by Sam Booe in the fifth.  Taylor Roby pitched the only out of the 8th.

Today's game will be the second one with Wisconsin and will get underway at 10am with no viewing options that we've been able to find.

Lacrosse

Lacrosse hosts Lindenwood for today's game at the Louisville Lacrosse Stadium.  Only in their first season in Division 1, in the Ohio Valley Conference, Lindenwood is 1-1 on the season so far, with a 17-9 loss to Cal, and a 17-15 win over Central Michigan.

This will be the first meeting between the teams.  It will be a 1pm start and can be seen on ACC Network Extra.

Basketball

The Walz squad is in Chestnut Hill in the Boston area to take on Boston College.

As we've talked about here in the pages of CC, and in audio on the CCRHP, Boston College is a much improved team over what they have traditionally fielded, and needs to be treated with respect.  Now, to be fair, they are still hanging around the bottom of the standings, but in this topsy turvy ACC, they're only a game or two behind the mid-pack teams, and a subjective view of their on-court play shows the improvements, even if the standings don't, yet.

Five players for BC average double-digit scoring, with a sixth falling just barely short.  Dontavia Waggoner leads with 13.1, followed up by Taina Mair, Maria Gakdeng, Jojo Lacey, T'Yana Todd, and Andrea Daley.

The Cards did win the first meeting this season, 73-65, where they went off for 22 points in the 2nd quarter to close the lead down to just one point at halftime.  They also only lost the 3rd quarter by a single point, underscoring the need to take this team seriously as they're not the doormat of the conference that they used to be.

Hailey Van Lith had 24 in the earlier natch between these two and Chrislyn Carr finished with 18

The game gets the full ACC Network linear treatment today, with the tip at noon.

Cardinal Couple Radio Hour Podcast

The full CCRHP crew connected yesterday for a fun show.  We covered Softball, Lacrosse, and Basketball both looking back and forward, as we are in this winter/spring overlap.

If you didn't catch it live on the YouTube stream, you can find it at anchor.fm or just about any podcast directory.  You can listen to it directly at:

https://anchor.fm/cardinal-couple/episodes/Up-and-Down-Week-for-UofL-e1v5qj0

-- JMcA

Softball Drops Game 1 of ACC/B1G Challenge -- SATURDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

Illinois Scores Early and Often to Down UofL 6-1

After Louisville dropped their second game on opening day to Kentucky, the Cards won out the weekend to sit at 4-1 on the season. They carried those positive vibes into Atlanta this weekend for four games against Illinois and Wisconsin over three days in the ACC/B1G challenge. On a day where the weather was "downright sad" according to the box score, the Cards' short win streak was ended by an Illini team that jumped on Alyssa Zabala early and kept the pressure on for the remainder of the game.

With Taylor Roby being rested for a start in today's double-header, Zabala started in the circle with Louisville playing as the home team. She got off to a good start, picking up a 1-2-3 inning with a strikeout. Unfortunately, Zabala's counter in the game, Tori McQueen, would get off to a good start and then some. After a two-pitch groundout by Easton Lotus, Paige Geraghty struck out. McQueen hit Korbe Otis with a pitch, and Otis stole second, but a second strikeout sat down Roby and ended the threat. The second inning saw another great inning from Zabala as she struck out the side. Unfortunately, there was a minor blip amongst the strikeouts, as Illini's 5-hole hitter took a 1-2 pitch over the fence in right center. 

Down 1-0, Louisville looked to strike back quickly. A bunt single was followed by a single that just escaped the infield and another HBP to give Louisville the bases loaded with nobody out. With this golden opportunity, Louisville achieved one of the rare negative feats in the diamond sports: they didn't score off of it. In fact, Louisville's inability to score is even more painful than you might imagine, as the next three batters did not strike out and every out was scored individually. Instead, Louisville hit back-to-back infield pop-ups, the first on a full count, to flip the situation squarely in the favor of the Illini, who now just needed an out anyway possible to keep Louisville off the board. Lotus obliged with a first pitch fly ball to center field to end the inning. Two hits, no strikeouts, three left on base. Ouch.

Nevertheless, Zabala returned to the circle in the top of the third intent on keeping Louisville in the game. After a foul out and a ground out, though, Illinois strung together a double and an RBI single before Zabala got her fifth strikeout of the game to end the inning. Louisville now trailed 2-0. Unlike the previous inning, Louisville's threat was short-lived. Geraghty singled to open the frame, but was caught flat footed when Otis popped up (perhaps on a bunt; it's not listed) to the pitcher. McQueen fired over to first to pick up the double play and Roby grounded out to end the inning. 

In the fourth, things came unglued. It started just like the previous inning had ended, with Zabala picking up another strikeout (six in ten batters, for those keeping track). After a single and a sacrifice bunt, it looked like Louisville would stay in it. Like the previous inning, though, Illinois took advantage of their runner in scoring position with two outs. It was a single this time, coming on the third 0-2 pitch, but the hit was deep enough for the runner, who was going on contact, to make it home. With the batter advancing to second, an error on the following play (on the 9th!! pitch) kept the inning alive and put runners on the corners. After a passed ball, a double scored two unearned runs to end Zabala's day. Gabby Holloway took the circle and, in honor of the strong performance by Zabala, struck out the third batter to end the inning.

Louisville responded to going down by more than a grand slam with another quiet inning, splitting a pair of pop outs with a single and a strikeout. The top of the fifth inning saw a lead-off single score despite the next four batters technically grounding out. A sacrifice bunt moved the runner to second while a productive ground out advanced her to third. As the grounders went around the horn (1B fielded the first and 2B fielded the second) the grounder to third resulted in a throwing error, scoring an unearned run. Keeping the pattern alive, the next batter grounded out to the shortstop to end the inning. 

In the bottom half, down 6-0, Louisville was sent down in order once more. Nothing spectacular happened in the inning, but a weird quirk is in the box score. Ally Alexander is listed as "out at first p to 2b to 1b". Without having seen this play, I can't describe what happened, and my brain can't quite decide what might have resulted in that scoring. Either way, the result was an out, but I just thought you might find it interesting like me. In the top of the sixth, Louisville retired Illinois in a 1-2-3 inning for the first time since the opening frame. After a grounder to third, Holloway struck out two on seven pitches to prevent the Illini from pursuing a run-rule.

The sixth inning saw Louisville's bats get to work a bit, although it was much too late for small ball. A full count single by Otis was followed by a Taylor Roby walk. Since the line was BFBBB, I think it may be safe to say that Illinois was just trying to prevent a big hit and Roby fouled one away. Roby was replaced by a pinch runner, and Daisy Hess advanced both runners with a single down the left field line. Otis scored on the play to get Louisville on the board, but Madison Winkler was held at second. That turned out to be impactful, as Sarah Gordon rocketed a liner straight to third base. The line drive was quickly returned to second to double up Winkler, who couldn't get back in time. Vanessa Miller grounded out to end the inning with Louisville trailing 6-1. 

Having held Illinois for the most part, Holloway was pulled to preserve for future games on the weekend as Taja Felder replaced her to open the seventh. It was an inauspicious start for Felder, as she gave up a second pitch single followed by a first pitch single. The defense came to her rescue, though, as the next two batters grounded into force outs at third base. With runners on first and second and two outs, Felder induced another grounder, this time to third base where Alexander stepped on the bag for herself. Down to their last three outs and needing five runs to tie, Louisville produced their third 1-2-3 offensive inning of the afternoon. Final score 6-1.

The Cards won't have much time to lick their wounds, as they're back in action starting at 10AM today. Louisville will face Wisconsin in the first game, before getting a rematch against Illinois at 12:30. Illinois, by the way, moved to 3-3 with their win over Louisville, but their three previous losses were to Tennessee (13th), Texas (6th), and Auburn (21st). They could turn out to be a strong team, but Louisville will get a chance to level the score this afternoon. Wisconsin should give Louisville the opportunity to get back on track. While two of their losses are to #24 Oregon and #23 Ole Miss, Wisconsin's first win of the season came yesterday against Georgia Tech after the Badgers started 0-4. Their other two losses were to BYU and California Baptist. Despite today's games being hosted by Georgia Tech, they won't be carried on ACC Network Extra, so check out tomorrow's recaps by Jeff.

Cardinal Couple Radio Hour Podcast

This week's show should be quite full as we have the big lacrosse win from Sunday to cover as well as the softball happenings and the... unfortunate... events in South Bend Thursday evening. We'll do our best to keep it light, though you might plan for some officiating rants. As always, you can check out the live stream of the show by going to the Cardinal Couple YouTube page and clicking on the live video. Jeff usually creates that about an hour before the show, which officially starts at 11 AM Eastern. If the live time doesn't work for you, there are plenty of playback options, so be sure to check out whichever is best for you!

Cardinal Couple YouTube: Link

Anchor (podcast host): Link

Apple Podcasts: Link

Google Podcasts: Link

Overcast (free account required): Link

Pocket Casts (free account and app required): Link

RadioPublic: Link

Spotify: Link

Until next time, Go Cards!

Case

WBB falls 78-76 in OT at ND -- SB opens ACC/B1G Challenge -- FRIDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

FRIDAYS WITH DARYL

Good morning readers

Rough week for Louisville basketball fans this week. 

I wanna shout out the Cardinal Couple IT team (Jeff, Case & Jared) for assisting me in my log in issues to get this write up scripted last night.   I attempted to log in around the start of game time and they were on the job immediately to get me up and running just a couple minutes into game-time so THANK YOU, guys!! 

We've got Cards WBB and SB on the slate of coverage again this week.  Unfortunately a loss to Notre Dame in South Bend last night, but a thrilling game for those who tuned in.  Softball is scheduled to open the conference face off between the ACC and the Big Ten in Atlanta, GA. 

So lets get right into it.  


WBB

It sucks to report a loss for the Cardinals Basketball squad at any point in the season, it especially sucks to report a loss to Notre Dame.  UofL started the game looking something fierce before the Irish fought back in the final half and overtime period to secure a back and forth battle victory over Louisville 78-76.  Hailey Van Lith led in scoring for the Cards with 19 points on 8-16 shooting from the field, 3-4 from 3, 6 rebounds and 4 assists.  Chrislyn Carr mirrored the performance with 15 points on 6-9 shooting from the field, 3-4 from 3 point range.  Notre Dame had four players score in double figures lead by Kylee Watson who averages 6 points a game with 20 points on a perfect 8-8 evening.  Olivia Miles flirted with a triple double and hit the game winner with 1 second left on the clock.   Its the first time the Irish beat Louisville since March 10th, 2019.  

Recap  

End of 1Q    21-17 Cards 

FG %
9-15 60% Cards
8-15 53.3% ND
Reb. 8-5 Cards
3-pt %
3-3 100% Cards
0-0 0% ND

Walz inserted the recent starters and Nyla Harris secured the tip off for the Cards.  HVL scored Louisville's first 5 points and the Cards went 5-6 from the field to begin the game before a 9-0 ND run.  HVL hitsa couple 3 pointers to give UofL the lead back 14-13 and then again 19-17.  Morgan Jones got her first points on a couple buckets including a steal to close out the quarter.  


End of 2Q  14 all

FG %
6-13 46.2% Cards
6-16 37.5%  ND
Reb.  10-8 Cards
3-pt %
2-3 66.7% Cards
2-7 28.6%  ND

Watson opened the quarter to score for ND again while Jones picked up where she left off.  Louisville managed a 12-2 run to make it 28-19 after the three pointer from Carr just a couple minutes into the 2Q.  Carr's 3-pointer put the Cards at 5-5 in first half before the offense went cold.  A 9-0 run by ND over almost 5 minute period where the Cards committed 6 turnovers in 6 minutes, this one was tied up at 31 all before Josie Williams came in and gave 2 solid minutes of power play under the basket scoring 4 points and pulling down 3 rebounds and giving UofL the lead at the break. 

HALF  35-31 Cards 



End of 3Q  20-18 ND 

FG %
6-15 40%  Cards
5-12 41.7%  ND
Reb.  10-7 Cards 
3-pt %
1-2 50% Cards
2-4 50%  ND

Both teams opened the half going back and forth in scoring.  Olivia Cochran secured her first bucket of the game with about 6 minutes on the clock and gave the Cards the 40-39 lead.  Jones sinks an open layup after the defense broke down to tie it up 42 all.  Miles gets called for the charge on Merissah Russell with 4:30 to go in the 3Q.  The Cards with a 46-44 lead and 2:11 left in the quarter ND scoreless for almost 4 minutes. Cochran with an offensive foul and Liz Dixon returned to the floor for her.  Citron hit the 3 to tie it 51 all.  A huge offensive rebound by Dixon to put a miss by Mykasa back up and in for 53-51 lead.   There were 7 ties and 4 lead changes in the quarter.  

End of 4Q  19-17 ND 

FG %
7-14 50% Cards
8-12 66.7%  ND
Reb.  8-4 ND 
3-pt %
1-2 50% Cards
0-1 0%  ND 

Carr opened the quarter to score UofLs first 4 points, making her 4-4 on the night.  A steal on defense by Kasa, who feeds it up to Carr who hands it off to HVL for the jumper.  Carr found a way to get open in front of the Louisville bench to put the Cards up 62-53 and the Irish call a timeout with 7:46 to go and the Cards on 7-0 run and 9 point-lead .  Citron breaks the scoring drought for Irish to cut it 62-55 with a off the top of the backboard.  Citron misses a 3 point attempt and Watson cleans it up for the Irish scoring 9 of their next 11 points to cute the Cards lead 65-62.  HVL scoops up the miss fire from Cochran and Walz is forced to use a timeout with 3 seconds left on the shot clock.  Kasa feeds it into Carr and she uses every ounce of those precious 3 seconds to bank the basket to make it 67-64 with 2:13 left in the ballgame.  Some more back and forth to close out the final minutes, Olivia had a chance to score for the Cards and I thought she was pushed in the back but the shot didn't fall and the call was missed. HVL jumper tied at 70 with 20.7 left on the clock and a missed attempt from ND at the other end to send this one to OT.

Overtime 8-6 ND 

A Robinson layup put the Cards up first.  The Cards secured a couple defensive rebounds before Watson got to the line for ND to tie it back up but the Cards committed a shot clock violation in a time of desperate need of some scoring.  Williams comes back in and gives the Cards some size inside, securing the defensive rebound but UofL unable to show anything for it another time.  It's 72 all with 1:30 left in the OT.  The Irish scored the next 4 points to make it 76-72 ND and the chances were looking slim for the Cards.  But...HVL with some urgency pushes it up and scores to cut it to 2. Then, the ball rolls off Miles with 6.5 left on the clock.  Walz takes a timeout as the Cards struggle to get it inbounded.  Cochran finally collects the inbound pass and takes it strongly to the rim to tie it 76 all.   ND immediately advanced the ball up the court and puts together the play of the week.  Miles dribbled around the Cards defense to nail the 20 foot jumper and win the game for the Irish. 

Cards fall 76-78 

UP NEXT

Louisville vs Boston College 

Sunday 2/19 at 12pm 

ACC Network

FRED REPORT

( Did what I feared would happen just happen?)

FREE THROWS --  The Cardinals were 7-10 at the FT line on the evening.   All attempts came in the second half of the game, Louisville getting none in the first half or overtime period.   They did make the 70% mark with Mykasa Robinson leading for the Cards going 5-6.  HVL, the teams leading free thrower, did not get a single attempt on the evening.  CAPITAL F

REBOUNDING --  UofL managed to outrebound the Irish 36-33.  HVL was the leading rebounder for the Cards with 6. Coming into the game, Notre Dame had out-rebounded opponents by over 11 a night.  CAPITAL R

EFFORT/EXECUTION --  Louisville looked  great to start the game and gave it their all in South Bend.  As a team, the squad converted 16 assist on 31 buckets.  Both teams matched shooting 48% with the Cards leading beyond the arc making 7-12 for 58%.  The squad left it all out on the floor on the road and gave us one of the best regular season battles on national TV so far this season.   CAPITAL E 

DEFENSE --  The Irish's leading scorer, Miles was held to 5 points but managed to contribute other ways with 5 assists and rebounds as well in the first half.   The two teams flip flopped shooting percentages from the field in each half with the Cards winning the first half battle.  Both teams committed 17 turnovers and had 3 blocks.  lower case d



FINAL FRED TALLY:    F-R-E-d

SOFTBALL

Louisville vs Illinois

Today 1:00pm

No Live TV or Internet Viewing

Live scoring at StatBroadcast

Location -- Georgia Tech Field

The Cardinals closed out last weekends tournament with three-straight shutout victories, defeating Southern, 10-0, Missouri, 4-0, and Howard, 8-0. Taylor Roby leads the way Both offensively and in the circle, batting .500 with three doubles and a home run while also tossing 8.0 innings and allowing just three hits.

The Opponent

Illinois leads the series 5-4, the last meeting between the two was on March 5, 2022 where the Cards won 9-8 at Ulmer Stadium.  Illinois spent its opening weekend in Clearwater, Fla. at the NFCA Leadoff Classic where the Illini went 2-3 with wins over Southern and Fordham and losses to #13 Tennessee, #6 Texas and #21 Auburn.  Brianna Nykaza leads the team with a .455 batting average while Sydney Sickels has pitched a team-high 11.1 innings and carries a 4.32 ERA.



As always

Go Cards!

~Daryl