WSOC Adds More Twins -- THURSDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

Cards Sign Morris Sisters

Louisville women's soccer was already set to have one pair of twins on the roster in the 2025-26 season with incoming freshman Karina and Kiley Peat from Wilmington, North Carolina. If that wasn't enough, though, their quantity of twins will be twice as nice as the team announced the signing of Taylor and Trista Morris earlier this week. 

Photos from Racing Louisville via GoCards

The Morris sisters were committed to join UofL next year anyway, but Karen Ferguson-Dayes will get the talented local products a season sooner as the two decided to reclassify and leave high school one year earlier. Out of the J. Graham Brown School, the two play club soccer for Racing Louisville. About the two, KFD had this to say: "Super excited to add Taylor and Trista to our 2025 class. Taylor is a dangerous and elusive forward who has a knack for scoring goals and Trista is an excellent defender who has the ability to play centrally or wide at the back! Both Taylor and Trista are high level athletes and it just made sense to start their development now!"

In high school, Taylor scored 104 goals and had 23 assists. She was a second team All-State honoree and twice was named first team All-Region and first team All-District. Trista scored 36 goals and had 41 assists out of the back. She was All-State honorable mention, made the All-Region first team twice, and was named to the All-A Tournament team three times. 

As a former high school soccer player in Louisville, two talented players coming out of Brown caught me off guard. When I played (which was getting to be quite a while ago at this point), Brown fielded a co-ed team and were regularly run off the pitch. For them to have developed not only a girls program but a fairly good one is a testament to the growth of soccer in the city since Louisville City and Racing Louisville set up shop. 

As we get ever closer to opening day (August 14th), we'll soon see players wrapping up their summer club duties and getting together on the training grounds at UofL. The addition of the Morris sisters means that Louisville will have 11 newcomers to the squad this season, so the sooner they can start to gel as a team the better. 

Until next time, Go Cards!

Case

Report on Turkey women's national basketball team -- WEDNESDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

 TURKEY NARROWLY LOSES TO ITALY TO GO TO 2-1

They went to overtime, in this battle of two undefeated squads in the European Euroleague women's basketball quarterfinals, but Italy prevailed over Jeff Walz, Elif Istanbulluoglu and the Turks 76-74 in quarterfinal action. The loss drops the Turks to 2-1 in Group A and they are tied for fifth among the 16 teams participating. 

Elif, a 6'2" power forward on the Turkiye senior squad, hasn't exactly been leading the squad, but has played twice, according to the FIBA stats..with two points in two games. she did not see the court in the loss to Italy. One has to do a lot of searching to find the information on the European results and get a box score, I discovered, in the preparation of today's article

France leads Group A at 3-0, followed by 2-1 Turkey, 1-2 Greece and 0-3 Switzerland. 

Italy leads Group B at 3-0, Belgium leads Group C at 3-0 and Spain leads Group D at 3-0. 

Turkey defeated Greece and Switzerland before losing to the Italians. 

The 16 teams that compete in the league are Turkey, Italy, France, Greece, Switzerland, Belgium, Germany, Lithuania, Serbia, Slovenia, Czech Republic, Montenegro, Portugal, Sweden, the Czech Republic and Great Britain.

The Turkey team also has on the roster a name Cardinals fans will remember in Teaira McCowan.She played at Mississippi State. She left the WNBA's Dallas Wings temporarily, as did a few other WNBA players, to go play in Europe, but will rejoin them when the tournament is over. We follow the Wings fairly closely here at Cardinal Couple since Myisha Hines-Allen and Paige Bueckers play for them, but...they are just 3-12 on the season, tied for the worst record in the league. 

Good luck to all our former D! American players in the FIBA games. 

paulie

Cardinal Closet Update -- TUESDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

 Good morning readers, 

Daryl checking back in.   Appreciate Jared's willingness to jump in for me yesterday after the power went out for a bit.  

I'm not sure what possessed me to walk across the entire campus yesterday to head over to the bookstore to check out the merch and possibly update my UofL attire for the fall season.  I did end up getting something for Thomas' upcoming birthday so it wasn't a useless trek across campus in the scorching heat.   

(( For the record, this is not a paid advertisement... UofL pays me, yes.  But this was not an extra bonus, although that would be nice ))

In the summertime, I try to update my UofL closet and the bookstore has always had some gems as far as styles, design and price goes.  And they have definitely caught up with the times (holy crop tops) since when I was a student a decade ago.   

The store is located in the SAC (Student Activities Center) on Floyd Street.   I definitely have my eye on a few things I would like to score before fall sports return.  They have something for everyone; students, alumni, fans, parents, you name it!  

 You also never know who you may run into while browsing. :D Its located right next door to a very popular Starbucks and the Sports Administration program and the L&N Federal Credit Union Arena.

 You can also shop online at the following link UofL Campus Store

As Always,

Go Cards!

~Daryl

UofL Extends Contract of Mark Beckham -- MONDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

Photo by GoCards

Hey, Cardinal Couple readers! Jared checking in here as Daryl and I are switching a couple days around this week. Tune back in tomorrow and she should be back.

We have definitely entered summertime here in 'The Ville' as 90-degree weather has arrived and is here to stay for a while. The 2024-2025 NCAA year has officially come to a close with LSU taking down Coastal Carolina in the baseball championship over the weekend. We do want congratulate the Louisville baseball team on a successful postseason run and a Final Four finish.

Photo by GoCards

In the world of UofL women's sports, things have been fairly quiet. We've seen a few folks transfer in and out for different teams. A couple transfers out to note include Char Lorenz (softball) and Maya Maxwell (women's soccer). We did see a contract extension for Louisville women's tennis coach Mark Beckham.

Beckham has been around Louisville for a few decades. He attended Eastern High School. He spent his entire collegiate career playing for the Cards and then joined the men's program as an assistant coach for 15 years. He then transitioned to the head coach role for the women's team in the fall of 2007.

The Cards posted a strong 2025 season. The finished with a winning record 13-10, a ranked win over #35 Clemson, and winning their opening round of the ACC Tournament. UofL rose up to #60 in the rankings.

Beckham's extension runs through June 30, 2028, keeping him at the helm for at least three more years. He joins four other coaches to receive contract extensions recently including rowing coach Derek Copeland and lacrosse coach Scott Teeter.

Happy Monday and Go Cards!

Jared

Honoring Tom Jurich Long Overdue -- SUNDAY CARDNAL COUPLE

 CEREMONY TO TAKE PLACE SAT. JUNE 28TH ON CAMPUS

The architect of the successes we see in Louisville women's athletics these days can be traced back to the hiring of Tom Jurich, back in 1997. 

Coming in from Colorado St., Jurich took a look at the sleepy UofL Belknap campus and affected change. A drive down Floyd Street is a testimony to that. Starting at Soccer's Lynn Stadium, across the street at football's Cardinal Stadium and headed northbound all the way to Softball's Ulmer Stadium, the facilities that stand there today are almost all Jurich planned and pushed through into reality. When I was an undergrad at UofL, once you got past the Eastern Parkway overpass, the was a small bar where students could occasionally get away with under age of 21 drinking , if the right bartender was on duty. That spot, today... is Denny Crum Hall, a facility where the dormitory sits for mostly college scholarship athletes. Each room has a fully furnished kitchen, washer /dryer and living room. It's a far cry from the old Threlkeld Hall, where I lived for a couple years, before moving in the fraternity complex that are now renovated and no longer houses the Delta Upsilon, Lambda Chi Alpha, Phi Kappa Tau and Tau Kappa Epsilon fraternities. I even spent one night locked in a sorority house on campus, but that is a different story for a another time. 

And, let's not forget the KFC YUM Center

He also stressed the academic excellence that changed the program's attractiveness in athletics...increasing the graduation rate to 63%.

Under his leadership, the Cards won 87 conference championships and 43 conference tournaments. He took the Cards for Conference USA to the ACC. 

And...the coaches. On the women's side, Jeff Walz, Justine Sowry, Karen Ferguson Dayes and Sandy Pearsall are just a few of the coaches that Jurich brought to campus. Coaches that have shaped their programs during their time at UofL.

 

Arguably, Jurich has been the most significant figure in college sports this century. 

The recognition for Jurich is long overdue. The man was treated very unfairly in his firing back in 2017  and it took eight years for UofL to finally realize what he did and, now, finally he is being honored for what her did here. 

On a personal note, when I decided to start a website about UofL women's sports, Tom Jurich was one of the first two people I talked to get an opinion on how it might be perceived. He gave me a enthusiastic  "thumbs up" on the idea...and without his confidence and encouragement on doing a site about women's sports, I probably never would have made the leap. That was way back in 2009. 

It's been long overdue, Tom, but congratulations and... thank you.

paulie

Former Cardinal Leads Racing Louisville -- SATURDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

Racing Louisville GM a WSOC Alum

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

Photo via Racing Louisville Communications

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

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

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

"Cardinal Forever. General Manager. Mother" on Instagram

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

Cardinal Couple Radio Hour Podcast

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

Cardinal Couple YouTube: Link

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RadioPublic: Link

Until next time, Go Cards!

Case

New Volleyball Commits -- FRIDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

Cards Announce Three New Commits

One might say that the Dan Meske Era has now officially begun. Louisville volleyball has, over the last week, co-announced (along with the players) three new commitments via social media. These will be the first players in the pipeline to join the Louisville program under their new head coach, so it's exciting to see how Meske is seeking out the next talent to step onto the floor for the Cards. All three are 2027 recruits. 

The first announcement came from Carsyn Comer. Comer is a 6'-2" right hander who is listed primarily as a middle blocker. The 2027 recruit hails from Westfield High School in Westfield, Indiana and plays her club volleyball for Munciana, based out of Yorktown. Comer's parents were both collegiate athletes at the University of Toledo: her mom played basketball while her dad played football. Comer was a 2023 AAU All-American and was on the 2024 JVA All-National Team for U17 players. 

Next came Elizabeth Bower, from Nampa, Idaho. Bower is a 5'-9" defensive specialist/libero who plays for Skyview High School and Idaho Crush. Bower also comes from an extremely athletic family, with her father being a D1 basketball player and her mother a D1 volleyball player. Elizabeth is following in her three older sisters' footsteps as she looks to play at the collegiate level: Whitney is an assistant coach at Utah and is a setter in the PVF, Eden is an OH at Auburn, and Alex was on the All-Big 12 Freshman team last season for BYU. 

The most recent commitment came from Keilani Ledaja-Brewer. Keilani is a 6'-0" outside hitter from Chapel Hill, North Carolina. The Cards pull her from the backyards of Tobacco Road, so that's certainly a win. Ledaja-Brewer lists herself as "confident, a leader, and a cheerleader for [her] team" which is something that Louisville volleyball fans love to see from their players. VBadrenaline.com gives her approach touch a 9.8/10 rating, so we may have another player on our hands that can leap out of the gym. 

All in all, Meske's tenure is shaping up to be exciting before it even truly gets underway. The Cards will be looking to maintain the momentum from their successes last season, though there is only one way to top finishing as the national runners-up. 

Until next time, go Cards!

Case 

Char Lorenz transferring -- THURSDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

Good morning readers and Happy Juneteenth, 

Daryl here checking in midweek with you all.  Case was swamped with work and the University of Louisville observes the federal holiday so we opted to swap the coverage. 
 

Softball

Some UofL sports news and some rather devastating to the Cardinals softball program, star freshman from Munster Indiana, Char Lorenz announced Wednesday afternoon that she was transferring out to head south to LSU. 

 She played in 50 games, all starts, primarily in left field lingering somewhere around 2–4 in the lineup. She also led team in batting average at .368%, slugging .677%, and 53 RBIs. Lorenz broke the single-season freshman record with 53 RBIs on the year, tallied 15 multi-hit games and a team high 15 multi-RBI games, hit 9 home runs, 11 doubles, and 5 triples. She stole 13 bases and committed just 3 errors for a .967 fielding %.

Photo: Jared Anderson

I dont think any of us at Cardinal Couple expected this news coming out of softball but honestly not surprised either.  I can see the opportunity for the small town native to get a big shot in the SEC and a better payday after a stellar first year at UofL.  We are sad to see her go but wish her nothing but the best... unless its against the Cards!! 

With that news, reminder the roster also graduated Sam Booe, Izzy Harrison, Maddi Grant and Ally Alexander and picked up two pitchers out of the state of Ohio, Anna Wise and Madi Reeves.

Ps. shoutout to my dog Jack, its his 16th birthday today!! 

As Always,
Go Cards

~Daryl 

Cards Field Hockey Lands Three on CSC At-Large Academic All-District Team

 Bianco, Plumb, Osborne named to CSC At-Large Academic All-District Team

The qualifications for making the College Sports Communicators At-Large Academic All-District Team are being at least a sophomore academically and athletically at carry at least a 3.5 cumulative grace point average. The women's at-large team consists of the following sports: beach volleyball, bowling, rowing, fencing, field hockey, golf, gymnastics, ice hockey, lacrosse, rifle, skiing, and water polo. Women's athletics at UofL participates in four of these 12 sports  on the DI level...rowing, lacrosse, golf and field hockey. 

Let's look at the three "stick girls" that were named to the All-District team.

--Izzy Bianco is a senior midfielder out of Berlin, New Jersey. Athletically last season she ranked second on the team with five goals and three assists for 13 points. 

Aimee Plumb

--Aimee Plumb is a redshirt senior midfield/forward from Canterbury, Kent England. It is the fourth consecutive time that Plumb has been on the CSC At-Large Academic All-District Team. She finished her career at UofL as a three-time All-American, and scored four goals her final team. 

--Ashley Osbourne is a graduate senior as well. She was a defender out of Ballard High School in Louisville, KY. She was a starter as a junior and graduate senior, and played six games as a senior before getting injured as missing the rest of the season. 

The Field Hockey Cards went 6-11 overall last season and 1-7 in conference play. The 2025 season starts Friday, August 29th against Michigan State. They'll have two exhibition games prior to that against Bellarmine and at Miami (OH). 

paulie

Istanbulluoglu and Walz Joining Turkiye Women's National Team -- TUESDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

Elif to Play and Walz to Help Coach

Louisville women's basketball coach Jeff Walz and current player Elif Istanbulluoglu have been selected to be a part of the Turkiye Women's National Team for 2025 FIBA Women's Eurobasket. Elif is one of 17 players named to the roster. Walz was named an assistant coach. The event will be held from June 18-29 and will take place in Czechia, Germany, Italy, and Greece.

Elif is a rising junior for Louisville. She saw an increased role during her sophomore campaign, averaging 10 minutes per game and seeing action in all 33 games. She averaged 3.0 points per game and 2.0 rebounds per game and had a strong shooting percentage of .442 field goal percentage.

Walz has been the head coach for Louisville for 18 seasons. He has amassed 486 wins and boasts an impressive .769 win percentage. Walz has guided Louisville to all four of their Final Four appearances in program history.

While the 2025-2026 Louisville women's basketball schedule has not been released yet, we know for certain that the Cards will host both South Carolina and Kentucky this season. With Monique Reid assuming the head coaching duties at Bellarmine, we hope to see a crosstown rivalry scheduled either as an exhibition or as a regulation game.

Happy Tuesday and Go Cards!

Jared