WSOC douses Flames 3-0 to open the regular season -- FRIDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

 STRONG FIRST HALF SENDS WSOC CARDS BY UIC 3-0

A convincing, shutout win to start the 2022 Louisville women's soccer regular season. 

Louisville women's soccer scored twice in the first eight minutes of play and added a third sore before the half ended to hold a comfortable lead over the UIC Flames Thursday night in Dr. Mark and Cindy Lynn Stadium on the UofL campus. Coming out with an aggressive attack, the Cards got an unassisted goal from freshman Karsyn Cherry with just 6:20 played. Cherry corralled a  deflected shot and sent the rebound into the net.

I barely had time to tweet out the score when the Cards struck again. It was grad student/athlete Maisie Whitsett performing the honors for the second score...a nice unassisted put-back into the Flames net at the 8:38 mark. It was 2-0 Cards and, strangely enough, it was those same two who did the scoring in the Cards 2-0 exhibition win last Friday night over Cincinnati.  

Louisville would go on to pick up another goal in the first half, this time it was grad student-athlete Autumn Weeks (a transfer from IUPUI) with ten minutes remaining in the first half. Weeks goal was assisted by Whitsett. 

The Cards took the 3-0 advantage into the halftime locker room, and had held the visitors to just one shot in the first half and no shots on goal. Erryn Floyd drew the start in goal for UofL and she and defenders Anouk Denton, Sarah Hernandez and Karsyn Cherry were keeping the Flames out of any significant offensive attack or pattern. 

The Cards had 11 first half shots, four on goal.

We figured there would be a pretty large amount of Louisville substitutions in the final 45 minutes, but Louisville head coach Karen Ferguson Dayes only went six deep into the bench and did not alternate out goalkeeper Floyd at all. 

The Cards defense looked just as sharp in the second half, allowing just one shot again and no shots on goal but the offensive attack failed to produce any Louisville scores in the second half. Louisville had their chances with seven shots and three of them on goal, but nothing found the net for Louisville. 

The Flames did have three goalie saves in the second half, as goalkeeper Lauren Keiser  replaced first half goalkeeper Sara Sanabria.  (I did check,and Sara is not related to former Louisville softball infielder Tiarra Sanabria)

It's always good to win the season opener and to get a shutout in the process, but, you could tell the crowed was anticipating a little more offense and scoring from Louisville in the second half. One thing that definitely hurt the Cards was a total of eight off-sides calls from the referees, seven of them in the second half.  We have bragged about Louisville's increased speed this season, and it just might have needed to be held in check in the second half.

Still, a win in front of an appreciative and loud crowd of about 400 is always a great way to start the season. Especially in the way Louisville did it -- establishing dominance early and keeping the opponents offense quiet and unproductive for the entirety of the match. The night's goal was to "win in Lynn" and Louisville did that, convincingly. 

The Cards will face #24 Xavier next Thursday at Lynn -- a Musketeers squad that shut out visiting WKU Thursday night 1-0 and comes off a 16-3-1 season in 2021., losing to Milwaukee in the first round of the NCAA Tournament. 

POST GAME

We caught up with Coach and Maisie after the win: We even got a train to come by and show appreciation for the win. The music? yeah, a distraction after the game, but it's early in the season, we'll work on eliminating that post-game deterrent for interviews.

KAREN FERGUSON DAYES

MAISIE WHITSETT

(photos and post-game video recording by Jared Anderson) 

paulie

2022 UofL Fall Sports Media Day -- THURSDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

 Field Hockey, Cross Country, Volleyball and Women's Soccer Meet the Media

Another sports season begins at UofL and another Fall Sports Media Day, where the coaches and the players answer media questions. Back to the soccer meeting room for the 2022 "Meet and Greet" and I was glad to be back in the facility this year. A balky, stubborn train parked on Floyd Street ruined any plans I had in getting there early, so... a last-minute "turn-around" and approach to Lynn Stadium in a southward direction down Floyd Street instead of north got me in the lot at 10:59 for the 11:00 presser. 

There was actually a spot to park at the facility  -- a rarity anymore, so I maneuvered in it and walked toward the complex. Field Hockey and Softball S.I.D. Lori Harmon was waiting outside for me and mentioned that she had saved me a spot, as well. This old man's legs are really appreciative of the thoughtfulness of  Lori and the other UofL SID's

Louisville Field Hockey was the first squad to address the media and answer questions. Coach Justine Sowry was flanked by seniors Mattie Tabor and Julie Kouijzer at the teams' table. I've found over the years that the best way to cover these in an article is just to just put the link up where you can hear it -- instead of making a lot of observations and comments on it. 

LINK: FIELD HOCKEY 2022 FALL SPORTS MEDIA DAY

Cross Country went next and since Dale Cowper coaches both the men and women's squads, there was a representative for each squad at the podium table with him. Sophomore Lexie Paszkiewic represented the womens' squad student-athletes. 

LINK: CROSS COUNTRY 2022 FALL SPORTS MEDIA DAY

Volleyball was the next Fall sport to be heard from and Dani Busboom Kelly had sophomore Elena Scott and senior Amaya Tillman with her to answer questions. 

LINK: VOLLEYBALL 2022 FALL SPORTS MEDIA DAY

Women's Soccer was the last group to address the media and Coach Karen Ferguson Dayes had redshirt senior Ravin Alexander and grad student Sarah Hernandez. Since WSOC is the only sport that was there who hs actually already had a competition so far this fall, it was good to here the coach and players observations on how the team looked and performed. 

LINK: WOMENS SOCCER 2022 FALL SPORTS MEDIA DAY

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

Men's soccer was also there and, although we don't cover them -- here's a little bonus for you with their segment:

LINK: MEN'S SOCCER 2022 FALL MEDIA DAY

A SPECIAL THANKS TO THE COACHES, PLAYERS, SID'S, STAFFERS AND INTERNS WHO HELPED PUTTING THE FALL SPORTS MEDIADAY TOGETHER ! 

JUST A REMINDER,,,

Louisville Women's Soccer gets their regular season started tonight with a 7:30 p.m. match against UIC in Lynn Stadium. It's free admission to soccer this season and the action is fun, fast-paced and full of energy, so "c'mon in for a win in Lynn"

paulie

Soccer TV Schedule -- Fall Sports Media Day -- WEDNESDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

Women's Soccer TV Schedule Announced

Since the addition of the ACC Network, watching Louisville women's teams has become easier. Home games and conference games for many of the sports are found either on the ACC Network or ACC Network Extra with other games occasionally dropping to somewhere else or getting picked up by a major network.

Louisville women's soccer will have plenty of free viewing options this season. Their matches against Boston College on Oct. 9 at noon and against North Carolina on Oct. 27 at 6:00 will take the spotlight on ACC Network. All other conference matches and all other home matches have been confirmed to be on ACC Network Extra (online/ESPN app).

If you've given a certain four-letter network extra money for their ESPN+ option, you have the chance to catch the road matches at Northern Kentucky and James Madison. Most of our writers here currently have or had an ESPN+ subscription. Despite having to cough up a few extra bucks each month ($6.99/month or annual pay at $69.99/year), the access to catch extra UofL games, or just many NCAA games in general, has been worth it.

The Cards open up the regular season against UIC tomorrow night and we'll give a preview tomorrow.

Fall Sports Media Day

(from a few years ago -- WSOC at Fall Sports Medoa Day)

Paulie will be headed to Floyd Street today to meet up with the various fall sports coaches and select players for the annual fall sports media day.

For us, that means hearing from volleyball (Dani Busboom Kelly), field hockey (Justine Sowry), women's soccer (Karen Ferguson-Dayes), and women's cross country (Dale Cowper). Each coach will break down their sport and preview their upcoming season.

The players present are often decided by each coach and SID in advance so requesting a certain player typically doesn't happen. But Paulie knows how to work his magic and can turn an interview with any player into an A1 performance.

Paulie will provide his interviews and media day recap here tomorrow so make sure to come back and check it out.

Where to Find Us This Weekend

Several women's teams are in action this weekend and our Cardinal Couple folks will be spread up and down Floyd Street trying to cover all of them.

Women's soccer has their first regular season match tomorrow night. I will be on the field with my camera and Paulie will be in the press box.

Volleyball has their Red and Black scrimmage Saturday at 2:00. Jeff will be in the stands and I will be on the court (or somewhere in the arena) with my camera.

Field hockey scrimmages Bellarmine Sunday at 1:00. I'll be enjoying the new turf while Paulie will be in the press box.

Yes, it's a busy weekend for us and we will be working hard to provide as much coverage as we can.

Happy Wednesday and Go Cards!

Jared

FH New Turf -- VBall Preseason #4 -- TUESDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

Field Hockey Showcases New Turf

As we've mentioned on our podcast a couple times, Louisville field got a nice upgrade to Trager Stadium. A new turf has been installed and adds a nice, sharp look to the stadium.

The old turf was a green playing surface with a faded, red (almost pink) surrounding area. The new green is darker, as it has not been subject to several years of sunlight and game usage. Instead of going with red on the outside, Louisville made the move to black with "Louisville Cardinals" printed in red and white in the end zones.

Less noticeable to the fans, but in clear view of the team benches and the press box is the addition of a second scoreboard. Similar to how baseball and volleyball have a smaller, second scoreboard, Field Hockey followed suit. This one shows the game clock and score, making it easier for the teams and media to keep an eye on the clock.

The pictures we included were shared on the Louisville Field Hockey social media pages.

Volleyball Preseason #4

#4 Louisville Volleyball

Fresh off a Final Four appearance, Louisville volleyball has come in ranked #4 in the AVCA preseason poll. It is the highest preseason ranking in program history.

Last season, Louisville had an undefeated regular season and advanced to their first ever Final Four, falling in five sets to eventual champion Wisconsin. The ACC championship was one of dozens of conference titles in program history. Nearly a wall and a half inside LNFCU Arena are lined with conference championship banners.

National runner-up Nebraska comes in at #1. Volleyball powerhouse Texas is #2. The Longhorns were upset by Nebraska in the quarterfinals last year. Reigning champion Wisconsin is #3. The Cards are #4. Minnesota, who was swept by Wisconsin in the quarterfinals takes #5.

Two other ACC schools are ranked in the Top 25. Pitt comes in at #6 after a Final Four appearance last year and Georgia Tech, whom the Cards took down in the quarterfinals at Freedom Hall, is #9. Miami, North Carolina, and Florida State all received votes. Rival Kentucky is ranked #11.

Other ranked opponents on Louisville schedule include #21 Western Kentucky, #25 San Diego, #7 Ohio State, #13 Purdue, and #14 Stanford.

Like last season, the Cards have a jam packed schedule of ranked opponents and are sure to give us some epic matches to watch. Volleyball gets it started with the annual Red/Black scrimmage Saturday 8/20/22 

Happy Tuesday and Go Cards!

Jared

Cards Field Hockey Brings in 10 New Players -- MONDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

 NINE FRESHMEN, ONE GRAD TRANSFER JOIN FIELD HOCKEY ROSTER

With women's soccer underway, the next fall women's sport we'll wait for to get started is Cards Field Hockey. It'll be a fun team to get to know, with 10 new faces on a 23-player roster. 

Let's start with the grad transfer. The Cards were looking for goal keeper help and went out and got a good one when they landed Sasha Elliott from VCU. Elliott helped lead VCU to a Atlantic 10 title her senior season and was a two-time NFHCA All-South Region selection. She's one of three student-athletes on the squad from The Netherlands and Sasha was a four-year starter at VCU. 

The Cards also brought in a freshman goalkeeper in Logan Jancerak, out of Danville, NJ. She gathered a lot of honors while in high school, being named to the 2020 US Under-16 National Team and the 2021-22 U-15 National Indoor Development team. 

Three forwards join the squad and one of them is a name well-known in the Louisville high school Field Hockey circles in Ella Martin. Martin, from Assumption High School and IFHCK club team, scored 54 goals in her high school career. She was ranked among the top 100 in Max Field's 2022 list and a top 40 in the  West/Midwest High School Players to watch. 

Jane Ramsey is another new forward and is out of Brisbane, Australia. She helped her team win the U18 Hockey Australian Championship.  The third forward is Sophia Parker, from Doylestown, PA. She was a first team Pennsylvania High School AAA pick in 2021. 

The four midfielders are Izzy Bianco (Berlin, NJ), Chloe Cuzzupe (Woodstown, NJ), Tatum Kroon (Den Bosch, The Netherlands) and Rylie Wollerton (Gibsonia, PA). Cuzzupe was a four-time All-Regional selection in high school, Bianco had 104 assists in her career, a New Jersey record. Kroon was the captain of the Dutch National Under 16 team and Wollerton had 139 goals in four years of high school. 

Luciana Carpenter is a defender that was a three-time all state selection in Pennsylvania. 

The newcomers join a roster that has a wealth of returning talent that includes Sofia Pendolino, Aimee Plumb, Emilia Kaczmarczyk, India Reed, Filippa Niebuhr, Katie Schneider, Mattie Tabor and Julie Kouijzer. The Cards were 16-4 last year and lost to Harvard in the NCAA Tournament. Louisville was 6-1 in ACC play, winning the regular season conference title with a 6-0 mark. The Cards won all six of their overtime contests. 

Scoring shouldn't be a problem for Louisville, unless it takes awhile to get familiar with the new turf out at Trager Field. There should be a strong defense also in front of the new goalkeepers...Kouijzer and Pendolino have seen extensive playing time at defender. 

Louisville opens the 2022 season with a couple of exhibition matches, at Miami (OH) on Friday 8/19 and hosting Bellarmine on Sunday 8/21. The Cards return their top four scorers from last year in Schneider, Kouijzer, Plumb and Tabor. Starter Charlie van Oirschot from last year did transfer to Duke, but the midfielder only scored one goal last year for Louisville. 

An extensive search by me failed to find any preseason DI or ACC Field Hockey polls or pre-season rankings. Hopefully I can learn more about that at the Fall Sports Media on Wednesday. 

paulie

Sometimes Sports are Good - Sunday Cardinal Couple

Sports Are Good...Sometimes

The UofL vs UK rivalry is...intense.  I don't think that's news to anyone.  The two programs are typically competitive at the top level of several sports (including, of late, my beloved volleyball...but that's not where I'm going with this).  The vibe between the two schools' sports programs cannot have been more different this week, however.

Kentucky fandom has been focused this past week on some discomfort between two of their top coaches, with a contribution from their AD, while Louisville fandom has been on a real positive streak recently, including the unmitigated joyfulness many of us experienced Friday evening watching Women's Soccer get a victory.

I don't want to dump on Kentucky and their programs, there have been times in the past where there has been such acrimony within Louisville's department and fandom.  It wasn't that long ago that we were seeing billboards calling for the return of Tom Jurich, for example.

Instead, I'd like to take a moment of editorializing to encourage fandoms to the positive.  The mission of Cardinal Couple has been to share the joy and excitement of UofL women's sports.  We try, to borrow from Johnny Mercer and The Pied Piper, to "Ac-cent-tchu-ate The Positive".  I, personally, have found that to be remarkably rewarding.

I spent a beautiful Friday evening among friends, cheering on UofL Women's Soccer to a win.  And, yes, that the team I was cheering for won the game certainly helps.  And I came away with a good vibe that has lifted my spirits since.

Sports "fans", and I use the sarcastic quotes here intentionally, can be toxic.  And that toxicity can spill over into other aspects of people's lives.  I truly don't understand why some people choose to pursue their fandom when all it seemingly does is to engender anger and dread in them.  Life is too short to go around grousing about a team that you supposedly like.

Now, that's not to say critique of a team doesn't have its place.  I've found that my joy in sports grows as I understand more about the sport.  As I've watched more soccer, including Friday evening's event and Lou City FC's win over Tampa Bay last night in front of a club record, and sellout, crowd, I find that I enjoy watching games more and more.  Part of learning about the sports is learning and seeing mistakes and shortcomings.  It's something of a tragic truism in the engineering world, that catastrophic engineering failures (Shuttle Challenger, Kansas City Hyatt Walkway Collapse, Titanic, Tacoma Narrows Bridge, and too many more to name) tend to lead to breakthrough scientific and engineering learning and advancement.  The same is true in sports, you frequently can learn more from failures and losses than you can from successes and wins.

What I hope for is that failures and critiques can be taken objectively, and somewhat dispassionately.  You hear coaches after losses frequently talk about learning from it and then, "tearing off the rear-view mirror".  They don't want the loss to dishearten their team.  There are lessons to be learned, for sure, but accept those, improve from them, and get back on your horse.  In the engineering world, there is a concept of "blameless postmortems".  These are used to learn from a failure and improve an organization's response.  The main tenant of blameless postmortems is, as the name suggests, not to assign blame, but rather to encourage people to speak freely about what happened, how they reacted, and why they reacted the way they did.  The goal is to let them speak freely, knowing that there won't be repercussions if the actions taken were taken in good faith, and to learn how systems can be adjusted to support people in a similar situation in the future to have the information and knowledge to make decisions that will lead to better outcomes.

As Tom Watson, CEO of IBM after the Great Depression, supposedly put it when a salesperson was turning in their resignation after failing to win a much-needed million dollar deal.  "Why would I accept this when I just invested a million dollars in your education?"

Fortunately, the Cardinal Couple community seems to have followed this path quite well.  I see critiques of UofL teams, but they are almost always thoughtful, fair, and backed by evidence and reasoning.  We, the Cardinal Couple Crew, do try to embody this and guide it, but credit does go to you in the community as well for taking those ideas to heart and embodying them as well.

Thank you.

 I think we've got an exciting fall sports season ahead of us.  Volleyball is poised to pick up largely where they left off last year, Field Hockey has a good core of players returning, and Women's Soccer is certainly off to a good start.  It's fair to discuss the weak spots in these teams, but let's keep doing it in blameless good faith.  We, as a site, may be small potatoes in the sports media world overall, but I believe we can be a shining example of how sports fandom can work.

WNBA Down to the Wire

Don't look now, but it's the last day for the WNBA regular season and our Cards in the Pros, and it's coming down to the wire.  The Chicago Sky are tied with the Las Vegas Aces in first at 25-10, with the Connecticut Sun looking through a crack in the door at 24-11.

Today's slate of games will be important, and every team is playing today.  Las Vegas has a bit of a challenge against the 4th place Seattle Storm (22-13) on ABC at 3pm.  There are no UofL rooting interests in that one, but based on the standings above, that game will have an impact on what happens at 5pm between the Chicago Sky with Dana Evans and the 7th place, below .500, Phoenix Mercury.  That one is available on Amazon Prime Streaming.

Myisha Hines-Allen, Jaz Jones, and the Washington Mystics in 5th place (21-14) should, let's be honest, have a relatively easy time with the Indiana Fever who are in last place by a rather significant margin.  They'll just need to watch out for that pesky Emily Engstler, of course.  I think you'll be able to catch that one at 3pm on ESPN3, the Indiana Fever Facebook page, and maybe NBC Sports?

Cardinal Couple Radio Hour Podcast

The Crew were dealt four of a kind with a queen high for the podcast, pretty much guaranteed to be a winning hand, and so it was for the CCRHP.

We had a recap to cover, and there was much rejoicing.  We discussed, with a just a wee little bit of good faith critique, the soccer match against Cincinnati, and took a few minutes to preview the Volleyball Red & Black scrimmage, as well as Field Hockey and their upcoming scrimmage against Miami (OH).

After having all gotten together Friday evening, and then all five of us on the call yesterday, there was a definitely sense of joy and excitement.  Hopefully it can lift your spirits as much as it has mine.

Find it at it's podcast home at:

https://anchor.fm/cardinal-couple/episodes/The-Gangs-All-Here-e1mfe3q

While we're talking about it, a little peak behind the engineering curtains.  We use a tool called vdo.ninja for our podcast calls and also feeds into our recordings using OBS (Open Broadcaster Server).  It allows us to record each person in their own individual track to adjust and tweak the audio quality.  We take a bit of a belt and suspenders approach to recording as well, with both Case and I recording the call on our separate systems.  That paid off in spades as somehow Case's recording managed to not record his own audio...we're not exactly sure how that happened, but I was able send Case my recording of his voice to splice in to the rest of his recording.  And thus this week's podcast was saved.

JMcA

Cards Reopen Lynn with Win -- SATURDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

Louisville Downs Cincinnati in Final Tune-up 2-0

On a beautiful almost fall-like evening, Louisville women's soccer welcomed the Cincinnati Bearcats to Dr. Mark and Cindy Lynn Stadium to reopen the field for the 2022 season. The crowd was lively with the weather nearly perfect, which made it feel more like a regular season match than the first home exhibition. Admission was free (and will be all season), which certainly helps bring the fans out. What will also help bring the fans out is winning games, which Louisville did last night.

While it was just an exhibition, and rumors about Cincinnati's first exhibition were not flattering, Louisville is working to rebuild a very different team this season. The Cards lost Gabby Kouzelos to graduation, as well as some other stalwart players, and they lost some of their expected future talent to transfer. As a result, Coach Karen Ferguson-Dayes started three freshman in last night's lineup. It was actually four freshman starters, but I've excluded the goalkeeper because Louisville has three of them and all are freshmen or RS freshmen. Olivia Pratapas, the only returning player in pink, was not dressed last night. Other starting freshmen were Addie Chester, Karsyn Cherry, and Lizzy Sexton. 

Let's go ahead and get into the lineup and the formation, because it wasn't exactly what I expected. For the first time since maybe the departure of Niemh Nelson, the Cards have returned to a traditional 4-4-2 look. It has worked well for Louisville over the years, but the personnel just hasn't been there to continue it recently. At least for last night, it appears to be back on the menu. Hopefully the team can continue to solidify that shape, as it is a very flexible formation given the talent in certain positions. Recently the Cards have employed a 5-3-2 and have gone so far as to make that a 5-4-1 in extremely defensive games. I'm not a fan of parking the bus when the game hasn't even started, so hopefully the removal of overtime--which effectively removes the opportunity to "steal" a win--will help Louisville play more traditionally and consistently regardless of opponent.

A few players moved around given the formation change, including Maisie Whitsett. If you'll recall the conversation last week, I suspected we'd see the super senior alongside her classmate in the middle of the defensive line. No, says KFD, as she has moved back to her original position at the front of the formation, taking one of the forward roles. In her place next to Sarah Hernandez was freshman Karsyn Cherry. Cherry played well in the position and, while she gave up a run or two due to mistakes, was part of the line that held Cincinnati to just one shot in the game while playing all 90 minutes. She also picked up Louisville's second goal on a corner kick set piece. In the outside full back positions we saw the expected in Ravin Alexander and the slightly unexpected in Anouk Denton. Denton is listed as a defender, so it's not completely out of nowhere (Alexander is a forward), but we expected to see her as more of a defensive midfielder. However, since there is no true DM role in a 4-4-2, she took the fullback spot. As we saw last night, Alexander and Denton have free rein on outside runs if they're there, so her offensive opportunities aren't completely lost.

Addie Chester started up front with Whitsett, and her role is already quite significant. Chester took corners from both sides of the field and was active throughout the offense. She created Louisville's second goal with a well placed deep corner and was all over the field during her 53 minutes across both halves. Whitsett was also very comfortable in her return to the front, leading the team with three shots, two on frame, and scoring the team's first goal. She picked up two fouls, but it was a relatively chippy game, and fouls at the front aren't a huge concern to me. One was in a collision with the Cincinnati goalkeeper while contesting for the ball, so that one hardly counts. Whitsett's goal was very nice, recovered from a rebounded save after a Chester breakaway and shot, and she provided good front line defense given her recent position on the team. 

Three other newcomers started for the Cards: Lizzie Sexton, Patricia Ward, and Erynn Floyd. Sexton was quiet, playing all 90 minutes in one of the central midfield positions, but she did finish with a shot on frame. Both center midfielders played all 90 minutes actually, with Savina Zamborini stepping into that role as well. They had identical stat lines with one shot, on frame, and no fouls. Patricia Ward started in one of the wing positions opposite Morgan Bentley and gave Louisville good opportunities around the outside. I expected to see a bit more long passes to the corners with the speed Louisville had on the wings with Ward, Bentley, and freshman Emerson Jennings subbing on, but perhaps that will come. 

Erynn Floyd got the start in goal, though it is tough to say whether that was a position won or a coin flip given the way the game played out. Neither Floyd nor Alyssa Zalac (who played the entirety of the second half) were credited with a save as Cincinnati's only shot was off frame. Both played the fifth defender position well enough, providing outlets for the defense when necessary and claiming balls that they needed to. Zalac was put in a couple of more disadvantageous positions with some of the back passes, but nothing was too threatening. I'll be interested to see that positional battle play out. One quirk of the goalkeeping was noticeable with Floyd's goal kicks. When she lined the ball up, Louisville played it almost as a set piece, bunching the entire field into a zone to receive the ball. I didn't love it, as it could have easily opened the Cards up to a break, but it worked out fine. I didn't notice it so much in the second half, but Zalac took many fewer goal kicks.

The only major minutes player that I have yet to mention is Corinne Dente. She came on at the front and played for a total of 47 minutes in relief of Whitsett and Chester. Her day was quiet--one shot and a foul--but you'll take quiet when you are returning from injury. Having Dente back in the lineup could prove to be very significant for the Cards this year. Also seeing time were another trio of freshmen in Maya Maxwell, Mackenzie Geigle, and Hadley Snyder. Maxwell and Geigle were part of the rotating cast at the front of the lineup, while Snyder gave Alexander an early curtain call for the last ten minutes. 

Now that I've spent the entirety of the recap talking about the players, how about a quick look at the game? It was a fairly comfortable win for the Cards, though perhaps one in which they would have liked to have scored more goals. Credit goes to the Bearcats goalkeeper, Anna Rexford, who finished the night with seven saves. Though she gave up two goals, Rexford made more than one stop that elicited a "nice save" mumble from me, and the Cards could easily have scored two or three more without those efforts. The save figures also fail to capture broken up crosses and corners, of which Rexford had plenty. Given the foul that nearly brought out the trainer early in the first half, it was an impressive performance. 

As I mentioned earlier, Louisville scored two goals, one by Whitsett and one by Cherry, and they were never truly threatened. The goals came across the halves, as Louisville's offensive production was fairly evenly split, and Cincinnati wasn't able to pressure the Cards effectively while the game was tied. Louisville finished with 11 shots and nine corner kicks while Cincinnati had just one apiece. The midfield play for Louisville was quite strong, as Louisville held 62% of the overall possession. 

An exhibition is not gospel, but this one had a lot of encouraging points. I wasn't sure quite what to expect when I entered the gates last night, but I was pretty happy with what I saw on the field, and quite happy with the result. Sure, there are things to clean up, but an exhibition against a local rival is a great place to have those errors magnified, and Louisville was able to put together a complete game. While I'll unfortunately miss the regular season opener next Thursday, I'll be excited to see how the Cards perform against UIC.

Paulie and Jared caught up with Coach KFD after the match and she was quite pleased with the result and the performance. You can hear her full interview below and subscribe to the Cardinal Couple YouTube channel to get interviews like this as soon as they're posted.

LINK;

Postgame with KFD

Cardinal Couple Radio Hour Podcast

Unplanned! We all wore black and represented our roles

except for Paulie who stood as the true neutral as always.

For the first time since the days at the radio station on Mellwood the entire Cardinal Couple crew got together at last night's game. It's unconfirmed, but it may be the first time the entire gang has been in a Louisville venue during a sporting event at the same time (I'll admit to being the reason for that as I don't get out to a lot of WBB games). It was fun to catch up, and we'll do it again today when we're all in for today's podcast. Gee, I wonder what we'll talk about. 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

All photos in today's article by Jared Anderson.

GAME DAY IN THE VILLE!! -- FRIDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

FRIDAYS WITH DARYL 

Welcome to the weekend, readers! 

WOMEN'S SOCCER FACES CINCINNATI

The day has come, fans.  Its not just Friday, it's officially kickoff to the new sports season for UofL.   Women's Soccer is hosting the Cincinnati Bearcats at Lynn Stadium on Floyd St at Lynn Stadium.  So its an exhibition.. its athletes donning the Cardinal logo on an athletic field, it counts as a kick off for the season by Cardinal Couple standards.  The 'All sports Calendar' has an event on it, the new school year and 2022-23 athletic season has arrived y'all!

It should be a lovely evening, low 80s in the forecast.  The Cardinal Couple gang will be in attendance for the match vs. the Bearcats.   It should be a great reunion for all of us, as I believe the last time we all actually gathered together was when we were in studio on Mellwood years ago!

So if you don't have plans,  bring a friend or family out for some free soccer on Floyd Street!

MORE WSOC 

The squad raked in one last acknowledgement before the new season begins Friday evening. 

They were recognized as a recipient of the 2021-22 United Soccer Coaches College Team Academic Award for their work in the classroom during the 2021-22 academic year.

The award honors programs that posted a team grade point average of 3.0 or higher for the academic year. Louisville tallied a 3.606 cumulative GPA during the 2021-22 academic year, with 23 student-athletes named to the Athletic Director's Honor Roll.

Making it a short one today as we will have more to cover soon enough.  

Have a great Friday!

The Cardinal Couple Radio Hour Podcast 

(The crew with Sonya standing in for Daryl)

As far as I know, the whole gang will be on for Saturday's podcast.  We will get back in the swing of recapping and analyzing.  Which shouldn't be too difficult, like riding a bike.  It will be great to have some face-time spent with the gang at the ballpark and I am definitely looking forward to Jared's first photos of the season. 

As always
Go CARDS!

~Daryl 

Jaz Jones Signs with Mystics -- THURSDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

Jazmine Jones Signs with Washington Mystics

Adversity doesn't hold back current and former Louisville Cardinals. After being a free agent a majority of the current WNBA season, Jazmine Jones has signed with the Washington Mystic.

Jones will join the Mystics for their final two regular season games, a home-and-home with the Indiana Fever, and any postseason games. Washington has already clinched a playoff birth. Indiana is the first team eliminated from playoff contention.

Mystics head coach Mike Thibault mentioned that Jones would play more of an "insurance" role on the roster and her minutes would most likely be sparse. Still, it's a foot in the door for Jaz and a step in the right direction to continue her professional playing career.

Jaz joins her old Louisville teammate Myisha Hines-Allen. MHA has averaged 8.9 ppg and 5.3 rpg this season.

WSOC to Host Cincinnati Tomorrow

Louisville women's soccer is slated to host Cincinnati in an exhibition tomorrow night. This is the first time we'll get to see the 2022 squad in action.

Louisville finished last year 7-7-2 overall and 3-6-1 in the ACC. Cincinnati finished last year 7-7-3 and 2-4-2 in the AAC.

Kickoff is slated for 7:30 p.m. on the UoL campus at Lynn Stadium and admission is free. The clear bag policy is expected to be enforced.

Happy Thursday and Go Cards!

Jared

Welcome Home ! -- WEDNESDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

 CORTNEE WALTON BACK IN LOUISVILLE

Jeff Walz and Louisville women's basketball brought #13 home. 

Cortnee Walton returns to Louisville after spending three years working in recruiting operations down at Georgia Tech. Here at Louisville, she'll be Director of Player Development and Alumni Relations. You can expect she'll work closely with Adrienne Johnson, who is now the assistant AD for women's basketball, but had tons of experience doing what Cortnee will do in her 17 years (so far) at UofL. 

I did a "double take" when I realized "A.J." has been at Louisville for 17 years. I'm firmly convinced she must have started working for the Cards when she was 13. 

(My favorite picture of two of my favorite players in Louisville WBB history  A-Tayy and Cort ) 

Cortnee,was a sideline reporter for the ACC Network in basketball and soccer and did radio after graduation and before she went to Georgia Tech. Oh, yeah...did I mention she played a little hoops before that here at Louisville? 

All in all, she played in 139 games for the Cards and started in all 34 in the 2015-16 season. She was the only Card to start in all 34 games. She and Myshia Hines-Allen were a pretty dynamic front-line for Walz, That team got knocked out of the NCAA Tournament in the second round by DePaul. And,  in 2016-17,  she started 30 of the 31 UofL WBB games on a team that made it to the third round of the NCAA Tournament before losing to Baylor at Baylor.

She was also a freshman on the 2012-13 squad that upset Baylor... and Brit Griner..  at Baylor in the third round of the NCAA Tournament and made it to the finals...but they lost to UConn. That squad had Asia Taylor, Monique Reid, both Schimmels, Tia Gibbs, Shawnta Dyer and Sherrone Vails. ...and that's not even half the roster. 

I think you can safely say that Cortnee has seen some pretty memorable women's basketball through the years. 

She has the personality, intelligence and skills to do well in her new job at UofL WBB. She'll have no trouble reaching out to alumni and talking with them. Director of Player Development will suit her skills well, too. She's seen a lot in her time around college basketball, is well equipped to handle just about any situation and will give you her ear and time to talk and listen and help anyway she can. 

I remember seeing her at the ACC women's tournament in reensboro when she was in her first year at Georgia Tech. We talked for awhile, exchanged a few memories and had some laughs but what I remember most is her plaintively looking at me and telling me that it was her dream to get back to Louisville and work for the Cardinals WBB program someday. 

Dreams do come true. If you believe it, you can acheive it. 

There are a few new faces in the WBB staffing these days in addition to Cortnee. Shay Robinson is an associate coach now. Macey Ford takes over as director of operations. Denny Crum Hall is being built on Floyd Street across from the Planet Fitness Kueber Center (I'll probably refer to it at the "little YUM" until I go senile, though,)  People move onward and upward in successful organizational structures  and UofL WBB is a prime example. 

Yes, the days of dropping by Sam Purcell's office and leaving him a few ink pens that no longer work or had any ink in them are gone. (I'll explain that prank someday to you readers)

 And, I'll be wandering down to the facility before too long to see Walz and company (if new WBB SID Matt Paras can make it happen), No more teasing Beth Burns about bombing out twice at San Diego St. or pestering Kate Tucker about getting basketballs autographed. It's a tribute to Walz that his staff is in high demand. When the people you've trained in your system advance in their careers, it means they've had great teachers. Come home, Cortnee and learn from Jeff and Steph.  

Things change. And in the words of the old REO Speedwagon song...you gotta roll with the changes. This a good change and will benefit both Cortmee and UofL women's basketball.  

LINK to song:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jeHkaSH0Xw8

paulie