WBB to face Vermont in first round WBB NCAA Tournament. -- Thursday Cardinal Couple

 CARDS WBB ENTER NCAA TOURNAMENT 27-7

Louisville WBB enters the 2026 NCAA Tournament against Vermont. The Cards are the #3 seed in one of the Ft. Worth regions,while Vermont is the #14 seed. Alabama and Rhode Island will be the other two teams in the Louisville pod. Games will take place on March 21st and March 23rd. 

Rally the Catamount

Both the Cards and the Catamounts have a 27-7 record. Your first question may be.."so what is a catamount?"  A Catamount is a legendary mountain cat...similar to a cougar or panther....that roamed the Green Mountain around Vermont University.  An interesting tidbit about how the catamount became the mascot...the school had four nicknames to choose from...the Cows, the Tomcats, the Camels and the Catamounts. I'm not positive on this but I am guessing the team would have been a bit intimdated walking onto an opponent's court with a cow mascot and hearing moos from the stands. 

Nikola Priede

The on-court WBB Catamounts are led by Nikola Priede and her 17.4 points a game. Priede is from Lativa and a 6'2" senior center.  Also in double figures for UVM are Keira Hanson at 14.1 ppg and Jadyn Weltz at 11.0 a game. 

Alisa Kresge is the Catamount head coach and has a 141-88 record at the school. She began her caoching with Vermont in 2019 and also was a player at Marist U.  

The 2025-26 Catamounts

The Vermont losses came against High Point, Washington, Lindenwood, Holy Cross, Binghamton, Maine and UMBC. They won the America East Conference Tournament (in Burlington, Vermont) with wins over Albany. UMBC and Maine. 

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We won't be running a NCAA WBB Pick 'em contest this year. Personnel changes at Cardinal Couple and my questionable health these days make it a "no-go" . I will offer a few picks on tournament games in the Friday Cardinal Couple,



paulie
                                                                                                                                                      

Sofftball heads to WKU -- Wednesday Cardinal Couple

 SOFTBALL TAKES 20-7 RECORD TO WKU FOR MID-WEEK MATCHUP

The Softball Cards step out of conference play to travel to Bowling Green for a Wednesday affair against WKU . 

The Cards return from a weekend battle against Clemson where they lost Friday and Saturday and won Sunday against the Tigers. WKU is 10-6 on the season and 3-3 in C-USA.

It'll be a 7 p.m. start and will be available on ESPN+  

WKU is 13-0 at home this season and comes off a 7-1 road loss at Jacksonville State. They dropped the three game series at Jax St. and, in case you were wondering, this Jacksonville State squad is in Alabama..not Florida. 

The Cards lead the series 22-4 against the softball Hiilltoppers but WKU is mising only one starter from last year and, unlike Louisville, they are a fence swinging bunch that has 31 home runs on the season. compared to the Cards 15. 

The Toppers pitching staff is faring quite well...with a EPA of 2.19. Western KY has won seven times this season in five-inning contests. 

They are batting .341 through 25 games and were on a win streak of 13 games at home before losing to Jax.St.

We'll have the recap for you, plus the WBB preview for Ist round Cards WBB NCAA action here tomorrow. 

paulie

Lacrosse Gets Midweek Break -- TUESDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

Cards Off for Spring Break

Louisville lacrosse has had a tough go of it so far this season, so spring break comes at a good time for them. The Cards are 4-5 overall and sit at just 1-4 in conference after taking a thrilling 11-10 OT win over Cincinnati on Thursday and then falling 14-16 in a heartbreaker at Duke on Saturday. The Blue Devils are ranked 15th in the country, so it is encouraging to see Louisville hang with them, but the game was ultimately another in a long line of "coulda, shoulda, woulda" games that the lacrosse program has seen since joining the ACC. 

Louisville opened the season with a pair of losses before taking their first win against Kent State. The good vibes from that victory were short lived as a trip to Chapel Hill loomed on the weekend. The Cards fell at the hands of the #1 Tar Heels 24-3 and moved to just 1-3 overall and 0-2 in conference. A win over Canisius put Louisville over .500 in non-conference play (2-1), but they continued their alternating wins and losses with a tough 13-10 defeat against Syracuse at home on the last day of February. The Orange were ranked 12th at the time.

The Cards started March with a bang, hosting a rare midweek conference game when they brought Florida State into UofL Lacrosse Stadium. Louisville beat the Seminoles 15-5 to get off the 0-fer mark in conference play. That set up the first winning streak of the season for the Cards when they defeated Cincinnati last week, but it was the shortest possible streak following the loss to Duke. Still, back-to-back wins is somewhere to start, and Louisville is now 3-1 in non-conference play. That they are 1-4 in conference is difficult, but there is still time to get some momentum in conference play. 

After this mid-week break, Louisville will host three straight matches at home. They'll play California this Saturday, Vanderbilt next Wednesday, and Virginia on 3/28. The Cards are guaranteed to finish above .500 in non-conference play, as the Vandy match is their final non-ACC competition of the season, barring an NCAA appearance. Vandy is also Louisville's penultimate mid-week game of the regular season, as they'll get breaks two weeks in a row before closing the season on the road at Notre Dame on Thursday, April 16th. Before that match, they'll face Stanford on the road and Pittsburgh at home. 

The Cards are currently tied for second to last in the ACC with Cal, so there is work to do if they want to make the ACC tournament. Only the top eight teams make it, and there are 13 competing schools. Fortunately for Louisville, most of their remaining opponents are directly competing for one of those eight spots. Unfortunately for Louisville, they still have to play Stanford, who is undefeated. The Cards missed a big opportunity against Virginia Tech in the ACC opener, as the Hokies are one of three teams at 2-3 (Notre Dame, Clemson). Virginia is 3-2 (losses to Stanford and Clemson) and Pitt is 2-4 (wins over Duke and VT). There's still way too much that can happen before we can look at scenarios, but winning on Saturday is a must. 

The Cards are led offensively this season by sophomore Ella Berg. Berg had six goals and three assists in the first five games of the season last year before suffering a season-ending injury. This season, she has started all nine games and scored 23 of Louisville's 103 goals. She also has five assists, tied with Reese Whiteman. Whiteman is second on the team in points, scoring one less goal than Berg. The two have taken the same number of shots (49), though Berg is slightly more accurate, with four more on target. 

Charlotte Jackson, Maggie McMahon, and Erin Nicholson are the other three Cardinals with double-digit goals, as Jackson has 14 and McMahon and Nicholson both have 11. Jackson leads the team with eight assists, while McMahon has six. Nicholson is a senior midfielder who takes deadly advantage of her opportunities, scoring 11 goals on just 27 shots, with 19 of those on target. Most efficient is Grayce Kitchen, who has eight goals on just 12 shots (11 SOG). Kitchen is also second on the team with seven assists. Senior captain Rian Adkins has eight goals and six assists. 

Sophomore Haley Richards has solidified her position as this team's goalkeeper. Richards has started all nine games and has played nearly every minute. Her only time out of the net during which Louisville had any goalie in the back was against UNC. She was pulled after three quarters when the score was 18-3 to give Campbell Murray the opportunity to get beat up by the Tar Heels. Coming off in that game gave Richards the opportunity to stay above 50% save percentage. She has allowed 107 goals and made 108 saves. 

It's all to play for with just a month left in the regular season, so let's see what this squad can do as they chase their first full season above .500 (they were 5-4 in 2020) since 2017. 

Until next time, Go Cards!

Case

Softball scores late to beat Clemson -- Cards WBB in NCAA -- Monday Cardinal Couple

 Down 6-0, Softball slugs back for 7-6 win at Clemson

For awhile, it looked like Louisville Softball was going to get beat on Sunday. The Tigers put six runs on the Cards in five innings and Louisville was running out of chances. Someone forget to tell UofL that it was over, though.

UofL rallied for a five-run sixth inning to get within one at 6-5 and then plated two more runs in the top of the seventh to go up 7-6 and hold on for salvage a win in the weekend series. 

Louisville (20-7) look flat and listless under the sixth inning explosion. 

Chelsea Mack got the inning underway with a bunt single to start the inning.  after Bri Despines was sent to the dugout, looking at a third strike, Taylor Monore singled and the Cards had runners o the corners. Camryn Lookadoo sent a double to deep center that scored Mack and Monroe. Madison Pickens singled home Lookadoo and Clemson decided it was time for a change in the circle. The Tigers got a second out, but Ava Ventureli sent a ball out of McWhorter Stadium over the left center fence. It was now 6-5 and the Cards were flapping their wings.  After Brooke Gray retired the Tigers with no runs , Louisville returned to bat in the top of the seventh. Mack ground out to start the inning but despines got a base on balls. 

After Clemson got an openng single in the home half of the inning...they had a infield pop up out and two fly outs...one to center and one to right field. 

After one out in the seventh the cards a Lookadoo triple that scored Despines and she scored on a Pickens single to put the Cards up 7-6.

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LOUISVILLE WBB SENT TO FORT WORTH REGION 3 AS A #3 SEED

We'll have more on this Tuesday, but Louisville women's basketball was assigned the #3 seed in the fort Worth reegion Tree NCAA WBB Tournament bracket and will open at home against # 14 Vermont. 

#6 seed Alabama and #11 seed Rhode Islnd will also be coming to town to play in the Louisville pod. March 21t and 23rd are the game dates . 

The #1 seed in the Cards region is Texas. Beter than UCLA or UConn, I suppose...although Texas playing in the ft. Worh regional?  Yeah, of course. 

paulie

Clemson gets Saturday Shutout over Softball Cards 4-0 -- WBB Projection -- Sunday Cardinal Couple

 CARDS CURTAILED AT CLEMSON 4-0

(Courtesy Clemson Athletics)

Clemson scored all their runs in the first three innings and Louisville could just manage three hits in seven innings against Clemson pitcher Abby Dunning. She pitched the complete game to take Clemson to 19-8 on the season, while the Cards fell to 19-7 this year. UofL was getting runners on the bags early but unable to get any of them to home plate.

The Tigers pieced together three singles in the first inning to take a 1-0 lead. It turned out to be all they needed but they added three more runs in the contest for the 4-0 win. 

Louisville had their best chance to score in the third inning went they managed to fill the bases with just one out. Dunning got out of the jam, though...getting a full count strike out and an infield pop fly to end the inning.

The two squads meet for the series finale tomorrow at McWhorter Stadium for a noon start. It'll be on ACCNX. 

NCAA WBB BRACKET PROJECTIONS

Autumn Jackson jnows her NCAA WBB better than most. I like to look at her projections more than Charlie Creme's. Here's what she came up with for the 2006 Tournament: 

REGION I -- FT WORTH

The top seed here is projected to be UConn. Vandy is the second seed, followed by Ohio State and then West Virginia.

REGION ii -- SACRAMENTO

UCLA get the top seed projection here. LSU is projected to be the second seed...followed by the Cards in the third seed and Maryland as the #4. 

REGION III -- FT WORTH

i guess I'm still not used to having two cities for regions instead of four, but that's the way that it is. Texas is the top guess for Fort Worth 2, followed by Duke, Michigan aand Oklahoma.

REGION IIII -- SACRAMENTO

The #1 seed here is probably going to be South Carolina, with Iowa second, TCU third and Minnesota at #4. 

It'll be on ESPN tonight at 8 p.m. 

paulie

Softball Falls at Clemson -- SATURDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

Cards Lose Opener 8-6

Louisville jumped out to a big lead to open the first inning by scoring four runs, but Clemson returned the favor with five in the bottom half. The Cards regained the lead with a pair in the second but wouldn't score again as they lost 8-6 to open the series at Clemson. Louisville moved to 19-6 overall and 2-2 in conference play. The two teams will continue the series at 1PM this afternoon. 

Louisville opened with back-to-back hits from Easton Lotus and Chelsea Mack. With their two fastest players on base, the Cards looked to the heart of the lineup, but Bri Despines struck out looking and Camryn Lookadoo grounded back to the pitcher. Madison Pickens was hit by a pitch to load the bases, and a single from Jordan Williams and a throwing error scored two. Taylor Monroe got the same luck on her single, and Pickens came in to score. Riley Janda walked to reload the bases, and a passed ball scored Williams to give the Cards four. 

Anna Wise got the start in this one and she got off to a good one, earning a flyout and a groundout to open the game. It unraveled after that. Three straight singles scored a run and a walk reloaded the bases. A grand slam gave Clemson the lead back, and a single followed, meaning Wise put six straight players on base. The runner stole second and Holly Aprile decided that was enough, putting Zabala into the circle. Zabala struck out the next batter to end the inning. 

Lotus reached base again with one out in the second and advanced to second on a wild pitch. That advancement didn't matter a lot, as Chelsea Mack walked anyway. Despines grounded out, but it was productive and moved both players up. Lookadoo scored Lotus with an error by the short stop, and Pickens knocked in Mack to give Louisville the 6-5 lead. 

Zabala followed with two scoreless innings, but Louisville's offense was unable to find any insurance runs. Clemson decided to employ some small ball in the fourth, laying down four straight bunts to go single, SAC, single, SAC RBI (reached on fielder's choice). With the game tied and runners on first and second, Clemson started swinging again, which worked well for Zabala, who struck out the next two batters to end the inning. 

Clemson broke the tie in the bottom of the sixth. A fly out opened the inning, but it was followed by a triple and a single to give the Tigers the lead. Jayden Gohs entered at pitcher, and a double scored another run. Gohs was able to get out of the inning, but the Cards were down to their final three outs. They had the middle of the order up, but three straight groundouts made for a three-up, three-down inning and a disappointing end to a hot start. 

With Wise getting lit up to open yesterday's game (over the course of 42 pitches) and Zabala throwing 78 pitches over nearly five innings, it will be interesting to see who gets the start today. The Cards will need to make some more of their own magic on offense, as they aren't likely to benefit from as many unearned runs today. First pitch is at 1PM on ACC Network Extra.

Until next time, Go Cards

Case

LAX gets the win over Cincinnati 11-10 in overtime -- Friday Cardinal Couple

 LAX CARDS TAKE THRILLER AT UC. 

Louisville Lacrosse overcame a 7-4 halftime deficit and forced an overtime against the Cincinnati Bearcats Thursday at Nippert Stadium. The two squads have built up a pretty nice and challenging rivalry in recent years and yesterday was no exception.

UC jumped out to a 3-0 lead on the LaxCards but Louisville was able to battle back to get within one at 4-3 t the end of the first quarter.  The Bearcats re-established dominance, though, and won the second quarter 3-1 to grab the 7-4 halftime lead. 

Louisville took the third quarter 2-0 to get back within one goal and the fourth quarter was a wild affair, the Cards battling back from a 10-8 deficit to tie it late in the quarter. 

Ella Berg

The squads went to the extra session and Ella Berg got the game winner in overtime on a wrap around shot, seconds after returning to the contest after sitting out a minute for a penalty. 

Maggie McMahon led Louisville in scoring with two goals and two assists. 

The Cards go to 4-4 with the win and will face Miami Saturday 

  

Spring Volleyball? In Hawai'i !!! -- Thursday Cardinal Couple

 VOLLEYCARDS SWEEP HAWAI'I 

Come to think of it...Hawai'i wouldn't be all that bad a place to spend a spring break.  

In their second day of action against Hawai'i, Louisville volleyball took another match, shutting out the Rainbow Warrors (or Wahine, (if you prefer) 25-18, 25-17, 25-15. The Cards also won the first match the day before 3-1. 

Blair Thiebaud

It was combination of returrning stars from last season and a new addition that stood out for Louisville in Honolulu. Payton Peterson had 11 kills and 10 digs for the Cards. Kalyssa Blackshear added eight kills and freshman Blair Thiebaud was essential on offense with 31 assists, two blocks and four kills. Thiebaud, a 6'0" setter out of college Station, Texas.has a very impressive resume. She was the #1 setter in Texas in her senior season at Collge Station High School. She was on the USA Women's Under 21 team as a setter and played abroad in Indonesia. 

She was one of five freshman Meske brought on board, his class was ranked fifth in the nation. 

paulie

Louisville Softball downs Evansville 5-4 in extra innings -- WEDNESDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

 BRI DESPINES DRIVES HOME EASTON LOTUS FOR CARDS WIN. 

Bri Despines

An ideal evening for softball Tuesday evening as the Cards (19-5) win the "Battle of the Ohio River" with an extra inning triumph over Evansville (7-13) at Ulmer Stadium. Bri Despines, a senior transfer from Kent St. drove home Easton Lotus for the game ender. 

Evansville jumped out to an early 2-0 lead on the Cards in the top of the first inning on Louisville starter Madi Reeves. A Brooke Voss home run was a key blow in the inning. 

Louisville countered with a run in the bottom of the third when a Jordan Williams sacrifice fly brought home Chelsea Mack. 

No further runs were plated until the bottom of the sixth inning. The Cards got a two RBI double from Ava Venturelli, then Chelsea Mack doubed to score Addy O'Dell and it was 4-2 Louisville. 

Evansvile responded in the top of the seventh, though. Maliyah Williams belted a two RBI homer to center field to tie the contest at 4-4. 

Brooke Gray came in to pitch for the Cards and held E'Ville scoreless in the top of the eighth. That set the stage for Despines game winning RBI in the bottom half of the inning. . 

The Cards return to action Friday when they travel to Clemson for a series with the Tigers. 

 

paulie

Softball Goes 3-1 on Weekend; Faces Evansville Tonight -- TUESDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

Cards Score 34 in Shortened Cardinal Classic

Louisville softball was busy over the weekend, but we had our hands full with WBB in the ACC Tournament. The Cards hosted the Cardinal Classic in their final home non-conference weekend of the season. Louisville will participate in one more non-conference weekend event in a couple of weeks when they play in The Ohio State Tournament. Holly Aprile's squad was scheduled to play five games over the weekend, but a rainout on Friday meant that the game against LIU got the axe.

The Cards still opened the event on Friday, playing the first of a pair of games against Ball State. In Cardinals vs Cardinals action, Louisville ultimately fell 5-7 in the opener, creating an inauspicious start to their home event. Ball State tagged Alyssa Zabala for four runs in the top of the first before she was pulled after just two-thirds of an inning. Louisville was unable to tie the game, so Zabala officially took the loss, marking her first of the season. The Cards made a late rally in the sixth, scoring three runs in the bottom half to make it close, but their charge stopped there. 

The two teams played a rematch to open Saturday morning's events with a 9am start. Ball State scored first again, but this time Jayden Gohs held them to just one run in the opening frame, and Louisville scored a pair in the bottom half to gain the lead. Ball State wouldn't score again and Louisville went on to score in each of the five innings played. Gohs pitched all five and Louisville won in an 8-1 run rule. 

After opening the day at 9am Saturday, Louisville also closed it with a first pitch at 7pm. This time, they were taking on Illinois, and the Cards scored eight runs for the second time that day. Zabala got the start against the Illini and struggled in the first again. She gave up three runs before Louisville was able to stop the bleeding. This time, though, Zabala recovered, and twirled four scoreless before Illinois scored again. The Cards struggled to score for the first three innings, but they exploded for six in the fourth and tagged on two more in the fifth. Zabala allowed a run in the sixth to make it 8-4 in favor of Louisville, and Aprile gave her an opportunity to close the game out in the seventh. After Zabala gave up a single to open the inning, she got the hook and Anna Wise came in to clean up. A strikeout preceded a steal and a liner to third made gave Louisville two outs and a runner on second. A homer to deep left made it 8-6 and things got a bit nervier. Wise stayed cool and induced a ground ball to end the game. 

Louisville closed the weekend with another game against Illinois. This time, Madi Reeves got the start. Brooke Gray was conspicuously absent from the circle over the weekend, but she's been struggling of late. We may see her tonight against Evansville. Reeves pitched a solid first two innings but gave up three runs in the third. After a scoreless first two innings, matching Illinois, Louisville responded to their third inning outburst with one of their own. The Cards scored four in the third, marking their first of three innings with four runs. Louisville put up four more in the fourth and one in the fifth to set up a run-rule with a 9-3 lead. Illinois scored a pair in the sixth to stay alive, but the Cards added their final four runs in the bottom half to end the game. Gohs was the winner after coming on in relief in the fourth. 

Offensively, 34 runs over four games is quite good. Defensively, giving up 19 in four games is less good. At the end of the day, though, they went 3-1, so it's hard to complain too much. Taylor Monroe got off to a good start going 3-3 with three RBI in the first game against Ball State but didn't play for the rest of the weekend. Addy O'Dell replaced Monroe at short and had a strong three games. Her best came in the Sunday game against Illinois, where she went 2-3, scored three runs, and had an RBI on her first collegiate home run. In that game, she had one of Louisville's six doubles. The big bats came against Ball State Saturday morning, when Louisville hit three home runs (Camryn Lookadoo, Madison Pickens, and Katie Thatcher). Lookadoo led the team with eight RBI on the weekend and tied with Easton Lotus and Chelsea Mack for the team lead in hits (7). 

The Cards will face Evansville this evening with first pitch scheduled for 6pm. Evansville is off to a tough start this season, as they're just 7-12. The two teams don't have a common opponent, as the Purple Aces' scheduled game against Ball State on 2/15 was canceled. The Aces are coming off their conference opening weekend, where they lost an extremely close series against Illinois State at home. The series was determined by just one total run with final scores of 2-3, 5-6 (9 innings), and 8-7. Louisville's 3-1 weekend brought their season record to 18-5. If they aren't receiving votes in this week's poll, a win tonight and a series win on the road against current #25 Clemson could get them there. 

Until next time, Go Cards!

Case