Field Hockey falls in the BIG EAST semis to UConn

SUNDAY EDITION OF C.C.

-Field Hockey falls to UConn

-Volleyball downs Pitt

-Rowing gets a second in Hooch

-Football Cards win at 'Cuse

-The "Big girl" misses by a head.

Lots of things going on Saturday to catch up on today. Pictured here, the belly dancers caught CARDINAL COUPLE'S attention at the Dos Equis hospitality tent in the Churchill Downs grandstands on Saturday Breeders Cup Day. Poor little thing must have been freezing out there...

Pam Bustin's TEAM CARDINAL Field Hockey squad lost 2-1 to #4 Connecticut on Connecticut's home field yesterday in the BIG EAST Field Hockey semifinals. The Cards trailed 2-0 at the half and despite a hard fought effort and being one player short, they fall and await to see if they'll be included in the 16 team NCAA Tournament. The Huskies got both their goals with less than 11 minutes remaining in the first half. Louisville scored in the second half when senior Tuli Lim took Hayley Turner's pass for Karah Nall and fired it into the net.

Louisville was hindered when senior Nicole Youman was penalized with a red card and ejected from the game. According to the rules of Field Hockey, no player could substitute for her and the Cards had to play 10 against 11 the rest of the match.

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

Volleyball improved to 10-1 in the BIG EAST with a 3-1 road win over Pitt yesterday. Big for the Cards was Lola Arslanbeckova...with 20 kills...part of the Cards 58. Louisville won the games 25-18, 25-2, 18-2 and 25-19. Louisville got big games from Emily Juhl (10 kills) Taylor Brauneis (43 assists) Caitlin Welch (20 digs) and Amanda Simmons (six blocks).

The Cards had 21 kills in the final game of the match after losing the third game due to a weak .172 hitting percentage

A quick turn around for the Volley Cards, they travel to WVU for a Sunday match against the 'Eers at 2 p.m.

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

Cardinal Rowers got a runner up finish in the Head of the Hooch meet in Chattanooga on Day One of the event. The 4+ team in the Women's Championship event lost to Texas by just three seconds over the 5,000 meter course. The Cards will have four entries in the Women's Open 8+ event today. The 8+ team in the Women's Championship event finished seventh to Texas.

Louisville had 10 boats entered in the various events yesterday. The Novice 4+ team finished 10th to Duke and the Women's Championship Double finished 12th out of 20.

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

Congratulations to the University of Louisville Football Team in grabbing a 28-20 win on the road at Syracuse. No Froman, no Powell? No problem for Louisville, who got a 98 yard rushing effort and 2 TD's from freshman Jeremy Wright and two TD tosses from senior quarterback Justin Burke. The Cards hadn't won a BIG EAST road game in their previous 12 attempts.

The Cards got huge defensive efforts from Brandon Heath, Rodney Gnat and converted on a crucial 4th and inches late in the game to keep the ball out of Syracuse's hands.

Louisville goes to 5-4 with the win and will face the USF Bulls next Saturday in PJCS.

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

ZENYATTA came flying down the Churchill Downs stretch yesterday but narrowly lost to BLAME by a head in the Breeders Cup Classic yesterday at the Twin Spires. Throngs of disappointed fans filed out in disbelief after the final race of the day.

CARDINAL COUPLE, although disappointed in "the Big Girl's" loss, couldn't cry too much...having hit a $1425 late .50 cent pick three. Down slightly on the day...WE pressed the "all" button in the ninth race, followed by DANGEROUS MIDGE, BEHKABAD and AL KHALI in the second leg and ZENYATTA, BLAME and FIRST DUDE in the final. The $54 wager left the pocket almost empty but it was filled nicely after the BLAME upset victory. Yes, we had to fill out the IRS form...WE also had the exacta and trifecta in the final race, a mere $30 investment there brought back a payout of $240 on the $1 boxes. WHEEEEEEEE!!!!!

On the day, our selections were pretty good. If you had put $2 across the board on each of our top 4 picks in all eight BREEDERS CUP races, you would have made a $8 profit. Of course...CARDINAL COUPLE didn't follow its own advice early and some foolish early Daily Double and Pick 4 selections left us a little in the "red" leading up to the 9th race. All's well that ends well...

We did see one of the most incredible runs we can remember in a long time from 2 year old colt UNCLE MO in the BREEDERS CUP JUVENILE. Trained by Todd Pletcher and under John Velazquez, he flew away from the other nine rivals at the top of the stretch and roared to a 4 length victory. He's my early Derby pick for next year. Stunning...