Women's Golf tied for 5th...Indiana advances to play Dream...UofL sweeps Field Hockey awards...What say you now, BIG EAST?

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Field Hockey takes both
Big East awards last week

TUESDAY CARDINAL COUPLE:

-Wild Eggs Cardinal Cup shortened to 36 holes due to weather

-Conrad and Vance sweep Field Hockey honors

-Indiana eliminated New York in WNBA Eastern playoffs

-Watson wonders where does Louisville go from here?

Lightning and rain delayed the start of the Wild Eggs Cardinal Cup women's golf tournament yesterday and necessitated a shortening of the two day event to 36 holes instead of the planned 54...but the Cards slogged through the wet fairways and are tied for fifth place after Monday's action.

Junior Cardinal golfer Anna-Karin Ljungstrom is tied for the lead after firing an even par 72. Other Cardinal women scores...Maria Castellanos and Tara Lyons 78, Emily Haas 79 and Katie Petrino 85. Not competing for team scores were Candice Wiley and Sara Karlsson at 81 and Maike Klein with an 85. 

The Cards are 11 strokes off the lead with a 307. North Carolina State leads with a 296, East Carolina in second with 300 and Missouri and Penn State tied for third at 305.

Action concludes this morning with the final eighteen holes.

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Junior goalkeeper Erin Conrad and sophomore forward Elizabeth Vance swept the BIG EAST Field Hockey Players of the Week awards. Conrad, awarded the Defensive Player of the Week, shut out American and Georgetown. Vance scored the game winner against American and had a goal in the 5-0 rout of the Hoyas.

The Cards return to action at Trager Stadium this weekend with two tough contests...#5 Syracuse and #10 New Hampshire.

Justine Sowry has done a remarkable job in her first year at UofL as the head Field Hockey coach...picking up the pieces that Pam Bustin left behind and guiding the Cards to a 6-2 record so far this season.

Speaking of Bustin, her Duke Blue Devils are 5-3 in the tough ACC conference.

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The Atlanta Dream know "who's next" now and it will be familiar foe Indiana...who downed the New York Liberty by ten last night. Katie Douglas stepped up big for the Fever with 21 points and Tamika Catchings added 17. Atlanta swept the regular season matchups against Indiana and will travel to Indianapolis to begin the WNBA's Eastern Conference finals on Thursday night.

The Fever downed New York 72-62 last night despite Nicole Pierson's 19 points.

Douglas (pictured right) is in her tenth season in the WNBA and played her college ball at Purdue.

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(Special correspondent David Watson takes a look at the defection of Pitt and Syracuse from the BIG EAST)

I got out my road atlas last night and started looking at driving distances to Kansas and Texas from central Indiana. Lawrence, Kansas 587 miles. Waco, Texas 886 miles. Suddenly, the defection of Pittsburgh and Syracuse from the BIG EAST in 2014 isn't looking like a great idea. It's even rumoured Rutgers and Connecticut are sending out feelers. Cowabunga, dude. 

Does Greyhound run
from Indy to Iowa City?

If the BIG EAST scoops up the BIG 12 schools that don't decide to jump ship and head to the PAC 27 or elsewhere, the cost of road trips are going to soar. And, what do you call the merged schools? The BIG TWEAST? The BIG EASTWELVE? Fido or Spot? 

I keep telling myself that 2014 is a pretty long way off and by then many other changes could occur on the college football landscape. Because it is football that is creating this Chinese fire drill. I'm holding onto the hope that Butler or Ball State get included wherever the Cards end up. Maybe in the BIG CENTRAL ALSO RAN Conference. I can do a round trip on half a tank of gas to those home games.

Does Louisville get an SEC look? Is the ACC interested? Will Johnny Marinatto hold this fragile group of BIG EAST jilted lovers together for a couple more years? And WWID - What Will Irish Do?

It'll be an interesting thing to follow over the next three years. By then, maybe Charlie Strong will be a regular BCS Bowl game participant. Maybe even at Louisville. Jeff Walz will have a few additional Final Four appearances under his belt. And maybe Maryland will have gotten rid of those god-awful football uniforms.

(We'd like your opinion on where you think the Cards end up. Feel free to leave a comment, send us an e-mail and take part in the poll over on the left hand side of the site. And, send David bus fare for the potential UofL vs. Baylor football match up in 20...whatever. He's always had a 'thing' for Kim Mulkey.)

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