Fields to UCLA...Field Hockey doesn't make NCAA Tournament...Getting to know...

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WEDNESDAY WITH THE COUPLE

-Nirra Fields chooses UCLA

-Trager Stadium will be the site of NCAA Field Hockey Final Four

-Getting to know : Sara Hammond

-Ten things we like about this year's Lady Cards

We ran an article about talented 2012 recruit Nirra Fields a couple of days ago. She announced yesterday that she has verballed to UCLA...choosing the

Fields will hoop it up at UCLA

Bruins over Louisville and a couple of other schools. When you look at it, the signs were there. She left Ohio to enroll in Mater Dei, a huge school in terms of women's basketball, instead of staying to play in Ohio. Her guardian, Mike Brown, is the coach for the LA Lakers.

Can't win them all. She's a good one and will tear up PAC-12 hoops.

Also, Maravena "Bubbles" Anderson, the 6'11" wunderkind out of Rutgers Prep in New Jersey has verballed to Pittsburgh. Surprising, with Rutgers in her back yard? Not really. Patty Coyle is an associate coach for the Panthers and Patty's twin sister Mary Coyle Klinger is Bubbles head coach at Rutgers Prep. With Pitt scheduled to move to the ACC in 2013 (or earlier) the Lady Cards may never get to face Bubbles (who, supposedly is still growing). It would have been fun to see Cierra, Shawnta, Asia, Sara and Sherrone attack her, though.

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Trager Stadium will be the site for the 2011 NCAA Women's Field Hockey Final Four. The event will take place from Nov. 18-20. Unfortunately, the Louisville field hockey team did not get selected as one of the sixteen participants to take part in the NCAA Tournament. In fact, the BIG EAST only placed two teams in the "Sweet Sixteen" for field hockey...Connecticut and Syracuse.

The Field:

ACC:  Duke, Maryland, North Carolina
BIG EAST:  Syracuse, Connecticut
BIG TEN:  Penn State, Michigan, Iowa, Ohio State
PAC 12:  Stanford
Others: Northeastern, Ohio U, New Hampshire, Princeton, Richmond, Old Dominion.

We liked Pam...

Congratulations to Pam Bustin, who led her Duke squad to the round of 16, in her first year as coach of the ACC Blue Devils. Bustin, long time head coach of the Cardinals, took over a Blue Devils program that had been waning over the past several years in the tough ACC. Looks like they're back on track. WE had some great interviews and talks with Pam here at CARDINAL COUPLE over the years. Best of luck in the Big Dance, P.B.

The die is cast, now, for Justine Sowry to pick up the pace and get some quality talent on the roster to go with returning stars Haley and Lacey Jurich, Elizabeth Vance, Dominique Pasqualichio, Erin Conrad, Amber Thomas and Erin Schneidtmiller. Get 'er done, Justine!

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Sara's team won the 2011
Kentucky Girls High School
Championship

As a part of our "meet the newcomers" feature on UofL women's basketball...today we take a look at freshman forward Sara Hammond. Hammond had a great debut for the Lady Cards in the exhibition game against Lindsey Wilson and showed strength in the paint and ran the floor well. She'll be an integral part of Jeff Walz's front line paint players and she can also step outside the paint and make you pay with her mid-range jumper. 

Louisville won the recruiting battle over UConn to gain Sara's services as a Cardinal. Here are a few of the many accomplishments Sara had in her illustrious high school days:

- Leading career scorer at Rockcastle County (KY) High School with 2121 pts.

- 2011 Kentucky Miss Basketball

- McDonald's All-American

- #12 player in the nation 2010-11 by Hoopgurlz

- Three regional team titles and state champs in 2011

- Parade All-American

- 16.2 points and 12 rebounds her senior year.

Here's a few things you may not know about Ms. Hammond:

- Was a competitive swimmer on the Rockcastle County swim team


How would have Sara gotten along with
Gene Hackman and Dennis Hopper of
the movie "Hoosiers"?



- Favorite movie is Hoosiers

- Toughest player she has faced is Elizabeth Williams (Duke)

- She grew up a fan of the Duke Blue Devils

- Favorite hobbies are shopping and hanging out with friends

- Modeled her game after Dirk Nowitzki

We think that Sara has a bright and promising career ahead of her as a Lady Card. Her hard work ethic and hustle have turned heads already and she should prove to be a force for the Lady Cards in the paint and on defense during her time at UofL.

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We were discussing Louisville women's basketball with a friend recently who lives in Seattle, Washington and is a huge Lady Cards fan. She asked us what were the ten best things about this year's team. Although that would be a very hard list to come up with and would probably change from week to week, here are ten things we like about the 2011-12 version of the Lady Cards:

1)  Height. With Warren, Vails, Dyer, Taylor and Hammond...Walz has "bigs" .
2)  Guard depth. Remember the 2009-10 season? Not a problem this year.
3)  The Schimmel's Unfamiliar with them? Where you been living, in a cave?
4)  The fan base. Are UofL WBB fans the rowdiest and loudest? We think so.
5)  The coaches. Jeff Walz has a stellar staff. And, he isn't too bad himself.
6)  Local connection. Reid, Gibbs, Slaughter, Hammond, Harper all from KY.
7)  Mo. She just keeps getting better and better. Tough, confident and cool.
8)  The Court. We are amazed every time we walk into the KFC YUM! Center.
9)  The Knowledge. Nationwide, the Cards are building a large fan base.
10) The Goal. Each and every one of the girls believe they can get to Denver.

Gotta a few you like that we didn't mention? Feel free to add them to the comments sections or e-mail us at cardinalcouple@insightbb.com
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didyouknowthatpervisellisonplayedfouryearsattheuniversityoflouisvilleandwonanationalchampionshipwiththecardshisfreshmanyear?