MONDAY CARDINAL COUPLE
-Soccer defeats Rutgers 4-1 in Cardinal Park
-Volleyball down Temple in four sets
-Softball takes two on Sunday @ Bellarmine
A strong effort from Charlyn Corral led to Rutgers taking their second loss of the season Sunday afternoon at Cardinal Park in women's soccer.
Louisville (6-3-1, 2-0-0) put the first mark on the scoreboard eight minutes into the contest when Christine Exeter found Charlyn Corral with a pass. The senior from Mexico booted a 25 footer past the Rutgers goalkeeper to give the Cards a lead they would never relinquish.
It appeared Corral had another goal with 18 minutes left in the first half...but the ball didn't quite get in. Shannon Dennehey was there for the rebound...though....and knocked it in to put UofL up 2-0. Five minutes later Chelsea Hunter capitalized on a penalty kick to make it 3-0 Cards. Rutgers scored their lone goal of the game three minutes later and the 3-1 Cardinal lead held until the end of the half.
The Cards wasted no time adding their fourth goal of the match to start the second half. 30 seconds in...Corral was there for a missed Exeter attempt and guided the ball to the back of the net to put UofL up by three. The score held the rest of the way in a defensive battle for the rest of the game.
Louisville held a decisive 8-5 shot on goal edge and freshman goalie Paige Brown had four saves.
Louisville hits the road next...facing SMU Thursday, Oct 3rd. in a 8:00 p.m. tilt.
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The Louisville Volleyball team started slowly against the Temple Owls...dropping the first set 21-25...but roaring back to the the final three 25-18, 25-16 and 25-16.
After an mistake-filled first game, where the Cards had 14 unforced errors, the Cards righted the ship and got outstanding play from Maya McClendon (15 kills and 11 digs), 20 digs and pin-point passing from Caitlin Welch. Hannah Kvitle shone from the back row and the Cards got solid contributions from (surprisingly) Emily Juhl (12 kills), Randi Ewing (10 blocks) and Janelle Jenkins ( 9 kills and 10 blocks).
Louisville jumped out to a 11-4 lead in game two and was never seriously challenged...winning by seven.
The Cards blew open a close start in game three with a 6-2 run to take a 15-11 lead. After Temple timeouts, the Cards scored 10 of the next 15 points to win going away.
In the final game, Louisville jumped out to a 8-3 lead...pushed it to 18-11 before seeing Temple closed the gap to 21-15. The Cards finished the game on a 4-1 run, though and won the final by nine.
Next up, a trip to Texas. The Cards will face SMU on Friday and Houston on Sunday.
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Day two of the fall exhibition season bode well for the Softball Cards...knocking off host Bellarmine in the opener 5-3 and Tennessee State 5-0.
LOUISVILLE VS BELLARMINE
The Knights jumped out to a 2-0 lead in their game against the Cards....Louisville chipped away and tied it in the third...aided by freshman Jordan McNary's triple.
Bellarmine regained the lead 3-2 in the bottom of the third...but the Cards countered with two in the fourth...a based-loaded single from Valparaiso transfer Brittany Duncan scored Maryssa Becker and Autumn McDuffie. The Cards added a run in the fifth when Maggie Ruckenbrod singled, advanced on a Tiarra Sanabria double and scored on a Becker sac fly.
Pearsall used all four Cardinal pitchers in the game...Becker getting the win.
LOUISVILLE VS TENNESSEE STATE
After two scoreless innings to open the contest, the Cards got two across the plate in the third...Whitney Arion and Jordan McNary scoring on a Duncan double.
The Cards added a run in the sixth and two in the seventh...Katie Keller blasting a moon-shot over the left field fence to create the final 5-0 win.
Once again, Pearsall put all four Cardinal pitchers in the circle...Connell, Becker, LeCoq and Sanabria allowing just three TSU hits.
The Cards return to Bellarmine next weekend to face Ball State for a Saturday game and Wallace State on Sunday. Both games are scheduled for 1 p.m. starts.
-Paulie
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