CARDINAL COUPLE

CARDINAL COUPLE
We report on the joy and excitement of UofL women's sports here. Thanks for checking us out! Click the picture of Louie to hear the latest Cardinal Couple Radio Hour Podcast!!

Wednesday, April 30, 2014

Wednesday Cardinal Couple...Cards v Cats tonight at Ulmer


WEDNESDAY CARDINAL COUPLE


-  #10 Kentucky to face softball Cards tonight

***** GAME UPDATE*****

UK scored four runs in the top of the eighth to win in extra innings against Louisville 7-3. We'll have more on this in the Friday edition of CARDINAL COUPLE...



As if Derby Week in Louisville didn't already have enough excitement and events...the Louisville Belknap campus will be flooded with over 1000 fans and watchers dressed in both Red and Blue for tonight's Louisville vs. Kentucky softball contest. Game time is 6 p.m. 

UK comes in at 40-11 overall and 13-8 in the SEC. They dropped two out of three over the weekend in Knoxville to Tennessee in their most recent outing...the Vols ranked #8 in the NFCA polls. 

It'll be the second matchup between the two this season.

Louisville travelled to Lexington on April 2nd and took a 5-0 loss to the Cats. Kelsey Nunley got the win for Big Blue...holding UofL two just three hits (two by Kelsi Jones) in the complete game shutout. 

Louisville is riding a 31-18 record and enters the contest after sweeping Temple at Ulmer Stadium over the weekend. The Cards scored 30 runs in the three wins and the squad is batting .303 as a team on the season. 

Louisville leads the series 18-15.

Admission is $5 for attending the game inside Ulmer and seating on the outfield berm is free. Koetter Construction will be honored before the game with several other companies that assisted with the Ulmer Stadium expansion. 

A key win over a top 10 opponent would look awfully good on the Cards NCAA Tournament-worthy resume. Louisville ends the regular season in Memphis on Derby weekend. 

paulie

Tuesday, April 29, 2014

Cardinal Couple Tuesday-Selection Monday

TUESDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

 

Selection Monday

Yesterday was Selection Monday for the NCAA Tournament.  What?  You didn't know?

72 teams and 18 individuals were announced as participants in the NCAA Women's Golf Championship to be held between May 8th and 23rd.  The Louisville women were guaranteed a position in the Championship, due to having won the American Athletic Conference Championship, but tuned in to find out their seeding and in which region they would be playing.

The answers are: 13th seed, and in the East Region.

The East Region is hosted by Florida State and will be played at Southwood Golf Club in Tallahassee, FL.  All regionals will be played between May 8th and 10th, with the National Championship occurring May 20th through the 23rd at Tulsa Country Club in Tulsa, Oklahoma.

Sophomore Laura Restrepo leads the Cardinals with a 72.68 stroke average. She is ranked 63rd in the nation by Golfstat. Junior Emily Haas ranks second on the team with a 73.14. She's 9th, according to Golfstat. Junior Katie Petrino has a 73.71 average and comes in at 142nd with Golfstat. Senior Tara Lyons and freshman Shannon Gramerly fill out the usual fivesome the Cards put out on the links.

In addition to Louisville, American Conference members UCF and SMU also made the cut for regional play, with UCF being a sixth seed and also in the East Region.  Meanwhile, SMU got an 18th seed in the Central Region.

Future ACC conference-mates make appearances:

East:
1. Duke
7. Virginia
9. NC State
10. Florida State

Central:
8. North Carolina
10. Miami (FL)

West:
5. Clemson
6. Wake Forest
18. Notre Dame

There are three regions with 24 teams and six individuals playing in each region.

Softball Tidbits

Last Home Game

The Kentucky Wildcats come in to Ulmer Stadium tomorrow night for Softball.  This is a ticketed
event, unlike most softball games at Ulmer, and the stadium is expected to sell-out, but there is always room to watch from the outfield berm, which still provides excellent vantage points for the game.

With Ulmer having been newly renovated and more seats added, its expected that there will be a record crowd on hand.

The rains are expected to clear and Ulmer has fantastic drainage and a world class ground-crew tending it.  With the forecast calling for rain ending overnight Tuesday night, with only a slim chance for rain remaining, it should make for a great evening.

First pitch is at 6pm.  This will likely be your last chance to see this year's six seniors play at home, with the last three regular season games being at Memphis.

Softball Spotlight

 
For the past several weeks, Softball has let one of the players take over the @UofLSoftball twitter account one afternoon of the week.  While a date hasn't been set for this week's Spotlight, we're expecting Taner Fowler to step up to the virtual mic.  Expect about an hour of good fun on twitter as Taner answers your questions tweeted to @UofLSoftball.  As soon as we find out a date and time for this week's Softball Spotlight, we'll let you know.

Taner is one of the graduating seniors and is frequently listed as Utility for her position and this year has showed it.  She's played just about equal time at catcher, first base, third base and left field at various times this season.  Taner is from Morganfield, Kentucky, in Union County about midway between Owensboro and Paducah.

jeffmca

Monday, April 28, 2014

Monday Cardinal Couple --- Softball completes the sweep...Cards 11 - Owls 3




MONDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

- Cards improve to 12-6 in AAC with Temple win

- Vote for Katie!


The Louisville Softball team has found their bats and used them to bombard the Owls again Sunday. Spotting the Owls an early 3-0 advanage...Louisville proceeded to score the final 11 runs of the contest and sweeps the series on Senior Day at Ulmer Stadium.

The fans said an official goodbye to Taner Fowler, Hannah Kiyohara, Caralisa Connell, Katie Keller, Maggie Ruckenbrod and Rachel LeCoq yesterday (they actually will have one more home game Wednesday when they host UK) and then proceeded to say goodbye to several softballs and Owl pitchers.

After a three run homer in the top of the first put the Cards and Caralisa Connell behind, UofL wasted no time in putting some numbers on the left field scoreboard. The Cards got one back in the bottom of the first when Kelsi Jones doubled and scored on a Brittany Duncan sac fly.

The fourth inning proved to be fruitful for the Cards offense...five runs on five hits...and Louisville led 6-3.

Maryssa Becker went fence with Brittany Duncan onboard in the fifth to increase the lead to five at 8-3. By then, Caralisa had given away to Becker in the circle.

The Cards ended it in the sixth when Jones led off the inning with her team-best ninth home run of the season. Four singles from Jordan McNary, Kristina Dillard, Autumn McDuffie and Taner Fowler produced the final two runs to stop the game at 11-3.

Cats Wednesday. This one will cost you $5 to watch inside Ulmer, but free seating will be available on the outfield berm.

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Vote for Katie Keller! The senior and nine other softball players are in competition for college Player of the Year. You can vote once a day and Katie could use your help for the Senior Class Award title.

Link below:

VOTE FOR KATIE EVERY DAY!

( UNFORTUNATELY, YOU'LL NEED TO COPY AND PASTE THE LINK WHEN YOU GET OVER THERE . I VOTED OFF THE LINK ABOVE EARLIER AND IT WOULDN'T LET ME VOTE AGAIN WHEN I WENT BACK A FEW MINUTES LATER TO TEST IT)

Katie Keller

Katie Keller

School
Louisville
Position
Second Base
Major
Communications
 

Classroom

Katie Keller Text Screen for printingKatie Keller currently carries a 3.118 overall GPA and has had solid performances in the classroom throughout her career. The communications major has been named to the Athletic Director’s honor roll (3.0 or higher for the semester)three times and was a member of the Dean’s List. Following her junior season, when she earned All-America honor on the field, she was also selected to the BIG EAST All-Academic Team.

Character

Katie Keller is a leader both on and off the field. As a freshman, she stepped into a starting role at second base and gained the respect of her teammates and coaches with her communication skills. Her work ethic has never been called into question. She is dedicated and determined to improve herself and her teammates. Over the years, she has grown into a leader off the field as well, giving encouragement to teammates. Katie is always able to lighten up a tense moment with her sense of humor, but knows when to be serious. She is an intense competitor and a great teammate. We are fortunate to have Katie as a member of our team.

Community

Katie Keller has dedicated community service hours to several organizations including: Dreams with Wings, the Down Syndrome Buddy Walk, the Humane Society, and the Hunger Walk. She has donated her time to help carve pumpkins with special needs children and assisted with a dance for people with disabilities who are residents of the Douglas Community Center in Louisville. Keller has also spent hours working with the Fit4Me program, in which UofL female athletes work with middle-school girls to improve their nutrition and fitness and encourage healthy habits,

Competition

Katie Kopeeller was recently named to the Top 50 Watch List for USA Softball Collegiate Player of the Year. She earned NFCA All-America second team honors in 2013 after registering a .402 batting average and 54 RBIs and belting out a team-best 12 home runs. She was also named to the All-Great Lakes Region and All-BIG EAST first teams as a junior. In 2013, Keller was one of the Top 25 Finalists for the 2013 USA Softball Collegiate Player of the Year.

The three-year starter and three-time All-BIG EAST selection became the first player in program history to sweep Louisville Slugger/NFCA and USA Softball National Player of the Week honors on March 5, 2013. She is also two-time All-Great Lakes Region selection. She has an innate knowledge of the game and performs well under pressure.

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Our latest broadcast on the Cardinal Couple Radio Hour is now available on the SoundCloud. Several of you have e-mailed me about not being able to find the archived broadcasts. I hope the link below helps:

CARDINAL COUPLE RADIO 04-26-14

Let us know...

WE will be out of the studio Derby Day...and back live again on 5/10/14.

We have (5) different Lacrosse interviews to hear on the 4/26/14 broadcast...two with Coach Kellie Young, two with Faye Brust and one with Kay Morissette. 



paulie

Sunday, April 27, 2014

Sunday Cardinal Couple -- Softball Cards fly past Owls 14-6 and 5-0



SUNDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

- Cards improve to 11-6 in AAC with sweep

-  Downs After Dark 


Softball the way we're used to it at Ulmer Saturday. Louisville unleashed the bats against the Owls and Carl
found her groove again in the sweep against Temple.

Cards 14 - Temple 6  (five innings)

Louisville put together 14 runs and 13 hits in the opener...three from Taner Fowler in the drubbing of Temple. After a scoreless first inning, Louisville went to work in the second frame...a two RBI single from Kelsi Jones and two run double by Fowler doing the major damage.

Maybe just as impressive...Brittany Duncan scoring from first on a Kayla Soles two RBI double. Make it 6-0 Cards after two. Call her "wheels"?

After Temple went fence on Rachel LeCoq in the third, Fowler returned the favor...pounding one over the left field fence and doing irreparable harm to the maple tree on the berm. Louisville added two more runs to make it 9-1 after three.

Temple countered with three runs off of LeCoq and Tierra Sanabria in the fourth to make it a five run Cardinal lead...but Louisville responded with four runs...on four singles to give Temple a 13-4 deficit to overcome. The Owls did score twice in the top of the fifth...forcing Louisville to bat in the bottom of the inning...but walks to Soles and Maryssa Becker and a double from Fowler ended the game.

LOUISVILLE 5 - TEMPLE 0

Good Carl is back.

The nightcap belonged to Caralisa Connell. 12 strikeouts and just two hits allowed gave the senior her eighth win of the year.  We got to see the pitcher that we knew from last year and 2012...mowing down batters like a weed-eater attacks clumps of grass.

And, in a rarity for the second game of a UofL double-header, the bats backed her up.

The Cards scored three in the second inning...singles from Soles, Fowler, Maggie Ruckenbrod and Hannah Kiyohara doing the damage and added two in the third inning. Becker's double off the centerfield fence drove in Whitney Arion and Keller to give Connell a five run lead to work with. 

Tomorrow is Senior Day and the Cards will honor Fowler, Keller, Kiyohara, LeCoq, Connell and Ruckenbrod. They've won 170 games as Cardinals, played in two conference title games and played in three NCAA Tournaments.

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


I've posted the second of my articles about Derby Week over at paulsykes.com


This one isn't roses and champagne toasts. Yeah, I'm a little edgy about the $hur$hill Down$ gouging.

This piece probably won't endear me to John Asher or Darrin Rogers, the communciations brain-trust on Central Avenue.

The new projection screen, though...is totally awesome.

LINK:

DERBY TRIAL AND DOLLARS AFTER DARK

paulie

Saturday, April 26, 2014

Saturday Cardinal Couple -- Softball enters crucial three game series...Radio Today!



SATURDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

- Pearsall's squad takes on Owls this weekend

- Radio Today!

- More "Talk Derby to me"

- Wanna follow Angel & Shoni on TV?


With only six conference games left and a non-conference meeting with UK at Ulmer on Wednesday night...the time is now for the softball Cards (28-18) to go on a regular-season ending win streak to bolster their chances in the AAC Softball tournament in Houston and for an NCAA bid. Prior to last weekend's debacle at UCF...where Louisville went 0-3...Louisville had won eight in a row.

The Cards are currently in third place in the AAC with a 9-6 mark. Ahead of them is UCF at 9-3 and Houston at 11-4. USF sits behind Louisville with a 7-5 mark.

The good news is that Louisville doesn't have to play any of the above three to end the season. After Temple, the Cards conclude the regular season at Memphis next weekend. The Tigers are in seventh place in the AAC with a 4-10 record.

Directly ahead is Temple, sitting in fifth place with Rutgers at 5-7. The Owls are 15-22 on the season.

It will be the second meeting lifetime between the two squads. Louisville shut out the Owls 8-0 last season in the Citrus Classic in Orlando on March 1st.

Temple is led by senior Sarah Prezioso, who is hitting .385 and leads the Owls in hits (45), runs (32), RBI's (22), stolen bases (16), home runs (8) and doubles (8). The team captains .708 slugging percentage leads the AAC.

In the circle, sophomore Kelsey Dominick (9-9) and freshman Amanda Gatt see most of the work. Dominick has three shut-outs on the season.

For UofL, second second baseman Katie Keller has been on fire lately and leads the team with a .393 batting average. She gets plenty of help from junior transfer Kelsi Jones, who leads Louisville with eight home runs, junior transfer Brittany Duncan and senior catcher Maggie Ruckenbrod. Marge leads the AAC in throwing out would-be base stealers.

The Cards will count on Maryssa Becker in the circle. The Oregon freshman is 12-5 and carries a 1.98 ERA. She's also a legit threat at the plate. Senior Rachel Le Coq has come around as of late when called on to pitch and the Cards do have senior Caralisa Connell and freshman Tierra Sanabria available if the Owl bats get busy.

First pitch is noon. The second game scheduled for around 2:30.

  *            *            *            *            *            *            *

CARDINAL COUPLE RADIO today at 11 a.m. We've got plenty to discuss with lacrosse, softball, golf, more Louisville women's sports and some great audio from lax's Faye Brust, Kay Morissette and Coach Young. We'll also try to stump Worldwide and the listening audience with another of Paulie's quizzes and Don Paulie holds court with another aspect of life he is confused about.

It's internet radio that defies description and that's the way we like it. Crescent Hill Radio is local stuff. Good to listen to at any time. Music, talk shows and comedy. Eventually the station will be on FM as well. We'll see if they keep us around after that...

Join us, won't you?

LINK BELOW:

http://www.crescenthillradio.com

<><><><><><><><><><><><>><><>><><>><>><>><><><><><>


Another snippet of lunacy and babble has been posted over at my personal blog about that most unholiest of things...The Kentucky Derby. With Derby and Oaks just around the corner...I'll be striving to put a little "something, sumthin" over there each day.

You have been advised.

LINK:

http://www.paulsykes.com

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

Fox Sports South and SportSouth have released their Atlanta Dream schedule for 2014. 15 games!





paulie

Friday, April 25, 2014

Friday Cardinal Couple -- Lacrosse clips Golden Eagles wings 12-5



FRIDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

- Brust's 4 goals...defense stifle Marquette in BIG EAST final

- Nice read on Shoni


The University of Louisville Lacrosse squad has completed a perfect regular season in their final year in the BIG EAST. The Cards won their seventh conference game in a row with a 12-5 win over Marquette. Louisville will be the #1 seed with a 7-0 conference record when they go to the BIG EAST Lacrosse Tournament Championships on May 1st.

Faye Brust continued her hot streak with four goals in the win...two of those in a first half when Louisville led 8-0 after 30 minutes and held the Golden Eagles to just one shot on goal. Louisville had 18 shots on Marquette goalkeeper Emma Salter in the first half.

Brust got the first score for UofL just 42 seconds into the contest on a free position shot. Two back-to-back goals by Cortnee Daley and an unassisted goal by Nikki Boltja had the Cards up 4-0 after just ten minutes of action.

Redshirt junior Anna Kopecka, Brust, Monica Negron and Boltja added the four additional goals in the first half...a half dominated by the Louisville attack, the Cards defense and Marquette's inability to advance the ball over the midfield logo.

Whatever the Golden Eagles discussed at halftime seemed to work for awhile. The Wisconsin visitors scored the first four goals of the second half to trim the Cardinal lead to four with 15:46 to go in the game. This necessitated a timeout by Coach Young, who discussed attack strategies and stopping the Marquette offense with the squad. The Cards were getting plenty of shots on goal in the first part of the second half but they weren't getting in the net.

Faye to the rescue. The junior from Bel Air, MD. collected two scores over the next three minutes to push the Cardinal advantage back to six at 10-4. Louisville would also get scores from Kay Morissette and Jamie Redding in the final 90 seconds for a 12-5 win. The Cards win...the CARDS WIN !!!!

We'll have comments from Faye and Coach Young about the win..as well as comments from those two and Kay Morissette after the Rutgers win...on the Saturday edition of CARDINAL COUPLE radio at 11 a.m.

Louisville outshot Marquette 37-8 and Morissette dominated the draw controls 17-2 to improve their record to 13-3.

Louisville awaits the BIG EAST Tournament at Georgetown in Washington, DC May 1-3.

//////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

Reader Kenny S. found a great read on Shoni in the Portland Tribune and forwarded it to us. Kenny is great at tracking these down and getting them to us to share with our readers and we appreciate his detective work very much. Link below:

http://portlandtribune.com/pt/12-sports/218063-78185-shoni-


Paulie




Thursday, April 24, 2014

Thursday Cardinal Couple -- Softball stumbles @ IU...Lacrosse today!


THURSDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

- Hoosier rock Softball Cards 8-3

- Lacrosse final home game today vs. Marquette



The University of Louisville softball team played their final non-conference game of the season at Bloomington, IN on Wednesday evening against the Indiana University Hoosiers and the results were less than desirable against the BIG 10 foe...Louisville falling 8-3 to IU.

A rocky start for the Cards...allowing three runs in the first inning...two more in the third and two in the fourth before plating three runs in the fifth to avoid the five inning, game ending rule.

Coach Pearsall used all four pitchers on the roster in the event but Caralisa Connell saw 0.1 innings of action before being replaced and the Hoosier batters teed off on Maryssa Becker, Rachel Le Coq and Tiarra Sanabria.

The Cards return home to host AAC foe Temple for three games this weekend...first pitch is Saturday @ noon.

The Cards need to take care of business to have any shot at contending for a conference title. Standings below:

                               Conference            Overall
     Team                   W   L   T   Pct       W   L   T   Pct
     UCF.................   9   3   0  .750      33  15   0  .688
     Houston.............  11   4   0  .733      28  15   0  .651
     Louisville..........   9   6   0  .600      28  17   0  .622
     USF.................   7   5   0  .583      33  13   0  .717
     Rutgers.............   5   7   0  .417      21  16   0  .568
     Temple..............   5   7   0  .417      15  20   0  .429
     Memphis.............   4  10   0  .286      20  26   0  .435
     UConn...............   3  11   0  .214      12  31   0  .279

Louisville also needs some losses by UCF, USF and Houston...plus a sweep of Memphis next weekend @ in Elvisville to be top-ranked for the AAC Conference tournament in Houston....which begins May 8th.

Maybe not the season we hoped for....Louisville pitching has been marginal at best despite two returning starters. A pleasant surprise from freshman Becker...but less than spectacular results in a conference that isn't all that strong.

If it wasn't for transfers Kelsi Jones and Brittany Duncan, one wonders if this team would actually be that close to the leaders in conference.

 Saturday’s games will honor the military and on Sunday, Louisville will honor seniors Caralisa Connell, Taner Fowler, Katie Keller, Hannah Kiyohara, Rachel LeCoq and Maggie Ruckenbrod.

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

Lacrosse puts their undefeated conference record on the line today against Marquette at the Louisville Lacrosse Stadium at 4 p.m.

This should not be a problem for the Cards. Marquette is in their second season of Lacrosse and they are mired at the bottom of the BIG EAST conference standings with Cincinnati.

One can expect the scoring juggernaut of Boltja, Brust, Daley and Morissette to provide plenty of chances for Al Greenert and the pep band to play the Louisville Fight Song.

Hats off to one of my favorite Lacrosse player to interview....Faye Brust...for the award below:

April 22, 2014
BIG EAST Offensive Player of the Week
Faye Brust, Louisville, Jr., A
Brust registered a pair of five-goal games last week, beginning with a crucial showing against Connecticut on Thursday before duplicating the performance against Rutgers on Saturday. After the Huskies started off with a 1-0 lead, Brust provided the game-tying score before adding the go-ahead tally two minutes later as the Cardinals never lost their lead from that point forward. The junior’s five goals against the Scarlet Knights came on five shots. She also picked up a pair of ground balls last week as the Cardinals remained undefeated (6-0) in BIG EAST play to clinch the top seed in the upcoming Championship.

All the way, Faye !!! (or 'Fabian'...as some of the other Lacrosse players instructed me to call her Saturday)


Come out and support your University of Louisville lacrosse team today as they try to run the BIG EAST table !!

Louisville 6-01.000984312-3.800226125
Georgetown 5-1.83377478-7.533176154
Connecticut 4-2.66772599-6.600166149
Villanova 3-3.50057688-7.533144149
Temple 3-3.50063636-9.400139164
Rutgers 2-4.33365718-8.500132162
Marquette 1-5.16751625-10.333129171
Cincinnati 0-6.000301006-10.375131207

Wednesday, April 23, 2014

Wednesday Cardinal Couple -- Women's Golf Wins AAC Championship!!



WEDNESDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

- Haas' birdie putt on final home gives UofL the win

- Walz Ball


Excitement plus in the final round of the AAC Women's Golf Championship Tournament at the Hammock Beach Resort...Cardinal junior Emily Haas sinking a 10-foot birdie putt on the final hole to put Louisville past UCF by one stroke for the title.

The Cards had a final round total of 299 to overtake the Golden Knights...finishing with a 3-day total of 915.

Haas had a 54 hole score of 223 and finished second overall in individual scores. Her team-low 71 Tuesday helped guide Louisville to their fifth conference title in school history.

SMU came in third with a 928 and had the individual low score champ in Jenny Ragland who beat Haas with a 218.

The win gives UofL an automatic spot in the NCAA Regionals that will take place May 8-10. Louisville will learn which of the three regional sites they are headed to on April 28th.

Sophomore Laura Restrepo tied for seventh with a score of 229. Tara Lyons, a senior, carded a 231...good enough for a tie for tenth. Junior Katie Petrino finished at 234 and freshman Shannon Gramley totaled 236.

A great come-from-behind on the final day win for Courtney Trimble's squad. Congrats to the chip-and-putt Cards for adding another trophy to the UofL showcase and heading to women's collegiate golf's "big dance".

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

Jeff Walz, head coach of the University of Louisville women’s basketball team, will walk the red carpet at The Julep Ball.

The premier Derby Eve Party with a Purpose, The Julep Ball is held annually on the evening before the Kentucky Derby and supports the work of the James Graham Brown Cancer Center at the University of Louisville. The event on May 2 at the KFC Yum! Center kicks off with a 6:30 p.m. cocktail reception, followed by dinner and a live auction at 8 p.m.
 
An Official Event of the 140th Kentucky Derby®, The Julep Ball provides a celebrity-studded night to remember with a multi-course seated dinner, a knock-your-socks-off auction, multiple open specialty bars, complimentary valet parking, and dancing until the wee hours of Derby morning. Tickets to The Julep Ball sell out early each year.

The full evening’s entertainment is $600 per person, $5,000 for a table of 10, and $100 per person for dance-only tickets. For further information and to buy tickets, go to The Julep Ball website.

As one of our readers commented...when sending me the link...will Walz have to get a suit? We say...why mess with the trademark? Wear the checked shirt...

We also wonder...although it is for a very good cause...isn't the extra $500 for dinner and the full evening's entertainment a bit high? Those gotta be some spicy meatballs and strong drinks!

Coach hobnobbing with celebs and NFL players. Who woulda thunk it seven years ago when he was trying to get Angel to roll off screens and Dez to look for the open player..

Also, the event is at the KFC YUM! Center...no foreign territory for Coach. If it all gets a little stuffy, he can always retreat to his office in the facility and watch a little game film. Or open up the practice court on the north side and coach up the attendees on layups and free throws.

Atta boy, Jeff !!!

paulie

Tuesday, April 22, 2014

Tuesday Cardinal Couple - Golf update

TUESDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

 

Golf Conference Championship Update



After the second round of play (out of three), Louisville's women stand in second place as a team only four strokes out of first.  Louisville advanced on the leader by three strokes after Sunday's finish landed them in third place, seven strokes behind UCF.  Cincinnati, in second place after the first day, apparently had a disastrous day and dropped to sixth place.

Individually, two Cardinal golfers are tied for third place with three other players.  Laura Restrepo advanced from her first round position of being tied for ninth, while Emily Haas dropped a spot from her tie for second.

Louisville continues to get the job done with consistent team play, with all five players finishing the second round in the top of half of the individual results.  A feat only matched by UCF, with UCF's lowest round two result being in a tie for 18th and Katie Petrino finishing out the Louisville round two results in a tie for 16th.  Other Louisville golfers, Tara Lyons, and Shannon Gramley completed the second round in 13th and tied for 14th, respectively.

The AAC championship will finish play today, with tee times starting at 8am.  Louisville's golfers will start play at 8:50am with the last of the five teeing off at 9:30am.

Nearing the End of 2013-2014

I know it feels like Basketball just wrapped up, but we're starting to get near the end of spring sports schedules.

Derby weekend marks a bit of a turning point of UofL Athletics for the academic year.  The Big East Conference championship for Lacrosse occurs that weekend, while Softball finishes their regular season slate in Memphis the day after Derby.  Track and Field has The American Conference championship that weekend as well, with Rowing taking their last regular season strokes that weekend as well.

If you haven't made it out to support your Cardinal spring sports teams, now is the time to do it.  The weather is wonderful, spring sports are all free admission, and all are great fun to watch.  Do be aware that the Softball game vs Kentucky is a ticketed event for admission into Ulmer stadium itself (which will almost certainly be solidly sold-out) but you can watch from the berm for free.

You won't be disappointed.

- jeffmca

Monday, April 21, 2014

Monday Cardinal Couple -- Cards in third place in AAC Women's Golf Tournament



MONDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

- Women's golf seven strokes back after Day One of Tourney

- Rowing captures five wins at Clemson

- Latest CARDINAL COUPLE radio on the Soundcloud


Louisville women's golf is in third place after the first round of the AAC Golf Championship Tournament at Hammock Beach Resort on Sunday.

The Central Florida Golden Knights are first on the leaderboard as teams battled 15-20 mile-per-hour wind gusts during round one. UCF finished 19-over-par (307) while Cincinnati recorded a 23-over-par 311 for second place. Louisville charted a 26-over-par 314 for third.

Cincinnati's Olivia Dose is the individual leader with a two-over-par 74 through 18 holes. Andrea Malek (Cincinnati) and Emily Haas (Louisville) are tied for second at 75 (+3). UCF's Ashley Holder and SMU's Jenny Haglund are both tied for fourth with four-over-par 76 scores. Laura Restrepo is tied for 9th at 78.

Tara Lyons fired an 80, Katie Petrino finished at 81 and Shannon Gramley carded and 82 as the other UofL participants.

The second round will begin at 8 a.m. eastern on Monday.


Team Results
1. UCF, 307 (+19)
2. Cincinnati, 311 (+23)
3. Louisville, 314 (+26)
4. SMU, 315 (+27)
5. Memphis, 319 (+31)
6. USF, 324 (+36)
7. Rutgers, 336 (+48)

Top-10 Individuals
1. Olivia Dose, Cincinnati, 74 (+2)
T2. Andrea Malek, Cincinnati, 75 (+3)
T2. Emily Haas, Louisville, 75 (+3)
T4. Ashley Holder, UCF, 76 (+4)
T4. Jenny Haglund, SMU, 76 (+4)
T6. Kristine Odaiyar, UCF, 77 (+5)
T6. Monifa Sealy, UCF, 77 (+5)
T6. Fanny Cnops, UCF, 77 (+5)
T9. Natalie Turk, Memphis, 78 (+6)
T9. Leighann Cabush, Memphis, 78 (+6)
T9. Raegan Bremer, Houston, 78 (+6)
T9. Laura Restrepo, Louisville, 78 (+6)  

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The Louisville rowing team had a successful weekend of racing at the Clemson Invite earning five wins overall, including a trio of victories by the second varsity eight boat.

The Cardinals' second varsity eight crew of Sophie St. Martin (coxswain), Elise Valantine, Lucy Wilshier, Lizzie DeVries, Cynthia Doyle, Kylen Pattermann, Hanna Spittel, Abbie Wade and Katie Nord finished ahead of crews from No. 13 UCLA, No. 15 Wisconsin and No. 16 Cornell in winning the three races on Lake Hartwell. The boat's fastest time of the weekend came in Sunday's first session when it defeated a field of six other crews with a time of 7:04.4. In addition, Louisville's second varsity four crew of Annie Pape (coxswain), Emma Melton, Jenny Marler, Paula Gollnick and Kylie Noltemeyer added a pair of wins defeating crews from both UCLA and Cornell. The Cardinals also earned runner-up finishes over the two days in the varsity eight, varsity four and third varsity eight boats. "I'm really proud of how the team has handled everything since the last race and especially the way we competed this weekend. They showed a lot of attention to detail in training, which was important because we had to get as much as we could out of our practices and it showed this weekend," said Louisville head coach Derek Copeland "The weather was certainly a factor again this weekend but we handled it much better. It was nice seeing everything come together for us. The mileage on the Ohio River has certainly paid off for this team."
 Up next, the Cardinals will have a week away from competition to prepare for a series of races in Ann Arbor, Mich., on May 3. Louisville is scheduled to compete against the host Wolverines as well as No. 3 ranked Ohio State. "Now, we have to turn our attention to completing the semester in the classroom with finals and also training for the races against Ohio State and Michigan in two weeks," said Copeland. "We have a plan for this time of the season and we know it works. We'll get plenty of rest and do a lot of studying to put ourselves in a good position for the racing in Michigan."


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Our latest edition of CARDINAL COUPLE Radio...on Crescent Hill Radio...is now up and available for listening in the archives. A good show where we talk a lot of lacrosse, softball, WNBA and Worldwide takes a lacrosse quiz. Some great soundbytes from Coach Kellie Young and Kay Morissette to hear and the usual wisecracks and in-depth reporting and analysis you've come to love and anticipate.

LINK:

www.crescenthillradio.com

Sunday, April 20, 2014

Sunday Cardinal Couple -- Lacrosse Routs Rutgers...Softball falls to UCF



SUNDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

-  Boltja scores four in 18-6 Lax win

- Grand slam does softball in @ UCF


HAPPY EASTER TO YOU! WE HOPE IT IS A DAY FILLED WITH HAPPINESS, JOY AND LOVE AND THE EASTER BUNNY PAYS YOU A VISIT. HE IS RISEN. HALLEUJAH.


Nikki Boltja totaled four goals and Faye "Fabian" Brust led all scorers with five as Louisville Lacrosse held Rutgers to two second half scores in a 18-6 Cardinal win at the Louisville Lacrosse Stadium Saturday afternoon.

Louisville (12-3, 6-0) clinch a share of the BIG EAST Title yesterday and the defense played a huge roll in the win...holding Rutgers to two goals in the final 30 minutes.

The win had Kellie Young almost speechless...standing on the sidelines with tears in her eyes...watching her team dash across the field as the clock hit zero to thank the over 500 fans in the stands for cheering them on.

" I am a little bit speechless because we have worked really hard to get to this place. It is something that we have talked aboutfor seven years. So, to finally accomplish it (winning the BIG EAST title) makes me proud of this team, these seniors...all of these players who have come here before and worked really hard to build a confident and determined program.

Rutgers hung around early...taking leads of 1-0 and 2-1 before the Cardinal defense put the clamps on and Faye Brust and Boltja took over. The Cards put six unanswered scores on the board...Colleen O'Malley providing two of them...to go up 7-2 with 11:20 left in the half. UofL took a 8-4 lead into the locker room at halftime.

Coach Young didn't make many adjustments for the final 30.

" I basically told them to keep tightening up on their scorers and attack the goal in the second half." 

Louisville was "all-in". The Cards scored the first six goals of the final period..over a eight minute stretch and led 14-4 after Boltja found the back of the net. At that point, the clock ran continuosly for most of the rest of the game and senior Anna Kopecka tallied Louisville's final score with two seconds left.

The Rutgers squad is a rough-and-tumble bunch...drawing numerous penalties and sending Kay (it's OK to call her Kay...I asked) to the turf several times. The refs halted action in the final half to call both coaches over and warn them about excessive checking and contact. They were talking to the Rutgers head coach while Kellie Young stood there shoeless and incredulous. I asked about the barefoot look...she had on heels earlier for Senior Day ceremonies. Those are tough  to run in...so I hear...and Coach gets in several miles a game on the sidelines.

Losing hurts, no doubt...but the Scarlet Knights seemed determined to deliver malicious, intentional stick swings and body slams against several Louisville players. That's not the way the game should be played and Julie Hermann would be well advised to take a look at the game film and pull scholarships from a couple of the Rutgers thugs.

Louisville returns to action Thursday against Marquette for the final home game of the 2014 season. First draw is 4 p.m.

Maybe someone will explain how Faye got the "Fabian" monicker then...my query about it to Coach Young got an eye-rolling response and the comment...

" They can be pretty goofy and silly at times. I don't know where they come up with this stuff..."

Stay goofy...girls. College goes by way too fast.

Goofy is forever.


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Softball took a loss in the final game of the series against UCF Saturday...the major damage coming in the form of a grand slam home run during the sixth inning. Maryssa Becker had completed five innings of shutout softball before the Golden Knights big sixth inning. The scoreless game was changed to a 5-0 UCF lead when the Cards finally got their chance to bat in the top of the seventh.

Taner Fowler did get UofL on the board with a solo shot...her sixth of the year...but Louisville was unable to put anything else behind it and falls to 28-17 overall and 9-6 in AAC play. Fowler's fence-clearer was one of just five hits that the Cards produced on the day.

paulie