Merry Cardmas!

'
Worldwide unloads his Christmas Stocking -- Beware Dry Cleaners in the regional area...

Tis the week of Christmas, tonight is the seventh night of Hanukkah, Festivus is upon us today, and Kwanzaa begins on Friday.  (I think I have all of those right)(Dang it...tonight is the eighth night of Hanukkah, not the seventh...my apologies to any Jewish readers for getting that wrong)

Whatever your religious persuasion, I hope you will join me in wishing the very best for Louisville Women's Athletics in 2015.

In the spirit of the season, I give you my Christmahanakwanzika list for UofL Women's Sports teams.

Basketball

I was originally going to ask for some three point shooting and specifically for Jude to find her shooting touch again, but apparently the team was able to convince Santa Walz to let them open those gifts early.  That can only leave one gift unopened...a national championship.  Anyone care to join me for a belated Christmas celebration in Tampa?

Field Hockey

The holiday season is a difficult time to show restraint, but I'm going to show a little bit here.

After a fantastic start to their ACC experience, the Field Hockey team made another appearance in the NCAA championship.  I have two items for Field Hockey on my list.

• A better tournament format than 19 teams.
• An NCAA tournament win.

Lacrosse

Lacrosse, too, had a fantastic first showing in the ACC, but I've got some gift ideas, here.

• A stadium upgrade.  Dare I ask for an actual press box and a concession stand?
• As with Field Hockey, lets not be greedy.  How about an NCAA Elite 8 appearance? Though, I have been in Philly in May and its...well...not as bad as Philly during other times of the year at least so I wouldn't mind a May road-trip for a Lax Final Four.
• 4 more All-Americans.  Kay Morissette and Faye Brust are back, but we need two to step up to fill Nikki Boltja and Monica Negron's shoes here.

Rowing

Yet another sport that debuted in the ACC to considerable success.  We here at Cardinal Couple worldwide headquarters have made an effort to follow the successes of the UofL Rowing team, but its a tough task, so my first entry on the Rowing wish list is to host a home competition.  I've spoken with head coach Derek Copeland, and while its possible that UofL could host a home event at some point, he has been more focused on building up one of the newest UofL sports teams and developing a tradition of winning, meaning they haven't been able to take the effort to organize a home competition for the Cardinals Rowers.

My second wishlist entry for the Rowers is to have more DiTommasos on the team.  Lauren and Nicole DiTommaso are completely unrelated so far as they know.  One is from New Jersey, while the other is from northern Kentucky, but both experienced success this year as boatmates.  I just think it would be fun to have a boatload, literally, of DiTommasos, that are all unrelated to each other and winning races.

My last Rowing related wishlist entry is to get help understanding and pronouncing, "Repechage."

Soccer

They already have a nice shiny new stadium with a fantastic press box, so in terms of facilities there's really not much to ask for, here.

After a bit of a rough season, how about let's ask for some Junior and Senior Leadership for this very young team, and hopefully along with that, we can ask for a winning season record.

The ACC is a tough nut to crack in Soccer, so maybe a Nutcracker.  A Sugar Plum Fairy might be a little out of place at Lynn Stadium, though.

Softball

Another sport that achieved less success than was hoped for.  Our main wishlist item here is probably no real surprise to any regular readers of the site, or listeners to the Cardinal Couple Radio Show.  Solid pitching.  We have several pitchers on the team, although they are all fairly young with Caralisa "Carl" Connell and Rachel LeCoq having graduated, but now we just need one or two to really step up and be the solid presence on the strip that this team needs to really make it to the next level.

Also, how about some nice weather before the season starts and in the early season.  Last year was bitterly cold and snowy right up until the season started, so the team didn't have as much opportunity to practice and get ready to play outside on the actual field at Ulmer Stadium and I'd like this year to not be a repeat.

Swimming and Diving

The Cardinals Swimmers have already met the approval of the ghost of swimming meets past for this year, but the ghost of swimming meets future has yet to arrive.  I would ask that Tanja Kylliainan and Kelsi Worrell continue to put up wins and records for my first wishlist item.  My second wish is to have some success on the Diving side of the Swimming and Diving team.  With a new diving coach, KZ Li, on hand, I hope to have some winning in the deep end of the Ralph Wright Natatorium.

Tennis

We've talked about Soccer and Softball having challenges with lack of upper-classmen, but the Women's Tennis team really takes the cake.  With only a single senior (Manuela Velazquez), and no juniors at all, the bulk of this team is freshmen and sophomores.

So my wishlist is for steady play for such a young team.

Also, maybe Uncle Tom Jurich can wrap up a few new outdoor courts for the Bass-Rudd Tennis Center.  Maybe enough that we can host a major tournament?

Volleyball

1. Passing.
2. How about some passing.
3. Did I mention passing?

After a .500 season and missing the NCAA tournament for the first time in program history (other than a year when it was on NCAA probation, lo these many years ago), I want to see this team get back to their winning ways.  The ACC is a step up in competition, to be sure, but we've had a couple of seasons now that have not had the sorts of results I'd really like to see from this team.  Again, I don't want to be greedy, so how about let's just shoot for a winning record in conference and a trip to the Sweet 16 for next year.  We can start working on 2015's wishlist from there.

Also, how about a whole home slate of matches at the KFC Yum! Center, rather than splitting the season in half with the other half played at the too small Cardinal Arena?

What's on your wishlist for the Louisville Women's teams?  Maybe adding a Rifle team so we can have compasses in the stocks?  (Yes, I added that just so I could get a "Christmas Story" joke in there.  Sorry.)  I'd love to see us add a sand volleyball team, personally.

-jmca-