While we're talking about new additions to squads, let's talk about some of the new players that we heard about Friday at the Fall Sports Media Day. Paulie turned off his recorder before all of the questions, including mine, were heard, so if you were listening Saturday, you missed the question to the coaches about which new players to the squad we should be watching for to make an impact. I did, however, take notes, so here's a bit about what to look for in the fall team sports for impact from new players. If I know something about them, I'll add it as well.
Volleyball
Anne Kordes answered first and mentioned one freshman, and one returning player.
Jasmine Bennett - will be a sophomore middle hitter/blocker out of McCracken County Kentucky.Kordes mentioned Bennett not as a truly new player to the team, but as one that didn't get much playing time last season and so will be relatively unfamiliar to some of the fans. If you've saw a Volleyball game last season, you saw Winston Bennett (Male High School, University of Kentucky, Cleveland Cavaliers and Miami Heat) in the front row being a huge cheerleader for the team, swinging his towel and cheering, even when his daughter wasn't on the court. Jasmine will likely see quite a bit of time in the middle this year as it appears that Maggie DeJong will be shifting to an outside hitter role. Incoming freshman Piper Roe will probably be competing for this spot, but for the moment, it appears to be Jas's position to lose.
Melanie McHenry - An outside hitter, (and only 6'2" as Tess Clark reminded me), McHenry comes to us from the Speedway High School SparkPlugs (I love that mascot) in Speedway, IN. Melanie is an outside hitter, and as is appropriate for someone from Speedway, she plays with power. She is an outside hitter and I saw her drive a ball right into Lindsay Palmer's chest. Lindsay was upset with herself for not being able to play it, but it was one of the harder hit shots I've seen. Particularly as she gains some attention to targeting and placement of her shots, and ability to read the defense a bit more, she will be a potent weapon in the Cardinal offense.
Soccer
Arianna Ferraro - A defender and midfielder out of Manalapan HS, in Manalapan, NJ
Brooklynn Rivers - A forward out of Highlands HS in Fort Thomas, KY
Allison Whitfield - A hometown forward out of duPont Manual HS here in Louisville, KY. This is the younger sister of UofL Soccer alumna Casey Whitfield who graduated last year. Allison got a goal and at least an assist (official stats aren't available) in the exhibition game against Morehead State Saturday.
Sarah Feola - from Lester B. Pearson HS in Quebec, Canada. Sarah will be playing with Team Canada in the Junior World Cup and as a result with miss a few games late in the season for that commitment.
Field Hockey
Justine Sowry was handed the mic last, and I think she may have lost the thread of the question a little bit. She did mention a few new players, but she first mentioned several key returners. That's OK, we love hearing about them as well.
Ayeisha McFerran - is a sophomore GK from Larne HS in Larne, Northern Ireland. Ayeisha, as we've heard previously has had some experience in the past couple of years with the Irish National Team in international play, and proved to be very capable in goal last year in her freshman campaign.
Lizzie Gittens - comes to us as a graduate student from Toynbee School, in Southampton, England. She is a defender ("B" for "back" I believe on the roster).
Abby Grimes - returns as a Junior defensive back out of Visitation Academy in St. Louis, MO. She has had an impact on games in the past years and I suspect we'll be writing her name a number of times again this season.
Lotta Kahlert - one of the captains this year, and a player for which I continue to be grateful for her impromptu 1-on-1 skills session with me a couple of years ago at the Fall Sports Fan Day. Lotta is a senior from Hamburg, Germany, and splits time between midfield and forward. Lotta made it very clear that she doesn't think she is as fast as alumna and US Olympic Rugby player Jessica Javelet.
Eric McCrudden - the other captain for the year, also a senior, from Putnam Valley HS in Putnam Valley, NY
Bethany Russ - the international flair continues with Bethany hailing from Wesley College out of Melbourne, Australia. Coach Sowry spent several moments speaking about Russ's skills.
Minout Mink - I believe Sowry pronounced this as MEE-noe Meenk, comes from Assink Lyceum (Lyceum is roughly equivalent to a combination of middle and high school in the US) and will be playing as a forward.
Whena Munn - Sowry continues the international recruiting, and ensuring that we'll be referencing the roster every time we write about Field Hockey, with this forward out of Wellington East Girls College, in Wellington, New Zealand
We're looking forward to Fall Sports, from big crowd draws like Football, to the smaller crowds at Trager Stadium for Field Hockey and everything in between. Hopefully this primer helps you get a jump on getting to know the newer players this year.
-- JMcA
Good write today, Jeff. It was encouraging to see the Cards WSOC cruise past Morehead State with a shutout. Morehead had given Louisville WSOC a bit of difficulty over the past couple of years...including a 1-0 close one the Cards won last year and the Eagles did defeat UofL in 2014...so to see the offense put up five on the Eagles this early in the year is impressive. Or...maybe Morehead is horrible this year. In any event, it looks like the ball is going into the next for the Red and Black and we absolutely love that!
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