Summer Draws to a Close -- MONDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

The FINA World Championships wrapped yesterday, which means the end of Cardinal sports for a little more than a week. However, the month that seemed like it might never end has done just that. Tomorrow is August 1st, which means heading to the all-sports calendar on the Louisville Athletics website will show you actual university competitive events. It will be a magical time, as it always is when the fall sports swing into gear. After a brief (and final) swimming update, we'll take a look at what is to come for your favorite fall sports.

Worrell Wins Gold

Kelsi Worrell, Cardinal Forever, one whom we should not quickly allow to leave the annals of our memories, added yet another medal to her collection yesterday in the final day of the FINA World Championships event. Swimming her preferred stroke, one at which she is quite masterful, Worrell helped the USA Women's 4x100 Medley relay team win gold and set a world record. Worrell spun a 56.30 butterfly leg to help the team become the first women's team to ever go sub 3:52 with a final time of 3:51.55. The silver medal finished in 3:53.38, the Russian team setting a European record. Essentially what I'm saying is that they swam really fast. Congratulations to Kelsi, Mallory (who helped set up this team with a preliminary win), and all of the other Americans and Cardinals representing their schools and countries at this event. We look forward to more great swims this season and perhaps a first full title.

Women's Soccer Clarity

After some digging on B1G athletics sites, I have come up with my own answers regarding Louisville's first two competitions this year. Despite none of the three school's schedules indicating such, Louisville will begin the season with exhibition games against Ohio State and DePaul. The first game will be against Ohio State on the road on August 9th, which will be a good indication of how this season may shape up early. Coach K will lead her Cardinals back to the Ville for a home exhibition against DePaul on August 12th at 5PM. In addition to being the first game for this sport, it will also be your first chance to catch Louisville athletics at home this fall. The Kickin' Cards will get their real season underway the next Friday, 8/18, against Ball State University. The game comes during a double header with a men's game so be sure to block out your evening for a full night at Lynn Stadium. I've still got high hopes for this team and I am looking forward to seeing them get started.

Field Hockey Openers

Justine Sowry will get her team in shape and begin the quest for their first national championship when Miami of Ohio comes to town on August 18th. The game gets started at 1:30, so it may be a tough one to make for the working crowd. However, there will be plenty of other opportunities to see one of the women's teams that is experiencing a lot of success early in Louisville's ACC tenure. Louisville beat Miami (OH) last season 2-0 and will look for the same success to get their year started off on the right foot. The annual alumnae game is on August 19th and will be a good chance to see this year's iteration of the team as well as some of your favorite players from the past. It may not be the most competitive event around but it is sure to be a lot of fun. I hope to make it to some of my first field hockey games this season, so maybe I'll see you there!

Volleyball in on the Action

It seems as though the weekend of the 18th will be a busy one on campus. In addition to all of the students returning from their summer breaks of various lengths (Speed School's is only about a month), nearly ever fall sport will be in action in some capacity. Volleyball will get in on the fun with their annual red vs black scrimmage on August 19th at 6PM. This will be their first event with Cardinal Arena exclusively hosting their games so be sure to stop by to get a look at the team and the facilities. Jeff will be more than happy to bring you more information about this event and just about every other game throughout the season regarding volleyball so stay tuned.

Basketball Trials

While true competition for the 2017-18 Louisville women's basketball team is not yet on the horizon, I would be remiss if I didn't mention that the U-23 trials officially begin today. I am not sure how tight lipped these sessions will be, but I believe that if there is information to be had about the event, there is a good chance Paulie can find it for you. If nothing else, the event ends this week so we can see relatively quickly which Cardinals will be heading to Japan.

Football Open Practice

Camp officially began for the Cardinals last week, but Coach Petrino held off on practice for a few days. I'm sure his days have been full of meetings, video sessions, one on one instructions, and the like, but today marks the true beginning. We're about a month from kickoff in Indianapolis against and old friend in Jeff Brohm, and practice gets underway today. Louisville football will host an open practice today beginning at 4PM. This is a great chance to see the work that many players put in over the summer to perfect their craft as well as seeing the new faces. With so many members on the team, it's never too early to begin memorizing numbers. There are high expectations after last year's season ended with a thud, and I believe this team has the capacity to meet them. We'll all find out together.

Until next time, Go Cards!

-CH-