Louisville Women's basketball -- Media Day...Comments and Clips -- TUESDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

WALZ TALKS TO MEDIA...MEDIA TALKS TO PLAYERS

Paulie chat up Kylee Shook with assistant
interviewer Jaz Jones assisting (Photo by Daryl Foust)

I'm into my second decade of covering Louisville women's basketball media days and this is the first time I can remember them feeding us. That's how the day started...sub sandwiches, chips and water. Sonya and I arrived at the Yum! Practice Center (the first time the event has been held there) in time for that and got to share a table with Daryl Foust, who's been on the radio with us and writes for The Crunch Zone,  Mike Gilpatrick, another alumni from The Cardinal Couple Radio Hour and Nick Curran, radio voice of the Louisville women's basketball squad. The conversation was generalized...football's woes, a scrimmage the WBB squad had against Bellarmine on Sunday (which Nick got to attend) and the ACC Network Extra pulling the rug out from under Daryl for softball play-by-play this year. 

That, in itself, could be a whole different article and shame on UofL (seems we've been saying that a lot lately) for sidelining one of the best and brightest upcoming female, hell...any gender...announcers in our area. The decision was to go with Maryssa Becker instead and we'll wait until spring to diagnose that....other than questioning why BOTH of them couldn't be in the booth together? 

From Nick, both teams shot well in the scrimmage and the coaches got to spread the time pretty equally. It was there we found out that Lindsey Duvall did not play and is having knee-clean up surgery that will sideline her for the season. She'll take the red-shirt and the team was planning to go visit her after Monday's practice. 

Arica waits for Kylee's response at UofL WBB Media Day
(Photo by Daryl Foust) 

After the chow, we headed downstairs the media interview room in "the little YUM". It's a smaller room that the one in the SAC, where we've gone in the past for these, and the attendance was larger than I've seen in the past. So, seating was at a premium...but ol' Paulie got one of the last ones. I got to sit next to Paul Rogers, the affable play-by-play caller for football and men's hoops. He probably doesn't remember the time he signed the back of a promotion shirt for me...nor the story...where, several months later, I was wearing that shirt in a restaurant with Sonya and thylis middle-aged women cam e up from behind me and started gushing about how well I did play-by-play and explained game. After my initial bemusement, I finally told her that I wasn't Paul Rogers, he has just signed this particular shirt...but I knew him and would pass on the compliments. 

I don't think I've ever worn a shirt I've autographed and I'd guess that Paul Rogers hasn't either. In fact, I'm not sure if I have ever autographed a shirt. 

How many of these Cardinal greats can you name? 

Walz came in and the interview process began. Jeff doesn't like to do opening statements...so after greeting us, he opened up room up for questions. I went first. This gave Coach Walz the chance to get his first zinger of the year in on me. 

"Coach, what's the main thing you're looking to see out of this group early on in the season?" I queried? 

"Well, I guess our number one goal is to score more points that the the people we play. We hope to make more baskets than our opponents." Walz psuedo-seriously replied. 

He did on go to remark that he was looking to see a few players improve this year. Mentioning Sam Fuehring and Jazmine Jones specifically, Walz commented that has been impressed with their practice performances and is waiting to see if that will transfer over to game day.

In the almost half-hour long session with the media...Walz covered a lot of things. Durr. Hines-Allen. Fuehring and Jones. The Freshmen. The opponents. Some highlights below: 


-- Freshman Dana Evans is looking spectacular on the court and plays defense much better than the average freshman.  Loretta Kakala is very productive in the minutes she plays...while still working on conditioning. 

-- Myisha Hines-Allen progression from her freshman to senior is quite amazing. She's in the best shape ever since she's been her. He's looking for a consistent season from her. 

-- Kylee Shook has become more of a force with her back-to-the-basket this year. 

-- Walz will not re-appear as "The Man in the Yellow Hat" tonight for Halloween, he would not disclose this year's outfit but did mention that homes with full-size candy bars would likely get a second visit...even if it necessitated the kids changing costumes. 

To hear Walz and see Walz without audible media questions...go to:  http://gocards.com/watch/?Archive=7643&type=Archive

You can hear the entire Walz media session (including questions) here: JEFF WALZ ADDRESSES THE MEDIA ON MEDIA DAY

This is a nice sequence from Louisville Athletics: https://twitter.com/GoCards/status/925105054779981825/video/1 Watch Arica teach the Attack Yorkie a dance move! 

(The players' clips below are available through SoundCloud. SoundCloud is FREE and we use it for our audio files. You can download it for free at soundcloud.com) 

After an extensive Q&A...it was time to go talk to the players. Without question, this is always my favorite part of Media Day and I get in as many player chats as we can before they toss me of the practice court. Assisting me for the third year in a row on some of these was Arica Carter...it was a little harder to get her freed up this year since she's become such a celebrity...but we were able to get some good clips in...



-- I started wiht Sydney Zambrotta. You can hear that one here:  https://soundcloud.com/user-748907999/dr0000_1233mp3

-- Bionca Dunham talks Philly and food:  https://soundcloud.com/user-748907999/dr0000_1235mp3

-- We also caught up with Retta Kakala: https://soundcloud.com/user-748907999/dr0000_1234mp3

-- Next up, our buddy J.J. Jazmine Jones and Halloween: https://soundcloud.com/user-748907999/dr0000_1236mp3

-- We finally drug our assistant interview away from the hoarding masses and got her to accompany us to complete the interviews. First up was Kylee Shook. Hear Kylee here:
https://soundcloud.com/user-748907999/dr0000_1237mp3

-- We got a two-for-one in our final interview...as Arica and I started with Jess Laemmle and ended with Dana Evans. Listen! https://soundcloud.com/user-748907999/dr0000_1238mp3

-- I did at least get a quick chat with Myisha before the girls went to review the scrimmage film against Bellarmine. Myisha speaks: https://soundcloud.com/user-748907999/dr0000_1239mp3

I probably didn't get to some of your favorites, but...they keep things on a tight schedule for practice and they let Walz run pretty long...however, it's always a pleasure to "do" the Media Day thing and we hope you enjoy the clips! 

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HAPPY HALLOWEEN EVERYONE AND LEAVE US WHAT YOUR FAVORITE HALLOWEEN CANDY IS OR A SCARY HALLOWEEN STORY IN OUR COMMENTS SECTION !! 

If this guy shows up at your door on
Halloween...run and hide!

paulie
xxxxx

Field Hockey Wins on Senior Day -- MONDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

Cards Ride Big Second Half to 6-0 Win

Louisville celebrated three seniors Sunday afternoon prior to their game against Ohio University. Abby Grimes, Marigrace Ragsdale, and Nicole Woods have been huge factors since arriving on campus, especially this season, and their presence will be missed going forward. There is still time to enjoy them this season, though, and they continued their contributions this weekend. I mentioned on Saturday's radio show that Louisville field hockey needed a big win to get a confidence booster going into the postseason. After only a 1-0 lead at halftime, it looked as though the Cards would be in for a tougher challenge than previously anticipated. 

The first half goal was scored by Minout Mink, her ninth of the season. Mink came up well short of Jared's prediction of two goals per game, but her nine tops the team. Louisville was relentless in that first half, despite only the one goal, with 10 shots on frame and 8 corners. Ohio got only two shots in the half. In the second half, the pressure kept up and the floodgates opened. Whena Munn got the second half party started in the 41st minute. She was followed by Alli Bitting, Marigrace Ragsdale, Abby Grimes, and Madison Walsh on 17 second half shots. 

The big win was mostly expected, with Ohio's rough season thus far, but it is still good for the Cards to accomplish what they needed to. A six goal, shutout performance is a great end to the regular season for Louisville after last week's frustrating losses. This will be a big confidence boost as the Cards look to begin postseason play. Louisville will shoot for it's first single game win in the ACC tournament since joining the conference when they face Syracuse on Thursday evening. An important part of postseason play is the ability to be streaky, and Louisville has shown that they maintain that capability, having gone on a seven game win streak earlier in the season. As long as they can shake last weekend's rough outings and focus on the things that they did well during their streak, the Cards could be poised for a big postseason.

(Editor Note) 

Jared Anderson handled the post-game interview with Coach Sowry in true CARDINAL COUPLE fashion! Good work, Jared.   LINK: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x769d7yAMwU&feature=youtu.be

He also took all the photos you see here today.

Until next time, Go Cards!

-CH-

PS: I intended to talk about women's soccer a bit today, but life has pulled my time in other directions. Look for my thoughts on the issue in the upcoming days. Sorry for the brief article today!!


OTHER JARED PICTURES FROM SUNDAY'S GAME

Senior Nicole Woods

Senior Marigrace Ragsdale

Senior Abby Grimes

Vince Tyra was there. Talking to Carole Banda before match

Sunday Cardinal Couple -- Worldwide reviews Women's Sports

As is usual, we like to focus on the positive results here at Cardinal Couple.

Golf

Women's golf is playing in the Fall Intercollegiate Invitational, the last tournament of their fall schedule.  On the second day of competition, the UofL team has moved into a tie for first place with Kennesaw State.

The Cards are lead by Olivia Cason, now a Junior, got a lot of attention in Louisville at the end of her freshman year when she was the lone Cardinal golfer to qualify for the NCAA Championships, and Lauren Hartlage.  They sit tied for 3rd, and tied for 6th one stroke back in the overall tournament.  Hartlage played a textbook round yesterday, in less than stellar weather, with a scorecard full of pars broken up by only a single birdie.  I think I've played a round of golf that well at some point in my life, but it was at Putt-Putt.

The top 5 teams in the tournament so far are Louisville, Kennesaw State, Illinois, Georgia, and Indiana.  The 2nd Louisville team currently sits in 9th.  Molly Skapik is also playing for the Louisville scoring team and is only two strokes back from Hartlage tied for 11th.

Volleyball Standings Update and Destiny Control

I spoke about this on the Cardinal Couple Radio Hour yesterday, and posted a twitter thread from the CardCoupleRadio account Friday night.  Case hinted at some of this in his article yesterday.

Four matches in the past two weeks have put Louisville in the driver's seat for ACC Volleyball play.  It starts back on the 18th, when NC State got beaten by in-state rival UNC.  No doubt fueled by their first conference loss in the mid-week match, they came back and hung the first conference loss on Pitt on Sunday the 22nd.  By this point, Louisville had taken its 2nd conference lose to Miami (on the 20th).

Then Friday happens.  Pitt comes to Cardinal Arena.  Louisville had just played a long 5 set match just two days before at Notre Dame, and pulls off the upset, again in 5 sets, against Pitt.  After the match was over, word starts to spread around that Miami had swept NC State in Coral Gables that evening as well.

So, in ACC standing, that puts Louisville, Pitt, and NC State, all sitting atop the leaderboard with 2 losses.  Technically, Louisville holds 1st place alone right now with a conference record of 10-2 compared to the 9-2 records of Pitt and NC State because we played Wed. and Friday this week, while Pitt and NC State have more typical Friday and Sunday (today) schedules.  Presuming Pitt and NC State win their matches today, at the end of this week's conference play, we're all in a 3-way tie for first.  I'll point out that NC State plays Florida State today, and Pitt plays Notre Dame...neither of those matches are easy wins for the Pack or the Panthers.

OK, so let's look out the future.  We still have to play NC State (November 17th, here in Louisville).  That match will resolve the tie one way or the other between NC State and Louisville.  If Louisville wins that, and we get to the end of the conference season still tied for first with Pitt, we have the tie-breaker over Pitt in the head-to-head win (we only play them once this season) and would get the NCAA tournament automatic qualifying bid for the ACC as there is no ACC conference tournament.

This all means that at this point, Louisville controls it's own destiny in the Volleyball.  Not bad for a team picked to finish the season in the middle of the pack.  Now, there is a lot of volleyball still left to play in the season, and this assessment assumes Pitt, NC State, and Louisville all win out the rest of their matches in conference other than the NC State head to head with UofL, which is not even close to being certain given the level of parity among the top 4-6 teams in the ACC.

So, if you haven't checked out this volleyball team this season, maybe do so.  They're more than a little bit of a surprise on the upside to just about everyone.  They play a very fun style of volleyball with lot's of spectacular power hitting thanks to the likes of Tess Clark, Melanie McHenry, and Amanda Green, fantastic blocking with credits to Maggie DeJong, Jasmine Bennett, Wilma Rivera and the aforementioned hitters, and even the defensive play is fun to watch with the GabMolLexis trie of Gabbie Wiley, Molly Sauer, and Alexis Hamilton flying all over to the court, coming out of nowhere to dig up balls with amazing accuracy to get the offense running.

The next home match is November 10th vs Virginia at 7pm.

Cardinal Couple Radio Hour

Another fun hour of The Cardinal Couple Radio Hour happened yesterday.  Paulie, Case and I were joined by first time guest Mike Gilpatrick, editor-in-chief of River City Cards.  Let's hope we didn't traumatize him too much so he will be willing to come back and join us again sometime.

As always, you can check out the replay on SoundCloud, thanks to our wonderful hosts WCHQ FM.  We covered a lot of territory yesterday...talking about the Women's Basketball luncheon, summarized the above about Volleyball, talked about Field Hockey, and more.

-- JMcA

Volleyball Scores Big Win, Field Hockey Senior Day -- SATURDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

Volleyball Defeats ACC Leading Pitt, 3-2

PC: Jared Anderson

In what was ultimately a match that you might expect to see out of two of the top teams in the conference, Louisville was able to hold on to a narrow lead in the fifth set to knock off the number one team in the ACC, Pittsburgh. The first game was back and forth, with both teams trading runs of around 4 points for the entire game, before Louisville finally shut the door at 25-23. Both teams hit very poorly (-.026 for Pitt and .025 for Louisville) with 9 errors for the Panthers and 10 for the Cards. It wasn't all that pretty, but it was exciting, as errors were coming on big hits just missing the line. Fortunately, Louisville was able to squeak out the win. In the second game, Louisville's erroneous woes continued (9) while Pitt cleaned their act up (3). What followed was a game in which Louisville could do almost no right, and they lost 15-25. 

After halftime, the two teams battled once more. Neither team got further than 2 points from the opponent for the first 30 points of the game. Louisville was able to string together some runs after that point, though, and won the game 25-18. In this game it was Pitt's turn to be extremely outhit. The Panthers mustered only .088 hitting in game 3 with the Cards posting a cool .400. For the first time in the match, in the fourth game, both teams were able to exert a bit more control. Louisville hit only .214 but was able to stay with Pitt's .370 for most of the game. In the end, Pitt won 19-25 and set up the fifth set for the conference lead. 

Early in the final game, it looked ugly for our heroes, as Pitt took a 5-2 lead right off of the bat. Louisville quickly turned things on their head with a whopping 10-1 run to take a 12-6 lead in a game that goes only to 15. Pitt wasn't going to go down without a fight. They righted the ship and pulled back to 14-12 before Jasmine Bennett finished them off with a kill. The win moved Louisville to 10-2 in the conference and 16-6 overall and the loss put Pitt at 9-2, just a half game back. 

PC: Jared Anderson

Tess Clark was Louisville's hitting queen last night, posting 19 kills with a .340 hitting percentage. That's pretty good stuff. Amanda Green also had 11 kills and hit .320. Melanie McHenry split the two with 13 kills, but Pitt was clearly trying to keep her out of the offense as she ended up with 12 digs. Wilma Rivera (who else?) led the team in assists with 53 and Molly Sauer shored up the back line with 13 digs. Alexis Hamilton was back for the Cards and made her impact clear with 10 digs of her own. 

Now, after taking the lead in the conference, Louisville will have to sit back and watch as NC State and Pitt get the opportunity to rejoin them at the top, as the Cards have an entire week off. They'll get the opportunity to maintain their status atop the standings when they travel to Winston-Salem, NC to take on Wake Forest on Friday 11/3. More on that game when it gets closer.

Cross Country Finishes 2nd in ACC Championships

In their best ever finish in the conference championship, Louisville women's cross country took home (well, they were already home) 2nd place at EP Tom Sawyer Park. The Cards were led by Dorcas Wasike, who ran a personal best in the 6K and nearly won the race. Wasike was beaten by Paige Stoner, a senior from Syracuse, but as a sophomore, it is clear that Wasike will be a huge factor for Louisville cross country in the years to come. Three other Cardinals (Kassidy Manning, Mia Ross, and Aurilla Wilson) posted personal best times in the race and the Cards finished with 5 runners in the top 50. NC State won the event. The Cards will travel to Panorama Farms, Virginia for the NCAA Southeast Regionals on 11/10 and hope that they can have some qualifiers for the NCAA Championships which will be hosted back at EP Tom Sawyer on 11/18.

Field Hockey Celebrates Senior Day

Picture per gocards.com

After an unfortunate weekend last week at Trager Stadium, Louisville will hope to finish the regular season with a much better taste in their mouths. The Cards fell to Virginia and Michigan last week, hurting both their ACC standing and their resume with the NCAA. Louisville will play host to Ohio University tomorrow, looking to get back on a winning streak at Trager, where they could play a bunch more important games this year. Louisville will honor Abby Grimes, Marigrace Ragsdale, and Nicole Woods today for senior day as they'll play their last regular season games as Cardinals this afternoon. The game begins at 1PM and is available on the ACC Network Extra if it's too chilly for you to make it out to Trager.

Cardinal Couple Radio Hour

As Jeff mentioned yesterday, they've still not kicked us off of FM radio, yet. Tune in to the Cardinal Couple Radio Hour at 11AM today brought to you by our gracious hosts at WCHQ, Crescent Hill Radio. In the area, you can find the show on 100.9 FM but you can listen anywhere from the WCHQ app or crescenthillradio.com. Unlike ESPN, these streaming options aren't subject to blackouts. 

Until next time, Go Cards!

-CH-

Soccer Math and The Weekend Roundup -- FRIDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

Soccer

Soccer was effectively eliminated from post-season play last night.  A win over hosting NC State would've secured the Cardinals a berth in the 8 team ACC championship tournament.  NC State took  the competition 2-1.  Scoreless at the half, NC State started the scoring in the 67th minute.

In the 80th minute, the Cardinals playing forward to try to find the equalizer got a score from midfielder Gabi Vincent from 20 yards out.  Alas, it wasn't to be as NC State got a go-ahead goal 2 minutes later.  Nothing else found the back of a net, so NC State knocked down the Cards chances to get that 8th spot in the ACC tournament.  All hope wasn't yet lost, however.  Two other games had a bearing on the outcome.  Boston College v Pittsburgh, and Clemson v FSU.  The Cards needed outright wins from FSU and Pitt in order to slide in that 8th spot, but alas, it wasn't to be.  Boston College came away with the win in overtime, and Clemson eeked out a tie.  Either result would've knocked the Cards out of the spot.

An NCAA tournament berth is an extreme longshot, but nothing is final until the field is announced, so hope springs eternal.

Weekend Roundup

Volleyball

The wide netters have a monster of a match this evening (monster...get it?  because it's halloween
season?  That really wasn't an intended play on words, but after I typed it, it was too great to ignore), with Pitt coming to visit.  Pitt and NC State are tied for 1st in the ACC standings.  NC State has the tie-breaker over Pitt currently with the head-to-head win over Pitt on Sunday.  This also means that Pitt is coming in to Cardinal Arena tonight licking their wounds from a very meaningful loss...not an ideal time to be matching up with the Panthers.

 UofL is coming off of an emotional see-saw of a win over Notre Dame in 5 sets and on short rest from Wednesday night.  (I was fortunate to be able to catch a ride with another season ticket holder and private pilot to make the trip up to South Bend and back.  I even got to fly the plane for a bit...including the approach in to South Bend, John took back over about a half mile before landing, a result that I was completely ok with.)  The ACC doesn't have a post-season tournament, the regular season champion gets the NCAA tournament automatic qualifier.

 It's still a bit early to be trying to calculate who needs what to win the regular season, but a win over Pitt will obviously go a long way to shoring up UofL's chances here.  The matchup against NC State is on November 17th.

For the weekend, the match with Pitt is at the typical 7pm, with ACC Network Extra coverage available.  The Cards head back out on the road to Wake Forest for a Sunday 3pm matchup.  3pm suggests TV coverage, but there is none currently listed at either UofL's or Wake Forest's site.

Cross Country

Cross Country hosts the ACC Championships at E.P. Tom Sawyer park all day today.  Races start at 10:03 and 11:03.  There is coverage available on ACC Network Extra.

Men's Soccer

The other UofL Soccer team plays today at 7pm at Clemson.  ACC Network Extra available for this one as well.  I know the men's team has been playing quite well.  UofL stands 2nd in the Atlantic division with a 4-2-1 record, Clemson is in 3rd with a 4-3 record.  Just the records suggest that this should be a good matchup, but perhaps Case or Jared could chime in with some commentary in comments.

Golf

The women are playing the Fall Intercollegiate Invitational in Johns Creek, GA today through Sunday.  The men start a tournament Sunday at the Princeville Makai Invitational in Kauai, Hawaii.  It's a rough life for the men, let me tell you.  That tournament goes through Tuesday.

Lauren Hartlage has been hitting the ball recently for the women. Keep it going 

Basketball and Football

Men's Basketball held their tip-off luncheon yesterday, and will hold their 2nd Red-White scrimmage tonight at 7pm.  For Football, another 12:20 start, on the road at Wake Forest.  No TV is listed on the UofL schedule for either event, but I suspect they'll be on the tube somewhere.

Field Hockey

Finally, Field Hockey has their season finale, and senior day at Trager, hosting non-conference Ohio.  The stick Cards will be honoring seniors Abby Grimes, Marigrace Ragsdale, and Nicole Woods before the game.  The ACC tournament starts next week, and is hosted by UofL at Trager, so stay tuned for more coverage from that event late next week.

Radio Ramblings

Somehow, they keep letting us go on the air.  I believe we'll have the 3/4ths of the starting contingent at WCHQ this weekend. Mike Gilpatrick from RIVER CITY CARDS fills in for Jared. We'll probably pick a different sport to tease Paulie about than soccer.  Our typical start time is 11 o'clock.

Hazel Miller's "Look What We Can Do, Louisville" got some local social media love this week, listen to the show and you can be sure to hear some of it as our outro music.  Robbie Bartlett continues to open us with her rousing "Change Is Coming".

Tune in and check it out! www.crescenthillradio.com

-- 

JMcA

Louisville Volleyball downs Irish in five sets...WSOC in a must win scenario tonight -- THURSDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

LOUISVILLE VOLLEYBALL ESCAPES SOUTH BEND WITH WIN

The action was fast and furious last night in South Bend, IN on the Notre Dame campus as Louisville Volleyball came back to win the fifth set and take a 25-22, 25-17, 18-25, 18-25, 15-10 over the Irish. 

Melanie McHenry's 20 kills led the way for the Cards ...who also got 13 kills from Tess Clark in the victory...which kept Louisville in third place in the ACC race...1/2 game behind NC State and Pittsburgh. The Cards are 15-6 on the season and 9-2 in conference.

Louisville had a rough start in game one...falling behind UND 9-2 early. Four early attack errors were costly to the Cards. They fought back, though, and a Jasmine Bennett kill drew the visitors back within one at 12-11. Louisville would tie the match at 13-13 and take a 17-15 lead on a Tess Clark steamer...capping off a 15-6 Cards run. The Irish took a timeout when UofL increased the lead to 20-17 and the Cards reciprocated with a action-stopper whe  UNC drew with two at 23-21. A McHenry kill and Irish hitting error put this one in the "W" column for Dani Busboom Kelly's squad 25-22.

The second set was a close affair early, with the teams tied at 5-5 and 7-7. Louisville grabbed a 14-12 lead after an errant Notre Dame kill attempt and pushed that out to 17-12 after the home team committed a blocking error. The "Damers" came back, though and got within three at 19-16...necessitating a Cardinal stoppage of action to talk it over. The strategy paid off as the Cards finished the set on a 5-1 run to win by eight. 

After the halftime break, the Irish came out on fire and jumped to a 7-1 third set advantage. Louisville would never lead in this one...an Amanda Green block got UofL within five at 18-13 but the teams basically traded points after that and UND has their first win at 25-18. 

The Cards started the fourth set slowly and fell behind 6-0. Another UofL timeout to control the barrage but the Irish were still en fuego. Two McHenry kills got the Cards within five at 10-5...but the Cards would get no closer the rest of the way...falling by the same score as the third set....25-18. Louisville had lost their earlier momentum and the Irish were fired up and seemingly riding the wave...appearing ready to take the final set and the match. 

It didn't happen.

The Cards grabbed an early 4-1 lead but saw UND score four straight points before McHenry notched a kill shot to knot it up at 5-5. Tess Clark regained the lead for the Cards with a kill right after that and a long ND serve kept Louisville ahead at 8-7. After the teams traded sides of the court, UofL's wide-netters put together a 3-0 run, culminated by Colene Coessens' third service ace...giving the Cards a 11-9 edge.  Wilma Rivera won a net battle next to make it 12-9 and after a Irish serve for score..."J-Ben" took over for Louisville...Bennett getting a kill and block to create match point at 14-10. The game/set winner came from a McHenry kill...to give the Cards the season sweep over the Irish. 

A clutch win by the Cards on the road. Louisville returns home to the friendly confines of Cardinal Arena to face league co-leaders Pittsburgh on Friday night at 7 p.m. Tickets are still available for this one (go to TICKETMASTER to review what's left seating wise) and the match will be shown on the ACC Network Extra if you're unable to attend.


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DO OR DIE TIME FOR LOUISVILLE WOMEN'S SOCCER

The scenario is pretty simple for Karen Ferguson Dayes' kickers tonight in Raleigh, NC against the NC State Wolfpack. A Cardinal win assures them a berth in the ACC women's soccer tournament. A tie makes an appearance dicey and a loss could eliminate UofL from the post-regular season action and end their season. 

The Cards are tied for eighth place in the ACC standings with Clemson at 3-4-2 in league competition. They own a season-win over the Tigers...so they would take any tie-breaker scenario...but Boston College lurks behind the duo with a 3-5-1 record (10 points) and owns a regular season win over the Cards 2-0.The  B.C. Eagles have a trip to last place Pitt tonight and Clemson entertains sixth-place Florida State tonight in their "boiled peanut" territory. 

Louisville has their work cut out for them against the Wolfpack. NC State is tied for fourth in the ACC and is on a four-game win streak. Louisville comes into the contest after two straight, double-overtime 0-0 ties. 

Hot for the Cards is red-shirt freshman goalkeeper Gabby Kouzelos, who was named ACC Defender of the Week on Tuesday...she has three straight shutouts in her resume. Youth being served on offense as well, with true freshman midfielder Emina Ekic leading the scoring stats for Louisville...she has seven goals and three assists so far this season. 

Difficult..yes, but not impossible. With the efficiency of the Cards defense lately, one has to think that if the Cards can manage at least one goal, they'll secure their entry in the ACC Tournament. 

Good luck "Kick and Score" Cards tonight in the regular season finale. This one will be available on the ACC Network Extra at 7 p.m.


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CONGRATS TO ERIN !

University of Louisville field hockey alum Erin McCrudden has been selected to the USA Field Hockey roster for the FIH Sentinel Homes Hockey World League Final as announced by U.S. Women's National Team Head Coach Janneka Schopma on Oct. 16th. 

Erin, who ended her senior season for the Cards in 2016, was one of 18 players selected to travel to Auckland, NZ 

While playing for UofL, McCrudden earned 2016 second team All-American honors. She led the ACC and was second in the nation her senior season with 18 assists. Always a fun interview...the Yorktown Heights, N.Y. native played basketball, field hockey and soccer in high school and figured she'd play basketball in college until "she stopped growing" and ended up 'five-foot something'.

Erin-go-stick! 


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FINALLY...

I'm 99% sure I wasn't at the Bama vs. Vols football game (unless a 3rd dimension transference of body occured) but the guy sitting between the two standing guys kinda looks like a short-haired, slighty fatter version of me. 

Uh, oh. U got some 'splaining' to do, Paulie...

paulie
xxxxx

Louisville Women's Basketball, Volleyball as seen by Jared Anderson -- Paulie on Jurich v. Board WEDNESDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

HOOPS ARE COMING! 

Two months until Christmas! That means women's basketball is that much sooner. For you Facebook-ers, the UofL women's basketball official Facebook site has started creating events for all of their games. Friend them up, there will be a lot of good stuff there in the months to come. 

If you haven't read Tuesday's post here yet, Paulie went into great detail about their annual luncheon from Monday. There are quite a few interviews to listen to, including the always interesting "takes" from Coach Jeff Walz. He has complete confidence in this team's ability and their chances to be successful. How do you define success for them. Tell us in the comments section.

Also listen to Paulie's zany chat with the lovable Sam Purcell. I want to see this proposed "best out of ten" free throw showdown. My money's on Purcell. 

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VOLLEY UP! 


Volleyball's Tess Clark and her magical ways of 1,000 kills take the "serve and block" Cards up to South Bend tonight for a midweek match against Notre Dame. No Touchdown Jesus involved in this contest but perhaps Ace Jesus will be sitting on the Cardinal bench. Anything to help clean up the service errors we saw when Dani Busboom Kelly's wide-netters visited the Sunshine State. 

The Fighting Irish enter the contest at 16-5 while barely clinging onto a conference record above .500 at 6-4. That ACC mark ties them with Duke for sixth place in the standings. Notre Dame has 224 blocks on the year, which could provide the Cards some trouble. In recent years tall teams that block well have been Louisville's Achilles heel, including last year's matchup. 

Each team defended their home turf well and the Cards were led by a stat sheet filled by Morgan Miller. Besides the 224 blocks, the Irish also have recorded 123 aces on the year. The Cards back row of Molly Sauer, Gabby Wiley and a hopefully healthy Alexis Hamilton (how about that tongue twister) that should be off concussion protocol should be able to hold down the fort just fine. 

Louisville has some nice numbers of their own, including Tess's thousand kills. Jasmine Bennett and Maggie DeJong have teamed up in the middle blocker position quite well, recording 40 and 41 blocks apiece. 

This past week the Cards (8-2 in conference) were listed as having the 36th. toughest schedule in DI -- which is something I fully concur with. Those darn Big 10 games from early in the season at least look good for this stat. Also, UofL received some votes in the latest polls, but have not reached a top 25 ranking yet. A win tonight and a win against ACC #1 ranked Pittsburgh on Friday could boost the Cards into the rarefied air of top 25. 

Notre Dame leads the all-time series 20-15 against UofL but tonight is a wonderful opportunity to close the gap an make the win streak against the blue and gold two games. A win would also give the Cards a two game win streak since they foiled  FSU in Tallahassee on Sunday. 

Both contests will be shown on the ACC Network Extra. 7:00 tonight. You might want to catch the Friday match at Cardinal Arena to cheer on these gals. 

Go Cards! 
Jared Anderson 

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WORDS AND MORE WORDS

(Some thoughts from Paulie on Star Wars XII: The Jurich Strikes Back) 

Put your hands in the air like you just don't care! 

Dr. Greg Postel's letter to Tom Jurich outlining the reasons for his firing and Jurich's response have been released because of the Freedom of Information mandates and neither appear to be happy campers. 

Postel alleges that Jurich promoted zero tolerance for infractions, failed to supervise head coaches, demonstrated ineffective management responsibilities and exhibited a lack of collegiality. 

Jurich, through his legal counsel, claims that Postel and the University's board are smearing his reputation and Jurich unequivocally denies the allegations and implications. 

This donnybrook is far from over. I can't wait to see if Jurich will write a book about his life and times at UofL. Hey, if Colin Kapernick can...why not T.J.???

Can we work Muffet McGraw into
the mix? 

So, the mudslinging, pie-in-the-face proceedings are underway. Grab some popcorn and have a seat Cardinal fans. This one could be a extra-innings affair. Forget that several UofL athletic teams are battling for conference titles and have key games ahead. The public wants blood and it looks like they're gonna get it. Claws out, kittens! 

Maybe we could add a few hookers, some bogus on-line classes, mad NFL stars charging from the sidelines to confront befuddled officials, Abbott and Costello's classic "Who's On First?" and some Led Zeppelin live to make this another nation-wide headline grabbing embarrassment for our dear and beloved alma mater UofL.  Go to your corners, boys and come out swinging when you hear the bell...this pi---ng contest is on, who's got the fuller bladder? 

 -Paulie

Louisville Women's Basketball Luncheon -- TUESDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

GALA EVENT BRINGS CARDS TO THE FANS

Monday's Louisville women's basketball luncheon at the Downtown Louisville Marriott brought the players to the fans for a nearly two hour regalia of sights, sounds, speakers and a chance for Cardinal fans to get officially "in the mood" for the 2017-18 season. This yearly event has changed venues several times since I've been attending...several hotels, the KFC YUM! Center floor and other venues. I like the Marriott and hope it remains there. 

Go Cards Go! 

A capacity crowd packed the second floor hotel ballroom to hear Coach Walz and see the team on a rainy, blustery morning/afternoon in Louisville. The climate inside the Marriott was far from that as fans mingled and greeted each other while purchasing Cardinal women's basketball gear and also signing up for a drawing for a signed basketball and player official jersey. Sonya and I arrived early and got the chance to greet a few friends and readers in the lobby before the proceedings began. We talked briefly with women's basketball Nick Evans when we first arrived. Always a busy man...Nick was obviously excited about his first ever UofL WBB luncheon. Also keeping a mindful eye on the event was SID Kenny Klein. 

We also got a chance to hear acting Athletic Director Vince Tyra and head coach Jeff Walz talk with the media and answer questions before the luncheon. Tyra was first...he had attended a 6 a.m. practice Monday and was full of pep and excitement as he discussed the team, the big win over Florida State in football (which he attended in Talhassee) and his first few days on the job at the University. I have interspersed these interviews throughout today's article, along with pictures from the luncheon. You'll need Sound Cloud to hear them hear...or you can wait until Saturday's Cardinal Couple to hear them.

LINK: VINCE TYRA WITH MEDIA

Walz answered several questions about the preseason practices, how the team was performing and various other questions from several television news stations and a vast array of writers, journalists and radio personalities. Our buddies Howie Lindsey, Daryl Foust, Paige Sherrard...who we do radio with...were present, along with about 10-12 other media members. 

LINK: JEFF WALZ WITH MEDIA

The show/production/luncheon got underway with the inimitable Sean Moth at the dais and he began by introducing the players and bringing them to stage...beginning with the freshmen and ending with senior Myisha Hines-Allen. Noticeably absent from the introductions was Dana Evans...but it was explained after all girls reached the stage that she was still in class and would arrive shortly. It was also noticeable that sophomore Kylee Shook was in a walking boot...Walz explained later that it was just a precautionary move for a slight stress fracture. 

Moth is a master at what he does (public address and emcee skills today) and also pointed out acting men's basketball coach David Padgett was here (as he walked in during the introductions). After the team was introduced, Chris Morgan...FCA chaplain for the UofL athletic department delivered the invocation and the attendees began to eat after that. 

Sonya and Daryl Foust

The conversation was light and easy at our media table...which included Lindsey, Foust, Sherrard, Sonya, a couple of TV and newspaper sports personalities and me. Howie shared a few Florida State stories (he was the sideline reporter for the football game Louisville won down there Saturday) and Paige and I caught up on how things were going. The food was surprisingly good this year...a tasty, multi-ingredient salad with warm bread got it started nd the entree was a cornish hen quarter with green beans and mashed potatoes with gravy. Dessert consisted of a piece each of a delicious fudge and raspberry tart. 

As the plates of food were being finished and collected, Moth introduced a couple of videos documenting Asia Durr's journey to make the USA National team and her and Myisha's trip to compete for the USA U23 squad. Good stuff there. Then, the speakers began. First up was Tyra..who warmed up the crowd by revealing his conversation with Walz on how long he should speak. 

"About the length of a 30 section timeout" was Walz's teasing response, which drew a round of laughter from the attendees. 

One interesting point of Tyra's talk was when he mentioned Dr. Greg Postel, acting UofL President was in attendance. The boos were very audible among the attendees.

JC "No periods" Sullivan in the house with her friend
Terry Milner. . L's UP !!!!

Moth then brought Asia Durr and Myisha Hines-Allen to the stage and went through a brief "question and answer" period with them. Asia got the crowd chuckling when she responded to questions. When asked how practice was going she quipped: 

"We run a lot". 

She also drew a few laughs when responding to a query on what she thought about the squad this year. With perfect timing she commented. 

"Hmmm...I guess...you could say we're...talented." 

Myisha was next and Asia stayed on stage with her "as a sign of teammate support". Myisha is "ready to go show it on the court" and also revealed to the crowd that her brother Josh Allen leads the UK football team in quarterback sacks this season but "wears red when he comes to see me play or visit." Given the state of the Cardinals' grid-iron defense, one has to wonder why didn't he end up in a Cardinal football uniform? 

Sonya ends up with all the good lookin' guys...

Walz, naturally, was the keynote and final speaker. He may have surprised a few attendees when he came out and praised Tom Jurich. He revealed: 

"11 years ago, I had breakfast at this very same Marriott and met with Tom about the job. Tom sold me on Louisville, the city and university, not himself or the program." 

Walz also reiterated he's in it for the long haul with Louisville women's basketball, commented that he hoped to retire from here or, jokingly, "get fired from here." 

He spoke of each player as well. Some highlights were that Sam Fuehring has been the most impressive this year in practice, as far as growth and skills from last year go. He teasingly mentioned that Jaz Jones had learned that to throw the ball to her teammates this season and that she wasn't receiving assists when errant passes to the opposition led to baskets. Dana Evans has impressed him with her strength and quickness as a freshment...Coach compared her to Louisville great Patrika Barlow. Coach also talked about Arica Carter...you can hear those comments below. After introducing and thanking his assistant coaches and his staff, Walz mentioned that the first game was November 10th. and encouraged the fans to come out. 

LINK: JEFF WALZ TALKS TO CROWD AT BANQUET

We spent time after the luncheon chatting with quite a few people, including my radio and website colleague Jeff McAdams and his mother Vivian and Nick Curran...radio voice of the women's basketball games.  

LINK: WORLDWIDE, VIVIAN AND SONYA DISCUSS BANQUET

My pal Dick Palmer with Sonya

I also got my traditional post-luncheon chat in with assistant coach Sam Purcell and we reviewed a number of subjects..including the Atlanta Falcons and who would win in a free throw shooting contest between us.

LINK: PAULIE AND SAM PURCELL 

As we left, I got a chance to chat up Myisha, Loretta Kakala and Sydney Zambrotta in the lobby. A fun interview with them ensued. Myisha...the guard. 

LINK: LORETTA, MYISHA AND SYD

Paulie talks with Syd and Myisha
(Thanks Sue for the pic!) 

This annual event is always one I look forward and we had a great time with a great group of Cardinal fans, student-athletes, friends and fellow media members.

It was needed yesterday...especially after the negativity and innuendo surrounding the UofL Athletic program lately. A chance for fans to feel positive and show some enthusiasm and pride. 

We are Cardinals, we are strong and you can't keep us down or break our stride. We will rise. 

It's time...let's get this party started and play ball !!


paulie
xxxxx