Nearly Perfect Weekend -- MONDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

Women's Soccer Falls in OT at Virginia

We'll get to yesterday's wins in a minute, but let's get a loss out of the way first. The Cardinals remained away from Lynn over the weekend as they traveled to Charlottesville to take on the 13th ranked Cavaliers from UVA. Louisville has been an up and down team this season and have been right on the edge of a few upsets. They've not quite been able to pull one off yet, though, and that continued yesterday afternoon. Louisville took Virginia through a scoreless tie in regulation and ultimately fell 1-0 in overtime. Credit must be given to Louisville's defense for yesterday's effort, particularly Gabby Kouzelos, as the Cavs put up 17 shots (7 on goal) compared to Louisville's 6 (1). The only shot on goal for the Cards came in the first half. Both teams were disciplined, with a nearly 50/50 split of 28 fouls being called. 

For Louisville to be on their heels so much and hold a top-15 team to only an overtime goal in their house while being utterly unable to create any offense could be promising for this team. They may not get the chance to show it much as the season wraps up (8-6 overall with only 4 regular season games remaining), but the team's core is young and they could make some noise next season if they are unable to pull off a few upsets this year and crash the tournament. My 12 win prediction is in jeopardy even if you include the exhibition win which I considered when I made the prediction. Louisville winning 3 of their last 4 would be outstanding. Winning 2 would be pretty good too and even winning just 1 of the last 4 would finish the team with a .500 record. However, .500 isn't good enough for a lot of people, especially if that .500 comes at the cost of going 1-4 in the last 5. Louisville falls to 2-4 in the conference with the loss to UVA, but there is still time to improve. Three wins gets to an even conference record and a pretty decent overall. The quest for that finish begins with a home tilt against Pitt on Friday at 5:30.

Field Hockey Takes Care of UNH

In a game they in which Louisville had a clear advantage, the Cards took care of business to dispatch the New Hampshire Wildcats 5-2. Louisville was led on the attack by Marigrace Ragsdale with 2 goals while Nicole Woods, Minout Mink, and Abby Grimes each added one of their own. Louisville outshot UNH by only 4, but their 6 shot on goal advantage proved to be useful. Louisville converted only one of their three penalty corners but were efficient on offense in other ways. They also prevented UNH from scoring on either one of their penalty corner attempts. Ayeisha McFerran was on the hook for both goals but also picked up two saves. Hollyn Barr was given a chance to keep her skills fresh as well, but saw no action in her 10+ minutes in yesterday's game.

Louisville moves to 10-4 on the season with 4 games remaining. They'll take on North Carolina on Saturday in Durham before returning home for the remainder of the season. The worst Louisville can finish in conference is 3-3, but I don't think it is out of the realm of possibility for them to win out the schedule (which would keep my 4 regular season loss prediction intact). Coach Sowry's team seems to be coming together at the right time and it could be a special postseason in Trager Stadium.

Volleyball Adds Another Win

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You may have been able to see this one coming, but a loss to Virginia for Coach DBK's volleyball squad would have been rough. Louisville took down UVA on the road yesterday 3-1, giving up a surprise third set. Virginia fell to 4-13 overall and remain winless in the conference. Despite dropping a set, it is good to see any Louisville team win the games they are supposed to win. Louisville volleyball is attempting to regain their footing after some down time in past seasons. At 11-5, they are doing just that. The goal for Louisville has to be to continue their success and prove to any doubters that this is not fool's gold and they aren't just getting lucky. The consistent play of Melanie McHenry, Molly Sauer, Wilma Rivera (three team leaders again yesterday) and others has been key to their success so far and will be huge for the continued success of the team. As they continue to grow together as individual players and teammates, they can achieve the goals they have and more. The Louisville volleyball era under Dani Busboom-Kelly seems to be off to a great start, and I know many are excited to see where it takes us. Louisville looks to stay hot when Clemson comes to town on Friday night.

Until next time, Go Cards!

-CH-