Louisville Rows to 5th in ACC Championships -- No NCAA Softball for Cards -- MONDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

CARDS FINISH FIFTH IN ACC CHAMPIONSHIPS

After a strong morning of preliminary and heat performances to qualify all boats to the finals, the Cards rowed to a fifth place finish in the ACC Championships on Lake Hartwell near Clemson Sunday. It's the third year in a row that Louisville has finished fifth in the competition...an event traditionally dominated by Virginia each year. 

And, this year was no exception for the Cavalier boaters. They took their ninth consecutive ACC title and won all five ACC finals events. 

Louisville did grab a third place finish in the 1V8 (First Varsity Eights) final..behind Virginia and Syracuse, who beat the Cards for the runner-up spot by less than two seconds. 

UofL placed two rowers on the All-ACC Tournament squads...Sophie Schulz made the first team and Violette LeGrand, a freshman from France, got second team accolades. Nine ACC schools compete in women's rowing. 

CARDS FINALS FINISHES

IV8 - 3rd
2V4 - 4th
2V8 - 5th
3V8 - 5th
1V4 - 5th

FINALS TOTALS

VIRGINIA        99 
SYRACUSE     77
DUKE               72
N. DAME         65
LOUISVILLE 64
CLEMSON      41
UNC                 29
BC                    22
MIAMI            22


22 teams will compete in the NCAA Championships, which will be held in Sarasota, FL May 25-27. Eleven conference champions and eleven at-large team will make up the Division I finals. Virginia, via their conference championships win, get the automatic and, if I had to make a guess...Syracuse and maybe Duke will get invites as at-large.

Virginia continues to be the team the rest of the ACC tries to catch...the Cavs won each final event by a minimum for four seconds....pretty much the length of one of the sculls used to compete in. 

It would take a minor miracle for the Cards to be selected for the NCAA Tournament, but, nevertheless...another strong season for the "Stroke" Cards...who have no local, home "water" of their own and have their practices and facilities off-campus on Beargrass Creek, near the Ohio River on River Road. 


NO SOFTBALL FOR YOU...

The NCAA Softball Tournament field was announced last night and the "Hit and Pitch" Cards were not included in the field of 64. 

Only two ACC schools made the tournament, Florida State -- the conference's automatic qualifier and Notre Dame, an at-large selection. FSU will host a regional and the Irish will head to Lexington in UK's regional. 

13 schools from the SEC, basically the entire conference except Vanderbilt, was included in the field and seven PAC 12 teams will also participate. 

The Cards last NCAA appearance was in 2016. 

Softball was the eighth seed in the ACC Tournament and advanced past Syracuse
to face FSU in the quarterfinals but could not get past the #1 seed Noles...losing 7-4. It's a bit surprising that Pittsburgh, who advanced to the ACC final game against FSU but lost, did not get a bid to the NCAA Championship. 

"Maybe we could rev up the General Lee
to get the Cards around the bases faster." 

The Cards do return plenty of talent next season, including pitchers Megan Hensley, Danielle Watson and Kyra Snyder...starters Celene Funke, Blaire Bass and a talented group of underclassmen that should make next year's competition for starting roles intense. The Cards have had some bumps and potholes in the ACC since their indoctrination into conference softball and post-season play, but that's to be expected when climbing up the competition level. 

Sandy Pearsall and her staff are committed to bringing in the best in local and regional talent and we, at Cardinal Couple, fully expect and hope to see a strong "starting nine" for Louisville in 2019. 

paulie
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