Women's Soccer Falls at Purdue -- Upcoming Weekend Schedule -- FRIDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

Women's Soccer Falls at Purdue

Riding a five-game winning streak the Louisville women's soccer team hit the road up to West Lafayette, IN., to take on the Purdue Boilermakers.  Their undefeated season came to a screeching halt, falling 2-1.

Maisie Whitsett scored her fourth goal of the season, tying Brooklynn Rivers for most on the team, early into the first half.  The freshman took a pass from Nadege L'Esperance and sent it to the upper left corner of the goal.  Louisville went into the locker room at halftime with the 1-0 lead.

About 20 minutes into the second half Purdue evened the score.  The Boilermakers took full advantage of a corner kick when Kylie Hase headed the ball past keeper Gabby Kouzelos for her fourth goal of the season.  Nine minutes later, Ena Sabanagic took a shot from 18 yards out to take the lead.

Louisville had 15 minutes left to try and tie the game, but failed to do so.  Of their 13 shots seven were on goal, but only one made its way in.  Purdue took seven shots with two on goal.  Both of those were scores, leaving Kouzelos with no saves on the match.

It is rough losing a game in the second half after leading at the midway point.  The offense seemed to not have that burst of energy that we saw earlier in the year and the defense had a few miscues.  When ACC play begins it might be wise to pull the back line of defenders towards the goal to help Kouzelos out.  The ACC has some of the best teams in the country and they will gladly take a chance with a break on the pitch.

The Cards, who had just reached #24 in the Coaches Poll, fall to 5-1.  The return home to Lynn stadium to face Eastern Kentucky on Sunday at 7:30 p.m., in their final non-conference match of the year.  If the Cards can go 6-1 in their non-conference portion of the season it will be a good start and a good setup to reach the 10-win mark this year.

Although the GO. CARDS. BEAT. PURDUE. mantra was unsuccessful last night, the Cards are off to a great start in the 2018 campaign and had several chances last night to tie the contest late.  Here's hoping they'll resume the prolific scoring we saw earlier in the season against an EKU team that joins Louisville in a win over Kentucky by the same 1-0 score their last time out.

In case you're interested, here's how the Boilermakers saw the win:

https://purduesports.com/news/2018/9/6/womens-soccer-come-from-behind-boilermakers-strike-again.aspx




Weekend Scheduling

Four of the five big fall sports are at home this weekend.  The odd one out is volleyball, who also takes a trip to West Lafayette.  Volleyball will compete in the Purdue Tournament.  Today, they face Lipscomb at 12:00 p.m. (noon), and Xavier at 5:00 p.m.  On Saturday, the Cards will take on host Purdue at 7:30 p.m.  After a rough 1-2 outing in Gainesville last week Louisville has the potential to walk  away with a trio of wins, but I wouldn't expect to see any less than two wins.

Field hockey is the first home team to play this weekend.  #11 Louisville hosts #2 North Carolina today at 5:00 p.m., at Trager Stadium.  I will roll in late from work to join my colleagues in the press box.  They will then face an unranked California team on Sunday at 2:00 p.m.  The UNC game is the big one and I encourage all who are able to attend the FREE event.  ACC play will be huge in RPI boosts when it comes to the selection for the NCAA Tournament.

Football looks to bounce back following a disappointing loss to Alabama when they host Indiana State on Saturday at 7:00 p.m.  This will be the first official game in the new "full-circle" stadium and the newly-renamed Cardinal Stadium.  With the new expansion Cardinal Stadium can hold about 61,000 people.

Men's soccer is back in action Sunday at 2:00 p.m.  After a shocking 3-0 defeat in Lexington on Tuesday they look to turn things around when they face #2 Duke.  The Cards are 2-1 following their recent loss.  Their match against St. Louis was cancelled due to weather.

The next few days will provide plenty to do up and down Floyd Street including some big matches against #2 teams in multiple sports.  I will be out watching four out of the five (two games conflict at the same time Sunday) as well as other members of Cardinal Couple being present at select events.  We hope to see you there!

WHAT DAY IS IT? 

Today is National Beer Lovers Day, so why not come out to Trager Stadium and enjoy a hops beverage while watching a quality Field Hockey conference match up? It's also National Neither Snow or Rain Day. That motto of the U.S.P.S. mail carriers looks to be in jeopardy today, with the forecast, but there's no reason why you can't take your favorite Postal employee to Trager Stadium, hunker down in the bleachers and have a cold one while wearing your rain gear!

It's also one day before The Cardinal Couple Radio Hour. Although I won't be in the studio with the rest of the knuckleheads, you can depend on Paulie, Case and Worldwide Jeff to bring you the best discussion and debate about Louisville athletics. Join them at 11 a.m.Saturday on WCHQ 100.9 FM, via Facebook Live, at the WCHQ app. or listen live at the website:  www.wchqfm.com  You'll be glad you did!

Happy Friday and Go Cards!

- Jared -