Cards Fall Short at Duke -- Upcoming Weekend -- FRIDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

Cards Come Up Short in Durham

Louisville women's soccer made the trip to Durham, NC., to face No. 10 Duke.  Unfortunately, the final score went in favor of the Blue Devils, 2-1.

Duke was having their breast cancer awareness game and the players were dressed in pink while Louisville's jerseys were of grey and black with red letters and numbers.

Emina Ekic put Louisville on the board early, scoring in the third minute to put the Cards on top.  Ekic received a pass from Allison Whitfield and drove down the middle of the box.  Her shot went past the goalkeeper and into the right corner of the box.

Duke answered 20 minutes later when Taylor Racioppi scored the equalizer.  Gabby Kouzelos came out to guard Kayla McCoy.  McCoy passed across the box to an open Racioppi for an easy goal.

The two teams went into halftime with the 1-1 tie, a promising sign for the Cards.

Louisville and Duke went head-to-head for a scoreless second half for 34 1/2 minutes before the Blue Devils struck.  Callie McKinney was called for a foul in the box.  McKinney was attempting to slide and knock the ball away, but made more contact with the Duke player than intended, leading to the whistle.  Karlie Paschall lined up in front of Kouzelos  Paschall kicked to Kouzelos' left, but she was unable to do any more than tip the ball as it rolled in for the lead.

Duke held an edge in 14-5 with seven shots on goal.  They also had advantage in corner kicks 7-1.  Louisville was called for 13 fouls compared to Duke's eight.  On paper, Duke dominated this match.  On the pitch, the Cards held their own well and looked highly competitive.  They just aren't at the playing level of teams like Duke, North Carolina, and Florida State quite yet, but are quickly heading that way.

Now 11-4-0 and 5-3-0 in the ACC, Louisville will face NC State in Raleigh on Sunday, at 1:00 p.m., before heading home for the final match of the season Thursday evening vs. Va. Tech..


Looking Into the Weekend

Friday, October 19

Men's Tennis hosts the Louisville Invitational, a three-day event held at the Buss-Rudd Tennis Complex.

Field Hockey visits Syracuse at 7:00 p.m.  The Orange are 8-5 and ranked 15th in the country, not far behind the 11-4 Cards who sit 10th.  This should be a close game that might find itself in overtime if the Cards can handle the cold.

Volleyball makes a trip to Virginia at 7:00.  The Cavaliers are a bottom dweller in the conference this year at 6-12 and 2-6.  Their home record is better than their road record, but doesn't say much.  I expect the VolleyCards to improve to 9-0 in the conference pretty easily.

Saturday, October 20

Women's Golf will host the first day of the Cardinal Cup at the Louisville Golf Club in Simpsonville, KY
roughly 30-40 minutes from campus.

Men's Tennis will continue the Louisville Invitational.  UofL-affiliated events on campus are free admission.

Rowing heads up to Cambridge, Mass., to compete in the Head of the Charles Regatta.  This event is one of the biggest in the world in terms of rowing is estimated to feature 11,000 athletes from 24 countries.  There should be approximately 800 schools, universities, and clubs represented.

Men's Soccer concludes their regular season with a Senior Day match against Clemson at 7:00.  The #10 Cardinals should earn a win against the Tigers, who have not won a conference match.

Sunday, October 21

Women's Golf will conclude the Louisville Invitational around mid-afternoon at the Louisville Golf Club.

Men's Tennis will wrap up play at the Bass-Rudd Tennis Center, concluding their three-day event.

Volleyball will travel to Pittsburgh for a much-anticipated game.  This is the highlighted game of the week for UofL Sports.  These two teams split the conference title last year with UofL earning the head-to-head tiebreaker for NCAA purposes.  This year, the Panthers at 6th in the country with their unblemished 20-0 record.  They are the only team out of 336 Division I programs to be 20-0.  The #21 Cards will have their work cut out for them in this one.

Field Hockey visits Albany at 1:00 in their second-to-last regular season game.  Albany is 22nd in the country and hosts a 10-3 record.  Expect the Cards to have their hands full for another game up north.

Women's Soccer at 1:00 will hope to bounce back with a win at NC State.  The Wolfpack are 10-4-3 overall, but are just 3-3-2 in the conference.  Their 11 points put them at ninth in the conference.  The Cards need to manage to walk away with at least one point in this one.

Rowing wraps up their trip to Cambridge in the Head of the Charles Regatta.

Other News and Notes

As you all may or may not know Case has been engaged with the lovely Lindsay for some time now.

Tomorrow, the two will tie the knot and reach the "happily ever after" stage of their lives.  As you probably assume, that takes him out of the lineup for the Cardinal Couple Radio Hour, but he has more important matters to attend.  To be able to balance all of the wedding planning along with his studies and work is quite an impressive feat.  On top of that he has still made time to continue attending UofL women's soccer matches, writing weekly, and appearing most Saturday's on air.  Congratulations to Case and Lindsay!

Jared will be sorting change and greeting dignitaries at work as well. We've asked in regular guest Daryl Foust and we're daggone glad to have here back behind the microphone Saturday. She gets reunited with Daryl the Disco Duck and she'll tell us all about her new job, as well as provide exc excellent and knowledgeable commentary on UofL athletics.

Anyone from Louisville is familiar with the "Where did you go to high school?" question.  For myself, I am a graduate of Louisville Male High School.  Tonight, they will face the Crimsons of duPont Manual, one of the old high school football rivalries in the country.  Male leads the all-time series 85-45-6.

Micah Bland and Keion Wakefield of football are Male graduates.  Louis Brandeis, Michael Bush, and Darrell Griffith are notable alumni.  Winston Bennett, father of current volleyball player Jasmine Bennett, is a Bulldog as well.

Emina Ekic and Allison Whitfield of women's soccer, Labreea Hall of women's track and field, Damien Smith, Dalen Horton, and Derek Dorsey of football are Manual graduates.  Nathaniel Cartmell (US Olympic gold medalist and first men's basketball coach for UNC), Richard Ballard (current member of Louisville City FC), Pee Wee Reese, and Mitch McConnell are notable Manual alumni.

Happy Friday and Go Cards! (and Bulldogs!)

- Jared -