Saturday Brings More Exhibitions -- SATURDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

As the fall season continues to ramp up, more exhibitions are on the horizon. Field Hockey will get underway today, and Volleyball will take on their first opponent that isn't themselves. Oddly enough, Women's Soccer will play three regular season games before any other team on campus plays their first sanctioned match. So it goes sometimes.

Field Hockey vs Alumnae

The annual Alumnae Game is on the docket for Trager Stadium today, as the Louisville Field Hockey team looks to knock away the rust. This match will be a good time for Coach Justine Sowry to see what she has in some of her players, especially as she tries to replace some fantastic starters. The primary position battle everyone will be keeping an eye on will be that of the goalie. Hollyn Barr and Sam Minrath will likely both play for each team in order to get a view of both goalies in "equal" situations. Barr comes in as the "heir apparent" to the seat left open by the graduation of Ayeisha McFerran, having impressed in multiple starts last season during McFerran's international duties. However, Minrath has impressed heavily and has received high praise from Coach Sowry. I get the feeling this is a battle that will not be settled particularly soon.

One player that is not in a position battle is Mercedes Pastor. The junior from Argentina was an All-American last year and has been named to the preseason All-ACC first team. Pastor started every game for the Cards last season, scoring five goals and adding three assists. She'll look to improve on those numbers this year and lead the Louisville offense.

Today's event will get underway at 1PM over at Trager. Admission is free. After the Cards get warmed up with an in-house scrimmage today, they'll host Miami (OH) for an exhibition tomorrow at 2PM. Admission to that event is also free.

Volleyball Hosts a Second Scrimmage

Speaking of Miami (OH), I wonder if the field hockey team and volleyball team are taking the same bus. Louisville Volleyball will host its first scrimmage against an outside team this afternoon at 3PM when the Redhawks come in to L&N Federal Credit Union Arena. Louisville has not faced Miami (OH) since 2015, when the Cards were victorious 3-1 against the Redhawks in a season opening tournament hosted by Illinois. Obviously both teams will be quite different this year, with Louisville having changed coaches in that time and almost all players from those teams having graduated or transferred. 

Proceedings in the Arena will get underway at 3PM and admission to this event is also free. As is typical, the UofL clear bag policy is in effect for preseason games, so please plan accordingly.

Cardinal Couple Radio Hour

It's here. Louisville athletics are back on track, and the Cardinal Couple Radio Hour can finally break down sanctioned games on the air again. Join Paulie, Jeff, and me as we hit the airwaves on WCHQ FM at 11AM to bring you the joy and excitement of Louisville women's sports. We'll talk about the big win women's soccer had over Ohio State on Thursday, look ahead at Morehead State, and check in with Jeff about what he saw at the Red and Black scrimmage last week. Tune in to WCHQ FM at 100.9FM, wchqfm.com, using the WCHQ App, or on Facebook Live.
 Until next time, Go Cards!

-CH-