Women's Soccer Outlasts Clemson -- Weekend Scheduling -- FRIDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

Women's Soccer Outlasts Clemson

Callie McKinney's goal just two and a half minutes into the game was the decider between Top 25 conference foes Louisville and Clemson.  McKinney headed the ball into the far post on a corner kick by Allison Whitfield.

The two foes were nearly deadlocked in most stats with the Cards' biggest advantage was nine corner kicks against the Tigers' four.  Louisville capitalized on the corner kicks with several good looks including McKinney's score.

Despite the early goal and press from the Cards, it was Clemson who looked more solid in the later first half.  The Tigers controlled possession and won the battle in the midfield with multiple scoring threats right before the half.

Clemson continued their attack in the early second half, beating the Cards both over the top and on the outside.  Eventually, Louisville settled in to control the game for much of the second half, winning the possession battle by a hair.

Louisville was forced to switch to a five person defensive line when Clemson brought an all out offensive attack that featured their goalkeeper in the mix.  Clemson's attack pushed the Cardinal defense back into its goal post shadow.  Gabby Kouzelos captained the Cards and kept things calm in the final minutes where most of her four saves accrued.

As far as the lone goal goes, which came just 2:24 into the match, it was McKinney's first of the year, adding her to the list of Cards to have recorded a goal on the year to 12.  Two other players- Niamh Nelson and Arianna Ferraro- have recorded points but only from assists.  Emina Ekic still leads the charge with seven goals and six assists for 20 points.

The win is the fourth on the year in conference play for the Cards.  The 12 points ranks in the top three in the ACC.  FSU has 15 points and UNC has 13 points.  The Cards are two wins shy of their six-win mark in the ACC from last year.

Louisville improves to 11-1-0 on the year, adding to their best start in program history. In the overall, life-time series against the Tigers, UofL is now 2-1 and has won the last two meetings. The win streak for 2019 is now four in a row.

Paulie predicted a low-scoring contest yesterday and that came to fruition.

On the "over/under" for trains rolling by Lynn Stadium last night, if you took the "under" against the prognostication of two, you would have been a winner. We did not have any trains at all chug past the north-side of the field during action last night.

Louisville heads to South Bend this Sunday for a match-up against a 9-4-0 Notre Dame team at 1:00 p.m. in Alumni Stadium.


They Said It

Post-game interviews below:

Callie McKinney Video

Gabby Kouzelos Video

Coach Karen Ferguson-Dayes Video


Weekend Scheduling

Friday

Women's Swimming and Diving will head to Dallas to compete in the SMU Classic.  The event hosts solely the women's teams, which will cut the meet time in half.

Field Hockey remains home to host a high-ranked Virginia team at 6:00.  Paulie will be otherwise occupied, so he's throwing the pressure on me for sole coverage of the event.... *eye roll*.



Volleyball hits the road for their first conference away game against Duke at 6:30.

Men's Soccer travels to a Top 10 Clemson team at 7:00.


Saturday (Happy Birthday Katy!)

Swimming and Diving continues their stint in the SMU Classic.

Football travels to Wake Forest for a 7:30 kickoff.

Sunday

Volleyball continues their road trip with a 1:00 match at Wake Forest.

Women's Soccer travels to Notre Dame for a 1:00 kickoff.


The Cardinal Couple Radio Hour

Join Jeff and Case for radio excellence tomorrow at 11 a.m. for The Cardinal Couple Radio Hour on WCHQ 100.9 FM.  There is a possibility they'll also be joined by the legendary Daryl Foust as they try to survive Jeff's snarky rebuttals and "off the wall" meanderings on anything and everything except UofL women's athletics.

(Provided they didn't scare Daryl off last week,)

When they finally get to the business of covering sports, they do a pretty decent job and they'll have plenty to discuss in regards to this week's events.

It's always unique, never boring and you won't hear anything else like it on the airwaves or FACEBOOK LIVE. You can go to the WCHQ website to listen or/watch live and even download the WCHQ app while you're there.

LINK:  www.wchqfm.com

Take the station with you wherever you go and leave a bag of peanuts on the front porch for Floyd the Squirrel, the station mascot.

Happy Friday and Go Cards!

Jared