FIELD HOCKEY TO HOST FIRST TWO ROUNDS OF NCAA TOURNAMENT -- VB FALLS AT FSU -- MONDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

CARDS #4 SEED IN NCAA FIELD HOCKEY TOURNAMENT DRAW MICHIGAN IN FIRST ROUND

We now know the where, who and when for post-season NCAA Louisville Field Hockey play.

The Cards were placed as a #4 seed (behind UNC, UConn and Virginia) and will host the first two rounds in one of the four regionals. Louisville will start against Michigan (13-8) on Friday, Nov. 15th at 2:30. If they win, they would play the winner of Boston College vs. Northwestern, who have the first game at noon Friday in Louisville, in the 2nd round (or Great Eight) in Trager Stadium at 1 p.m. Sunday. 



Last night's selection show revealed that six of the seven ACC schools that participate in Field Hockey were invited to the 18-team tournament. All six of the ACC schools (Louisville, Duke, Virginia, UNC, Boston College and Syracuse) selected are all ranked in the nation's top 12 and are all in the top eight in the latest RPI. 

Louisville returns to the tournament after not being selected in 2018 and it is the sixth appearance in the last seven years for Justine Sowry's Cards.

It was a joyous, raucous celebration, as you might well expect, when Louisville heard their name called. A Twitter link to it below:  

FIELD HOCKEY CARDS REACT TO HEARING THEIR NAME CALLED

Ticket information will be released in the next day or so. We'll have the details for you here att Cardinal Couple.

This is huge for the Stick Girls.

They made it to the semifinals of the ACC Tournament by beating Syracuse, They fell to UNC in the semis, who defeated Boston College in the finals for their 42nd consecutive win. The question we had here at Cardinal Couple was...did the overall body of work from Louisville get them into a hosting chance and a top four seed? 

Yes it did, in the eyes of the selection committee.  We couldn't agree more. 


SHE SAID IT

Coach Justine Sowry's comments about the selection: 


“Just to make the NCAA tournament is not easy, and we missed out last year, so that was our first goal this year, to get back to the tournament,” said UofL head coach Justine Sowry. “As the season went on, we kept building and got some big wins. It was a tight race this year. We’re excited to be in, but to be the first team in our program that has hosted here at Louisville is really exciting for our program. But the work starts tomorrow morning when we get up. Michigan is an incredible opponent and we’ve had difficulty with them in the past. We’ve set ourselves up well and now it’s back to the drawing board and hopefully we can advance past the next round."




Congratulations to the first of two fall UofL women's sports squads to make it into the "Big Dance" !!  Women's soccer will find out today at 4:30 p.m. where they'll be placed for the NCAA Women's Soccer selection Show. Jared Anderson will have all those details in his Tuesday article 

The selection show can be viewed on line at: 

www.ncaa.com


VOLLEYBALL KNOCKED OFF BY NOLES IN FOUR SETS

When two Volleyball teams have identical records and face each other, often the deciding factor can be the venue. That was the case yesterday 

The #24 Cards fall in four sets 25-18, 16-25, 12-25, 22-25 to unranked FSU. 

The Louisville Volleyball squad ended their southern swing with a stop in Tallahassee, FL yesterday to take on Florida State, who had the identical record as the Cards going into the match (16-7, 9-4). The Cards looked impressive in the first set. Despite FSU opening the game with three straight points, the Cards roared back to take a 5-4 lead. The Noles returned the favor and battled their way to a 15-12 lead, but UofL dominated the rest of the way, closing out the set with a 13-3 run for a 25-18 win. Claire Chaussee had six kills and Anna Stevenson produced three blocks.   

It went south for UofL after that. 

FSU jumped out to a 9-1 lead in the second set and had little trouble in getting a nine-point win. The Cards did battle back to close the gap to four at 16-12 but FSU regained their momentum and put a 9-4 fun on UofL to win by nine. 25-16 

It was all Noles again in set three early on. They led 7-1 before UofL fought back to close the gap to 7-5. FSU closed the door, though, with a 10-2 run for a 17-7 advantage.  They ended set three by taking six of the seven final points for a convincing 25-12 win.

In the final set, the Cards looked much better and, in a back and forth affair, were tied at 8-8, led 15-14 and were within one at 21-20. Three of the final points went FSU's way, though, and all three came on FSU blocks at the net as the Noles secured the set and match by three at 25-22. 

Chaussee recorded a career-high 19 kills for Louisville. The Cards return home to face Syracuse Friday night at 7 p.m. in the LNFCU Arena on campus. Combined with Field Hockey, Friday looks to be a great day to spend on Floyd Street !! 


VETERANS DAY

A heartfelt "Thank You" to my wife, father, father-n-law, uncles, cousins and all who have served this nation to protect us. 

To say, "I will serve to protect our freedom and way of life. I will fight for you" is admirable and noble. To be willing to lay your life on the line to make sure we are safe is the ultimate duty and sacrifice.

Bless each and every one of our veterans. 

Whether in peacetime or war, -- Army, Navy, Air Force, Marines or Coast Guard -- what was done was done out of love and respect for this country.

If you see a veteran today, say "Thank you".  And, let us pray for all of our current servicemen as well.  


FINALLY...

I know, we don't cover football here, as a rule but I have the link below of former Cardinal and current Baltimore Ravens QB Lamar Jackson and his out-of-this-world 47 yard TD against the Bengals
Wow. 

SIMPLY "LAMARVELOUS"


Have a marvelous Monday ! 

paulie
xxxxx