NCAA Tournament Prep -- Spring Schedule Released -- WEDNESDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

A Change In Today's Lineup

Paulie has a busy day ahead of him so he and I changed days around.  He'll take over Thursday and Friday this week...plus the coverage and results of Louisville women's soccer NCAA Second Round results. He'll be here with plenty of basketball news and notes including this week's game and some big recruiting news also.

In case you wondered which days your Cardinal Couple crew takes to these pages to write, the current schedule is me (Jared) on Tuesday and Thursdays, Paulie on Monday, Wednesday and Friday, Case on Saturday and Jeff on Sunday. Occasionally, we switch around ( like today ) when life events or travelling occur.

Soccer Prepares for NCAA Second Round

Soccer landed in Utah in preparation for the NCAA Second Round against BYU tomorrow.  They are the  #4 ranked team
in the latest poll and the Cougars are also the 2-seed in the region.

BYU enters the match at 19-0-1 with a 8-0-1 record in the West Coast Conference.  They were guaranteed in before their conference tournament, but earned the automatic bid with an 8-1 victory over Loyola Marymount.

Here is a video the team released of the arrival in Provo:

LINK:  CARDS WSOC ARRIVES IN PROVO

The Coogs sole draw was a 2-2 finish at Santa Clara at the beginning of October.

BYU had one of the hottest offenses in the country in the regular season.  They scored 73 goals in 20 matches for a 3.65 goals per match average.  They posted eight-goal performances twice and a single seven-goal performance.

Elisa Flake has scored 19 goals on the year while WCC Player of the Year Mikayla Colohan has scored 14.  They are part of a committee of 15 players to record a goal.

Defensively, BYU has surrendered just 10 goals.  Three goalkeepers have seen time in front of the net but it's Sabrina Davis who has done most of the heavy labor.  Although she has been the only keeper to allow a goal, Davis has played in all but one match and has 44 saves.

Louisville will square up against BYU on Thursday at 6:00 p.m.in Provo. NC State and Arkansas play earlier at the same site. That's Mountain time, so add two hours off that here locally -- a 8:00 p.m start in Louisville.  TV is currently listed as BYU TV but there is a chance it may be found online.

Paulie was able to catch up with Louisville women's soccer head coach Karen Ferguson Dayes via phone yesterday for an interview, so that link is below. A thanks to women's soccer SID Kim Pemberton for coordinating the hookup.

LINK:  KAREN FERGUSON DAYES INTERVIEW 11/19/19   (audio only)


Softball Releases Schedule

We're still months away from the start of the season but the softball schedule has been released.  It
features a minimal number of home games with most being on the road or at neutral locations.

As the season draws closer, Paulie will post it on the Right Side of the Site, like he does with WBB,VB, WSOC and other women's sports.

SCHEDULE DETAILS

The season will start on Feb. 7, with the opening weekend featuring a five-game performance in Clearwater, Fla.

They'll head up the coast the next weekend for the ACC/Big Ten Challenge where they will face Michigan and Wisconsin twice each.

Tuscaloosa will be the next stop of the road trip for the Easton Bama Bash.  Louisville will face Penn State once, Wichita State twice, and Alabama twice.

February will conclude in Stillwater and Tulsa for the joint OSU/Tulsa Invitational.  Louisville will face four teams from around the country.

The first visit to Ulmer Stadium is the first full weekend in March- the Red and Black Challenge.  The Cards will host Oakland, Illinois, and Evansville as well as get a rematch against Northwestern.

They then start conference play by hosting Boston College during the Ides of March.

The first conference road trip of the season will be at Florida State the following weekend.  Unlike past years, this series will be Friday-Sunday.  No Monday night prime time spot.  I guess someone didn't like the shocker last year.

Louisville travels to Indiana for a midweek game before traveling to Duke to close out March.

The Cards open April up by hosting Pittsburgh the first weekend and Notre Dame the second weekend.  With Easter on April 12, the Cards and Irish will play a double header on Saturday, April 11, instead of the normal one game per day slot.

The Cards will then head to Lipscomb in the middle of the week before turning east to travel to
Virginia

The final weekend in April will be Senior Weekend when the Cards host NC State.

They then travel down the road to Kentucky on April 29 before visiting Syracuse to start May.

The ACC Softball Tournament is May 6-May 9 and will be hosted in Louisville this year.  Only 10 of the now-12 teams (Duke was new to softball last year) make the tournament so the Cards need to make sure they're in the top 10.  The bottom four seeds will have play-in games while the rest have a bye until the second day of the tournament.

I know, another weird bracket to deal with.


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Keep an eye out for Paulie's preview of women's basketball's Thursday night game vs. Chattanooga, more comments on the Louisville women's soccer match and his thoughts on Hailey Van Lith.

All tomorrow on your daily blast of the joy and excitement of UofL women's sports.

Happy Wednesday and Go Cards!

Jared