Softball Drops Two; Lacrosse Opens ACC Play -- SATURDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

Softball Falls to UIC and OK State on Friday

Louisville softball's early season struggles continued yesterday as they dropped their third and fourth games in a row, with three being run rules. The losses to Alabama, while not great, could not be described as unexpected, but Jeff and I discussed last week that dropping them both by large margins could be bad for confidence moving forward. It seems that came to pass yesterday. The Cards were thumped by the University of Illinois-Chicago, a team that had been 4-6 entering the game. They showed a bit more life in the later game against top-fifteen Oklahoma State, avoiding a fourth straight run rule, but were unable to score and dropped the game 3-0.

Game 1: Louisville 2, UIC 10

Taylor Roby took the circle to open Louisville's weekend yesterday and she was met by a lead-off home run from UIC's Samantha Ferguson. Ferguson would go on to score on to score three runs in the game. The Cards got through the rest of the first allowing just one more hit but trailed 1-0 going into the bottom half. Louisville returned the run scoring favor when Celene Funke reached on a four pitch walk. She stole second, advanced to third on a ground ball, and scored on an error. After a ground out, Maddy Newman was picked off at first to leave the bases empty with two outs. Cassady Greenwood doubled, but Carmyn couldn't bring her home. 1-1.

The second inning was pretty uneventful, with just one walk between the two teams, but it started to get away from the Cards after that. UIC scored two unanswered runs in the third inning and added three more in the fourth. Louisville got one back in the bottom of the fourth inning on a Cassady Greenwood homer to make it 6-2, but then gave up another four runs in the top of the fifth inning. Unable to bring the score any closer in the bottom half, the game was called for a five inning run rule. Louisville fell 10-2.

Game 2: Louisville 0, OK State 3

The second game saw Louisville blanked on the scoreboard and nearly blanked at the plate. The Cards kept this one a lot closer defensively, with Chardonnay Harris keeping the Cards in the game from the circle, but a three run third inning from the hosts was the difference. Louisville's offense was held to a pair of hits from Funke and Caitlin Ferguson, a walk from Newman, and a hit by pitch from Eden Mayo. No more than two of those things happened in the same inning. To her credit, Harris held Oklahoma State to just five hits and a walk, but three of those baserunners came back-to-back-to back for that three run inning. 

Despite a better showing in the second game, the result is ultimately the same and the Cards fell to 5-11. I know that's not what we at Cardinal Couple imagined for this team, and I'm certain it's not what anyone in the softball building expected either. The softball season is long, but Louisville will have to turn it around quickly if they're going to end up winning enough games for an NCAA Tournament bid. The Cards are back in action today with a game against #10 Oregon at 1PM immediately followed by a rematch against Oklahoma State.

Women's Track on Top in ACC Championships

With eleven events remaining today, Louisville currently holds a narrow lead over the Duke Blue Devils at the ACC Indoor Track and Field Championships. The Cards sit at 34.5 points with the Blue Devils just half a point behind in second. Still in striking distance are NC State, Notre Dame, and Virginia at 26, 26, and 25.5 points respectively. Louisville's day yesterday was highlighted by a Dorcas Wasike silver medal finish in the 5000m run. Still to be completed today on the women's side are the finals for the Pole Vault, Triple Jump, Shot Put, 60m Hurdles, Mile Run, 400m, 60m, 800m, 200m, 3000m, and the 4x400m relay. Louisville has had success in some of these events throughout the year, so we'll see if they can hold on to their lead.

Lax Opens ACC Schedule against VT

Following the thrilling win against Vanderbilt earlier this week, Scott Teeter's squad will get their ACC season underway today when they host #23 Virginia Tech at 1PM. The Hokies are 5-1 so far this season, falling only to #17 JMU in overtime. VT beat Cincinnati 20-5 earlier this week, a team you'll recall Louisville opened the season against, winning 16-11. The Cards will have their work cut out for them today, as VT has scored fewer than 14 goals just once this season (the road loss against JMU). If Rachel Florek can continue her outstanding play as she did last week, Louisville may be in business. It will take a strong effort on both ends, though, as the Hokies haven't given up double digit goals since a 17-10 win over Davidson to open the season. Today's game will be available on ACC Network Extra.

Cardinal Couple Radio Hour

It's the Jeff and Case show again this week, and it will again come at an odd time. We'll get the show started at 1:30 today, so be sure to tune in while you watch softball and lacrosse. We'll have plenty to talk about after the busy week for Louisville athletics and have a few games to preview as well, such as the regular season finale for basketball. Check out the Cardinal Couple YouTube for the live broadcast at 1:30 or for a replay any time.

Until next time, Go Cards!

-CH-

Senior Day Presser -- Clipped Wings -- Cards beat BC 68-48 -- Senior Interviews today -- Softball -- FRIDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

SENIOR DAY PRESSER

These were divided up into two groups this afternoon for the five seniors. Kylee, Yacine and Jess went first. You don't want to miss a minute of them! : 

LINK:  SENIOR DAY PRESSER KYLEE, JESS AND YACINE

Following them was Jaz and Bionca. 

LINK: SENIOR DAY PRESSER JAZ AND BIONCA


You wanna watch and listen?  Well, try the links below:

Kylee, Jess and Yacine:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=22&v=0pypreComw4&feature=emb_logo

Jaz and Bionca:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=3&v=Q7XRP83uOaw&feature=emb_logo

SENIORS SHINE IN BEATING OF BOSTON COLLEGE 68-48

No Dana, No "E"? 

No problem.

Louisville WBB got big performances from Kylee Shook, Jazmine Jones and Yacine Diop in the 20-point romp over the visiting Eagles. The three seniors combined for 48 points, 15 rebounds and sank all five of the threes Louisville made on a chilly Thursday night down by the river in the KFC YUM! Center in front of 8514 fans. 

A game that gave Louisville the outright ACC regular season championship. The Cards will have the #1 seed in Greensboro for the ACC WBB Tournament. Drawing a double bye, UofL will play their first game on Friday in the event that starts Wednesday.


The Louisville starting lineup looked a bit different to what Cardinal fans were used to last night. Available for action but not playing were Dana Evans and Elizabeth Balogun, recovering from ankle sprains. So, it was Bionca Dunham, Yacine Diop, Mykasa Robinson, Kylee Shook and Jazmine Jones on the floor for the start. 

The Cards punched the accelerator early last night and blew out to an 8-2 lead in the first four minutes. Boston College had four turnovers and was 1-4 from the floor as the teams hit the first quarter media timeout.  The stop in action benefited UofL more than BC...a 10-4 Cardinal run put the score at 18-6 after Shook nailed a three-ball and it was beginning to look like another "Pittsburgh-type" blowout. 

The Eagles found a bit of something to like from guard Makayla Dickens, though. She bombed in three huge trifectas in the final 2:26 of the opening quarter to draw the visitors back with three points as the quarter ended. Louisville managed just two points in the same stretch and after ten minutes, the board read Louisville 20 - Boston College 17. 

Dickens needed to be shut down (guarding her seemed like a good idea) and the Cards did just that in the second session. And, the Cards ramped up the offensive intensity as well. Two Bionca Dunham buckets to start the quarter and another score from her, plus Shook, Jones and Robinson sent the Cards on a 13-2 run in the first five minutes of the quarter. It was now 33-19 and one set of birds had taken flight, while the other had stayed in the nest. 


The Cards were hot, they shot 12-19 in the second quarter (63.2%) and three players (Shook, Dunham and Jones) has six points each in the 26-7 dominating quarter from UofL. BC eventually found the basket a bit in the remaining part of the second quarter, but, the half ended on a spectacular fast break that concluded with the ball in Kylee's possession. She pulled up outside the paint and sank a jumper right as the buzzer went off to set the halftime tally Louisville 46 - Boston College 24. 

The sequence set the crowd afire and Louisville trotted off the floor to a loud and raucous round of approval from the Cardinal fans

Dickens had been shut down, along with her teammates, and the Cards were proving to be the better of the two types of birds in the YUM! Center.

Shook and Jones already had 13 points each, the Cards had a incredible 23-2 edge in points-off-turnovers while forcing Boston College into 14 miscues. Any threat from  a Eagles team that had come into the game with a five-game winning streak had been quelled and victory number 26, plus the ACC title looked to be a sure thing. 

The halftime discussion with other members of the media evolved around travel to Greensboro, the return of Taja Cole to the YUM! on Sunday and the huge first half effort.

Coach Walz wisely decided to get his starters a bit a rest as well in the remaining 20 minutes of action. Only Jaz and Kylee played the entire 10 minutes of the third quarter and Walz experimented again with the inside duo of Shook and Liz Dixon. Dunham got some rest for her sore knee and Lindsey Duvall saw nearly seven minutes of action in the quarter after halftime. It was a quarter where the scoring dropped off a bit, 13 points for each squad, Jones and Shook had seven of the Cards points in the third and a Robinson free throw closed the third with the Cards still comfortably up 59-37.

Maybe the biggest fan response play of the third was when Duvall grabbed a rebound, did a nifty spin move to the basket and scored inside, plus drawing a foul. It got the bench and the fans pumped and she sank the free throw. 

As the fourth quarter progressed, Walz looked to Diop to head up a lineup that included Jess Laemmle, Dixon, Molly Lockhart and Duvall. She responded with five of the Cards nine fourth quarter points and Dixon controlled the boards with four rebounds. A 5-0 Diop run with about four minutes left created a 66-42 lead. Lockhart added two points off a nice assist from Laemmle with 2:25 left and the Cards were safely home with a 68-48 win. 

After the game, Jaz proudly displayed the ACC Champions placard to an approving crowd,

the team posed for photos with the sign and Kylee and Jaz did TV interviews, while Coach Walz grabbed the microphone, thanked the crowd and urged everyone to show up Sunday against Virginia Tech. Asking them to fill the lower bowl of the KFC YUM! Center. The squad proudly wore ACC Champions t-shirts and a definite feel-good, optimistic aura had encompassed the YUM! Center. 

THE FRED REPORT

Just like Fred Astaire, Cards dance
to the ACC title. 

FREE THROWS -- It wasn't the best of nights for either squad at the charity stripe. 29 total fouls were called. Louisville went 7-11 (63.6%). BC was even worse (6-13). The starters for Louisville did their part, going 6 for 7 from the line, but the below 70% mark indicates that we award no letter for this aspect of the game.

REBOUNDS -- A BC win on the boards, 40-33. They were strong on the offensive glass with a 15-9 edge. Of course, when you shoot 35% for the game, you're going to get some second chances. Kylee was big again, with 10 grabs, and I liked Dixon's hard work in a season-high 25 minutes with six rebounds, all on the defensive end. Still, you lose the boards battle and you don't get a letter. 

EFFICIENCY/EXECUTION -- Louisville shone in points-in-the paint (34-24) and points-off-turnovers (29-10). They also swept the 2nd chance and fast break categories. Although shooting dropped off the the second half (8 for 26), the Cards almost went 50% from the floor for the game. Kasa did a great job distributing the "rock" and the Cards did what they had to do, limit turnovers (14) and control the pace. No problem with awarding a Capital "E" here for the intensity and forcing the issue. 

DEFENSE -- Once again, the Cards hold a foe to under fifty points, under 40% shooting and force 23 turnovers. When you keep the opponent from putting the ball in the basket as well as Louisville did last night, your chances of winning increase exponentially. It's a no-brainer, the CAPITAL "D" is the designation here. 

FINAL FRED TALLY:   _-_-E-D


THEY SAID IT: 

Jared Anderson got to the Media Room in plenty of time to catch the three post-game press conference segments. Between that feat and his excellent photos of the game, maybe we should award him a CAPITAL "J" for the night? 


LINK:  BOSTON COLLEGE HEAD COACH JOANNA BERNABEI-MCNAMEE


LINK:
JEFF WALZ


LINK:
JAZMINE JONES AND KYLEE SHOOK


SOOOO...

The Cards did what they had to do last night and met the objectives of clinching the sole possession of the ACC regular season title, stopping a streaking Boston College squad and getting a very good performance from his squad with key players Dana Evans and Elizabeth Balogun sitting their second-in-a row out. . 

The second half was a bit of an after-thought -- following the Cards domination of the first 20 minutes -- but valuable playing time was available for the non-starters to show their skills and work on game-time decisions and performance. 

This is a Cardinal squad that has lived up to expectations and looked fantastic while doing it. Pre-season pick to win the ACC.

Done. 

Team most likely to hit the NCAA Top Five from the conference.

Done. 

Showing that the team concept could withstand, prosper and flourish without Asia, Sam and Arica. 

Done. 

Gaining the #1 seed for the ACC Tournament. 

Yep.

All in all, a season that has been quite enjoyable as we head into the regular-season finale against a dangerous VT squad on Senior Day. One small "blip" in the radar, but, other than that...the Cards have soared high in the sky and arguably have the ACC M.O.P. on the squad in Dana Evans and the prohibitive favorite for ACC Defensive Player of the Year in Kylee Shook. That's pretty spectacular stuff. 


(thanks to Jared Anderson for the photo and audio/video work today. yeah, we'll keep him.)


SENIOR INTERVIEWS

The five UofL WBB seniors will be at a press conference today, starting at noon, in the Media Room of the Planet Fitness Koeber Center to discuss their "almost-over" careers here and field questions from the media. 

I'll be there to record the words, ask a few questions and I'll post the results at the top of today's column later today.  Be sure to check back here at the Couple for that. 

Looking forward to what Jaz, Bionca, Yacine, Kylee and Jess have to say! 


SOFTBALL

The Softball Cards are in Oklahoma for the weekend. They'll have five games in three day at two different venues in the Oklahoma State/Tulsa Invitational. 

Today, the action begins at 1 p.m. in Stillwater, where Louisville will face UIC. Then,  at 6 p.m., it's Okla St. 

ESPN + has the feed if you want to watch the Cards play. It'll a pay-per-play deal, so if you don't have the "plus" subscription, you'll have to register and pay up. 

Louisville goes into the weekend after a 3-2 stay at the 'Bama Bash. 

Good luck to Holly Aprile and the 5-9 Cards! 


Have a fantastic Friday! 

paulie
xxxxx

WBB Regular Season Wrapping Up -- Soccer Scrimmage -- THURSDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

WBB Regular Season Wrapping Up, Cards Host Final Two Games

"Have you been to Burger Boy?"
"Yes, try the pizza..." 

We are down to the final two games of the regular season with one of them being tonight against Boston College.  The game is set to tip-off at 6:00 p.m., and will be aired on ACC Network, pretty accessible on TV for most of us.  You can always tune into 790 AM to listen to Nick Curran and AJ.

Boston College enters the game boasting a 17-10 record.  In ACC play, the Eagles have a 10-6 mark.  However, BC is riding a five--game winning streak and has won eight of their last 11 games.

The Eagles like to score.  They average 73.3 points per game, which is third in the ACC.  Their scoring is spread evenly amongst several players.

They are a team the Cards have faced this season, with Louisville getting a 71-60 win January 16th. at the Conte Center in Chestnut Hill. That game featured a total of 19 made threes for BC and UofL. Dana had seven makes for UofL, Dickens connected on six. The Cards had a big second quarter to build at 40-30 half-time lead. Dana's 27 points led the way for five Cardinals in double figures and Louisvville shot a sizzling 57% for the contest.

Taylor Soule (13.9 ppg) and Emma Guy (13.7) have battled it out for the scoring title for the Eagles this year.  They have been supported by Makayla Dickens (10.4), Cameron Swartz (9.7), and Marnelle Garraud (9.5).Senior Georgia Pineau came off the bench to score 20 in the Eagles last win -- over Miami.

The Eagles shoot .437 from the field and .303 from three-point range.  Dickens has made 50 threes and Garraud has made 44.  Both of them shoot above .333 from deep.

BC dominates the glass and out-rebounds opponents by five.  Soule averages 7.9 per game and Guy has averaged 6.4.

Defensively, Boston College allows 67 points per game, one of the worst in the ACC.  Opponents have shot over 40% from the field against them and have a whopping .328 mark from three-point range.  The biggest threat on defense for Boston College is Garraud's 2.0 steals per game.

UofL owns the record all-time at 7-1.  Their sole loss came in 1985 before some of us were ever thought of.  The Cards are 6-0 against the Eagles since joining the ACC.  The Cards won 87-51 at home last year in their lone match-up.

A victory would give the Cards at least a share of the ACC regular season title and lock up the 1-seed
in the ACC Tournament.

Also, to the first 1000 fans to show up, there will be an Angel McCoughtry bobblehead giveaway. Doors open at 5 p.m. and the Angel Bobblehead will be given away on the east side (2nd street side) of the main concourse. One per attendee.


Bracket Challenge

The next time I'm writing on this site the Cards will hopefully be ACC Champions and we will be in the process of the ACC WBB Tournament Challenge.  As a reminder, all submissions need to be sent before the first game tips off. That means before 1 p.m. on Wednesday, March 4th. We didn't have to deal with it last year, but, in case of a tie, earliest entry gets the prize.

You can always post your submission in the comments.  Other options include e-mailing me -- Jared -- (eupherjared@gmail.com) or Paulie (cardinalcouple@twc.com). I have confirmed with Paulie that he has reached deep into the dusty Cardinal Couple prize closet and has two gift cards for first and second place. The winner gets a $25 card, second place a $15 card. Again the year, you have the choice of either Panera or Cracker Barrel. Neither Nordstrom's nor Tiffany's would give us anything.

Last year, Nick O. bested the field of contestants and captured the first place title in the Cardinal
Couple ACC Tournament Pick 'Em, with just two losses in the 14 picks.

We'll have a NCAA WBB Pick 'Em, too, so be prepared!

Do not hesitate to reach out to one of us with questions or concerns. Paulie will be at the ACC Tournament and I'll be contest chairman and judge again. The impeachment proceedings, thankfully, failed.

Rumor has it the "Florida Boys" David Watson and Joe Hill were behind the attempt to remove me from my title of "Czar Of The Bracket".  Their idea of keeping the totals on the back of a golf scorecard didn't fly, though. It's rumored neither can count when it comes to recalling their score on a hole.


Soccer Scrimmage


In a spring friendly, Louisville women's soccer hosted Bellarmine.  Due to the weather the match was played inside the Trager practice facility.  Apparently not all of the fans got the "Closed Scrimmage" memo as there were roughly 40 people in attendance.

There were no official stats kept and the score was tallied in my head.  UofL did not release any information following the match.

Nearly everyone who dressed for the Cards saw some action although a few players did not dress for unspecified reasons.

When players sit out or play in different positions in spring ball there isn't too much concern as it is a time to test theories and try new looks.  There are plenty of seniors to replace from last year's squad.

Louisville travels to Saint Louis on March 21.  They have home exhibitions on March 29 and April 18 against Dayton and Wisconsin.  There is a road trip sandwiched between on April 4 at Illinois.

I snuck out to capture last night's match and me being me, I didn't want to leave early.  Here's a few other shots of the scrimmage.

Burger of the Week

Located mere blocks from campus is a place many UofL students have been to at one point or another- Burger Boy Diner.  The only downside to this place is the wait time.  Between being seated, being waited on, and getting your food to you can take a couple hours during peak lunch or dinner times, at times. .

The Burger Boy Diner is located at 1450 S.Brook Street and it's a 24/7 establishment, so if that burger urge hits you at 3 a.m., no problem. They have you covered. 

The Burger Boy Combo features a pair of 1/4 lb beef patties with a special sauce on it.

Happy Thursday and Go Cards!

Jared

Lacrosse wins at Vandy -- Shook Honored -- other WBB News -- WEDNESDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

INTERVIEWS AND PRESSERS FROM WEDNESDAY

LACROSSE WEEKLY WITH TEETER AND SHANAHAN

JEFF WALZ PRESSER


LACROSSE HOLDS OFF HOME-STANDING VANDY 15-13

The University of Louisville Lacrosse squad improved to 3-2 yesterday with a 15-13 win at Vanderbilt. A game of runs, a late-contest surge by the Commodores and strong start to the second half for Louisville. It all added up to an exciting but a bit nervous afternoon for this Louisville Lacrosse fan. 

Key for the Cards LAX squad was Shayla Scanlan's four scores. Three of them came in the second half and her final "find the net" throw gave Louisville a bit of security with 1:12 on the clock, turning a 14-13 game into the final margin. Also big was Brenna Shanahan's six assists, 

Louisville started a bit slow, surrendering the first two goals of the game, but went on a 3-0 run that gave them the lead just five minutes into the action. Two of the three goals were from freshman Allegra Catalano. Vandy responded with a similar run, firing in three straight to hold a 5-3 advantage with 17:33 until the half. 

The runs had begun and they weren't going to stop. 

Scanlan's first score and a follow up goal from --one of the Blalock sisters -- (Caroline), knotted it back up at 5-5. 

Your turn, anchor droppers.

Vandy followed with two scores in a minute and it was seven minutes before the next "drop the stick and celebrate" event took  place. With 1:45 to play in opening half action, Cards leading scorer Ally Hall connected for her first score and with a minute left in the half Paige Richbourg evened it up at 7-7. The half ended that way -- tied. 

A strong Cardinal start to the final 30 minutes ensued. Louisville outscored the 'Dores 4-1 in the opening nine minutes. Goals from Richbourg, Hall, Scanlan and Hannah Morris boosted the Cards into a 11-8 edge. Morris and Blalock built the lead to 13-9 with their second scores of the afternoon. Four minutes later, with 7:37 to play, Scanlan found success with her third goal, which gave the Cards a lead that looked insurmountable at 14-10. 

But, it was run time, again. This time, it was the home team. 

14-10 turned into 14-13 over the next five minutes. It was time for head coach Scott Teeter and the visiting Cards to talk about it. A timeout resulted in a drawn-up play, and the play produced a score from Scanlan...with just 1:12 remaining in the contest. 

It was the final goal of the game and the Cards had survived the Vandy run for the 15-13 victory. Five Cards finished with two goals each, Scanlan four and goalkeeper Rachel Florek had another big day with 14 saves. 

I'll visit Scott Teeter for another one of our Wednesday "Talks with Teeter" and post it at the top of today's site later today.

We'll also probably have a student-athlete, I let Coach decide who he wants to bring in...he has several good choices available today


SHOOK SELECTED AS SEMIFINALIST. 

When you think of Kylee Shook, you think of the blocked shots. You think about her strong rebounding skills. You also think of how she shuts down prominent opposing center's like "Big Smile" Cunane and Janelle Bailey. Yes, you also think of the three-point shooting skills (at least I do), but we'll stick with her defense. It's the defense, after all, that has her as one of ten semi-finalist for the Naismith Defensive Player of the Year award. 

The lone ACC nominee for the award. So, she's pretty much assured winning the honor in the ACC, right? Knowing the ACC, they'll probably go in a completely different direction...but it takes nothing away from what Kylee had done this season . 

Shook is UofL’s all-time leader with 217 career blocks. She recorded six blocks at UT Martin to become UofL’s all-time leader, surpassing Angel McCoughtry (2006-09) who had 162.

She has 80 blocks this year, which is the most in Louisville single season history. She had three blocks at Syracuse to eclipse Yuliya Tokoya’s 59 blocks in 2006-07 for the single-season record.

Shook leads the ACC and ranks 11th in the NCAA with 2.9 blocks per game and is averaging 3.1 blocks per game in ACC play, which leads the league by over half a block and is 1.3 blocks per game better than the third-best blocks per game average.

She is nearly averaging a double-double on the season with 9.6 points per game and 8.0 rebounds. Her 8.0 rebounds per game rank seventh in the ACC.

STATUS PENDING...

Word out of the Louisville WBB circles is that it is day-by-day on whether Dana Evans and Elizabeth Balogun will get the start against Boston College Thursday night. Both are recovering and receiving treatment for sprained ankles suffered in the Cards win at Georgia Tech last Thursday. 

Let's face it, you have a conference championship and NCAA Tournament coming up. Louisville is assured of a #1 seed in the ACC Tournament in Greensboro and why take the chance of playing either Dana or "E", if they're not 100% ready-to-go.

You don't want a re-sprain or any aggravation for either student-athlete. 

Yes, wins = seeding in the NCAA Tournament and I get that. I have to go with the premise, however, that you want your players who help deliver wins available when you need them in the tournament. Healthy. Ankles healed.  

We'll see what Coach Walz's thoughts are on this today at his weekly Wednesday presser today. I'll post the audio at the top of the page later today. 

Check back tomorrow, as Jared gets you ready for the Thursday night, 6 p.m. contest against Baldwin's Boston College Eagles. It's Angel McCoughtry "bobble-head" night and 1,000 of those will be available to the first 1,000 fans in attendance. Doors open at five. 


Have a wonderous, not-too-wet Wednesday! 



paulie
xxxxx

LACROSSE PLAYS VANDY TODAY -- TUESDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

LACROSSE TAKE 2-2 RECORD TO MUSIC CITY

Louisville Lacrosse (2-2) continues the non-conference part of the 2020 schedule with a 4 p.m. face-off today against the Vanderbilt Commodore in Nashville . 

The 'Dores are 3-1 on the season, and their only loss came against another ACC lacrosse school. Vandy fell 15-12 at Boston College in their second game of the season. Since then, they've won two in a row. Lehigh took Vandy to overtime before suffering a 13-13 defeat Saturday in the home opener for Vanderbilt. 

The Commodore began the season on the road, winning at Wagner 14-11. After the BC loss, they went to Kennesaw State had romped 21-11.  We'll offer bonus points today, if you can correctly identify the states that Wagner, Lehigh and Kennesaw State are located in. Answer at the bottom of today's article. 

Louisville lost a close one Saturday against Michigan 15-11. The Cards started slowly in this one in Ann Arbor, roared back to tie the match at 11 and ended up falling by four. UofL goalkeeper Rachel Florek set a Louisville Lacrosse record with 17 saves against the Wolverines. She was also interviewed by Cardinal Couple last Wednesday. W're 99% sure the two events are coincidental, since the interview came before the record-setting performance in goal. 

Louisville has the all-time edge over the 'Dores 7-3. 4-1 at the L.L.S. and 3-2 in Nashville. 

Last year, Louisville trailed early before climbing back to force a 8-8 tie. In overtime, Vandy got the deciding goal. Shayla Scanlan had a "hat trick" in the affair, and scored the tying goal with 29 ticks left on the clock. Ally Hall tallied twice in the contest also. 

Hall leads the Cards with nine goals. She's also been a guest on the "talks with Teeter" (coincidence, again?) RIght behind her is Hannah Morris with eight and there's a three-way tie for third -- Shayla Scanlan, freshman Allegra Catalano and one of the Blalock sister's - Caroline - with six scores each. Twelve Cards have goals on the season and Louisville has a 49-47 scoring edge on opponents this season.  

Vandy plays their Lacrosse in the AAC (American Athletic Conference). Pre-season poll put them to finish third in the conference. They return Emily Mathewson, who scored the game-winner against Louisville last year, is tied for goal-scoring honors with 10 and also their draw control leader with 15 to her credit. 

This one can be seen on You Tube today at 4 p.m. We have a link below.

LINK  LOUISVILLE LACROSSE VS VANDY

Tomorrow we'll review the action with Coach Teeter and a student athlete with our weekly "Talks With Teeter" interview series. I'll be writing for the second day in a row, back from Sonya and my "get-away" extended, weekend long birthday's trip. Be sure to check back in!   

NOTE:  Answer to the question today is Kennesaw State is in Georgia, Wagner in New York City, NY and Lehigh in Bethlehem, PA. If you knew all three, we'll offer you a bonus point for the ACC TOURNAMENT PICK 'EM" we'll be running here next week. 

(Three forms of undeniable proof required for bonus point. Offer void in Canada and Kansas. All decisions reviewed, verified and deemed official or needing further review by contest czar Jared Anderson, who also supplied today's action photos.) ...

paulie
xxxxx

Go Cards! 

WBB Cruises by Pitt -- Softball Falls -- Tennis Goes Down -- MONDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

Short-Handed Cards Cruise Past Pitt

Playing without two starters in Dana Evans and Elizabeth Balogun, Louisville women's basketball showed no setback en route to a 79-47 victory over Pitt.  Evans and Balogun were both out with injuries, but are hopeful to return by the season finale.

Louisville's five seniors were the five highest scorers for the Cards: Kylee Shook (17), Yacine Diop (15), Jazmine Jones (12), Bionca Dunham (10), and Jessica Laemmle (9).

The beginning looked rough with Louisville starting the game with three missed shots and a turnover before a jumper by Jaz got the Cards on the board more than two minutes in.  They scored the next six points to continue the 8-0 run before Pitt called a timeout.  The Panthers cut the score to 10-9 before the two teams traded three-pointers to close out the quarter.

The second quarter started hot for the Cards.  A 16-0 spurt helped the Cards soar to a 29-12 lead.  The Panthers cut the lead to eight before Jeff Walz called a timeout to regroup his team.  UofL scored the next six points, proving the timeout useful, and held a 39-24 lead going into the half.

Louisville came out of the break playing their best quarter of the game with a 24-5 advantage.  Mykasa Robinson's only two points of the game came on a fast break layup off a turnover.  The Cards had their second 16-0 run of the game.  They closed out the quarter holding a 63-29 lead.

Pitt actually won the final quarter by two after Louisville hit the brakes hard.  All nine of Laemmle's points came in the fourth quarter- two three-point shots, a two-pointer, and a free throw.

Shook had another strong outing on the defensive end with five blocks.  Her 10 rebounds helped her achieve another double-double.  The senior now has 80 blocks on the year, extending her UofL single season record.  The single season NCAA record is 223, set by Britney Griner.

Ya-ya added five rebounds, five assists, and four steals as she had no problem filling the stat sheet.

Robinson added eight rebounds and eight assists while limiting herself to one turnover as she filled in for Dana as the on-court captain.

Molly Lockhart scored three points, all at the free throw line, while adding four rebounds, one assist, one steal, and one block in 12 minutes played.

Liz Dixon scored four points, all of hers also coming from the free throw line.

Lindsey Duvall posted a nine-point game with a made three-point basket in the mix.

F-R-E-D Report

Frederick Douglass / Library of Congress Photo Archives

Free Throws - Louisville attempted just 21 free throws on the game.  They had a hard time converting and made just 14.  The 66.7% is below the three-quarters mark but still above 50% so we can award a lowercase "f".

Rebounds - 40 total rebounds with 14 coming on the offensive glass that helped lead to 13 second chance points is a good mark.  They also out-rebounded Pitt 40-35.  Kylee had a big rebounding day and had surprising help from Mykasa.  Capital "R".

Effort/Efficiency - Louisville had 21 assists on 30 made shots.  Their turnovers were limited to nine and had a +13 mark there.  The 13 second chance points on 14 offensive rebounds, 22 fast break points, and 26 points off turnovers all help contribute to a capital "E".  E+ if we were allowed.

Defense - Pitt was held to 47 points including a six-point quarter.  They shot 29% from the field and UofL forced them into 22 turnovers.  Pitt's only bright spot was a 35% three-point shooting.  No debate for a capital "D".

f-R-E-D is a near perfect score.

The Cards hit the 25-win mark and are now 25-3.  Their 14-2 conference record keeps them in first place.

Louisville returns home for a 6:00 p.m., tip against Boston College on Thursday.  A victory will guarantee the Cards at least a share of the regular season title and the 1-seed in the ACC Tournament.

Softball Falls to Alabama

The Bama Bash ended with a loss to host #10/13 Alabama.  The Cards fell 10-0 in five innings.

Louisville had runners in scoring position in all but the third inning including multiple runners on in the first but could not capitalize.

Alabama put a three-piece on the board in the first inning that featured a throwing error and a sac fly.  The Crimson Tide added two unearned runs in the second inning and third inning each to push the score to 7-0.

Alabama walked the game off in the fifth inning on a three-run home run.  The mercy rule is eight runs after five innings but a score book will give credit to all runs scored in a home run.

Chardonnay Harris (2-5) took the loss.

Carmyn Greenwood, Cassady Greenwood, and Harris were all named to the Bama Bash All-Tournament Team.

Louisville fell to 5-9 following the loss.

Louisville hits the road to Stillwater and Tulsa for the OSU/Tulsa Invitational next weekend.  They will face Illinois-Chicago, Oregon, and Oklahoma State (twice) in Stillwater before closing the weekend out in Tulsa against Tulsa.

Tennis Falls to NC State

Louisville started conference play with a 5-2 loss to #4 NC State inside the Bass-Rudd Tennis Center.

The Cards got the doubles point when Diana Wong/Raven Neely won 6-3 and Nikolina Jovic/Dina Chaika won 6-4.

Chaika was the only one to win a singles point, winning 4-6, 6-2, 7-5.  Four Cardinals got swept in straight sets with Neely going in three sets.  She trailed in the final set 1-0 before retiring from the match for unspecified reasons.

The Cards fall to 8-2 on the year.


Paulie will be back in action tomorrow.  He and Sonya took a trip out of town over the weekend to celebrate Paulie's birthday this past Saturday, plus Sonya's birthday Monday.  They finally hit the big "30" from what I hear!

Happy Monday and Go Cards!

Jared

Sunday Cardinal Couple

Swim and Dive

Let's start with Swimming and Diving today as they finished up the ACC Championship yesterday.

Grace Oglesby get the headlines with an individual ACC Championship, helping to lead the team a 3rd place overall finish.  The team of Arina Openysheva, Casey Fanz, Christiana Regenauer, and Lainey Visscher finished 2nd in the 400 Free Relay to finish the overall event.

The swimming side of the house will now go on to NCAA Regional qualifying events next weekend, while the diving folks will head to the NCAA Diving Zones competitions March 12th-14th.

Softball

vs Wichita State

The Softball squad was also in action yesterday, and split the results.  They started off with a 2nd win against Wichita State after run-ruling the Shockers Friday.  This one was a bit more challenging.

The Cards were trailing 3-4 heading into the 6th inning, when the offense just exploded.

The scoring started early, though, with the Cards getting a run on the board in the 1st.  Celene Funke led off the game with a double.  (*sotto voce* Just a double?  Really?  Are you sure it wasn't a triple?  OK.)  She then promptly stole 3rd to correct the oversight.  Cassady Greenwood would bring her home with a double with two outs in the inning.  The Shockers answered in the bottom half of the frame.

In the 2nd, Jenna Servi would lead off with a single.  She advanced on a sacrifice bunt by Funke and then made it home on a Maddy Newman hit.  She would advance to 2nd on a walk to Taylor Roby, and made it home on a Cassady Greenwood RBI single.

Wichita got a trio in the bottom of the 5th, setting up the 3-4 score in the 6th.

The Cards took advantage of Shocker miscues, to score five runs with only a pair of hits.  The Shockers gifted three walks, a hit batter, and an error in the scoring run.  Jordyn Wolfe would get it started with a single, Elana Ornelas got one of the walks, Servi used a fielder's choice (which doesn't get counted in that hit total) to load the bases with two outs.  Funke got the other hit to bring Wolfe home and tie the game.  Newman got the HBP to bring Ornelas home, Roby walked (I wouldn't want to try to pitch to her, either) to score Servi, and finally an error brought the speedsters Funke and Newman home to finish the scoring at 8-4.

Chardonnay Harris got the win.

vs Alabama

The later game was against a very well regarded Alabama squad.

Taylor Roby was in the circle for this one and takes the loss in a 9-0 run-rule win for the Crimson Tide.

Not much to say about this one.  The bright spot may be that the Cards were able to hold Alabama scoreless in the 4th, but by that point, the damage had already been done with three runs in the 1st, two in the 2nd, and four in the 3rd.

The Cards were unable to get any offense in gear and the run-rule kicked in after four and a half.

The rematch will be today at 2:30pm, and is available on SEC Network+, which is the SEC's equivalent to the ACC Network Extra, and also on the ESPN infrastructure.

Basketball

I know, we don't usually relegate our basketball squad to the 3rd main topic when they've got a gameday, but at the risk of taking the outcome for granted, this isn't exactly a marquee matchup.

The Cards, leading the ACC, are in Pittsburgh to take on the last in the league Pitt Panthers.  Pitt only has a single win in conference, a mildly surprising win over Wake Forest, and only 3 wins out of conference; over Central Connecticut State, Fairleigh Dickinson, and Ole Miss (sitting, winless in conference, at the bottom of the SEC).

There are questions around E Balogun and Dana Evans, who both rolled their ankles in the last game against Georgia Tech.  The report is that they are day to day.  I would expect them to be dressed and ready to play if they are able, but not expect to see them on the court.  Better to let them fully recover rather than aggravating and delaying the recovery in a game who's outcome is not likely to be in any real doubt.

This one tips at 2pm and is available on ACC Network Extra, as you would expect.

Enjoy this one, have fun watching a good romp, and then start to buckle down for Boston College and Virginia Tech back at home to close out the season.

Tennis

Also in action today is Tennis vs NC State to open conference play.  The Wolfpack have a pair of conference matches under their belt and are at 1-1, with a 14-2 overall record.  The Cards had a fun off-season run, compiling an 8-1 record.

This one is at noon at the Bass Rudd, which usually has some video listed, but doesn't seem to today.  You can check the right side of the side in the Twitter widget for updates from the @UofLTennis for regular updates on the progress.

Cardinal Couple Radio Hour

And finally, the Cardinal Couple Radio Hour was back on the air yesterday with Case and I holding down the fort.  We covered basketball, Softball, and nerded out for a bit...our apologies for that last part.

Check out it: