TWO "L"'s and a "W"
The three sports we give most of our coverage to in the spring were all in action yesterday. None of them were in Louisville but Jared and Paulie were in neighboring Cincinnati for Lacrosse to view their win over the Bearcats. In Syracuse, things didn't go as planned for the UofL WBB squad and the Softball Cards closed out their action in the NFCA Leadoff Classic in Clearwater, FL. Here's the recaps....
LACROSSE STARTS SEASON WITH A WIN
Louisville got four goals in the contest from junior Ally Hall to lead Louisville to their 13th. consecutive win over Cincinnati. Falling behind 1-0 to start, the Cards never trailed again...putting up four straight goals, from four different players, to counter the Bearcats early score. Louisville never looked back and three Cards (Hall, freshman Allegra Catalano and junior Caroline Blalock) each had two scores on the sheet as the half ended.
Rachel Florek made some spectacular saves for Louisville in goal-keep. The red-shirt junior totaled nine saves in the match and the rest of the defense was efficiently active early, limiting UC to just one shot in the first half of the first half. A overcast, chilly day at start got a bit crazy as the first half ended. Big snow flakes blanketed the field, making the final six minutes a winter wonderland. You could barely see the players leave the field for the locker room at halftime, The Cards picked up two goals in the "whiteness" to creat the four-goal halftime edge.
Hannah Morris drove home all of her three goals in the second half and the Cards got back-to-back goals from Hall to forge a 12-4 advantage with 16:52 left in action after Morris's second score. From there, UC picked up the pace a bit on the "now clear of snow" field and actually out-scored the Cards 7-4 the rest of the way.
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| "I don't think the heavy stuff is going to come out for quite some time..." |
In a post-game interview recap with Paulie, Coach Scott Teeter indicated that he was pretty happy with the overall effort Sunday and he thought they competed for 60 minutes. He knows the Cards have a lot of players who can put the ball in the back of the net and they just have to find them and spread the ball around. Much more with Teeter below:
LINK TO INTERVIEW: SCOTT TEETER POST GAME COMMENTS
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| Great helmet !! |
We received word that the audio was poor and why the Go Cards website failed to post our post-game interview with Coach Teeter on their Go CARDS site.
You decide. SID Nick Evans was in Syracuse with WBB, he covers both sports in the spring. I guess we're not ready from prime time, in the eyes of the staffers he sent to the Queen City.
Nice contributions from the freshman Sunday. Izzy Holmes had three assists, Catalano scored the "hat-trick" with three goals and first-year players Maggie Foster, Megan Mangines, Maddie McDonough and Louisville Eastern High School product Ashley Osbourne drew the starts. The Cards host Denver at the Louisville Lacrosse Stadium on Saturday for the home opener. Admission is free.
(LACROSSE PHOTOS AND POST GAME INTERVIEW FOOTAGE BY JARED ANDERSON)
WBB HOOPS TAKES SECOND STRAIGHT LOSS 59-51
Louisville put up just 35.2% shooting, had 22 turnovers and lost the second quarter to Syracuse 15-8 Sunday, to take their second straight loss in the ACC.
After a firs quarter that saw the Orange in the lead 15-12, Dana Evans connected on the three to tie the contest up. After that,though, Syracuse went on a 15-5 run to close the quarter and hold a 30-20 lead.
Two threes (from Evans and Jess Laemmle) early in the third session got the Cards close but Syracuse was able to get five points from guard Kiara Lewis to close the quarter and hold the 41-32 lead after three.
The 'Cuse extended the edge out to double digits several times in the final quarter. It was the lowest point-production of the season for the Cards. The Cards did rally to get within six near the end, shooting a improved 7-11 from the floor (63%) in the final period, but the Syracuse lead was just too much to overcome. Jones and Evans combined for 28 of Louisville's 51 points, but were 10-31 from the floor in doing so (32%).
This lack-of-successful shooting comes after Jeff Walz has indicated he has tried to simplify the offense so better production can occur. Louisville had the highest shooting percentage in the ACC (45.7%) going into the game, but the last two Cardinal efforts have not mirrored that. The Cards are now 21-3 on the year and 10-2 in conference, one game back of league leading NC State. These two will match up Thursday in Raleigh at 8 p.m.
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| Jess Three? Write it down as... Good! She hit two bombs against the Orange for six points. |
Speculation will run rampant about the loss. NLet's not forget, though, that Syracuse was here earlier this year and the Cards survived a late Syracuse run to win 62-58.
Orange fans were looking to celebrate coach Quentin Hillsman's 300th. win in his career and they got want they came for.
"Q" talks about it in the link below:
COACH QUENTIN HILLSMAN POST GAME LOUISVILLE
I don't have much more to say about this one, so we'll go the Fred Report and summation.
THE FRED REPORT
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| "What's the matter, Fred? We lost at Syracuse." |
REBOUNDING -- Syracuse out-grabbed the Cards 40-37, despite Kylee Shook's 13 and Jaz's seven. Our standards are if you win the rebounding numbers, you get a letter. Louisville did not. No letter here.
EFFICIENCY/EXECUTION -- The numbers indicate a sloppy performance in the "E-Stats" 22 turnovers way too many against a team that was 11-11 going into this one and 5-6 in the ACC. The Cards also lost the points-in-paint battle again and Kylee got only six shot attempts in 32 minutes, Liz Dixon none in 18 minutes and Bionca played 26 minutes and went 1-5. Louisville looked unmotivated and listless from parts of this one I saw. I can't assign a letter for 51 points-produced and 5-17 three-point execution.
DEFENSE -- in the scheme of the entire game, the Cards held Syracuse to just 59 points and 35.3% shooting. It's the first time this year the Cards have loss despite holding the foe to under 60. 10 steals is a encouraging defensive number and 18 Syracuse turnovers indicate to me that defense wasn't a major problem for the Cards, expect for they allowed more points than they were able to produce. I'll compromise and go with a small case "d" here.
FINAL FRED REPORT TALLY: _-_-_-d
SUMMING IT UP
You have to score more points than the opponent to win. That involves shooting the ball better than the foe. Let's hope the Cards can solve the recent lack of production on offense in their next outing against league-leading NC State (who was idle Sunday) at Raleigh on Thursday. Elizabeth Balogun should be back in the lineup by then, but, the problems go deeper than just missing one starter for two games.
SOFTBALL FALLS TO MISSOURI 5-1
Missouri struck early with two runs in the bottom of the second inning with three hits. Louisville cut that lead in half when Taylor Roby went "grass, track and wall" in the top of the third with her team co-leading second home run of the season, but it was Louisville's only score of the morning.
Chardonnay Harris (0-3) drew the start in the circle for the Cards, allowing three runs in 2.2 innings Taylor Roby finished the Cards pitching duties, allowing two runs, unearned, in the sixth inning. Roby was 2-2 from the plate and freshman third-base starter Jenna Servi went 2-3 at bat, with a double.
Louisville next go to Chapel Hill next, for the ACC vs. Big Ten Classic. They'll face Michigan and Wisconsin on the UNC Field.
Have a meaningful Monday!
paulie
xxxxx
An excruciating weekend watching the softball team lose 4 in a row after winning that first game against a ranked opponent.
ReplyDeleteAnd here's to hoping to not having to watch anymore games with no announcers of any kind😋
Basketball.
I think us fans have gotten a little spoiled, although we have good reason to be.
I've read PLENTY of comments from sites and articles all over the net, many of them blaming Kylee for being to soft, blaming Balogun for being "selfish",and blaming the big loss to the national team for the two/three game losing streak.
First, expecting Kylee to all of a sudden be who she has NEVER been is ludicrous. She has NEVER been Sam or Myisha. She is who she is and I'm fine with her game.
Second, yes we missed Elizabeth, but it's selfish of those who place any blame on her for playing for her country for a chance to compete in the Olympics, when I'm sure coach Walz agreed with BEFORE the season, probably while she was being courted.
And a loss to the national team?
Some of the best of the best???
My take is...yes we missed Balogun, but what made it worse was not having Yacine at full strength also. It's usually one of the two on the floor, and both are shooters/makers, rebounders, and no slouches on defense with decent 3 spot size.
We get those two back 100%, and we'll contend with the next opponents. Too many have already counted us out against NC STATE, not me, though. Gonna be tough, and could be another loss, but, I will not be a negative Nellie and say the season is over.
Cards WBB is at a crisis, of sorts, if you ask me. Two losses to teams they have beaten or were capable of beating. Walz can question the UofL WBB basketball IQ all he wants, but, it goes back to just scoring with the ball when you have it. Making shots. Two in a row under 40%.
ReplyDeleteI don't blame this on Balogun, Team USA or anyone else. The fact is, Dana and Jaz have been the alphas all season and defenses have figured them out lately.
Find a way to take and make good shots. THAT'S HOW YOU WIN. NC State is gvery good, wouldn't surprise me at all to see them stick a double-digit loss on the reeling Cards WBB squas.
I hope I'm wrong, but the crowd in Raleigh will be pumped, the Cards are walking into a pit of vipers.
Curtis "Makers, not shooters" Franklin.
Find different options when teams take out your top options, we do it all the time to other teams, make someone else beat you. With no Balogun and Yacine not quite 100%, our other best option, imo, is Kylee, but not with her back to the basket down low Kylee, mid range to three point Kylee. Also wondering why no Lil Duv yesterday.
DeleteI also wondering why no Lindsay Cards need a sniper.
DeletePS jess did a good job knocking down shots.
IMHO the ACC is a copy cat league When the cards played team USA that was a blue print on how to Attack UofL.
ReplyDeleteBut losing to FSU & Syracuse are not bad losses there both good teams.
It time to pickup the pieces.
Not much of a blueprint when you don't have some of the best of the best subbing for other best of the best.
DeletePut the ball in the basket. 34.4% and 35.2% shooting ain't gonna win you squat.
ReplyDeleteLouisville WBB needs a return to basics. Crisp passing, no standing around waiting for someone to create, taking care of the ball and recognizing, working for and taking good shots. Making the switches on defense and recognizing/guarding who has the hot hand on the other team. Stopping them.
ReplyDeleteThis is all junior varsity stuff. If the Cards basketball IQ is so low that they can't pick up these general concepts, then they might as well just phone in the rest of the season and await an new class that, hopefully, has them. I don't believe that's the case, but, recognition and performance need to become better. Yes, Syracuse and FSU are good teams. They are, though, teams that could have been beaten with a crisper effort, from my analysis and view-point.
I talked to David Watson a bit last night on the phone. I tend to do that after a couple of "highballs". LOL. I wouldn't be surprised to see him comment today.
I can watch it from afar and not be influenced by your local media. It looks like you'll have Balogun back. That's good. UofL WBB will need weapons against the Wolfpack.
The Real Joe Hill