Sunday Cardinal Couple - WBB and Softball Gameday

 Basketball Gameday

"Joy and excitement" is part of our mission statement, so let's start today by looking forward.

The season finale is upon us.  This topsy-turvy season where playing a game wasn't assured until the ref tossed the ball up in the air for the opening tip will be coming to a close and the post-season will be embarking with equal uncertainty.

UofL finishes out the season with Notre Dame at 3pm on ESPN with Beth Mowins and Debbie Antonelli on the call.  Of course audio coverage can also be heard on 790AM with the ever-excellent Nick Curran giving you the call.

The Cards are looking to clinch the outright ACC regular season title with a win in this game.  This would be the second straight outright, and fourth straight time of getting at least a share.  The only threat to this is NC State.  With their game against Syracuse tipping off at noon, by our game time, we'll know the whole scenario.

Former ND WBB coach Muffet McGraw

The Cards beat Notre Dame earlier in the season, of course, with Dana Evans scoring 27 points, including five in the last minute of the game to win the game 71-65.

We know the Notre Dame threat fairly well, with true freshman Maddy Westbeld, Destinee Walker, Dara Mabrey, Anaya Peoples, and Sam Brunelle as the likely starting five.

Will UofL shake off its recent slump and get back to playing the ball we know they can play?  Let's hope so.  Let's use this game as a re-set for the post season.

Softball Playing Hard 

There are no softballs on Softball's schedule so far.  The diamond runners will be playing their 4th game of this relatively young season against a Top 10 team today.

As Louisville wakes up to a cool and very rainy morning (Please be careful of flooded roads this morning, "Turn Around, Don't Drown" is the saying the National Weather Services uses, good advice indeed), the commentators during yesterday's game were almost bragging about the 82 degrees and mostly sunny weather in Gainesville.

The Florida Gators did win this one, and, to be honest, I don't think much of anyone was shocked by the outcome.  UofL isn't just coming into these games to "get the experience", they are playing to win, and are going in with the mindset that they can.  But Florida is the number five or six team in the country, depending on which poll you look at.

Louisville did get a run across the plate.  Rebecca Chung crushed one to the left field fence for a triple.  Charley Butler took over the base running duties at that point and was driven home by a Carmyn Greenwood single to right.

Florida was the better team in this one, though, winning the contest 5-1.

The rematch today is an early start, at 10am.  No video listed for this one, but a radio station is listed on Florida's site for audio coverage which looks like an ESPN radio station affiliate: https://www.wruf.com/listen-live/

Other Scheduling Notes

The Calendar is super packed with events.  A quick rundown of yesterday and the rest of today.

Women's golf will be in action in Bowling Green, which is hopefully drier than Louisville this morning.

Women's tennis got swept by Duke.  I may be more disappointed about losing the doubles point, than I am about losing the whole match.

And finally Volleyball's match against Notre Dame was postponed due to Covid issues within Notre Dame's program.

The Athletes Unlimited Pro Sports Volleyball league did kick off their inaugural season last night.  UofL alum Erin Fairs had a decent individual showing, gaining 35 points in digs, 32 in serve receive, got a nice 12 points for a service ace, but alas, lost more points on hitting errors than she got on kills.  She wasn't helped by her Team Cruz, in gold not winning a single set of the three, nor of course the match, so she got none of the set and match team points.  Pro rookie Leah Edmunds from UK leads the league after the first night of play.  For info on league play, check out https://auprosports.com/volleyball/how-we-play-volleyball/, as it's....different.  Also in AU news, it looks as if they're starting a Women's Lacrosse League this summer, with play starting in July, joining volleyball and softball.  Fairs will be in action again this evening at 9pm on FS1 against Team Sybeldon in purple with Louisvillian Deja McClendon.

Cardinal Couple ACC Tournament "Pick 'Em"

Here's your daily reminder that we will be sponsoring a Pick 'em contest for the upcoming ACC WBB Tournament. You can enter and win a gift card for a first of second place finish. Paulie has arranged for Cracker Barrel Gift Cards again this season -- $25 for the winner and $15 for second place. 

It's easy and fun to participate.   Just make your selections for the 12 games once we know the seedings. Submit them in any of our daily comments sections, or send them to Bracket Czar Jared Anderson at: 

eupherjared@gmail.com

Or to Paulie:  cardinalcouple@twc.com 

-- Make sure and put your name or "site handle" on the entry.

-- Make sure your entry is in by 2 p.m. Wednesday. Actually, the earlier the better, since first entry will break any ties for first or second.  

Then, just sit back and watch the fun! 

Here's an example off how you can submit:  

FIRST ROUND;   Paulie University

SECOND ROUND:  Jeff A&M, Case Tech, Jared State, Daryl College

QUARTERFINALS:  Chimps U, Case Tech, Card Couple U, Daryl College

SEMIS:  Case Tech, Card Couple U 

FINALS: Card Couple U

12 selections, five days, 13 teams and Ms. Wuf !!!  What could be more fun?  Join us! 

Cardinal Couple Radio Hour Podcast

Lot's of talk about women's basketball including our version of the end of the year individual awards, softball, a brief touch of volleyball.  We, as a team, battled through a number of technical difficulties, Paul, Case, and myself all suffering from some various forms of gremlins through the morning.

Despite the hums and buzzing, I think it ended up being a good show.  Check it out below, or check out Case's release of it in podcast form where hopefully he was able to clean it up a bit, available at your favorite place to listen to podcasts.

--JMcA--

Track and Field at ACC Indoors -- SATURDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

Louisville T&F Holding on to Second Entering Final Day

Louisville women's track and field started off the ACC Indoor Championships hot on Thursday, carrying a lead into Friday competition with 33 points over Duke's 20. As more events wrapped up Friday, though, the Cards saw their grasp on the lead slip. Louisville now sits in second with 39 points, just behind Duke with 42. Virginia is in third with 31.5 points. There is still plenty of action yet to go as just seven out of seventeen scored events have been completed.

Thursday was Louisville's big day as the Cards went second, fourth, and fifth in the pole vault with Aliyah Welter, Gabriela Leon, and Auriane Viola scoring those positions respectively. They were followed by Louisville's first and fourth in the weight throw, with Makenli Forrest setting a school best to win the event ahead of Hailee Hudson in fourth. 

Yesterday was a bit slower for the Cards, but they still managed a medal result as Purity Sanga took third in the 5000m race. Louisville didn't take home another top-ten finish on Friday. With plenty of running events yet to go and Louisville poised to stay in the mix, though, the Cards could still finish up with an impressive showing at this ACC Championship event as they prepare for NCAA Championships. The event will get back underway at 10:30AM on Saturday.

Softball Takes on Florida

As Daryl mentioned yesterday, Louisville softball is back on the road against a tough SEC opponent this weekend as they play a pair at Florida. There isn't much to preview about this game, as Florida brings in an undefeated record. Despite the fairly weak schedule to this point--mostly regional opponents--the Gators haven't looked like an unstoppable force. They have a pair of close games, defeating Jacksonville just 1-0 and winning their second game against Georgia Southern 2-1. They have quite a few big wins as well, some by double digits, but if Louisville can put together a consistent game on both sides of the ball, they could easily hang with this Florida team and gather a big win or two. Today's game is at 1PM and is listed as being watchable on SEC+, which is a function of ESPN+. Be sure to follow along with the UofL Softball Twitter account for updates.

Cardinal Couple Radio Hour

Oopsie. If you're a podcast listener, I apologize for last week's missing episode. When I went to begin my edit of the live show, I opened my recording of the show to find that my mic had not been recording to my computer at all. That issue has since been remedied, so the podcast will return to your feeds this week. We should have a full house this week as we recap the week that was in Louisville women's athletics and look ahead to the exciting week upcoming. Tune in to the Cardinal Couple YouTube channel at 11AM for the live show or check out the replay on YouTube any time. 

Cardinal Couple ACC Tournament Pick 'Em

Just a reminder that we will again be sponsoring the Cardinal Couple ACC WBB Tournament Pick 'Em.

12 games. Can you pick all 12 correctly? Can you defeat the Cardinal Couple staff picks? Do you want a gift card? Then, start studying. You can submit your picks in any comments section, beginning Sunday, when we know the Tournament seedings and matchups. BE the first kid on the block to win the Cardinal Couple ACC Tournament Pick 'Em.  Full details on the "right side of the side". 

Until next time, Go Cards!

-CH-

Volleyball Spring Schedule Delayed Second time -- FRIDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

HERE IS LINK FOR JEFF WALZ TELCECONFERENCE FROM TODAY: 

https://soundcloud.com/user-748907999/dr0000_1821mp3

CARDS VOLLEYBALL DELAY

Quick, someone put a bubble around the Notre Dame basketball squads before the virus takes hold of the entire athletics program. 

Thursday evening it was announced that the Louisville volleyball season will have to swallow yet another delay to its spring season.  This time, it's the opponent producing a positive COVID testing result. The highly anticipated ACC matchup with the Fighting Irish will have to wait until a later date.  We will do our best at Cardinal Couple to keep you the most up to date on the changes as we learn them.

This also means a delayed return to my sports related button pushing duties for the network.  Luckily, it is not an issue within the Louisville program so the team can continue to practice together and look forward to the next opportunity to play.  As of right now, the Cards are scheduled to face Virginia Tech a week from today at L&N Arena. 

In previous years, volleyball matches tend to be in the Friday-Sunday range with some Thursdays and Mondays tossed in every now and then.  I don't think the Cardinals will schedule a match with an opponent before next weekend but hey, its 2021 and it would not surprise me a bit if the dice were rolled on a midweek makeup match.  It would be cool to convince the Bellarmine Knights to let us roll over for a local exhibition.. just putting that out into the universe. 

Louisville Basketball check-in:

--  Coach Walz has a press conference scheduled for this afternoon to talk about the last regular season WBB game scheduled Sunday afternoon in South Bend.  

--  The program released Chapter 4 of the Dana Evans Docuseries - it highlights the 'heights' the senior has grown in her four years in the Ville. Check it out here > danaevans1.com 

Speaking of our girl... have you voted for her yet today for the Senior Class Award?  You can vote every day, as many times as you want.  Dana is sitting in 4th place in the fan vote portion of the award.  Voting is open until March 22. Follow the link below !

http://www.seniorclassaward.com/vote/womens_basketball_2020-21/

-- Kelsey Riggs, Kelly Gramlich, Muffet McGraw and Monica McNutt, who host the ACC WBB "Nothing But Net" segments, usually after the late WBB game on Thursdays and Sundays (around 10 p.m.) have bestowed some awards for ACC WBB. Dana Evans was selected PLAYER OF THE YEAR,  Lotta Maj Lahtinen "Most Improved ACC WBB Player", and (in an obvious blunder) Nell Fortner of GT, as ACC WBB Coach of the Year. OK, we knew Walz had no chance with McGraw on the panel...but if I was Wes Moore of NC State, I'd have to raise an eyebrow about that pick  Maybe we'll do  a Cardinal Couple Awards ceremony on the show Saturday? 

Softball travels to face #6 Florida Gators & Announces 2021 Attendance Policy

 

The Cardinals (3-4, 3-2) are heading south again to face another ranked SEC foe, the Florida Gators.  There are two games scheduled, Saturday at 1 p.m. and Sunday at 10 a.m.  The Gators are 9-0 after beating North Florida 8-0 Thursday evening.   We will talk more about the matchup on Saturday's podcast. 

(from gocards.com)

Attendance and Entry
In 2021, attendance will be limited to 20 percent capacity at Ulmer Stadium. Due to these capacity limitations, tickets will not be made available to the general public. All home contests will be televised and/or streamed for those that can't attend. Tickets will only be CARDINALavailable to guests of Louisville student-athletes, coaches and visiting team, along with a limited number for UofL Students.

Berm Seating
Berm and greenspace areas around Ulmer Stadium are publicly accessible areas that offer views of the action at Don Dobina Field at Ulmer Stadium. While the berm is outside the confines of the stadium, the following of CDC guidelines including social distancing and masking is advised for any fan who chooses to view a game from these areas.

CARDINAL COUPLE ACC TOURNAMENT PICK 'EM CONTEST

Our annual Cardinal Couple ACC Tournament Pick 'Em Contest is alive and well and will take place again in March. 12 games, you pick who you think will win, advance and ultimately win the tournament.  You can enter three ways:   

1) Leave you picks in the comments section here at Cardinal Couple. This is the most popular way to enter. 

2) E-mail Jared (Bracket Czar) your selections at:  eupherjared@gmail.com 

3) Send them to the Cardinal Couple e-mail address:  cardinalcouple@twc.com   (Once received at this e-mail, the Cardinal Couple Chimps will thoroughly analyze, discuss, criticize and ridicule each and every selection you have made...spill banana daiquiris on the printed-out submission, write crude and unsavory comments on the entry and ultimately give it to Bill The Goat to eat and deny any knowledge of ever receiving it)  Sender beware on Option 3...

ALL ENTRIES MUST BE RECEIVED BEFORE OPENING TIP-OFF of the tournament (currently scheduled for Wednesday, March 3rd. at 2 p.m.) 

Last year's winner David Watson won a tie-breaker with me because his got his entry in a few hours earlier. Can you beat us this year? Only one way to find out. Enter. Paulie has not announced which gift cards and denominations will be awarded to first and second place finishers, maybe it'll come up on the Saturday podcast. 

The sun has been shinin' and Cardinal birds chirpin', you'll hear from the gang Saturday morning on the Cardinal Couple Radio Hour to talk about the games we do get to anticipate as some regular seasons are ending and new ones begin!  

Be safe out there and Go Cards! 
~Daryl 

Lax Schedule Changes -- ACC Indoor Championship -- THURSDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

 Lacrosse Sees Two Schedule Changes

Well, COVID-19 has affected Louisville lacrosse just two games into the season. Thankfully, no one tied to Louisville's program has tested positive, but Notre Dame is on pause due to positive tests. The Cards and Irish, who were scheduled to play this Sunday have postponed to Sunday, March 21, at noon. It is not yet known if Coach Teeter will try to find a last minute fill in for this weekend.

Hours after that Notre Dame postponement was announced the Cards saw a second schedule change. Cincinnati, who was originally slated to come in town on March 3, will now come to Belknap Campus on Monday, March 1. Start time is set for 2:00 p.m.

Louisville sits at #23 in the IWLCA poll and have started the season 1-1, both against then-ranked opponents.

Track and Field Begins Indoor ACC Championships

Today marks the beginning of the three-day indoor ACC Championships for men's and women's track and field. The entire event is hosted by Clemson down in South Carolina.

All eyes will be on Makenli Forrest, who recorded a season-best 22.16m in the weight throw recently. The mark is sixth-best in the NCAA this year and is ninth all-time in program history.

Halee Hudson also sits high on the list in weigh throw nationally. Her 20.79m mark in the weight throw ranks 16th nationally.

Gabriela Leon has dominated the record books at Louisville and has a season-best clearance of 4.23m and is the reigning Indoor ACC Champion for pole vault.

Dorcas Wasike owns the top three times in the 3000m and 5000m in school history. She has had high success in both races in the past with multiple champion and runner-up finishes.

McKenzie Bell recorded a personal-best 54.97 in the 440m a the Lenny Lyles Invitational this season. Her finish ranks second all-time at Louisville.

Purity Sanga also ranks in the Louisville record books. Her time of 9:44.69 in the 3000m at the McCravy-Green Invitational is fourth-best in school history.

Today's events begin at 9:30 a.m., and will run (figuratively and literally) well into the evening with a continuation into Friday and Saturday.

CARDINAL COUPLE ACC WBB TOURNAMENT PICK 'EM

Start studying for your ACC Pick Em. With COVID-19, the ACC Tournament is not guaranteed and may have last minute changes so it is not decided all what will happen for the Pick Em yet. We will run the event, though, and, hopefully, return the Cardinal Couple NCAA WBB Tournament Pick 'Em as well. 

Entry is free for the event. Once we know the bracket assignments (probably late night Sunday) we'll start accepting picks. If things go the way we think they will down in Greensboro, there will be one game on Wednesday, March 3rd. Thursday brings the second round with four contests scheduled. Friday is quarterfinal Day and four more contests, Saturday brings two semifinal games and the championship on Sunday.

ACC WBB Standings, going into
Thursday and Sunday contests. 

So, a total of 12 contests to make picks on. As in previous years, most number of correct picks wins and in case of a tie, the earliest entry in to us will break the tie. Different this year, unfortunately, is the COVID aspect. If a team tests positive and cannot play, that will count as a loss for you in your picks if you had them in your selections. 13 ACC teams are scheduled to head to Greensboro. All picks must be entered by Wednesday, 2 p.m. -- unless the ACC changes the schedule of events

Paulie has appointed me (Jared) as the Bracket Czar again this season. I'll track all entries and solve all disputes. Picks can be submitted several ways.  1) Send them directly to me at my e-mail address:  eupherjared@gmail.com  2) Send them to the Cardinal Couple e-mail address:  cardinalcouple@twc.com   3) Leave them in the comments section (the most popular way)  in Sunday, Monday, Tuesday or Wednesday articles next week. 

********************************************************************************

Paulie will dip into the prize vault and offer gift cards for the first and second place finishers in both tournaments. He should have the type and denomination of such firmed up by Sunday. (Depends on how the panhandling goes...) 

Questions? shoot me an e-mail of raise it in the comments section. 

Happy Thursday and Go Cards!

Jared

.

Payton Verhulst Named All-American -- Taylor Roby ACC Softball P.O.W. -- WEDNESDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

 

PAYTON VERHULST -- MCDONALD'S ALL AMERICAN

University of Louisville women's basketball signee for the 2021-22 season Payton Verhulst has been named a McDonald's All-American. 

Verhulst, a 6'1" guard out of Bishop Miege High School in DeSoto, Kansas is one of 24 high school girls' basketball players to receive the 2021 award. Her squad is ranked #1 in the state of Kansas and her Bishop Miege Stags are 17-1 on the season. Verhulst is the #4 ranked guard in the ESPNW evaluations and was the 2019-20 Player of the Year in Kansas. 

Payton brings an ability to create mid-range shots and is a definite threat from three-point range. She follows the tradition of Jeff Walz recruiting guard that can rebound well and she is strong defensively. A relatively tall guard at 6'1", her length causes problems for opponents when she is playing defense and she's an un-selfish teammate that can perform equally well in the half-court game or in a up-tempo setting. 

She'll join several All-Americans currently on Walz's roster in Olivia Cochran, Liz Dixpn, Elizabeth Balogun, Hailey Van Lith and the WNBA bound Dana Evans. 

We extend our most heartfelt congratulations to Payton for this special accomplishment and can't wait for her to arrive at Louisville and turn the KFC YUM! Center into "Payton's Place". 

TAYLOR ROBY ACC SOFTBALL PLAYER OF THE WEEK

University of Louisville's softball student-athlete Taylor Roby has been named the ACC Softball Player of the Week for the period ending February 22nd. 

Roby, who hails from Bullitt East High School in Mt. Washington, KY, had a wonderful week with the Cards, who have won their last three games. She batted .438 in the "Triangle Pod ACC Games" and the redshirt junior had three home runs. 10 RBI's and scored three times. She also had a one-hit shutout in the circle against Virginia in a 4-0 win back on Feb 21st. 

On the 20th, Roby had a two-RBI home run to help Louisville down the Cavaliers 5-4 

A dual-threat, Roby has driven in runs in four out of her last five games and leads the Cards with 17.2 innings pitched and in strikeout while in the circle with 10. 

Our congratulations to "T.R." and we're confident that her future appearances will be "Taylor Made" for Cardinal wins! Things are going great for the Cards #8 !! 

Have a wonderful Wednesday! 

paulie

Lax is Ranked -- Dana Evans Senior CLASS Award Nominee -- TUESDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

 Lacrosse Joins Rankings

For the first time in four years Louisville lacrosse is ranked. The Cards come in this week's Intercollegiate Women's Lacrosse Coaches Association (IWLCA) poll ranked #23. Louisville is fresh off a victory over then-#24 Colorado by a 12-9 mark.

Eight ACC teams found themselves in the Top 25. North Carolina was a unanimous #1, receiving all 25 first place votes. Syracuse and Notre Dame are right behind at #2 and #3, respectively.

Virginia sits at #9 with Duke close behind at #11. Boston College is ranked #13 and Virginia Tech sits at #16.

After a short break- one that was originally scheduled and not COVID-19 related- the Cards stay home for their third straight match. They host Notre Dame on Sunday at noon. You can catch the action on ACC Network Extra and be sure to catch Paulie's post game interview with Coach Teeter and selected players in the Monday edition of Cardinal Couple. 

Dana Evans Senior CLASS Award Nominee

Add another award to the list Dana Evans is a finalist on. The senior guard was named a finalist for the 2020-2021 Senior CLASS Award. She is one of 22 men and women student-athletes to make the cut. The award recognizes a student-athlete in four areas of excellence: community, character, classroom, and competition.

Voting will be combined between national media, Division I coaches, and fans. The recipients will be announced during the Final Four of the men's and women's games.

You can vote at http://www.seniorclassaward.com/vote/.

Currently, Dana is in second place in the voting,  so she could use your help. 

Women's basketball has a slight break before closing out the season at Notre Dame on Sunday. Hopefully, it'll be a chance to find a rhythm again and get a good couple shoot-arounds in this week.

                                                            ------------------------------

Birthday Boy

(From a few years ago when Paulie thought he was
Ronnie Van Zant, singing with Robbie Bartlett's band)

Paulie seemed to have enjoyed his birthday by his absence from social media for much of the day Sunday. Shall we take an over/under on the number of drinks he had? Or set odds on him being full of birthday cake and dinner?  Who knows, with our fearless leader?  

Happy Tuesday and Go Cards!

Jared

FSU WBB 68 - Cards WBB 59 -- Softball blanks Virginia -- MONDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

 

CARDS FALTER IN FOURTH FRAME AT FSU

Sunday, February was not a good day for the University of Louisville women's basketball team. The #3 ranked Cards failed late against FSU 68-59 to suffer their second loss of the season. 

Turning point? Let's look at the final eight minutes of the fourth quarter. Louisville held a 45-41 lead with 8:36 left in the contest, following a Dana Evans layup. Over the next six minutes, FSU went on a 13-2 run to take a 54-47 lead over the Cards. Louisville was 0-10 from the floor in those six minutes, had two turnovers and committed six fouls trying to stop FSU (namely Morgan Jones) in what was the worst stretch of Cardinal WBB hoops this season. 

FSU's Jones and Kourtney Weber had nine of FSU's 13 points in the run, Weber putting a dagger in the Cards chances by getting her five point in a two minute stretch that saw the Noles grab a 52-47 edge.

 

It was a rough shooting night for Louisville, going 21-60 from the floor for 35%. Dana Evans was 5-21 in her attempts, 1 for 9 from three-point range, and the normally proficient free-throw shooting Cards has a lackluster 14-22 (64%) success rate from the line. 

Jeff Walz was not a happy camper after the Cards loss: 

"It was a poor performance all the way around. Offensively and defensively. We did not play the team basketball we had been playing. We did not make the extra pass, we took some contested shots early on. It's part of life. We're going to find out how tough we really are. It is what it is right now. I hope it sits with them and it stings for a while. 

You can hear all of Walz's post-game radio remarks at the link below: 

POST FSU JEFF WALZ

A stumble in what has been a great season. Yes, FSU could adopt the "Cardinal killers" moniker if they desired, they've won three out of the last four meeting against UofL WBB, They learned early in the game that they could drive to the bucket with relative ease and either get a layup or get fouled. They made their free-throws -- in a foul-laden fourth-quarter -- 18-24 in the final session and 27-38 for the 40 minutes. 

All from a team that shot just 32% from the floor. 

The Cards led early, 17-14 after one, lost that lead in a 14-9 FSU winning second quarter and rolled back to lead after three 43-39. Then, the fatal fourth...

Louisville will get a week to think about it, facing Notre Dame Sunday, Feb 27th in South Bend. You can expect the Cards to fall off the #1 seed line for the NCAA Tournament after this loss, they still can win the ACC regular season title with a win against the Irish

Give FSU credit for finishing the game better than the Cards. For shutting down Louisville at the end. They needed a win to stay in contention for a bye to the quarterfinals in the ACC Tournament. To add to their resume for a NCAA Tournament worthy entry.

 They got it....by out-playing the Cards in crunch time. On a topsy-turvy day in the ACC that saw Syracuse fall on the road at Virginia Tech 76-68 and Georgia Tech drop one at Boston College 49-43.

THE FRED REPORT

Yeah, Fred Gwynne expression
pretty much says it all about Sunday. 

 

 FREE THROWS -- Louisville went 14-22 from the charity stripe (63.6%) We won't call out any particular players poor performances here, we'll just leave it at our judgment that over 70% get you a letter in this stat and UofL didn't get there.  

REBOUNDING -- FSU won the battle of the board 45-41 and Morgan Jones led all with 10. We'll acknowledge that Olivia Cochran did grab nine for the Cards and Hailey Van Lith finished with eight, but, once again, the offensive boaards killed the Cards -- FSU winning that stat 19-14. I cannot award a letter here. 

EFFORT/EXECUTION -- For three quarters, the Card shot fairly well, going 17-31 (54%). Then, they dropped to 4-19 shooting in the fourth. 11 turnovers isn't all that horrible, but FSU won the points-in-the-paint number 28-24 and took the second chance points stat 14-10. The Cards three main guards -- Evans, Van Lith and K.Smith -- were a disappointing 9 for 37 (24%) though, and that won't win games. I can't award a letter here, either. 

DEFEENSE -- Normally, holding an opponent to 68 points and 31.7% shooting will get you a win.  Louisville could not stop Jones' drives to the basket, though -- resorting to fouls and she put up 26 points on UofL. Both team played good defense for most of this one, I'll just go back to that 13-2 stretch in the fourth quarter, where FSU won the game and withhold a letter here. You just can't end a game that way. 

FRED REPORT:    _-_-_-_

SOFTBALL, ROBY SHUT OUT VIRGINIA 

Sunday started out pretty well for Louisville women's athletics. 

The Cards Softball team has the opening game in the "Triangle ACC Pod" yesterday and braved 38 degree weaather and a 11 a.m. start time to turn in an impressive performance in the 4-0 win over the Cavs. 

Redshirt junior Taylor Roby was convincing in the circle, allowing just one hit in a gate-to-wire shutout pitching performance. She also drove in the first Cardinal run, scoring Carmyn Greenwood -- who opened the contest with a walk, stole second, advanced to third on a throwing error and made it home on a hard-hit Roby ground-out fielders choice. 

Louisville wouldn't need any other runs in this one but they got them. They added two more in the top of the fifth when they pieced together three hits and some alert base-running. Maddy Newman began the inning with a single and went to second on yet another Virginia throwing error. Cards Skipper Holly Aprile rolled the dice and inserted Rebecca Chung to pinch hit and the California junior drilled a linehot to left to score Newman. Aprille sent Sydney Bickel in to pinch run for Chung and that move paid off as well, Bickel went to second on a sacrifice bunt and scored on some heads-up running on Celene Funke's infield hit. 

The Cards got a "touch 'em all" from the younger Greenwood sister (Cassidy) in the top of the sixth -- she sent a deep fly ball to right that cleared fence for her first home run of the season and the blast made it 4-0. 

A nice end to the North Carolina stay, Louisville winning their final three games in Raleigh and Durham. 

The 3-4 Cards head to Gainesvile next, where they'll face Florida on Saturday, Feb 27th and Sunday Feb 28th. The Gators won twice yesterday -- downing Charlotte 4-0 and Ga. Southern 11-0 -- to push their record to 8-0. They are ranked #5 in the ESPN poll and #6 in the USA Today poll. 

Have a marvelous Monday

paulie

 

Softball, Tennis, and Basketball Gamedays - Sunday Cardinal Couple

Gameday for Multiple Teams

An old Tommy Roe song has the lyric, "I'm so dizzy, my head is spinning."  The song is about meeting a woman and falling in love, but my brain this morning morphed it into "so busy, my head is spinning" while I was looking at the Cardinal's sport schedule today.

Softball

Let's start with softball.  They had two games yesterday and the score was 5-4.

The score was the only real common point between the games.  Otherwise everything else was different - different opponents, which isn't unheard of for Softball in tournaments and the like, and even different locations for the game, which is pretty rare.

The first game had UofL playing the role of the home team against Virginia, on Duke's field in Durham, NC.  The Cards needed nearly all of the seven innings of regulation to get this one done.  Virginia got on the board first in the top of the 3rd inning, and the Cards would answer in the bottom of the fourth.  Taylor Roby, who's name we'll be using a lot in this one, got a hit, then would step aside to let the much faster Jenna Servi do the base running.  Servi advanced on a sacrifice from Taryn Weddle and then Rebecca Chung's single.  An error let Servi scamper home.

Virginia would get a pair in the fifth, which the Cards immediately answered.  Charley Butler used her speed to get a hit with two outs.  Taylor Roby showed light tower power to right field to score the both of them.

The Hokies would get their final score in the 6th, but the Cards wanted to make it a bit more dramatic, so they waited until the bottom of the 7th, with one away already before making their move.  Carmyn Greenwood would get hit by a pitch to get on base.  Butler shows up again with a single to advance Greenwood.  They both would advance on a wild pitch setting them both up for scoring.  Now, remember who was next up in the order after Butler?  That's right, Roby again.  A walk-off single scored Greenwood and Butler for the first 5-4 tally of the day.

Oh yeah, and let's not forget, Roby also pitched 4.2 innings in this one.

The Cards next had to get on the bus and head over to Raleigh and NC State's field.  Again, UofL would cosplay as the home team, again the final score would be 5-4, and again it would be a bottom of the 7th affair to get it there.

A fast start for NC State with a pair in the first.  UofL was able to get one back.  Celene Funke, batting 2nd, known for her triples, and jersey number 33, didn't hit a triple, instead she ripped it over the right field fence.  Her first homer for the season.

No one else scored until the bottom of the fifth, but a highlight play in the 4th needs to be called out.  One out and NC State has the bases loaded, a line drive shot at freshman shortstop Sydney Bickel (oh hey, a new Sydney, we've been getting low on the all-Syd team) who quickly flipped the ball to Maddy Newman to pick off the runner trying to tag up on the base to end the inning.

Back to the scoring, UofL got a pair in the bottom of the 5th to take the 3-2 lead.  Newman with a single then advanced on the Bickel sacrifice.  Carmyn Greenwood's single would score Newman.  Have you been worried that you haven't yet heard us talk about Funke hitting a triple?  Well, things are back to normal.  She stepped to the plate and took it 270 degrees around scoring Greenwood in the process.

Not a greath top of the 6th for the Cards with the Wolfpack taking the lead again on back to back solo home runs.

Not giving up, UofL would equalize in the bottom half of the frame.  Charley Butler got on with a fielder's choice, used her speed to get to 3rd on Cassady Greenwood's single.  A Maddy Newman hit gave Butler the time to reach the plate.

The Cards would keep NC State off the board, and went into the bottom of the 7th tied.  Funke's speed would beat out the throw to 1st and advanced to 2nd on an error.  The Pack wanted nothing to do with Roby, perhaps having heard of what she did to Virginia earlier in the day, who was then lifted for Mia Forsythe to do the base running after they intentionally walked her. A Weddle sacrifice moved the two runners into scoring position.  Butler hit a strong shot to first, but it got ruled an error to take away another hit stat for her.  Funke would would reach home on the play to secure the win for the Cards.

Gabby Holloway spent most of the time in the circle for the Cards in this one, 5.2 innings, but Payton Hudson officially gets the win.

The Softball Cards are back in action again today.  This one is on NC State's field again, with Virginia being the opponent.  Who will be the home team?  Your guess is as good as mine.  We'll see at 11am when they get underway.  Available on ACC Network Extra streaming.

Tennis

Tennis will also getting a match underway at 11am today.  Hosting Boston College.  Do we go ahead and score the double's point for the Cards?  They haven't lost the double's point all season, so that's always a good way to start off.

No video listed for tennis, as is fairly common for them.  It would be nice if there was a setup where we could follow these matches a little better, but alas, Bass-Rudd isn't set up all that well for it.

Basketball

The last time we played Florida State in basketball, I wrote about how FSU had all the question marks around them.  They were coming off of a fairly lengthy Covid pause, have an interim head coach, had played very few games in the season to that point compared to many other teams, and we really just didn't know what the team was going to do.

Fewer question marks these days, but still a few.  8-6 overall, 7-6 in conference puts them 5th in conference this year.  Not bad.

The big name on the squad at the beginning of the season was Sammie Puisis, but honestly, her stats aren't all that impressive.  An average of 7.7 points a game isn't bad, but with three other players on the team scoring 13+ per game, I think we need to be turning our eyes to Morgan Jones and Bianca Jackson.  Point totals or that pair so far this season are 190 and 189 respectively.  My eyes also land on Jackson's 52 assists for the season, though compare that to Dana Evan's 90, while Evans, as we know, is scoring at a must faster clip, but then, it's almost not fair to compare much of anyone to Evans.

Kourtney Weber is the third scoring at 13 points per game, and is maybe the biggest outside threat, hitting three pointers at a .404 clip.  Puisis does have more three pointers made, 27 to Weber's 19, but does so less efficiently, shooting them at .321.

FSU's results are a mixed bag.  The early loss to Clemson still doesn't look great.  Loses to Georgia Tech and Wake Forest aren't terrible, but losing to Miami by 16 is a bit of an eye opener.  Of course, then they bounced back and beat Syracuse by 15.

Maybe we get some more question marks answer this afternoon?  The game will be on the ACC Network Extra at 2pm.  Nick Curran always has the great call on 790AM as well.

Cardinal Couple Radio Hour

A great CCRH show yesterday.  All five of the regulars on the call yesterday.  Daryl, Jared, Case, Paulie, and myself all had fun.

Softball, basketball, and a bit of tennis, were all in the discussion.  Good fun as always.  Check it out below.

Softball Falls Short, Tennis Narrowly Wins, and More -- SATURDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

Softball Drops Two to Open ACC Play

With the podded system created for ACC play this season, softball will see a lot of double headers. Fortunately for them, that means they'll get plenty of opportunities to show their abilities in back-to-back games in a way they didn't yesterday. Taking on NC State to open their conference season, Louisville softball fell 8-4 and 4-3 to put them at 0-4 on the season. There is plenty of time to recover, have no doubt, as the Cards are right back in action today, starting with a match against Virginia at 11AM before getting another crack at the Wolfpack at 3PM. Both games should be on the ACC Network Extra. Let's take a look at yesterday's results.

Cards Let Wolfpack Snag Big Lead; 8-4

Acting as the home team, Louisville took to the field first and promptly gave up a two runs in an inning that included an opening walk, a pair of steals, and a double. After getting out of it, Taylor Roby, who started in the circle, was able to reset the game for herself when she hit a two-run homer to score herself and Carmyn Greenwood to tie the game. Both teams saw a walk but stranded a runner in the second, and the NC State opened up the game. They scored two in the third, two in the fourth, and a single run in each of the fifth and sixth innings to build an 8-2 lead. Louisville tried to claw back in the sixth, but could just scratch across two runs, stranding runners on second and third with a strikeout. That saw the inning end at 8-4, which is how the game would end an inning later. The Cards would get Celene Funke and Roby on base in the seventh, but could do nothing to advance them around to score.

7th Inning Rally Falls Short; 4-3

The second game flipped the dugouts and got off to quite a different start. Louisville got a one-out double and a two-out walk but couldn't bring either runner home and so headed to the bottom half with no runs. It looked like they'd start NC State off the same way, retiring the first two batters on a line drive and a strikeout, but a two-out walk was followed by a wild pitch to put a runner on second. A single scored her, and a two-out homer gave NC State a 3-0 lead leaving the first. After NC State's two-out fireworks, neither team threatened much until the bottom of the fifth when NC State loaded the bases with two outs. A ground-out ended the inning. 

In the top of the sixth, Louisville's offense returned when Taylor Roby hit her second home run of the day and of the season. That made it 3-1 and a bit more in reach, but the Wolfpack returned the favor with a lead-off home run of their own in the bottom half. The next batter reached on an error, but a caught-stealing was followed by a pop-out and a strikeout to end the inning. Louisville did their best to extend the game in the seventh, albeit with some help from NC State. Payton Hudson walked to open the inning but was followed by two quick outs. NC State had a chance to end the game on a grounder by Carmyn Greenwood, but an error put runners on first and second. Roby singled them both in to make it 4-3. Cassady Greenwood also reached on an error to put runners on first and second (odd coincidence), but Charley Butler's fly to right didn't have the juice or placement to get to the ground or out of the fence. A catch ended the game.

Tennis Opens Conference Play with Victory

Louisville hosted Syracuse yesterday for their first ACC match of the year. This has been a place in the past few years where things have fallen apart for the Cards, but a strong showing early could boost their morale going forward. Fortunately for Louisville, their doubles play may be the spark they need for the remainder of the year. They opened yesterday's match by winning the doubles point, clinching that portion of the match for the sixth straight time. They've played six matches. The Cards won the doubles point pretty strongly as well, finishing 6-1 and 6-2, while leading 5-4 in the unfinished match.

On the singles side, things got a bit more interesting. The Cards jumped out to a quick 3-0 lead with wins in the first two singles matches to finish. Then, Syracuse won the next three matches, all coming back from a 1-0 set deficit to win in three sets. At 3-3, it came down to Rhea Verma, who narrowly lost her first set on a tiebreaker. She went on to win 6-1, 6-2 to give Louisville the fourth point they needed and a victory in conference play. That moves the Cards to 4-2 overall, and they'll be back in action tomorrow at 11AM against Boston College.

More Roundup

The swimming team claimed eight top-8 finishes and a bronze medal in the 400 medley relay to move into third place in the team standings. At 683.5 points, they're 105 points clear of fourth-place VT but sit 196 points behind NC State in second. Virginia is in their own class with 1047 points. The Cards will have a chance to hold onto third and try to chase down the Wolfpack as the final day of competition begins with prelims today at 11AM. The finals are schedule for 7PM and the entire event will be streamed on the ACC Network Extra.

Volleyball will have to wait another week to get their spring season started as their match with Lipscomb has been canceled. The ASUN, in an effort to get more conference games played, shifted their schedules around, landing a conference matchup on this weekend for the Bison. Louisville's match was seen as lower priority, so they got the boot. The Cards will now start the spring season next week against Notre Dame as they move straight into conference play.

Cardinal Couple Radio Hour

Well we were all wrong when we spent last week lamenting what we suspected to be the end of Louisville women's basketball's regular season due to Covid-19. We'll endeavor to be more correct this week on the Cardinal Couple Radio Hour as we recap the win over Pittsburgh as well as all of the other news and events in Louisville women's athletics this week. Tune in to the Cardinal Couple YouTube Channel at 11AM for our live show or check out the replay or podcast following the recording. 

Until next time, Go Cards!

-CH-

Louisville WBB victorious in Pittsburgh 82-58; FRIDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

CARDS GET TO 20 WINS IN PITTSBURGH

We got a game-day, Cards fans.  I hope you're staying warm and safe out there if you have to be out.  After a week in between matchups for UofL, looking to close out the regular season strongly, Louisville WBB wins on the road at Pittsburgh propelled by a 28-13 third quarter rout. 

Dana Evans scored 29 points, 21 of them in the second half and has scored a tleast 20 points 16 of Louisville's 21 games played this season. Mykasa Robinson had 6 points on 2-3 shooting from field, along with 5 assists, 5 steals, 9 rebounds and went 2-3 from the FT line.  The Panthers were lead by Gabbie Green.  She was averaging 5.5 pts coming into the game and had 20 points on 5-8 from beyond 3. 

RECAP: Louisville WBB (20-1, 13-1) vs Pitt Panthers 82-58

The Cards allowed 3 offensive rebounds in Pitt's second possession but they were 0-6 in first 1:30. Pitt's second leading scorer Dayshanette Harris came out of game 2 min into it with a knee injury. Olivia Cochran picked up 2 fouls less about 30 seconds within the other about 3 minutes in. Liz Dixon got the scoring going for the Cards, she went 2-2 for 4 pts 0-1 FT line to start.  Losing rebound battle 6-4 first 3 min off the clock. 

The Cards defense only allowed 2 points up until the 5:25 min mark when it was 8-2 Cards. Mykasa had 2 steals 5 min off clock and took a charge for the Pitt TO. She also got to the line where she went 1-2.  The team was 1-3 for 33.3% at FT line in the first quarter. Liz Dixon went 5-5 for 10 points and 2 rebounds.  Kianna Smith 0-3 from behind the arc.  Hailey Van Lith contributed 3 reb 3 assists and a clock through her first eight minutes on the floor. 

End of 1Q 17-9 Cards
FG %
8-17 47% Cards
4-21 19% Pitt
Reb.  16-12 Pitt
3-pt %
0-4 0% Cards
1-5 20% Pitt

Back to back 3 point jumpers made by Green in less than a minute made it 19-15 Cards lead. With Cochran on the bench with a couple fouls, we saw a Ramani Parker sighting early in the second quarter.  She was headed to the free throw line not long after entering the game and went 2-2. With 3 minutes off the clock Pitt was winning the quarter 8-4. HVL got her first bucket about halfway through the 2Q.  

Everett secured her first bucket with 4 min left till halftime. With 2:39 Green hits her fourth 3-pointer to tie it 27 all. UofL was 0-6 from 3 point land for the game by this point. Pitt had landed 3 threes in the quarter and the Cards were losing the offensive rebounding battle 15-6.  The Cards finished on a 6-0 run and the refs waved off what I think should've been counted as the Cards first 3 point bucket on a last .1 of a second chuck by Dana Evans 15 feet behind 3 point line but the Cards ended up 0-7 from beyond 3 point arc.  Pitt finished the final 2:39 scoreless and UofL was 6-6 at the FT line for the quarter.

End of 2Q 18-16 Pitt 
FG %
5-13 38.5% Cards
6-19 31.6% Pitt
Reb. 11-11 
3-pt %
0-3 0% Cards
3-6 50% Pitt

HALF 33-27 Cards

 Dana hit the first 3 of the game for Louisville with 7 minutes left on clock in the third quarter. Dixon scored her first points since the first quarter with 5:45 offensive rebound off a Kianna Smith miss for the put back underneath. Dana Evans was 3-4 from the field with 4:19 still left on clock and Pitt scoreless for almost 3 minutes after that until they got to the line.  The Cards pushed the lead to 18 making it 57-39 with 1:56 left in the 3Q. Cards lead by 21 at 61-40. Dana lead the team with 13 points 4-6 and 4-4 at the FT line. Mykasa secured two buckets, a free throw, four rebounds and two assists in the quarter. 18 of the Cards 28 points were in the paint. 

End of 3Q 28-13 cards 
FG %
11-18 61% Cards
4-12 33.3% Pitt
Reb. 11-6 cards
3-pt %
1-3 33.3% Cards
2-4 50% Pitt

HVL hits a jumper from the FT line and Balogun scores on a fast break before back to back threes by Jayla Everett ,as she started to warm up to make it 65-51. Pitt was 11-4 in the quarter with 4:53 left in the game. Dana Evans then went on to score the next 8 points for UofL before exiting the game for the evening finishing 11-20 from the field, 3-5 from 3-point land a perfect 4-4 at the free throw line. Everett was 3-5 for 8 points in the quarter.

End of 4Q 21-18 Cards 
FG %
9-17 52.9% Cards
7-14 50% Pitt
Reb. 10-7 Cards 
3-pt %
2-6 33.3% Cards
2-4 50% Pitt

FINAL 82-58 LOUISVILLE WINS!! 

 

Coach Walz post-game:

Coach admits there were 'glimpses of good and glimpses of bad' in this one.  That there were 'tough stretches but overall did some good things' thanks to a really good second half.  Also mentioned how he thought Mykasa had a fabulous night contributing 5 assists, 5 steals 9 rebounds and no turnovers.  

Coach Walz also added on to the Dana Evans players of the year campaign with her 21 point second half effort and how she been able to consistently do this especially in the month of February. 

WALZ'S FULL REMARKS CAN BE HEARD HERE:  JEFF WALZ POST-GAME PITT.

 

FRED REPORT 

In honor of Pitt, we bring you former
Pitt WBB great Fred Potvin ! 

F-Free Throws Lead by Dana's perfect four attempts at the line, the team went 13-15 on the evening for a strong 87% effort. In comparison, Pitt went 8-17 for 47% from the line. 87% is better than the 70% requirement for a CAPITAL F

R-Rebounding The Cards were outrebounded by Pitt 27-23 in the first half losing the offensive rebound battle 15-6. The team bounced back in the second half to win the battle on the boards 21-13 and ended up winning the night 44-40 against the Panthers. Robinson lead the rebounding efforts with 9 for UofL. CAPITAL R

E-Effort/Efficiency It's always enjoyable to watch the show Dana Evans puts on for basketball fans, the way she can take over any game but I also wanted to shout out Mykasa Robinson on her performance. She cuts into every lane, dives for every loose ball and takes almost every charge opportunity thrusted at her. It really is a pleasure to watch if you're a fan of competition. CAPITAL E

D- Defense UofL forced 20 Pitt turnovers in the game. Mykasa had 5 steals herself, Pittsburgh had 3 total. Pittsburgh shot 32% from the field landing 8 from beyond 3. Pitt landed 25% of their 40 shot attempts in the first half while making one more and attempting 14 less in the second half good for a 42.3% second half effort. The Panthers scored 11 points less than their season average so I give it a solid CAPITAL D

 

FINAL Fred Report :  F-R-E-D 

 LACROSSE DOWNS COLORADO 12-9 

Getting four goals from Ally Hall and a superb defensive effort in goalkeep by Rachel Florek, Louisville got their first win of the 2021 Lacrosse season with a 12-9 win over #24 Colorado yesterday at the Louisville Lacrosse Stadium. 

The contest was an back=and forth affair early on, Louisville trading leads with the Buffs until UofL went on a 4-1 run to end the half and take a 8-4 lead. Hall had three of her goals in the first half and an assist. The Cards were having trouble winning draw controls, but were stopping Colorado after they gained possession. 

Louisville (1-1) increased the lead to 10-4 early in the second half after scores from Hall and Caroline Blalock, and the rout appeared to be on -- but a succession of yellow cards on the Cards allowed Colorado to play a "man up" and respond with four straight second half goals to make it 10-8 with 17:35 left in the second half. Three of the Colorado scores came from Sadie Grozier. 

The Cards were able to rally, though, and Blalock and Alex McNicholas went back-to-back over the next six minutes to push the Louisville lead out to 12-8. Colorado managed just one score the rest of the way, and Louisville "iced" a hard-fought 12-9 win. 

Scott Teeter was pleased with the win: 

"I thought we got off to an excellent start and we had answers whenever Colorado had a push -- we answered right back. Colorado is a great team, they are nationally ranked for a reason. We found a way to win, though, and we need to build off this." 

Teeter, goalkeeper Rachel Florek and attacker Ally Hall joined our own Paulie for these post-game remarks in the link below: 

TEETER, HALL AND FLOREK POST-GAME COLORADO

Have a great start to your weekend, we will catch you all the airwaves Saturday morning for another episode of the Cardinal Couple Radio Hour Podcast.  

As always, Go Cards!
- Daryl