Sunday Cardinal Couple - Softball and Lacrosse Register Wins

 Lacrosse Gets a Conference Win

Lacrosse went to Blacksburg, VA yesterday and got a 13-9 win over Virginia Tech.  This is the first conference win for the Cardinals since 2017, and the first conference win under Coach Scott Teeter's tutelage.

The Cards jumped on the board quickly with a trio of goals in the first five minutes of play.  Caroline Blalock, Ally Hall, and Kokoro Nakazawa each being responsible for one.  Hall would go on to get the hat trick secured only a quarter of the way through the game.  Allegra Catelano, would also contribute one in that time frame to get the score to a 6-2 lead for the Cards.  Hannah Morris scored with about three minutes left to get the score to 7-4 to go into halftime.

Morris also got the scoring started in the 2nd half, and after letting VT have a goal, the Cards then reeled off four straight.  Hall, and Nakazawa each scored one, and Blalock got another pair.  VT put a stop to the run, then Hall would score one more to bring her game total to five.  The Hokies finished out the game on a 3-0 run.

A great performance by Ally Hall, combines with continued good play by Caroline Blalock to give the Cards a solid core of play.  Add in the potential that the freshman Kokoro Nakazawa shows, and contributions from Allegra Catelano and the Cards have a solid team to build on and continue to grow.

And you certainly can't forget the performance of Rachel Florek in goal.  Chalk up 10 saves for her in playing nearly the full game and we have a solid last line of defense.

Lacrosse comes back home for a three game homestand.  It starts with Duke Thursday night, under the lights in Cardinal Stadium.  The first draw will be at 7pm, and you'll be able to catch this one on the ACC Network.

Softball Wins a Pair

After a couple of weeks of playing top 25 teams, Softball gets a little bit of a respite this weekend.  In Pittsburgh, with a weather altered series, UofL got the series started off well yesterday with a pair of wins, 6-4, and 7-4.

Carmyn Greenwood and Taylor Roby get top billing in yesterdays game.  Greenwood went 7 for 7 at bat, and Roby sent a pair of yellow orbs out beyond the fence.

Greenwood sent the second pitch of the game out to the centerfield fence for a double, advanced on a Celene Funke sacrifice.  Taylor Roby singled to score Greenwood.  Makayla Hurst ripped a home run out to center field to complete the trio of runs in the first inning.

The third inning saw Roby hit a double, get lifted for Jordyn Wolfe to finish out the base running for her, who then scored on an error.

In the 5th inning, yes, it was Roby again with a solo touch-em-all.

The 6th inning would finish out the scoring, UofL got started with Charley Butler taking advantage of an error, and eventually scoring on a Carmyn Greenwood single.  Pitt would score their quartet of runs in the 6th inning as well, but they were unable to tack on any more in the 7th, leaving them short for the game.

Taylor Roby was in the circle for most of this one, with Jennifer Leonhardt coming in to strike out all three batters in the bottom of the 7th.

The 2nd game of the day took on a different early feel.

Again, Carmyn Greenwood led things off well, getting a double in her lead off duties, and then scoring on a Makayla Hurst single.  But then things took a turn.  In the bottom half of the 1st, Pitt would again score all four of their game runs in a single inning.

UofL chipped away at that lead for the next couple of innings.  Elana Ornelas reached on a fielder's choice, got to 2nd on a pitch that got away from the Pitt catcher, and scored when the perfect-on-the-day Greenwood singled.

The chip in the 3rd, well, it was more than just a chip shot.  It was more like a long drive when Taylor Roby got her 2nd homerun of the day straight away to center.  The dinger narrowed the Pitt lead to 4-3 after three innings.

UofL would say, "enough is enough" in the 5th.  Carmyn Greenwood came up to bat and got another single, of course.  Roby got to take a leisurely stroll to first with the base-on-balls.  Makayla Hurst hit into a fielder's choice, in which everyone managed to find a base safely, loading the bases with two outs.  Greenwood finished her circuit on a wild pitch to even the score at four apiece.  Charley Butler, who is not particularly known for power hitting, decided to show off and took one yard out to left field for the three run dinger.  That reached the final score of 7-4.

Gabby Holloway started out pitching in this one, with Jennifer Leonhardt taking over after three innings.  Taylor Roby would come in for a single out in the 7th.

The series has been weather altered, as mentioned.  Originally scheduled for a game Friday, a double header yesterday, and a game today, it was shifted to be the double header yesterday, a game today at 2pm, and a game Monday at noon.  Curiously, UofL's schedule does not have any video listed for today's game, but ESPN does have it listed as being available on ACC Network Extra.

Field Hockey Hosts Syracuse

Also in action today, Field Hockey hosts Syracuse.  The Orange are 8-4 overall for the season, 4-2 in conference if you include the fall portion of the season, but are in 2nd in the conference standings currently with an official 1-0 in-conference record based only on spring conference competition.

Because Field Hockey scheduling has been particularly weird in this overall weird school year, that 8-4 record does include Syracuse's win over Duke and loss to UNC in the ACC tournament in the fall, but also those conference tournament wins and losses don't count as conference games in the current conference standings.

In the spring portion of play, Syracuse is undefeated, with a pair of wins over Saint Joseph's, though one was a scrimmage, a win over Towson, and a win over Duke.

As with all ACC Field Hockey games, the competition will be stiff, and UofL will need to get their offense going, which has been a little bit of a challenge in this spring schedule, being blanked by both Boston College and UNC.

Today's game is at noon, at Trager Stadium, and is, of course, on ACC Network Extra.

Volleyball Selection Show

The 48 teams for the NCAA Volleyball Tournament will be announced at 4pm today on ESPNU.  UofL is guaranteed to be in the brackets by virtue of their win over UNC on Miami's court on Friday that gained them the outright ACC Championship.

The Cards are currently ranked 13th in national rankings.  What that translates into for tournament seedings is anybody's guess.  Traditionally the volleyball tournament leaned pretty heavily on geographic clustering, but with the whole tournament being played in Omaha this year, that is pretty much out the window, so your guess is as good as mine.

Cardinal Couple Radio Hour Podcast

And finally, Paulie, Case, Jared, and myself held down the fort for the Cardinal Couple Radio Hour Podcast.  Daryl was off again pushing buttons, we think for baseball this time?

Basketball, Volleyball, Field Hockey, Lacrosse, and vaccine side effects were part of the discussion.  I was feeling pretty crummy during the show, and the rest of the day yesterday due to side effects from the Covid vaccine after I got my 2nd shot Friday.  I am feeling back to normal this morning other than my shoulder still being sore.

Check it out below.