Sunday Cardinal Couple - Fall Sports Kick Off

 Soccer Nets Exhibition Win

A full weekend of soccer for the city of Louisville, with Racing Louisville playing today against NJ/NY Gotham FC, Louisville City picking up yet another win, 2-1, last night over Tulsa FC, and both men's and women's UofL teams in exhibition action, the men on the road against Alabama Birmingham, and the women hosting Ball State in UofL's Lynn Stadium.

That's right, it was Cards vs Cards on Floyd Street for only their second meeting ever and the UofL Cards were looking to even the score, which they did, taking the win, 2-0.

Ravin Alexander and Mikayla Hampton were the scorers, both finding the net about halfway through the 2nd half of play.  Both put their shots in the left side of the goal.

Louisville played very aggressively, pressuring the Ball State offense all the way down the field and giving the Muncie team fits.  Ball State substituted liberally to try to find success, but were stymied.  The aggression paid off.  Louisville attempted 21 shots compared to Ball State's five.  11 of UofL's shots were on goal, and only one was for Ball State.

Credit to Ball State's goalkeepers, who did yeoman's work in the net, chalking up 9 saves between them, but I would bet they would have liked a little more help keeping Louisville out of the box and up at the other end of the field to begin with.

Delaney Snyder was expected to be one of the prime goal scorers for the UofL this year, and she didn't get on the pitch at all.  No word was given for her absence. 

Corinne Dente, another promising Louisville  student-athlete did not "hit the pitch" either, still clearing up a leg injury from last season. Karen Ferguson Dayes started a "youth movement" against BSU, with five freshmen in the starting lineup. And, it seemed to go well. 

The women will officially open their season of non-conference play up with a Thursday evening game against Western Michigan, and if you have listened to, or are planning to listen to the Cardinal Couple Radio Hour Podcast, Case almost had it right, the Western Michigan mascot is Buster Bronco.

All in all, it was a great evening out at Lynn, a bit humid, but the temperature was nice.  My niece and nephew joined me, and we all (including my sister-in-law, who got to have a quiet evening at home) had a delightful time. It was a good turnout for the Cardinal Couple crew, we had Jared on the field snapping photos (which you see here) and Paulie and Sonya up in the press box following the action. 

An always good indicator of a game is the time of ball possession for each squad. Louisville dominated here with a 56% to 44% edge.

Another "clean sheet" for Gabby Kouzelos in goal,  No real threats on her, except for a first half attempt that looked like it caught her a bit off-guard, but sailed harmlessly over the top of the net. 

USA U19 Advances to the World Cup Championship

Payton Verhulst came off the bench to have the 2nd most minutes on the court for Team USA in the U19 World Cup in Debrecen Hungary.  The US, after a slow start, gained some separation over host Hungary to eventually cruise to a 75-42 win.

Verhulst finished with four points, including a field goal and a pair of free throws, five rebounds, and two each of assists and blocked shots.  Sonia Citron led all scorers with 17, followed closely by Diamond Johnson and Caitlin Clark both with 14.

The semifinals and finals are, alas, not on the FIBA Youtube channel as they are being carried on ESPN+, the premium add-on to ESPN's streaming service.

In the championship game, the US will have a rematch with Australia who advances in a 62-50 win over a, perhaps, surprisingly good Mali team who got wins over Japan, Canada, South Korea, and Russia before finally falling to Australia.

Hungary and Mali will play today for 3rd place at 11:30am EDT, with the US and Australia tipping of the for the World Cup at 2:30pm EDT.

This has definitely been a great opportunity for Verhulst to play against some of the world's best players in her age group, and the benefits should accrue for the Cards this winter when she hits the court with UofL.  Will she be able to come in and have an immediate impact on the Cards?  Time will tell, but my magic eight ball says that signs point to yes.

Cardinal Couple Radio Hour Podcast

There were only three of us on the CCRHP yesterday, Paulie, Case, and myself, as Jared was at Kentucky Kingdom riding rides at a company event.  Daryl was keeping herself in prime button pushing shape, which paid off in the evening with her at the controls at the game against Ball State back in the ACC Headquarters off Arthur Street on campus. .

As fall sports get ready to get under way, we discussed what's upcoming for Volleyball, Soccer, and Field Hockey, including their appearances at the Fall Sports Media Day.  We also discussed the non-conference schedule for Women's Basketball that was unveiled this week. And, we discussed the successes of USA U19 FIBA during the past week.  Check it out below, or on any of your usual podcast sources.

JMcA