Late Goal Lifts Cards -- FH & Vball Today -- FRIDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

 Happy Friday, everyone! I would say "Cards fans", but also have plenty of great folks who tune in here rooting for Kentucky, Clemson, Georgia Tech, and other schools, so I want to wish everyone a Happy Friday.

As always, it's a busy weekend ahead, giving us no shortage of events to cover here for you.

Late Goal Lifts Cards

Starting off, we visit a game that happened last night and came down to a last minute goal for the win. Anouk Denton's penalty kick goal with 32 seconds remaining lifted Louisville Women's Soccer over Syracuse 2-1 at SU Soccer Stadium.

Case and Paul helped me with plenty of in-game updates as a photo gig and family dinner at the Melting Pot kept me occupied. That's a heck of a restaurant and always a top choice for me for special occasions. I hear Paul may be taking the Cardinal Couple Crew out there for dinner one night. We may end up scrubbing dishes in the back by the end of the night though.

Denton, who scored her first career goal, was chosen to take the one-on-one standoff. A penalty kick, which is typically a guessing game for the goalkeeper, often falls in favor of the player taking the shot and last night was no different. With the freshman staring down the goal, Denton went to the top right corner of the box with the Syracuse keeper leaping in the opposite direction. The goal was set up by an aggressive attack by fellow freshman Julia Simon, who was able to draw a foul within the box.

Prior to that, Louisville held a 1-0 halftime lead. Delaney Snyder received a pass near the top of the box from Simon, Snyder took it to her right and used a little bit of some nifty footwork to gain enough separation to turn and take a shot from the right side at the 13' minute mark.

It took some time for the Orange to find an answer. At the 68' minute mark, Meghan Root capitalized on a fast break to chip in a shot over a charging Gabby Kouzelos. Kouzelos would end the night with five saves for an .875 save percentage.

This was the third straight match that came down to a last second goal over overtime appearance for the Cards. It's safe to say the 'Cardiac Cards' continue to live up to their name.

Louisville returns home to host #1 Florida State at 1:00 p.m., Sunday. Admission is free during the regular season at Dr. Mark and Cindy Lynn Stadium.

Field Hockey and Volleyball Today

#4 Field Hockey hits the road for a pair of ranked opponent road matches. The first of those is tonight at 6:00 p.m., against #17 Duke.

Duke is riding last year's struggles as they enter the game 3-4 overall and 0-1 in conference play. Granted, the losses have come to ranked opponents in Maryland, Northwestern, Rutgers, and Wake Forest (wow, the Big Ten hasn't been nice to Duke), but many of the losses have been blowouts.

Most recently, Duke took down James Madison 3-1. Duke has scored eight goals in seven outings while giving up 15 goals on the year.

Current head coach Pam Bustin corralled Louisville Field Hockey from 1998-2010.

Louisville will then travel to #19 Ohio State on Monday for a rare Monday match. This will be the fifth straight ranked opponent and we will break that one down as the time comes closer.

Volleyball Hosts the Hurricanes

There's a hurricane coming to town tonight. Hopefully it'll be more of a tropical storm as #5 Louisville Volleyball hosts Miami (Fla). Miami is off to a hot 9-1 start to the year with the lone loss coming in five sets to UCF.

Despite six of their matches coming from opponents in Florida, the Hurricanes have yet to face the other big two in FSU and Florida. They lined up a weaker non-conference schedule to help offset matches against Louisville, Pitt, FSU, Georgia Tech, and Notre Dame in conference play. That slate of games can quickly ruin any team's season.

Louisville and Miami have played 13 times with the Cards holding a 10-3 advantage. Louisville took a 3-1 win back in April as part of the combined 2020-2021 COVID-19 season.

Then, on Sunday, Florida State comes to L&N Federal Credit Union Arena. The Seminoles are in the receiving votes category and boast a 7-2 record following an upset victory over in-state rival Florida. This game is set for 1:00 p.m., and Jeff will give you the rundown of this one Sunday morning.

Apparently, it's Florida State hate week as Louisville Football visits Doak Campbell Stadium on Saturday afternoon. Y'all pray for me as being engaged to an FSU grad will be less than pleasant this weekend.

Oh yeah, we have some unofficial events on campus this weekend too. Lacrosse has a handful of fall scrimmages starting early Saturday morning. Alumnae Weekend will welcome Indianapolis, Cincinnati, and Youngstown State to the Louisville Lacrosse Stadium.

Swimming and Diving will occupy Ralph Wright Natatorium today for their annual Red and Black Intersquad Scrimmage today beginning at 3:00 p.m. This is to help get their feet wet (literally and figuratively) before their first official meet next Friday.

We will try to bring you as much in person coverage for as many of these events as we can. Unlike, in the realm of Harry Potter, we can't be in multiple places like Hermione Granger, so having in person coverage at everything isn't always possible and we do try to prioritize in-season sports first.

Happy Friday and Go Cards!
Jared