Successful Sunday with UofL WBB, Softball and Lacrosse wins --MONDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

 A good Sunday, with Louisville WBB downing the Hokies 70-56, Lacrosse romping CMU 18-7 and Softball knocking off Villanova 3-2. Here's the details:

CARDS WBB 70- VIRGINIA TECH 56

A successful send-off for the three seniors (who aren't returning next year) in the 14-point win over visiting Virginia Tech.  

A game where the Cards led by 24 early in the fourth quarter and were never in any danger of losing -- they just ran into the best center in the ACC in Elizabeth Kitley, who decided she wanted to do a little scoring for her Hokies. Kitley finished with 21 points and 13 rebound for Kenny Brooks squad, but the Cards countered with 20 points out of Hailey Van Lith and 19 from Emily Engstler, to send the Hokies to 20-7 and 13-4 in the ACC.

The Cards took control early, racing out to a 13-4 lead in the first four and one half minutes and desperate for answers, VT head coach Kenny Brooks inserted Kayanna Traylor into the game. Traynor ended up with six points in the quarter, VT climbed back within two at 16-14, with 1:35 left in the quarter but Louisville decided enough was enough and Dixon, Hall and Robinson made shots to end the quarter with a 6-0 Louisville run. 22-14 Cards after one

VT used a 7-0 run to start the second quarter to make it 24-20, Kitley had woke up, but the Cards returned the favor with their own 6-0 run that featured a Van Lith three to push the lead back out to 30-20. with 6:06 until halftime.  The teams traded basketss the rest of the second quarter and Kitley sank two free throws with a second on the clock to create a 38-27 halftime score. Louisville tried Cochran, Dixon, Engstler and even Merissah Russell  in an attempt to quell Kitley's production but she ended the half with 10 points. Van Lith was "on" for UofL and had 13 first half points, complimented by nine Emily Engstler points, 

Kitley hit the first bucket of the third quarter, but the Cards shut the door on VT for next six minutes, going n an 8-0 run for a 46-29 lead. VT continued to have shooting woes and Louisville built a 55-33 on an Engstler bucket with 1:01 left in the quarter. Louisville was in charge, 57-36, after 30 minutes and won the quarter 19-9. 

Louisville would build the lead to 24 at 60-36 early in the final quarter on an Ahlana Smith jumper and coasted in the rest of the way. VT chipped away at the Cards edge, getting the score to 70-56 with 32 seconds to play, but Walz got a chance to replace all of the seniors along the way and all three received tremendous ovations from the crowd when he did. The foul that removed Engstler from the game with 2:43 to go drew the wrath of the fan base, but Engstler went to the bench and became the Cards biggest cheerleader the rest of the way.

  70-56 final.

{Fred McMurray's "My Three Sons" would have
approved of Walz's three leaving seniors Sunday) 

THE FRED REPORT

Free Throws --  Louisville went 11-15 for 73.3%. Van Lith was 3-4, so was Dixon and Engstler was 4-5. We award the CAPITAL "F", since the mandated 70% was cleared. 

Rebounding -- Louisville won the boards battle easily 43-31.  Engstler's 15 were awesome, Liz and Cochran combined for 11 and Hailey added five. She also jokingly blamed Emily and Liz for stealing several that would have been clearly Hailey's....in the post-game presser. No problem with a CAPITAL "R" here

Effort/Execution --  Points in the paint stand out 44-16 for the Cards. A 21-11 points off turnovers edge meets with our approval, too. 41.9% shooting was adequate for the win, and a 15-4 edge in 2nd chance points is impressive. Only seven assists on 26 made baskets, though. Just nine turnovers for Louisville, all-in-all, I think the effort and execution calls for a lower case "e". VT prevented the Cards from running away with this one. 

Defense -- Defense delivered most of the game, especially in the third quarter and despite Kitley's big night, VT shot just 39.5% and had 20 turnovers. The Cards also had 10 steals and held the Hokies to under 60 points. We' award the CAPITAL "D" here.

FINAL FRED TALLY:  F-R-e-D

- Walz praised the Cards for following the game plan, something that eluded them against UNC, and it was a big win over a potential contender for the Cards second-place standing in the ACC. We also found out that Hailey and Emily are really good friends and that's the kind of stuff you love to hear as tournament time draws near. 

. 

-- We also saw the return of Norika Konno to the sidelines. She participated in pre-game drills, appeared to be happy and supportive but did not see any game playing time. Good to know she's back, you want a strong contingent available as the ACC and NCAA Tournament get closer and Konno had been an important contributor to the squad before her illness sidelined her. 

Welcome back, Norika !!!

LOUISVILLE LACROSSE 18 - CENTRAL MICHIGAN 7 

Allegra Catalano and Nicole Perroni scored four goals each for Louisville Lacrosse in their Sunday afternoon 18-7 win over CMU at the L.L.S.

The Cards were aggressive early and built a 6-1 lead in the first quarter en route to winning the quarter 7-3. 

CMU would manage to stay close for awhile in the second quarter but Louisville went on a 6-1 run in the quarter to blow out to a 10-3 lead and go in the locker room at half time up 11-4. 

The Cards shut out CMU in the third quarter and got two of their five goals goals from Perroni  to force a running clock and a 16-4 lead.

Scott Teeter got a chance to go deep into the reserves in the fourth quarter and the Cards won easily by 11. 

Juliana Pleck and Sara Addeche split time at goalkeep for UofL, Pleck playing the first half an Addeche the second half. 

Louisville had a 25-14 shots on goal advantage in the contest and won the draw controls 18-11. Kylee Dobson, Bella Karstein, Paige Richbourg and Maddi McKee all scored their first goal of the season in the win, which improves the Cards to 2-2 on the season.

The Cards return to action Saturday when they open ACC play against Virginia Tech in the L.L.S.

SOFTBALL DOWNS VILLANOVA 3-2 in EXTRA INNINGS. 

.

Louisville Softball and Villanova battled through seven scoreless innings Saturday morning in the final day of the T-Mobile Tournament on the University of Florida field in Gainesville. Then, the action got considerably more exciting a the teams went to EXTRA INNINGS. 

Villanova started the eighth inning with a two-run homer before the Cards were able to retire them and UofL was faced with the task of scoring at least two runs in the home half of the inning or taking a loss. 

The Cards were up to the challenge. 

Easton Lotus was placed on second base to lead it off for Louisville (those international tiebreaker rules, you know). She went to third on a wild pitch and then scored on a Carmyn Greenwood single. After an out, Korbe Otis smashed a triple to left-center to score Greenwood and tie the game up. Hannah File stepped to the plate next and ended the game with a single that got Otis safely home. 

Otis, Lotus and File...oh, my! The newbies to the Cards roster, along with Greenwood come through in the clutch to send the Cards to 7-3 on the season.

 

A big effort from Taylor Roby, who pitched the first seven inning for UofL an allowed just two hits. Gabby Holloway came in for the win in the eighth inning. 

The Cards return to the road next weekend and head to Fayetteville, Arkansas to play in the Wooo Pig Classic. (No, I'm not kidding. That's the name of it) 

LACROSSE AND WBB PHOTOS BY JARED ANDERSON

Have a great Monday !!

paulie