Final Stretch for Fall Sports -- TUESDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

It's only mid-October and we're already seeing the fall sports seasons coming to a close in the coming weeks. Field hockey and women's soccer each have three regular season games remaining while volleyball still has 10 more on the schedule.

Field Hockey

Sitting at #7 in the country (rankings updated later today), Louisville field hockey is coming off a two-win weekend. They cruised by Ball State 4-0 on Sunday and had a match for the ages against Duke on Friday night where the Cards came out on top following a shootout.

Justine Sowry's squad is 12-3 on the year with matches against Syracuse, Cornell, and Boston College remaining. Cornell is a hair over .500 on the year, but ACC opponents always prove to be tough. BC is having a down year at 6-8, but Syracuse's record mirrors that of Louisville.

#5 Iowa got swept over the weekend to ranked Michigan and Ohio State, which should bump them down a few spots. #6 Virginia lost their only weekend match to ranked Wake Forest, which might cause them to drop a spot or two. Louisville might move up to #5 by the end of the week.

With the ACC Tournament also remaining and only an 18-team NCAA Tournament field, I'd guess that Louisville will need to go at least 2-1 to close out the regular season and win their first game of the ACC Tournament to earn an NCAA tournament birth. Louisville went 16-6 (3-3 ACC) in 2019 and was one of the first teams out. A 13-6 (3-3 ACC) season the year prior had the same result. Louisville did make it in the NCAA Tournament in 2020 with a 14-6 (3-3 ACC) record, but COVID-19 minimized the number of teams competing that season where the tournament was held spring 2021. So, six losses seems to be right about the cutoff for an at-large bid. Just win out the rest of the season and that won't be a concern, though.

Soccer

For Karen Ferguson-Dayes and Co., the regular season will more than likely be the end of the season regardless of the final three games. The Cards are 5-6-2 on the year and sit 11th in the ACC with six points (2-5-0 record).

The ACC Tournament consists of six teams and four of them have already reached 15 or more points. The max Louisville can get would be 15 points (five total wins x three points each) assuming they come out on top in their final three matches. Those remaining matches include a struggling NC State team and highly ranked North Carolina and Duke.

Louisville's record and RPI won't earn them an at-large birth so they have to hope to make the ACC Tournament and then claim the ACC title to earn the automatic qualifier bid. There's still a chance to make it to the big dance, although the odds are slim.

Volleyball

Being ranked #2 in the country is a good way to guarantee an NCAA Tournament birth. With roughly one-third of the season remaining, there's a lot that can still happen so we won't dig too deep into this.

Since losing to Ohio State, Louisville volleyball has won 36 of 42 sets, following a similar pattern to last season. A 17-1 record is impressive. The Cards are tied with Pitt at 8-0 in the ACC. The first meeting between these two teams will be at Pitt on Sunday. The Panthers will then come to the L&N FCU Arena exactly one month from now.

Georgia Tech is next closest in the ACC standings at 6-2. Louisville holds the current tiebreaker against the Yellow Jackets, but the two foes will meet up in Atlanta on November 11. Every other ACC is 5-3 or worse in conference play.

The good news for Dani Busboom Kelly's squad is that Anna DeBeer is hopeful to return in a couple weeks- just in time to close out the regular season strong and make a run in the postseason.

Pending NCAA Tournament seedings and Louisville hosting, the first two rounds would be at L&N FCU Arena and the regionals would be held at the KFC Yum! Center.

Happy Tuesday and Go Cards!

Jared