Getting to Know the Coaches: Field Hockey -- FRIDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

We've reached the end of the week and survived all of the storms over the last few days. The 4th of July is on the horizon so those loud banging noises and smells of smoke outside most likely are originating from some folks celebrating early.

I am not Daryl, as she commands her crew at the Louisville Bats this week, but we will explore more of the realm of Louisville Athletics today.

With the fall seasons approaching in a month and a half, I thought a new segment of "Getting to Know the Coaches" for our various women's teams would be fun. While many of the head coaches for our women's teams have been around for some time, the assistant coaches can often feel like a revolving door as many of them continue to work their way up in hopes of becoming head coaches themselves one day. We'll start with field hockey today and work our way to other fall teams in future segments.

Getting to Know the Coaches: Field Hockey

Justine Sowry, Head Coach

One of our more tenured head coaches at Louisville is Justine Sowry. The Australian native has overseen the Field Hockey program for 12 years and is preparing for the big baker's dozen this season. Sowry was officially hired on December 16, 2010 after her predecessor Pam Bustin left for Duke. She was previously an assistant under Bustin at Louisville from 1998-2002.

The Louisville Field Hockey program reached several new heights under Sowry's guidance. The Cards have made eight NCAA Tournament appearances in her 12 years. Only 18 teams make the tournament each year (nine automatic qualifiers and nine at-large bids) so even top 15 teams have been on the outside looking in before.

The Cards won the ACC regular season title in 2021 and the fall portion of the 2020 altered schedule. UofL has produced a whopping 23 NFHCA All-Americans since Sowry took over.

She was "a bit of" a field hockey player herself too, having played for the Australian National Team as their goalkeeper. During her time with the Aussies, Sowry won gold in multiple World Cups and appeared in the 1996 and 2000 Olympic Games.

Malachi Mahan, Assistant Coach

Malachi Mahan is one of the assistants on the team. He joined the Cards for the 2022 season after spending eight years as an assistant at California.

Mahan spent 10 years as a player with the U.S. Men's National Team Organization. He was a defensive specialist and even served as a team captain in 2005 with the U.S. Pan American Junior Championship team.

Will Holt, Assistant Coach

Another addition prior to the 2022 season is Wilt Holt. Holt spent two seasons with Indiana prior to rejoining Louisville, where he was a volunteer coach from 2012-2015.

Holt has plenty of experience with the U.S. Men's National Team for 15 years and serving as a team captain for four of those years. He's has tallied 85 goals in his international career.

Debbie Bell, Director of Operations

Considered a veteran on the staff, Debbie Bell is still fairly new to the program, having joined as the director of operations in 2018. She was a volunteer coach in 2017 and was an assistant coach at Columbia for two years prior to that.

Bell was a forward for Kent State during her collegiate career. She earned several All-American and NFHCA Region accolades while setting the program record with 97 goals and 215 points.

                                                                **********************

Louisville opens their season with a scrimmage against Bellarmine on Friday, August 18. Admission is free for all regular season matches at Trager Stadium You can see the full Field Hockey schedule, as well as women's Soccer's and Volleyball's on the right side of the site.  

Happy Friday and Go Cards!

Jared

Soccer Schedule -- THURSDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

Women's Soccer Schedule Released

Ah, we've reached the point of summer where the fall sports begin to release their respective schedules. Jeff came in yesterday with a breakdown of the volleyball schedule. Field Hockey, too, has released their 2023 opponents. Men's soccer, which we do not cover here, released their schedule this week. Yesterday, women's soccer announced their 2023 slate. You can find the Field Hockey, Volleyball and Women's Soccer schedules on the right hand side of the site. Let's look at WSOC today. 

Unofficially, the Cards start the season in Oxford, Ohio against Miami University in a scrimmage on Sunday, August 6. Streaming options for this seem highly unlikely.

The first official match will come at home against Indiana State on Thursday, August 17 at 7:30 p.m. This one will most likely be on ACC Network Extra. Louisville won the lone match-up between the two in 2016.

The Cards then hit the road to Ohio for a pair of matches against Xavier on Sunday, August 20 at 7:30 p.m. and Dayton on Thursday August 24 at 7:00 p.m. Xavier topped the Cards with a pair of second half goals at Lynn last year while Louisville last played Dayton in the spring of 2021 (COVID-19 season) and took a 1-0 win.

Louisville then has a three-match homestand beginning with Northern Kentucky on Sunday, August 27 at 7:30 p.m. UofL is 3-0 all-time against the Norse, including a 1-0 win last year. Illinois is next on the schedule on Thursday, August 31 with no time listed. The Illini have never lost to Louisville. Central Michigan closes out the homestand on Sunday, September 3 at 7:30 p.m. In their lone meeting, the Chippewas won at Cardinal Park in 2011.

Indiana will host the Cards on Thursday, September 7 at 7:00 p.m. in the Battle of the Border. The two teams battled it out to a 0-0 tie last season in Louisville.

Wyoming closes out the non-conference slate on Sunday, September 10 at 7:30 p.m. at Lynn Stadium. I was not able to locate any record of past meetings between the Cards and Buffaloes.

Virginia kicks off the conference portion of the schedule when they come to town on Saturday, September 16 at 7:00 p.m. The Cavaliers have never lost to the Cards and won 2-0 in Charlottesville last year. Louisville remains home against Pitt on Thursday, September 21 at 8:00 p.m. The Cards fell on the road 1-0 last year but do have a 7-3 all-time advantage in the series.

A late-September road trip is next for Louisville. They begin by visiting Coral Gables to take on Miami on Sunday, September 24 at noon. The Cards took the 1-0 last year and hold a 9-1 advantage in the overall series. A trip to Notre Dame on Saturday, September 30 at 7:00 p.m. is next. The Irish bested the Cards in Louisville last year 2-0.

Louisville opens up October with a pair of home matches. Florida State comes into town on Thursday, October 5 at 7:00 pm. The Seminoles command a 9-0 series lead. Syracuse visits on Sunday, October 8 at 1:00 p.m. Louisville defeated the Orange in 2021 to improve to 8-0 all-time in the series.

The final road trip begins with a visit to Boston College on Saturday, October 14 at at 7:00 p.m. UofL won 1-0 last year to even the series at 4-4. Clemson is the next stop on the tour on Thursday, October 19 at 7:00 p.m. A loss at home last year for the Cards evened the series 2-2-1. Louisville's final road match will come on Sunday, October 22 at 12:30 p.m. against Wake Forest. The Cards won in 2021 and tied the series at 3-3-1, including with three straight.

The Cards close out the regular season at home against Duke on Thursday, October 26 at 6:00 p.m. Louisville has not beaten the Blue Devils, going 0-4-5 all-time against them.

The ACC Tournament will begin on Sunday, October 29. It appears the ACC is sticking with their current format of the top six teams qualifying for the tournament despite there being 14 teams.

Last season, the NCAA rolled out a new rule of no overtime in regular season matches so all matches would conclude after the full 90 minutes of regulation. In terms of speeding up the game, it worked. However, it led to several more draws around the country with less chance of an overtime win.

We plan to provide coverage throughout the season and have hopes to have someone in attendance each home match.

Happy Thursday and Go Cards!

Jared

Volleyball Schedule - Wednesday Cardinal Couple

Volleyball Schedule is Set

Happy Hump Day!  Jeff with you for a mid-week article this week thanks to Volleyball's schedule release.  None of the dates have any times set, so it's not quite ready for setting specific plans, but it's a start, and at this point, well ahead of the start of the season, we're mostly looking at overall strength of schedule.  And there's some good competition set up in this one, so let's not waste any time diving in to take a look. 

First, the traditional Red & Black scrimmage is set for Saturday, August 19th.  This is typically a free event, and with increased demand over the past couple of years to see Volleyball, you might want to arrive early.  Typically, this has been a 6pm start.

The season opening weekend has Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. They're all at the L&N Federal Credit Union home and bring games, against Troy, Washington State, and Wright State.  Both of the W's are decent competition.  WSU went 23-10 overall, 14-6 in the Pac-12, with some pretty decent wins in the mix, including PAC-12 wins over Oregon, Colorado, USC, and Washington.  Wright State went 28-4 overall, but good out-of-conference wins were a bit scarce.  A couple of wins over Dayton and one over Wichita State is about the best you can find, but they did cruise, large and in-charge, through the Horizon league, going undefeated in the regular season and winning the tournament before running into what we know is a very good Georgia Tech team in the first round of the NCAA tourney.

Weekend two is in Columbia, MO, with matches against Northern Kentucky, South Dakota, and host Missouri.  Don't expect intense competition from NKU, or SD, but Missouri needs to be taken a bit seriously.  The Cards should come away with three wins this weekend, quite potentially all sweeps.

Next up is what has become a tradition, a bit of a gauntlet immediately before the start of the conference slate.  Start it off with Dayton on Wednesday September 6th, probably the least competitive of this gauntlet, but still solid competition, particularly on their home (un-airconditioned) floor.  Back home, at LNFCU, the Cards host a not-quite-as-dominant-as-they-used-to-be Penn State, but hey, that still leaves a lot of room for the Nittany Lions to be quite good, 26-8, 13-7 good, last year.  Next up is a pair of matches at the KFC Yum! Center downtown, starting with Kentucky on Wednesday, September 13th, so expect that one to be a five set affair, because that always seems to be the case when UK and UofL play.  After that, Stanford returns the favor of UofL's visit to Maples Pavilion last year.  Also at the KFC Yum! Center, on Sunday, September 17th.

Then, starting September 22nd, we dive into conference play.  The first weekend is Syracuse and Boston College at home.  We get the mid-week matchup with travel partner Notre Dame early this year, Wednesday, September 27th.

The team will take Friday off, but will head down to NC State to start the month of October on Sunday the 1st.  I suspect the team will come home for the week, but will head back to the area the next weekend, going to play UNC and Duke on the 6th and the 8th.

Expect Pitt to be the top of the conference competition again in the fall, and we'll see them first in the KFC Yum! Center on the 13th.  UVA will also be in town that weekend, for the Sunday matchup at LNFCU (at the time of this writing gocards.com has this listed at KFC Yum! Center, but I don't believe that is the case).

Another road trip, to Wake Forest and Virginia Tech on October 20th and 22nd before the Florida contingent comes calling at LNFCU on October 27th and 29th.

Let's hope we don't have another "Lotion-gate" match at O'Keefe Gym at Georgia Tech on November 3rd, although that did work out well for us at the end of the 3+ hours.  The squad will visit our friends in Clemson on the 5th, and the last regular weekend of the season sees Duke and UNC come to town on November 10th and 12th.

Finish off the season with a bang with a visit to Pitt on the Saturday the 18th and Thanksgiving Eve we welcome the return visit from Michelle Collier, but not Julia Bergmann who has graduated, with Georgia Tech at LNFCU.

Overall, my impression of this schedule is that it is slightly less intense than last year.  We don't have matches against the likes of Western Kentucky, Ohio State, Purdue, and San Diego.  Add in the visit from Penn State, Washington State, and Dayton to balance a little bit of that and it's still a solid schedule that should prepare the Cards for post-season play quite well.  The gauntlet before beginning conference play will be a lot of fun as it has been the past couple of years.

What will be the goal for the team this year?  A return to the Final Four is probably an attainable goal.  I like to talk about year over year improvement, but there's not much room for that improvement with this squad, having taken only three losses in the whole season last year, and the last of those being in the National Championship match.

The Volleyball Final Four this year is at Amalie Arena in Tampa, FL, which should result in better weather than the frigid cold we experienced in Omaha, NE last year.  Tickets go on sale in August.

Season tickets for Volleyball matches at LNFCU are on an expected to be multi-year waiting list at this point, but tickets are definitely available for the three matches, Kentucky, Stanford, and Pitt, at the KFC Yum! Center.

-- JMcA

Cardinals in the ACC -- Softball Edition -- TUESDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

Hello Tuesday and dear reader, 

No its not quite the weekend yet, but it is Daryl checking in early since the Bats are in town.  We won't quiz you who had each day at the end of this week... but we did switch it up based on vacations as well as some news from our favorite programs. Or, I suppose you could see it as Daryl's normal Friday article is three days early or four days late.

We promise to explain it all to Paulie on Sunday, somehow in the mix, he won't be writing the rest of the week. We apologize to his fan club in southern Idaho. 

Today, I'm continuing my mini series (Cards in the ACC) with our next UofL program, (and one we've got some more news out of this week... keep reading) the ones on the diamond, Louisville Softball!

Softball


Vs Boston College 13-6 series history (2015-2023)

Vs Clemson 1-6 series history (2021-2023) 

Vs Duke  4-8 series history (2018-2023)  

Vs Florida State  7-19 series history (2002-2023)  5-16  since joining the ACC

Vs Georgia Tech 12-5 series history (2013-2023) 11-5  since joining the ACC

Vs NC State  15-10 series history (2004-2023) 13-10  since joining the ACC

Vs. North Carolina  11-12 series history (2004-2023)  8-11 since joining the ACC

Vs Notre Dame  18-28 (2002-2023) 4-16 since joining the ACC

Vs Pittsburgh  25-5 series history (2006-2023) (16-3 during the Holly Aprile @ Pitt Era 2009-2018)  (6-1 during the Holly Aprile @ UofL Era) 11-4 since joining the ACC

Vs Syracuse  29-12 series history (2006-2023)  16-4 since joining the ACC

Vs Virginia  20-4 series history (2008-2023) 17-3 since joining the ACC

Vs Virginia Tech  8-16 series history (2002-2023)  7-13 since joining the ACC

(Maryssa Becker - queen of the circle)

2023 record  36-20 (16-7 in the ACC)

2022 record  27-25 (10-14 in the ACC)

2021 record 21-28-1 (15-21-1 in the ACC)

2020 record 10-13  (Covid Year)

2019 record 35-23 (12-12 in the ACC)

2018 record  33-20 (10-12 in the ACC)

2017 record  31-19 (14-8 in the ACC)

2016 record 35-17 (15-8 in the ACC)

2015 record  30-19 (16-7 in the ACC)  

Aprile guided the 2023 Cardinals to a 36-20 overall record - the most wins since 2014, the season before the Cards entered the ACC.

ALL ACC Awards

2023 - Louisville's Sarah Gordon was selected as Freshman of the Year. Korbe Otis and Gordon named All ACC First team, Gordon and Alyssa Zabala named All Freshman team.

2022 - Carmyn Greenwood named All ACC First team, Korbe Otis named All Freshman team

2021 - Taylor Roby All ACC First Team

2020 - COVID Year (no awards designated) 

2019 - Charley Butler All ACC Freshman Team

2018 - Megan Hensley and Sidney Melton All ACC First team (Holly Aprile wins ACC Coach of the Year at Pitt) Maddy Newman All ACC Freshman Team

2017 - Nicole Pufahl,  Maryssa Becker, Morgan Meyer, Jordan McNary All ACC Second team Caitlin Ferguson All ACC Freshman team

2016 - Maryssa Becker All ACC First Team and the 2016 Atlantic Coast Conference Softball Scholar-Athlete of the Year.

2015 - Maryssa Becker All ACC First Team

Coach Aprile recognized 

(Coach Aprile smiles, upon receiving news she's going to pitch the next inning) 

Holly Aprile, the Head Softball Coach at the University of Louisville, has been announced as The Leadership Playbook 2022-2023 Collegiate Coach of the Year as announced on June 25. The award seeks to honor coaches who maximize success, value growth, and make a positive impact on those they are entrusted to lead.

"We're thrilled to recognize Coach Holly as an example of what a coach should be," said Bechler. "Not only did she lead her team to the NCAA Tournament this season, but she had an impact on her student-athletes. She's well-respected in the softball community for her professionalism, character, and leadership."



Softball picks up another in the portal 

Aprile has announced that Riley Frizell will join the Cardinals after three seasons at the University of Missouri.

Frizell, a rising senior from Willoughby, Ohio, helped Mizzou to reach the NCAA postseason each of her years with a Super Regional showing in 2021 and back-to-back regional appearances in 2022 and 2023. Throughout her time with the Tigers, she played in 109 games, with 49 starts in 2023. She has also tallied 10 home runs, four doubles and a triple with 39 RBIs and 23 runs scored. The first baseman registered a .990 career fielding percentage at Missouri.

Over and out, everyone.  I'll be back on the other side of the 4th of July holiday. 

As Always, 

Go Cards! 

~Daryl 

LOUSVILLE VOLLEYBALL GETS ADDISON MAKUN'S COMMIT FOR CLASS OF 2025 -- MONDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

 6'3" MIDDLE BLOCKER OUT OF SILVER CREEK SAYS "YES" TO CARDS. 

We sometimes wonder just how early we should report on Louisville women's sports commitments. The class of 2025 has some very good Volleyball student-athletes and one of the finest, Addison Makun has committed to Louisville. She's out of Silver Creek High School (which is in Sellersburg, IN if you're unfamiliar with it) and Makun is ranked in several Top 5 categories in Indiana Volleyball as she finishes her sophomore year in high school. 

She had 216 hills in the 2022-23 season for Silver Creek, which plays in Class 3A volleyball (4A is the top flight). Makun was selected to the first team for the All-State team in her class. 

She also plays for 16 Red in KIVA. 

Sadly, there just aren't a lot of articles out there (yet) concerning her skills, games and career so far. Our Volleyball expert here at Cardinal Couple -- Jeff McAdams --  was aware of her but did not know she was ready to commit. We can only expect to learn a lot more over the next two years she's in high school. now that she's committed to one of the top programs in DI NCAA Volleyball.  The commitment news was posted on

Current middle blockers on the Louisville squad include Cara Cresse, who will be a junior next year..Phekran Kong and Hannah Sherman (who sat out the 2022 season). Reese Robins is an incoming freshman who is listed as either a middle blocker or right-side hitter. 

Tess Clark and Phekran Kong are two recent middle blockers for the Cards, and Anna Stevenson will long be remembered by Cardinals Volleyball fans. 

We look forward to following Makun's remaining high school career and can't wait until she gets to Louisville ! 

paulie

Fall Schedules Start to Appear -- SUNDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

Field Hockey Schedule

Among the many topics we briefly covered in the CCRHP yesterday, one of the comments was that we should expect to start seeing fall schedules be available in a few weeks.

While other sports had our attention drawn with personnel changes, and media availabilities during the day that are inconvenient for "not-our-day-job"  media like here at CC, Field Hockey has been flying a little bit under the radar.

Of course, Case did cover, in yesterday's article, various academic honors, which includes Field Hockey as well as some of them being involved in Team USA workouts.

The FH program, however, quietly went and dropped it's fall schedule into the UofL Athletics calendar without any fanfare.  Be careful if you go to look at it, it's only on the composite calendar, not on Field Hockey's specific calendar, yet.

Let's run it down.

Field Hockey and Soccer are always the early birds, duking it out to see who has the first event of the season.  Field Hockey's entrant this year is an August 18th event against Bellarmine at Trager Stadium.  They also opened last year's season against the Knights, and I, for one, will be quite content if they continue this as an ongoing tradition.  A quick turn around that weekend as they head up to Athens, OH to play the Ohio Bobcats at noon on the 20th.

They nicely bookend the next weekend with games against Northeastern and Northwestern.  Northeastern comes to Trager at 5pm on the 25th, and UofL travels to Evanston for an 11am start against Northwestern on the 27th.

Last year, UPenn and Princeton were on the schedule, but they played in Chapel Hill, they play again this year, but in Philadelphia this time, presumably at UPenn.  Princeton is first up at 11am on Sept. 1, and UPenn at 1:30pm on Sunday the 3rd.

Welcome Ohio State and VCU on September 8th and 10th at 6pm and noon.  Football has a Thursday night home game, maybe this will be a weekend when all the squads are at home?

Conference play starts on Sept. 15th with a visit to UNC in Chapel Hill with a 3pm start.  The squad gets an off Sunday this weekend.

James Madison is making the drive over on I-64 (well, the first 30 miles or so are I-81, but it's I-64 the whole rest of the way).  They'll be here Friday, Sept. 22nd for a 5pm start. It seems a bit ridiculous, but to fly from Louisville to Harrisonville, VA, you have to go through Atlanta, Charlotte, Chicago, Detroit or Newark.  Again, no Sunday tilt this weekend, but there is an unusual Tuesday event Miami (OH) in Oxford, OH.  That is the 26th of September at 2pm.

UVA really does take I-64 the whole way, with their visit to Trager starting at 3pm on Friday Sept. 29th.  Once again, no Sunday event for the weekend.  They make up for it starting with a fairly rapid fire set of games starting with Wake Forest on Friday, October 6th at 6pm at Trager, followed by Central Michigan on Sunday the 8th for a noon start, also at Trager.  The Hoosiers come calling on Tuesday the 10th at noon.  Just three days later, they're back out on the road to Durham to Pam Bustin and Dukies.  The first pass back will be at 4pm on a spooky Friday the 13th.  The team will get more of a break, but not before coming back home to host Iowa at Trager on Sunday the 15th at noon.

Friday the 20th will be in-conference again, with Syracuse visiting Floyd Street kicking off the event at 6pm, and the 22nd welcomes Appalachian State for a noon start.

Off to Chestnut Hill where Boston College will, of course, be the opponent on the appointment book at 2pm, October 27th.

That will wrap up the regular season, with the ACC Championship starting Halloween day, which is a Tuesday this year, and it will complete November 3rd.

So there you have it, Field Hockey breaks first out of the gate, and now maybe we can start to look ahead at what Fall is going to bring us with at least some idea of what the season will be like in at least one sport.

Cardinal Couple Radio Hour Podcast

(No, this is NOT Paulie, Jared and Jeff...just a test of your memory...do you remember the name of the sitcom that had these three in it?) 

Another threesome on the CCRHP yesterday, Jared, Paulie, and I held it down and really covered a lot of territory.  Lacrosse, Softball, Basketball, Volleyball, Soccer, and yes a little Field Hockey, were all fodder for discussion.

Check out the fun, as always, at your favorite podcast directory, and you can specifically find it at:

https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/cardinal-couple/episodes/A-survey-across-most-UofL-womens-sports-e264u06

Enjoy!

-- 

JMcA

UofL Academics and USA Field Hockey — SATURDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

Cards on All-ACC Academic Teams

Spring academic teams have been released and Louisville lacrosse had a handy semester. The Cards had 19 team members named to the All-ACC Academic team. The ACC’s requirements are that student-athletes maintain a 3.0 GPA cumulative and score a 3.0 GPA for the semester in which they are honored while competing in at least 50% of the team’s contests. Louisville’s 19 honorees was tied for second-most in the conference. It also represented exactly half of the team’s rostered members. Nine of Louisville’s rostered players did not compete in at least nine games (the Cards played 17), so they actually placed 66% of eligible players on the team.

Louisville tennis matched the number set by lacrosse by placing 50% of their players on the tennis All-ACC Academic team. Tennis’s overall number was much smaller, since their rostered players number just ten, but the accomplishment is impressive nonetheless. It’s a bit tougher to tell who played in enough matches to be eligible for the tennis team, so let’s just say that they had five honorees. Regardless of number by the team, the achievement is admirable for any individual athlete to meet the criteria for.

Aimee Plumb Named CSC Academic All-American

The CSC (College Sports Communicators; formerly CoSIDA) continues naming All-Americans and Cardinals keep getting added to the lists. The latest honoree is Aimee Plumb, who becomes the fifth field hockey team member all time to be named to the CSC Academic All-American team. 

Plumb was named to the third team, which seems an understatement of her ability after being named the 2023 ACC Field Hockey Scholar Athlete of the Year and the NFHCA Scholar Athlete of the Year for the second straight year. Plumb maintains a 4.0 GPA with a major in psychology and a double-minor in art and Spanish. That level of academic prowess while being an integral part of a very good field hockey team is beyond impressive.

Four Cardinals Headed to Nexus Championship

Speaking of field hockey, the Cards will see three players and a coach from the 2023 roster going to Virginia Beach to participate in the USA Field Hockey Senior Nexus Championship. The event is for premiere high school, collegiate, and post-collegiate players to work their way into the USA camp for Olympic and World Cup competitions. All participants have already been trialing at one of seven Team USA High Performance Centers this spring and summer to get invited to this event. 

Players that have previously been a part of any of the developmental teams on the ladder are automatically invited. Louisville players in attendance for this session will be Izzy Bianca, Sophia Parker, and incoming freshman, Lauren Masters. They’ll be joined by assistant coach Nick Holt, who has an extensive history with Team USA Field Hockey himself.

Cardinal Couple Radio Hour Podcast

Daryl and I remain out this week, but you’ll have plenty to hold you over with our version of "The Three Amigos" ...Paulie, Jeff, and Jared holding down the fort. There will be more than enough to talk about as transfers continue and rumors abound. The countdown to fall sports is on, as its the only thing keeping us sane as we stare at the summer slump. As always, you can check out the live stream of the show by going to the Cardinal Couple YouTube page and clicking on the live video. Jeff usually creates that about an hour before the show, which officially starts at 11 AM Eastern. If the live time doesn't work for you, there are plenty of playback options, so be sure to check out whichever is best for you!

Cardinal Couple YouTube: Link

Anchor (podcast host): Link

Apple Podcasts: Link

Google Podcasts: Link

Overcast (free account required): Link

Pocket Casts (free account and app required): Link

RadioPublic: Link

Spotify: Link

Until next time, Go Cards!

Case

Cardinals in the ACC -- WBB Edition -- FRIDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

FRIDAYS WITH DARYL 

Hello all! Happy weekend! One more week until vacation for me!!  Here recently, my partner & I have adopted a 'work hard, play hard' mentality with some very big moves.  It is quite rewarding and it does make the time fly by.

Let's jump back into the mini series I started last week where take a look back on the rise in some of our favorite Cardinal programs.   This week... Women's Basketball! 

A WBB REVIEW:

Vs Boston College  14-1 series history (1985-2023)  13-0 since joining the ACC

Vs Clemson  11-3 series history (1979-2023) 11-0 since joining the ACC

Vs Duke  7-4 series history (1990-2023) 6-3 since joining the ACC

Vs Florida State 17-18 series history (1978-2023) 5-7 since joining the ACC

Vs Georgia Tech  10-0 series history (2015-2023)

Vs Miami  8-3 series history (1989-2023) 8-2 since joining ACC

Vs NC State  8-7 series history (1985-2023) 8-5 since joining the ACC

Vs. North Carolina  9-4 series history (1985-2023) 9-1 since joining the ACC

Vs Notre Dame  13-18 series history (1991-2023) 9-8 since joining the ACC

Vs Pittsburgh  25-2 series history (2006-2023) 17-2 since joining the ACC

Vs Syracuse  19-7 series history (1986-2023) 13-2 since joining the ACC

Vs Virginia  12-2 series history (1985-2023)  12-2 since joining the ACC

Vs Virginia Tech  24-19 series history (1981-2023) 9-2 since joining the ACC

Vs Wake Forest  10-1 series history (2015-2023)

2022 record 26-12, 12-6 ACC // Falls to Iowa in the Elite Eight

2021 record 29-5, 16-2 ACC // Falls to South Carolina Final Four

2020 record  26-4, 14-2 ACC // Falls to Stanford Elite Eight  (Covid Year)

2019 record 28-4, 16-2 ACC // No NCAA Tournament

2018 record 32-4, 14-2 ACC // Falls to UConn in the Elite Eight

2017 record  36-3, 15-1 ACC // Falls to Mississippi State in the Final Four

2016 record 29-8, 12-4 ACC // Falls to Baylor in the Sweet 16

2015 record 26-8, 15-1 ACC // Falls to DePaul in the Second Round

2014 record  27-7, 12-4 ACC Falls to Dayton in the Sweet 16

ALL ACC Awards

2022 - Mykasa Robinson made the All-ACC defensive team, Hailey Van Lith was again named All-ACC first team

2021 - Emily Engstler and HVL named to All-ACC First team, Engstler and Robinson named to All Defensive team, Peyton Verhulst named to All Freshman team

2020 - Dana Evans Louisville Senior ACC Player of the Year

2019 - Dana Evans Louisville Junior ACC Player of the Year, senior forward Kylee Shook also being name the ACC Defensive Player of the Year.    

2018 - Asia Durr Louisville Senior ACC Player of the Year Dana Evans earned Sixth Player of the Year

2017 - Junior Asia Durr named ACC Player of the Year, Jeff Walz as the ACC Coach of the Year.

2016 - Asia Durr and Myisha Hines Allen named to the All ACC First Team, Mariya Moore, Jr., named to All ACC Second team

2015 - Myisha Hines-Allen Louisville Sophomore named ACC Player of the Year

2014 - All ACC Second and Freshman team Mariya Moore, Fr., G, Louisville

Shoni never played in the ACC but probably would have been All-ACC every year)

Louisville ranks 5th in the league in Players of the Year with 5.  Duke leads with 8 and Maryland had 6 while they were in the conference.   Evans became the first player in ACC basketball history (men or women) to receive the conference’s Sixth Player of the Year honor and later earn Player of the Year.

All of this to say,  since landing Coach Jeff Walz and joining the ACC, Louisville's rise to national prominence has been apparent and exciting.  We've witnessed the growth and competition of the conference as a whole over the last handful of seasons.  I still believe in the process and this Louisville coaching staff will return to the final game, END THE SEASON WITH A WIN INSTEAD OF A LOSS,  and finally get over that hump! 

More Softball buzz 

Pitcher Izzy Harrison will join the Cardinals after two seasons at Kentucky. She made 27 appearances with 10 starts and delivered 47 strikeouts in 42.2 innings of work.  She helped the Cats appear in back to back NCAA Regionals the past 2 seasons. She was 2-0 in 2021-22 and 1-3 in 2022-23. Izzy never pitched against the Cards in her two years at UK. 

Welcome to the Ville Izzy !  

As always

Go Cards! 

~Daryl 

Softball Adds Transfer Mack -- THURSDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

MACK JOINS SOFTBALL CARDS FROM UK

It seems the Louisville softball offseason news continues. Chelsea Mack has announced that she is transferring to UofL.

Mack joins the Cards after spending her freshman season with rival Kentucky. The Brecksville, Ohio native is listed as an outfielder and played in 39 games last season. She logged six runs scored and eight stolen bases during her freshman campaign.

In high school, she was 81 of 83 in stolen base attempts, a school record. She hit .726 her senior year while logging 32 RBIs and 57 runs scored. She was a two-time National Fastpitch Coaches Association All-American.

The announcement of the addition of Mack is a bright spot less than 24 hours after the announcement of ACC Freshman of the Year catcher Sarah Gordon leaving to go to Georgia. My personal thoughts are that Gordon chose to go somewhere closer to home (Lexington, S.C. to Athens, GA is about three hours). The Bulldogs did earn the 14 overall seed in this year's NCAA Softball Tournament. We have also received intel of a couple more current UofL players exploring options in the transfer portal.

In other news, we are less than two months away from fall sports starting up. Field hockey and women's soccer tend to begin in mid-August with volleyball usually beginning shortly after. The Cardinal Couple Crew is eager to get back out to the various facilities and sports to bring the greatest in the Joy and Excitement of Louisville Women's Athletics.

WALZ PRESSER 6/26/23

Coach Walz met with the media Wednesday to provide updates on a variety of subjects and topics. The link to watch and listen is below. It is about 45 minutes long, so grab a comfy seat, coffee and bagel. 

WALZ PRESSER 6/23/23

Happy Thursday and Go Cards!

Jared

Softball's Sarah Gordon to Georgia -- WEDNESDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

 

FRESHMAN CATCHER TO TRANSFER TO GEORGIA

Louisville starting and freshman softball catcher will be leaving Louisville to attend  and play softball at the University of Georgia next season.

Gordon entered the transfer portal on May 26th, shortly after the Cards season ended in the NCAA Tennessee Regional, The ACC Freshman of the Year and a first-team All-ACC team selection in 2023 batted ,370 for the Cards, had 11 home runs and 49 RBI's for Louisville. . 

Gordon came in a did a masterful job as the Cards main catcher with the pitching rotation.. No other catcher was listed on the UofL roster, but third basemen Ally Alexander did fill in at the spot a couple of times.

Gordon is one of three Cards in the portal, along with center fielder Korbe Otis and pitcher Cassie Grizzard. There are also five seniors or graduate students believed to be departing as well, including pitcher Taylor Roby and starter Hannah File.  

 

The big question now is...who takes over behind the plate for the Cards? Louisville's recruiting class of 2023 has six student-athletes coming to campus.  The incoming players' bios show two excellent pitchers (Brooke Gray and Lindsey Mullen), there are two outfielders (Katie Thatcher and Ava Venturelli) and players Char Lorenz and Jac Hasty are listed as infielders  catching experience.. 

It's possible the Cards could also obtain a catcher the same way Georgia landed Gordon...through the transfer portal -- but no announcement on that had been made yet. 

One might say it's rough for a freshman or new catcher to get to know a pitching rotation new to them...but that's exactly what Gordon did and it most certainly could happen again. She turned into one of the best catchers in the nation in just one year, and that's what makes the departure a tough one to handle. 

A noted philosophy is "to leave if you want a better situation and find one", so one has to figure that was part of Sarah's thinking. The Georgia Bulldogs were 42-15 in the 2023 season and the 14th seed in the NCAA Tournament. They won their regional before getting knocked out of the NCAA Tournament by #3 Florida state in the Super Regional

Gordon's statement: 

"I want to thank Louisville for an amazing first year. Thank you to Card Nation who supported me during my best and worst games and introduced me to so many amazing young girls and more. I was given an amazing opportunity to grow and start to become who I want to be in the game...alongside some amazing players who helped me do that. Being so blessed to accomplish what I did my teammates helped push me every day so I could be where I am. I am grateful that God led me here to start my career and will forever hold the memories made this year close to my heart."

Gordon will be missed, no doubt, but sometimes...when a door closes, a window opens. Let's hope for the best for the Cards behind the plate in the future and thanks to Gordon for the year she gave Louisville. 

paulie