Cards Pick Up Top-Ten Win -- SATURDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

Field Hockey Knocks Off No. 7 UVA

Louisville field hockey faces a tough schedule every year by virtue of being in the ACC, a league not far removed from having all 7 teams make the NCAA tournament. This is nothing new, and the Cards have been one of the teams making conference play a nightmare for others. Something that comes along with that tough conference schedule, though, is benefit of the doubt that may run out if you aren't consistently winning some of those conference games. Last year the Cards went 1-5 in conference on their way to finishing 12-8 overall. They were still well regarded for the most part, but it's important to show that was a fluke and not a new normal.

Louisville got on their way to proving the doubters wrong yesterday with a 2-0 victory over seventh-ranked Virginia. It was a home match, sure, but it was still a ranked win and a shutout, Louisville's second straight. The Cards used a goal in the second to take momentum into the locker room and scored another in the fourth to ice the game. Defensively, Louisville had Virginia locked down, as the Hoos only managed a pair of shots on goal, both in the fourth quarter. On the whole, Louisville outshot UVA 7-5 and put six of their seven shots on target.

As they did last week, Louisville came out firing, earning a penalty corner in the first five minutes of the game. The ensuing shot was blocked, and neither team would do much for the remainder of the first period, aside from a pair of shots that missed the cage by UVA. The second started as slowly as the first ended, but a substitution bringing Aimee Plumb on halfway through the quarter paid off immediately. Fifteen seconds after the substitution, Louisville earned a penalty corner. Chloe Plumb played the ball in to her older sister, who laid it off for Minna Tremonti to put the Cards up 1-0. Before the end of the half, Aimee Plumb nearly doubled Louisville's advantage, forcing a save by UVA on a shot from open play.

The third quarter was passive once more, with neither team making many inroads into the opposing defense. Louisville finished the quarter with only substitutions on the stat sheet, while UVA had one shot blocked. The Hoos also picked up their first of three yellow cards in that third quarter. In the fourth, things got a bit more frantic. Virginia opened the quarter with possession, pushing hard for the equalizer and forcing Merlijn van der Vegt into action two minutes in. Another yellow card followed shortly after the shot, and Louisville went to work with their advantage. The Cards earned a corner in the 51st minute and saw three consecutive shots saved.

A couple of minutes after that heroic effort, Louisville earned another penalty corner and made sure to put the first shot home. Lara Niebler put the ball in play to Mia Duchars, who sent it to Izzy Bianco. Bianco fired it home to put the Cards up 2-0 and make the remainder of the match much more comfortable. Less than a minute later, UVA tried to cut the deficit back to one, earning a penalty corner and forcing van der Vegt's second save. Despite their 2-0 mountain to climb, Virginia never pulled their goalie, trying to play traditionally to get back into the game. It didn't work, and Louisville moved to 1-1 in conference play.

The Cards needed a win like yesterday's. Before the Miami match, Louisville's only shutout had been in the 1-0 win against Northwestern. After yesterday's game, Louisville has two straight shutouts and have won three straight by multiple goals since losing the conference opener at UNC. Those three multiple goal wins are Louisville's only of that type since the season opening 3-1 win against Northeastern. The Cards now get another weekend at home before a strong late season stretch. Louisville faces Wake Forest next Friday with a chance to beat their ACC record from last season before taking on CMU on the following Sunday. After that, Louisville goes on the road to face IU and Duke before returning home to host Iowa and Syracuse. That's an extremely difficult four-game stretch and another pair of wins ahead of it will do wonders for the team's confidence.

You can hear all about what Coach Justine Sowry had to say after the game and hear from the goal scorers at the links below.

Minna Tremonti and Izzy Bianco Postgame

Justine Sowry Postgame

Cardinal Couple Radio Hour Podcast

We'll have four in play for today's show, with Daryl riding the wave of the Ohio River Valley fall allergy season. Dr. Paulie has prescribed a handful of Hot Toddies with double bourbon to clear the sinuses so we'll hope to get her back in the game for next week. (Although it might be fun to talk with her today after a few of the "remedies") There's plenty to discuss this week, with Louisville seeing wins from field hockey and volleyball and a top-ten matchup for women's soccer this evening. 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

All photos by Jared Anderson

Field Hockey vs #7 UVA -- FRIDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

FRIDAYS WITH DARYL

Good morning readers! Welcome back to another weekend!

Today, the university will hold its its inauguration ceremony for the universities’ 19th president, Kim Schatzel, today. She began her tenure with UofL back in February.

The inauguration ceremony will take place from 11 a.m.-12 p.m. in the oval outside of Grawemeyer Hall. If you are unable to attend in person, watch the ceremony on UofL’s YouTube channel.

For those who plan to attend the Sept. 29 inauguration ceremony, the Stadium Purple Lot B is an available option for those who are coming from the Health Sciences Campus, Shelby Campus or elsewhere. Shuttle services will be provided from the Stadium Purple Lot B to the inauguration event site (the oval outside of Grawemeyer Hall.)

For questions, call University Parking & Transportation Services at 852-PARK (7275).

After that, head on over to Trager Stadium for some fall afternoon Cardinals field hockey!!


FIELD HOCKEY

UofL hosts #7 Virginia in ACC home opener Friday at 3 p.m. 

UofL currently stands at #5 in the polls sporting an 8-1 record while Virginia brings a 6-3 overall record and a 1-1 mark in ACC play into Friday's contest.

Virginia leads the series with Louisville 11-8 and has won the last three meetings. Virginia again leads the nation in strength of schedule for the second year in a row, with their last 4 opponents being ranked where they went 2-2 and are 4-0 on the road on the season. All three of Virginia's losses have come against top-15 teams including Liberty, Boston College and Maryland.  The Cavaliers are led offensively by Daniela Mendez-Trendler who has five goals and four assists for 14 points.   Tyler Kennedy carries a 1.33 goals against average and a .750 save percentage.

Fans attending games held at the University of Louisville may utilize the Floyd Street Parking Garage located across from the Don Fightmaster Playground for a $5 fee.  

As Always 

Go CARDS!!   And welcome officially to the Kim Schatzel Era, I wish her luck!! 

~Daryl 

Cards Sweep Irish -- THURSDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

VolleyCards Sweep Notre Dame

A shortened week had no ill effect on the Louisville volleyball as the Cards went on the road to sweep Notre Dame 3-0 (25-12, -18, -16).

While Louisville appears to have completed dominated based on the final score, Notre Dame had some bright spots including keeping the second set close until the Cards closed the set on a 7-0 run.

The Cards handed Notre Dame their third loss of the season and their first in ACC play. Only four teams remain undefeated in conference play.

On the night, the Irish were limited to 17 kills on -0.115 attack percentage. They did end up with more aces (five) than service errors (three). Meanwhile, Louisville doubled up their service errors (eight) over aces (four). The Cards more than doubled up Notre Dame in kills with 39 for the match. Louisville hit .250.

It's not often a middle blocker racks up the most kills, but Phekran "PK" Kong did so with 12 kills on .500 hitting. Aiko Jones (eight kills) and Anna DeBeer (seven kills) also had strong attack nights. Elena Scott and Elle Glock each had eight digs with the latter also recording 30 assists.

Set One: Louisville 25, Notre Dame 12

Louisville looked like one of the best teams in the country after racing out of the gate to a 9-0 lead. Their lead extended to 15-4 before Notre Dame burned their final timeout. The Irish pieced together a 4-0 spurt but Louisville never allowed things to get any closer.

Set Two: Louisville 25, Notre Dame 18

ACC play is rarely easy and Notre Dame reminded Louisville of that in the second set. After the Cards went up 3-0, the Irish battled back to a 7-7 tie. Neither team was able to piece together any type of run for much of the set and Notre Dame a 15-17 lead. After the Cards and Irish came even at 18 apiece, UofL then rallied for a 7-0 spurt to claim the set.

Set Three: Louisville 25, Notre Dame 16

The only good thing for Notre Dame this set was being able to string together three straight points and four straight points. Louisville went on cruise control for a good chunk of the set including building a seven-point lead late in the set. After the Irish cut the Louisville lead to 20-15, the Cards scored five of the final six points to claim the win.

Louisville improves to 12-1 on the season and reaches 3-0 in ACC play for the fifth straight season, COVID-19 season excluded. The Cards have won five straight in the series against Notre Dame and now lead the all-time series 24-23.

Next on the schedule for UofL is NC State. The Cards and Wolfpack will meet in Raleigh on Sunday at 4:00pm. This one will be on ACCN linear.

Exciting Personal News

In what has been an exciting and eventful 2023 year for me highlighted by a wedding and honeymoon, the next big thing to happen this year is becoming a homeowner! Katy and I closed on our first house here in town on Monday. Here's to many years of homeownership!

Happy Thursday and Go Cards!

Jared

Field Hockey Wins; Volleyball Looks to Follow; Basketball Announces Schedule -- WEDNESDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

Field Hockey Scores Ranked Road Win

Louisville's offense applied significant pressure in the first half but scored both of their goals on just three shots in the second against #25 Miami (OH) yesterday afternoon. The Cards held possession and had plenty of chances, but you wouldn't want to use them as film in a scoring clinic. Ultimately, Louisville came away with a 2-0 victory in just their second shutout of the season. The Cards remain undefeated in non-conference play and pick up a critical win on the road. 

Despite 11 penalty corners and 10 shots in the first half, Louisville was left scratching their heads as they entered the locker room tied at 0. Perhaps it should have been counted as an omen when Louisville earned a penalty corner less than two minutes into the game and failed to attempt a shot. After the first one, penalty corners came in bunches. For the remainder of the half, Louisville never took just one penalty corner in a sequence. seeing a run of three near the end of each quarter split by two pairs. The Cards would end the game 0-12 on penalty corners, so there goes our progress toward a better conversion rate. 

Louisville was at least getting quality shots up in the first, they forced six saves from Isabelle Perese in the first half. Perese would get just one save in the second half, giving up Louisville's two goals on their other two shots in the half. Ironically, Perese's lone second half save came on Louisville's lone second half corner attempt. Fate can be cruel. Although they didn't use a corner to make it happen, Louisville struck quickly in the second half, taking the advantage on a Tyler Everslage goal 27 seconds into the quarter. It was the freshman's third goal of the season, making her alone in third in goals scored. Entering the game, Emilia Kaczmarczyk and Aimee Plumb were tied at four, with Kazzy helped by her brace last week. Plumb made sure they left the game with a gap between them, as she scored the insurance goal with just over 12 minutes to play in the game.

Plumb's fifth goal of the season came shortly after she had been frustrated by a save on a penalty corner. After the clearance from the goal, Louisville immediately stole possession and moved down the field where Lauren Masters sent the ball in for Plumb to knock it into the cage. After the insurance check was in the bank, Louisville's offense hung it up, adding no more stats for the remainder of the game. They ultimately wouldn't need any more offense, though, as Miami could only muster their first and only shot of the match shortly after their first and only corner . Merlijn van der Vegt was up to the task, stopping that one shot and staying awake for the remainder of the match.

The box score doesn't offer a ton as far as how the game looked, but it does paint a picture of dominance for Louisville in this one. They took 13 (8) shots compared to just the one for the Redhawks and had the aforementioned 12 penalty corners to Miami's 1. Granted, as I noted before, Louisville's offense was all for show in the first half. They were clean and efficient in the second with a sharp .667 shot conversion percentage. It was also a deep bench for both sides. Louisville played nine bench players while Miami spread the wealth by playing twelve starters.

Ultimately, the Cards come out with a win against a ranked opponent on the road. It's hard to top that. The Cards will get a couple of days off as their next match isn't until Friday when they host Virginia. Virginia is currently ranked seventh after a rough week saw them need overtime to win one game in their stretch of three in one week.  The Cards and Hoos will get back in action on Friday at 3PM on ACCNX.

Volleyball Takes on Notre Dame

The Louisville volleyball team looks to continue their good vibes after the romp of Syracuse and the moderately less comfortable win over BC when the lights come up for ACCN tonight. Louisville is taking on Notre Dame, who is looking much more this season like a contender or at least a spoiler. After opening the season 2-2 with losses to Texas Tech and Santa Clara, ND has gone undefeated in their last six. Granted, those matches include home against Illinois and Oklahoma, a home-home with Toledo, and the same two conference foes Louisville has beaten. Notre Dame also swept Syracuse (raise your hand if you, personally, have swept Syracuse this season. Don't be shy.) but needed one set more than Louisville to put away BC. 

The Cards and Irish will be on ACC Network proper, which means this one is almost certainly going five sets. Tune in at 7PM and strap in.

ACC Announces Basketball Schedules

Louisville women's basketball now knows what the entirety of their 2023-24 schedule looks like since the ACC has announced conference schedules. There will be a larger schedule breakdown coming, I'm sure, but let's hit the highlights.

In what is likely the last season for awhile that Louisville will play multiple conference opponents more than once in a regular season (with Cal, Stanford, and SMU joining the ACC next year), the Cards will once again get four teams twice. This season, those teams are Pitt, Boston College, Syracuse, and Notre Dame. Louisville will play the first game in three of four of those pairings at the Yum! Center.

Outside of those four, Louisville will host Duke, Wake Forest, Virginia Tech, Virginia, and FSU. That leaves, as I'm sure you're aware, Miami, Clemson, UNC, NC State, and GT as road games. The Cards open and close the conference season on the road, playing Miami on New Year's Eve and getting the honor of being Notre Dame's Senior Day. Louisville will honor their seniors on Leap Day against FSU. 

An interesting quirk of the way the calendar lines up this year means that Louisville will play nine games in February. It would take some individual calculation to determine the last time Louisville played nine regular season games in a month, much less in February, but let's all go ahead and assume it's kind of weird. Please no one ruin this for me.

As I mentioned earlier, more to come on basketball as the season draws nearer. For now, let's continue to support our fall sports teams that are in the full swing of their seasons!

Until next time, Go Cards!

Case

Field Hockey Visits Miami -- Elena Scott ACC DPOTW -- TUESDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

Field Hockey Heads North to Miami OH

Fresh off a blowout win over James Madison over the weekend, Louisville field hockey hits the road to Oxford, Ohio to take on Miami at 2:00 pm ET. There is no tv or streaming listed for this one. This match will be the midway point of the season for the Cards (7-1), who have an 18-schedule in the regular season.

Miami enters the match at 7-3, most recently coming off a 1-0 upset victory at then-#17 Wake Forest. The NFHCA poll only ranks the top 20 teams this season, but the Redhawks currently sit at 25th in the rpi, where Louisville sits third.

Miami had a tough stretch near the start of the season with a loss to Indiana at home and followed that with a loss to current-#8 Maryland on the road. Their only other loss was an upset in overtime against Brown. They do have several wins against top 5 rpi opponents in Cal, American, Appalachian State, and previously mentioned Wake Forest.

One of the more dominant mid-majors in field hockey, Miami has made the NCAA Tournament the last six seasons and have been the top MAC contender for several years. This year seems to be the same for the Redhawks. They have average just shy of two goals per game while allowing 1.20 goals per game. They have shut out Cal and Wake Forest, both on the road.

Claudia Negrete Garcia leads the Miami attack with five goals and two assists. She is one of four players to log at least three goals. Isabelle Perese has been a beast in goal for Miami, with 39 saves and a .765 save percentage.

Miami leads the all-time series against the Cards, but Louisville holds the win in the most recent match-up, a 4-1 victory at Trager Stadium in 2021.

Elena Scott Named ACC Defensive Player of the Week

To no one's surprise, Elena Scott added another accolade to her long list of awards and accomplishments.  The junior libero was named ACC Defensive Player of the Week for the second time this season.

Scott registered 15 digs in a blowout sweep over Syracuse on Friday and followed it up with 23 digs, four assists, and a pair of aces in a win against Boston College on Sunday. It was her 12th consecutive double-digit dig match. The Louisville native also recorded her 1,000th career dig in Sunday's win.

The Cards hit the road for a Wednesday night match against Notre Dame. The match is set to begin at 7:00 pm and is slated for an ACC Network televised slate. We will preview more of that tomorrow.

Happy Tuesday and Go Cards!

Jared

A Fun Win and A Heartbreaker -- MONDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

Hey, Cards fans, Jared here. Paulie is having some computer trouble so he asked me to step in for him while he takes his laptop to the computer doctor. He's hopeful to have his technological issues resolved later in the week.

Louisville sports were busy this week and yesterday was no different. For us, we turned our eyes to UofL volleyball and UofL women's soccer, both of whom had ACC match-ups going on. The "Kickin' Cards" were down in Coral Gables against Miami while the "Volley Cards" were at home at L&N FCU Arena. Both softball and lacrosse had fall scrimmages going on too.

Women's Soccer Falls in the Final Seconds

The hopes of earning a draw on the road to Miami and earning another point in conference play were shattered right before the final horn. The Hurricanes scored with two seconds remaining to defeat Louisville 1-0.

Miami was able to get a couple players past the Louisville defense on a sprint up the field. A pass from the right side of the field near the sideline to the middle of the box left the Miami attacker one-on-one against keeper Erynn Floyd. Unfortunately for Floyd, she was not able to get her hands on the shot. You can't blame the sophomore keeper who did have three saves on the day. The defense got beat hoping to ride out the final seconds.

Miami's Melissa Dagenais recorded six saves. Louisville had no shortage of shots with 13 total and six on frame. The Cards pressed forward much of the match and had good looks, but could not find the back of the net. Emma Hiscock came off the bench and provided an offensive spark with three shots (two on goal) but the Miami D proved to be too tough.

Louisville falls to 2-5-4 on the season and 1-1-1 in the ACC. They visit Notre Dame on Saturday.

Volleyball Defeats Boston College in Four

Boston College lost to two Louisville teams in two different sports in the span of 24 hours. Louisville football handled their business on Saturday and Louisville volleyball took a 3-1 (25-23, 25-20,23-25, 25-17) win against the Eagles on Sunday.

The best part of the match was libero Elena Scott recording her 1000th career dig. The Louisville native entered the match with 999 and got that coveted number 1000 just a few points into the first set. She's now up to 1022 digs. As a junior, we will see plenty more from her this season plus another year to go. She's on pace to break 1500 digs before she graduates. I happened to run into Scott and many other volleyball players last night at men's soccer and was able to congratulate her in person. She mentioned that her teammates were teasing her for "not getting one more" against Syracuse on Friday.

The Cards struggled with their hitting but improved each set- .167, .250, .268, 375. Anna DeBeer led the way with 18 kills but it was Aiko Jones with the high efficiency .381 hitting percentage with 10 kills. Charitie Luper added 15 kills, nearly jumping through the ceiling on several occasions. Cara Cresse recorded 12 kills on .348 hitting.

Surprisingly, Louisville was out-blocked by Boston College 11-7. It played in the Eagles' favor in taking the third set. Hannah Sherman, who earned her second straight start, made her presence known with a solo block and several block assists. Aiko Jones was also a part of five block assists.

Serving continues to be a concern. The Cards finished the match with six service aces and 15 service errors. Ideally, you want those to be close to even as possible and not 2.5 times more errors than aces, but Louisville was able to overcome that.

Dani Busboom Kelly decided to switch things up again, trying different looks and getting some bench players some reps. Hannah Sherman saw plenty of playing time in the middle blocker position. Reese Robins also saw action in two sets. Brigitta Petrenko and Ayden Bartlett both popped in for a few points here and there.

Louisville improves to 11-1 on the year and has started off 2-0 in ACC play. They hit the road to face Notre Dame on Wednesday night.

Spring Sports in Fall Action

Louie flying over Floyd Street

Louisville lacrosse and softball participated in some fall scrimmages yesterday. Lacrosse faced Cincinnati, Youngstown State, and Indianapolis in shortened matches. The Cards fell to Cincinnati 9-6 but defeated Youngstown State 16-3 and Indianapolis 13-4. Softball traveled up to Columbus for a double header against Ohio State. They took the first game 4-3 before falling in the second game 9-3.

Happy Monday and Go Cards!

Jared

Traffic Jam on Floyd? - Sunday Cardinal Couple

Traffic Jam on Floyd Street?

You might think today would be a busy day on Floyd Street with a quick glance at the gocards composite calendar, but a closer look suggests it won't be bad.  Both men's and women's tennis, men's and women's soccer, volleyball, and softball are in action, but only volleyball and men's soccer are here in The Ville.

Women's Soccer

So let's start out on the road, where Women's Soccer is basking the warm sun of Coral Gables, FL where they'll be playing the Miami Hurricanes.  While Louisville City FC had to deal with the remnants of a tropical storm in eastern VA for last night's game, it won't be that bad in Miami.  There is a chance of rain, but nothing tropical.

Just looking at schedules, the team with the Ibis, looks to be competitive with the Cards.  At 2-4-3, and UofL at 2-4-4, it looks quite similar.  Miami has wins over Stetson, and Syracuse and losses to Clemson, FIU, Mississippi State, and Georgia Southern.  Draws came against Florida Atlantic, Florida, and Alabama.  All in all, not a world beater of a season so far.

We saw significant improvement in the Cards offense against Pitt, will that continue today?  Let's hope.

ACC Network Extra streaming is available for this one with a noon kickoff.

Softball

"Wait, Softball?" you ask?  Yes, Softball kicks off their fall exhibition season today.  They're on the road up I-71 to Columbus to match up against Ohio State.

Precious little information is available for off-season exhibition match ups, including even after the games typically, so hopefully we can at least get some off-the-record comments next week when the squad continues fall play at Ulmer against Eastern Kentucky.

This is a noon start, but with any video coverage being unlikely, at best, unless you're in south central Ohio, or enough of a fan to want to drive there this morning...

Volleyball

Last of the team sports that we cover, Volleyball will tangle with Boston College to finish out the first weekend of conference play, as well as their play against the far-north ACC contingent.

Jason Kennedy has architected a slow but steady improvement of the Eagles over the past few years, but they've still got quite a way to go, as well.  Sporting an 11-4 record they look fairly impressive, until you look at who the competition is.  The wins all come against thoroughly meh teams, with maybe the most impressive being Michigan.  Maybe UC Irvine, Providence, and Harvard are worthy of mention in BC wins, but not much else is.  Losses are to New Hampshire, Tennessee, San Diego, and Notre Dame.  San Diego isn't at the level they were when they went to the Final Four last year, but they're not terrible.  But losing to New Hampshire pretty much sets the stage, here.

Alayna Crabtree, Halle Schroder, and Katrina Jenson have triple digit kills for the Eagles this season, all about evenly distributed.  Setting duties look to be about evenly split between Grace Penn, and Sophia Lambros.

Overall, this shouldn't be a significant challenge for the Cards.  As long as they, as I frequently say, just show up and play the way we know they're capable, they should be fine.

The match tips at 1pm, and is available on ACC Network Extra.

-- JMcA

Cards Take Care of Business -- SATURDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

Field Hockey Returns to Winning Ways

After suffering their first loss of the season on the road last week against UNC, Louisville field hockey returned home to face a James Madison team that was not quite as big of a threat as they may be normally. At 2-5 entering the game, JMU was looking to get their season back on track with a big road win against a top-5 opponent, but Louisville had other plans. The Cards struck early and often, with Emilia Kaczmarczyk scoring a brace, to cruise to a 4-1 victory.

Louisville (and Kazzy) very nearly kicked things off even earlier than they actually did, as the Cards earned a penalty corner just two minutes into the game. Kaczmarczyk forced a save on the attempt, but it wouldn't be until later in the quarter that Louisville would score their first. I wasn't able to watch the game, and the box score is quite confused about the sequence of events, but the Cards nabbed the lead on a Chloe Plumb goal halfway through the quarter. Plumb was assisted by Julie Kouijzer, but the question is whether it was a penalty corner goal or not. Louisville took two in the quarter, and the second is listed directly above the goal. However, it is also listed as occurring four minutes later. To further complicate the matter, below Plumb's goal, the play-by-play indicates "tipped penalty corner shot." Either way, Louisville held a 1-0 lead.

JMU tried to answer at the end of the quarter, earning a shot from open play, but Merlijn van der Vegt was up to the task, picking up one of two saves on the day. In the second quarter, Louisville wasted no time doubling their advantage. After a hectic play in the circle, Aimee Plumb ultimately came out ahead, scoring her fourth goal of the year on an assist by Riley Wollerton 1:43 into the quarter. A minute later, Louisville earned another penalty corner, but Kouijzer's shot went wide. The Cards continued to apply pressure and picked up a flurry of shots from the Plumbs in the 22nd minute of the match. Chloe had a shot saved away, but Louisville quickly reapplied pressure. Aimee took a shot that was blocked and bounced directly to Chloe, who fired one more at the cage but missed high. A minute and a half later, Emilia Kaczmarczyk put the Cards up 3-0 with a reverse shot assisted by Lara Niebler. 

JMU decided it was time for a goalie change at that point, replacing Brandelynn Heinbaugh with Katie Frick with five minutes left in the half. The change came in response to Louisville winning yet another penalty corner, but the JMU coach used the opportunity to challenge the call. The call was overturned, though Louisville would earn a fourth penalty corner shortly before halftime. The play resulted in nothing for the Cards, and the teams hit the locker rooms with Louisville still holding a 3-0 lead.

Louisville's offense was slowed in the second half, with the Cards being outshot for the first time in the third quarter. Overall, Louisville led the shot battle 10 (7) to 5 (3). Three of JMU's shots came in the third, as they controlled possession for nearly the entire quarter. The Dukes earned a penalty corner six minutes into the third but couldn't get a shot off. A few minutes later, they earned a shot from open play but it was high. Encouraged by the attack, they kept it up, finally scoring with six minutes to go in the quarter. A pass from the right side ended up right in front of the cage and was knocked in. Coach Justine Sowry asked for a video referral, but the call was upheld, and Louisville's lead was cut to 3-1. Louisville earned a corner a minute later, but Izzy Bianco's shot was saved. Another penalty corner for JMU was the last recorded effort of the quarter, with van der Vegt again stepping up for the save. JMU was ultimately 0-3 on penalty corners.

Just like the second quarter, Louisville opened the fourth on the attack. A penalty corner 1:24 into the quarter saw the play go just as they drew it up. Aimee Plumb put the corner into play, where Tatum Kroon stopped the ball for Kazzy to step up and fire it home. Louisville moved their advantage back to three goals with a 4-1 lead and improved their penalty conversion to two (or one?) of six. JMU would get one more chance to cut into that lead with ten to go in the game, but their penalty corner shot was blocked away. 

The Cards were largely dominant in this one, which is what you'd expect in a match against a 2-5 mid-major opponent. You can check out what Coach Justine Sowry and Kazzy had to say after the victory at the links below. Louisville has another non-conference match before returning to ACC play, this time with an unusual Tuesday midday game at Miami (OH). The Cardinals and Redhawks will get underway at 2PM, and no video is listed.

Justine Sowry Postgame

Emilia Kaczmarczyk Postgame

Volleyball Opens ACC with Sweep

In case you weren't already aware, Syracuse isn't quite the threat they used to be in volleyball. As some would say: "How the mighty have fallen." The Orange entered yesterday's match in L&N Federal Credit Union Arena at just 2-8, with wins over Cornell and Morgan State by a combined 6-1 score. All eight losses had been sweeps, including by teams such as Delaware State, Belmont, and Colgate. It has been a tough year. Louisville didn't make that year any easier, sending the Orange up the road to Notre Dame with a 25-15, 25-11, 25-8 sweep. 

Syracuse held a 2-0 lead in the second set. It was their only lead of the match as Louisville dominated while playing a largely rotated lineup. The Cards hit .452 as a team in the match while holding Syracuse to just -0.056. They did so with just eight blocks, meaning Syracuse had 17 "unforced" hitting errors. Yikes. Louisville committed just five errors themselves, with two of those being Syracuse blocks. 

As I mentioned, the Cards put a lot of players on the floor, with 15 earning at least one set played. Aiko Jones and Elle Glock nursing injuries made way for Brigitta Petrenko and Alanna Bankston to see a lot more time. Cara Cresse also sat this one out, allowing Reese Robins and Hannah Sherman to show their stuff in the middle. The middles had perhaps the biggest coming out party. Robins and Sherman combined for 11 kills, with Robins' seven being second on the team behind nine from Anna DeBeer. Robins also added four block assists to Sherman's three BAs and two solo blocks. Bankston had a nice day as well, coming third on the team in kills with six on fourteen attempts. 

Petrenko played well in relief of Glock, picking up 23 assists on Louisville's 36 kills. Glock had 9 more. It was a relatively muted day at the serving line for Louisville, with a final total of four aces and seven service errors. They did still win that battle, though, with Syracuse matching the number of errors and having just two aces of their own. Louisville got one ace each from Petrenko, Elena Scott, serving specialist Kamden Schrand, and redshirt freshman setter Alexis Finnvold. 

In addition to her four kills on four attempts, Aiko Jones added a solo block in her limited minutes. Elena Scott was the usual stalwart at libero, picking up 15 digs. Depending on which stats you look at, that puts the junior at 999 career digs. The problem is that we can't figure out what stats are being used to give her that number. Disagreements between the stats on the volleyball team page and Scott's individual player page are leading to the confusion, with no obvious distinction to identify why the numbers are different. By our calculations, Scott joined the 1000 dig club earlier this season. At any rate, she's sure to meet the mark on Sunday against Boston College.

Louisville was never in danger in this one, with even the 2-0 deficit in the second quickly turning into a 6-2 and then 10-3 advantage. The first set, ultimately the closest, saw Syracuse hang around early, keeping within touching distance by making the score 7-5. The Cards then won five of the next six points to make it 12-6. A service error made it 12-7, but the Orange would get no closer in the set. Up two sets to none entering the third, Louisville put Syracuse out of their misery quickly. Louisville won the first six points and extended their lead to 13-2. After a few traded points kept the deficit at 11, Louisville went on another five point run to go up 22-6. Believe it or not, Syracuse was unable to win 18 of the next 20 points that they would need to extend the set. 

The win was a good one for Louisville to open conference play, coming off of the unfortunate reverse sweep to start the week against Stanford. Sunday's match against BC will give the Cards another chance to get back in their groove before a Wednesday night match on the road against the always irritating Notre Dame. Louisville and BC will get started at 1PM and the match will be on ACCNX.

Cardinal Couple Radio Hour Podcast

The crew will be a bit lighter today as Daryl and I continue to abuse our bodies (primarily ears, feet, and skin) with another day at Louder Than Life. Paulie, Jeff, and Jared will make sure the show goes on, though, and there's plenty of positive and exciting stuff happening for Louisville on campus to discuss in this week's episode. 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

All photos by Jared Anderson

Cards WSOC upsets Pitt 3-2 -- Field Hockey and Volleyball today -- FRIDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

CARDS OUTSCORE PANTHERS TO GET FIRST ACC WIN

It was a nice turn of events Thursday night for Louisville women's soccer. They jumped out to a 2-0 lead against a Pitt WSOC squad that had been outscoring opponents 21-7 on the season. Pitt made a run, you almost expected they would, but Louisville held firm in the final minutes and walked off the Lynn  Stadium turf with a "W"

How did Cards head WSOC Coach Karen Ferguson-Dayes and her players feel about the 3-2 win? Hard to say, since the team did not do any post game interviews. 

The win was Louisville's second of the season and one that the Cards never trailed in. A huge "thank you" is due goalkeeper Erryn Floyd, who was making some incredible stops out on the pitch and ended up with six saves. She'll also get my "Player of the Week" award...she was spectacular in holding Virginia to just one goal earlier in the week. Credit Emma Hiscock, Emerson Jennings and Mackenzie Geigle as well, all with their first goals of the season. And, credit a tenacious Cards defense that bent a few times but never completely broke. The 3-4-3 alignment seemed to work, and it definitely had the Panthers confused at times. 

If you saw this one as a "back against the wall" scenario for Louisville coming into the match, you weren't far off. The Cards needed a quality win or two to give them some inspiration and hope going into ACC play. The tie on Sunday against Virginia was a sign of things moving in the right direction. Last night's win added fuel to the fire. 

We, at Cardinal Couple, hear all the speculation and murmurs about it maybe being "time for a change" at UofL in WSOC leadership. I can't subscribe to the theory, though. We did see it as a rebuilding year for Cards WSOC and the rebuild has just taken a bit longer than we figured it might. And, the Cards are doing it without Maya Maxwell, Lizzie Sexton and Autumn Weeks....out with injuries or other unspecified situations. 

A long homestand stretch comes to an end, and...the rigors and uncertainties of the road begin, with a trip to Miami for a Sunday match.  Sebastian the Ibus' squad is at 2-4-3 on the season and took a shellacking at the hands of Clemson (in Coral Gables) 5-0 Thursday night. 

Let's wish the "kickin" Cards" the best of breaks and a few wins over the next four matches. Notre Dame, Florida State and Syracuse all have very, very good squads this season and the Cards defense will get a test in the next four. At least Syracuse and FSU are playing in Lynn. 

253 is a sad number for attendance, though, Cardinal fans. Especially for a free match. Maybe a bunch of would be fans were over at Louder Than Life over at the KEC, but the players do respond to and notice cheering crowds. If Dayton can bring in 2,000 for a home game, you'd think we'd could beat that. Maybe the 8 p.m. start played a role in the low attendance (it was a school night, after all)  but...what the ACC Network wants, it usually gets. 

After Friday's matches the Cards are alone in second place in the conference standing with four points. FSU, UNC and Notre Dame are tied for first with six points and 2-0 records. Overall the Cards are 2-1-4. I'm still not sure if I like this new rule about no overtimes until playoff or tournament season. Sure, it shortens a game up, but...maybe, just, maybe the fans who do show up would like to see a winner. Why not go to Field Hockey's reduced players on the pitch and a shoot-out to settle these ties?  The age-old cry of 90 minutes is enough to settle a contest doesn't appear to be holding water this season. There are 29 "ties" on the combined ACC schedule results so far. That's out of about 120 "results" (win, loss or tie)

I could never be a head soccer coach. The "tie" was something I never grew up with playing basketball and rarely encountered on the gridiron. 

I hope to see you out for WSOC on Oct 5th at Lynn. It's the Noles coming to call. With me, it's usually health-related if I don't show, these days. 

Don't lose those new home uniforms, equipment operations crew...they're on a one-game win streak.

( PHOTOS BY JARED ANDERSON)                                  

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

A doubleheader on Floyd Street awaits you today. Field Hockey starts it off with a 5 p.m. match against JMU over in Trager and Volleyball hosts Syracuse at 7 p.m. in the LNFCU. I hope to see you at Field Hockey and Jared will be dragging his bad back to both events, most likely.

paulie

WSoc Hosts Pitt for Late Kickoff -- THURSDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

Cards vs Panthers Set to Begin at 8:00

Louisville women's soccer is back in action after a five-day break. The Cards host ACC foe Pitt for an 8:00pm kickoff. This one is scheduled for ACC Network linear so you can catch this on both tv and online. The Cards look to get their second win of the season.

Most recently, Louisville drew with then-#20 Virginia 1-1. It was the third goal allowed by the Cavaliers on the year and the draw was the first point Louisville ever earned in the series.

Tonight's match is being promoted as Noche Latina (Latin Night) in conjunction with the University Cultural Center. 

At 8-1-0, Pitt may not be receiving the credit they deserve. The Panthers lone loss is a 2-1 score at ranked Xavier. It's one of two times they have been held to just one goal and they have not been shut out this year. Pitt is averaging an impressive 3.11 goals per game, which is eighth in the country. Their assist numbers ranks third.

Amanda West and Sarah Schupansky each have six goals this season while Samiah Phiri has five. Those three rank in the top 100 of all players in the country in scoring.

Pitt has allowed seven goals on the year and have shut out three opponents. Xavier is the only team to score multiple goals against the Panthers.

Louisville will have their hands full with Pitt and I expect to see a pretty heavy defensive set from Coach Karen Ferguson-Dayes and Co. Most likely, the formation will be some form of 4-4-2 or even a non-traditional 5-3-2 or 5-4-1.

Night games, especially later-than-normal kickoffs, can be tough but we hope to have a good Cardinal Couple showing for this one.

Happy Thursday and Go Cards!

Jared

2023 UofL Hall of Fame Class Announced -- WEDNESDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

Hello readers and Happy Hump day!

It's Daryl checking in with you before the (holiday) weekend LOL If you asked my friend group, they would tell you this weekend is definitely a holiday in our book. Its also my last week at the Bats for the season. So that means its officially official the Fall season!!!! Bring on the pumpkins!!!

UofL Athletics announced that it was time to recognize the 2023 Hall of Fame class of Cardinals. If there are some names that seem familiar to you, congratulations that means you are getting old. Heck, one of them was in my class when I was a student at UofL!  The class will be inducted on Friday October 27th.  


The memorable 2023 Athletics Hall of Fame class includes:


Carlos Almeida (Swimming, 2008-12)

Ibn Green (Football, 1995-99)

Matt Hughes (Track and Field, 2008-11)

Justin Marks (Baseball, 2007-09)

Sandy Pearsall (Softball, 2000-18)

Monique Reid (Women's Basketball, 2008-13)

Felton Spencer (Men's Basketball, 1986-90)

Lena Sokolowski (Volleyball, 2002-05)








For brand sake, we will just cover the Women’s athletics Class of 2023 HOFers


Sandy Pearsall (Softball, 2000-18)

Sandy Pearsall was tabbed to start the softball program at the University of Louisville when she helped christen UofL's Ulmer Stadium with a winning season, earning 2000 Conference USA Coach of the Year honors along the way. During her 19 seasons she guided the Cardinals to 718 wins, six conference championships, 13 NCAA regional appearances and four regional finals and served as a host site in 2009, 2011, 2012 and 2013.

Under Pearsall's guidance, the Cardinals produced eight National Fastpitch Coaches Association (NFCA) All-Americans, 101 all-league selections (27 All-Conference USA, 54 Big East, five American Athletic Conference, 14 Atlantic Coast Conference). Throughout her tenure, her teams produced 30 or more wins 17 times, tallying eight seasons with at least 40 victories, including a school-record 55-5 campaign in 2012.

Pearsall and her staff were also named the 2012 Big East Coaching Staff of the Year.



Monique Reid (Women's Basketball, 2008-13)

One of the top front court players in women's basketball program history, Monique Reid helped guide the Cards to unprecedented heights by leading the Cards to the national title game in 2009 and 2013. A forward, Reid finished her career with 1,725 points, which is the eighth-best total in school history. Appearing in 141 career games, Reid's name is etched in the UofL record books. She ranks second in free throws made with 430 and stands seventh in field goals made with 643. As a sophomore in 2009-10, Reid was named the Big East's Conference Most Improved Player after she averaged 18.4 points per game and 9.2 rebounds a contest. She closed that season with 188 free throws made, which is the second most in a season in school history.

A two-time first-team All-Big East performer, Reid led the Cardinals in scoring in 2010 and 2011, when she averaged 18.4 and 15.5 points per game, respectively.



Lena Sokolowski (Volleyball, 2002-05)

An All-American outside hitter...Lena Sokolowski lettered from 2002-2005 and still holds the record for in kills in a season, aces in a season and is second in both career total attacks and career kills (1861). She was a three-time Conference Tournament MVP and led the Cards to four NCAA Appearances, four Conference Championships and two Sweet Sixteens. She was a three-time member of the Ukraine National Team and played pro in Turkey and led her team to World Club Championship.

As a freshman, she was named to the C-USA All-Freshman team before being named to the All-C-USA Tournament. As a sophomore she was First Team All-C-USA, C-USA Tournament MVP, AVCA All-Midwest Region. As a junior, she was voted on the 2004 All-C-USA 1st team, 2004 C-USA Tournament MVP and the 2004 AVCA All-Midwest Region. In 2005, she was voted First Team All-Big East, Big East MVP, AVCA All-American and Volleyball Magazine All-American.

As Always

Go Cards!

~Daryl 

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