WSoc Plays Even with Ranked Virginia -- Volleyball Welcomes Stanford -- SUNDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

Women's Soccer Draws with #20 Virginia

The Louisville bench celebrates a goal

Happy Sunday, Cards fans! While most of the attention was turned towards a certain game in Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis (a Louisville team won that game) we turned our attention to a Louisville game happening on campus. Louisville women's soccer welcomed #20 Virginia to Dr Mark and Cindy Lynn Stadium. The Cards and Cavaliers played to a 1-1 draw.

Paulie, Sonya, Case and his wife Lindsay, and I were in attendance. They were present for the entire match while I arrived for the second half. Photographing two sports in two different states in the span of a few hours proved to be pretty exhausting and I needed a quick break before heading over to Lynn Stadium. 

Autumn Weeks heads the ball

Lucy Roberts recorded her first goal as a Cardinal and seventh of her career early into the second half before Virginia answered with 10 minutes remaining into the match. Virginia had allowed just two goals on the season coming into the match so a Louisville team that has struggled on offense being able to score is huge.

The first half proved to be fairly quiet. Virginia had an opportunity midway through the half on a good ball into the box that found its way close to the far post, but Erynn Floyd was able to handle the shot for one of her four saves.

Lucy Roberts scores for Louisville

Louisville had a solid look right before the half on a corner with a few seconds left. The ball was served into the box and ended up at the feet of Karsyn Cherry, who quickly took the shot. Virginia got the save right as the clock hit zero to go into the half.

Early in the second half, Louisville pressured the Virginia back line both on offense and defense. The Cards earned a free kick right in front of their own bench. Addie Chester took the kick and sent it to the middle of the box where Fiona Gaißer received the pass and set the ball up at the near post for Lucy Roberts. Roberts sent the shot across the goal to the opposite corner for the Louisville lead.

Erynn Floyd records a save

Over time, Virginia began taking control of possession and spent a good chunk of the time pressing forward. Lizzie Sexton went down with a lower body injury that appeared to be serious based on her struggles at walking off the field following the match. The Wahoos capitalized on the Cards losing one of the their top defenders and quickly pressed on that side. UVA relied on quick passes to move the ball from the near side to the middle of the box and got the shot to the far post away from Erynn Floyd for the equalizer.

UVA seemed to have momentum over the final few minutes but the UofL defense stood firm and refused to surrender a second goal.

Louisville's record now stands at 1-4-4. They host Pitt this Thursday at 8:00 pm.

Volleyball Welcomes Stanford to KFC Yum! Center

Phekran "PK" Kong with a block

As you may have noticed, Jeff and I traded writes this week. He took over Thursday to provide an excellent recap of Louisville volleyball sweeping rival Kentucky. It also gave me a chance to edit those game photos and get to bed a little before midnight. In return, I get to preview another ranked volleyball match today at the KFC Yum! Center.

Louisville plays host to #5 Stanford at 1:00 pm today. This one is slated for ESPN2.

The Cardinal (no S, get it right ESPN) come into the match with a 6-2 record. They fell to #4 Nebraska in four sets earlier this week. Their other loss came to a top-10 Florida team, but Stanford does have wins against ranked opponents in Texas, Ohio State, and Minnesota.

Kamden Schrand celebrates a point

Kendall Kipp (opposite) and Elia Rubin (outside hitter) have carried a good chunk of the attacking with the duo averaging 3.79 and 3.37 kills per set, respectively. Caitie Baird is another outside hitter with strong numbers with 3.29 kills per set. Of course, setter Kami Miner and libero Elena Oglivie have been having All Pac-12 Team seasons so far. The battle of the Elena liberos (Scott for Louisville and Oglivie for Stanford) should be a fun one to watch.

The silent killer for Stanford appears to be its serving, averaging just shy of two aces per set. It's a high risk high reward for the Cardinal, as they also have tallied 110 service errors this season.

The Cardinals and Cardinal have played just once before, with UofL getting the win at the Maples Pavilion last year. We will have multiple Cardinal Couple representatives at today's match.

Where is Field Hockey?

The end of the rainbow is at Trager Stadium

You might be asking why we aren't previewing a Louisville field hockey match today. The answer is simple: off day. After a 6-1 start to the season, the Cards have a well-deserved off day. They've already logged three ranked wins with two of them coming on the road. Most recently, Louisville fell on the road to #2 North Carolina 2-0 but this is still one of the best starts in program history for the Cards. They return home on Friday to host James Madison at 5:00 pm.

Happy Sunday and Go Cards!

Jared