Field Hockey Wraps Regular Season
Field Hockey went to Chestnut Hill, and wrapped the regular season with a 2-1 win over Boston College in what proved to be a tough battle that the Cards really needed after several recent losses.
The game was a defensive battle for much of regulation, but Boston College finally broke through in the 53rd minute. The Cards would return the favor less than a minute later. Jane Ramsey got her second goal of the season off the assist from Rylie Wollerton.
Neither team was able to produce any more offense, and regulation ended in a 1-1 tie. The teams then sent diminished squads of seven players onto the turf for the 10 minute overtime period, similarly completing it without scoring. Less than three minutes into the second overtime period, however, Louisville would get its 10th corner penalty attempt and after several passes around the circle would fire the shot home. India Reed was initially, and on the live stream, credited with the goal, which would have been the first of the season for Louisville native, but later review credits the goal to Mia Duchars, with the assist to Aimee Plumb.
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Up next for the Cards is the ACC Championship, hosted by UVA in Charlottesville, where they will be the three seed. In the seven team tourney, that means they'll be playing the six seed which is...Boston College, so the Eagles won't have to wait long to try to even the score. The tournament gets underway on Halloween, the 31st, and will wrap up on November 3rd. The first game for UofL is in the 6pm slot on the 31st, and all of the games in the tournament will be on linear ACC Network, though of course, streaming is always an option as well.
In related news, UNC and Duke took the 1 and 2 seeds of the tournament, which is probably not much of a surprise to anyone, but UNC did it by beating Duke 2-1 to tie the standings in the conference and at the same time getting the tie breaker in the head to head.
Volleyball Sweeps Florida State
The Fighting DBKs hosted Florida State at LNFCU Arena last night, in a bout to partly break what was the then three way tie for the top spot in the standings in the ACC. Louisville, FSU, and of course Pitt, were the three teams sitting atop the ACC. Georgia Tech was close behind at 8-2.
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| Cara Cresse being dominant at the net |
The Cards take the win, and remain in the even-steven atop the ACC leaderboard, 25-20, 25-22, 25-16 against a solid FSU team. Louisville held FSU, one of the most efficient offenses in the country, to a mere .088 hitting.
A couple of unusual bits from FSU, coming onto the floor with a 6'1" libero is an unusual choice, though she did a fine job in the position, so I can't fault the coaching decision to go with such a tall defensive player. Also, they consistently ran a 6-2 offense, which we've seen a little of from the Cards, but FSU ran it for the whole match. My guess is that Kenna Phelan is considered the top setter on the team, but at a mere 5'7" she is likely just too much of a blocking liability.
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| Charitie Luper was a monster in defense, including this chase almost to the bench. |
Aiko Jones stepped up in a big way last night, with 13 kills at a .440 clip. Cara Cresse was right alongside with 8 kills and .438 hitting. Charitie Luper and Anna DeBeer also killed 8, but with rather lower percentages. Luper arguably had a bigger impact on the match in defense, with nine digs, showing good results from a recent emphasis on defensive play.
Shout out, also, to Dan Meske for his first kill of the season, in the second set when an intruder scuttled out onto the court. Meske stepped up to squish the bug and sweep it off the floor. He even got a PA announcement for the kill. Another moment of amusement in the second set, when Louisville won a point that included an overhead set by Elena Scott. The FSU players initially were quite certain that Scott was partly standing in front of the 3-meter line and got FSU coach Chris Poole to bring out the challenge card. While debating it, however, and starting to talk with the down ref about it, the players saw the replay on the scoreboard, saw that Scott had lifted her left leg that was in front of the line, leaving only her right leg in contact with the floor behind the line, making the overhead set legal for the libero.
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| Dan Meske, with the kill. Anna DeBeer points out the scene of the crime. Kamden Schrand is less than enthused. |
Ultimately, the Cards had their way with FSU rather more easily than expected. While the Sunshine state squad had several early head scratcher losses to teams like SMU, Auburn, and UCF, they have been playing good volleyball since starting conference play.
As for the other contender at the top of the ACC, Pitt had an easy win last night over Virginia Tech (25-13, 25-14, 25-14).
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| Elena Scott continuing to make her case for being the top libero in the country. |
Next up for Volleyball, the other Florida school in the ACC, Miami, comes to visit tomorrow after their Friday evening 4-set win over Notre Dame.
(Photos by Jared Anderson)
Cardinal Couple Radio Hour Podcast
Join us or the Cardinal Couple Radio Hour Podcast this morning at 11am. Paulie and I will be on the call, and we think there's a chance that Daryl will be able to join us? I'm hopeful. Case and Jared are unavailable. We'll cover the wrap-up of the Field Hockey regular season, the end of the soccer season, and Volleyball's continued play. I'm looking forward to hearing, from Paulie, highlights of the WBB Tip-Off luncheon, which I was unable to attend.
Check out the live stream on Youtube on the Cardinal Couple channel:
Don't challenge Elena, she KNOWS what she's doing 💯👍
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