WBB Gameday
Women's Basketball has a noon start today vs Virginia. An early start with unusual video coverage as The CW has the video for this one. That's WBKI channel 58 on broadcast here in Louisville.
But of course, we'll all be making the early trek to watch this one in person at the KFC Yum! Center right? I have to admit that the early start time has put me in a bit of time crunch this morning. With the huge amount of activity going on this weekend...well, it makes for an interesting morning.
The game against Virginia should give the Cards an opportunity to get a small win streak going, after the win over Georgia Tech on Thursday in Atlanta. The Cavaliers sport a 13-13 record overall and are 5-10 in conference. In the non-conference, nothing too remarkable in their record with wins over mid-majors and lower, and losses to teams you would expect. The only real exception was a loss to Wofford, though it was by only a single point.
In conference things get a bit more chaotic, because, well, ACC. A pair of losses to NC State, sure, makes sense. Losses to Georgia Tech, Duke, and North Carolina, and Notre Dame, yeah, sounds like a team that's going to struggle in conference overall. Then they go and beat Florida State, lose to Pitt, and then beat North Carolina. They lost to Virginia Tech, which is no shame, then lose to Clemson. Wins over Boston College and Wake Forest make sense as does a loss to Syracuse. Finally, they come into the KFC Yum! Center today with a win over Miami in their rear view.
Overall a team that's, not great, but not bottom of the barrel either, but you have to admit there are some surprises in their in conference play.
Kymora Johnson is the scoring threat for UVA, shooting 42% overall, and 30% from beyond the arc. Camryn Taylor is next, with higher efficiency, but less frequency. 46% shooting overall for her, but a whooping 55+% from beyond the arc.
Let's get to the KFC Yum! Center early and get this one in the books. We need all the wins we can get in these last few games, and it definitely doesn't get any easier.
Off Court News
I don't tend to follow recruiting news closely, but a big verbal came in last night as Mackenly Randolph, daughter of Zach Mckenley Randolph who had a significant career playing for five different NBA teams. Definitely a good pickup for coach Walz and the team.
Another piece of big news came in one of the most anti-climactic ways. In a Facebook comment, Olivia Cochran responded to a WBB fan stating that she wasn't participating in Senior night festivities this year as she will be returning to use her Covid year of eligibility to play next year. Another year of "Welcome to the Show" sits just fine with me.
Lacrosse Wilts Under the Lights
Lacrosse moved over to the L&N Federal Credit Union Stadium last night, hosting Virginia Tech for their conference opener.
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Nicole Perroni continues to consecutive game scoring streak |
Louisville started out well, or well Nicole Perroni did, at least. Notching her 41st straight game with at least one score, she did so with a hat trick in the first quarter of play leading the Cards out to a 4-2 advantage.
The lead wouldn't last, though, as The Hokies got the next three goals starting out the second quarter before Perroni would again come in with a goal to stop the slide and bring the score to an even 5-5 at halftime.
A bit of a scorefest in the 3rd quarter, but alas, mostly for VT, as they reeled off five straight over the course of the 15 minutes. Kokoro Nakazawa would stop the run, but would be answered by V Tech. Rian Adkins put a literal last second shot into the net in the 3rd quarter to claw one back, ending the quarter at 7-11 with the Hokies in the lead.
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Sara Addeche guarding the goal well |
The 4th quarter ended up being a wash, with each team netting three shots. UofL scores were a pair by Kokoro Nakazawa, as well as one by Kylea Dobson. The final score was 10-14 with the victory going to Virginia Tech.
Sara Addeche performed well in goal with eight saves, though credit to VT's goalkeeper for her nine. VT did take more shots on goal than UofL, but not by a significant margin, 22-19.
UofL will look for their first conference win on Saturday with a trip up to Pittsburgh.
Jared was out there snapping pics and got to talk to coach following the match
Softball
Furman
Softball, despite several delays due to weather, did get both of their planned games in yesterday. The schedule was altered and things got started early.
Furman was the first foe, and it didn't go particularly well for the Cards. The offense performed up to par, but Furman was just able to outscore the Cards putting up 13 to UofL's 8.
Runs scored for the Cards started in the 3rd inning, where Vanessa Miller singled to right field, scoring Kiley Goff, and Bailee Richardson who were on base thanks to a hit-by-pitch, and a walk.
In the 4th, Gabby Holloway singled, Ally Alexander walked but then was out on Chelsea Mack's fielder's choice, but Goff's walk filled the bases. Holloway would score on a wild pitch with other runners advancing. Richardson then grounded out, but Mack would make it home on the play. Louisville had four runs at this point, but alas, Furman had nine.
Louisville would score a trio in the 6th. Chelsea Mack reached on a fielder's choice and advanced to 2nd on a Goff groundout. She promptly stole third...it's not just Daisy Hess out here stealing bases for the Cards. Richardson doubled, and scored Mack. Riley Frizell singled, moving Richardson to 3rd. Both then advanced, with Richardson scoring, on a wild pitch, Frizell then scored on a Vanessa Miller double. A nice tally of seven by the Cards, but Furman had made it to 13 by this point.
Finally, the last try, would see Paige Geraghty single, then advance to 3rd on a Holloway single. Geraghty would then score on an Ally Alexander fielder's choice. Final score, 13-8.
The Cards would throw half their bullpen into the circle at various times trying to stop Furman, with Holloway, Izzy Harrison, Sam Booe, and Lindsey Mullen all taking their turns. Only Mullen was able to keep Furman off the scoreboard, but they then the damage had been done.
Coastal Carolina
The second game for the Cards was against Coastal Carolina, after getting the afternoon to recover a bit, this one started at 4:37pm. Maybe UofL just isn't a morning team as they took the win in this one 6-2.
Freshman Katie Thatcher got on the scoreboard first. Starting off the 3rd inning with a single up the middle, she decided to make her mark in the steals column as well, taking 2nd. She advanced to 3rd on Ally Alexander's groundout and scored on Paige Geraghty's single. Mack sacrificed to move Geraghty to 2nd, and then Geraghty scored on a Frizell single. Score after three, 2-0.
Nothing else happened until the 7th inning and with two outs already up on the board. Frizell singled, and scored on a Vanessa Miller "Grass, Track, Fence". The Cards kept going, however. Richardson singled, Goff got hit by a pitch, and Holloway, pinch hitting for Madi Grant, filled the bases with a single. Grant returned for the running. Another freshman stepped up as Ava Venturelli pinch hit for Thatcher and got a single, scoring Richardson and Goff. That would get the Cards to their final score of six, though Coastal Carolina, scoreless through this point in the game, would get a pair across in the bottom of the 7th, it wouldn't be enough.
At the time of this writing, the Cards are just underway with their next game, against Bowling Green at the Battle of the Beach.
Swim and Dive
The Cardinal women came in 2nd overall in the ACC Swimming and Diving Championship. The Cards appeared to accomplish this through mostly scoring well in nearly all events, with the only podium finish for the team being a silver in the final event of the day, the 400 freestyle relay. Lucy Mehraban, Gabi Albiero, Christiana Regenauer, and Julia Dennis turned in the 3rd fastest time in school history in the event.
Track and Field
The Indoor Track and Field teams were also competing in the ACC Championships. Overall team finishes were nothing spectacular, but we did want to highlight a couple of competitors.
Following in a long history of good Cardinal throwers, Jayden Ulrich won the shot put event. Natalie Lark placed second in the pole vault. and Alba Cuns Iglesias placed third in the triple jump.
The team now waits to see who will be advancing to the NCAA Indoor Championships in Boston before they turn their attention to the out of doors.
Technical Difficulties for the CCRHP
Technical Difficulties have thus far prevented yesterday's CCRHP from being posted in podcast form. I'll be taking another stab at it later this afternoon to try to get it posted. We had a good discussion with Daryl, Jared, Paulie and myself about basketball, lacrosse, and softball.
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JMcA