Lax and Softball Weekend Results -- TUESDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

With the main focus of yesterday's post recapping Louisville women's basketball and their heartbreaking loss at Syracuse (what a BS call at the end), we delayed our reporting of lacrosse and softball to today. Yes, we have spring sports in action!

Furious Comeback Falls Short for Lacrosse

Looking to bounce back from their season-opening loss at Denver, Louisville lacrosse turned their attention towards Colorado. Ultimately, the Cards fell 16-15 after the Buffaloes scored the go-ahead goal with 1:37 remaining.

Like their match at Denver, Louisville trailed Colorado at the half by a decent margin. Colorado held a 11-6 lead but the Cards burst out of the gate in the second half with three goals in under four minutes and cut the deficit to two. They would later get within one but a pair of Colorado goals put things at a three-goal margin entering the final quarter.

After surrendering a goal immediately to start the fourth quarter, the Cards pieced together a 4-0 run to even things at 15-15, with much of the credit going to Nicole Perroni and Allegra Catalano. Louisville had a chance to pull ahead with two and a half minutes left in the game, but a key Colorado save mounted a push down the field and a goal for the hosts.

We talked about the focus on draw controls this season and it has been apparent to this point. The Cards held their own and only lost the draw control battle by two. Offensively, they were efficient again with 22 of the 26 shots being on frame (meaning the ball either went into the net or was going to go into the net had it not been saved). They scored 15 goals on the 26 shots, well over the 50% mark.

Nicole Perroni, Allegra Catalano, and Kylea Dobson (all seniors or COVID-19 year super-seniors) each scored four goals. Negai Nakazawa added two goals and her sister Kokoro scored the other goal. All five players also scored in the loss against Denver.

Sara Addeche recorded 10 saves while allowing 16 goals. Her save percentage was higher than that of her Colorado counterpart, but you have to ask your defense to step up and limit shots.

Shoutout to Perroni, who scored her 100th career goal (all with Louisville) in the game. She also continued her scoring streak to 38 straight games, a program record.

The Cards will play in their home opener on Friday at noon against Marquette.

Softball Remains Perfect with A Win, Plays Again Today

Louisville softball is off to their best start since 2012 by improving to 5-0. The Cards wrapped up their time in the FGCU Kickoff Classic with 7-0 victory against the host the Eagles.

Izzy Harrison got the start in the circle and went 3.1 innings while only allowing one hit. After walking her fourth batter of the game, Coach Holly Aprile gave Harrison the call to head to the dugout and called upon Brooke Gray, who got the Cards through the sixth inning. Gabby Holloway came in in relief to pitch the seventh inning, but Gray (2-0) got the honors of earning her second win of her young career.

Home runs by Riley Frizell and Vanessa Miller put the Cards up 2-0 in the second inning. A defensive error by FGCU allowed the Cards to add a third run in the fourth inning. The rest of the damage came in the fifth inning, with the Cards tallying four runs. 

Besides the pair of home runs, the other multi-base hits came on a triple by Daisy Hess and doubles by Frizell and Kiley Goff.

The Cards tallied eight hits on 29 at bats, which isn't great, but they made the most of their hits. Efficient and timely hits is far better than spacing out hits over multiple innings and leaving runners stranded, an issue we have seen in past years.

The Cards are right back in action today with a 5:00 game at FIU in Miami, Fla. FIU is 2-3 on the season with wins over Stony Brook and Southeast Missouri. The Cards own the all-time series 4-0. You can stream in on ESPN+.

Happy Tuesday and Go Cards!

Jared