Lacrosse and Softball Both Fall at Home -- MONDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

While there was plenty of excitement and drama around the country with women's basketball, the campus of the University of Louisville was busy. On the women's side, lacrosse, softball, and women's tennis had ACC match-ups while on the men's side, baseball played host on the day. All teams on campus suffered losses in a one-in-a-million day. In fact, the weekend was pretty bad overall. Softball got swept, women's basketball suffered a loss, men's tennis got upset, and men's basketball lost again. It was certainly a weekend to forget.

Lacrosse Can't Overcome Early Deficit to Boston College

One of the earliest events on campus yesterday was lacrosse. The Cards welcomed #3 Boston College the Louisville Lacrosse Stadium. The Eagles have played in the last six national championships, COVID-19 season excluded, so this one was going to be a battle. Ultimately, Boston College was able to able to hold off the Cards, 17-14.

Louisville won the opening draw and wasted no time going down the pitch to score in just 33 seconds. Boston College had a quick answer by scoring twice over the next 59 seconds. This was the start of a 5-0 run for the Eagles before the Cards score a few seconds before the end of the first quarter.

The final three quarters were played even between the two foes (7-7 second quarter, 2-2 third quarter, and 3-3 fourth quarter). The Cards cut their deficit to three several times throughout the match but could not get over the hump to get any closer. Boston College found themselves up five twice in the second half, but each time the Cards used 2-0 spurts to cut into that lead.

Boston College has allowed more than 11 goals twice this season- a 14-11 loss to reigning champions Northwestern and yesterday's match. The Eagles have also averaged over 20 goals per game and were held well under that mark.

Kokoro Nakazawa powered the Louisville offense with four goals while Nicole Perroni and Kylea Dobson each recorded a hat trick. On the defensive end, Sara Addeche picked up 10 saves.

Perroni set a program record scoring streak of 44-straight games where a player records either a goal or save or both. She also holds the program record of goal-scoring streak of 44-straight games, recording a goal in each of those matches.

An interesting stat that worked in favor for Louisville was winning the draw control battle 20-15. Turnovers and ground balls worked in favor of the Eagles though.

Despite Louisville (3-5) losing, this was one of their more impressive games over the last few seasons. They went toe-to-toe with one of the top teams in the country for a full 60 minutes.

I got a chance to speak with Coach Scott Teeter and Kokoro Nakazawa after match. You can watch the full video here.

Softball Seventh-Inning Rally Falls Short

Louisville softball concluded their series against #15 Virginia Tech yesterday evening. The Cards tried to piece together a late rally with the game-tying run on third base, but fell to the Hokies, 4-3.

A solo home run put Virginia Tech ahead in the first inning and they never looked back. The Hokies' bats were kept in check over the next few innings before the broke through with a pair of runs in the fifth inning and another in the sixth inning. The Cards broke the shutout on their end with a run in the bottom of the sixth inning and added two more in the bottom of the seventh inning.

Brooke Gray got the start in the circle for Louisville. The freshman posted decent numbers with five hits allowed over 4.1 innings. She did not record any strikeouts though. Gabby Holloway came in in relief and allowed three hits over the final 2.2 innings.

Daisy Hess opened the sixth frame with a double and advanced to third on a groundout by Vanessa Miller. Riley Frizell's hit got past the left side of the infield to plate Hess. In the seventh, a single and a hit-by-pitch put multiple runners on base. Hess came in with a blooper to right field near the foul line that turned into a triple. With the tying run on the third, the Cards tried to continue the rally but fell short.

Hess and Ally Alexander each had two hits with Louisville tallying seven hits. They struggled at the plate, though, with eight strikeouts and six runners left on base.

The Cards have lost three straight and are now 16-8. They remain at home to host the Cardinal Classic and play one game each from Thursday-Sunday.

Basketball Results Around the Country

Conference Championship Day provided plenty of thrilling finishes. Iowa outlasted Nebraska in overtime to win the Big Ten Championship. Notre Dame rallied in the fourth quarter to defeat NC State in the ACC Championship. South Carolina and LSU got involved in a major fight down the stretch that led to over a dozen ejections and the arrest of a fan before the Gamecocks won the SEC Championship. USC upset Stanford to win the final Pac-12 Championship. Georgetown upset Creighton while UConn allowed 0 points in the fourth quarter against Marquette in the Big East semifinals. The Blue Jays and Huskies play for the title tonight.

In the Cardinal Couple ACC Pick Em

 

We had a tie among a few brackets at 10-4. Looking at the point total tiebreaker, my records have Nick O taking this year's title. I've got Paulie double checking my math on the second place finishers but it was another exciting ACC Tournament.

editor note...Nick O is your winner by the total points , Jared gets second....Both had 10-4 records Thanks to all for playing    --paulie

Happy Monday and Go Cards!

Jared