Louisville Announces 2024 Soccer Schedule -- SATURDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

Cards Look to Improve on Last Season

Louisville women's soccer didn't have a stellar season last year. As Jared mentioned earlier this week, the Cards finished 4-9-5 and have not been in the hunt for postseason play in quite some time. Unfortunately, this year's schedule doesn't exactly open things up for them. Louisville will play eight non-conference games before opening conference play on September 14th at Pittsburgh. While the Cards were lucky enough to avoid Florida State, who won the national championship last season, five of their ten conference opponents (including Pitt) finished in the top 16 of the coaches' poll. 

Louisville struggled last season. There's nothing wrong with saying that because it is true. The Cards finished 157th in RPI. That was better than only two ACC teams: Miami and Syracuse. Miami finished 174th and Syracuse, who went 2-14-2 on the season, was 248th. The Cards beat Syracuse at home 2-1 but lost to Miami 0-1 on the road. Louisville drew neither of those teams this season. 

I hear you saying, "Well the ACC is very good. It's no surprise they're all ranked highly." I agree that the ACC is always a difficult task, but the non-conference schedule isn't going to be a cakewalk either. Louisville finished ahead of just four teams on this year's schedule in the RPI last season. I have high hopes for Louisville, though. Last year they suffered from some bad luck and had a lot of youth on the team. This year, we'll see a more experienced lineup, both because of the rising level of returnees and because of some of this season's new transfers. 

Louisville will open the season at home in an exhibition against Butler (University, not High School) on Sunday August 4th. That match will be at 7PM and will be the first of two exhibitions that are publicized. Louisville frequently plays one or two closed-door exhibitions as well. The second will come later that week on August 8th, when the Cards travel to Richmond, KY to take on EKU. Butler was 118th in last year's RPI, while EKU finished 253rd. I'd rather play these exhibitions in the opposite order, but oh well. 

The regular season begins on August 15th with a game against one of those teams ranked behind Louisville last season, as the Cards welcome local foe Bellarmine to Floyd Street. The Knights are entering their fifth season in the ASUN conference and finished last year with an identical record to Louisville in both overall and conference games: 4-9-5 (3-5-2). 

The Cards will stay home for their next two games as well, bringing in UAB on the 18th and New Hampshire on the 22nd. All three games will be in the evening, which I'm sure players will appreciate as mid-August in Louisville is usually far from pleasant soccer weather. UAB finished just 10 spots ahead of the Cards in last year's RPI rankings, while New Hampshire was just eight spots behind. Both of these games will be interesting tests for Louisville in the young season. 

Louisville's next two games are both on the road and only about 20 minutes apart. However, I assume they'll come home between their match against NKU on Sunday the 25th and their match against Cincinnati on Thursday the 29th. Both of those teams finished ahead of Louisville last season, and NKU will be the Cards' first rematch of the 2024 season. Last year, NKU was part of Louisville's two-goal 0-3-2 start as the Norse accounted for the Cards' second 0-0 draw. 

The Cards wrap the non-conference slate with a trio of home games in the first week of September. Evansville and UT Martin represent the last two games Louisville will play against teams that finished behind them in the RPI standings in 2023. Louisville faces the Aces on September 1st at 7PM and the Skyhawks on September 5th at 7:30. The last game of the non-conference schedule comes against Dayton on September 8th. The time is not yet slated, but the Flyers were another contributor to last season's early skid and the Cards will aim to avenge a 1-2 loss. 

 After that first game at Pitt on September 14th, Louisville will get a 12-day break before climbing back on the bus to head to Blacksburg, VA. The Hokies finished just one spot ahead of Louisville last season in the ACC with 12 points to Louisville's 11. The two teams didn't play one another. Pitt will probably be looking for revenge after they were victims of Louisville's shocking start to the conference season when the Cards drew Virginia 1-1 and then beat Pitt 3-2. The first two road conference games will likely be very telling. 

The Cards return home briefly on the 29th to play NC State. The Wolfpack finished with 9 points last year and did not play Louisville. Louisville will get comfortable with the state of North Carolina after that, as they head to Tobacco Road for the weekend to take on UNC on October 3rd and Duke on October 6th. Duke had a bit of a head scratcher last season, spending most of the year ranked, but finishing with just 9 conference points and ending up 48th in the RPI. Louisville defeated them 1-0 to close the year. UNC is UNC and they'll try to reload after last year's top-ten team had among the most players taken in this year's NWSL draft. The Cards did not face the Heels last year.

The Cards will then play a flurry of home games (four, in fact) before the final game of the season is on the road. Notre Dame starts the homestand on October 12th before the next weekend hosts the new California members of the Atlantic Coast Conference. While Louisville avoided the national champion, runner-up Stanford will come to town with Cal in tow for games on the 17th and 20th. Whether Senior Day will come on Sunday the 20th or on the actual last home game of the season is yet to be determined. Louisville will host Boston College on Thursday the 24th at a time not yet announced. The Cards fell to Notre Dame 0-3 last year and drew BC 1-1. They did not play the former PAC-12 schools.

Louisville closes the season with yet another national semifinalist when they hit the road to take on Clemson. The Tigers lost to FSU in the Final Four and were the second highest ACC finisher in the RPI last season. The Cards didn't have any answers for Clemson last season, as the Tigers took a 3-0 home victory. Why Louisville is playing in Clemson, South Carolina for the second year in a row is beyond me. That game will be on Halloween night.

I haven't seen whether or not the league will expand the conference tournament in response to adding three members. It would seem prudent, but the ACC makes very odd decisions. If they don't, Louisville will struggle mightily to finish in the top third of the league. Even if they expand to eight teams, the Cards would be up against it. A 12-team conference tournament with the top-4 receiving buys would make the most sense, but see previous statement about ACC decision making. It all kicks off (pun intended) in a month and a half, so I'll be looking forward to seeing you out there.

Cardinal Couple Radio Hour Podcast

I'm finally back in the chair today after a long time away. We'll have almost a full house, but Racing Louisville's noon start will have Jared occupied. There has been plenty of news over the last few weeks that we'll be able to discuss, so be sure to join us for the joy and excitement of Louisville women's athletics. You can check out the live stream of the show by going to the Cardinal Couple YouTube page and clicking on the live video. Jeff usually creates that about an hour before the show, which officially starts at 11 AM Eastern. If the live time doesn't work for you, there are plenty of playback options, so be sure to check out whichever is best for you!

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Until next time, Go Cards!

Case