Field Hockey Drops Opener -- SATURDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

Cards Fall in Double OT at Maryland

Louisville headed up to College Park this weekend where they will play a pair of games. They'll take on American University tomorrow afternoon, but the weekend started with a top-10 matchup against the hosts, 4th-ranked Maryland. The Cards gave it a good run, scoring first and standing strong against a stout Maryland attack, but they ultimately gave up a game-winner with just over a minute remaining in the final overtime period. 

Louisville's goal came from Sophia Parker, which gives the redshirt sophomore her first collegiate goal. Although they don't officially get the credit for a penalty corner conversion, I'm going to say it counts. Chloe Plumb sent the corner to Mia Duchars, who forced a save by the Maryland goalie, Alyssa Klebasko. Klebasko wasn't able to block it very far out of play, and Parker was on hand to score the rebound attempt. 

The Cards' celebrations were short lived. After taking the lead at the 24:27 mark, they gave it up just under a minute later. Maryland earned a corner at 25:15, but they were not able to get a clean shot as a direct result. Louisville couldn't force the offense away, though, and the goal came at the 25:25 mark. That set the stage for a continued tense match, as the two teams would ultimately play just 58 seconds of the 78:42 match not tied. 

Louisville's offense stalled after the first half. Though they put three shots on target in the second quarter, those would be their only three threats of the game. The Cards were unable to find a shot in any of the other three quarters, managed just one off target in the first overtime, and were shut down again in the second OT. Defensively, Louisville was under immense pressure. Maryland had three shots in each of the first three quarters, two in the fourth, and one apiece in the OT periods. Eight of their thirteen shots were on goal, meaning grad transfer Brandelynn Heinbaugh was called on plenty in her first start for Louisville. Heinbaugh finished with six saves, a fantastic effort, but she needed more help from the offense to earn the victory. 

The starting lineup for Louisville was quite different than in their season-ending loss to Northwestern last year. Primarily driven by graduations, the Cards saw just four of their eleven starters from Northwestern game start this game against Maryland. Lauren Masters started in that game but came off the bench yesterday. Subs that moved into the starting line up were the Chloes, Plumb and Cuzzupe, and the only repeat substitute was Tyler Everslage.

While a season-opening loss is unfortunate, let's not forget that it was against a top-5 opponent on the road. Louisville will have many difficult games this season, and this is a good one to get them energized for those big games moving forward. We'll look for a bounce back against American tomorrow at 1PM.

Cardinal Couple Radio Hour Podcast

There will be just three of us today, as Daryl and Jared are both out for various reasons (not least because of a noon kickoff for football). With sports underway, though, we'll have plenty to talk about on the show. We'll talk a huge volleyball win, a fine road draw for women's soccer, and yesterday's tough field hockey loss. 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!

Cardinal Couple YouTube: Link

Spotify: Link

Apple Podcasts: Link

Google Podcasts: Link

Overcast (free account required): Link

Pocket Casts (free account and app required): Link

RadioPublic: Link

Until next time, Go Cards!

Case

WSOC draw at Cincinnati -- FRIDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

FRIDAYS WITH DARYL

Good morning readers and welcome to Labor Day weekend!!  Looking forward to the fall September days and football returning to Floyd Street.  Which also means we are 4 months from wedding day, folks.   Yay!! But also, holy crap!  

Women's Soccer

Final Score
UofL 1, UC 1

The Cardinals move to 3-0-2 on the season.   

The Cardinals headed north for a border rivalry with the Cincinnati Bearcats.   The good news is they did not lose this match.  They walked away with another draw after giving up the tying goal to the opponent.   Both goals came in the second half... a header from Karsyn Cherry and one from a deflected ball netted by the Bearcat's Rylee Felton.  Erynn Floyd was in the net for the Cardinals and she had 2 saves.  

Yellow cards were issued for Lizzie Sexton and Betsy Huckaby and UC's Felton for sticking a foot out here and there.   

Cincinnati's Flower had a nice shot with 3 min left but it was right at Floyd and she made the focused catch.

UofL tried to put a play together in the final few minutes but couldn't find themselves in the right positions to receive the ball and make any sort of attempt at the net.

 UP NEXT

The Cardinals welcome Evansville to Lynn Stadium Sunday September 1st for a 7pm tilt.  

Field Hockey

#7 field hockey team will hit the road to open its 2024 season when the Cardinals travel to College Park, Md., for a top-10 matchup with #4Maryland Friday at 6 p.m.  Louisville will then head to Washington D.C. to take on defending Patriot League champion American University Sunday at 1 p.m.

As Always,

Go Cards

~Daryl 

Soccer Visits Cincinnati -- Jared's Thoughts on the AVCA Showcase -- THURSDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

Cards Travel North to Face Bearcats

Louisville women's soccer puts their undefeated record on the line tonight as they travel up I-71 to face Cincinnati. Kickoff is scheduled for 7:00pm and will be aired on ESPN+. 

The Cards have started the season 3-0-1 and have outscored opponents 13-3. Last season, it took Louisville 14 matches to score 13 goals. Nine Cardinals have scored a goal with Amber Jackson's three scores leading the way. In goal, Erynn Floyd has commanded most of the minutes, allowing two goals in 270 minutes. Kailey Kimball has logged 90 minutes with one goal allowed.

Cincinnati is 2-1 this year, most recently dropping a match to Central Michigan. The Bearcats do have wins against Murray State and Toledo. All three matches were one-goal differential outcomes. Rylee Felton has scored two goals for Cincinnati, leading the way offensively. Anna Rexford has played every minute in goal with nine saves and five goals allowed.

A win tonight would give the Cards their best start to a season since 2021.

Jared's Thoughts on the AVCA Showcase

The crowd turned on their phone flashlights at halftime

Paulie gave us a good recap on Louisville volleyball's win over Wisconsin in yesterday's column. Jeff will give us an in-depth breakdown and analysis on Saturday on the Cardinal Couple Podcast. I thought I might chime in with my thoughts and perspective from the photography side of things.

Hosting an event such as the AVCA Showcase was pretty awesome. For a city that has a healthy volleyball community, this continued to help show the rest of the country how big volleyball is here. And we got to witness two great matches between four strong programs.

The team gave a silly pose following the match

Service errors seemed to be a bit of concern, though. All four teams had an unusually large number of service errors. I wonder how much of this was due to first game nerves or the extra long end zones behind each side of the court... a perspective issue for servers.

For a late start on Tuesday night, this was a solid crowd. I believe the crowd was announced as just shy of 10,000. Play this four-team showcase on a weekend and I think you could easily reach 15,000 attendance. A majority of the crowd did not stay for five hours of late night volleyball, but those of us who did were treated every moment of it.

Our accessibility as photographers was a bit limited due to no official media row courtside and not being allowed on the court at all. The AVCA chose to go with a different officiating style with cameras aimed at all lines to help determine in and out calls. They didn't want people impeding the view of the cameras at all.

Here are a few more photos from the event:

Court rush following the win

Nayelis Cabello

Sofia Maldonado Diaz

Anna DeBeer

Elena Scott

Happy Thursday and Go Cards!

Jared

AVCA Recap: Nebraska beats UK, Cards take down #3 Wisconsin in 4 games -- WEDNESDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

 5 Hours of Volleyball in KFC YUM! Center

The joint was jumping, On Tuesday night in the KFC Yum! Center as  #6 Louiville defeated #3 Wisconsin in four sets and #2 Nebraska downed #9 Kentucky in four sets also. 

Nebraska Over Kentucky

This match began the evening and the lower bowl in the KFC Yum! Center was full for the 7 p.m. tip off. Nebraska dominated UK 25-21, 22-25, 25-15, 25-20. I didn't keep specific stats or a recap on this one, watching it on cable (ESPN2) in my living room at home, but Nebraska did double the number of blocks UK had (18-9) and hit .258 to UK .139

Three Nebraska players finished in double figures in kills, and, despite a second match slip up, Nebraska look like much the better squad, especially after halftime. 

A 10 page recap (seriously) is available at HUSKERS DOWN CATS is you want more.

 

LOUISVILLE HANDLES WISCONSIN

It was an exemplary effort by the #6 Louisville Volleyball squad to hand a 3-1 set defeat on #3 Wisconsin in the nightcap game. Set scoring was 18-25, 25-17, 26-24, 25-20. Here's how I saw it...

SET ONE

1-6 Wisconsin gets off to an almost perfect start against the Cards
7-10 Anna DeBeer with a UofL kills to get Cards within three
11-14 Charitie Luper gets a kill for Cards
13-18 UofL takes a time out to regroup
15-21 DeBeer with another Cards kill
18-25 Cards put a return in the net, Wisconsin take first set

SET TWO

4-3 UofL forging to an early lead

12-13 Wisconsin regaining lead in a nailbiter so far

15-14 Reece Robins gets a UofL kill

16-14 Luper follows with a kill

18-14 Cards on a 5-0 run now, Place is going crazy

20-14 Robins tips one over

21-15 Cara Cresse kill

23-17 Wisconsin service error

24-17 DeBeer kill

25-17   Wisconsin puts return in net. Cards tie the match at halftime 1-1.

SET THREE

3-1 Luper block
6-4 Maldanado-Diaz kill for Louisville
7-8 Wisconsin jumps ahead on Robinson kill
10-10 DeBeer ties it with a kill
15-12 Wisconsin hits long
16-16 Wisconsin block ties it
20-16 Cresse kill pushes Cards up by four
21-21 Wisconsin ties it and Louisville looking flat right now
23-23 Wisconsin block ties it again
24-24 Cards block ties it... bonus ball ahead!
26-24 Wisconsin mishit gives third set to UofL     

                                                                      

SET FOUR

2-2 Robins kill ties it early
2-2 Time out...gum on floor. Even DBK assists on the scrape off and removal. We'll blame Jared for this one.
6-3 Luper kill puts the Ville up by three
8-6 Wisconsin block
11-8 DeBeer kill
12-13 Wisconsin block gives them lead
14-15 Franklin kills for Badgers
17-16 Franklin kill gets Wisconsin back within a point
20-18 Ace serve by UofL
23-20 Cards get block at net
24-20 Robins kill
25-20 Louisville block at net gives Cards set and match.

A fun, although lengthy, evening volleyball in downtown Louisville Tuesday night !! 

Apologies for today's formating...my laptop went berserk this morning. Probably mad at me for waking it up so early.

NOTE: Jared checking in real fast. Formatting issues should be corrected now. -Jared

(Photos by Jared Anderson) 

paulie

pau                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                  

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                       

VolleyCards Take on Wisconsin in Showcase Tonight -- TUESDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

Louisville and Wisconsin Play Second Match

The volleyball season has finally arrived! Louisville volleyball kicks off their season in the AVCA Showcase tonight at the KFC Yum! Center as part of a featured doubleheader. Nebraska and Kentucky will play the first match at 7:00 pm and the Cards will square up against Wisconsin afterwards at approximately 9:00 pm or later.

Nebraska

The Cornhuskers went 33-2 last season and fell in the championship game to Texas. Head coach John Cook, who has been the Huskers' head coach for 24 seasons, recently signed a contract extension through January 2029. Louisville coach Dani Busboom-Kelly has been a popular name as a replacement at Nebraska when Cook retires so we will have DBK for at least a few more years... or even more time to convince her to stay.

Kentucky

The Wildcats went 21-8 last season and fell to Arkansas in the Sweet Sixteen. Kentucky is back to their home arena of Memorial Coliseum this fall following a multi-million dollar revamp. Head coach Craig Skinner has been with the Cats for 20 years now and won a championship with them back in the altered COVID-19 2020-2021 season.

Wisconsin

The Badgers went 30-4 last season and fell in the Final Four to eventual champion Texas. Head coach Kelly Sheffield is entering his 12th season. Wisconsin won a title in 2021, the year they knocked Louisville out in the Final Four in Columbus.

Louisville

The team we all know and love is no stranger to the public spotlight in the DBK era. The Cards have multiple Sweet Sixteen and Elite Eight appearances. They've made it to two Final Fours and have advanced all the way to the national championship game. Louisville had a "down year" last season, going 27-5, finishing third in the ACC, and falling in the Elite Eight to Pitt.

You can catch both matches on ESPN2 or the ESPN app. There are also still tickets available in the 300 sections.

Happy Tuesday and Go Cards!

Jared

cARDS WSOC WINS 2-1 AT NKU...FIELD HOCKEY "PRACTICED" AGAINST IU...NO OFFICIAL RESULT -- MONDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

 JACKSON,  SWINARSKI WITH WSOC GOALS IN WIN

WSOC

LOUISVILLE WOMEN'S SOCCER (3-0-1) TRAVELED TO HIGHLAND HEIGHTS on Sunday, home of Northern Kentucky University, to face the Norse in a match and the Cards emerged victorious....2-1. 

The Cards tallied both their scores in the first half of action...Amber Jackson collecting the first one at the 16:57 mark off a pass by Brooke Dardano. Freshman  Ameiia Swinarski completed the UofL scoring with 13 minutes left in the opening half. The Cards did allowed NKU a second half score at the 71:17 mark when Shipley Shay slid a shot by Cards back up goalkeeper Kailey Kimball, who started the final half and played the entire second half. 

Louisville was the leader in shots (12-7) and shots on goal (6-2). The Cards had a 7-3  edge on corner kicks as well. 

An important win for Louisville after the disappointing tie against New Hampshire for the Cards last time out. The Norse drop to 0-3 on the season, with shut out losses to Western Michigan and Ohio U.The contest was available on ESPN+ , and i thought i had a subscription to the channel, but was stymied by not having the correct password to watch. By the time I got that straightened out, the match was over. 

Sometimes, I hate "the family of networks"...or as a friend calls it "the family of not-works" ...at least Statbroadcast is always farirly dependable

The "kickin Cards" head to nearby Cincinnati for a Tuesday match against the Bearcats next. 

FIELD HOCKEY   

I wish we had something to report about the Cards FH test against IU at IU today, but the IU school's sources are just calling it a "practice" between the two squads and there are no stats available for report or public viewing. 

 

I tried, y'all. 

I first checked with Louisvilie Field Hockey SID Lori Korte, She had nothing.  I scoured the IU sports website for something,anything...but found nothing there. I finaly went to Statbroadcast and saw a Louisville 4 - Indiana 3 report from the 5th period...61:22 time mark. , but I couldn't get any individual or scoring information, since i am not a "recognized credential media member" by Statbroadcast. I fought back my tears, and moved on... Oh, well, i guess they have their own way of handlig exhibitions up in Bloomington. They say when the hosting team loses, the info gets less. I believe it. 

It makes me value the SID staff here at Louisville, all that much more. 

Field Hockey goes to Maryland 8/30/24 for their season openng match and then will face American University, based in Washington D.C. Sunday.  

Have a marvelous Monday. After all, it is National Dog Day. 

paulie

A Fuller Calendar - Sunday Cardinal Couple

A Fuller Calendar

Good morning fair readers of Cardinal Couple.  I woke up this morning and had trouble shaking the notion that today was Monday instead of Sunday.  It's been a little disconcerting, but the bonus is that it feels like an extra day off this weekend.  I'll take it.

 

The UofL Athletics calendar has at least one event every day this week with the single exception of tomorrow, though not all of those are teams that we cover here at Cardinal Couple, of course.  The pace is ramping up, although we're not yet in official play for all of the teams, with one more exhibition outing for Field Hockey.

Field Hockey

So let's start with the Sowry Stick Squad, they head up...well, not quite just up I-65, you do have to kind of take a left turn for a bit...to Bloomington Indiana to play their final exhibition warm up with Indiana.  First pass back is at noon on Deborah Tobias field.

The Hoosiers are building a program in Field Hockey, and Head Coach Kayla Bashore's website bio boasts a litany of firsts for the IU program under her six years of leadership.  They're not a national powerhouse, but as I so frequently say about the potential for coaching hot seats, if I were the one making the decision, as long as progress is being demonstrated, it's good.

As is typical, we don't expect full stats to be available from the event, as it is just an exhibition, but we hope to hear a general report by way of the Field Hockey Sports Information Director.

Field Hockey will kick off their official season Friday traveling to College Park to play Maryland.

Soccer

Women's Soccer is also in action today.  With a later, though still certain to be quite warm, start at 5pm.  The kicksters have headed up I-71, with bit of a right turn at the end, to Northern Kentucky University.

Coming off of a disappointing draw against New Hampshire, the Cards look to continue their season opening undefeated run, but also get back into that winning column.  This won't get easier for them in conference, so they need to be racking up some wins here in the non-conference slate.

The Norse are looking to get out of the losing column after opening the season with a 3-0 loss to Western Michigan, and a 4-0 loss to Ohio.  They had a couple of exhibition games vs Cincinnati and Butler, but of course no results are readily available for those contests.

Soccer will then continue their I-71/I-75 area road trip on Thursday, playing at Cincinnati.

Volleyball

Also on the calendar for the week is, of course, Volleyball with the AVCA First Serve Showcase at the KFC Yum! Center Tuesday evening.  We've talked about that quite a bit.  Lower bowl tickets are still available if you want to come out to the event.  Yes, it's going to be a late one, but with four top 10 ranked teams playing, it may be some of the best volleyball of the year anywhere in the country.  These matches are official matches and do officially kick off the volleyball season across the country.  Other teams, not involved in the First Serve Showcase, will have to wait until Friday to kick off their seasons.

A Personal Note...

When my niece was born, the firstborn of my brother and sister-in-law, they lived in Philadelphia.  Shortly after her birth a small crew made the drive up to give some support, lend a hand, and just generally visit and meet the new one.

Unkey the Monkey sporting
his latest 'fit.

I took with me a stuffed animal that I had bought for her, a monkey.  I looked for a good quality stuffed animal, hoping it would stand up to the abuse of being a child's plaything.  The monkey was quickly named "Unkey the Monkey" (spelling on Unkey is still not clearly decided to this day), so named because I, to my niece, am "Uncle Jeff".

This weekend, my niece, along with her mother and father, made the drive down to Atlanta, where they helped move her in to her dorm room at Agnes Scott College for her freshman year.

Unkey the Monkey also made the trip, and is now sporting some Agnes Scott apparel of his own.

To say that I'm proud of my niece and wish her the absolute best as she takes the next step of her education and independence from her parents would be the understatement of the year.

I'm super glad, and honored, that Unkey the Monkey made the cut of things she deemed important enough to take with her to college, and you know I'll be looking for excuses to road trip down to Atlanta, now.

Cardinal Couple Radio Hour Podcast

Case and Daryl both had last minute conflicts, but the show goes on with Jared, Paulie, and I.  We really get back into the swing of things for the fall with discussion of our big fall three sports that we most heavily cover.  We start with Soccer, covering the disappointing draw against New Hampshire, preview the season and cover what we know from the exhibition win over Bellarmine, and share some observations from Volleyball's Red & Black scrimmage and look forward to the First Serve Showcase.

Check it out at:

https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/cardinal-couple/episodes/A-trio-of-hosts--a-trio-of-sports-e2njajv

-- 

JMcA

FH Defeats Bellarmine in Exhibition -- SATURDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

Cards Take Down Knights in Crosstown Friendly

Happy Saturday morning! Jared checking in here as Case had something pop up last minute today. From a UofL women's sports standpoint, nothing is going on today. College football is back, though! College GameDay traveled across the Atlantic for an ACC match-up in Ireland.

Belknap campus was not quiet yesterday. Between classes starting up and field hockey playing in a scrimmage, Floyd Street was a bit busier than what we've seen the last few months.

Louisville faced Bellarmine in a friendly exhibition as both teams are gearing up for the regular season. The teams played the standard four quarters and added on one overtime period and a shootout just to get the extra practice.

There was no official score or stats kept, but Lori and I tried to piece things together and we believe the following results happened:

Louisville won 7-0 in regulation

Louisville won 1-0 in overtime

Louisville won 5-1 in a 6v6 shootout (an extra player was added for practice purposes only)

With the departure of key players from last season such as Emilia Kaczmarczyk, Minna Tremonti, Julie Kouijzer, India Reed, Sofia Pendolino, and Merlijn van der Vegt, there were plenty of questions on how those big shoes would be filled.

We do see the return key players such as Aimee Plumb (COVID-19 eligibility season), Mia Duchars (COVID-19 eligibility season), Rylie Wollerton, Izzy Bianco, Chloe Plumb, and Tyler Everslage.

Sophomore Emily Young played the entire match in goal and was the only keeper dressed yesterday. We do have a couple other keepers who will dress and join her when the season starts. Rylie Wollerton led the offensive charge yesterday with three goals plus a successful try during the shootout. We got to talk with the duo after the match.

Postgame with Coach Justine Sowry here

Postgame with Emily Young and Rylie Wollerton here

Louisville travels to Bloomington for a scrimmage with Indiana tomorrow (no tv or stream) and then kicks off the regular season at Maryland on Friday August 30.

Cardinal Couple Radio Hour Podcast

We are on for our normal 11:00 podcast. Case is out, Daryl might be able to join us, so we are running with a guaranteed trio of Paulie, Jeff, and Jared. The stream is free to listen to and as always, it is recorded so you can go back and listen later. We have fall sports to discuss!

Happy Saturday and Go Cards!

Jared

WSOC draws 1-1 with New Hampshire -- FRIDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

FRIDAYS WITH DARYL 

Happy Friday readers,  my favorite day of the week. 

Its been an absolutely gorgeous week in the Ville with the Ky State Fair in town and students back in the classrooms!   Campus has been busy busy this week but I always enjoyed that first week of school and the excitement of starting fresh and with some high hopes of a successful semester ahead.   .....that definitely wore off after the first couple months if im being honest..... 

but i digress.... lets get into the joy and excitement of UofL women's sports with a trip down Floyd Street to Dr Lynn Stadium. 

Women's Soccer

Draw  Cardinals 1 - Wildcats 1 

The Cardinals were well on their way to starting the season 3-0 before a late equalizer from the visiting Wildcats would result in a draw and 2-0-1 record for both squads.  

Lauryn Contini got the Cards on the board in the first half when Emersen Jennings broke through to feed the ball into the middle for Contini in the 29th min.   It was the first career goal for Contini and the first assist of the season for Jennings.   The Cards outshot the  UNH 9-0 in the first half, the third straight game where the Card's defense held its opponent without a shot on goal.   The Cardinals offense kept the visiting goalkeeper, Sally Rainey, busy as she had 9 saves on 10 shots on goal.  

A late game goal by UNH on a goalkeeping error by UofL allowed the visitors to equalize.   The Cards were unable to take advantage of an insurance goal opportunity in the second half. 

Up next for the Cardinals is their first road trip of the season to close out the weekend. The Cardinals will head up I-71 to take on Northern Kentucky. The Cards and the Norse will square off from Highland Heights at 5 p.m. ET on Sunday and the game will be streamed on ESPN+.

Photos: Jared Anderson

Volleyball

Congrats to Anna DeBeer, Elena Scoot and Charlie Luper!  

Hope to see a great crowd out at the Yum! Center on Tuesday night!!! 

As Always, 
Go Cards

~Daryl 

WSoc Hosts New Hampshire -- THURSDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

Louisville Women's and Men's Soccer Teams to Play Double Header

Louisville women's soccer and men's soccer are partnering together again this season for a double header. The men will face Jacksonville State at 5:00pm and the women will follow with a match against New Hampshire at approximately 7:30pm. Admission is free for both matches.

The WSOC Cards have started the season 2-0, having outscored opponents 10-1. UofL opened the season with a 7-0 win against Bellarmine and most recently defeated UAB 3-1. Seven different players have scored a goal. Amber Jackson, Karsyn Cherry, and Mckenzie Geigle each have two goals.

New Hampshire is also 2-0. Their wins have come against Stonehill (2-0) and Holy Cross (3-2). The Wildcats needed late-game heroics to score a pair of goals in the final six minutes to win over Holy Cross. In 2023, New Hampshire went 6-6-5. 

Tonight's match wraps up a three-game homestand for the Cards, who started last season 0-2-1. Their first three home games last year produced an 0-1-2 record. It took the Cards 10 matches to reach 10 goals in 2023.

Next on the schedule is a two-game road trip with pit stops in Northern Kentucky and Cincinnati.

Happy Thursday and Go Cards!

Jared

Field Hockey Gears Up For 2024 Season -- WEDNESDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

 CARDS PICKED TO FINISH FOURTH IN ACC PRESEASON FIELD HOCKEY POLL

We've gotten two of the fall sports we traditonally cover here at Cardinal Couple underway---with Women's Soccer and Volleyball having taken to their courts and fields for competition -- now let's take a look at another fall sport we devote a lot of coverage to...Field Hockey. The "Stick Girls" get their 2024 campaign started Friday this week, when they take on Bellarmine in an exhibiton at Trager Field. 

Head coach Justine Sowry begins her 14th season as the Field Hockey skipper, and, as she would say...the squad is ready to "give it a go" against their opponents in the finest D1 league in college Field Hockey...the ACC. 

The Cards were picked to finish 4th in the ACC in a coaches' preseason poll... Virginia narrowly edged  out last year's national champions UNC for first place in voting. Duke was selected to finish third and Louisville was tied for fourth with Syracuse. 

At the Fall Sports Preview,  Sowry spoke of her team. You can here the remarks at this link

Louisville gets plenty of talent back and some impressive freshmen to join the flock. Aimee Plumb was named to the 2024 All-ACC First Team. It's her second straight year for the honor. Last year, she led the Cards with five goals and eight assists. The fifth-year midfielder from Canterbury, Kent (Eng) also has her sister...sophomore Chloe on the squad. Also returnng are Rylie Wollerton, Izzy Bianco, Mia Duchars, Tyler Everslage (Assumption HS) and Caroline Pusey. The Cards are bringing in a veteran goalkeeper in fifth-year transfer from James Madison Brandelynn Heinbaugh. Sophomore goalie Em Young also returns for the Cards. 

The squad also has nine iincoming freshmen. Of particular interest is Megan Mauzy (Christian Academy) a mid-fielder/back who was a part of the 2023 Kentucky Field Hockey champions. Mauzy was named 2023 Kentucky Student Athlete of the Year. If the name sounds familiar, her dad Mike played football at UofL from 1985-89. 

The 2023 Louiville Field Hockey squad went 15-7 and 3-3 in ACC play. They advanced to the second round of the ACC Tournament, where they lost to #3 ranked Duke, and also went to the NCAA Tournament...their fifth consecutive apperance there...where they defeated #8 Iowa but fell in the second round to Northwestern. 

Sowry has 180 wins in 13 seasons at Louisville...she also was head coach at UMass and was a prevous assistant coach at Louisville. Pam Bustin, Duke head Ffeld Hockey coach who was head coach before Sowry, says of Sowry: “Justine is an elite competitor and a great player’s coach. She and her outstanding staff will lead the Cards to the next level"

We wish "the Flock" the best of luck this season and a deep run in both conference and NCAA Tournaments. Admission is free to games at Trager and we have the schedule listed on the right side side of the website. 

paulie