Volleyball Sweeps; Soccer Falls in Conference Opener -- SUNDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

Volleyball Takes Down Northern Iowa

As Jeff mentioned yesterday, he and I swapped days this weekend. Unfortunately, that means you won't get a Jeff writeup of either volleyball match this weekend. Since volleyball usually plays on Fridays and Sundays, you don't get Jeff covering them anyway, but that's beside the point. Yesterday Louisville hosted Northern Iowa in the Cards first match of the Cardinal Classic and walked away with a 25-23, 27-25, 25-15 sweep of the Panthers. 

Louisville didn't get off to the cleanest start yesterday, but they managed to stretch out to a 13-7 lead in the first set. A few miscues erased that lead, though, and UNI brought the game back to a one-point contest at 14-13. The Cards were able to build another small gap before the teams more or less traded pairs of points through the rest of the set. The Cards won the first game 25-23 on a combined block by Reese Robins and Cara Cresse. Yeah, I would avoid those two. 

The second saw Louisville as the chaser, but the Panthers couldn't build a lead larger than the 4-point advantage they held at 15-11. UNI did manage to take a 20-17 lead to make things rather nervy for the Cards, but Louisville won six of the next eight points to flip the script and take a 23-22 lead. Traded points led to extra volleyball, but another Cresse block made it 26-25 and an unforced error gave the Cards a 27-25 victory.

UNI won the first three points out of the half, and it seemed like we were in for another tight set. After the teams went back and forth for the first 30ish points, though, Louisville was done with the theatrics. A UNI kill made the score 15-14 in favor of Louisville, and the Cards decided that they wanted to be done for the day. The Cards won six straight points which included two blocks and an ace and put them up 21-14. A rare Elena Scott service error (rare for Scott, not for the team yesterday) broke the run, but Louisville won the next four points to take the game 25-15 and the match 3-0. 

Scott's ace in the final sequence was Louisville's only ace of the match. The Cards had a nightmare at the service line, swatting 10 service errors compared to the single ace. UNI had five aces and only eight errors, so the Cards made their lives much harder at the line. They'll need to clean that up against Creighton for sure. 

Offensively, only two players jump off the page. While Louisville hit 0.327 as a team, only two players exceeded that number on the floor. Outside of Charitie Luper's 0.536 and Cresse's 0.538, the highest Cardinals were Robins and Sofia Maldonado Diaz, who both hit 0.250. Luper and Cresse were impressive, though. Luper finished with 16 kills on 28 attempts and had just one error. Cresse was 9/13 with two errors. Cresse also led the team in blocks, taking two of Louisville's three solo blocks and adding four assists. The Cards outblocked the Panthers 11-3. 

Louisville's sweep should prime them for another top-ten matchup as they face Creighton today at 1PM. That match will be in the Yum! Center and it will be carried on ESPN. Creighton is currently 9th in the country and sits at 8-1 on the year. Their only loss came on the road against Nebraska, where they went down in five sets. The Blue Jays swept UNI on Friday and did the same against Rice yesterday morning. 

Cards Fall 3-1 at Pitt

Pittsburgh women's soccer finished last season ranked 8th in RPI. This season, they entered last night's game at 6-1-1. However, they weren't ranked as they drew Georgia to open the season and lost to Buffalo a week later. Their wins are over Duquesne, Bucknell, Loyola Marymount, Cal State Fullerton, Dartmouth, and Mercyhurst. Not many powerhouses in that bunch. I say that, though, to indicate that Pitt may be overlooked because of their loss to Buffalo. The Panthers had a good team last year and their goal difference stood at +21 entering last night's game. 

Am I rationalizing? Maybe. Louisville opened the season on a 5-0-2 undefeated streak before a road loss to Dayton broke up the party. After seven games without a loss, the Cards are now on the tail end of a 2-game losing streak with conference play upon them. Louisville still has plenty of time to recover, but Pitt was one of the games they would have liked to have had a result in. Even when the Panthers were ranked last season, Louisville managed to pull off the upset win. 

Louisville's offense has been a bit hit-or-miss this season. After the seven-goal explosion against Bellarmine to open the season, Louisville has scored only 13 goals in the eight games since opening night. Last week's game against Dayton was their only shutout so far, but they've been able to eclipse three goals in a game just twice. Offense was the missing piece again last night as the Cards couldn't match the pair of late goals by Pitt and lost 3-1. 

Kailey Kimball played all 90 minutes in goal for the second game in a row after Erynn Floyd left the game early against UT Martin. Kimball finished with nine saves, and the offense should have done more to help, but I'd like to see Louisville's starter get back to the pitch. Kimball is certainly an adequate replacement, but I don't think this team's ceiling is as high without Floyd in the net. 

Pitt scored first last night, breaking the tie just 11 minutes into the game. The Cards would tie it up with Karsyn Cherry's fifth goal of the season in the 21st minute. Like her previous four, this one came on a set piece, but it was quite different. Rather than heading in a corner kick, Cherry was tasked with taking a penalty. She slotted it home to make it 1-1. 

Tied at one is what the game would stay for the next 50ish minutes before Pitt's Samiah Phiri scored her sixth goal of the year. She matched Cherry ten minutes later with a penalty kick goal of her own, moving Phiri's total to seven. Louisville didn't have any answer offensively, as they managed just five shots on the evening (two on frame), and the Panthers took the victory. Pitt controlled the match offensively, and Louisville was fairly lucky to escape with just three goals allowed. Pitt took 27 shots in the match. Yikes. 

Louisville will get a break to get back on track and end their skid. After 12 days off, the Cards will head back on the road as they go down to Blacksburg for their next match to take on Virginia Tech on 9/26. VT is 6-2-1 on the year so far and they'll take on Syracuse today. The Hokies drew Monmouth in late August and dropped back to back games against Liberty and Northwestern last weekend. They opened conference play with a road win against Clemson, though, so they're certainly no slouches. They'll play BC next Sunday before meeting the Cards.

Until next time, Go Cards!

Case 

WSOC 2-0 win over UT Martin -- FH Schedule Change -- and VB Gameday -- FRIDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

FRIDAYS WITH DARYL

Dear readers, Happy Friday and thanks for coming back for another recap of the joy and excitement of UofL Women’s athletics. Fall sports are in full swing and we’ve got a boatload to cover so lets jump right in.


WSOC

UofL   2  -    UT Martin   0

Photos: Jared Anderson

Louisville remains unbeaten with the win on Thursday night to move to 5-0-2 on the season (hehe.. shoutout 502!)  It was a nice night for some women's soccer over at Lynn Stadium.  Jared made it out there to cover the action.  

About 20 minutes into the match, the Cardinals had 5 shots, none really on goal but the offense did spend a good amount of time on the attack.   The Skyhawks struggled to find any momentum offensively and finished the night with a single shot attempt.

As the clock wound down in the first half, the Cardinals' Gianna Angelillo found the back of the net to score just before the break and put the Cards up 1-0 in the 44th minute.  It was her first goal of the season 

Not much longer after action returned to the pitch in the second half did the Cardinals put another goal on the board/ Karsyn Cherry connected in the 48th minute.  It was Cherry's 5th goal of the season, a team best.  

Erynn Floyd was in the net for the majority of the contest, more than 63 minutes on the night.  Kailey Kimball spent the rest of the 26 minutes in the net but neither had much work to do back there.   

UP NEXT

Dayton comes to town for a Sunday night match at 7pm and can be viewed on the ACC Network Extra.  

Volleyball

The Cards are back in action Friday at 3pm on ESPN+

South Dakota is 2-0 on the season, sweeping their two opponents Fordham and AirForce. As a team, the Coyotes are hitting .302% with 17 Kills per set and allowing opponents a .140 hitting percentage and 10 kills a set. They’re also averaging about 14 service errors per match and defensively, 18 digs per set.

The Cardinals are coming off a significant loss midweek vs Penn St and looking to bounce back with a no doubt victory.  

Field Hockey

The match between Cards and the Tigers moved up into the afternoon

Friday at 1pm. North Carolina and Penn moved to 11 a.m at Trager....all because of the threat of inclement weather. 

The Cards are 1-1 after beating American University this past weekend 3-1.

About Princeton

15 returnees from last year’s team, seven freshmen, one returnee from the 2022 team (who happened to play in the Summer Olympics this year). 

Beth Yeager was a first-team All-American and the Ivy League’s Offensive Player of the Year in each of her first two seasons before taking the 2023-24 academic year off from Princeton to compete with the United States national team in Olympic qualifying and then the Olympic Games, where she started every game for the USA. Yeager enters her junior year with 29 goals and 15 assists in 33 career games.

As Always, 
Go Cards!

~Daryl 

Geigle Set for USLW Championship -- SATURDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

Mackenzie Geigle and NC Courage Vie for Title

Earlier this summer I wrote an article about the Louisville players representing local teams on club rosters. The information was a little hard to come by, and it seemed potentially incomplete. In what I have to assume was a direct troll of my lack of information, Louisville Women's Soccer made an Instagram post later that week about all of the players competing for professional clubs over the summer. Gee, thanks...

One of the players I missed was Mackenzie Geigle. Geigle is a rising junior from Raleigh, North Carolina, so it makes sense that she would play for her hometown NC Courage. She has competed with the club's development program since high school. Last season she played in 16 games for Louisville with one goal in 567 minutes. Geigle has the potential to be a key contributor going forward, so I'm excited to see her take the next steps. 

In the USLW season, the Courage have been unbeatable... literally. The team was top in the South Atlantic division with 34 points. They drew their first game of the season before going on an 11-game win streak. In the regular season, their goal difference was +50. The Courage weren't the only undefeated team in the league. The Florida Elite Soccer Academy bested NC by posting a 12-0-0 season for 36 points. Unfortunately for that squad, they bowed out in the first round of the playoffs. 

Geigle and the Courage will host the Colorado Storm (not to be confused with the California Storm or the South Georgia Tormenta or the Northern Colorado Rain; a fair amount of weather event names in the USLW) in Raleigh for the Championship match this evening at 6:00 PM. Geigle has played in all 12 games for the Courage this season and has started eight of them. She is averaging 49 minutes per game and has scored seven goals while tallying two assists. As I mentioned, she could be due for a big step up in contribution for the Cards this year. We wish her the best of luck in the final. 

For some additional background on the USLW Season, the Valley Division (which only played 10 games each) saw Indy Eleven finish top with 23 points. Racing Louisville and Lexington SC finished tied with 14 points. I haven't quite figured out why, but Lexington is listed above Racing, despite the squad in lavender posting a better goal differential. Either way, neither team made the playoffs. Like I said the other day, I'm excited to see this squad get back together and get to work next month. 

Cardinal Couple Radio Hour Podcast

We'll be without Daryl or Jared this week, so you'll have a return to the days of the basement on Crescent Hill with Paulie, Jeff, and myself. There's plenty to cover despite the late summer slump, and we'll be happy to bring it to you. 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

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!

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