FH and Volleyball Host -- SATURDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

Field Hockey Hosts Syracuse on Senior Day

Louisville field hockey has a big game today in their season finale. As expected in the ACC, it's another top-ten opponent. More than that, it's the last game of the regular season and all eyes are on this game. Louisville and Syracuse are the only two ACC teams in action. Biggest of all is that it's a game with incredible impacts on how Louisville's season ends. If the Cards win, they will make the ACC Tournament, which will be hosted at Trager Stadium next week. If they lose, they'll fall to the bottom of the ACC and be the only team left out, due to Boston College holding the tiebreaker via head-to-head win. 

Louisville needs to win this game to make the ACC Tournament, but they'll need to spring a couple of upsets next week as well. The Cards are currently 7-9, which would make them ineligible for the NCAA tournament. A win today would put them at 8-9, but they'd need two wins in the ACC tournament to finish the season .500. That could be quite the challenge. But the NCAA tournament is something that shouldn't even be on their minds right now. The team will be going for a big win against a strong opponent to make this not the last game they'll play at Trager this year. 

Syracuse enters the game fifth in the conference at 3-4. Their four conference losses are their only losses of the season, as the Orange went 8-0 in non-conference play. Their non-conference wins included road victories over Ohio State and Princeton and a home win against Penn State. Their conference wins are over Duke, Stanford, and Boston College. They haven't beaten some of the big teams in the ACC, but they've more or less taken care of the teams they are ahead of. Worse for Louisville is that Syracuse has been relatively comfortable on the road. They're 2-1 in road conference games, with wins over Stanford and BC and a loss to Cal. The Cards can't depend too much on home field advantage to close the gap. 

It's tough to say just how wide that gap is, though. Louisville has played very well at times this season, a point we have belabored here at the site. The head-scratching part is that they seem to be one team one day and a completely different team the next. The Cards will have to put last week's surprising road loss to BC behind them and bring the team that thumped Cal to play today. 

Senior Day festivities will take place before the game, which is scheduled to get underway at 12pm. Today's match will be on ACC Network Extra. 

Volleyball Brings Notre Dame to Yum! Center

Another team closing out its regular season in a particular venue is Louisville volleyball. The wide-netters are far from done with their season, but today's match is the last game scheduled to be played in the KFC Yum! Center downtown. The Cards will likely use the arena as a site if they host NCAA tournament games, but that information will come much later. Today, Louisville will host Notre Dame in the return game of the travel partner home-and-home week. The Cards took a 3-0 win over the Irish on Wednesday in South Bend. 

Louisville's win earlier this week moved the Cards to 9-2 in conference play. They currently sit alone in fourth place, but the path to a share of the ACC title is still more or less in their own hands. Louisville trails Stanford, Pitt, and North Carolina by one game. The Cards will get a second crack at the Cardinal and the Panthers in the last two matches of the season. Louisville won't play North Carolina again this season, but the Tar Heels face Pitt tomorrow and then hit the road to take on Stanford on Friday. They will also still play Miami twice. 

Wednesday's loss pushed Notre Dame to 5-6 in conference play and they're just 8-11 overall. It has been another tough season for the Irish, but weird things tend to happen when these two teams play. Louisville will need to stay sharp and take care of business to take advantage of their extra day of rest before a Carolina road trip next week. 

Today's match will begin at 3PM on ACC Network Extra, and tickets to the Yum! Center are still available. 

No Cardinal Couple Radio Hour Podcast

With travel and game times impacting host availability, we'll be off for the show again this week. Make sure to stay tuned for the next show. 

Until next time, Go Cards!

Volleyball Sweeps, FH Drops Home Match -- SATURDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

Volleyball Sweeps Duke on the Road

Following a tough week at home last weekend, the Wide-Net Cards hit the road to take on a pair of teams in North Carolina. That started last night with a victory over the Duke Blue Devils, which Louisville took down in three sets despite some surprising fight from the home team. The hosts, who fell to just 5-15 (2-7) this season, pushed Louisville to the brink in sets one and three, though the Cards took care of business in a big way in the second. The final score was 25-23, 25-13, 25-22. 

The match was also not without its worrisome moments for Louisville. After taking a 16-15 lead in the first, Louisville gave up a five-point run to Duke to trail 20-16. The Cards worked back a 6-1 run of their own to make it 22-21, and the two teams traded a couple of points before the Cards used back-to-back kills to win the set. 

The third set also saw Louisville facing a moderate deficit, though this one came much earlier. Duke came out of the halftime break with a vengeance and jumped out to a 9-3 lead over the Cards. Louisville didn't respond with a major run right away, but instead methodically chunked down that lead to get back in touching distance. After a Duke kill made it 13-11, Louisville used a quick 7-2 burst to take an 18-15 lead. While three points doesn't seem like much, a lead like that late in a set against a very good team like Louisville would have been a bit demoralizing for Duke, especially after squandering a big advantage early. The Cards played with their food a bit, allowing the Blue Devils to stick around, but Duke never got closer than two en route to the final score. 

Louisville's offense spread the love last night, with no player finishing with more than ten kills. Chloe Chicoine and Payton Petersen had 10 apiece, while Kalyssa Blackshear and Nayelis Cabello each finished with seven. Apparently Duke learned nothing from Cabello's offensive performance against Pittsburgh on Sunday, leaving her mostly undefended. Cabello's seven kills came on 13 attempts and she had no errors. Cara Cresse continued to be in a bit of a slump, finishing with three kills and two errors on 12 attempts for an 0.083 hitting percentage. Not ideal for the star middle. 

Cresse did make up for the hitting woes a bit with a strong defensive presence, as she had a solo block and four assists. She was one of two Cardinals with a solo block, as Cabello had the other to go along with three assists. Louisville finished with ten total team blocks, heavily winning that battle as Duke had just three. Louisville hit only .327 in the match, but they held the Blue Devils to .142. 

Louisville also narrowly won the serving battle with two fewer service errors than Duke. Each team finished with six aces, and Kamden Schrand led the way for the Cards in that category with three. Louisville was even on the night from the line, as they also had six errors. Interestingly, the Cards' advantage at the service line was erased by a very whistle-happy referee on the set game. Four total bad sets were called in the match, and Louisville was on the wrong side of three of them. Cabello was called for just one of those. 

Louisville's win keeps them level with SMU at 7-2 in conference play. Both teams are also 15-4 overall and are tied for fourth in the league. The Cards will have a difficult test in their next match, facing the current conference leaders in Chapel Hill. UNC is 16-2 overall and have won ten straight matches to keep them undefeated in conference play. Like Louisville, all of UNC's losses have come in five sets. Unlike Louisville, UNC's were not to top-ten teams. UNC has losses to South Carolina and Kansas State this season, and they have played just one ranked team. The Tar Heels swept then-#11 Florida in Chapel Hill on September 9th. 

The Cards will be a bit fresher, as UNC went five sets with Notre Dame last night. The Heels pulled off a reverse sweep to beat the Irish 19-25, 15-25, 25-17, 25-20, 15-13. The win came in UNC's first match on their new Taraflex court. Unfortunately for Louisville, they won't get to spoil the new floor debut like they did at Creighton, but they can hand UNC their first loss on the new surface. Tomorrow's match between #8 Louisville and #21 UNC will be on ESPN at 3PM. 

FH Offense Falters vs #3 Virginia

Louisville field hockey brought in another ranked team to Trager Stadium yesterday afternoon, but they couldn't repeat the magic of last week's win over California. The Cards' offense wasn't able to break down the stout Cavalier defense and Virginia went on to beat Louisville 2-0. The loss pushed the Cards back below .500 (7-8) and ensured they will finish the conference season below .500 as well. Louisville is still ahead of Boston College in the ACC standings and will have a head-to-head opportunity to lock up their spot in the ACC tournament tomorrow. 

Make no mistake: Virginia is very good. The 12-1 Cavaliers have scored 29 goals this season and they have given up just six. Their defense allows only 7.85 shots per game and has given up just 55 shots on goal for the entire season. On the other side of the ball, the Cavs can create opportunities in a multitude of ways. They've got 82 shots on goal this season and they have only earned 62 corners. All that is to say that Louisville put up a pretty tough fight in this one, but moral victories only go so far. 

Virginia scored early in both the first and second quarters, with a goal in the fifth minute of the match and another in the third minute of the second quarter. Each goal was the scorer's second of the season, which isn't super surprising as the 29 goals scored by the Cavaliers this season have come from 14 different players. The Cards were held fairly quiet in the first half, earning just one shot in each quarter, with both forcing a Virginia save. 

Louisville was able to put the pressure on in the second half, but Virginia's goalie was too much for the Cards to handle. Louisville came out with a clear intent to cut the deficit and try to equalize, as they put up eight shots in the second half. None of their three shots in the third quarter found the target, but they were stymied on four shots on goal in the final stanza. Louisville made use of five penalty corners in the second half but were unable to find the back of the cage. Meanwhile, Virginia kept the Cards honest by taking three second half shots and forcing an Emily Young save on each one. 

The Cards get a very quick turnaround this weekend as they follow a Friday afternoon home match with a Sunday afternoon clash in Chestnut Hill. Louisville will face Boston College tomorrow at noon. If Louisville wins, they'll be guaranteed a spot in the ACC tournament. A loss means they'd need a win over Syracuse or they'd be out on head-to-head tiebreaker. With Trager hosting the event, being left out would be extremely unfortunate. Tomorrow's match will be on ACC Network Extra. 

No Cardinal Couple Radio Hour Podcast

We're out this week due to various hosts being unavailable. We should return with the show next week. 

Until next time, Go Cards!

Case

Field Hockey, Volleyball Split Upsets -- SATURDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

It was a night of upsets for Louisville athletics on Friday, with football taking the crown by knocking off #2 Miami in Hard Rock Stadium. Back at home, field hockey defeated Cal, who was ranked 19th. Unfortunately for volleyball, they weren't the underdogs Friday night in L&N Arena. Their upset wasn't huge, as SMU was ranked 8th, but the Cards fell in a 5-set thriller. Louisville women's soccer will look to continue the upset vibe tonight against #3 Virginia.

Field Hockey Beats Cal 3-1

Louisville field hockey flipped the script on how many of their games have played out last night by being the team to take control late. The Cards scored two goals in the fourth quarter to beat #19 Cal and earn their first ACC victory of the season. Last night's win moved Louisville to 1-4 in conference and got them back to .500 overall. Cal fell to 6-6 (2-4).

Louisville had all of the pressure early in this one, earning their first shot just four minutes into the game. The Cards would go on to have four shots in the first quarter and a penalty corner, but they could only put one on target, which was saved. Louisville won the shot battle 11 (6) to 5 (1) overall. Unfortunately for the Cards, Emily Young didn't earn a save, and Cal's only shot on target was a goal. 

Louisville's early pressure didn't pay off in the first quarter but they did find the back of the cage in the second. Izzy Bianco opened the game's scoring with her second goal of the season on a direct shot from a penalty corner. Gracie Potter sent the ball into play and earned the assist. The Cards looked like they'd head into the half with a 1-0 lead, but after holding the advantage for about ten minutes, Cal found a goal with just under a minute and a half remaining before the break. 

The two teams were scoreless again in the third, but this time Cal was able to keep the pressure a bit more balanced. The Golden Bears earned their first penalty corner of the match and prevented Louisville from scoring on two more chances. Both teams finished the third period with a pair of shots, and Louisville put one of those on target for a Cal save. 

In the final quarter, Louisville again applied early pressure. The Cards picked up the first shot of the quarter from open play with just over nine minutes remaining in the game, and it was another goal for Izzy Bianco. This one came off of an assist from Mary Wordelmann. Holding a one-goal lead is dangerous, so Rylie Wollerton wasted no time scoring her ninth goal of the season to give the Cards a 3-1 lead. That goal came just 18 seconds after Bianco's. Louisville had to survive two dangerous situations, one when Annabel Sep was shown a yellow card and Cal earned a penalty, and the other when Cal pulled their goal for the final four minutes. The Cards were content to maintain possession and not give up a potential counter attack, as neither team took a shot in that final four minutes. 

The Cards will get a week off now as they next face Virginia in Trager Stadium on Friday 10/24. 

SMU Beats Cards in Five

Louisville volleyball dropped the first set in last night's top-ten matchup, but they looked on course for a 3-1 victory after a tight third set. The Cards opened up a 14-11 lead in the fourth, but the Mustangs fought back and went on to win the set. Louisville fans were treated to extra volleyball in the fifth, but a three-point run after Louisville held match point doomed the Cards to a 3-2 loss. SMU ultimately won the match 25-22, 19-25, 24-26, 25-21, 19-17. 

Louisville's offense was figured out a bit in that pivotal fourth set, as the Cards had 11 errors, with five of those being blocks. The Cards had a combined 24 of their 30 errors in the three sets that they lost and SMU had 15 total blocks, with another four coming in the shortened fifth set. Whether that was a case of SMU adjusting to Louisville or the Cards just not being as crisp late in the match, it was definitely concerning. Louisville did win the block battle overall, 18-15. 

Another place that the Cards came up a bit short was in serve receive. SMU was extremely aggressive at the line, and it resulted in 16 service errors. It also resulted, though, in 10 aces. Kamden Schrand struggled particularly hard with the SMU serving game as she had five receiving errors. The Cards had just three aces and seven errors. While they were technically +3 in the net serving battle, giving up seven more aces than you hit is difficult to overcome from a momentum standpoint. 

The Cards were led offensively by the usual suspects, though no one for Louisville hit over .240. The Cards were .180 as a team. Payton Petersen led the way in kills with 18 on 47 attempts, but she also had 10 errors. Kalyssa Blackshear had the highest team hitting percentage and was second in kills with 17. She also led the team in attempts with 50. Chloe Chicoine hit .222 with 12 kills and Cara Cresse had 10 kills. SMU clearly keyed on Cresse in their preparations for this match. Louisville's star middle blocker had eight errors. 

Cresse and Hannah Sherman did what they normally do and led the way in blocks, with Blackshear close behind. Cresse had three solos and five block assists, while Sherman had 2/7 and Blackshear had 1/7. The other hitters didn't get involved in the block, but Nayelis Cabello had five block assists. While Schrand was bullied in serve receive, she was all over the floor defensively, as she had 23 digs. Chicoine was forced to defend her position as well, as she finished with 17. 

There's no rest for Louisville this weekend, as SMU's travel partner is Pittsburgh. The Cards will play another top-ten matchup on Sunday when the Panthers come to L&N. Tomorrow's match will begin at 1PM on ESPN. 

Cardinal Couple Radio Hour Podcast

We'll have three again this week as we chat about the week that was. There were some nice wins and some other big games to be played, so be sure to tune in. You can check out the show after it posts around 1PM, and be sure to subscribe so that it comes to your feed automatically. 

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

Volleyball Sweeps Again; FH Falls Short -- SATURDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

Cards Continue ACC Win Streak

Although their run of sweeps was broken Sunday by Stanford, Louisville upset the Cardinal in Maples Pavilion to continue their hot start in the ACC. That hot start was extended last night with a 3-0 victory over Virginia Tech in L&N FCU Arena. The Hokies didn't come in with a stellar record, but they are above .500 overall. Taking care of business at home is an important part of staying on track for a top seed in the NCAA tournament. Louisville won fairly handily, slipping just a tad in the third set with a final score of 25-11, 25-12, 25-17.

The Cards mostly dominated statistically. They finished with a .430 hitting percentage in the match and only had six errors overall. VT had 15 errors and hit .172. Ten of those VT errors were Louisville blocks, and the Cards dominated the serving battle with ten aces to VT's zero. Louisville was on fire at the line, as they had just four service errors, while VT dumped ten. That gave Louisville a net +16 in the category, which is going to be tough to overcome for the opposition. 

Points coming in different ways meant that kills were actually at somewhat of a premium. Louisville only had 40 as a team, and they were fairly well spread out. Chloe Chicoine (11) and Kalyssa Blackshear (10) led the way, as has become the norm, with only one error between the pair of them. Cara Cresse and Payton Petersen each had five while Hannah Sherman and Ava Utterback had four apiece. Cresse's five kills came on five attempts, giving her a hitting percentage of 1.000, and she had a solo block and two assists. Sherman and Blackshear each had five block assists. 

Louisville is back in action tomorrow at 1PM when they host the Virginia Cavaliers. UVA is very similar to VT, as they now sit at 8-7 overall (VT is 9-7) and both teams are 1-4 in conference play. Virginia is coming off a sweep at the hands of Notre Dame last night. Tomorrow's match will be carried on ACC Network Extra.

FH Drops Close Match at Duke

It's a tale as old as time, or at least as old as this season: Louisville field hockey came up just short with an opportunity for a marquee win. The Cards scored first in Durham yesterday, but Duke answered the goal in the third quarter and scored a winner in the fourth. Louisville wasn't able to find the back of the cage more than once, and it doomed them once more. 

Louisville field hockey has plenty of chances this season, and they do have some good wins, but the biggest victories have eluded them. Nearly beating Northwestern hurt a lot. Now, facing an incredibly difficult road trip against Duke and North Carolina, nearly beating Duke doesn't get it done. The Cards face UNC tomorrow and the #3 team will be looking to ensure the Cards can't finish over .500 in conference play. 

Rylie Wollerton scored her 8th goal of the season, which leads the team. Her goal came after a great pass by Gigi Edwards, who is now tied for third on the team in assists with three. Wollerton herself is second with four. Louisville faced significant pressure from Duke, with the Blue Devils putting up seven total shots, compared to just two for the Cards. Duke also had four corners (Louisville one), which they took advantage of by converting one for their equalizing goal. The Cards earned a chance late in the fourth when they won possession with an extra player on the pitch due to the empty net, but they weren't able to find a chance for a shot. 

After the match, Coach Justine Sowry lamented the mental lapses that prevented the Cards from closing out the game. Louisville has been susceptible to giving up the ball in critical situations late in games, and yesterday saw that unfortunate trend come into play once more. The Cards fall to 6-6 overall and 0-3 in conference play. With five conference games to go, they'll have to run the table to finish over .500 in the ACC. Louisville gets a very difficult opponent to open that final stretch when they take on UNC in Chapel Hill tomorrow. The match gets underway at noon on ACC Network.

Cardinal Couple Radio Hour Podcast

We'll have three on hand this week as Daryl took the opportunity to grab a tee time with Louisville football off. Paulie, Jared, and I will discuss the joy and excitement that have been brought by all three teams this week, while also touching on some of the other news that has come and gone. You can check out the show after it posts around 1PM, and be sure to subscribe so that it comes to your feed automatically. 

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

Volleyball Survives Friday Night Frights -- SATURDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

Volleyball Sweeps Cal

Louisville volleyball was the last team to get underway for the Cards last night, but they were only one of the three to come away with a win. The only drama in the 3-0 victory came in the second set when the question was just how badly would Louisville win the set. Sandwiched between a pair of 25-16 wins, the Cards beat the brakes off the Bears in the second with a 25-5 victory. 

Cal is... not very good. They hit for 0.000 on the match, and Louisville only finished with eight total blocks. The Bears hit 22 total errors, although they did have fewer service errors that the Cards (3-5). Both teams had two aces. Louisville's offense was fairly efficient in their own right, finishing with a .384 hitting percentage. The Cards had eight total errors and five of those were blocks by Cal. Only hitting the ball out of the court on your own three times is pretty good. 

Chloe Chicoine led the way for Louisville with 13 kills and no errors. Kalyssa Blackshear also hit for no errors as she finished with eight kills. Payton Petersen had eight kills as well, but she was more covered by Cal and had four errors. Cara Cresse was first in efficiency among hitters as she finished with a .538 percentage and had nine kills.

Louisville's defense was all over the place as Petersen and Hannah Kenny led in digs with ten apiece and three players (Chicoine, Kamden Schrand, and Nayelis Cabello) finished with eight. Cresse led the team with four block assists and Cabello tied Hannah Sherman for second with two assists and one solo block. 

This one was never really in doubt, but it serves as a good preparation match on the west coast for Louisville. The Cards have a big test coming up tomorrow when they take on Stanford. The Cardinal are ranked 3rd in the country and have won 20 straight matches at Maples Pavilion. Notre Dame gave them a ride in the second set last night when they pushed it to extra points, but Stanford came out ahead in that one and finished with a 25-22, 26-24, 25-14 sweep. Tomorrow's match is on ESPN at 5PM. 

Overturned Goal Sinks Field Hockey

Louisville field hockey tried to give Justine Sowry a good birthday present yesterday against Wake Forest, but they weren't able to overcome a tough call in the fourth quarter. The 18th-ranked Cards fell to 5-5 (0-2) on the season with a 2-0 loss to #7 Wake Forest. 

Louisville struggled offensively early in the match, with Wake suffocating them every time they received the ball. That pressure paid off for the Demon Deacons in the second quarter, when they used a turnover to work forward and score the first goal of the match. That goal came about halfway through the second quarter, and both teams continued to keep the opponent at bay afterwards.

Louisville's offense finally showed up in the fourth quarter. After failing to record a shot for the first three periods, the Cards put up five in the fourth. Early on, they appeared to equalize, but the goal was overturned on replay review. Instead of a 1-1 match in which they had some momentum, Louisville found themselves still trailing and a bit deflated. Wake ultimately earned the first penalty corner of the game for either team and scored to double Louisville's deficit. The Cards weren't able to find the back of the cage and the final score was 2-0. 

Each team finished with five total shots and three on target. That's an unfortunate stat when you consider how good Emily Young has been this season. Louisville has to avoid giving up clean looks to the opponent and they have to be able to score more effectively. 

Nevertheless, the Cards are back in action Tuesday at Trager Stadium. Louisville will play their last non-conference match of the regular season when they take on Bellarmine at 5PM. 

Soccer Falls Short in Second Half

Louisville women's soccer had the toughest draw of the evening for the three sports, as they faced a road game against the second-ranked team in the country. For the first 45 minutes, Louisville looked every bit as if they could pull off a big upset. Adjustments at halftime for Notre Dame found the mark, though, and back-to-back goals early in the second set the final score. 

Louisville came out on a mission in the first half, and their tenacity got them an early lead. Notre Dame had the first shot inside the first minute, but Louisville settled in and held them at bay until their second shot in the ninth. Erynn Floyd picked up her first save of the match on that one and Notre Dame was offsides a minute later. Then it was Louisville's turn to play offense. Over the next eight minutes, they had three corner kicks and eight total shots. The eighth shot finally found the mark. Following a corner, Ella Bard had an attempt that was blocked and came to Hadley Snyder's feet. Snyder settled and sent it into the back of the net for her second goal of the season. 

Notre Dame didn't allow Louisville to celebrate for long, as the Irish equalized just seven minutes later on strong team play. What was extra unfortunate for the Cards is that their early goal seemed to wake up the Notre Dame midfield and defense. Over that eight minute stretch, Louisville had three corners and eight shots with two on target. Over the final 72 minutes of the match, Louisville had no corners and just three shots with one on target. 

Don't get me wrong: Notre Dame is very good, but man that is a disappointing final stat line after a frenzied start. Notre Dame, on the other hand, was relentless in the second half. The Irish had Floyd under constant pressure as they took five corner kicks, earned 13 shots, and put eight shots on target. Erynn Floyd finished the match with seven saves, but you can't blame someone for yielding a couple of goals when they're getting that much work from a top offense like Notre Dame. 

At the end of the day, this is another two-goal road loss for the Cards. Is that frustrating? Yeah, a bit, but if your only three losses so far have all come by just two goals on the road to teams in the top-25, that's not terrible. Louisville's next opponent won't be any easier, though. The Cards take on Wake Forest on Thursday in Winston-Salem. While the Demon Deacons will lose some of the shine from their #12 ranking after their last match, a shocking 2-1 loss to NC State will have them fired up to get revenge on the Cards. Wake is 9-2-2 (3-1-1) with a 3-2 victory over Duke on the resume. 

No CCRHP This Week

With a couple of hosts out and about and other obligations keeping me away, we'll take this week off from the Cardinal Couple Radio Hour Podcast. We'll look to return next week to bring you the joy and excitement of Louisville women's athletics.

Until next time, Go Cards!

Case

Big Day for Fall Sports -- FRIDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

Soccer Faces 2nd-Ranked Notre Dame

All three of Louisville's traditional fall women's sports teams are in action this evening, and soccer will be the first one to get underway. The Cards are on the road, taking on the Irish in South Bend, Indiana. Notre Dame has moved up to the #2 spot in the country on the back of an undefeated start to the season. The Irish are 9-0-1 this year, with their only non-win coming in Fayetteville, where they drew Arkansas 2-2. The Razorbacks were ranked 6th at the time and are currently tied for 7th. 

Notre Dame opened the season with a 2-1 win over Western Michigan before the Arkansas match. After that, they didn't give up another goal in non-conference play, beating Cincinnati, Michigan, Oakland, and Michigan State by a combined 18-0 score. A scheduled match against Marquette, their last in non-con, was canceled. The Irish haven't been as tight defensively since ACC play started, as they have yet to record a clean sheet. That said, their wins have come over NC State, Duke, North Carolina, and Clemson, so it hasn't exactly been easy sledding. The most recent game was on Sunday, where they posted five goals against the stingy Clemson Tigers defense. 

Louisville's offense may be able to find success against Notre Dame, so this one could go back-and-forth. The Irish have scored 14 goals in ACC play, but they've also given up seven. The 10-2 Cards have been a bit quieter on offense in conference play after lighting the world on fire in non-con, but Louisville has still scored four and only allowed two in their four conference games. Louisville is 3-1 in those games with three shutouts.

The Cards are getting more love from TopDrawer than they are from the Coaches' Poll, as TDS has Louisville ranked 10th, but tonight is still a ranked matchup nonetheless. The Cards have moved into the top-25 with a ranking of 23rd in the Coaches' Poll. Louisville is 20th in RPI. Tonight will also be just Louisville's fourth road game of the season. The Cards are 1-2 in those games, with the 1-0 win over Auburn to open the year and the two 2-0 losses to Vandy and FSU. Tonight would be a fantastic time to move that road record back to .500.

The match this evening gets underway at 6PM on ACC Network Extra.

FH Hosts Wake Forest

Louisville will face another top-10 opponent tonight when Justine Sowry's squad welcomes #7 Wake Forest to Trager Stadium. Wake is 7-2 this year with their only losses coming when they opened the season 0-2 against Iowa and Michigan. The Demon Deacons have a 3-0 conference record against tough opponents, and they've set a matching final score of 2-1 against Syracuse, Boston College, and North Carolina. The matches against Syracuse and UNC both went to overtime. 

Louisville is coming off of a tough loss to open their conference slate after the shootout loss at Stanford last week. The Cards have been up and down this season and currently sit at 5-4. They've had some successes with victories over ranked OSU and St. Joseph's, but it's the matches that have gotten away (Northwestern, Iowa, Stanford) that may haunt them going forward. 

Wake is a very good team, but Louisville has shown their ability to matchup against difficult opponents. The road ahead doesn't get much easier for the Cards, as they'll head to North Carolina for matches against Duke and UNC next weekend. That means tonight is a great opportunity to keep the season on track and carry some momentum into the rest of conference play. The match will be played at 6:30 and will also air on ACC Network Extra.

Volleyball in California Swing

The wide-net Cards have the late show tonight as they're in California to take on Cal and Stanford this weekend. Tonight's match won't get started until 10PM, so make sure to take a nap before the soccer match or after field hockey ends. 

The Golden Bears got off to a rocky start this year, as they sit at just 5-7, but they got a nice boost to open their conference play. Cal traveled to Virginia last weekend and took down Virginia Tech and Virginia with a final set score of 6-1 between the two matches. While those two teams aren't very good, they were road victories across the country for a Cal team that desperately needed some juice. Welcoming in the 6th-ranked Cardinals will be plenty of motivation for them to continue their good start to conference play. 

Louisville will look to continue their run of form as well. After a slew of matches in which the Cards dropped sets, they suddenly find themselves on a run of three straight sweeps, their longest stretch since the Cardinal Classic to open the year. Another sweep over Cal would help Louisville put some of the ghosts of the non-conference schedule behind them before a tough matchup against the Cardinal on Sunday. Like the other two matches tonight, the volleyball match will be on ACC Network Extra.

Until next time, Go Cards!

Case

Cards Split ACC Openers -- SATURDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

Volleyball Sweeps BC

Louisville volleyball opened their ACC slate at home against Boston College and took care of the Eagles in fairly short order. There wasn't a lot of drama in any set as the Cards won 25-12, 25-17, 25-15. Louisville hit .422 on the evening, compared to just .049 for BC, and that was despite BC winning the blocking battle. 

Outside of 8 total blocks, BC was not stellar on defense (as evidenced by Louisville's hitting percentage). Louisville's offensive leaders were incredibly efficient. Payton Petersen led the way with 13 kills and just two errors on only 21 attempts. That equates to a .524 hitting percentage from a pin hitter. Yeesh. Chloe Chicoine was also strong, going nine and one on 17 attempts for a .471. Kalyssa Blackshear rounded out the pin attackers (for the most part) with a .263 hitting percentage and seven kills. The middles were actually defended a bit better, with Cara Cresse and Hannah Sherman combining for eight kills and four errors on only 15 attempts. 

Nayelis Cabello continued to play well on the floor, as she finished with 35 assists and went three for three on offensive attempts. I say "on the floor" as she was one of many who stumbled a bit at the serving line. Louisville finished with seven aces, but they also had twelve service errors. Cabello had none of the aces and three of the errors. So it goes sometimes. Hannah Kenny led the way with three aces, but she had two errors as well, so Molly Wilson actually had the best day at the line with two aces and no errors. Kamden Schrand and Ava Utterback had the remaining two aces. 

Defensively, BC made it pretty easy. They did the thing you aren't supposed to do on offense, which is hit it basically straight to the libero every time. Schrand finished with 21 of Louisville's 40 total digs. Hannah Sherman had the best day at the net, racking up four block assists and one of Louisville's two solo blocks (Alanna Bankston had the other). Blackshear finished with three block assists and Cresse, Cabello, and Petersen all contributed one each. 

As I mentioned earlier, there wasn't a lot of drama in this match. Louisville trailed just once, and that wasn't until the third set. With the help of a block, a Louisville unforced error, and one of their three aces, BC had a three point run early in the third set to go from a 3-1 deficit to a 4-3 lead. Louisville won the next four points and didn't look back. 

They won't always be so easy, but after I mentioned that Louisville had been prone to dropping sets on last week's show, they responded by sweeping both opponents this week. The Cards are back in action tomorrow when Syracuse comes to L&N Arena for a 1PM match. The Orange are having a bit of a renaissance season, though their competition has been questionable, as they sit at 9-2 on the year. Their two losses came on back-to-back days in a home-and-away match up with Colgate. Syracuse defeated Notre Dame 3-1 Friday evening in South Bend. 

Field Hockey Falls in Shootout

Louisville hit the road to open their conference schedule and played a nail biter of a match with Stanford. Ultimately, Louisville was unable to find a game-winning goal, and they lost in a shootout. The final score of 2-1 represents the single point awarded to Stanford winning the shootout after each team scored one goal in regulation. Coincidentally, the final score of the shootout was also 2-1. 

The match was a constant struggle of early offensive action followed by periods of strong defensive play. Stanford scored the first goal on a penalty corner in the first quarter. Louisville matched that with a PC goal of their own in the second. After halftime, both teams were able to amass just one shot on target for the entire second half. Louisville's goal came from Rylie Wollerton, her seventh of the season. Assists went to Tatum Kroon and Annabel Sep. 

The overtime periods played out very similarly. Louisville survived a PC attempt from Stanford early in the first OT and managed to find three shots late in the period, but neither team found a Golden Goal. Their search continued in the second overtime, but the efforts were even more fruitless: neither team was able to even find a shot. 

Even the shootout had a similar flavor. Louisville scored on their first attempt (Gracie Potter) while Stanford scored their first two. The Cards were blanked for their remaining four attempts, and while Stanford was unable to extend their lead any further, one extra goal was all they needed. Interestingly, after Emily Young made three saves during the game, she was substituted for Alessia Cicuto for the penalty shootout. I won't second guess the goalie whisperer that is Justine Sowry, so I'll just assume that Cicuto has shown more in practice in the way of penalty acumen. 

It's a tough way to start the conference season, as Louisville's mercurial offensive play continues, but they'll have a long week to recover. It was a single game weekend for the Cards on the west coast, as they get a Sunday bye. Louisville is back in action Friday, when they return to Trager Stadium to host Wake Forest. 

Cardinal Couple Radio Hour Podcast

Jared is off galivanting around Louisville, so he'll miss this week, but we'll have three on board the Cardinal Couple Radio Hour Podcast. Daryl will be forced to give us her rundown of the past two weekends and Louisville's annual music festivals before we get into the week that was in Louisville women's athletics. You can check out the show after it posts around 1PM, and be sure to subscribe so that it comes to your feed automatically. 

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 and FH Notch Key Wins -- SATURDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

Soccer Beats Clemson 1-0

Louisville women's soccer picked up their second straight 1-0 ACC victory last night, this time over the visiting Clemson Tigers. The loss was just Clemson's second of the season and their first in ACC play. The Tigers are now 3-2-5 (0-1-2) on the year. They opened their ACC slate with back-to-back 2-2 draws against #3 Stanford and Cal. Clemson has also drawn against #12 South Carolina and #15 Georgia. It may not seem like it based on their rankings, but this was a very big shutout win for the Cards. 

Even better than a shutout, Louisville held Clemson to zero shots on goal. Louisville's defense was relentless, albeit a little aggressive. The Cards finished with seven fouls compared to just three for the Tigers. Both teams totaled only five shots, but Louisville put three of theirs on target. It was an extremely defensive second half for Louisville, as they managed just one corner and one shot in the second. They did most of their attacking in the first half, including scoring their goal. 

That goal came in the 20th minute by Amelia Swinarski with assists from AG Gibson and Liza Suydam. Swinny continues her emergence as a key member of the Louisville offense and a player that is getting national recognition. Louisville's shift from the 4-5-1 formation most commonly used in recent years to a more balanced 4-3-3 continues to put more attacking players, like AG Gibson, in position to do something with those instincts. The Cards have missed out on scoring opportunities in the past and have lost games like this one due to giving up a single goal and being unable to respond. While the 1-0 victories aren't as thrilling as Louisville being on double-digit watch, they're still wins, and that's all that matters. 

The Cards move to 9-2 on the season and 2-1 in ACC play. Their lone losses came in ranked road matches. It's now very realistic to say that Louisville has a chance to finish the regular season undefeated at home. There are three matches left to play at Lynn Stadium, and one will be much more difficult than the others. The Cards take on Miami next Thursday, then Virginia on October 18th, and finish with SMU on October 30th. A draw still isn't a loss, so the Cards just need a point in each of those matches to accomplish the goal, but wins would be sweet. 

With their ninth win, Louisville guarantees that they will have their most wins since 2019, and they ensure a finish of at least .500. That said, finishing the season at .500 now would be an absolute disaster. Road matches against Notre Dame and Wake Forest will be very difficult, as will the home match against Virginia, but Louisville should consider themselves capable of competing in those games and should feel good about the other matches remaining (Miami, @ BC, @ NC State, SMU). The Cards are currently tied for 2nd in the ACC with ND and Wake all on 6 points, but that will likely shift around after Sunday. Louisville is on bye this weekend and they are among the only teams to have played three ACC matches so far. 

Louisville's next opponent is Miami. The Canes are 6-3-1 overall but 0-2 in ACC play. They opened their ACC season with a 3-1 loss at Wake and then a 1-0 loss at home to Duke. Those results aren't bad, but Miami's other loss came at Appalachian State and their draw was at home against Princeton. They could be frisky, but Louisville will be happy to have this game at home. That match will be Thursday at 7PM. 

Field Hockey Upsets Ohio State 3-2

Louisville field hockey bounced back from a tough weekend last time out by knocking off the 14th-ranked Ohio State Buckeyes late Friday afternoon. The Cards win means that they finished their Big Ten season (haha) 3-2. The losses against Northwestern and Iowa stung, but the Cards can claim victories over three teams (MSU, IU, and OSU) in one of the top field hockey conferences in the country. If Louisville can also finish their conference season over .500, they'll be back in contention for a strong seed in the NCAA tournament. 

In this one, the two teams played a tough scoreless first quarter before exploding on offense in the second. Louisville scored goals just over a minute apart but Ohio State took one back right before the half to keep the Cards in touch. Louisville picked up their third goal halfway through the third quarter and found themselves on defense for the remainder of the match. The Buckeyes went empty net with four minutes remaining and found a goal 30 seconds later. They took another shot right after scoring, but Louisville's defense was able to control the ball for the remaining three-and-a-half minutes to secure the victory. 

Cardinal goals came from Rylie Wollerton (6), Gracie Potter (2), and Gigi Edwards (4). Wollerton's goal was assisted by Trijntje Herfkens and Edwards' came from Wollerton. It was an extremely hectic game for both defenses, with Louisville taking 17 shots (10 on target) and Ohio State taking 15 (8). Six of OSU's shots came in that fourth quarter. Both goalies were very active, and very efficient, as OSU finished with seven saves and Emily Young had six for the Cards. 

Despite 12 total penalty corners taken in the game (7-5 Cards), none of the five goals were directly counted as PC goals and only one of Louisville's really came as a result of the PC. Potter's goal came after she put a corner into play and she took a rebound shot after Annabel Sep had her attempt saved. 

Louisville hits the road today for a match against Saint Joseph's tomorrow afternoon. The Hawks are 4-2 on the season with their two losses coming on the road against #18 Penn State and #10 Maryland. The 15th-ranked squad from Philly has just one home match so far, a 3-0 win over St. Louis yesterday to open conference play. They've also got wins over #11 UConn, New Hampshire, and American, with UConn and American being neutral and New Hampshire being a true road match. 

The Cards will have their hands full with their penultimate non-conference opponent of the season. Louisville moves into conference play after tomorrow's match, but they'll also play Bellarmine on October 7th. Tomorrow's match is at noon and will be available on ESPN+. 

Cardinal Couple Radio Hour Podcast

We're planning a show this week, but it will be a two-man game, with both Jared and Daryl over near UofL's campus. Jared will be at L&N Stadium for a noon kickoff and Daryl will be headed to the Fairgrounds for early sets on the third day of Louder Than Life. Paulie and I will talk some big wins and one disappointing loss. You can check out the show after it posts around 1PM, and be sure to subscribe so that it comes to your feed automatically. 

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

VB, WSOC Win; FH Doesn't -- MONDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

Cards Sweep Blue Jay Invitational

After victories over Creighton and Northern Iowa, one match stood between Louisville and a clean sweep of the weekend. The Cards dropped a set for their fifth straight match, but they recovered to beat the Owls 22-25, 28-26, 25-14, 25-15. I'm going to go out on a limb and guess that Dan Meske had words for his squad at halftime after the first two sets. 

Louisville got back to their blocking ways in this one, totaling 13 team blocks. It was a group effort, as the Cards had just one solo block, which again came from Nayelis Cabello. Cabello contributed four block assists as well, tying her with Hannah Sherman for second in that category. Cara Cresse and Kalyssa Blackshear led the way with six apiece. Addison Makun chipped in a pair and Chloe Chicoine and Payton Petersen each had one. 

Petersen finished with a double-double after picking up 11 kills and 11 digs. Cresse led the way in kills as well, slamming home 14 and leading the team in hitting percentage with a .458. Blackshear was close behind with 13 kills and a .333 percentage. Chicoine had nine kills and no errors. Louisville also had a strong day at the service line, finishing with 10 aces, outnumbering their nine errors. 

Louisville improved to 7-1 after the win, and it will be interesting to see where they land in the AVCA rankings today. Though the Cards suffered their first loss of the season, it was in a functional road match against the second-ranked team in the country, and they followed it up with a road win over a ranked team. The Cards will get their next major test back in the friendly confines of the Yum! Center when they face UK at 6PM on Thursday. The match will be on ESPNU. 

Soccer Beats VT 1-0

Louisville left it late in their conference home opener, but they ultimately scored a game-winner to beat Virginia Tech and move to 1-1 in ACC play. The win was a big one. Louisville will play some of the top teams in the conference this season, and a return to NCAA tournament play means beating teams you have the chance to. Virginia Tech entered at 4-3-2 on the season and lost just 2-1 against UNC on Thursday. The Hokies had scored 23 goals and given up 13. A win gives Louisville a precious three points and sees them in the top half of the league (although BC, SMU, and NC State have yet to play two conference matches). 

The Cards were stymied offensively in the first half, earning just one shot off-target. Virginia Tech controlled much of the possession and took four shots, forcing one save from Erynn Floyd. The Hokies also enjoyed two corners compared to just one for the Cards. Louisville turned up the offensive pressure in the second half, though. The two teams each had just one corner kick, but Louisville totaled 10 shots in the period, and they put five of them on target. 

To Virginia Tech's credit, they had a couple of chances as well. The Hokies put two of their three second half shots on frame, but Floyd was up to the task. The two teams looked headed for Louisville's first draw of the season until late in the half when Liza Suydam found herself with space in the offensive third. Carrying the ball up field, she saw an opening and slotted a great through ball for Emersen Jennings to set the forward up with a 1-on-1 opportunity with the VT goalkeeper. Jennings showed once more that she has found more touch and accuracy in her senior season, taking a light touch on the ball before firing it home high into the side netting. Louisville led 1-0 in the 82nd minute and would go on to complete the victory. 

It was a brutal finish for Virginia Tech. The Hokies had conceded three times in the final five minutes of matches entering yesterday, and the late winner for Louisville will add to that frustration. For the Cards, it was a great recovery after the difficult match in Tallahassee on Thursday. A scoreless draw would have netted the Cards a point in the conference standings, but it would have felt empty after showing so much punch in non-conference and being quite frisky on the road against FSU. One goal is not ideal, but it's better than none. 

Louisville's win gave them their highest win total since 2019. The Cards had 13 wins that season, and it was the last time they made the NCAA tournament. While there are still eight games remaining, 13 wins would be quite tough this season. Double digit wins, though, should definitely be on the table. Louisville's next opponent will be a tough Clemson team. The Tigers opened their ACC slate by bringing the two California teams to South Carolina. They stole a point off of Stanford late on Thursday and earned a matching 2-2 draw against Cal on Sunday. Clemson has already picked up five draws this season and sit at 3-1-5. 

No lead will be safe against the Tigers, and Louisville will need to stay focused on Friday to earn a victory. It's an unusual game day for the Cards with the Friday slot instead of Thursday, but it comes ahead of a bye on Sunday. The match will begin at 7PM. 

FH Stumbles in Hangover Loss

Louisville field hockey suffered a shocking loss on Friday, giving up the lead in the waning moments of the match before losing to the #1 team in overtime. Those bad vibes apparently carried through the weekend, as #15 Iowa took the Cards to task on Sunday. 

Louisville gave up four goals in the first quarter on seven shots by Iowa. The Hawkeyes added a fifth goal on three more shots in the second quarter and Louisville was held without a shot in the first half. The Cards managed ten shot attempts in the second half, and actually finished with more shots on target overall (9-8), but Iowa's had been of higher quality, and Louisville could find the back of the cage just once. 

Annabel Sep scored her third goal of the year on a penalty corner shortly into the third quarter. While it jumpstarted the offense and the Cards had more corners and shots immediately after, they couldn't find the back of the net. A 5-1 loss was a painful way to close what could have been a huge weekend. 

The Cards have a long practice week ahead before their next match on Friday. It will be another Big Ten team headed to Trager Stadium, as Ohio State comes to town. A win would keep the Cards above .500 on the season, both overall and against B1G teams. With two matches to go before conference play begins, getting back on track before heading to California next week would be significant. 

Until next time, Go Cards!

Case

Volleyball Wins; FH Drops Stunner -- SATURDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

Cards Snap Blue Jays Streak in 3-1 Win

Louisville walked into Sokol Arena in Omaha and did something that opposing teams have struggled to do against the Creighton Blue Jays: win a set. Entering last night, Creighton had dropped just two sets in the previous 91. When Louisville bounced back to win the second set last night, they made it three out of the previous 93. After the Cards completed the victory in four sets, they accomplished an even tougher task: beating the Blue Jays at home. The win snapped Creighton's program-record 32-match home winning streak, which stood as the nation's third-longest active streak. 

Coming off the heels of their first loss of the season to Texas on Wednesday night, Louisville got off to a rocky start in Omaha. Creighton hit .364 in the first set and used a quick 5-1 mid-set run to take a strong lead at 15-11. Louisville fought back to keep the set close, but after the Cards made it 18-20, Creighton rattled off three straight points to put Louisville at a significant disadvantage. Louisville could only win one more point and the final score in the first set was 25-19. 

The Cards got their feet under them a bit more in the second and held a 12-9 lead before the home crowd empowered the Jays to take another swipe at Louisville. Creighton used a 9-1 run to turn Louisville's lead into a precarious deficit. At 18-14, the Cards were staring down a 2-0 set score on the road heading into the halftime break. The two teams edged toward the 25-point marker for the end of the set, but Louisville used a short burst to tie it at 21, and things got awfully nervy from there. Louisville was the first to find a set-point opportunity at 24-23, but Creighton fought it off to earn their own at 26-25. The Blue Jays missed their golden opportunity with a service error to put the Cards level. From there, Creighton wouldn't earn another set-point chance, but they fought off three more from Louisville before the Cards ultimately evened the match with a 31-29 second set win. 

The third saw Creighton build another moderate lead toward the middle of the set with the score at 12-6, but Louisville used a run from Chloe Chicoine at the service line, including an ace, to pull the set level at 12-all. Creighton continued their strong play at home by leading through the latter parts of the set, but a late service error gave Louisville the opportunity for another boom. A Nayelis Cabello (playing on her birthday) serving run pushed Louisville to a 23-19 lead. The teams traded points, putting Louisville in the driver's seat with four set-point opportunities. The Cards needed three of those, but another service error by Creighton gave Louisville the 2-1 lead with a 25-22 win. 

The fourth set was fairly tight for the majority, but it ultimately played out similarly to the first with the teams reversed. Louisville held the lead for most of the set, but never by more than a couple of points. Once the Cards stretched their lead to 20-16, it took the wind out of the Blue Jays' wings a bit. Creighton couldn't overcome the deficit, with the crowd becoming a bit more resigned with each passing point, and Louisville flipped the set one score with a 25-19 victory to win the match 3-1. 

Creighton was christening their new Taraflex floor in Sokol Arena with the Blue Jay Invitational, so the Cards spoiled that party a bit. While the FS1 announcers praised it, and I certainly appreciated the detailing and concepts, I thought it was a bit distracting as a television viewer. Perhaps it was less so in person, but I digress. A few reviews last night also displayed the disparity between different facilities in collegiate volleyball. The fact that we can have high-definition line and net cameras for one match and be limited to three television camera views for reviews in the next is rough. It makes it difficult for coaches to make consistent challenge decisions and it's frustrating as a viewer. 

Louisville was led offensively last night by Payton Petersen. Petersen finished with 18 kills on .318 hitting and nearly had her second straight double-double with nine digs. Chloe Chicoine did pick up a double-double with 17 digs (led the team) to go alone with her 11 kills. Chicoine struggled early and had to dig herself out of a negative hitting percentage midway through the second set, but she finished with .111, so not terrible. Kalyssa Blackshear also had 11 kills and Cara Cresse had 14. 

Nayelis Cabello finished with three kills and two errors to go along with her 42 assists. She had two of Louisville's five aces (including one to win the second set) and picked up seven digs. Cabello also had a block assist and an incredible solo block against the Creighton middle blocker after a Louisville over pass. The birthday girl was everywhere, and the sophomore is showing that she is well-deserving of all the praise she has received and more. 

Defensively, Louisville wasn't able to be as effective on the block as Wednesday night. The Cards finished with just six total team blocks and were out-blocked by the Blue Jays (10). Creighton did a good job of tooling blocks, with a large number of their kills coming off of Louisville hands. The Jays actually outhit Louisville .279-.258. Kamden Schrand had 12 digs and Hannah Sherman led the team with three block assists. 

For Creighton, it's a tough result at home that moves the Jays to an unfortunate 3-4 record on the year. If there's any consolation for them, it's that all four losses have come against top-25 teams and they have picked up a win against a ranked opponent (Kansas). If they can pick up wins over UNI and Rice to finish the weekend, they'll likely remain ranked. Louisville moves to 5-1 on the season, and Creighton marks their first ranked victory of the year. Louisville is back in action against UNI at 7:30PM tonight. The match will be streamed on the Creighton Athletics YouTube channel. 

FH Falls Late to Northwestern

Louisville forced the #1 team in the country to concede their first goal of the season, but they were ultimately unable to close out the win against Northwestern in an overtime heartbreaker. The Cards withstood relentless pressure from the Wildcats and needed just 153 more seconds of scoreless hockey to notch a massive win. Louisville got a huge boost from an overturned goal by Northwestern late in the fourth, but they couldn't keep the NU offense at bay when they pulled the goalie with four minutes remaining. A goal at 57:27 tied the game, and the golden goal rule sealed Louisville's fate when Northwestern scored two minutes into overtime. 

Gigi Edwards took the honor of marring Northwestern's perfect clean sheet record when she scored an unassisted goal early in the second quarter. The goal came at Louisville's third time of asking in a flurry of shots. NU goalie Juliana Boon saved a shot from Lauren Masters and a rebound from Edwards before Edwards's second rebound attempt found the back of the cage. Those three shots on goal, which came in a span of seven seconds, were Louisville's only shots on target in the match. The Cards managed eight total shots, with six coming in that second quarter.

NU also had six shots in the second quarter, which followed four shots in the first and which they matched in the third. The Wildcats ended with 19 total shots and put 11 of them on target. Their fewest shots came in the fourth quarter. They tallied just one, it was on target, and it was the equalizing goal. Field hockey can be a brutal game. Emily Young was incredible for Louisville, as the defense faced seven penalty corners and she finished with nine saves. 

Northwestern is an incredible team, and a 2-1 result would be encouraging in other circumstances. It will likely still be viewed positively when it comes time to review resumes, but being less than three minutes away from a 1-0 win over the top-ranked squad takes just about all of the shine off of a quality loss. 

The Cards get no respite from tough competition as they'll face the 15th-ranked Hawkeyes of Iowa at 1:30 tomorrow. The match in Trager Stadium will be streamed on ACC Network Extra. 

No CCRHP This Week

With hosts scattered about, we're taking the week off from the Cardinal Couple Radio Hour Podcast. We should be back next week, but we'll let you know if that changes. 

Until next time, Go Cards!

Case