Former WSOC Star Headed to LA -- SATURDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

Karsyn Cherry Signs with Angel City FC

The NWSL eliminated its traditional draft process as part of its most recent collective bargaining agreement, making the 2025 collegiate soccer season the second to not end with players hoping to hear their names called to play at the next level. Instead, players are free to sign anywhere that they have an opportunity to play, whether that is in the US or beyond. Louisville graduated a number of seniors with a lot of experience, so we'll be keeping an eye out for more announcements, but their multi-year captain was the first to find a spot in the NWSL.

Karsyn Cherry was among three rookies signed by Angel City FC, the NWSL team that calls Los Angeles home. Coincidentally, all three signees came from the ACC, as Cherry joins FSU midfielder Taylor Suarez and Duke midfielder Carina Legeyre. Cherry signed a three-year contract with the team, which she says she is "excited and grateful to be able to play for". Cherry heads to LA after an incredible career at Louisville, which included 5,610 minutes played over 69 career games with 68 starts. Cherry scored in her first career start as a freshman in 2022, which marked the first of her 12 career goals with the Cards. 

Cherry (r) with fellow SR defender Lizzie Sexton

Cherry was part of a 2025 defense that helped Louisville go undefeated at home and posted 12 clean sheets. She scored three goals as a senior, down on her previous two seasons, but still good for seventh on the team. One of those goals was a game winner, and she added four assists for good measure. Behind Erynn Floyd, Louisville is likely to miss Karsyn Cherry more than any other player on the field next season, so it's great to see her getting an opportunity to show her skills at the next level. 

Coincidentally, Cherry isn't the only player who spent last year in Louisville to be headed to LA. Ary Borges left Racing Louisville as a free agent at the end of the season and was announced as a signee by ACFC earlier this week as well. Angel City finished the 2025 season standings in 11th, out of 14 teams. They posted a -10 goal difference on a 7-13-6 record, and they were nine points out of a playoff position. What I'm getting at is that they definitely have room to improve, and there may be an opportunity for new players like Cherry to make an early impact. 

We're wishing a huge congratulations to Karsyn and hoping for success in her next chapter. As I said at the top, Louisville had a lot of key contributors graduate, so we'll keep you posted on any other advancements. 

Until next time, Go Cards!

Case

Cards Ground Eagles 96-49 -- THURSDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

Louisville Nearly Doubles Up Morehead State

Louisville brought in a blue team from Kentucky in their final tune-up before they face the blue team from Kentucky on Saturday. In the end, Louisville dominated Morehead State, finishing with a season-high 96 points and seeing seven players post double-figures in scoring. That marks the most in a game in almost exactly two years, as eight scored double-digits against Bellarmine on November 16, 2023 (thanks for that stat, Matt). The Cards led nearly wire-to-wire, and despite letting off the gas a bit in the fourth, won all four quarters, on route to a 96-49 victory. 

Very early on, it looked like the Cards might suffer from the same sluggish start that has plagued them in most games this season. Morehead State hung around and led 7-6 after three minutes. However, that was pretty much the end of that. Louisville went on a 13-0 run to snatch a big lead and then finished the quarter on a 10-0 run to make it even bigger. Overall, they won the last seven minutes of the first quarter 23-3 and won the quarter 29-10. The Cards went 12-17 from the floor in the opening stanza.

Louisville also scored the first six points of the second quarter, pushing their lead to 25 and putting the game firmly out of reach. It was mostly academic after that point, with the Cards scoring basically at will until the fourth quarter. Coach Jeff Walz played eleven players in this one, and each player scored. Taj Roberts saw the most time on the floor with 27 minutes, but the next three highest minutes earners came off the bench. Everyone played double-digit minutes, bar Mackenly Randolph, who saw only seven minutes as a starter. Of the seven in double figures, four scored 13 points to lead all players, with two starting and two coming off the bench. 

Louisville scored 85 points in the first three quarters of the game. Pretty good, if you ask me, but a bit d
isappointing that they couldn't break 100. Tough thing to be upset about. The Cards finished 33-61 from the floor (54.1%) and 10-26 from three (38.5%), but if you exclude the fourth quarter, they shot 28-45 (62.2%) and 9-16 (56.2%) before garbage time. Not too shabby. Reagan Bender, one of the players who scored 13, led the team with three made three-pointers. She was 3-4 from the floor (all from beyond the arc) and went 4-4 from the free throw line.

Also scoring 13 points were Roberts, Laura Ziegler, and Imari Berry. Anaya Hardy was close behind at 12, and Elif Istanbulluoglu and Reyna Scott rounded out the double-digit scorers with 11 apiece. Hardy also led the team in rebounding, posting a double-double with 13 rebounds. Scott and Berry tied for the team lead with four assists, as Louisville assisted on 22 of 33 made baskets. 

The FRED Report

F-Free Throws: Louisville shot 20-23 from the free throw line which is good for 87%. All three misses came from post players, with seven players making all of their free throw attempts. I think 90% is supposed to be the cutoff for a capital F, though, so we'll stick with a lowercase'f', but I do so begrudgingly. 

R-Rebounds: The Cards put a palindrome on Morehead in the rebounding category, winning the battle on the boards 42-24. That was largely to be expected, given the difference in talent and athleticism, but it's still important to get it done. Louisville allowed eight offensive rebounds, but they had 12 of their own. While the Cards could only score nine second chance points on those rebounds, they did manage to keep MSU to just two. Plus, Hardy snagging more than half of MSU's total rebounds by herself is fun. Capital 'R'.

E-Effort/Execution: Louisville fell off a bit in the fourth, but that was largely garbage time for the Cards. They still managed to win the quarter, and I'm certain that Skylar Jones, Peyton Bradley, and Rebekah Graves would have preferred to do better than 1-15 from the floor. The Cards had just 11 turnovers, with a couple of those coming on offensive fouls, and I already mentioned their 22 assists. A 2:1 ATO is quite good, and they did it with a 66% assist rate. Add in the shooting percentages, and the big scoring runs, and I'll say they executed well with high effort. Capital 'E'.

D-Defense: The Cards gave up fewer than 50 points. They held the Eagles to 35.3% shooting, allowing just 7-27 from beyond the arc. They did send Morehead State to the line a few too many times, giving up 17 free throw attempts, but MSU couldn't hit the broadside of a barn, going 6-17 from the stripe. Louisville had 10 steals as part of their 18 forced turnovers, though they weren't able to pick up a block despite the size advantage. It was still a strong defensive performance, leading to Louisville's first true blowout win of the year. (They pulled away from NKU late, but it was close for quite a while.) I'll award a capital 'D' here, because I'm not sure how to award much else.

That gives a final tally of f-R-E-D, which is just about as good as you can do. The lowercase 'f' is a bit misleading when Louisville won the free throw battle by 14 points, but it's nice to have places to improve. 

The Cards have a relatively short turnaround this week, with a Saturday game instead of Sunday on the calendar. Louisville will host Kentucky in the fifth Battle of the Bluegrass of the month of November. Louisville is 4-0 in the four so far (M/W swim & dive, MBB, WSOC) and football will play the sixth and final next week. UK is a couple of spots ahead of the Cards in the latest polls, and they sit at 6-0 so far. UK hasn't had much competition, but they haven't struggled to blow teams out. Their closest margin of victory was a 26-point win over Morehead State in the season opener. Their 75 points in that game was their fewest in a game so far, and they're averaging an 84-44 victory. UK's latest game was a 76-35 crushing of Purdue on Tuesday. 

Saturday's game will be UK's third true road game of the season, as they have played at Buffalo and Marshall this year. The Yum! Center should be a much more hostile environment to walk into, but Louisville will need to bring their A-game against the Cats. Tipoff is at 2PM on Saturday, and the game will be on The CW. 

POSTGAME WITH COACH WALZ

POSTGAME WITH HARDY & ISTANBULLUOGLU

Women's Soccer in NCAA Second Round

After last week's thriller against UK, Louisville women's soccer closed up shop at Lynn Stadium and hit the road. The Cards will take on Kansas this afternoon in Durham, North Carolina, with the winner set to face the winner of #2 Duke vs #7 UCF. It has been all chalk in the quadrant so far, but #6 Louisville will look to spring the first upset when they take on the #3 Jayhawks. 

Kansas went 15-5-3 this season with a 6-4-1 record in the Big 12. Despite their seeding, Kansas doesn't have a super strong resume. Prior to the Big 12 Tournament, they were 0-3-2 against teams ranked at the time, with both draws coming in Lawrence against FSU and West Virginia. They won a pair of ranked games in that Big 12 Tourney, thumping WVU 4-0 and then getting revenge on #11 Colorado for an earlier loss 2-1, before falling to BYU 1-0. 

Kansas defeated California Baptist 3-1 last Friday to advance. Today's match is at 4PM and will be available for streaming on ESPN+. 

Until next time, Go Cards!

Case

UofL Tops UK in NCAA First Round -- SUNDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

Cards Beat Cats in PK Thriller

Could it have been any more dramatic? That's how Coach Karen Ferguson Dayes opened her postgame remarks yesterday evening, and the answer, quite frankly, was no. Louisville and Kentucky played a heart-in-throat match that needed not only extra time, but extra penalty kicks as well. In the end, Louisville prevailed in the eighth round of the shootout to take down their rival and advance to the second round of the NCAA Tournament. 

In yesterday's column, I wrote about a schedule quirk that gave UK an extra draw instead of a loss for their shootout loss against Georgia in the SEC Tournament. During the actual match yesterday, I learned that it wasn't a quirk: it's how the NCAA scores a penalty shootout. Both teams are granted a draw on their records and then whichever team comes out on top after penalties "advances" to the next stage of play. I mean... sure. But if that's the case, why make the overtimes golden goal? It matters not. What matters is that Louisville officially finished the season unbeaten at home, as they'll hit the road for any games they have remaining. 

Yesterday's match was everything you might have expected from a heated rivalry such as the Battle of the Bluegrass. With football last night, there were plenty of available fans, and the crowd size actually grew once people came over from downtown when the basketball game ended (more on that later). The official attendance was listed as 1,106, and I was somewhat pleasantly surprised that it seemed like no more than a third of the crowd were UK fans. Chants went back and forth, but most of both fan bases were well-behaved. At least as well-behaved as the teams, that is. 

The game ended with a whopping 36 fouls, and those were only the ones that were called. There were six total yellow cards (three for each team) and a couple of fouls could have seen yellows if the referee wasn't generous with players that already had one. There was a Louisville bloody nose that resulted in no foul and a yellow issued to the Kentucky bench (unrelated). Yesterday's match had it all. But even after all that, it wasn't a particularly ugly game. Emotions were high, and the players played hard and got a bit chippy, but the fouls were fairly evenly split (UK 20 - 16 UofL) and both teams were (largely) playing the ball throughout the day. 

Louisville opened the game very tight. They were playing at home in front of a big crowd, against their arch-rivals who were an underdog. UK had nothing to lose. While Louisville managed to get the first shot and forced a save, UK took a decent amount of control after that. Louisville maintained possession for 54% of the first half, but most of it was not held in a particularly attacking manner. The Cats ultimately took five shots in the first half, putting just one on target, but it was their second shot that nearly broke things open. A cross came in for a header in the center of the goal that had Erynn Floyd beaten. Fortunately for the Cards, the ball couldn't beat the bar. It hit the front-bottom of the crossbar and kicked down and out of the goal. The ball fell down to UK but a second attempt was blocked away. The entire stadium stopped holding its collective breath. 

UK would take three corners in that first half, more than Louisville would take in the entire game (two in the second). UK finished with eight corners, which had the Cards under quite a bit of pressure considering they scored their goal off of a corner in the second half. Louisville's offense was able to find shots in the first, taking four and forcing two saves, but they weren't particularly threatening. Louisville would have dearly liked to have scored before the end of the first half, but UK took advantage of the opportunity to play a new 45-minute game early. Just two minutes into the second half, the Cats earned a corner that found Thalia Morisi unmarked in the six-yard box. As a former keeper, allow me to let you in on a little secret: you don't want someone unmarked in the six-yard box on a corner. Morisi found the ball with her head and Floyd had little chance. UK led 1-0. 

Another note KFD made in her postgame interview (I won't spoil the whole thing, I promise), was that she specifically told the team at the half that she hoped it wouldn't take a goal to wake them up. Welp... Now was the time to wake up. To the Cards' credit, they did. Louisville's offense sprang into action after the goal and continued to hound the Cats. They took two shots and forced a save before the 60 minute mark. Both of their corners came in succession, but neither earned a shot. Then UK nearly doubled their advantage. Another corner managed to get to the feet of Catherine Rapp who forced an incredible save by Floyd to keep the deficit at just one. That was UK's third shot of the half, and they would earn just two more, with only one forcing a simple save from Floyd. 

Louisville seemed to press a bit with trying to find a goal, but they were able to find some good attempts at goal. The Cards finally broke through in the 79th minute as a ball clattered around near the top of the box. Amelia Swinarski managed to get control with just enough space to slide one through the surrounding defenders. The ball stayed low and Khadijah Cisse couldn't track it. She was unable to attempt a save as the ball rolled into the bottom-right corner. Cards had leveled it and it was game on for the final ten minutes. UK very nearly ripped Louisville's hearts out by scoring immediately after the equalizer, but the shot went high. The Cards had five shots over the final ten minutes and forced three saves, but we headed to overtime. 

Collegiate soccer dropped regular season overtime a couple of seasons ago, but it remains in the postseason. The teams play two (if necessary) ten-minute periods of golden goal overtime. If neither team has scored, it's on to penalties. Both teams were very tight in that first overtime period, with neither wanting to extend too much and give their opponent a counter-attack opportunity. The only shot came with just ten seconds left, when Rapp found herself open near the top of the box, but it was right up the middle and Floyd was able to fall on it to run the clock out. 

The second OT period was a bit more free. UK had a shot advantage, but all three of their attempts came in a single possession as shots were blocked away. They took three shots in a span of 24 seconds. None forced a save, and the third was off target out of bounds. Louisville took two shots in the period, including their attempt at a late game winner, which saw Swinarski test Cisse in basically the same way as the other period ended with seven seconds remaining. The clock hit 0:00 and it was time for penalties. 

By the way, penalties are often referred to as PKs. You probably already knew that, but remember how I said more on that basketball game ending earlier? Well, PK wanted to watch some PKs. Pat Kelsey was there to support the Cards after the men's basketball game ended, and it's impossible to not be a fan of the guy. He's so into the university and the athletic department as a whole and he feels like a fan of his own school. He was right behind the goal, getting into it with the rest of the crowd to try to distract UK shooters. 

But the stage was set. Penalties are the ultimate showdown. It's a mental battle just as much as a physical one. If you keep your tendency as a shooter, the keeper might know where you're going and pick up the save. If you try too hard to make a difficult shot, you might miss. If the keeper guesses wrong, it's almost automatic. The ball is placed twelve yards from the goal and it's away we go. 

UK had the opening shot and they opened the door for Louisville immediately with a miss. Karsyn Cherry stepped up and slotted home her shot to take the lead. UK scored their second and Amelia Swinarski kept the Cards ahead 2-1. UK scored their third, but Louisville was still in a good position. AG Gibson's shot was saved and it was 2-2 after three rounds. UK's fourth shot was off the mark and everyone waited to see who Erynn Floyd was delivering the ball to to take Louisville's fourth shot. After a few seconds of head-scratching, we realized it was herself. 

(Side note: this is an interesting move. In a professional game, this is bold but not crazy. If the shootout continued, the keepers would need to take a shot eventually anyway, and this would mean Louisville's had already gone and they'd have a shooter vs a keeper round. However, collegiate rules mean you only assign ten kickers. If the shootout continues beyond ten rounds, you just go back to the top. That means Floyd just was in the top ten (or top five, even) shooters for this Louisville team. It's not insane. Keepers are usually decent at penalties since they have to be very familiar with the ins-and-outs of the process.)

Unfortunately, Floyd's shot was high of the bar. UK sunk their fifth shot and the mood flipped immediately. After a chance to go up 3-2 after four, Louisville now trailed 3-2 down to their final shooter. Fina Davy nailed it and kept the Cards alive. After five rounds, it meant sudden victory. If anyone led after each round, it was game over. Floyd opened sudden victory with a save, but Liza Suydam was saved as well. 

Once you're in this part of the penalty order, the pressure on every taker ramps up. You weren't expected to be taking your shot and now the fate of the game could rest on your shoulders. In the case of the team shooting second, that was literally true. With each shot, you're either going to win it with a make or lose it with a miss. UK scored with their seventh taker and Grace Maddox calmly kept Louisville alive. In round eight, Erynn Floyd snagged her second penalty save of the sudden victory period, setting up her fellow senior. Mackenzie Geigle set the crowd alight with a goal and ran straight into her keeper's arms. Could it have been any more dramatic?

Louisville moves on to face 3-seed Kansas in Durham on Thursday afternoon. The match will be on ESPN+ at 4PM. The Cards' victory meant the ACC went 9-0 in the opening round. Incredible. I'm still riding high on yesterday's win. Check out the interviews below and join in on the elation. 

POSTGAME WITH MACKENZIE GEIGLE

POSTGAME WITH ERYNN FLOYD

POSTGAME WITH KFD 

Until next time, GO CARDS!!!

Case

Battle of the Bluegrass, NCAA Tourney Edition -- SATURDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

Louisville Hosts Kentucky at Lynn

Louisville women's soccer returns to the NCAA Tournament today after a strong regular season that saw them go undefeated at home and make the ACC Tournament. The Cards will put that home record to the test today as they earned a high enough NCAA seed to host the first round. The Cards were granted a six seed, ranking them somewhere between 24th and 27th. I mean... sure. I guess the NCAA selection committee pays about as much attention to RPI as the coaches who vote in the coaches poll. 

The Cards already know who their next opponent would be and where the match would be played. UofL/UK is the only match in the quadrant yet to be played. If the Cards win this afternoon, they'll head to Durham to face Kansas while Duke plays UCF. Louisville is one of nine ACC teams to make the field. They are one of only two who has not yet played their first round game, with the other being Notre Dame, who is a one seed. All seven ACC teams who have played (FSU, Stanford, Wake Forest, UNC, Clemson, Virginia, and Duke) have already advanced. The only upset amongst those teams was UNC, who came in without a seeding and knocked off 3-seed Tennessee 3-1. 

Back to Louisville's matchup. The Cards drew Kentucky, who, as Jared mentioned in his Tuesday article, they have not played since 2019. Coincidentally, that was the same year in which they last made the NCAA tournament. The Cards won that season, so hopefully it is a good omen. The Cats went 11-4-3 in the regular season with a 5-2-3 SEC record. They advanced to eh SEC tournament, where they beat Florida 1-0 in the opening round and fell to Georgia in the quarterfinals on penalty kicks. This loss to Georgia gave them a weird quirk in their schedule page, as the site saw it as a 1-1 draw (before penalties) and said their final record was 12-4-4 rather than 12-5-3. Nevertheless, it was a decent end to the season, as Georgia earned an eight seed.

Perhaps UK and Georgia were very well matched. The Bulldogs fell in the opening round 2-0 to Ohio State. Ohio State was one of UK's non-conference losses this season, with the Cats also losing 2-0. UK's other non-conference loss was also against a Big Ten opponent, as they lost to Illinois 2-1. Both of those games were played in Lexington. UK also lost to Vandy in Lexington (2-1) and their other conference loss was to Georgia (1-0) on the road. They picked up three ranked wins on the season, all at home, as they knocked off #20 Oklahoma (2-1), #25 Alabama (2-1), and #8 South Carolina (3-2). All three of those teams fell off from their rankings a bit. Oklahoma failed to make the tournament, South Carolina ended up unseeded (lost to Wake 2-1), and Alabama is an 8-seed (advanced over Northwestern in PKs). 

Kentucky has had a decent offense this season, scoring 42 goals on the year, and they've only allowed 16. Louisville, as a reminder, scored 51 and allowed 12. The Cats put 128 of 307 shots on target for a target rate of 41.7% and a goal percentage of 13.7%. Their conversion rate on shots on target was 32.8%. Louisville put 144 of 305 shots on frame. That gave them a target rate of 47.2%, a goal percentage of 16.7%, and they converted 35.4% of shots on target. To be fair, Louisville's offensive production fell off quite a bit in ACC play, but the ACC is an extremely strong conference, and the Cards defense still held up very nicely. Louisville's opponents took just 148 shots and only 55 were on target. 

Louisville will need to score against UK, as the Cats were only shut out twice all season. They were also rather stingy, with opponents scoring multiple goals in only four games. That said, UK was 1-1-3 on the road this season. Louisville will have to take advantage of playing in the comfort of their own stadium. 

Today's match gets underway at 2PM. Admission is paid, as it is an NCAA event, but it should be a great day so come down to Lynn to support the Cards. If you can't make it out, the game will be available on ESPN+ (no ACCNX since it is NCAA). 

NO CCRHP This Week

Apologies for the late scratch last week. We'll be out again this week due to the various midday Louisville events today. 

Until next time, Go Cards!

Case

Soccer Lands 3 on All-ACC Teams -- THURSDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

Cherry, Swinarski, and Jennings Honored

Louisville women's soccer tied a program-best for players on All-ACC teams in a single season with three this year. Karsyn Cherry, Amelia Swinarski, and Emersen Jennings were among the players honored by the ACC for the 2025 regular season. Cherry and Swinarski were named to the second team, while Jennings was named to the third team. Louisville had no players appear on the preseason All-ACC team and were picked to finish 14th in the conference, so the Cards definitely exceeded expectations.

Karsyn Cherry finished her senior year as part of a defense that recorded 12 overall shutouts and went undefeated at home. The Cards gave up 0.63 goals per game overall, but yielded just 0.37 goals per game in conference. Of their seven goals allowed in conference play, Louisville yielded just one at home, which came in a 1-1 draw against then #3 Virginia. Though she didn't tally a point in conference play, Cherry also had three goals and three assists during the season. Cherry finished ahead of two FSU defenders in the voting to land on the second team. 

Amelia Swinarski did much of her work in the non-conference, but the super sophomore had a stellar second season. She finished with nine goals and ten assists, ranking her fourth all-time in UofL history for single season assists. Despite a much lower output in conference play, Swinarski did still co-lead the team in goals with three and had an assist. Part of her reduced production was a significant focus on her by ACC opponents. Swinarski had just ten total shots in conference play, placing four of them on target and converting three. 

The other co-leader...along with Swinarski's... in conference goals was Emersen Jennings. Jennings scored a career-best five goals this season, with three of those in conference. She also had four assists in non-conference play. Jennings scored the game-winning goals against Virginia Tech, Miami, and SMU. Jennings exceeded her previous career high in minutes by roughly 40% and played in all 19 games, while starting a career-high 14 games. It was fantastic to see her make the most of her opportunities in an expanded role. 

One player I feel may have been a bit snubbed was Erynn Floyd, though she may have been a victim of the team's stellar defensive play. She finished with only 26 saves in conference play. Floyd was beaten to the third team by Valentina Amaral of Wake Forest who had 43 ACC saves. However, Floyd gave up half the number of goals as Amaral and had a higher save percentage (.788 to .754). Nevertheless, I won't forget how well Floyd played this year, keeping Louisville in many of their games and making the ACC tournament possible. 

Louisville finished the season as the 6th-ranked team in the conference, making their first conference tournament since 2020. They were knocked out by Duke in a tight 1-0 match on Sunday, but they are a virtual lock for the NCAA tournament and are well-positioned to host a first round game, if not more. The ACC tournament semifinals will be played today, with #2 Notre Dame vs #3 Duke and #1 Stanford vs #5 Virginia. The final will be on Sunday at noon. Louisville will learn their NCAA fate during the tournament selection show on Tuesday November 11th. 

ACC Field Hockey Championship Update

Due to Tuesday's tragedy, play was suspended in the ACC Championship at Trager Stadium. As a result, the tournament schedule was adjusted. The quarterfinal games were completed Wednesday, and the semifinals were moved to today rather than the teams having a break between the semifinals and final match. The final will be played on Friday at 3PM. Syracuse spoiled the top-4 party by upsetting(?) Wake Forest 3-1, so the 6th-seeded Orange will face #2 Virginia at 1:30 today. That match will be preceded by #1 UNC vs #4 Duke at 11am. 

Until next time, Go Cards!

Case

Volleyball Sweeps; Soccer Finale -- THURSDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

Volleyball Manages Sweep in South Bend

It may not have been the prettiest sweep in history, but at the end of the evening, Louisville volleyball left the Purcell Pavilion with a 3-0 victory. The Cards finished with a final score of 25-21, 25-19, 25-23. For a sweep, the match took much longer than expected, since the two teams played a half dozen or so points in the second set twice. Louisville was found to be out of rotation in the set, but not until the Cards had gone on an extended run. However, the rules state that when the officials determine the rotation error, they can "rewind" the match as far as needed to rectify the issue. Louisville still went on to win the set, so no harm no foul; just weird. 

It wasn't a stellar hitting night for either team. Notre Dame struggled to a 0.183 percentage with 18 errors, but the Cards managed just 0.282 with 15 errors of their own. Both teams blocked decently, with the Irish actually edging the Cards by one block. The stat sheet credits Notre Dame with 8.5 blocks due to a triple block, but since that's not how the points work, they only had eight blocks compared to Louisville's seven. That means the Cards took advantage of Notre Dame hitting errors and their own relatively clean play to stay on top. 

The Cards also had fewer aces in the match, but they won the battle at the service line with a net +1. Louisville had two aces and six errors while Notre Dame had four and nine. The Irish also committed two setting errors, giving the Cards a couple of additional free points. 

Louisville was led offensively by Chloe Chicoine, who finished with 14 kills. Chicoine had the highest number of kills in the match and she was the only Cardinal to eclipse double-digits. She finished with a double-double, as well, adding 10 blocks to her stat line. She also assisted a block. Cara Cresse returned to form a bit, coming home second with nine kills. Kalyssa Blackshear had eight and Payton Petersen had seven. Cresse also led the team in hitting percentage at 0.467. 

Defensively, Hannah Sherman continued to show her strength in the middle with a solo block (Louisville's only solo block) and two assists. Cresse had four block assists and Blackshear had three. Kamden Schrand had 14 digs, and the team was able to stay mostly in system, as Nayelis Cabello was forced into only six digs. Notre Dame may have finally picked up on Cabello's offense, as she was limited to two kills and two errors on eight attempts. 

Escaping South Bend with a win is nice, and doing so with a sweep is even better. Louisville will get another crack and Notre Dame on Saturday, as the ACC volleyball travel partner quirk means a home-and-home week. That match will be Louisville's final volleyball match of the season in the KFC Yum! Center, as all of their remaining home matches will return to L&N Arena. Basketball makes scheduling in the Yum! a bit more of a hassle. The two teams will get underway at 3PM and plenty of tickets are still available. 

Women's Soccer Hosts SMU

Louisville women's soccer will host their regular season finale tonight against the SMU Mustangs. There is still all to play for on the final ACC matchday of the season. With eight games tonight, every team is in action, save Syracuse. As is typical on Decision Days, most games will take place at the same time. Two games (Wake/FSU and Stanford/Cal) will finish before the final game (NC State/UNC) kicks off, but all other matches will overlap. 

As Jared wrote on Tuesday, it's a pretty straightforward task for the Cards to make the ACC Tournament. All they need to do is win tonight's game. With a victory, the Cards can finish no worse than sixth place. With a draw, they can still make the ACC tournament, but they will need a few results to fall their way. Jared wrote about those scenarios, so I won't belabor them too much. 

The best the Cards can finish is third, but that's a bit unlikely. Simply, Louisville would finish third if Wake, BC, and Clemson beat FSU, Virginia, and Duke, respectively. The BC win is the biggest hiccup there. Tiebreakers could play a major role in the seeding, but there are too many scenarios for a draw, so let's only look at a Louisville win. If the Cards are in a two-way tie, the first tiebreaker is head-to-head. Louisville loses a two-way tie with Florida State outright, but they drew Virginia, so they would move to the second tiebreaker, which is wins over common conference opponents. 

Coincidentally, Louisville and Virginia played very different schedules this season and have only four common opponents: FSU, Clemson, Virginia Tech, and Boston College. Both teams lost to FSU, and if we are assuming they are tied on 20 points, both teams will have beaten the remaining three teams. The next tiebreaker is conference goal difference. Louisville's season goal difference is a staggering +37, easily beating Virginia's +22, but the Cards' offensive production has fallen significantly in conference. Louisville is +4 in conference play, while Virginia is +9. The Cards would need to beat SMU by six more goals than however many Virginia beats BC by to win the tiebreaker outright and by five more to advance to the next tiebreaker. 

The fourth tiebreaker is goals scored in conference matches. Louisville has 11, while Virginia has 19. For Louisville to win the fourth tiebreaker without winning the third would be an incredible evening of soccer in Louisville and Charlottesville. Here's a funny quirk. The fifth tiebreaker is goals allowed in conference matches. Why? If the teams are tied on goal difference and on goals scored, they must, by definition, have given up the same number of goals. The next tiebreaker is head-to-head results against conference opponents highest rated in the standings, but we already mentioned that Louisville and Virginia have the same results against their four common opponents, so that one is moot. As a result, if Louisville manages to somehow match Virginia on goals scored and goal difference, the tiebreaker would be a coinflip. 

The three-way tie scenario, in which Louisville, Virginia, and FSU are all on 20 points is actually rather simple. Since FSU beat both teams, they win the first tiebreaker (total points in head-to-head conference game results) and then Louisville and Virginia are sorted out on the two-team tiebreaker described above. 

While a Louisville win guarantees they're in the ACC tournament, the seeding possibilities show how tight the points have been this season. A Louisville win could see the Cards finish in any position from 3rd to 6th. We'll see what happens at the end of the final whistle. Kickoff is at 7PM in Lynn Stadium. Dress warm and stay dry. 

Until next time, Go Cards!

Case

WSoc Remains Top 6 in ACC — TUESDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

Cards Sit in Tie for Fourth

With one match remaining in the regular season, Louisville women’s soccer is not only in prime position to make the 64-team NCAA Tournament, but they also sit in a good position to make the six-team ACC Tournament. Despite the recent expansion to 17 teams, the ACC continues to opt for a six team lineup.

The ACC Tournament is arguably the tougher tournament to make due to the limited number of spots. In the women’s soccer world, the ACC continues to be the premiere conference. Last year, the entire Final Four was made up of ACC teams. Currently, seven teams are ranked in the Coaches Poll with the top three positions across the country going to Notre Dame, Stanford, and Virginia. The RPI puts nine ACC teams in the top 25.

Erynn Floyd --ACC Defensive PLayer of the Week

Louisville is tied with Florida State and Virginia with 17 points. Notre Dame and Stanford are tied with 25 points and are a lock for the top two seeds. Duke sits in third with 18 points. Also in the running are Cal (16), Wake Forest (15), North Carolina (15), Clemson (14), and NC State (14). The last two should already be eliminated pending nothing crazy happening.

A win will guarantee Louisville a spot in the top six teams. A drew would give the Cards 18 points, which may be enough to still make it.

Here are some matches of note that can impact the final standings for Louisville:

Stanford (25 points) vs California (16 points)

Duke (18 points) vs Clemson (14 points)

Virginia (17 points) vs Boston College (5 points)

Florida State (17 points) vs Wake Forest (15 points)

North Carolina (15 points) vs NC State (14 points)

Again, if Louisville wins, then they are in. If they draw or lose, they will need to follow these five matches closely.

To make things simple on who to cheer for in the event of a Louisville loss or draw, the teams we want to win (or draw in most cases) are:

Stanford to win if Louisville loses, or Stanford to win/draw if Louisville draws

Boston College to win whether Louisville wins, draws, or loses

Clemson to win/draw if Louisville wins or draws, Duke to win if Louisville loses

Florida State to win or draw if Louisville loses, Wake Forest to win or draw if Louisville wins

North Carolina and NC State to draw would be best case scenario. If Louisville wins, then this outcome does not matter. If Louisville draws, then an NC State win or draw is best. If Louisville loses, then either team could possibly pass Louisville in points or tiebreaker

For now, we will look forward to Thursday and hope for a positive result and Lynn Stadium.

Happy Tuesday and Go Cards!

Jared

Soccer Faces Tough Test at NC State -- THURSDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

Cards and Wolfpack Battle for ACC Berth

Louisville women's soccer is almost guaranteed a spot in the NCAA tournament at this point. Taking a point off of a top-15 opponent on the road against Wake Forest and then doing the same at home against a top-5 Virginia team speaks volumes. Louisville moved to 11-3-2 on Saturday night and is 4-2-2 in conference play with two games to go. One of those games is tonight, when Louisville will take on NC State in Raleigh. The game will see two teams with 14 ACC points face off in a match where they fight for one of the six spots in the ACC tournament. 

The Cards and Wolfpack are two of four teams with 14 points, tied also with Virginia and Florida State. Virginia and NC State both have a game in hand on the Cards, with three games remaining on the schedule, but Florida State is truly tied. The four teams are currently tied for fourth, so one of them is out of the tournament at the moment. Which of those teams it is, though, is a little difficult to tell. Tiebreakers will have a large part to play, but there isn't a whole lot of reason to pay attention to those until everyone is facing their final match day. One thing that is important to note is that Louisville is tied with three teams but just one win (or less) ahead of four other teams, three of those with one more game to play than Louisville. 

The top-line takeaway from all of that is that Louisville should focus on beating NC State and SMU to close the season and let the chips fall where they may. If the Cards finish with 20 points in conference and get left out of the conference tournament, so be it. In that case, they will have lost two matches to top-10 opponents on the road and taken two difficult draws from quality opponents while winning six games. It would be hard to argue against that being a great season in the ACC.

First up is tonight's match. Louisville will be without Ella Bard, as the freshman defender is in Portugal with the USYNT. Bard has played in 13 matches, starting seven, and has played 849 minutes. She played the entire second half against Virginia, so it's not as if Louisville won't miss her this week. The show must go on, though, so Hadley Snyder will be forced to carry even more load in the middle of the defense, and we may see some other players shift around if she can't go the full 90. 

Defense will be important, as something changed for NC State starting with the Campbell game on September 7th. The Wolfpack started the season 0-5-2 against questionable competition other than #20 (at the time) Michigan State. In that early non-conference slate, they scored just three goals and gave up 14. Then, suddenly, they turned their season around after a 0-0 draw against Elon. Three days later, they scored their highest goal total of the season with a 4-0 win over Campbell and have lost just one conference game since. That loss was a 2-1 defeat on the road at Notre Dame. They drew FSU at home 1-1 and VT on the road 4-4, and they beat Wake Forest 2-1 in Raleigh, just before Louisville drew them in Winston-Salem. They've scored 11 conference goals and given up eight. 

NC State will be a tough customer. I'm not sure what to attribute their sudden renaissance to, but Louisville would dearly love to shut down their magical conference season. The Cards have played well, but a draw against NC State might not be enough. With just two games to go, it would be nice to finally find some of those goals they scored in the non-conference season. NC State has obviously shown their propensity to allow scoring, having had four games with three or more goals given up. 

NC State has elected to make tonight's match Senior Night, instead of their final home game on Sunday against Duke. That's probably saying something about their opinion of Louisville, so it might be good bulletin board material for the Cards. With an ACC tournament berth on the line and NCAA tournament seeding to play for, Louisville needs to show up and show out tonight against the Wolfpack. Tonight's match will be on ACC Network Extra at 7PM. 

Until next time, Go Cards!

Case

WSOC Ties #3 Virginia -- Sunday Cardinal Couple

 

KICKIN' CARDS DRAW AGAINST HOOS

Better late than never...

Louisville WSOC got a goal from Amelia Swinarski in the final four minutes in the soccer match against the Cavs at Lynn Stadium on campus Saturday. 

The squads went through a scoreless first half in a defense-dominated match...Louisville actually outshot the Cavs 8 to 3 in the contest but seven saves from UVA goalkeeper Victoria Safradin thwarted the Cards scoring efforts.  

The #3 ranked Virginia squad got their goal in the 48th minute of play when Maggie Cagel took a feed from Olivia Rademaker and pushed one by Cards goalie Erin Floyd

With the tie, the cards remain tied form sixth place in the ACC Conference standings with Florida State. 

The Cards (11-3-2, 4-2-2) gave Virginia (10-1-3) their first loss of the season but lost the corner kicks awarding to Virginia 6-5

The Cards head to Raleigh next for a Thursday match at NC State. 

(photos by Jared Anderson)

VOLLEYCARDS HOSTS PITT

It'll be a classic later today in the LNFCU when Pitt Volleyball comes to town to faace the VolleyCards. 

Pitt is #6 in the latest I women's volleyball rankings and brings a 13-3 record to town. The Panthers have lost to Nebraska . Florida and Miami. 

It's a ESPN match and scheduled for 1 p.m. 

We'll have the result in the Monday Cardinal Couple

paulie

WSOC Takes on Wake Forest -- THURSDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

Cards Face #13 Deacs in Winston-Salem

Louisville women's soccer continues the brutal portion of their schedule with another top-15 opponent on the road tonight. Following a tough match against Notre Dame in which the Cards held on for 45 minutes but were outmatched in the second half, Louisville is right back into the frying pan with a match against #13 Wake Forest tonight at 7PM. Tonight's match will be shown on ACC Network Extra. 

Gigs spots Jared snapping a photo

Historically, Wake has been a team that Louisville matches up well against in conference play. Overall, Louisville has a 3-4-1 record against the fourth school on Tobacco Road, but two of those losses came before Louisville joined the ACC. Since 2014, the Cards are 3-2-1 against the Demon Deacons. Working against Louisville in this matchup, though, is that the Cards are 1-4 all-time in Winston-Salem, and Wake won the last meeting in 2023 1-0. 

This season, Wake is 9-2-2 overall and 3-1-1 in conference play. They sit one spot ahead of Louisville in the ACC rankings (fifth over sixth). Alarmingly, they're unbeaten at home, with a 7-0-1 record. Somewhat surprisingly, that home draw was a 1-1 score against Brown on September 7th. Wake hasn't lit the world on fire this year, but they've been consistent. Their three conference wins came over Miami, Virginia Tech, and at Duke, and they drew against Boston College on the road. Interestingly, they opened the season with a 2-0 win over SMU, but that doesn't count in their conference record for reasons that are unclear to me. That said, we've seen UNC and Duke play multiple times in a season in various Olympic sports, so it must be a North Carolina thing. 

Louisville and Wake Forest are 3-0 against common opponents, with those teams being Virginia Tech and Miami in conference and USC Upstate in non-conference play. Both teams played all three of those matches at home. Louisville beat USCU 9-0 and won the conference games 3-0 on aggregate. Wake had a less impressive performance against USCU (6-1), but they won the conference games 5-2. Miami and Virginia Tech are tied at the bottom of the conference with Syracuse all on one point. They've played one more game than the Orange. If Louisville can play as well on both sides of the ball as they have proven to be capable of, we could be in for a ranked road win for the Cards. If not, Wake could run away with it.

Perhaps the Wake Forest result that should most concern the Cards is their most recent one: a 2-1 loss on the road at NC State. NC State is a bit of an enigma this season. They are 2-1-2 in conference and their only loss was a 2-1 loss in South Bend in their conference opener. They drew Florida State 1-1 and drew VT 4-4 before the win over Wake. However, they were awful in non-conference play. They opened the season with a 3-0 home loss to James Madison and proceeded to start 0-5-2 before earning their first non-con win over Campbell at the last opportunity. All that is to say, Wake is probably not thrilled to have taken their first conference loss against the Wolfpack, and they may have something to say about it in a return to home play.

For Louisville's part, the Cards are 3-2 in conference play and are coming off a match in which they conceded the most goals all season. Granted, it was only three goals and it was on the road against one of the best (or at least highest-rated) teams in the country. Still, it's not the confidence builder you want to see in the middle of a tough swing such as this. 

Louisville does still have Amelia Swinarski at the helm of the offense, though, so things could be worse. Swinarski was recently named to the Julie Hermann Midseason Watch List, making her one of 35 players considered to be in contention for the top individual award in women's collegiate soccer. Swinarski's nine assists are fourth in program history for a single season and they see her atop the ACC and tied for second nationally in the category. She has 23 total points, which is third best in the ACC and tied for 11th nationally. Swinarski has been quieted in ACC play, though, as she has just two total points on a single goal. Louisville has not been the offensive powerhouse that we saw in non-conference play since the ACC season got underway. Wake's defense appears to be a bit porous, so tonight could be a great time to get back on track. 

A win would be critical in Louisville's battle to make the ACC tournament, as only the top six make the event. It would also be a big resume builder in the hunt for an NCAA tournament bid as well as for seeding. There are four games left to play after this one, but every point matters now. As I mentioned, kickoff is scheduled for 7PM on ACC Network Extra.

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