Field Hockey ready for changes, UofL WBB blog #2

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THURSDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

-Field Hockey preparing for season

-Lady Cards WBB blog II

-BIG EAST well represented on 2011 USA Basketball Women's World team.

-Another Schimmel Story

Collins is a senior who will start
for her third year at midfield.

New field hockey head coach Justine Sowry has to be optimistic when it comes to the fortunes of her 2011 squad. Although seven out of the top ten scorers have graduated, UofL is still strong when it comes to producing goals...with forwards Amber Thomas, Haley Jurich and Erin Schneidtmiller returning and a strong mid-field contingent in second leading scorer from 2010 Hayley Turner, All-BIG EAST selection Caitlin Collins, Dominque Pasqualicho and Lacey Jurich.

The Cards also return goalkeeper Erin Conrad, who started all 20 games for "the flock" last season, recorded five shutouts and allowed only 1.76 goals per game.

Louisville will begin the 2011 season with an scrimmage match at Iowa on Friday, August 19th. The Cards return to start the regular season with two at Trager Stadium...hosting California on Friday, August 26th. and Michigan State on Sunday, August 28th. In addition to six conference games, the Field Hockey Cards will face tough challenges from Indiana, Ohio State, Wake Forest and Davidson.

A new era for field hockey with the departure of Pam Bustin to Duke. Under the capable hands of Sowry...expect the Cards to contend for the BIG EAST title and continue to pack Trager Stadium.

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Soaring above the
trees on a zip line...

The second entry on the Lady Cards trip to Oregon and Canada is now up at http://www.uoflsports.com/  Looks like the girls have been having some fun with zip-lining and karaoke while in Whistler, B.C. Canada.

It gets serious tonight with a 9:30 p.m. scrimmage exhibition game against the University of British Columbia. We'll talk about it in the FRIDAY edition of CARDINAL COUPLE. 



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Four BIG EAST WBB players are part of the squad that will look to defend the USA's goal medal at the 2011 World University Games, August 14-21 at Shenzhen, China.

Skylar Diggins (Notre Dame), Keisha Hampton (DePaul), Natalie Novosel (Notre Dame) and Devereaux Peters (Notre Dame) represent the BIG EAST on the court and Georgetown WBB head coach Terri Williams-Flournoy is one of the assistant coaches for the USA.

Other players selected for the squad include UT's Shekinna Strickland and Glory Johnson, Chiney and Nnemkadi Ogwumike (Stanford) and Elena Della Donna (Delaware).

They play Brazil in first round action Sunday, Slovakia on Monday and Great Britain Tuesday.
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Never can get enough stories on the Lady Cards WBB team or the Schimmel sisters. The Portland Tribune offers this one about the Lady Cards visit to Umatilla and some insights into the sisters. Click the link below to read a fascinating take on Jude and Shoni. Stephen Alexander is fast becoming one of our favorite sports journalists. Another great find by Jenny. Enjoy.

http://portlandtribune.com/sports/story.php?story_id=131301028487860700

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2012 and 2013 Recruit Update

-Introduction

-Lucaya Williams

-Mercedes Russell

Hello, my name is Donald Yaste and I'm the new contributor as Paul has mentioned, I was indeed able to access the site despite the clever protection I'm sure Paul had his Chimps whip up. I doubt I'll be able to mimic the quirky prose you're used to from Paul, but I'll do my best to match his style as well as add some good information to the site.

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Lucaya Williams a 6-4 post from Mt. Juliet, Tenn is considering WKU, Rutgers, UL and Memphis. She is currently ranked 32nd at her position by HoopGurlz. She led her Mount Juliet Senior high school team to a 29-3 record as a junior and she was given TWSW All-State honors.

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Mercedes Russell continues to impress with her AAU team, Team Concept of Portland, OR whom she helped lead to the End of the Trial tournament championship. She started every game for the U-16 national team in the FIBA Americas tournament in Mexico.

Russell is leading the way for a great crop of Oregon players, the four best of which all play for Team Concept. Russell is the highest ranked of the three at #4 in the nation while her teammate Kailee Johnson the #5 player in the nation.

Russell says her recruitment is "wide open" but she also says she visited three schools in June. Those three being UL, UK and Tennessee. All of which she says offered while she was on here visit. She added that, "They were all nice schools."

Russell is one to watch on the Cards radar and is clearly another top flight player that coach Walz could reel in.

For more on Russell and here recruitment watch this video: http://video-embed.oregonlive.com/services/player/bcpid634637905001?bctid=1049109059001

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Walz spanning the globe looking for future Lady Cards

Jeff Walz took time out from his busy schedule as UofL head womens' basketball coach to take in a little Cardinal Baseball. In this picture, he is posing with CARDINAL COUPLE co-owner Paul Sykes. Cardinal fan Tom Cahill stands in the background..,keeping vigil for any potential Wildcat intruders.

(photo by Shannon Rufra)

The FIBA 17 U World Championships are taking place in France and the USA girls team is the overwhelming favorite to win the event. They'll take on Russia today and are 1-0 so far in play.

Jeff Walz is there. Not sure which of the 15 players on USA's roster he is checking out but one thing is for sure. If there is talent out there, Jeff is going to find it, recruit it and develop it. Whether it's Portland, Oregon...Kansas City...or France, Walz will make the trek and pitch Lady Cardinal basketball to his targets. As the soon to be seniors are starting to make their verbal commits and narrow their lists down nationwide, coaching staffs flock to places like Murfreesboro, Pine Bluff and Eugene to see, be seen and evaluate.

This is the world of college basketball recruiting. No longer enough just to track a potential in high school games. AAU ball must be covered and scouted, where your mark is playing with just as equally talented players on a select, premier team against competition equally rostered. Catching the up and coming talent early...in the 14U games. Dozens of website rating, charting and featuring girls that aren't even old enough to drive a car..but fully capable of driving to the hoop. Keeping prospects on your speed dial and tournament results that you can't get to on your laptop "favorites" list.

Somewhere this morning, there is a 10 yr. old girl out in her backyard shooting hoops with her dad and older brother. And the results of the morning will be on three websites by 12:30....detailing shot selection, percentage, crossover dribble skills and rebounding strength.

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Angel and the Atlanta Dream lost a crucial one in Indy last night...falling to the Indiana Fever 89-70. The win for the Fever pulls them to just one game behind Atlanta...the Eastern Conference leader.

Tamika Catchings led the way with 23 points and 11 rebounds and Katie Douglas added 20 from the floor.

"I think we sent a message that we are the defending Eastern Conference champions and it's not going to be easy to come in here and steal a game from us" Douglas remarked after the contest.

The actually led the contest 46-45 in the third quarter after a Shalee Lehning layup after a Fever turnover...but the magic stopped there. Indiana held the Dream scoreless for the first three minutes of the 4th quarter. The frustration showed, with Dream head coach Marynell Meadows getting a technical foul with 4:34 to play.

The Dream is 0-2 since the All-Star break, both losses coming on the road.

Angel McCoughtry led the way for Atlanta with 27 points but there was no celebrating that after the game.

"I'm just disappointed with our play," McCoughtry said. "We have a second half of the season to play. We need to keep our heads up."

Perhaps the key factor in the Fever win was Katie Douglas limiting Dream second leading scorer Iziane Castro Marquez to just five points on 2-for-11 shooting.

"I just tried to go as fast as she goes." Douglas said. "She's so athletic. We tried to limit her early stuff that gets her going and we tried to keep her frustrated in the second half."

Next up, The Fever travels to New York for a Sunday game. Atlanta continues the road trip, with a Saturday night game against Connecticut.

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Do you like the tasty treats and unmatchable bread and bagels at PANERA BREAD? Make sure and check in each day here at CARDINAL COUPLE...we'll have news very soon on how you can be our guest at one of the Panera locations.

Epps shines in FILA Summer Derby Classic

Makayla Epps drove the lane to score the go ahead basket with 2 seconds left in the Kentucky Premier 17U 53-51 win over the Dayton Hoopstars.

It is the situation that every high school basketballer dreams of. Score tied, a minute to go and the ball is in your hands. You patiently wait until the coach tells you to go, you take your defender inside, weave your way thru the rest of the defense and take the short inside bank shot that kisses off the backboard and falls thru the hoop. Her basket topped off a furious comeback by the Kentucky squad...who trailed 39-28 with 11:00 to go in the second half and managed to tie the contest at 44-44 with 6:12 on the clock.

Makayka Epps' shot helped the Kentucky Premier advance to the 2nd round of the Summer Derby Classic...being held at the University of Louisville campus. Several venues are being used for the event, including the Student Activities Center, Cardinal Arena and The Basketball Academy.

The Kentucky Select 17U squad, composed of high school girls' standouts from the state, rolled in the next game over the Georgia Jaguars 90-32 and will face Cincinnati Premier Wednesday at 1:50. Several UofL recruits on the Kentucky Premier team...including Epps, Sarah Hammond from Rockcastle County and Epps teammates Kyvin Goodin-Rogers. Bre Elder, from Marion County, is also on the team, along with Kayla Bies (Upperman, Clarksville, TN.), Danay Fothergill (Southwestern, Somerset, KY), Kayla Bowlin (Wayne County, KY), Megan Pittman (Casey County, KY) and Jessica Hardin (Wayne County).

Kentucky Select is one of 72 teams participating in the FILA Summer Derby Classic, an AAU event sponsored by All Star Girls Report and Michael T. White, INC. Four divisions are set up for the teams in a guaranteed five game tournament...with 14,15,16 and 17 year old and under brackets. Kentucky is represented well in the event, with 10 teams participating. Teams from as far as New Jersey, California and South Dakota are represented and a total of 19 states are taking part.

AAU ball is a little different than high school hoops. There is no shot clock and the games consist of (2) 16 minutes halves. Each player is allowed six fouls before disqualification and overtime periods are sudden death..with the first team scoring two or more points winning. The clock runs continuously if a team leads by more than 15 in the final 5 minutes of the game. There is no one and one from the foul line after seven fouls in a half but teams do receive the 2 shot bonus after ten fouls.

A large groups of college coaches are in town to watch the action and a good representation of UofL folks on hand as well. It was good to see Laura Terry up and around working the T-Shirt booth. She reports her knee is doing better each day. We'll miss her on the court for the Lady Cards this year.

Tickets are $10 a day and this includes all sessions at all locations...if you want to check out the action and can be purchased at Cardinal Arena. Games begin at 8 AM. A listing of scheduled games and results can be found at:

www.asgr.info/tournaments/sdcs