Golf NCAA Regional Day One -- Lax Interview -- TUESDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

 After a break on Thursday I have returned. Graduation season is peak profit time for photography for me and I am still playing catch up, but in a manageable position now. This year, so far, has consisted of graduates from Louisville, Bellarmine, and Morehead State and even some former student-athletes from different schools that have competed in lacrosse, swimming, baseball, softball, and dance.

Working as a photographer who works off donations only can be challenging, but also quite surprising at times. This year's grad photos, which I have more planned in the coming weeks, had certainly helped when saving up for a wedding is high on the priority list.

Thank you to Paulie for stepping up to the plate and knocking one out of the park on Thursday. I surprised him by letting him know of plans for a second Bojangles to be coming to Louisville, although this one is still unannounced. Spoiler: the building permits for this Bojangles have been in the parking lot of the old K-Mart on Poplar Level Rd near the zoo.

Golf Regional Day One

Temperatures were a tad chilly for early May, but the sun shone bright and the University of Louisville Golf Club in Simpsonville was packed with golfers from 18 squads for the first day of the NCAA Regional.

Louisville had a strong showing on the first day and currently sits fourth with a five-over-par score. They're just seven strokes behind leading Florida State, who is the only school to shoot better than par.

UCLA is two strokes ahead of the Cards while Michigan State holds just a one stroke lead over the hosts.

Lauren Hartlage seemed right at home with a three-under-par 69 for third place. Two players are tied for first just a single stroke ahead of Hartlage.

Hana Ryskova shot a 73 for one-over-par to tie for 17th place. Molly Lyne shot a 74 for a tie for 25th. Margot Bechadergue and Agustina Gomez-Cisterna were tied for 54th and 91st, respectively, shooting a 77 and 81.

Louisville begins the second day of the three-day event at 9:00 a.m., on hole one.

Interview with Ally Hall and Alex McNicholas

Although the lacrosse season officially ended Sunday night when Louisville was left out of the tournament, we did have an opportunity to speak with a couple graduating seniors from the squad in Ally Hall and Alex McNicholas. 

The duo was part of a strong class that has gone four years under Scott Teeter. This class actually came in under Louisville's old coach, but quickly became acquainted with Teeter, who was hired right before their freshmen spring season began.

Although Hall (left) and McNicholas (right) will not be returning in the fall we have heard that we may see a few seniors return next year if the dice rolls the right way.

You can check out that interview here.

Happy Tuesday and Go Cards!

Jared

Lacrosse, Volleyball Wins -- Monday NCAA WBB Bracket Day -- MONDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

 LACROSSE DOWNS MARQUETTE 14-10 

The #17 ranked Louisville Lacrosse squad had a successful trip to Marquette Sunday and defeated the Golden Eagles 14-10 in a match. 

It's wasn't the best of starts for the LaxCards, after an opening Caroline Blalock goal less than a minute into play. the upset-minded Marquette squad ran off four straight scores on Louisville over the next ten minutes of the fist half. Louisville had run into a fired up Big East opponent, no doubt -- but didn't panic. 

Slowly and methodically, Louisville worked their way back into this one. They got goals from Alex McNicholas, Izzy Holmes and another from Blalock to tie things up at 4-4 with 11 minutes left in the first half. Rachel Florek and Louisville's defense was doing their part to keep the Golden Eagles out of the net and the Cards continued the one-sided scoring spree. Izzy Holmes found the net for her second score, then Ally Hall went back-to-back for scores for the UofL and with six minutes left in the half, Louisville had built up a 7-4 lead and had shut out Marquette for 17 minutes. 

Marquette did end up with the final score of the first half, and the squads went to the intermission with UofL holding a 7-5 lead. 

Slow starts to halves have become a recent thing for Scott Teeter's squad -- after Hannah Morris got her first goal of the day just 90 seconds into second half action --  Marquette made one last charge at the lead and cut the Cardinal advantage to 8-7 at the seven-minute mark of the final half. Allegra Catalano and Ally Hall responded for UofL, though, to push the lead back out to 10-7 with 12 minutes gone in second half action. Hall picked up her fourth score and Kokoro Nazawaka added her first tally of the match to build the lead to 12-8 with nine minutes remaining. 

Ally Hall had the hot stick and the Cards were going to go to it -- to close out the contest. Her fifth and final goal came with six-and-one-half minutes to play, making it 13-8 Louisville, and Hannah Morris recorded her third goal of the game to make it 14-9 with four minutes remaining. MU added a meaningless score with 36 seconds to go...the Cards had mastered Marquette magnificently. 

Your final in Milwaukee -- Louisville 14 - Marquette 10. 

The Cards won each half 7-4 and may have found a new player to manage the draw controls after goal scoring in sophomore Ashley Osbourne. The four year starter and four time MVP at Louisville Ballard High School was put in after Marquette was seemingly winning all the early draw controls.

Osbourne ended up winning five draw controls for the Cards and Louisville ended up holding a 14-12 edge in draw controls. The Cards, who go to 4-2 with the win, held a 29-23 shot-on-goal advantage over Marquette and Florek ended up with 13 saves as the Cards net-tender. Louisville showed a impressive ability to handle early pressure and not fold under it, something that Teeter hopes they can build on, with a very challenging ACC schedule remaining. 

A big time ACC contest awaits Louisville on Thursday, when #1 UNC comes to town for a night contest. The venue? The Cardinal Stadium football field ! 

It'll be the first lacrosse match ever played their and will be shown on the ACC Network. Louisville hopes to get a big crowd out for this one in spacious Cardinal Stadium for the day-after-St. Patrick's Day event.

I caught up with Coach Teeter after the game and here's what he had to say at the link below:  

LINK: SCOTT TEETER AFTER MARQUETTE WIN

VOLLEYBALL WINS IN DURHAM

Cardinal Volleyball took down Duke in straight sets yesterday in the Cameron Indoor Stadium 25-15, 25-22, 25-20 to improve their record to 9-2 and 7-2 in ACC play. 

Nena Mbonu had 14 kills for the Cards, who hit an impressive .296 as a team and had 10 kills. 

Aiko Jones and Anna DeBeer added nine kills each for Louisville and Tori Dilfer provided 31 assists for Louisville, who also got a big boost from freshman Ayden Bartlett (no relation to Louisville singer Robbie Bartlett) with nine digs. 

The VolleyCards have won six straight matches in the spring season and are ranked 13th in the nation by the AVCA Coaches. 

Louisville will travel east for their next matches -- with contests scheduled at Charlottesville, VA against Virginia and Florida State Friday and Saturday. 

SELECTION MONDAY FOR NCAA WBB

Obvious disappointment in the Louisville community this morning, of course, that the men's squad did not get picked for the NCAA Men's Tournament. Maybe they'll get in if someone has to drop out for COVID reasons...

The good news is that the NCAA Women's NCAA Tournament Bracket Draw is tonight and Jeff Walz's squad is eyeing a high seed in that affair.

The Bracket Reveal is scheduled for 7 p.m. tonight and will be on ESPN. 

Jeff Walz is slated to hold a presser to discuss it tonight at 8 p.m. and we'll monitor that and provide you coach's comments in the Tuesday Cardinal Couple. 

Most I've spoke with see the Cards WBB squad having a chance to be a #2 seed in one of the regions. 

What are your thoughts on that? Let us know in the comments section?  

                                                   ***************************

CARDINAL COUPLE NCAA WBB BRACKET CHALLENGE 

The NCAA Women's Tournament also brings about another Cardinal Couple Pick 'Em contest.  Bracket Czar Jared will have more details on that in his Tuesday article -- 63 games from 64 teams. It should be interesting. Can you win?  

Have a marvelous Monday ! 

paulie

 

Louisville WBB victorious in Pittsburgh 82-58; FRIDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

CARDS GET TO 20 WINS IN PITTSBURGH

We got a game-day, Cards fans.  I hope you're staying warm and safe out there if you have to be out.  After a week in between matchups for UofL, looking to close out the regular season strongly, Louisville WBB wins on the road at Pittsburgh propelled by a 28-13 third quarter rout. 

Dana Evans scored 29 points, 21 of them in the second half and has scored a tleast 20 points 16 of Louisville's 21 games played this season. Mykasa Robinson had 6 points on 2-3 shooting from field, along with 5 assists, 5 steals, 9 rebounds and went 2-3 from the FT line.  The Panthers were lead by Gabbie Green.  She was averaging 5.5 pts coming into the game and had 20 points on 5-8 from beyond 3. 

RECAP: Louisville WBB (20-1, 13-1) vs Pitt Panthers 82-58

The Cards allowed 3 offensive rebounds in Pitt's second possession but they were 0-6 in first 1:30. Pitt's second leading scorer Dayshanette Harris came out of game 2 min into it with a knee injury. Olivia Cochran picked up 2 fouls less about 30 seconds within the other about 3 minutes in. Liz Dixon got the scoring going for the Cards, she went 2-2 for 4 pts 0-1 FT line to start.  Losing rebound battle 6-4 first 3 min off the clock. 

The Cards defense only allowed 2 points up until the 5:25 min mark when it was 8-2 Cards. Mykasa had 2 steals 5 min off clock and took a charge for the Pitt TO. She also got to the line where she went 1-2.  The team was 1-3 for 33.3% at FT line in the first quarter. Liz Dixon went 5-5 for 10 points and 2 rebounds.  Kianna Smith 0-3 from behind the arc.  Hailey Van Lith contributed 3 reb 3 assists and a clock through her first eight minutes on the floor. 

End of 1Q 17-9 Cards
FG %
8-17 47% Cards
4-21 19% Pitt
Reb.  16-12 Pitt
3-pt %
0-4 0% Cards
1-5 20% Pitt

Back to back 3 point jumpers made by Green in less than a minute made it 19-15 Cards lead. With Cochran on the bench with a couple fouls, we saw a Ramani Parker sighting early in the second quarter.  She was headed to the free throw line not long after entering the game and went 2-2. With 3 minutes off the clock Pitt was winning the quarter 8-4. HVL got her first bucket about halfway through the 2Q.  

Everett secured her first bucket with 4 min left till halftime. With 2:39 Green hits her fourth 3-pointer to tie it 27 all. UofL was 0-6 from 3 point land for the game by this point. Pitt had landed 3 threes in the quarter and the Cards were losing the offensive rebounding battle 15-6.  The Cards finished on a 6-0 run and the refs waved off what I think should've been counted as the Cards first 3 point bucket on a last .1 of a second chuck by Dana Evans 15 feet behind 3 point line but the Cards ended up 0-7 from beyond 3 point arc.  Pitt finished the final 2:39 scoreless and UofL was 6-6 at the FT line for the quarter.

End of 2Q 18-16 Pitt 
FG %
5-13 38.5% Cards
6-19 31.6% Pitt
Reb. 11-11 
3-pt %
0-3 0% Cards
3-6 50% Pitt

HALF 33-27 Cards

 Dana hit the first 3 of the game for Louisville with 7 minutes left on clock in the third quarter. Dixon scored her first points since the first quarter with 5:45 offensive rebound off a Kianna Smith miss for the put back underneath. Dana Evans was 3-4 from the field with 4:19 still left on clock and Pitt scoreless for almost 3 minutes after that until they got to the line.  The Cards pushed the lead to 18 making it 57-39 with 1:56 left in the 3Q. Cards lead by 21 at 61-40. Dana lead the team with 13 points 4-6 and 4-4 at the FT line. Mykasa secured two buckets, a free throw, four rebounds and two assists in the quarter. 18 of the Cards 28 points were in the paint. 

End of 3Q 28-13 cards 
FG %
11-18 61% Cards
4-12 33.3% Pitt
Reb. 11-6 cards
3-pt %
1-3 33.3% Cards
2-4 50% Pitt

HVL hits a jumper from the FT line and Balogun scores on a fast break before back to back threes by Jayla Everett ,as she started to warm up to make it 65-51. Pitt was 11-4 in the quarter with 4:53 left in the game. Dana Evans then went on to score the next 8 points for UofL before exiting the game for the evening finishing 11-20 from the field, 3-5 from 3-point land a perfect 4-4 at the free throw line. Everett was 3-5 for 8 points in the quarter.

End of 4Q 21-18 Cards 
FG %
9-17 52.9% Cards
7-14 50% Pitt
Reb. 10-7 Cards 
3-pt %
2-6 33.3% Cards
2-4 50% Pitt

FINAL 82-58 LOUISVILLE WINS!! 

 

Coach Walz post-game:

Coach admits there were 'glimpses of good and glimpses of bad' in this one.  That there were 'tough stretches but overall did some good things' thanks to a really good second half.  Also mentioned how he thought Mykasa had a fabulous night contributing 5 assists, 5 steals 9 rebounds and no turnovers.  

Coach Walz also added on to the Dana Evans players of the year campaign with her 21 point second half effort and how she been able to consistently do this especially in the month of February. 

WALZ'S FULL REMARKS CAN BE HEARD HERE:  JEFF WALZ POST-GAME PITT.

 

FRED REPORT 

In honor of Pitt, we bring you former
Pitt WBB great Fred Potvin ! 

F-Free Throws Lead by Dana's perfect four attempts at the line, the team went 13-15 on the evening for a strong 87% effort. In comparison, Pitt went 8-17 for 47% from the line. 87% is better than the 70% requirement for a CAPITAL F

R-Rebounding The Cards were outrebounded by Pitt 27-23 in the first half losing the offensive rebound battle 15-6. The team bounced back in the second half to win the battle on the boards 21-13 and ended up winning the night 44-40 against the Panthers. Robinson lead the rebounding efforts with 9 for UofL. CAPITAL R

E-Effort/Efficiency It's always enjoyable to watch the show Dana Evans puts on for basketball fans, the way she can take over any game but I also wanted to shout out Mykasa Robinson on her performance. She cuts into every lane, dives for every loose ball and takes almost every charge opportunity thrusted at her. It really is a pleasure to watch if you're a fan of competition. CAPITAL E

D- Defense UofL forced 20 Pitt turnovers in the game. Mykasa had 5 steals herself, Pittsburgh had 3 total. Pittsburgh shot 32% from the field landing 8 from beyond 3. Pitt landed 25% of their 40 shot attempts in the first half while making one more and attempting 14 less in the second half good for a 42.3% second half effort. The Panthers scored 11 points less than their season average so I give it a solid CAPITAL D

 

FINAL Fred Report :  F-R-E-D 

 LACROSSE DOWNS COLORADO 12-9 

Getting four goals from Ally Hall and a superb defensive effort in goalkeep by Rachel Florek, Louisville got their first win of the 2021 Lacrosse season with a 12-9 win over #24 Colorado yesterday at the Louisville Lacrosse Stadium. 

The contest was an back=and forth affair early on, Louisville trading leads with the Buffs until UofL went on a 4-1 run to end the half and take a 8-4 lead. Hall had three of her goals in the first half and an assist. The Cards were having trouble winning draw controls, but were stopping Colorado after they gained possession. 

Louisville (1-1) increased the lead to 10-4 early in the second half after scores from Hall and Caroline Blalock, and the rout appeared to be on -- but a succession of yellow cards on the Cards allowed Colorado to play a "man up" and respond with four straight second half goals to make it 10-8 with 17:35 left in the second half. Three of the Colorado scores came from Sadie Grozier. 

The Cards were able to rally, though, and Blalock and Alex McNicholas went back-to-back over the next six minutes to push the Louisville lead out to 12-8. Colorado managed just one score the rest of the way, and Louisville "iced" a hard-fought 12-9 win. 

Scott Teeter was pleased with the win: 

"I thought we got off to an excellent start and we had answers whenever Colorado had a push -- we answered right back. Colorado is a great team, they are nationally ranked for a reason. We found a way to win, though, and we need to build off this." 

Teeter, goalkeeper Rachel Florek and attacker Ally Hall joined our own Paulie for these post-game remarks in the link below: 

TEETER, HALL AND FLOREK POST-GAME COLORADO

Have a great start to your weekend, we will catch you all the airwaves Saturday morning for another episode of the Cardinal Couple Radio Hour Podcast.  

As always, Go Cards!
- Daryl 

WBB at NC State Tonight -- Walz Presser -- Lacrosse Interview -- THURSDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

SHOWDOWN IN RALEIGH 

The University of Louisville women's basketball squad is in Raleigh, NC and will take on the Wolfpack at 8 p.m. this evening in a game that could either propel the Cards into a share of the ACC lead or drop them to two games behind NC State. 

No easy task ahead for Jeff Walz's Cards. 

NC State is 22-1 overall and 11-1 in ACC conference games. They are ranked #4 in the nation now and on a eight-game winning streak. Only UNC has blemished the Wolfpack's record. NC St. handled Virginia Tech 71-59 last time out. 

Ms. Wuf's school has some put some very impressive numbers to date. They only commit an average of 12 fouls a night and are a strong defensive rebounding team at 31 a contest. They average a +19.1 scoring margin over opponents and allow just 54.9 points per game. 

Leading the way for NC State offensively in sophomore center Elisa Cunane. Averaging 17 points a night, she's considered one of the front runners for ACC Player of the Year and is one of three Wes Moore-coached players in double figures. Senior Aislinn "Ace" Konig contributes 11.1 ppg and junior Kayla Jones produces 10 ppg. 

The Cards get back Elizabeth Balogun for this one, having returned from Serbia, where she played for the Nigeria National Team during their Olympic qualifying action. A healthy Yacine Diop could also bolster the Cards chances in Carolina tonight.

Jeff Walz points out that when one of the two mentioned here play well, the other usually doesn't. It's time to break that trend and get hue games out of both tonight.

Louisville will need to be aggressive and find a way to take advantage of the fact that NC State commits more turnovers than they force other teams into. The scoring woes of sub-60 point performances in the last two outings for Louisville need to end. The Cards need to be bolstered by Jaz Jones and Dana Evans, hopefully they'll be a huge, positive factor if they can get her shot to fall.  Kylee will have her work cut out for her with Cunane, but we hope the all-time blocks leader in Louisville WBB history can gather a few swats and keep Cunane away from the basket. 

Evans picked up two more national honors this week, being named to the Ann Meyers Drysdale Award Watch list and the Citizen Naismith Trophy Mid-Season team. 

The Cards have been the "hunted" most of this season and find themselves in the role of the "hunter" tonight. Louisville has had a modicum of success in previous outing against North Carolina State, They hold a 7-3 all time record against the Wolfpack, are 2-0 in Raleigh since joining the ACC and have won five in a row against the Raleigh squad. Last time out, in the ACC semifinals last year, the Cards beat NC State 78-68 in Greensboro. It was a back-and-forth game, both teams actually had double-digit leads in this one. 

It's a ACC Network televised event and Pam Ward has the call with Deb Antonelli providing analyst work. Nick Curran and Adrienne Johnson will handle radio duties on 790 AM (WKRD) Cards Radio. The toughest conference test of the season awaits the two squads in a sold-out Reynolds Coliseum and we'll have the results for you here tomorrow morning. 


WALZ PRESSER

Jeff Walz met with the media yesterday morning to discuss tonight's game and I was there to offer questions and capture the words. A link to the audio of his weekly presser is below for your listening pleasure. 

LINK: WALZ PRESSER 2/12/20

If you'd like to view as well as listen, the UofL link is below. Walz is resplendent in his black Adidas pullover and if you're wondering what to get Paulie for his birthday this year, I won't say no to one of those...

LINK: WALZ 2-12-20 PRESSER (VIDEO VERSION)  


LACROSSE INTERVIEW

My day on the Belknap campus yesterday concluded with my weekly interview with Louisville Lacrosse head coach Scott Teeter and student-athlete, junior attacker Ally Hall.

Coach and Ally discussed the season opening win over Cincinnati and Saturday's upcoming match against #9 Denver. The Denver game is Louisville's home opener and will take place at noon at the Louisville Lacrosse Stadium. Admission is free. 

We also got to know a little more about Ally, who is from Maryland andd led Louisville on Sunday with four goals. 

Just audio on this one, but it's a fun, lively and informative chat that is definitely worth a listen ! 

LINK:  LACROSSE INTERVIEW WITH SCOTT TEETER and ALLY HALL

We'll be doing these "talks with Teeter" and a player throughout the Lacrosse season when scheduling allows and hope you find this look into the action, players and philosophy of what makes Louisville Lacrosse enjoyable !! 

We invite you to give Lacrosse a try, if you're new to the sport. It has been described as "basketball with sticks" and you'll find a lot of the same terminology and movements, like fast breaks, zones, blocks, feeds and sets, that you find in basketball. Lacrosse offers a bit more scoring than Field Hockey or Soccer and the action is exciting! 


Have a Terrific Thursday ! 

paulie
xxxxx