FH Blanks Bellarmine 6-0 -- WEDNESDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

 FIVE CARDS SCORE IN UOFL'S WINNING OF THE FH BATTLE OF EASTERN PKWY 6-0 OVER BELLARMINE

Louisville Field Hockey got two goals from Mary Wordelmann and allowed just one Bellarmine shot in the 6-0 shutout win over crosstown DI foe Bellarmine Tuesday afternoon at Trager field. 

Lauren Masters, Emily Eaton, Chloe Cuzzupe and Tyler Everslage were the other Cards to score for the Justine Sowry's squad...which improved to 6-5 on the season. Bellarmine drops to 2-10 with the loss. 

The Cards starters were Parker, Masters, Tatum Kroon, Eaton, Izzy Bianco, Annabel Sep, Cuzzupe, Everslage, Rylie Wollerton, Luciana Carpenter and Alessia Cucito in goal

The Cards scored three goals in the first quarter...starting with a Everslage pass to Eaton, who fond the net for her first goal of the season...with 12:57 left in the first frame. Three and one half minutes later, it was Cuzzupe getting a feed from Gigi Edwards and finding net success for her third goal of the season. The quarter's final goal came when closed when Masters was assisted by Sophia Parker and got her third score of the season. 

The two squads battled through a scoreless second quarter.  The Cards did get four shots off, but Bellarmine came up with three saves to send the squads into halftime with UofL leading 3-0 

The Cards added a goal in the third quarter to go up 4-0 and tacked on two more in the fourth quarter on three shots for the final 6-0 score. 

The victory was Justine Sowry's 250th career win and she had this to say after the contest.:

"We tried to get different combinations in today. It was fun to see it actually work and for a defender to be up there and able to finish a nice goal. Hopefully it will give the team a bit of confidence that we can play good hockey and finish on the scoreboard"

It was the highest goal total for the Cards so far this year and also their last non-conference game of the regular season. 

The Cards take to the road next...for a Friday night tilt at #6 Duke. It's a 6 p.m. contest and will be on ACCNX.

paulie

FH Hosts Bellarmine -- TUESDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

Cards Welcome Bellarmine to Trager

Who needs rain when you have water cannons

Louisville field hockey looks to renew the crosstown rivalry with Bellarmine. The Knights will travel a few minutes down Eastern Parkway to face Louisville. Trager Stadium is the host stadium for both schools but Louisville will be the home team.

The Cards have seen ups and downs this season with a loaded schedule. They sit at 5-5 on the year and have lost two straight, both ACC games. Three of those losses have come against top 15 opponents, but Louisville also has a couple wins against ranked foes.

UofL has outscored opponents 24-19 on the season. Four of the five losses came by two goals or less while the wins have shown a mix of close games and blowouts.

Can you spot the butterfly in the foreground?

Bellarmine enters the match with a 2-9 record. Their pair of wins came against Longwood and Ohio. In their most recent outing, the Knights fell to Queens University of Charlotte.

This is the first regulation match between Louisville and Bellarmine since 1999. The Cards lead the all-time series 17-1-3.

The match is set to start at 5:00pm and will be aired on ACCNX. Due to the early start time, Cardinal Couple may not have in-person coverage. Weather may also be a factor, which we will monitor for any schedule changes.

Happy Tuesday and Go Cards!

Jared

Field Hockey ekes by Bellarmine 2-1 in rain-shortened match -- MONDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

 CARDS FINISH PRESEASON EXHIBITION SEASON WITH WIN OVER KNIGHTS 2-1

In a rain-shortened Sunday exhibition against Bellarmine, Louisville came from behind to knock off the Knights 2-1 at Trager Stadium. The Cards went deep into the roster in this final exhibition, playing all but four players (holding them out presumably because of injuries?) on an afternoon where weather eventually defeated both squads and the contest was called midway through the final quarter. 

UofL requested that I not use names of any of the student-athletes in the exhibition, which, I understand...due to "peeping eyes". It makes a write up a bit more difficult, but we can't go divulging any Cardinals student-athlete superlative performances to the likes of Bucknell or Penn State or ACC foes, can we now?  (Not that there were a trunkful of those on a day where stats would be a bit misleading to someone if they were reading them with no idea of the final score.) So, I only used the names that were used in the Go Cards write up.

A weather delay (because of lightning in the area) pushed the start time back to 2:05 (from a scheduled 1 p.m. beginning) -- the fans were asked to leave the stadium but started lining up to get back in once the skies cleared. It looked to be about an equal amount of fans for Bellarmine and Louisville in the east-side bleachers at Trager..

 Bellarmine does have nine players on their roster from the Louisville area or Oldham County. 

The Cards had 19 shots in the contest, 12 on goal -- while Bellarmine had just six shots (four in the first quarter) and only two were on goal. But, Bellarmine found success with just five minutes gone in the contest when Anna Crump converted on a penalty corner attempt. Louisville dominated in the penalty corner department, too -- 14 to 2 -- and the Cards did get the tying goal on a penalty corner conversion with 9:45 gone in the contest...freshman Izzy Bianco doing the scoring

The Cards defense stiffened up considerably after the first quarter and a lot of the second quarter action took place with Louisville on attack in Bellarmine territory. The tie score held firm, though, and the squads went to the half knotted at 1-1

After the half. the Cards took eight shots in the third quarter, but none of them scored a goal. To use an old term that a Louisville coach used years ago, we all love shooters but we prefer makers. Bellarmine got just one shot in the entire second half, so one could surmise that the Cards were the dominant offensive threat in the final 30 minutes. Louisville went ahead when Katie Schneider fired, missed, got the rebound and successfully scored on her second attempt. The deciding goal came with about nine minutes left in the fourth quarter. 

Lightning was spotted about a minute later and action was halted again. The fans were asked to go through the same exit drill, except this time they did not return. After waiting a while to see if things would clear, the officials and coaches made a determination that conditions didn't appear to be getting any better and the match was called. 

Bellarmine led Louisville in one category and that was in saves. They recorded 10, while the Cards two goalies that saw action had just one. 

We did not get a post-game interview with Coach Sowry or any of the Cardinals student-athletes after this one. The SID staff seemed anxious to get to another event with one of the other women's squads at the north end of the campus, and there wasn't anyone around to interview, anyway, if we had wanted an interview or two. So, off we went into the rain, which miraculously, began to lighten as we trudged toward the vehicle.  

So, the Cards take off to begin the regular season in University Park, PA next week -- where they'll face Bucknell on Friday and home standing Penn State on Sunday.  

Color me surprised that Louisville managed just two goals on the Knights. Either Bellarmine has gotten worlds better since they joined Division I and the MAC Conference...or this Louisville team isn't very good yet.  It is early, though, and maybe the Cards need a bit more time to jell on their passing and shooting. The Cards roster list looks impressive. Let's hope they play better against someone who isn't in the MAC next week. Identical 2-1 wins in the preseason, one against league favorite and one against lower level predicted Bellarmine. 

We'll see. The season hasn't officially begun and the Cards are young. Stay tuned. 

(PHOTOS BY JARED ANDERSON)

paulie

 . 

Field Hockey Wins Their Final Exhibition -- MONDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

 LOUISVILLE SHUTS OUT BELLARMINE 10-0 SUNDAY

In their second exhibition game of the 2021 season, Louisville Field Hockey scored often and held the line defensively, blanking cross-town foe Bellarmine 10-0 at Trager stadium. 

The Cards got two goals each from Mattie Tabor, Charlie van Oirschot and Mackenzie Karl and single scores from Aimee Plumb, Katie Schneider, Mia Duchers and Filippa Nieburh against the Knights, who are in just their second year off DI Field Hockey action. 

I was unable to get to the action, as a family emergency took precedence, ending up with a trip to the emergency room to get my wife observed and eventually released. Fortunately, she got out of what could have been a much more serious fall with just a fractured wrist and slight concussion. 

The two squads also engaged in a couple of situations that could face them this fall:  a sudden victory, 7-on-7 overtime period and a shootout. Bellarmine took both of these events.

Of note, the Cards played freshman goalkeeper Mila de Kuijer between the pipes again for all four quarters ,as they did against the alumnae on Saturday. No work on the status of last year's goalie Sam Minrath.  Kuijer is from Leiden, The Netherlands and played the the highest competition league in the Netherlands before coming to the United States. 

Jared Anderson was there for us and got some great photos. 

.  

Have a memorable Monday

paulie