Cards See Three NCAA Advancements; Volleyball Sweeps -- FRIDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

                   *** BREAKING NEWS***

HAILEY VAN LITH SAYS "LOUISVILLE" !!!! THE #1 CLASS OF 2020 IS A CARDINAL ! THE 5'7" GUARD OUT OF CASHMERE, WA. COMMITTED TO UOFL AT 3:30 P.M. SATURDAY AFTERNOON. WE'LL HAVE MUCH MORE ABOUT THIS IN THE SUNDAY CARDINAL COUPLE. WELCOME TO THE VILLE HAILEY !!

Field Hockey Comes Back to Beat Michigan

In the first event of what was a busy day on Floyd Street, Justine Sowry's field hockey team got underway at Noon against the Michigan Wolverines. Coming into the game, Louisville was 5-0 against Big Ten opponents, but they had not yet played Michigan. The Wolverines finished the regular season at 13-5 before losing in the first round of the Big Ten Tournament to Iowa. That set up yesterday's matchup with the Cards, and Michigan seemed quite up to the task. 

In the first quarter, and for much of the game, Michigan seemed able to control the ball at will and play solid defense when Louisville got their chances. The Wolverines consistently held Louisville out of the circle with timely stick checks and intercepted passes. To their credit, Louisville also prevented Michigan from getting much of anything going offensively in the first quarter. Unfortunately, the one chance Michigan had, they took. With just over two minutes remaining in the first quarter, Meg Dowthwaite got free after a Katie Anderson pass and knocked in her eighth goal of the season. It was the only shot by either team in the quarter and it was on frame and in the cage.

Fewer than five game minutes later, Louisville got what appeared to be the equalizer. On a penalty corner, Bethany Russ deftly worked herself open before firing a shot that sailed into the net. The referees initially called a goal, but many Michigan players could be seen exclaiming about the height of the ball. Michigan's coach initiated a video referral and the review process began. The officials went to the monitor for nearly six minutes before coming out to have a conversation with the two coaches. They could be heard explaining that the shot was high and would be ruled a dangerous ball. Michigan's coach seemed pleased and walked away. Justine Sowry did not. After about 30 seconds of heated discussion, the officials returned to the review monitor for another six or seven minutes. We don't know what Coach Sowry said that made them continue their review, but it was ultimately to no avail. The goal was overturned. Michigan still led 1-0. The Cards continued to pressure in the second quarter, garnering three shots, but were unable to put any on frame. The halftime horn sounded with Louisville still behind a goal.

The third quarter was the busiest for both teams by far, with five total shots coming in that quarter. The quarter saw Hollyn Barr make an outstanding save to keep Louisville in the game and Bethany Russ refuse to be denied in her quest for an equalizer. After Louisville earned a penalty corner, Mercedes Pastor worked to get a shot that was blocked by a defender. Russ got ahold of the ball and used some impressive stick play to work just enough space to fire a shot into the back of the catch. The clank was unmistakable and Louisville had tied the match with two minutes to go in the third.

The fourth quarter and both overtimes required Barr to be nails. In those final 33 minutes, Barr picked up five saves. She had just one in the opening 45 minutes. While Michigan's offense peppered Barr, Louisville offense kept up the pressure as well. The Cards didn't have any shots in the fourth quarter, but they did have four in the 18 total minutes of overtime, including three on goal. Michigan's goalie was able to protect two shots in the first overtime, but with just under two minutes until a penalty shootout, Bethany Russ once more found the back of the cage. A crossing assist from Emilia Kaczmarczyk found Russ at the left side of the circle where she fired it home. Louisville won 2-1 on the golden goal and advance to the next round of the NCAA Tournament. 

All in all, it was a great game from the Cards. Coach Sowry discussed how they were able to stick to their game plan and execute when it mattered. Both teams had five corners. Louisville was able to stop Michigan from scoring on any of them. While the stat sheet doesn't technically say it, the Cards were successful on two of their five. Though one was disallowed and another was on a second effort, those are still better opportunities than Louisville has been getting throughout the season and this is an important time to clean up mistakes.

Cards Supporting Cards. Representatives from softball,
swimming/diving, golf, and lacrosse braved the cold.

Louisville will host the second round of the NCAA Tournament on Sunday at 1:00 PM. Boston College will come to town, likely looking for revenge. The Cards handed the Eagles a home loss when they played in the regular season, winning 3-2 in Chestnut Hill. Every game is a new day in the tournament, though, and Louisville will look to keep rolling into the next round.

Coach Sowry's interview apparently didn't make it to the screen, but a link to the transcript can be found here.  Paulie did catch the jumbled audio of Sowry's words and tou can hear them HERE.

It wasn't the most prepared or best set up scenario for NCAA post-game comments. 

Bethany Russ got podium time also time, which you can watch at this link or read the transcript if you prefer.

Soccer Ends Two Game Losing Streak at Perfect Time

The Cards ended their season with a pair of matches against NC State. The Wolfpack won both of those, sending Louisville into the NCAA Tournament with some confidence to rebuild. The Cards were able to do so last night, dominating possession of the ball on their way to a 1-0 win against the Lipscomb Bisons. Coach Karen Ferguson-Dayes noted in her post-game comments that she believed the possession was one thing Louisville could have done better on, but I believe Lipscomb's counter attacking ability was skewing her view of that stat. Louisville held possession for 71% of the first half and 64% for the entire game. 

Louisville's game plan in this match was pretty simple, and matched the rest of the season: sit on the ball, work possession through the midfield, and get chances on goal. Lipscomb's game plan was equally simple: disrupt the Louisville attack, win the ball, and counter. Had the Bison strikers been able to stay onsides for the life of them, we could be having a very different conversation this morning. After being called offsides 11 times in their last game, Lipscomb was called for four in the first half of last night's match. In each one, the Cards were beaten and Lipscomb either had a one-on-one opportunity or were poised for a very dangerous cross. On two, Lipscomb attempted shots after the whistle. On both of those, Gabby Kouzelos refused to get the ball out of the back of the net and made a pair of saves that don't go in the stat sheet. In scoreless games, seeing the ball in the back of the net can do things for both the offense and defense. Kouzelos refused to lose that psychological matchup.

As Louisville held possession, they also gathered a lot of chances. Fortunately for Lipscomb, Melissa Gray was up to the task. Gray had five saves in the first half, and would go on to finish with eight on the night. A couple of those first half saves were real beauties. However, all it took in this game was one chance, and Sarah Hernandez took that chance. Finishing her third goal of the season, all three on headers, Hernandez took flight Superwoman style to get to a perfectly placed free kick by Emina Ekic. Gray was caught out just a bit and the ball found the back of the net with 34 seconds remaining in the first half. Louisville finished the first half with 10 shots and six on frame, showing that they intended to keep beating on the door until they broke it down.

The second half saw quite a bit of the same. Louisville continued to earn chances much as they had in the first half. The Cards got five corners in the second half and ultimately put up seven shots. Though only three were on frame, the pressure was evident and the six shots off of the frame of the goal were close. As Coach Ferguson-Dayes mentioned in her postgame comments, Gray's play in the first half affected Louisville's shots in the second, putting more pressure on the Cards to be fine with their placement and ultimately leading to misses. 

Gabby Kouzelos maintained her staunch defense in the back, assisted of course by the back line. Lipscomb only finished with three shots and Kouzelos with two saves, but the defense saw quite a bit more work than the stats imply. Hernandez and Niamh Nelson both saw plenty of chances to clear crosses, through balls, and overhead balls, and they were up to the task last night. Kouzelos even got quite a bit more work than the box score shows, having to come all the way out of her box to win jousts at least three times and gathering a number of searching balls into the box by Lipscomb. Louisville picked up their tenth clean sheet on the way to this win.

After the match, the two teams gathered in a show
of sportsmanship.

Louisville's path gets harder from here. Their quadrant has seen nothing but chalk so far, as BYU, Arkansas, and NC State advanced last night. The second and third rounds will be held next weekend at the home site of the highest seed in the quadrant. In this case, the teams will travel to Provo, Utah, where Louisville will take on the Cougars of BYU. More information will be available as the first round ends across the tournament.

Hear the press conference style interview with Coach KFD, Emina Ekic, Sarah Hernandez, and Brooklynn Rivers here.

Ivine Chemutai Advances in NCAA Cross Country

Yesterday, Louisville cross country was in Charlottesville, Virginia to compete in the NCAA Southeastern Regional. The Cards did not have a ton of success in the regional, but there was some good news to come out of it. Sophomore runner Ivine Chemutai finished in 8th place in the women's 6K race, which was good enough for an automatic qualification in the NCAA Championship meet. No other Louisville runners qualified. Chemutai finished just thirty seconds off the pace of the winner and just 17 seconds behind third place. She was clear of 11th place, the non-AQ position, by 10 seconds. The National Championship meet will be held on November 23rd in Terre Haute, Indiana.

Volleyball Sweeps Syracuse in Return Match 

Louisville Volleyball has been reeling a bit since the loss of Melanie McHenry. Since McHenry went down in the Notre Dame match, and excluding that match, Louisville was 2-5. They quickly fell out of the chase for the ACC title and have since dropped behind five other teams that are tied for second. A benefit for the Cards in this situation is that they haven't given up. They're playing without McHenry, who happens to be the only senior on the team, meaning that the current iteration of Louisville volleyball is just getting additional practice time for next year. From now on, Louisville's priorities change a little bit. While the goals early in the season included a conference victory and potentially making a lot of noise in the NCAA Tournament, the Cards now need to focus on keeping their feet under them and building confidence going into next year. 

That started last night when Louisville completed a sweep in their first match of the final home stand of the year. The match was a revenge game against Syracuse, who beat the Cards in five sets in New York earlier this month. Louisville hit no worse than .280 in the three sets and held the Orange to .000 hitting for the match, despite having only five blocks. Louisville committed only 15 errors in the match and had a relatively low seven service errors. I know that's not a low number of service errors but the Cards have committed plenty more this season. Syracuse kept the first set close at 25-19 but the Cards did what they needed to and dominated the final two sets at 25-15 each. 

Amber Stivrins and Claire Chaussee led the way for the Cards in this one, both finishing with 10 kills. Chaussee even took an unusual lead from Aiko Jones in total attempts with 25 compared to Jones's 23. The two also added just six errors, and Stivrins finished with an outstanding .571 hitting percentage. Jones was a bit off on the night, finishing with just six kills and five errors, but she did add an ace, two assists, and three blocks to contribute to the cause. For the first time in awhile, we saw both Tori Dilfer and Shannon Shields in the same sets, though Shields finished with just one service error in the stat sheet. Dilfer appears to have taken at least a noticeable lead in the setter race as she has finished with the lion's share of the assists recently. 

Louisville will have two more home matches this season, both against teams they have defeated this year. The first will come against Notre Dame when the Irish come to town next Friday for a 7:00 PM matchup. Notre Dame will surely be looking for revenge for the five set loss Louisville handed them in South Bend, but the Cards need to keep their momentum rolling towards the end of the year. Head on down to L&N FCU Arena Friday to root on the Cards. 

Cardinal Couple Radio Hour

In case you couldn't tell, we'll have plenty to talk about this week on the Cardinal Couple Radio Hour. This week, Paulie, Jeff, and I will be joined in the studio by Daryl Foust. We'll talk all of the fall sports action that is still ongoing thanks to yesterday's victories and bring in basketball as it ramps up. The Cardinal Couple Radio Hour is still brought to you by WCHQ. Tune in at 11:00 AM to 100.9 FM, the WCHQ App, wchqfm.com, or on Facebook Live.

Until next time, Go Cards!

-CH- 

Led by WBB's 36-point win, Cards Have Busy Friday -- SATURDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

Field Hockey Falls to UNC

After picking up a much needed victory over Syracuse in the ACC tournament to get the late season back on track and pad the NCAA tournament resume once more, Louisville ran into the buzzsaw that is North Carolina. The Tarheels have been the number one team in the country for most of the year, currently sitting undefeated, and continued to show why yesterday. North Carolina jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the first quarter and never looked back. The Heels scored once more in the fourth before Louisville was able to grab a goal to keep the final score a bit kinder at 3-1.

Bethany Russ was the goalscorer in this one, picking up her tenth goal of the year off of corner assist by Mercedes Pastor. It was one of Louisville's seven corner attempts, and the inability to capitalize on those corner opportunities has plagued the Cards all year long. Though the Cards were only 1-7, it should also be said that UNC was only 1-6. While they have struggled in scoring on penalty corners this season, Louisville has at least generally been equally as stingy on the defensive side.

Louisville now sits at 15-5 as they await their fate for the NCAA tournament, but three of their five losses have come in the last five games. Given that the Cards made up for a road loss to William and Mary with a road win over Duke in the next game and immediately followed a loss to Syracuse with a win over the Orange, perhaps things aren't as doom and gloom as they seem. Louisville still sits at 6th in the country based on the last rankings and it would be very hard to see them not getting into the tournament. Selection for the 18 team tournament is tomorrow, and we'll be sure to keep you updated on the future of the Cards.

Volleyball Picks Up Hard Fought Win in Miami

Seemingly unable to play a match that is not a barnburner this season, Louisville Volleyball went on the road to Miami and grabbed a five set win that may have gone forever if you had to win by two sets. Each team alternated set wins, and the fifth set went into extra points. In total, the sets were decided by only 20 points. The minimum number is 10, and the first set score was 25-16. As you might expect based on such a tight score, the two teams were also well matched in most other stats. Louisville had only eleven more kills and two more blocks, while Miami had three more aces and the two teams tied in errors. 

Louisville was once again led offensively by the trio that has stepped up in a big way since the loss of Melanie McHenry. Aiko Jones led all scorers in the match with 20 kills, but Claire Chaussee was only one behind her (and still ahead of every Miami player) at 19. Amber Stivrins again chipped, using the most of her playing time, adding 12 kills. Aiko Jones also added 5 blocks and two aces, beaten in the former category only by the six laid down by Anna Stevenson, who continued to be a rock in the middle. Tori Dilfer was unable to put down any of her attack attempts, finishing with a negative hitting percentage by erring on one of the seven attempts, but she did add 57 of the team's 63 assists while grabbing an ace, three blocks, and nine digs. Shannon Shields did not play, and perhaps Jeff has more information about that. Alexis Hamilton, as always, held down the back row with 17 digs.

The win was much needed by the Cards, who used it to stop a 3-game skid. With the victory, Louisville also guarantees it won't finish the major road trip winless. Louisville has one more game on this trip when they head just up the state from Miami to take on the Seminoles of Florida State in Tallahassee tomorrow at 1PM. After the FSU match, Louisville will get three more matches at home, all rematches, before the last match of the regular season in Pittsburgh. That match against the Panthers may not be for the conference title as many expected, with Louisville now sitting at 9-4 in conference, but it will still be a major matchup in Louisville's NCAA tournament picture. Until then, the Cards have four more matches to work to get back on track as the regular season draws to a close.

Louisville Thumps Murray State in Basketball

After playing strong defense and leading by 25 points at the half, Louisville used a 20 point run in the third quarter to completely squash any thoughts the Racers had about a potential comeback. The Cards went on to win 76-40 in their second game of the season, with no player scoring more than 14 points. Louisville will get a bigger break after this matchup, playing next on November 14th against the Chippewas of Central Michigan in the KFC Yum! Center.

Louisville opened last night's game with what may be the worst possible outcome on offense... a pair of missed free throws. (I couldn't decide if missing free throws or a turnover was worse. Let me know what you think.) Just thirty seconds later, Elizabeth Dixon would again get the opportunity to open the scoring as she stepped to the line and sunk both. Remember that thing I said about turnovers, though? They were just waiting for the Cards to score. Louisville turned the ball over on three straight possessions, gave up two offensive rebounds and fouled on a shot. How Murray State was unable to score in that time is beyond me, but Louisville would finally score again nearly two minutes after their first points. Despite the fact that the Cards would go to the quarter break leading 16-4, they certainly couldn't be happy, having given up 11 turnovers in the first ten minutes of the game, including three by both Norika Konno and Jazmine Jones. Konno would go on to finish the game with only three turnovers. Jaz picked up two more.

In the second quarter, the Cardinal defense fell off just a tad, but it may have only been a product of a faster overall pace of play. Louisville scored 22 in the second quarter, turning more of their turnovers from the previous quarter into points instead. Going into the break up 38-13 would usually lead a coach to a generally positive halftime speech. Going into the break up 38-13 with 14 turnovers and 7-12 from the free throw line is not going to garner priase from Jeff Walz. One positive from the half was Dana Evans showing that she is ready for a major offensive role, scoring 10 points in the half with 7 coming in just over a minute as the clock wound down in the second quarter.

In the first three and a half minutes of the third quarter, the Cards and Racers traded baskets, with a Murray State three pointer cutting the lead to 21. Louisville decided that was quite enough of that. Over the next five minutes, the Cards methodically demolished the will of the Racers, allowing Murray State to score no points and extending their lead to 41. After a couple of more baskets, Louisville carried a 40 point lead into the fourth quarter. The final quarter saw a large contingent of non-starters grab court time as Murray State won the period 17-13. By that time, the damage had long been done, though, and the Cards coasted to 2-0 while the Racers dropped to 0-1 on the year.

Kylee Shook made the most of her time in the second half, putting up all 13 of her points in 12 second half minutes. Shook also grabbed a double-double, scoring 13, rebound 12, and adding in a block and a steal. Three other players--Evans, Jones, and Elizabeth Balogun--finished with double-digit points. No Cardinal player saw more than 22 minutes of court time. Norika Konno did her best to make up for her 3 first quarter turnovers by finishing the game with 4 points, 4 rebounds, and 5 assists. She'll have to make more of her shots (just 2-7) for Louisville to get the most out of its offense, but it's good to see a freshman recover after a rough opening stanza. 

The CASE Report

Paulie alluded to The CASE Report earlier this week when he gave the FRED Report after Louisville's opening game. For a brief refresher, here's how the CASE Report works. CASE stands for Care, Assists, Steals, and Efficiency. All of the categories are stat based, with a pair of thresholds for each granting the possibility for letter improvement. We'll get through this one with some explanation.

C-Care: The Care section focuses on Louisville's turnovers. Generally, there will be a point awarded for Louisville turning the ball over 65% of the opponent's season average in turnovers forced (we expect Louisville's offense to be better than the opponent's defense) and another point awarded for turning the ball over less than the opponent. Since this is Murray State's first game, Louisville actually set their season average at 21 forced turnovers. I'm actually going to break from the standard of the scoring here, because even though Louisville forced 24 turnovers from the Racers, I cannot award a letter for 11 first quarter turnovers and 21 in the game. No letter.

A-Assists: This section awards a letter for assists based stats, namely assist percentage and assist-to-turnover ratio. As always, a huge turnover number is going to put this stat in a hole, but the game of basketball is pretty intertwined so it's ok if my stats are too. Louisville finished with 16 assists on 29 made baskets, which is not bad and is over the 50% threshold. However, it yields an assist-to-turnover ratio of less than 1. We're going for 2. Lowercase 'a'.

S-Steals: The most straightforward of the CASE Report. Half a letter for getting more than 7.5 steals, another half for getting more steals than the opponent. The Cards grabbed 12 in this one, just edging the 11 put up by Murray State. Capital 'S'.

E-Efficiency: This is where the CASE and FRED reports overlap a tad. We're looking at shooting efficiencies in this one. Specifically, we're looking for better than 45% from the floor and better than 75% from the line. Louisville finished with 6-26 shooting from beyond the arc, driving their overall shooting percentage all the way down to 40.8%. They also struggled to recover from 5 missed free throws in the first quarter, finishing at just 66.7% from the line. No letter.

In the opening CASE Report of the year, Louisville finishes with just _-a-S-_. The flashy final score and 20-0 run in the third make this game seem like a nice win, but the stats show that Louisville did not have a great night. Everything that Louisville did poorly, Murray State just did worse. It's only the second game of the season, but the Cards definitely have some work to do to get to the dominance they're looking for this year.


They said it: 

LINK: POST GAME WALZ

LINK: POST GAME SHOOK AND JONES

LINK (AUDIO ONLY)  : MURRAY ST. HEAD WBB COACH RECHELLE TURNER POST GAME

Cardinal Couple Radio Hour

I'm out once more, but the Cardinal Couple Radio Hour lives on. We are still exploring our options for the future of the show, so keep an eye out, but for the time being, the show still comes to you live from WCHQ FM. Today, join Paulie and Jeff as they are both back into their wheelhouses with volleyball and basketball fully in swing. They'll bring you those and more at 11AM on WCHQ. Catch the show at 100.9 FM, the WCHQ App, wchqfm.com, or on Facebook Live.

HERE'S THE LINK FROM TODAY'S SHOW:
LINK: THE CARDINAL COUPLE RADIO HOUR 11/9/19

Until next time, Go Cards!

-CH-

VB Survives in Five, WBB #1 in ACC, Field Hockey Players Honored -- THURSDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

VOLLEYBALL RALLIES TO DOWN DOMERS

I suppose this is what you should expect when the Irish and Cardinals get together in Volleyball. A five-set match. One team looking out-of-sync and lost early and then roaring back to take control. Toss in an injury, a key contribution off the bench and Katie George and you have a brief synopsis of what happened in South Bend last night. Both games in 2017 and in 2018 went five sets. It has become the new "expected" when these two get together. A hard-fought, come-from behind and entertaining Cardinal "W"...22-25, 22-25, 25-17, 25-22 and 15-10. 

Both teams came into the match with equal 13-3 and 6-0 in the ACC records. The Cards edging their way into the top 25 and Notre Dame getting votes but not quite there yet. It was Notre Dame, though, who looked like the top 25 squad in the first two sets. Just when it looked like things couldn't get any worse for UofL in the second set when Melanie McHenry...who is "Ms. Everything" for the Cardinals...came down wrong on her left knee at the conclusion of a play and crumpled to the floor in a great deal of pain. Her scream audible on TV. A silent arena. Laying prone and curled up on the court for quite some time while being examined. She was carried off by the UofL staff. What next, you ask? 

What happened after that was nothing short of remarkable. Smiling, encouraging her teammates as she was removed from the floor, McHenry was believing in her team to finish the task.  UofL got a new light in their eyes, a reason-to-rally and, although the set was lost -- you could tell that the Cards were going to halftime with renewed fire and focus.

 "Play well for Mel" is as good as any description for what happened after the break. 

We won't go into a lot of detail on those first two sets. The Cards trailed early in the first, did rally back to get within one at 22-21 but the Irish "hit squad" of freshman Caroline Meuth and sophomore Charley Niego rallied the Irish to the win. 25-22 Leprechaun lovers. 

Second set brought more of the same for the lackluster Cards. Playing from behind most of the way, once again, Louisville rallied to get with that "same one" again at 22-21. Once again, the Irish controlled the end of the set, allowing just one Cardinal point and it was 25-22 again...."Touchdown Jesus" had his arms up outside on campus for a reason.

The adjustments UofL made at the half were superb. Shannon Shields took over at setter. Louisville went with a back line of Aiko Jones, Claire Chaussee and Amaya Tillman.  And, the Cards responded like Secretariat rolling down the stretch with the finish line in sight. 

Bursting out to a 12-4 lead in set three, they forced the UND time out. Ineffective. Louisville pushed that advantage to 21-8 and were looking like the Louisville Volleyball we've come to know and love. Amber Stivrins, Anna Stevenson and Aiko Jones...the "A-Team" was on the job and the Irish were reeling. Notre Dame, to their credit, made a late run to cut the Cardinal advantage to 23-17 but it ended two plays later an a 25-17 win was in the UofL ledger. 

In set four, we saw more Cardinal authority. A 12-4 start. Amber and Aiko were still hot and UofL led 22-16 before the Irish held on at set point twice before the Cards were able to close it on a Jones spike. 25-22 the final and bonus ball awaited. 

A 4-0 early run gave the Cards a 8-4 lead in the fifth. They pushed that to 11-7 and forced a Irish time out, which seemed to temporarily help the beleaguered, baffled and bushed UND squad. They cut the margin to two at 12-10. Then, a couple of UND errors and a Amaya kill ended it.  15-10. Cards take game, set and match. 

Louisville showed a ton of fight, spirit and "never-say-die" attitude last night. McHenry had returned to the sidelines to sit behind the bench, with her knee heavily wrapped, to cheer on her "sisters-in-slams". No official statement yet on her status, just a "knee injury" is all we know. Sure looked like an ACL, though, after watching the replays. 

On a lighter note...Katie George, Cardinal great from a few years back and former beauty queen, did the analysis work on the ACC Network broadcast last night. A stellar performance from her as well, combining solid technical knowledge and explanations of the action. George hardly masking her love for the Cards and tossing her quirky and funny descriptions and sayings out like the way she used to set up players on the court. 

She had that poor boy doing the broadcast with her baffled and dazed. We think she should be on the "A" team for ACC Network Volleyball broadcast coverage. 

Good to have ya back, K.G. !! Keep 'em coming. 


WBB #1 in ACC Preseason Polls

Louisville women's basketball squad has been selected to finish first in the ACC in preseason polls from the conference's coaches and the ACC Blue Ribbon Panel. 

The Cards gathered 13 of the 15 first place votes from the coaches (NC St. receiving two) and 34 of the 49 first place votes from the Blue Ribbon Panel. The Wolfpack garnered eight first place votes in "the B.R.P" version and Florida State plus Notre Dame also received first place votes. 

Once again, Cardinal Couple was not contacted to participate in the Blue Ribbon Panel, most likely because we prefer Yuenging, Budweiser and other select, crafted beverages. 

Louisville also landed two players on the Preseason All-ACC team with junior Dana Evans and sophomore Elizabeth Balogun. Miami's Elizabeth Balogun was selected preseason player-of-the-year. Freshman guard Nyah Green was named to the Newcomers Watch List for the 2019-20 season. 

No surprises in any of this, except for the exclusion of Jazmine Jones on the ACC team. That's a mistake that'll come back to haunt more than a few pundits and teams this season.

Let's face it, Walz's squad is loaded for bear, equipped with plenty of ammunition and could probably enter two teams in ACC play this year and finish first and second in the conference. 

19 days until UofL starts the season against WKU in the KFC YUM! Center. 



FIELD HOCKEY'S AYARS, RUSS HONORED

Louisville Field Hockey seniors Carter Ayars and Bethany Russ have been named to the Victory Sports Tours/National Field Hockey Coaches Association's Senior Game.

38 seniors will participate in the contest, which is planned for November 22 following the conclusion of the NCAA DI semifinal game at Wake Forest. 

Ayars has been brilliant as a defender and penalty corner specialist for Louisville this season and her whole career at Louisville. She gathered ACC Player of the Week, NFHCA All-West Region team selection and USA Field Hockey Under 21 team honors during her time as a CARDINAL. 

Russ, an attack specialist, leads UofL with nine goals this season. She's also been a NFHCA All-West Region selection and All-ACC pick during her time under head coach Justine Sowry. She also leads the ACC with shot attempts (70). 

# 5 ranked UofL (11-2) wraps up their current home stand with Longwood on Saturday at noon (unfortunate time selection on that one) and #6 Iowa Sunday at 1 p.m. 

Have a terrific Thursday ! 

paulie
xxxxx

Another Undefeated Friday -- SATURDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

For the second week in a row, I'm bringing you a column talking about three wins for Louisville women's athletics teams. Two of the three are the same, and soccer did still win their Thursday game, but this week we've added swimming and diving to the list. Let's get into yesterday's goings-on. 

Field Hockey Downs Wake Forest 3-0

For the second night in a row, a Louisville team on Floyd Street defeated Wake Forest to move to 9-1 on the season. Thursday, it was the women's soccer team in a comeback victory that Jared wrote about yesterday. Last night, it was the field hockey team handling the Demon Deacons with little opposition. The final score doesn't show a huge domination, though 3-0 is a strong victory, but the game stats indicate a lopsided game.

Louisville finished yesterday with only two more total shots than Wake, with that battle ending 8-6, but the Cards amassed 6 shots on goal while the Deacs could muster none at all. Even after earning four penalty corners, Wake was unable to pressure Hollyn Barr, who played the whole game and finished with no stats. Louisville scored in the first, third, and fourth quarters to keep up consistent pressure and converted on one of their three penalty corners. Barr's full game is her second in a row, perhaps indicating that Coach Sowry has made a decision about the position going forward. With Minrath on the bench, the team still has a solid option in the event that things go sideways, but Barr appears to have snagged the starting spot for the time being.

Yesterday's first goal came off of a penalty. With just two minutes left in the first quarter, Carter Ayers took the ball downfield and ended up earning a corner. She and Meghan Schneider would start the play and ultimately set up Mercedes Pastor to score her fourth goal of the season. The teams held onto the 1-0 score for about 19 minutes, going through the rest of the first, the entire second, and just the start of the third without any other goals. Madison Walsh changed that when she picked up her fifth goal of the year by tapping in a deep pass from Margot Lawn about a minute and a half into the second half. Three minutes into the final quarter, Walsh picked up a brace when she scored another tap in, this time from Bethany Russ.

All in all, Louisville had a stranglehold over Wake for the majority of the game and made sure to put away their chances. Scoring on 38% of your total shots and 50% of your shots on goal is a pretty efficient day. With Louisville's high volume offense, converting at that rate is going to continue to win a lot of games. Sprinkling in a defense that is capable of shutouts never hurts either. Louisville is back in action on Sunday when Penn State comes to town at Noon. That match will be available on ACC Network Extra.

Check out Paulie's interviews with Coach Sowry and Madison Walsh below. Videos of the interviews are available at gocards.com.

Coach Sowry Recaps the Win

Madison Walsh Talks About Her Double

 Volleyball Makes Short Work of Georgia Tech with Sweep

After pretty much dominating the first two sets, Louisville weathered a comedy of errors that took the third set to extra points before claiming victory over the Yellowjackets of Georgia Tech. After only a pair of errors total in the first two sets, Louisville committed 10 in the final set and hit negative in the third en route to a 27-25 set win. The Cards were saved only by even worse hitting by the Techies who committed 13 errors and also hit negative in that final set. Despite that final set, Louisville still managed to finish with .278 hitting for the night, showing just how strong those first two sets - .433 and .484, respectively - really were.

Louisville finished the match winning in every major category. The Cards won blocks 11-4, aces 4-2, had fewer service errors at 7-8, and fewer overall errors at 12-25. The teams finished tied at 39 kills, but the efficiency of Louisville's hitting was ultimately the difference. As was typical, Anna Stevenson was a brick wall, assisting on 5 Louisville blocks, and Emily Scott and Nena Mbonu got in on the block party as well by snagging a combined two solo and five block assists. Alexis Hamilton reliably led the team in digs, but also added a pair of unlikely receiving errors. Hot on her tail in digs were Melanie McHenry and Aiko Jones with 8.

Offensively, McHenry didn't have the best night, hitting only .125 on 24 attempts, earning 6 kills. Stevenson also finished with 6 kills on 20 attempts. Mbonu was second on the team last night with 8 kills on 18 attempts, a bit of a breakout night for her. Tori Dilfer continued to hold down her starting setter position, earning 30 of the Louisville's 34 assists on the night. The star of the night was undeniably Aiko Jones. Jones had the previously mentioned 8 digs, added 3 block assists and a solo block, and hit a whopping 13 kills with no errors on 18 attempts. She also chipped in with one of the four remaining assists for an all around outstanding night. Only one blemish came out of her night, and it has been one that has haunted for much of the season. Jones finished with 4 service errors and no aces. Despite that, I think when a player is pretty much unstoppable above the net, you'll live with some serves to Nowheresville.

Louisville's win pushes them to 10-3 on the season and 3-0 in conference. The Cards will have one more match at home against Clemson on Sunday at 1 before they hit the road for a massive four game road trip. Louisville will face Duke, Wake, Notre Dame, and Virginia Tech over that stretch before coming home for a big pair of matches against Virginia and Pitt. It's a bit early to be predicting such things, but the Pitt match 7 opponents away could be huge for the conference championship race. Louisville will need to show a bit more consistency and close out against weaker opponents to stay on track this season, but an ugly third set victory last night is still a victory. Cards and Tigers will get underway tomorrow at 1PM in L&N Federal Credit Union Arena and the match will be available on ACC Network Extra.

Swimming and Diving Opens Third Straight Season with Win

Louisville swimming and diving hosted Xavier in a one-on-one meet yesterday and both the men's and women's sides easily claimed victory. The women earned more than three times as many points as the Musketeers and won every race en route to a 194-62 victory. The Cards are beginning their first season without a "superstar" swimmer on the women's side since before Kelsi Worrell arrived, but there are plenty of swimmers ready to take up the mantle. In addition to every winner in the pool, Molly Fears showed yesterday that she still intends to be a champion from the board. She won the dives from both the 1 and 3 meter boards yesterday. Listing every winner for the Louisville swimmers would take quite some time, so let me just say that you should check out the overall results and see how balanced the winners for the Cards were yesterday. 

Cardinal Couple Radio Hour

Due to the early start time for football, we will be without Jared and Paulie in the studio today, but Jeff and I will be joined by Daryl Foust to help keep us on track for the Cardinal Couple Radio Hour. We've got plenty of wins (our favorite thing to talk about) to discuss so we'll break down the weeks in soccer, volleyball, and field hockey before looking ahead to the upcoming weeks and a bit about the upcoming basketball season. Tune in at 11AM on WCHQ FM for the show. WCHQ is available at 100.9 FM, the WCHQ App, wchqfm.com, or on Facebook Live.

Until next time, Go Cards!

-CH-

Cards Sweep Friday -- SATURDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

Soccer Rebounds from UNC Loss, Beats 'Cuse 3-0

After suffering their first loss of the season last Saturday night, the Louisville women's soccer team hit the road for the first time since the opening game of the season. This weekend, the Cards headed to the northeast to take on Syracuse and Boston College to open their conference road schedule. The Cards faced their first hiccup before ever stepping foot on the field in Syracuse. Thursday evening, prior to the scheduled 6PM kick, an e-mail was sent out explaining that the team was suffering from a team-wide illness and that the game would be postponed to Friday morning. Though Syracuse has struggled this year, a team full of players recovering from food poisoning (the presumed culprit) did not inspire a ton of confidence for a strong effort.

Louisville proved me wrong. The Cards rolled out the primary starting lineup, showing that even if everyone wasn't fully recovered, thy were certainly going to go for it. Delaney Snyder got Louisville into business with their first goal less than two minutes into the game. Louisville had taken control of the game early, already earning a free kick deep in the offensive third, but the goal came on a bit of buildup play, with a through ball finding Snyder just barely onside (she looked off to me but the camera angle wasn't good). Snyder dribbled across the top of the box and deftly sent a ground ball into the opposite side of the net. Cards led 1-0.

Later in the half, it was a pair of subs that played add on. Louisville subbed quite a bit yesterday, perhaps showing that not everyone was fully recovered from their illness the night before. In this moment, it was Maisie Whitsett and Corinne Dente doing work for the Cards. In a similar situation to Snyder's goal, Dente found herself getting behind on a through ball from Whitsett. Just like Snyder, she settled herself and found the back of the net. It was Dente's first career collegiate goal (news flash to the Syracuse announcers and the women's soccer twitter, a freshman's first goal of the season is going to be their first career goal), and I get the feeling it won't be the last.

Louisville's final goal came much later in the second half, as Emina Ekic was determined to restart her points streak. Prior to the North Carolina game, Ekic had scored a point in every game except for the Ohio State game. That's a pretty impressive streak, and as long as she is finding ways to affect the offense, Louisville will continue to earn opportunities. Ekic's goal in this one was unstoppable, as her 76th minute shot rose to the upper left corner and was completely out of reach. Ekic's ability to score, assist, and draw fouls is what makes her a Hermann Award watch list player and it's what drives this team. It may be a little early to look at that award list, but with just a month left in the regular season, it will be time for the list to shrink soon. Ekic affects the game in so many ways, including those that show up on the stat sheet, but for those recordable stats, Emina's best is probably points per game. With five goals and four assists through nine games, Ekic currently sits tied for 67th at 1.56 points per game. That mark happens to be tied for fifth in the conference. Ekic is not likely to appear at the top of the list nationally, but she's only a few points behind the top points earner in arguably the top conference in the country. She's doing alright.

Louisville is back in action with what is a quicker turnaround than normal due to the schedule shift. The Cards will take on Boston College tomorrow at noon in Chestnut Hill. The game, like most, will be available on ACC Network Extra. Tune in to see if the Cards can continue to get back to their winning ways and earn their way back to the top half of the conference table. The Cards and Eagles are currently tied at 3 points, with BC sitting at 8-1-1 on the season compared to Louisville's 8-1-0. It should be a good match.

Field Hockey is Huge After Half Against BC

Continuing their trend of playing teams right around the same time as soccer, Louisville field hockey was in Massachusetts yesterday to take on the Eagles of Boston College. The Cards currently find themselves ranked sixth, and since they were playing in a conference game, you can be sure they were in a ranked matchup. This time around, Boston College is ranked 17th, right on the fringe of what might make the tournament this season. In a road match against a tough team, Louisville showed a bit of fight, despite going down early.

The Cards actually made two comebacks in this game, trailing 1-0 for nearly 25 minutes and then 2-1 for just over two minutes. The two teams scored four combined goals in the third quarter in under five minutes, in what was a wild swing for the fans in the stadium. Louisville's goals came from Bethany Russ, already her 8th this year, Margot Lawn (3), and Madison Walsh (4). All three were goals scored by taking advantage of big opportunities. Russ scored on a reserve shot after her shot was illegally blocked. Lawn did what makes everyone happy by converting a corner. Her shot was technically not on the corner, but was a rebound after the initial corner attack. However, since it was all one play, I'm counting it. Finally, Walsh's goal was an open play goal, as she knocked in a goal after her shot was originally saved. 

All three Louisville goals show different skill sets and different abilities to get on goal. A diverse scoring offense is key to not getting stymied by a strong team that can limit specific areas. Also important was the mental fortitude shown by Louisville to come back twice as I mentioned earlier. The Cards didn't give up throughout the first half, and put their halftime coaching to the test by getting a quick goal. After conceding quickly to trail again, a weaker team might get a bit deflated. Louisville instead scored a pair of goals in a pair of minutes to flip the script. 

Louisville's defense should also get a shout. Giving up two goals is not great, but when your team scores three, your only job is to give up fewer than three. Remember that this was a road game against a good team, and one of the goals came on a corner which are always challenging to defend. Perhaps surprisingly, Hollyn Barr went the distance in goal for the Cards, earning one save to go with her two goals allowed. If this was the test to see if she would be taking a stranglehold on the goalkeeping position, I can't say she locked it down. We'll see if Sam Minrath sees her way back into the net soon.

Louisville remains on the road for their next match and, like women's soccer, they'll stay in the northeast. Field hockey will take on the Providence Friars tomorrow at 1PM. This one won't be on ACCNX, but there is a watch link listed that takes you to a video player. Not sure if it's free or paid, but be sure to tune in to watch another good Louisville team.

Volleyball Goes Five in Win Over NC State

For the second match in a row, the Louisville volleyball team needed a fifth set to secure a win, as they did so last night in L&N Federal Credit Union Arena over the Wolfpack of NC State. Like field hockey, volleyball earned their win with multiple comebacks, losing the first and third sets and getting strong victories in the second and fourth to force a decider. 

After starting pretty hot, Louisville's hitting actually trailed off consistently through the third, fourth, and fifth sets. Fortunately for the Cards, so did NC State's. Louisville finished the match with a respectable, but not lovable, 0.254 hitting percentage compared to the Wolfpack's 0.150. The Cards earned more aces (5-4) and dominated in blocks, outblocking the Wolfpack 15-6. Anna Stevenson led the way on blocks, with 2 solo and 5 assisted. Emily Scott had a solo and five assists as well, and even Tori Dilfer got in on the block party with 5 assisted blocks. Dilfer also earned a career high in assists as she picked up 54 of the team's 61 assists in the match.

Leading the way offensively was a familiar name, as Melanie McHenry crushed 29 kills on 61 attempts with just 8 errors for a cool 0.344. I'm thinking she's back. Aiko Jones and Emily Scott effectively tied McHenry as they picked up a combined 29 kills with 7 errors on 68 attempts with 0.308 and 0.345 hitting percentages, respectively. 

Though perhaps not the cleanest win for the Cards against a struggling NC State team that is now 5-8 on the season, no one can complain about a victory in the conference opener. Louisville will have their hands full as they try to keep pace with Pittsburgh and Florida State in the title race, and every win counts. The Cards will be back in action, just like everyone else, tomorrow at 1PM against North Carolina. This match is at home, so if you can make it out, head on over to the Arena Formerly Known as Cardinal. As a home match, it will also be available on ACC Network Extra. 

Cardinal Couple Radio Hour

We're back in the studio once more for the Cardinal Couple Radio Hour this week. Jared is banking and Daryl wants to get to Louder than Life when the gates open, so Paulie, Jeff, and I will man the mics. Jeff may be there in name only, though, as he fights voice issues, and I'll try not to sound like a frog after the first night of LtL yesterday. We'll have plenty of game action throughout the week to talk about as well as important women's basketball news to cover. Tune in to WCHQ FM at 11 AM to listen along. WCHQ is available at 100.9FM, the WCHQ App, wchqfm.com, or on Facebook Live.

Until next time, Go Cards!

-CH-

A Super Sunday -- WSOC, Field Hockey win thrillers -- MONDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

THE UNDEFEATED

Two fall UofL women's sports squads. Two unbeaten squads. Two tough non-conference foes awaited them Sunday. 

One away, one on Floyd Street. One opponent ranked in the top ten and one opponent knocking on the door for top ten status. Both nailbiters. 

Both wins for UofL ! 

Beginning with Field Hockey's trip to the capital city of Ohio, let's run through these two "W"s.

FIELD HOCKEY GOES TO 6-0 WITH 2-1 WIN OVER OHIO ST. 

A quote from years past, from the late John Belushi in the movie Animal House, went: 

"It ain't over until we say it's over" 

and that was the prevailing theme yesterday against the Buckeyes. 

(Hear the dialogue below)

LINK: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tG25f13s2JA

Two second half goals...the first one from senior Bethany Russ to tie the contest...and the clincher from junior Madison Walsh propelled Louisville to this hard-fought, come-from-behind road win. 

Field Hockey is now four quarters instead of two halves, and the first quarter at Buckeye Field was scoreless. three shots per team but no scoreboard movement. A highly questionable decision on a review by the officials led to a penalty shot for OSU halfway through the second quarter. Mackenzie Alleessie, a member of USA junior squads since 2016, lined up for the stroke against UofL goalkeeper Hollyn....no, wait !!...coming in at goalkeeper for the Cards to defend was Sam Minrath...redshirt freshman from Louisville Christian Academy. 

Sowry made a change that was either going to make her look like a genius or leave her with the wrong coupon in checkout lane. 

Alleessie sailed the shot past Minrath and the BuckNuts were on the board. 1-0 Ohio State. I've learned over the years not to harp on coaching decisions...especially with Justine...so, it was what it was. 


And, in the end, it didn't matter. 

Sowry talks to her squad a lot about playing "Louisville Field Hockey" and I'd guess that that was part of the halftime chat. Louisville looked a step slow at times in the first half and, although there are no "possession" stats made available for media perusal...like there are in women's soccer...I'd wager the Big 10 school held the edge in that stat after 30 minutes. 

The Cards came out with a new purpose in the final 30. Sowry re-installed Hollyn Barr between the pipes. The attack was more intensified. As third quarter action drew to a close, Louisville was awarded a penalty corner. The sequence went from Alli Bitting to Megan Schneider to Bethany Russ and the Melbourne, Australia senior drove a shot into the cage for her team-leading seventh goal of the season. The score was 1-1 and the fourth quarter awaited. 

Success came early for UofL in the final session.

At the 13:05 mark, the Cards got another penalty corner provided to them. The previous sequence went to work again...but this time Schneider's 

pass went to Madison Walsh, on the right side of the cage. Walsh gave the orb a tap and GOOOOOOAAALLLLL Cards for the lead!  2-1. The Ville.  

That lead held for the rest of the contest.

Louisville ended up out-shooting OSU 10-6, had six corners to four over the Buckeyes and, most importantly, one more goal.

The action swings to Chapel Hill, North Carolina next for the "stick girls". They'll start ACC play Friday with a encounter against #1 in the land...UNC. 

EPIC EKIC

Meanwhile, back on the Floyd Street ranchero...the kickin' Cards were ready to face #9 Vanderbilt. 

Delaney Snyder lends a helping hand for the cramps in leg

This one went scoreless for 99 minutes (regulation and just about all of the first overtime) until Emina Ekic got clobbered going for a shot and was awarded a penalty kick. 

26 seconds remained. 26 anxious teammates awaited the impending action. 

These penalty kicks, dear reader, differ from the penalty corners. On a penalty kick, it's a one-on-one situation between the goalkeeper and the kicker.

Ekic sized up Commodore goaltender Taiana Tolleson, stepped forward to adjust the ball ever-so-slightly and then stepped back and booted it by the diving goalkeeper for the lone goal of the contest.  She saw a brief "tell" that the goalie was leaning right, so she buried it in the left corner.

"It ain't over until she says it's over"...and Emina had just decided that...it's over. 

The vuvuzela-wielding crowd went crazy, Ekic was mobbed by her joyous teammates and Coach Karen Ferguson Dayes made a small but emphatic fist punch before leaving the sidelines to congratulate the team and the junior from Manual High School in Louisville, KY.  Reserve goalkeeper Lana Batson basically threw Ekic over her shoulder and gleefully carried her off the field as the prolonged celebration wound down. It was fun pandemonium. A must-see moment. The joy and excitement of Louisville women's sports.

You wanna know why we run this website? That's why. For moments like that. 

The "golden goal" improved the Cards record to 7-0 and gave Vandy their first loss of the season. 

It was Ekic's fourth goal of the season. Maybe the biggest of her career.

Both teams had several scoring opportunities throughout regulation, but some brilliant goalkeeping work by both Vandy goalkeepers and UofL's Gabby Kouzelos kept the slate clean until the extra session. 

A contest that had only five shots in the first half. Louisville led those 3-2 and led the possession stats 59% - 41%. Those stats changed in the final 45 minutes to a smaller 51%- 49% Cardinal edge. Overall, the Cards led with 10 total shots and five on goal. Vandy's numbers were four total shots and two on goal. 

Without a doubt the biggest win of the season so far for Coach Karen's crew and a fitting way to end non-conference regular season play.  Louisville faces tough UNC next, on Saturday 21st, at Lynn. 

The TarHeels may come in a bit angry, suffering their first loss Sunday to Arkansas. A 2-10 blanking from Wooo-Pig-Suey. Previously, they were #1 in the nation. 

In a back-and-forth, cat-and-mouse chess game, the Cards got the break, the opportunity and the score. A fitting end to a Super Sunday.

(Soccer photos by Jared Anderson) 

THEY SAID IT

LINK:  EMINA EKIC

LINK:  KAREN FERGUSON DAYES

LINK:  EKIC'S GOAL

paulie

xxxxx