Searching for Joy and Excitement - Sunday Cardinal Couple

Softball

 

(photo credits to Jared Anderson)

 

In our quest to share the joy and excitement of UofL women's sports, sometimes it's easier to find and share than others.

Ally Alexander holding it down at 2nd

The easiest place to find it this Sunday morning is from yesterday afternoon's extra inning Softball win over 4th ranked Duke.

While we've talked a bit about looking for offensive production from this team, the victory yesterday a low scoring affair, 2-1.  Credit, of course, also has to be extended to the opponents, Duke in this case, for a low scoring game based on and good defensive play and good pitching holding scoring opportunities low.

Regardless, it's a win over a Top 5 team, and they'll get another bite at the apple today at noon to try to win the series.

The game was scoreless through three innings with the Cards starting Sam Booe in the circle.  Duke would break through with a run in the 4th, but that would be all they'd get in the game, and the Cards would immediately answer to tie the game back up.

Just a head's up, the score recaps are going to be brief in this one.

With two outs in the 4th, Gabby Holloway homered to center field.

There's a Katie Thatcher in there
celebrating somewhere.

Again the game went fairly quiet with no scoring through the rest of regulation.  It would be in the bottom of the 8th inning that Katie Thatcher pinch hit for Chelsea Mack, and took advantage of the opportunity by lifting a long shot onto the right field berm.

Boom, two home runs, and a 2-1 signature win for the Cards.  If that's not joy and excitement, I'm not sure what is.

 

Booe pitched four innings, Gabby Holloway came in for 2.2, and Alyssa Zabala finished off the last 1.1.

Alyssa Zabala in relief

Check out Jared with the postgame interview with Thatcher:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5AhWyIRN6wE 

As mentioned, the series continues today with a noon start for the rubber match.  Again the Cards will be looking for another signature win and the series win over a ranked team, a rare achievement in the UofL Softball program.  ACC Network Extra has the feed, which means we will likely be back to Suzanne Bush and Joanna Lane on the call.  You'll get no complaints from me on that announcing team.

Lacrosse

A little harder to find too much joy and excitement here with an 18-12 loss to North Carolina the main news du jour.  There are bright spots to be found, however.

Nicole Perroni continues here consecutive game scoring streak finding the back of the net four times.  The Nakazawa sisters continue to impress accounting for a cumulative hat trick as Negai scored switch and Kokoro adding another.  And otherwise we see a multitude of offensive options.  Kylea Dobson scored a pair, Abby Scully, Tiffany Natoli, and Izzy Seikel all adding a goal to the mix.

North Carolina was just too much for the Cards, though.  Sara Adeche played three quarters getting five saves and J Pleck played the last only allowing one goal and stopping another.Louiville Lacrosse, The Cardinal Couple Radio Hour Podcat

I did, individually, get a moment of joy and excitement with the Lacrosse team as I got tapped to pick up my niece at the airport from a flight arriving at close to midnight.  As I walked in, there were two "GoCards" minibuses waiting in the pickup lane, and I surmised there must be a team returning and my best guess was that it would be the Lacrosse squad, and sure enough they came cruising through  the terminal where I was waiting for my niece.  I did speak, very briefly, with Coach Teeter, but it was nothing much more than a greeting.  After a mid-day game and then spending the rest of the day in travel, the team and coach were clearly ready to collect their gear and head back to campus to sleep in their own beds.

The Cards will be next in action, welcoming Xavier for a 7pm game.  With the evening game and lighting situation, this one will be held at the L&N Federal Credit Union Stadium (not "Arena" as my fingers so desperately wanted to type).

Swimming and Diving

The splish splash Cards rounded up their NCAA Championship efforts with a podium finish in the 400 free relay.   Christiana Regenauer, Gabi Albiero, Julia Dennis, and Lucy Mehraban were the personnel in the third place finishing squad.

Add in a program best 4th place finish in platform diving for Else Praasterink along with the other performances and Louisville finished in 6th place overall.

Until the past few years, the team has not had a competitively relevant diving representation, but Praasterink has changed that, and has brought along another couple of divers to help out.  Hopefully we're on the verge of emergence of diving as a perennially competitive part of the program at UofL.

With that event completed, the team portion of the Swimming and Diving is complete, as well as the yard-measured portion.  The starting platform will now get shifted back about seven feet to begin the individual portion of the season where swimmers will be in action for their own individual glory, and racing in meters rather than yards.

Basketball

Wait, joy and excitement in basketball at this point for the Cards, well, yes, indirectly.

The Athletes Unlimited Basketball season wrapped up last night and former Card Emily Engstler finished in 7th place overall.

In last night's final game, she scored 11 points on five field goals, one of which was a three.  The real joy and excitement, however, comes from the rebounding stats.  Engstler set the record for AU with 19 rebounds in a single game.

Quite impressive, and very on brand for the Engstler we knew here at Louisville.

Cardinal Couple Radio Hour Podcast

Jared was at the helm of the CCRHP yesterday, with Daryl, Case, and myself participating.  Paulie was sidelined by Internet connection problems.

We searched for joy and excitement where we could find it, though the task was tough indeed.  We did cover the latest in basketball, softball, and lacrosse.

https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/cardinal-couple/episodes/Yes--Were-Mad-About-the-WBB-Upset-e2hff60

Cardinal Couple NCAA Bracket Challenge

We have gone from 64-32 in two days of WBB Madness, and we have a close pack battling for the lead in our Bracket Challenge. Atop the standings are Nick O and Thomas at 30-2 . Right behnd the are Perry, Jason and K Starks at 29-3. And the log jam at 28-4 stretches all the way back to Mt. Washington. 

We are just half way theough, too...so grrab some ppocorn, put Jared on your speed dial and enjoy the show  despite out Cards leaving early  due to (fill in your own answer, there are no wrong ones)...

Here' s what Jated and Paulie have verified in the race: we've listed those with 20 or more wins. 

30-2   Nick O, Thomas

29-3  K Starks, Perry, Jason

28-4   Blue Lou, Karen, Jared, Wahoo Card, Katy

27-5   Jeff McAdams

26-6   Paulie, Kenny S.

25-7   Case, Curtis F

24-8   Sonya, Cindy

23-9   Arthur

21-11 Daryl

--

 

.  jmca

-- 

JMcA

Basketball Survives and Advances -- Tennis Ranked -- THURSDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

Louisville Survives Scare Against Northwestern

Everyone good? Anyone need any oxygen after last night? Louisville women's basketball hung on to fight another day as they beat Northwestern 62-53.

It felt like a Space Jam script with the Cards seeming to have all the basketball talent sucked out of them early on and Northwestern appearing to be unstoppable. It wasn't until the fourth quarter for Louisville to earn their first lead of the game.

Northwestern knocked down a three-pointer in the first minute of the game and would not look back the rest of the quarter. Jordan Hamilton put up the first seven points of the game before the Cards got on the scoreboard nearly three minutes into the game. The Wildcats would continue to go off on offense and built their lead to 18, at 25-7, before Dana Evans got Louisville to double-digits before the end of the quarter. Northwestern was a perfect 4-4 from three-point range and the Wildcats only averaged four made threes per game all season- and they added six blocks according to the box score. The sports world put an Upset Alert on this game.

It was Louisville's defense that stepped up in the second quarter. The Cards only managed 10 points on offense for the second straight quarter, but surrendered just seven points. Olivia Cochran made a layup halfway through the quarter to cut the deficit to single digits, but a couple quick Northwestern baskets opened the game back up. The missed layup bug seemed to infect the Cards as they couldn't seem to hit from anywhere on the field. Louisville trailed 32-20 at the break.

Oh, what it would be like to have been a fly on the wall in the locker room at halftime.

 Jeff Walz certainly woke his team up as they came out and won the third quarter 20-8 to tie the score at 40-40. Eight of the Cards' first 11 points came from the charity stripe, but when made baskets are slim you take every point you can get -- no matter where it comes from.  The Wildcats held a 12-point lead at the 5:13 mark in the quarter before the Cards closed out the quarter on a 12-0 run.

Louisville opened the final quarter on a layup by Kianna Smith. It was followed by a lay up with an and one by Hailey Van Lith and the Cards extended their run to 17-0. Louisville fans were finally able to take a quick moment to breathe. 

Northwestern wouldn't go away. Every time the Cards built their lead to multiple possessions the Wildcats would find a way to cut it back down. Then, we saw a 95-second period where neither team could score. The Cards made six straight free throws to push their lead up to nine with 35 seconds remaining in the game. Well, you know the rest of the story from there.

Cards win 62-53. They advance to play Oregon Sunday at 7 p.m. 

Louisville improves to 3-0 all-time against Northwestern. Their last victory came just 2.5 months after I was born back in 1994. Feel old yet?

Kianna Smith led the Cards with 16 points. She added six rebounds and a pair of assists. Olivia Cochran was a crucial part of the game with 13 points and 15 rebounds for a double-double. Seven of her points came from the free throw line. Hailey Van Lith was perfect when shooting the ball. Her 13 points came off 2-2 from threes, 4-4 overall from the floor, and 3-3 from the free throw line. She struggled early with most of her four turnovers coming in the first half but quickly recovered.

 Dana Evans posted 14 points on 5-17 shooting. She went 2-10 from three-point range. The nearly-automatic free throw maker posted a subpar 2-4 from the line. Evans also struggled with foul trouble and ended up with four.

Northwestern's Lindsey Pulliam struggled. The 2000-point club member recorded four points on 1-11 shooting. Credit that to the lockdown defense Kasa Robinson played on her.  Jordan Hamilton stepped up to the plate in her place, going off for 17 points including 3-9 from three-point range. Hamilton was one of three Wildcats with double-digit scoring. Louisville did not allow a Northwestern player to record more than seven rebounds.

The win sends Louisville to the Sweet Sixteen for the 10th time in program history, all in the Walz era. The Cards are now 10-2 in the NCAA Tournament in the second round under Jeff Walz.

F-R-E-D Report

(Like a lot of you, Fred G. nearly had 
"the Big One" after that first quarter)

Free Throws- It was free throws who helped Louisville climb back into this game and free throws that helped them close out the final couple minutes. The Cards went 18-22 (81.8%) from the charity stripe. Northwestern went 7-13 themselves. No doubt, capital "F".

Rebounding- This was a pleasant surprise from the game against Marist. The Cards outrebounded the Wildcats 43-34. They also limited Northwestern to 11 offensive boards to limit their second chance points. Shout out to Olivia Cochran recorded 15 boards (five offensive, 10 defensive) to lead the Cards. Capital "R".

Effort/Execution- This category is a bit tricky. Louisville dug themselves an ugly hole in the first half. Fans were frustrated and nervous. A majority of Louisville's 16 turnovers came in the first half. 16 is always way too many. Louisville shot 19-53 from the field and 6-19 from downtown. BUT, Louisville's effort is what allowed them to come back. Lowercase "e".

Defense- If you take out the first quarter the Cards gave up 28 points. Almost half of Northwestern's point total came in the first quarter. You also can't do much when a team is a perfect 4-4 from three in the quarter. Had the Louisville defense not halted Northwestern in their tracks after the first quarter things could have gotten really ugly, but we cannot give a perfect score because of that quarter as well as the high number of open layups the Cards gave up. Lowercase "d".

Final FRED Report: F-R-e-d. That's not a bad score, but it needs to get better. Oregon won't be as offensively inadequate as Northwestern. It's the Sweet Sixteen and every team from this point forward is great. No more off games.

Up next for the Cards is that #6-seed Oregon. Kelly Graves' Ducks started the tournament by taking down 11-seed South Dakota and then "upset" 3-seed Georgia yesterday. They're now-15-8 but that  record is deceiving. Their eight losses came against Stanford, UCLA, Arizona, and Oregon State, each twice. All four of those teams made the tournament and two are still alive (Stanford and Arizona(. 

Tennis Climbs Into Rankings

Louisville women's tennis has moved into the national rankings. The Cards are ranked #45 in the latest poll.

Andrea Di Palma snuck into the rankings as an individual. The sophomore from Argentina is ranked #87 and boasts a 5-1 record when playing at the Bass Rudd Center.

The doubles team of Raven Neely and Tatiana Simova also found themselves ranked. The duo is ranked #45 with a 9-4 record. Most recently, the upset Miami's top doubles squad who was ranked #2 at the time.

The Cards have lost five straight, all in conference play, but look to bounce back on Friday at noon against Xavier.

The Cardinal Couple NCAA WBB Pick Em

Here's a look at last night's results:

--  Louisville defeated Northwestern 62-53 (Everybody breath now...) 

-- Maryland defeated Alabama 100-64 (Definitely not Sweet Home Alabama...) 

-- Oregon defeated Georgia 57-50 (Ducks dodge another bullet) 

-- Missouri State defeated Wright State 64-39  (only four of our contestants had them) 

-- Indiana defeated Belmont 70-48 (Local favorite Grace Berger fights on!) 

-- Arizona defeated BYU 52-46 (Cactus Power !) 

-- Texas A&M defeated Iowa State 84-82 (OT)  (Jordan Nixon is my hero) 

-- Texas defeated UCLA 71-62 (Bye bye Bruins, the Horns stuck ya) 

Louisville wasn't the only team needing to rally to win. Arizona used a strong second half to defeat BYU. Texas A&M had to rally from a large deficit to take Iowa State into overtime and win on a buzzer beater.

Some of the games that made impacts on several brackets included Texas over UCLA and Oregon over Georgia.

The updated standings are listed below:

42-6: Paulie

39-9: Kenny Schneider, Callie Blue

38-10: David Watson, Jason Wyrick

37-11: Worldwide Jeff McAdams

35-13: Arthur, Sonya Sykes, Jared Anderson (Bracket Czar)

34-14: Nole Knowledge, Clemson Cuz

33-15: Blue Lou, Case Hoskins, Kenneth Stark Sr, Vivian McAdams

32-16: Bea

30-18: Nick O, Curtis Franklin

27-21: Joe Hill

23-25: CC Chimps

There are 15 games remaining in the tournament. The Chimps and Joe Hill have both been eliminated from any first place potential. Based off teams that were picked for future rounds Nick O, Curtis Franklin, and Bea have also been eliminated from first place. There's probably a few more that cannot win first place, but I'll need to do a little more digging to get that info.

Even if your bracket isn't doing so hot you can still hope to have a strong finish to get that record up. We have several friends here whose loyalty may lie with other teams whose seasons have finished such as Kentucky, Florida State, and Clemson, so we hope you will cheer on the Cards the rest of the way with us. We do have a few Georgia Tech fans that pop in on occasion so congrats on your team advancing to the Sweet Sixteen! Hopefully we'll meet in the Final Four.

There are three ACC teams remaining in the Sweet Sixteen. The Big Ten has four teams remaining. The Pac-12 has three teams left. The Big 12 has two teams left. The SEC has two teams left. The Big East and Missouri Valley each have one team left.

Happy Thursday and Go Cards!

Jared

interviews -- WEDNESDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

 INTERVIEWS

Field Hockey

I had the chance to interview two coaches heading their squads into ACC Tournament play yesterday.  Justine Sowry has her #1 seeded Louisville Field Hockey squad beginning action on Friday in Chapel Hill, NC against the winner of the #4 Virginia vs. #5 Wake Forest match that will take place Thursday. The Cards got the quarterfinal bye due to going 7-1 in the fall ACC competition and winning the tie-breaker over #2 seed UNC by virtue of beating them in regular-season play. Game time for the Cards opener is 1:30 p.m.

Coach discusses the season, the upcoming tournament and her student-athletes in this informative and comprehensive talk we had, You can hear it at the link below: 

JUSTINE SOWRY INTERVIEW 

Women's Soccer

Karen Ferguson Dayes takes the #6 seed Louisville Women's Soccer squad to the Wake Med Soccer Complex in Cary, NC for ACC Women's Soccer Tournament action next week. The Cards will face #3 seed Virginia in quarter-final play. After Sunday's action, the Cards ended up in a three-way tie for sixth in the regular season standings with a 4-4 record. The Cards won the tie-breaker between them, Virginia Tech and Notre Dame by winning the point-differential margin over the two and their head-to-head win over Virginia Tech. 

Coach and I discussed the tournament, the season and some of her student-athletes as well and you can here our discussion at the link below: 

KAREN FERGUSON DAYES INTERVIEW

I appreciate both coaches taking time out of their busy planning and strategy sessions to speak with me. You can follow all the action on the ACC Network for both tournaments live and we'll offer you updates and by-lines on the contests here at your leader for the joy and excitement of UofL Women's Sports -- CARDINAL COUPLE ! 

ACC TOURNAMENT PICK "EM" 

We haven't had a huge response yet to the ACC Tournament Pick 'Em yet....maybe it's because were not offering a gift and no one wants to go out with me, discuss technology with Jeff or Case or have their picture taken by Jared...Maybe it's because of  election anxiety -- or maybe the dog ate your selections.

It was also brought up to me that, in the initial announcement, no tie-breaker was mentioned. So, I'll propose that the tie-breaker be the final score of the final game in each tournament. 

Since the ACC Field Hockey is first up, you might want to hurry and get those selections in. You can leave them in the comments section or e-mail Jared with your picks at:  eupherjared@gmail.com or us here at cardinalcouple@twc.com 

I persisted Sonya for her Field Hockey picks last night while we were watching election returns and, after originally telling me to "just write me down for Louisville winning everything" I did get her to fill out the complete tournament and final score. she declined to have a date with me, has no interest in techno stuff but might be open for a photo shoot with Jared. 

SONYA PICKS

Quarters:  WAKE FOREST, UNC, DUKE

Semis:  LOUISVILLE, UNC

Finals: LOUISVILLE wins 2-1

Have a wonderful Wednesday! 

paulie 

 . 

Lax Visits UNC -- Swim Qualifiers -- Bracket Challenge -- THURSDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

Lacrosse Travels to #1 North Carolina

Louisville Lacrosse has a quick turnaround as they visit #1 North Carolina today.  The Cards enter the match with a 4-3 record after hitting a running clock against Longwood in a 17-7 win.

North Carolina is 5-0 on the year.  They started conference play with an 18-12 victory at Virginia last weekend.

Their 9.8 assists per game is top in the ACC and fourth in the country.  Their .560 shot percentage is also number one in the conference.  The Tar Heels' +13 scoring margin ranks top in the country.

Rachel Florek leads the ACC and is second in the country with 81 saves.  She had 79 going into the Longwood match, but saw little action in that match.  She has recorded 17 saves, a program record, in two of the last four matches.

Maddie Birch and Brenna Shanahan are tied for third in the ACC with 1.57 forced turnovers per game.

With her three points against Longwood, Caroline Blalock has surpassed the 100 point mark in her career.

UNC leads the series 5-0 and won 17-6 last year.

The match is set for an uncharacteristically late 7:00 p.m., start time.  You can catch it on the ACC Network.

12 Swimmers Qualify for the NCAA Championships

A program-best 12 swimmers for Louisville qualified for the NCAA Championships.  The mark is third-best in the country.

Grace Oglesby will compete in the 200 butterfly and the 100 fly.

Casey Fanz will compete in the 50 freestyle and 100 free.

Abby Hay will compete in the 200 IM and 400 IM.

Christiana Regenauer will compete in the 50 free.

Lainey Visscher will compete in the 50 free.

Arina Openysheva will compete in the 100 free and 200 free.

Kaylee Wheeler will compete in the 100 breaststroke.

Morgan Friesen will compete in the 100 breast and 200 breast.

Mariia Astashkina will compete in the 100 breast and 200 breast.

Sophie Cattermole will compete in the 1650 free.

Madison Luther will compete in the 1650 free.

Alena Kraus will compete in the 200 fly.

Ashlyn Schoof and Diana Dunn will be alternatives in the relay.


The Championships will be held in Athens, Ga., from March 18-21, two weeks from now.



Bracket Challenge

One day.  That's all it took to bust most of our brackets.  All three games on Wednesday in the ACC Tournament featured upsets, by a seeding standpoint.

There were 17 submissions.  Eight brackets went 0-3 yesterday.  Only one bracket is still perfect- the Cardinal Couple Chimps.  Yes, we're all scratching our heads at that.

13 entries have Louisville winning it all.  Georgia Tech, Duke, Florida State, and Boston College all each received one entry with them listed as the champion.

I will provide the crew with an update to include in tomorrow morning's article.  Hopefully, for most of us, we will see some green on our brackets.

Katy will be in town beginning Friday and flying out early Monday morning.  I may be a tad late giving updates to the back half of the tournament as I focus on spending time with her.  She does have a grad school interview with Louisville Presbyterian Seminary (she did get accepted into UK, if she chooses to go there) so sending her thoughts, prayers, good vibes, whatever you may have to offer!

I'll bring the beautiful girlfriend to a softball game or two for their home opening weekend, but don't count on us being there all five games.

Check back in later in the day for Paulie's updates from the first few games of the tournament.  Rumor has it he was on a date with Ms. Wuf, who came to Greensboro just for him, last night.  Bojangles was the place to be as they brought out their greasiest chicken for the happy couple.  Hopefully they'll be awake and energized enough to make it through the four games today.

Happy Thursday and Go Cards!

Jared

Lax Takes Home Finale -- The Bracket Victor -- Draft Night -- WEDNESDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

Chad Goes Off as Lax Dominates Ohio State

In one final hoorah at the Louisville Lacrosse Stadium Tessa Chad set a program record for most points in a game as the Cards routed THE(EEEEE) Ohio State University 19-7.

Tessa Chad tied a program-best by scoring nine goals in the game, a record she set earlier this year.  Her two assists took her point total to 20 points on the day.  During the match Chad scored her 200th career point and her 100th as a Cardinal.

Ohio State got on the board first when former Cardinal Mckayla Conti scored a goal less than a minute into the game.  She led the Buckeyes with two goals.  Ohio State added a second goal 40 seconds later for the quick 2-0 lead.

The Cards would put up a quick pair of goals to match the score at two apiece.

Ohio State went on to score the next two goals, making the first six goals of the game between the two teams -- all unassisted.

In a fiery effort, Louisville used an 11-0 spurt that involved closing out the first half and starting the second half to take a commanding 13-4 lead with about 24 minutes remaining.

The Buckeyes posted a pair of goals within a minute of each other to dig into the lead before Louisville scored six of the final seven goals of the game.

Besides Chad's triple hat trick Ally Hall recorded one of her own.  Paige Richbourg added two goals and two assists for six points.

Rachel Florek took position in goal once again for the Cards, recording five saves on 12 tries for the win.  Lexie Ball came in for the final 4.5 minutes but did not face a shot on goal.

The home victory was the fifth overall on the season for the 5-10 Cards and the third at home in eight tries.

Louisville travels to #7 Virginia this Saturday and will wrap up play at #1 Boston College the following weekend.


They Said It

Paulie conducted post-game audio/video with Coach Teeter, Rachel Florek and Tessa Chad. You can witness it at the link below:

LINK: TEETER, CHAD AND FLOREK REVIEW 4/9/19 WIN OVER OHIO STATE


NCAA Pick Em Recap

Yes, college basketball season is officially over.

The women's side came down to one possession in
regulation and the men's side went to overtime. We held our annual WBB NCAA Pick 'Em contest here at Cardinal Couple, bracket czar Jared Anderson has crunched the numbers, verified his stats, called in several notable CPA firms for authorization and has determined a winner. Drum roll, please.

And the winner of the 2019 Cardinal Couple NCAA Pick Em is......

Kenny Schneider!

With an impressive record of 53-10, Kenny was able to hold off the competition down the stretch. Your top 20 finishers are listed below. Thanks to everyone who participated. Kenny has not notified us yet which prize he has selected, either the $25 Cracker Barrel or Panera Card.

A special "Thank You!" to Jared for collecting, analyzing, tracking and keeping us up-to-date with the contest!
 

Top 20 Standings:

53-10
Kenny Schneider

52-11
Charlie McAdams

51-12
Kenneth Stark Sr

50-13
Doug Anderson
Mike D

49-14
Jared Anderson

48-15
Case Hoskins
Paul Sykes

47-16
Daryl Foust

46-17
Seminole Sue

45-18
Nick O
Joe Hill
Arthur
Jeff McAdams

44-19
Curtis Franklin

43-20
Sonya Sykes
Sandy W

38-25
David Watson

33-30
Cardinal Couple Chimps

27-36
Flip Coin


WNBA Draft Night

Tonight is the night we see where Asia Durr will get drafted.  She is a prime candidate to be selected No. 1 overall by the Las Vegas Aces.

Durr is one of 12 players invited to attend the WNBA Draft.  She joins the ranks of high performance players Arike Ogunbawale, Katie Lou Samuelson, Kalani Brown, Megan Gustafson, and more!

Tune into ESPN2 at 7:00 to catch the first round and ESPNU at 8:00 for the second and third rounds.  Sam Fuehring has a good chance of being drafted in one of the later rounds.

Happy Wednesday and Go Cards!

Jared

Softball Falls in Extras -- WEDNESDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

Cards Rally, Fall in Extras

Louisville rallied to send their game to extra innings but ultimately fell to Lipscomb, 5-4.  Megan Hensley led the offense with a home run and two RBI's.

A sac fly by Hensley drove in Sidney Melton in the first inning for the only lead the Cards would see on the day. Normally, a routine play, but Melton tagged and scored from second base, not third! 

A fielding error and a home run gave the Bisons the lead, one that would not relinquish until Louisville tied the score in the bottom of the seventh inning.

Down 4-1 in the fourth inning Charley Butler singled and drove in Jordyn Wolfe and Caitlin Ferguson.  Ferguson led off that inning with a single and advanced to third on Kyra Snyder's double.  Wolfe would pinch run for Snyder.

With the score 4-3 Lipscomb and the Cards down to their final two outs,  Hensley sent a shot that barely cleared the fence  and rolled to the concrete ledge in right center.The bases-empty blast tied the affair at 4-4

Lipscomb relied on misfortune by the Louisville pitching and defense for the go ahead run in the top of the eighth.  A lead off base hit ended up with the runner on third following a fielder's choice and a fielding error.  A wild pitch or passed ball (there was some debate on how it should be classified) to the backstop gave the Bisons an opportune moment to score to go-ahead run in the eighth and the Cards could not muster in the bottom of the inning, going 1-2-3 at-bat for the 5-4 finish. .

A few Cards are on streaks and moving into record books:

* Hensley's 29th career homer puts her into a tie for seventh in Louisville history with Alicja Wolny*.

* Melton has a career-high 19 stolen bases on the season, tied for fifth on the single season record books.*

* Melton's 52 career stolen bases is third all-time.*

*Snyder has reached base safely in 10 straight games.*

*Funke's nine triples this season is a program record and puts her in a tie for first in the NCAA*.

Louisville drops to 22-13 and they prepare to travel to Bowling Green to face WKU tonight. Unable to go to Bowling Green today, Paulie was looking for a live broadcast of the contest and found one through the C-USA Conference link. They do, however, want $6.95 for the viewing pleasure...despite admission being free. Great way to grow the sport, Toppers...nickle and diming people at every turn.

After the trip up the Hill...UofL SB then returns home to host reigning national champion Florida State for a Saturday, Sunday, Monday weekend series. Brodcast details on those later this week.

Paulie caught up with Holly after the game and got some post-game comments. You can hear those below. There was no post-game video recorded.

POST GAME AUDIO WITH COACH APRILE:  HOLLY APRILE AFTER 4/2/19 LIPSCOMB GAME


Bracket Update

The Cardinal Couple NCAA Women's Tournament Bracket Challenge report: 

The standings are shaping out as we approach the final three games of the tournament.  Most of us have no chance of winning anymore but it appears most of us are pretty darn good at picking women's basketball brackets.

-- Eight entries have lost their champion.

-- Five entries have lost one of their championship game teams.

-- Five entries have no possible wins remaining in the final three games.

Also,

-- Baylor is picked to win in five brackets.

-- UConn is picked to win in three brackets.

-- Notre Dame is picked to win in three brackets.

Here are you TOP 20 Standings: (3 games to go!)

51-9
Kenny Schneider

50-10
Doug Anderson
Charlie McAdams

49-11
K Stark Sr

48-12
Case Hoskins

47-13
Jared Anderson
Daryl Foust
Mike D

46-14
Paul Sykes

45-15
Seminole Sue
Jeff McAdams

44-16
Arthur
Joe Hill
Nick O

43-17
Sandy W
Sonya Sykes

42-18
Curtis Franklin

38-22
David Watson

33-27
Cardinal Chimps

29-31
Flip Coin

As always, contact bracket czar -- me -- Jared Anderson or Paulie with any disputes, questions, sure-things-on-long-shots-at Keeneland or questions. Or leave a comment.  I'm at:  eupherjared@gmail.com  Paulie mans the cardinalcouple@twc.com e-mail box.


Lauren Hartlage in National Women's Amateur Championship

Star golfer Lauren Hartlage will tee off at 10:12 this morning in the inaugural National Women's Amateur Championship this morning.  Hartlage is one of 72 golfers who will play 54 holes over the next few days.

The site is historic Augusta, GA -- home of the Masters. The participants won't start on the legendary course -- the first 36 holes will be contested at the Champions Retreat G.C. and the final 18 at Augusta.

At the end of 2018 Hartlage finished in the rankings 59th internationally and 22nd in the United States.

Happy Wednesday and Go Cards!

Jared

Swim Update -- Louisville WBB First Round Action -- FRIDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

Swim Records Fall

Yesterday was a good day for the Louisville women's swim team.  Three UofL records fell.

Lainey Visscher, Mallory Comerford, Avery Braunecker, and Casey Fanz broke their own school record in the 200 free relay with a time of 1:26.71.  They finished fourth, giving UofL its best finish in history in the event.

Comerford placed third in the 50 free and broke the UofL record with a time of 21.49.  Her third place finish ties for best finish in school history.

Alina Kendzior, Mariia Astashkina, Grace Oglesby, and Comerford placed fifth in the 400 medley relay with a time of 3:28.22, another school record.

After the end of the second day of the NCAA Championships Louisville sits in fourth place with 100 points.  Stanford (173.5), California (173), and Michigan (129) are all ahead of the Cards currently.


WBB Starts First Round Action

David Watson gave us a great preview of the first round match-up for the Cards in yesterdays article.  The 1-seeded Cards will face 16-seed Robert Morris at noon at the KFC Yum! Center.  They are also on ESPN2.

As a 1-seed and the owner of home-court advantage Louisville should play a nighttime game, in my opinion.  It helps bring in a larger crowd, adding to the home court advantage.  The lower seeds should play the earlier games.  On the bright side, Louisville gets to kick off the tournament.

Steph Norman will take the court as head coach, but Jeff Walz's presence will be felt even with him not in the arena.  Fans are planning to bring bobble heads and the enlarged fat heads to push the NCAA's buttons.

In the event Louisville wins their first round game they will play the winner of 8-seed Michigan and 9-seed Kansas State on Sunday at a time TBD.

Walz seems to be having a bit of fun with the one-game suspension the NCAA put on him last year for his "colorful" remarks. In yesterday's presser, he categorically denied he would attempt to don a blonde wig and fake beard and sneak into the arena.

Where would you like to see Walz watch the Robert Morris game? Waffle House with his daughters? Sidebar Tavern or Bearno's by the bridge? At Derby City Casino trying his luck on the machines? Let us know...

Paulie will be present for Friday's game.  Sonya with him on media row and Worldwide in the stands. I'll be assisting people that decide to make a trip to the bank.  Yes, a lot people come to the bank during basketball games, surprisingly.

Coach Walz is encouraging people to attend and stay around for the second game as well He will be allowed in the arena at the conclusion of the game, can sit in the coaches "scouting"area but can not do any interviews.

Finally, someone has figured out how to keep Walz quiet for a few hours. Which leads to...


Walz Presser From Thursday

Coach Walz talks hoops in Thursday presser and gets faux mad at Paulie. Typical:

Thanks, Daryl Foust for the feed.

LINK: VIDEO OF WALZ THURSDAY PRESSER


Cardinal Coupe WBB NCAA Pick Em

The deadline for entries is here!  Make sure to comment or email in before noon!  I'm looking forward to being overwhelmed with brackets I have to keep track of.  Don't forget to add a final score for the championship game.

You can add your entry in our comments section below. You can also send them via e-mail to me at...eupherjared@gmail.com or to Paulie at...cardinalcouple@twc.com. Your choice of a $25 Panera or Cracker Barrel Card if you win.

Here's my pick em:




Baylor, North Carolina, Florida State South Carolina, Kentucky, NC State, Drake, Iowa
Mississippi State, Clemson, Arizona State, Miami, South Dakota State, Syracuse, Texas, Oregon, Notre Dame, Central Michigan, Marquette, Texas A&M, DePaul, Iowa State, BYU, Stanford, Louisville, Michigan, Little Rock, Oregon State, UCLA, Maryland, Rutgers, UConn

------------------------------

Baylor, Florida State, NC State, Iowa
Mississippi State, Miami, Syracuse, Oregon
Notre Dame, Texas A&M, Iowa State, Stanford
Louisville, Oregon State, Maryland, UConn

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Baylor, NC State
Mississippi State, Oregon
Notre Dame, Stanford
Louisville, UConn

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Baylor, Mississippi State, Notre Dame, UConn

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Baylor, UConn

------------------------------

Baylor (76-70)

As much as I want to pick the Cards the whole way I find it difficult for them to beat UConn again this season.  Jeff Walz is 1-100 (or so it feels like) against Geno and the Huskies. I hope I am wrong

Typically I go into the weekend scheduling but a few things have been postponed from Friday to Saturday due to weather and today is all about basketball.  We will cover the scheduling as usual on air Saturday.

Happy Friday and Happy NCAA Tournament!

Jared

Louisville women's basketball -- Know the Foe -- From Thursday practice/presser with Paulie -- THURSDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

JUST ADDED: PAULIE REPORT FROM THURSDAY PRACTICE AND PRESSERS


CARDS FACE ROBERT MORRIS FRIDAY AT NOON

Good morning Cardinal fans! 

David Watson with you this morning, per Paulie request, to give you a little bit of a preview of the Louisville women's basketball squad's first game in the NCAA Tournament. Writing this article is a nice change of pace from my frantic opening NCAA Tournament weekend marathon party plans and preparation. 

Louisville begins their quest to travel to Tampa and the Final Four tomorrow against the Robert Morris Colonials in the KFC YUM! Center. It's the first matchup against the Colonials, out of the Northeastern Conference in Louisville women's basketball history.

So, what do we need to know about the Colonials? Here a dossier. 

Robert Morris went 22-10 during the regular and conference tournament slate. They were 16-2 in the NEC and won the tournament as a #1 seed taking down Mt. St. Mary 69-65 and Saint Francis 69-54. 

Robert Morris and Louisville had no common opponents in the 2018-19 season. This will be the furthest south the Colonials have traveled in games this year. 

It was a rough start to the season for the Colonials. They began 1-7, but began to get it together as the schedule morphed into conference play and finished 8-1. As they go into the NCAA as a #16 seed, this is their sixth overall appearance in the NCAA and third in the last four years. 

Their mascot is the patriotic, slightly neurotic looking Romo. Not to be confused with ex-Dallas QB and TV analyst Tony Romo. 

The Colonials prefer a slower pace, averaging about 63 points a game while allowing just 55. They are top 25 ranked in creating opponent turnovers and getting steals. The only real bad "beat" I can find on them was the 92-63 loss at Iowa.


Nneka Ezeigbo, a 6'2" post player, is the main offensive and rebounding weapon for RMU. She's a junior, from Ewing N.J. and averages 12.6 points per game and 7.8 rebounds.

Honoka Ikematsu, from Japan, she is the leading three-point shooter for the Colonials and puts up about five a game (162 on the season). She's made 53 on the year. I wonder if she knows Norika Konno, a recent Louisville signer from the land of the rising sun?

Freshman guard Isabella Posset has been named to the All-NEC Rookie team and leads RMU in assists and steals.




WATSON ANALYSIS

Louisville should win this one fairly easy if they come out and play Louisville basketball.

With Walz not on the bench, Coach Norman and staff will most likely try to regulate minutes to the starters, play Carter and Fuehring sparingly, as they come off injuries and apply that scary good Louisville defense.

I know, it's tournament time and anything can happen, but, I see the Cards advancing to Sunday pretty easily.


CARDINAL COUPLE TOURNAMENT CHALLENGE

Paulie wanted me to remind you that Cardinal Couple is holding a NCAA Women's tournament pick 'em challenge.

With that now done, pick wisely, with your head and not heart and good luck. You can put your entry in the comments section or e-mail Paulie at cardinalcouple@twc.com

For questions, or to submit a bracket, go to tournament director Jared Anderson. His e-mail is eupherjared@gmail.com

Have a fun weekend and thanks again to Paulie for giving me a chance to grace these majestic pages once again !! 

David Watson


Paulie From Media/Practice Day at the KFC YUM! Center

Sonya and I joined TCZs and Cardinal Couple Radio regular Daryl Foust to attend the Thursday presser for Louisville head coach Jeff Walz and players Asia Durr, Sam Fuehring and Arica Carter. Here are the audios from each: 

LINK:  Jeff Walz Thursday presser

Coach seemed to be in a good mood and engaged in playful banter with Paulie near the end of the presser. 

LINK:  Arica, Asia and Sam at 3/21/19 presser

All three seemed ready to go and discussed the upcoming game, their status and their preparation for the game against Robert Morris Friday.

Practice was light but spirited with the Cards encouraging each other a lot and hitting a ton of shots. A good sign...Arica worked out, while we were there with trainer Kaitlynn Jones and a stretch rope. 

paulie
xxxxx


PHOTOS FROM THURSDAY

Arica warming up

Team Drills I

Team Drills II

Coach Walz with Beth Mowins

Sonya and Daryl

Swimming Starts NCAA Championships -- Two Days Til Tipoff -- WEDNESDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

Swimming Starts NCAA Championships

Austin, TX will be busy the next few days as women swimmers and divers from all across the country prepare to stand atop the podium at the NCAA Championships.  For UofL, 16 Cardinals will attempt to bring home the gold.

Here are the Cardinals and their events:

• Mariia Astashkina (100 breast, 200 breast)
• Sophie Cattermole (200 free, 500 free, 1650 free)
• Mallory Comerford (50 free, 100 free, 200 free)
• Molly Fears (platform, 3 meters)
• Morgan Friesen (100, breast, 200 breast)
• Alina Kendzior (100 back, 200 back, 200 IM)
• Alena Kraus (200 free, 500 free, 200 fly)
• Grace Oglesby (100 fly, 200 fly, 200 IM)
• Arina Openysheva (100 free, 200 free, 500 free)
• Michaela Sliney (1 meter, 3 meter)
• Maria Sumida (200 IM, 400 IM, 400 fly)
• Lainey Visscher (50 free, 100 free)
• Kaylee Wheeler (100 breast, 200 breast)
• Avery Braunecker (relay)
• Diana Dunn (relay)
• Casey Fanz (relay)
• 
  

Last season the Cards set a program record by finishing 5th overall.  Mallory Comerford won an individual national championship (her second straight) in the 200 free, where she enters this season as the top-ranked swimmer.

Can the Cards better last year's finish? Will anyone give Comerford a challenge in her three events?

Follow the UofL Swim and Dive twitter for the latest news at @uoflswim_dive  You can also follow the Tweets for Card Couple Radio that are over on the "Right Side of the Site" Here.

Here's hoping Arthur Albiero's Cards make waves !

Almost Tournament Time

Despite the fact that Louisville got cheated by having to play at noon on Friday with many folks stuck at school or work there is a couple bright spots to it.

It's the very first game of the NCAA Women's Tournament so all eyes will be on the Cards for it.  Coincidentally, Louisville's men are also the first for their respective tournament.

Also, assuming UofL wins it gives the team a couple hours of rest as well as a couple extra hours of scouting and preparation for the Sunday game, time TBD.

If you have not started your bracket there is still plenty of time!  You can't do any worse than Charlie Creme, right?

There are many ways in which you can fill your bracket out:

• Coin flip
• Favorite colors
• Favorite teams
• Higher seeds
• Upsets
• Expert picks
• Random guesses
• Lots of research

I personally prefer to go with the latter as I find it has a better rate of success than other methods.  I have my 'rough draft' completed but have not begun the revision and editing stages quite yet.  A few of you have already submitted your brackets and others of you are taking your time like myself.  Here are a few match-ups in the tournament (assuming teams get to that point) I would like to point out that have potential to be fairly close with a higher chance of upsets based on higher vs lower seeds:

• 12-Little Rock vs 5-Gonzaga (1st rd)
• 9-Clemson vs 8-South Dakota (1st rd)
• 10-Buffalo vs 7-Rutgers (1st rd)
• 12-Rice vs 5-Marquette (1st rd)
• 10-Auburn vs 7-BYU (1st rd)
• 6-Kentucky vs 3-NC State (2nd rd)
• 6-South Dakota State vs 3-Syracuse (2nd rd)
• 5-Florida State vs 4-South Carolina (2nd rd)
• 3-Syracuse vs 2-Oregon (Sweet Sixteen)
• 3-NC State vs 2-Iowa (Sweet Sixteen)

Of course, upsets in women's basketball are far fewer than that of their men counterparts, but upsets still happen.  5-seed vs 12-seed and 7-seed vs 10-seed are the games where upsets happen the most, scientifically speaking.

Do not rely solely on what is listed above as those are just some games where upsets seem more probable than others.

Please aim for clarity when submitting your bracket, either in the comments section or emailing Paulie (cardinalcouple@twc.com) and myself (eupherjared@gmail.com).  Like the ACC Tournament, I will send Paulie updates periodically to have him double-check me to help reduce the margin of error if unfortunate circumstance were to occur.

Best of luck with your brackets and happy picking!  Your odds of a perfect bracket are 1 in 9,233,372,036,854,775, 808 (approximately 9.2 quintillion), according to Duke math professor Jonathan Mattingly.

Note: This link should take you directly to a downloaded PDF of the bracket that you can print-

https://i.turner.ncaa.com/sites/default/files/images/2019/03/18/2019_wbb_bracket.pdf

Happy Wednesday and Go Cards!

Jared