Defense Does It -- Field Hockey Downs Northwestern 1-0 -- MONDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

RUSS'S SCORE ENOUGH AS FIELD HOCKEY BLANKS NORTHWESTERN FOR SOWRY'S 100TH WIN AT UOFL 

Stop me if you've heard this one before.

Louisville Field Hockey takes on top 10 competition in Trager Stadium, gets a lone score by Bethany Russ and wins 1-0. Coach Justine Sowry gets her 100th. win as head coach of the UofL Field Hockey squad. 

Not exactly a carbon copy of the Cards win over Boston College on Friday, but Louisville "held pitch" and the defense looked spectacular in defeating #11 Northwestern Sunday afternoon during their final game of the four-game home stand. 

This win started as a tightly played defensive struggle for the first 20 minutes. Then, the Cards got their second penalty corner opportunity of the first half, Whena Munn in-bounded to Russ, who powered a shot toward the net that glanced off a Northwestern player's stick and into the goal. The second straight week she's scored and it ultimately proved to be all Louisville needed offensively. 

Jared Anderson' catches the strength
of the Trager water cannons. 

Northwestern was relentless on the attack in the first half and earned six penalty corners. Senior, best-in-the-world goalkeeper Ayeshia McFerran got one save in those attempts and defender Meghan Schneider was there to prevent another scoring attempt from the Wildcats. The Cards took a tenuous, single goal advantage into the water-cannon break at the half. 

The Cards intensified their offensive pressure in the second half and had eight shot attempts, compared to the Evanston, Illinois opponents one. Louisville also got three penalty corner attempts in that final 35 minutes and the Wildcats none. The ball wouldn't go in for either side, though, and Northwestern pulled their goalkeeper out of the contest with about five minutes remaining to gain the attack advantage on the Cardinals. 

It didn't matter. 

Louisville's defensive held strong and true and preserved the lead to go 6-2 on the season.  Coach Justine Sowry offered this about the second half: 

"I thought it was a little better in the second half. The game management was very impressive. They (Northwestern) had it coming at us. The biggest piece for on the day for me was our defensive play in the defensive 30 and our red zone tackling of the ball outside the circle. We didn't want to give up corners today and, besides a couple of undisciplined moments, we did a tremendous job.


We offer you the UofL, You Tube post game interview below, as well as our longer, uncut version: 

JUSTINE SOWRY POST GAME VIDEO

CARDINAL COUPLE'S POST GAME SOWRY AUDIO


We also got audio and video from red-shirt sophomore Meghan Schneider, whose big defensive stop helped preserve the shut-out: 


MEGHAN SCHNEIDER POST-GAME VIDEO


MEGHAN SCHNEIDER POST_GAME AUDIO FROM CARDINAL COUPLE


As an added attraction, we also offer this highlights clip of the contest: 


HIGHLIGHTS FROM NORTHWESTERN VS. LOUISVILLE



Louisville hits the highway for three out of their next four. First stop, a visit to Winston-Salem, NC to face Wake Forest on Friday, Sept. 21st. We're not sure just how much damage that Hurricane Flo is going to drop on that area of North Carolina, and our thoughts and prayers are with those residents (including a significant number of Sykes family members who live in the Burlington, Haw River and Durham, NC areas). 



(Special thanks to Jared Anderson on the field hockey and football pics for today's article. Need a great and inexpensive photographer? Jared IS YOUR MAN!! Find out more about him and his work at his website...https://www.jdaphotos.com/ ) 



NOBODY ASKED ME, BUT...(WELL, ACTUALLY THEY DID).

It seemed like Sunday was a day to ask Paulie about Louisville Football wherever I went. Mind you, I don't cover football, I'm a fan and sit in my seat and try to stay positive. We're a UofL women's sports site. A LOT of UofL women's sports fans were asking me questions, though...so here's my 26 cents worth :

MY FIVE POSITIVES ON THE WESTERN KENTUCKY GAME: 

-- Malik Cunningham led the Cards to 14 - 4th. quarter points. He may not be quite ready for prime time football yet, but he's 2-0 and showed some sparkle.

-- Dae Williams looked pretty impressive running the ball in the few opportunities he got. Why the Cards didn't go to him in the red-zone more often is anyone's guess.

-- We got a kicking game. Two nice field goals from Blanton Creque. 

-- Rodjay Burns got a chance to shine again at punt return and broke one for 36 yards.

-- Tabarious Peterson looked OK at outside linebacker with six tackles. 

MY FIVE NEGATIVES ON THE WESTERN KENTUCKY GAME: 

-- The Cardinal defensive secondary needs a lot of work. Not an exemplary showing Saturday night for those guys.

-- Pre-Season, it was mentioned that this might be the best core of wide-receivers Louisville has had in a decade. I don't think so, at least not yet, from what I saw in the stands. Too many drops. 

-- After spending the entire off-season building an offense around Puma Pass, that's been a disappointment so far. Whoever said we might be a better football team this year without Lamar Jackson...uh, time to take your meds again. I don't see it. 

-- The Cardinal offensive line is playing pretty badly. 

-- UofL needs to extend the $3 beer until halftime. 

Our buddy Charlie Springer, over at UofL Card Game, always has a unique and informative take on Cardinal Football. Check out his thoughts at his site. Link below:

www.uoflcardgame.com

If you want another great insight to Louisville football, please check out Mike Gilpatrick's fine site....RIVER CITY CARDS...for his takes and analysis on the quarterback battle and his "grade" for the Cards: LINK below.

(Picture is of Mike doing his best "Bobby" impression from the stands...only "Gilly" would think of trying something like that.)

http://www.rivercitycards.com/


Carry on, Cardinal fans! 





paulie
xxxxx


  

Reeling in the years...Cardinal Couple reaches a milestone -- Saturday Cardinal Couple

2001: A (web)Space Odyssey.

This is the 2001st. article to appear on the pages of Cardinal Couple. It hardly seems that we've been publishing this blog turned website for over five years now. Then again..some early mornings, it seems a whole lot longer.

People actually wanting to meet our staff intern Timmy the Chimp in the cardigan sweater. Or pet Bill the Goat. 

Oh, the things we've seen...

Championship runs and losing seasons. Freshmen turning into seniors. Basketball brawls and joyous, last second wins and heartbreaking losses. Covering events in blizzards and sweating through heat advisories. The transition from Freedom Hall to the KFC YUM! Center. Midnight and early morning article writing. Endless cups of coffee and tea.


From tripping over lacrosse sticks (that stumble was quite embarrassing!) to dodging softballs flying over the left-field fence at Ulmer. From "Q" to Muffet to Geno, Doug and Harry and back to Muffet and "Q" again. Witnessing games in Memorial Barnyard, Diddle Arena, the Hartford Civic Center, Knights Hall and all points in-between.

A blog turned website started basically on a dare from a colleague...claiming that no one could write about Louisville women's athletics 365 days a year. 

Been there, done that. Still doing... 

The early days consisted of Sonja and I alternating back and forth on write-ups. The first column...Thursday Jan. 14th, 2010 was an introduction by me on what we were hoping to do here. The next day Sonja wrote about WBB getting ready for Big East play. That 2009-2010 WBB team was a hard one to watch at times but it still remains one of my favorites because they battled so hard with so little talent and players.

After awhile Sonja "retired" from writing and now handles the administrative end of things. If you've ever received a card, prize or shirt from us...or followed the results of one of our contests...thank her. She's still there with the idea process for articles and her "at event" with me comments are priceless and refreshing. She downplays all of it.


We've had some great writers here. David Watson was the first on board back in the early days. Controversial and opinionated but always a good read. We still get articles from him from time-to-time...but with two kids in college and a budding high school golf star, his time-card stays punched. 

Sandy W. and her weekly "laundry" articles. Jenny O. and her recruiting expertise. Mark "the commish" and his affinity for professional bull-riding commentary and the WNBA. 

Others have also contributed from time to time as well. Quentin (not Hillsman). Gary Witherspoon. Guest writers from other websites. A few names I've probably forgotten. All welcome back anytime if they decide to put thoughts to print again. It's not for everybody. Life gets in the way...

Now...it's Worldwide Jeff and I. Who would have thought back then at the beginning of it all that we'd be doing radio also? Sam Draut onboard as our radio intern and an accomplished writer in his own right for the Louisville Cardinal student newspaper/website.

Where does it go from here and will it end? There are times we've wondered about that. When the income didn't meet the expenses and we weren't just non-profit...we were flat broke. Times when I was suffering from writer's block and couldn't put together three paragraphs in three hours. Summer days when there were no events going on and it seemed at times I might end up recapping the play-by-play of two squirrels out in my front yard in a contest to escape a menacing Mockingbird in and out of the hedges and trees.

Our resolve is firm, though. 


We'll stay the course and continue to try and provide you...the readers and listeners the best coverage we can on Louisville women's athletics. We may still be controversial at times and might even displease a coach or administrator or two again in the future.

Most times, it is not intentional.


We've endured the icy stares of players, coaches and administrators we've taken to task and accepted the compliments and thanks of those we have feted. 

You can please some of the people some of the time, none of the people plenty of times...but you can't please all the people all of the times. Maybe this quote is attributable to Abraham Lincoln...maybe Jeff Walz or Tom Jurich...but one thing rings true:

If the people don't like what you're representing, they won't follow. We've been fortunate to see our readership and listeners grown into an incredible amount and number since we went to these pages. Maybe we're doing something right every once in awhile.

We've had good teachers and mentors from the beginning. A few I'd like to mention here: 


Charlie Springer. It was from his UofLCardGame pages we sprung...covering women's basketball. The Observer has been kind and gracious to us. Sharing photos, ideas, journalistic tips & most importantly...his friendship.

Shannon Ruffra. Another source for us to detail women's sports at his Cardinal Dominance site in the early days. Helping us sponsor contests. Running our articles when no one else would.

Howie Lindsey. Encouraging us to fill up his Louisville Sports Report message boards with Louisville women's sports items. He started Floyd Street Federation. He deserves his own radio show on 93.9 FM.

At the end of the day...it all breaks down to this. We try to be wise and informative guardians of what consists a story and what sometimes is best left unsaid. We're still always open to advice and tutelage. We're fans...we certainly don't "know it all". We guess and wonder with you about things.


The bottom line is that we try to be the fan's voice for Cardinal women's sports. And, being a fan is mighty fun these days. We remember the days when the wins weren't as frequent and the coverage tough at times.

Perhaps the worst moment we ever sat through was a 21-run beatdown from UCLA in softball. Sonja was ready to go out and pitch and try to stop the bleeding from inside the circle. The best would be "the shot". Schimmel over Griner in the biggest upset in women's college basketball history.

Thank you for being here. Thank you for your comments, support, advice and spreading the word. I have a feeling that if my parents could have been around to see this site come to pass...they might have been pleased. 

We hope that most days...we please you.

paul and sonja sykes
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Softball has been moved to a 4 p.m. start today vs. Virginia to try and avoid the rain. Lacrosse still goes at noon against Duke. We'll be previewing both on CARDINAL COUPLE RADIO HOUR this morning at 11 a.m. on WCHQ 100.9 FM and at crescenthillradio.com




We'll also be attending the events after the show.

We've got audio from Lacrosse's win over William & Mary and softball's Sandy Pearsall for you today...plus review and discussion of women's sports galore. We'll see if Sam the Intern fulfilled his first assignment and maybe even administer a Worldwide quiz & get a visit from Don Paulie.

Be a good sport there, and give a listen...right? 

paulie
xxxxx

Friday Cardinal Couple -- The road ahead for Louisville WBB

THURSDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

- What if.....

- GO CARDS!

-Saturday Radio....radio

We'll do a little anticipatory thinking today. What if the Louisville WBB crashes the Final Four Party? What if this #3 seed decides to continue the Unfinished Business tour and finds themselves in Nashville next week?

It is entirely possible, you know. Hosting a Regional and meeting an opponent on Sunday that was dispatched early in the season. There's no doubt Louisville is playing better basketball than back then. LSU is too...but Jeff Walz and crew will have had five days to prepare for them.

I like Louisville's chances.

"I miss UofLWBB in the zombie Apocalypse, little brother..."

After that, it comes down to a Tuesday night tussle against either Maryland or Tennessee. Let me make this perfectly clear. I want the Vols in that opposite slot. The weakest one seed..a seed that should have been Louisville's. I hope 5000 Orange clad fans make the 4 hour drive from Knoxville to witness the carnage, the beatdown and the Louisville victory. I hope they eat in our downtown restaurants, stay in hotels and buy stuff from local merchants.

And then go home. Quietly.

Louisville beat them last year to earn a trip to the Final Four. Here's to history repeating itself.

Do NOT allow this guy and girl in Nashville

Let's face it. Most of the nation wants to see an NCAA Women's Championship game with Notre Dame and UConn. Not this guy. He wants to see Kentucky knock off the Irish and DePaul stun the UConn Huskies.

I could care less who comes out of the Stanford region. I have South Carolina in my bracket picks. Yeah, they'll do...

What a wildly fun and eye-popping time in Nashville...without Irish and Huskies...it could be. Cats and Cards II - the Nashville Chronicles.

I know...I probably won't get the Final Four I'd like to see and the rest of the nation would dread. They want to see the UnBeatens slug it out. I want to see the underdogs and the scorned show up in Nashville. 

And then to see the Cards beat the Cats on a neutral court and advance to a NCAA Showdown against DePaul, South Carolina or Stanford? All the talking heads on ESPN would be jumping out of second floor windows in Bristol or moving cars on the Interstate.
 
Charlie Creme would resign and move to New Guinea to raise soybeans. Kevin "KneeGandhi"...goes on a bender and ends up married to Kara Lawson in a Vegas wedding chapel.

Exactly. Let's add a little habernero to the oatmeal. Let's shake it up and send the preferred, the chosen ones, the establishment home early. Let's dance with the prom queen..spike the punch and eat nachos at a five start restaurant. Time to crash another party...ruin a lot of bracket picks and go dancin'. 

Finish the unfinished business ATayy, Shoni, Nita and Tia.

If you can possibly do it...buy your tickets and go to the KFC YUM! Center Sunday and Tuesday. Take a friend. Wear RED. It's the most wonderful time of the year.


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WE WOULD BE REMISS IF WE DID NOT WISH OUR UOFL MEN'S TEAM THE BEST OF LUCK IN TONIGHT'S REMATCH AGAINST THE UK WILDCATS. INDY IS GOING TO BE NUTS TODAY, TONIGHT AND IT SHOULD BE A GREAT GAME.


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We've got a nice treat for you on the Saturday CARDINAL COUPLE Radio Show.

UofLCARDGAME owner and observer Charlie Springer will be in studio joining me and sharing perspectives and thoughts on Cardinal Athletics.

BE sure to click on and listen! Help Crescent Hill Radio by donating...click the link below and read and listen. It's a good radio station even when Cardinal Couple isn't on the air... 

www.crescenthillradio.com




GO CARDS!

PAULIe
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Wednesday Cardinal Couple - Softball at Baseball game

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Louisville Softball team throws out first pitch at UofL baseball game Tuesday night. (Photo by Charlie Springer-UofL
Card Game)

Wednesday Cardinal Couple

- Softball Team throws out first pitch at UofL baseball game.


-Game times changes for Saturday softball


-Kiyohara a true team player


The University of Louisville softball team took to the diamond a few days earlier than expected, and it wasn't at Ulmer Stadium for the NCAA Softball Regionals. 

Cardinal Couple's Sonja with Charlie Springer.  

Instead, Sandy Pearsall's squad traveled across campus to Jim Patterson Stadium to throw out the first pitch for the Louisville vs. Morehead baseball game. The Cards won the Senior Day contest 8-3 over the Eagles and used eight pitchers in the contest. 


None of the eight were from the softball team, as far as we know...but Collins, Leonard and Connell could have probably shut the Eagles down. 


Charlie Springer has the write up for you over at his fine site...UofL Card Game. Click the link below to read the Observer's observations.


Cards Send Seniors off in style with 8-3 win.


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ESPN has decided to pick up the second day of action at the Softball Regionals at Ulmer on Saturday. Not ESPN 2, U, 3, Classic or Desportes...but the original ESPN. 


They've also changed the start times for the games on Saturday. First pitch is at 3 p.m. now...when the  winners of Friday's games one and two will face off. The revised schedule:


Saturday


3:00 p.m.  GAME 3  Winner #1 vs. Winner #2
5:30 p.m.  GAME 4  Loser #1 vs. Loser #2
8:00 p.m.  GAME 5  Winner #4 vs. Loser #3


No changes to Sunday...and ESPN 2 still has the feed for that one...as far as we know. 

Jennie, Jennie !!

We'll see if Brent Musberger and Dick Vitale show up to do these. 


But, no problems if Jennie Finch does the color analysis again. Not only does she know softball...she's pretty pleasing to the eye as well.


Great opportunity for the softball Cards to get at least one game in on the flagship ESPN Network station. And, we hope one is all they'll have to play Saturday. That means that they've won two games and will be playing in the finals...scheduled for 1 p.m. Sunday.


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Cardinal softball player Hannah Kiyohara was selected to the BIG EAST First Team in the 2011 season. The freshman right-fielder started 42 of the Cards 49 games and batted .331 for the season. After such an auspicious beginning to her career, the sky looked the limit for the Auburn, Washington native. 


Instead, she became the Cards utility player her sophomore year. Seeing action in 35 of the Cards 53 games and starting 25 of them, Sandy Pearsall has used her at right-field, short shop, second base and also at designated hitter this year. 

We can't confirm it, but it is rumored she also filled in for J-Bone on public address duties and played the organ at games when Al Greener wasn't available.


When the decision was made to rest Kristin Austin and her sore hamstring in a couple of the BIG EAST Tournament games, Kiyohara took over right field and the Cards were in capable hands. 


Hannah Kiyohara defines the term "team player" and with Austin's graduation this year, we're confident that #24 will return to her right-field domain for the 2013 season. 

"Run over to the dorms, Becky, and see if
Hannah wants a little court time..."

Unless Sandy Pearsall loans her to Jeff Walz as a back-up point guard (she played basketball also at her high school, led the team in scoring and was First Team All-South Puget Sound League) or has her directing traffic at the corner of Floyd and Brandeis. 


If you need it done...and in a efficient "mannah"...call Hannah. 


( OK. Corny rhyme. We're outta here. See ya Thursday.) 
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Saturday at the UofL women's game a part of Breast Cancer Awareness/Play4Kay days.

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Saturday Cardinal Couple

-Syracuse game to raise awareness to fight breast cancer.

- "We're glad to be here...say, how about a loan?"


This may be the most important entry we've ever posted here at Cardinal Couple. There is a killer out there. It's name is Breast Cancer. We'd like to see it arrested.

You can help us in this fight by supporting the women's basketball team with attendance to the many "Play4Kay" games that will donate toward the $ 1 million dollars that
we hope will be raised for breast cancer awareness and funding.

We're going to put it at you pretty simply and direct. If you are reading this, you had a mother. In most cases here, your mother raised and nurtured you. In most cases, you either love and honor that mother that is still alive, or miss her departure from this earth.

My Mom loved the Pink
Panther movies with
Peter Sellers.

I'd give anything to be able to talk to my mom again. If you have a mother still living, or know a mother...please help this worthy cause. A mother's love is unconditional. Breast Cancer is the last thing you'd ever want for your mother...or anyone else's mom.

Please do what you can to help eradicate this horrible killer.

Wear pink tomorrow at the UofL women's game, please...if you go. And, if you are fortunate enough to still have a mother living...tell her how much you love her. 

It's the most beautiful thing out there...

We hope you will make a difference. WE hope to see you tomorrow doing so...by attending. God bless motherhood.

Always.

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During Play4Kay week, women's basketball teams and supporters across the nation will dedicate at least one game to raise breast cancer awareness and funding. Teams, fans and arenas will be decked out in pink, survivors will be honored at games, referees will blow pink whistles (mostly against Syracuse...we hope) and donations will be collected.

Previousy known as the WBCA Pink Zone, the Play4Kay mission remains the same: a nation of coaches raising breast cancer awareness for research on the court, across campuses, in communities and beyon. The Kay Yow Cancer Fund, in partnership with the WBCA and the V Foundation, is the official charity of the initiative.

You can go to http://www.play4kay.org/ , http://www.kayyow.com/ and http://www.jimmyv.org/ for much more information and to find out how you can help.

Game time today is two. WHAS TV has the digital broadcast. We'll after a full recap a few hours after the Cards beat Syracuse.

Remember to wear your pink if you go.

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Finally, in the category of "Really? SMH..."

West Virginia has received their release from the BIG EAST and can now participate in BIG 12 sports. The price tag? $20 million. The problem? WVU only has $11 mil.

So, the other schools in the BIG 12 are putting up $1 million each to pay the tab. It's a loan...of course. The Mountaineers will be expected to pay the money back. This should have been a Seinfeld episode...

George: "Jerry, I'm doing it. I'm making the big move. It's going to cost me...but I can live in your building now!"

Jerry: "That's great, George!

George: "There's just one small problem. I'm coming up a bit short on the down-payment."

Jerry: "How much short?"

George: " 45% of it..."

Kramer: "Well, Jerry will lend it to you! I'll chip in, so will Newman and Elaine. Right, Jerry?"

George: "Really? Thanks, Jerry!"

Jerry: (Rolling his eyes...) "Welcome to the neighborhood.."

( Check out Charlie Springer's column about it and see all the new friends he's made from the "wild and wonderful state")

http://www.uoflcardgame.com/

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