SATURDAY CARDINAL COUPLE - Women's Soccer picked #1 in AAC preseason poll  Good things ahead for the Karen Ferguson Dayes' women soccer team. The preseason poll picks Kickin' Cards to win the regular season, along with UCF. Louisville travels to West Lafayette today to play their second exhibition game of the season at 1 p.m. today against Purdue.  You can follow it on GAMETRACKER at gocards.com (Thanks to Kim Pemberton, asst. SID for women's soccer, for sending us the report below...)

The Louisville women’s soccer team was picked to tie with UCF for the for the conference title in the inaugural American Athletic Conference preseason poll on Friday. The Knights and the Cardinals each earned 85 points in polling conducted by the league’s head coaches, who were not permitted to vote for their own team or their own players. Louisville is led by head coach Karen Ferguson-Dayes, who begins her 13th season with the Cardinals. Louisville went 10-4-4 and placed third in the National Division of the BIG EAST in 2012 and returns a strong lineup including Preseason Team selections Charlyn Corral (a unanimous selection) and Angelika Uremovich, both seniors. Corral earned First Team All-BIG EAST and NSCAA First Team All-Northeast Region honors last season and led Louisville in scoring with 23 points. Uremovich was a Second Team All-BIG EAST selection in 2012. The Cardinals return nine starters and 97 percent of its goal scoring. Corral tallied 19 points last season, including eight goals in BIG EAST play. She had 52 shots in 11 league games, more than any other BIG EAST player. Corral had a point in seven of 11 BIG EAST games and overall, she amassed a team-high 23 points, including eight goals and seven assists. This summer Corral helped lead Mexico to a silver medal in the World University Games, scoring 10 goals in six matches. Uremovich will sit out this season with a medical redshirt after tearing her ACL in the spring. She led the Cardinals last season with nine goals on the season to go with two assists. She tallied two goals in a game twice last season. In her three seasons as a Cardinal, Uremovich has 18 career goals and eight total assists while playing in 60 matches overall. UCFenters The American after a strong 2012 season in which the Knights posted a 17-5-2 record, won their first Conference USA Championship and advanced to the second round of the NCAA tournament. Earlier this week, UCF was named No. 21 in the National Soccer Coaches Association of America’s preseason rankings after finishing last season ranked No. 20. The American Athletic Conference, based in Providence, R.I., rebranded July 1, 2013. In its inaugural year, The American is fortunate to be able to draw from the previous successes and traditions already established in its 10 inaugural women’s soccer programs.The state-of-the-art UCF Soccer and Track Complex will host the first American Athletic Conference Women’s Soccer Championship on Nov. 8 (semifinals) and 10 (final). First-round and quarterfinal games will be held at campus sites on Oct. 31 and Nov. 3. The American Athletic Conference comprises the following 10 member institutions: the University of Central Florida; University of Cincinnati, University of Connecticut, University of Houston, University of Louisville, University of Memphis, Rutgers University, Southern Methodist University, University of South Florida, and Temple University. In 2014-15, East Carolina University, Tulane University and the University of Tulsa become full members. The U.S. Naval Academy joins in football only in 2015. The American Athletic Conference is a member of the Bowl Championship Series. For more information on the Conference and its membership, please visitwww.TheAmerican.org. 2013 AMERICAN ATHLETIC CONFERENCE PRESEASON WOMEN’S SOCCER POLL No. School (first place votes) Points T-1. UCF (4) 85 T-1. Louisville (5) 85 3. Rutgers 67 4. UConn 61 5. USF 59 6. Memphis 53 7. SMU 48 8. Houston 36 9. Cincinnati 28 10. Temple 18 2013 AMERICAN ATHLETIC CONFERENCE PRESEASON AWARD WINNERS Preseason Offensive Player of the Year Jonelle Filigno, Rutgers, R-Sr., F Preseason Defensive Player of the Year Marissa Diggs, UCF, Sr., D Preseason Goalkeeper of the Year Lianne Maldonado, UCF, Sr., GK American Athletic Conference Preseason Team *Charlyn Corral, Louisville, Sr., M Kylie Davis, Memphis, Jr., M Marissa Diggs, UCF, Sr., D *Jonelle Filigno, Rutgers, R-Sr., F Hayley Katkowski, Rutgers, So., M Lianne Maldonado, UCF, Sr., GK Christabel Oduro, Memphis, Sr., F/M Sharla Passariello, USF, Sr., F Shelby Redman, SMU, R-Jr., F Diamond Simpson, Memphis, So., D/M Angelika Uremovich, Louisville, Sr., M *unanimous selection <><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><> THE JENNY O'BRYAN SHOW (presented by Don Paulie) ABOUT UOFL WOMEN'S SPORTS STUFF has a ton of things to discuss on the radio show today. Now that the boys are gone, Jenny finally gets a whole hour to talk about whatever she wants! Some of the topics on tap are: -2014 WBB prospect Myisha Hines-Allen visiting the Louisville campus -Volleyball report -Manuela Velasquez -Christine Krellwitz -Anne Kordes -Field Hockey ....and so much more! Listen in at www.crescenthillradio.com at 11 a.m. ...

Friday Cardinal Couple -- Spy vs. spy

FRIDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

- "What you lookin' at?"

Staff columnist Jeff McAdams (renamed Jeff McDaniels by the Central Cardinal Club), Sonja and I attended the annual fundraiser for the Central Cardinal Club Wednesday night at the PNC Plaza in Papa John's Cardinal Stadium. It was good to see some folks we knew and catch up on their summers and share a few laughs.

It was a fun event...speakers including Anne Kordes (UofL head Volleyball coach) Christine Krellwitz (UofL senior women's administrator, asst. AD) and Manuela Velasquez (former UofL women's tennis player). A good showing of UofL women's sports participants.

Adrienne Johnson (special assistant to Jeff Walz and color commentator for UofL WBB radio broadcasts) was scheduled to appear...but her mom is back in the hospital and she made a brief appearance and left to be with her. Family first, we understand. If you get a chance to drop A.J. an e-mail and let her know you're thinking of them and keeping them in your thoughts and prayers, please do so at:

aj@gocards.com

The speakers were good. We were able to catch snippets of their talks and will play them on our CARDINAL COUPLE RADIO HOUR this Saturday at 11 a.m.

www.crescenthillradio.com

The PNC Plaza sits on the east side of Papa John's Cardinal Stadium and affords a great view of the football field. Walk down a few steps and you can get a great overview of the field. I did, and observed the Cardinal Football team hard at work preparing for their first game.

That soon changed. I arrived with K.C. Skull, stadium manager of Papa John's and shortly after we got there...an announcement was made that the viewing of practice was off-limits and chairs were placed in front of the stairways leading to the overview of the stadium. K.C. and a few Cardinal Athletics staffers personally placed the barricades. 

I guess Charlie Strong doesn't want anyone watching the offense and defense he is installing for Ohio University (not THE Ohio State University) on Sept 1st.

I sort of understand. Who knows whether their were Ohio Bobcat (or Kentucky WIldcats) spies, dressed in red, circulating among the 150 or so Central Cardinal Club members and guests...taking copious notes and detailed dossiers on blocking patterns, Teddy Bridgewater's passing skills and whether the Cards were in a four lineman defensive set?

It got me thinking about other preventions that other coaches might take to protect the secrecy and sanctity of their pre-season preparations.

Jeff McAdams (aka Jeff McDaniels) came to the PNC event after watching volleyball practice. He arrived with coach Anne Kordes. Is Anne really sure that Jeff isn't a Penn State
double agent...compiling strategy notes on how high Maya McClendon can jump and how well Caitlin Welch is libero-ing this year?

Jeff Walz has invited me to watch WBB practices before.

Can he really be sure that, masked under the clever disguise of a UofL women's sports web-site operator, I'm not actually a UConn die-hard....sending every bit of information I can to Geno Auriemma about Shoni, Sara and Shawnta?

What if Jeff McDaniels and I went to the radio and revealed all? What if there was a real Jeff McDaniels?

Yep, it's NCIS and PCI stuff. Later today, after this article is up and fit for print (results may vary) I will hop on a SouthWest Airlines non-stop to Baltimore and meet with UConn assistant coach Chris Dailey ( how I wish!) at a clandestine location (in my dreams) and provide top-secret documents about Asia Taylor's cross-over, Emmonnie Henderson's lane-driving skills and Sara Hammond's new ASUS Notebook.

Maybe we'll go for pizza and beers afterwards...

We have a good show lined up for Saturday on the Internet Radio. Jeff and I won't be there (we got fired last week by Don Paulie)...but we'll be hovering in the wings, nervously watching Jenny debut:

"The Jenny O' Bryan, sponsored by Don Paulie, Show About UofL Women's Sports Stuff." This should fly well...

I did get Christine Krellwitz's business card at the CCC Fundraiser. She seemed fairly interested in what we do here at CARDINAL COUPLE and CARDINAL COUPLE RADIO. If she figures how what it is that we DO actually do..I hope she let's us know. Most days, it's flying by the seat of our pants and blind ambition. Maybe she's hiring, now that Jeff and I have been stripped of any responsibilities at Cardinal Couple.

On second thought, that doesn't sound too bad, actually...this whole "lack of responsibilities" thing. After all, I survived the 70's that way...and had some really nice polyester leisure suits and floral shirts.

Until then, Agent Paulie...signing off. Trust no one and do everything in code. Control, alt, delete.

-Paulie

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