Late Goal Lifts Cards -- FH & Vball Today -- FRIDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

 Happy Friday, everyone! I would say "Cards fans", but also have plenty of great folks who tune in here rooting for Kentucky, Clemson, Georgia Tech, and other schools, so I want to wish everyone a Happy Friday.

As always, it's a busy weekend ahead, giving us no shortage of events to cover here for you.

Late Goal Lifts Cards

Starting off, we visit a game that happened last night and came down to a last minute goal for the win. Anouk Denton's penalty kick goal with 32 seconds remaining lifted Louisville Women's Soccer over Syracuse 2-1 at SU Soccer Stadium.

Case and Paul helped me with plenty of in-game updates as a photo gig and family dinner at the Melting Pot kept me occupied. That's a heck of a restaurant and always a top choice for me for special occasions. I hear Paul may be taking the Cardinal Couple Crew out there for dinner one night. We may end up scrubbing dishes in the back by the end of the night though.

Denton, who scored her first career goal, was chosen to take the one-on-one standoff. A penalty kick, which is typically a guessing game for the goalkeeper, often falls in favor of the player taking the shot and last night was no different. With the freshman staring down the goal, Denton went to the top right corner of the box with the Syracuse keeper leaping in the opposite direction. The goal was set up by an aggressive attack by fellow freshman Julia Simon, who was able to draw a foul within the box.

Prior to that, Louisville held a 1-0 halftime lead. Delaney Snyder received a pass near the top of the box from Simon, Snyder took it to her right and used a little bit of some nifty footwork to gain enough separation to turn and take a shot from the right side at the 13' minute mark.

It took some time for the Orange to find an answer. At the 68' minute mark, Meghan Root capitalized on a fast break to chip in a shot over a charging Gabby Kouzelos. Kouzelos would end the night with five saves for an .875 save percentage.

This was the third straight match that came down to a last second goal over overtime appearance for the Cards. It's safe to say the 'Cardiac Cards' continue to live up to their name.

Louisville returns home to host #1 Florida State at 1:00 p.m., Sunday. Admission is free during the regular season at Dr. Mark and Cindy Lynn Stadium.

Field Hockey and Volleyball Today

#4 Field Hockey hits the road for a pair of ranked opponent road matches. The first of those is tonight at 6:00 p.m., against #17 Duke.

Duke is riding last year's struggles as they enter the game 3-4 overall and 0-1 in conference play. Granted, the losses have come to ranked opponents in Maryland, Northwestern, Rutgers, and Wake Forest (wow, the Big Ten hasn't been nice to Duke), but many of the losses have been blowouts.

Most recently, Duke took down James Madison 3-1. Duke has scored eight goals in seven outings while giving up 15 goals on the year.

Current head coach Pam Bustin corralled Louisville Field Hockey from 1998-2010.

Louisville will then travel to #19 Ohio State on Monday for a rare Monday match. This will be the fifth straight ranked opponent and we will break that one down as the time comes closer.

Volleyball Hosts the Hurricanes

There's a hurricane coming to town tonight. Hopefully it'll be more of a tropical storm as #5 Louisville Volleyball hosts Miami (Fla). Miami is off to a hot 9-1 start to the year with the lone loss coming in five sets to UCF.

Despite six of their matches coming from opponents in Florida, the Hurricanes have yet to face the other big two in FSU and Florida. They lined up a weaker non-conference schedule to help offset matches against Louisville, Pitt, FSU, Georgia Tech, and Notre Dame in conference play. That slate of games can quickly ruin any team's season.

Louisville and Miami have played 13 times with the Cards holding a 10-3 advantage. Louisville took a 3-1 win back in April as part of the combined 2020-2021 COVID-19 season.

Then, on Sunday, Florida State comes to L&N Federal Credit Union Arena. The Seminoles are in the receiving votes category and boast a 7-2 record following an upset victory over in-state rival Florida. This game is set for 1:00 p.m., and Jeff will give you the rundown of this one Sunday morning.

Apparently, it's Florida State hate week as Louisville Football visits Doak Campbell Stadium on Saturday afternoon. Y'all pray for me as being engaged to an FSU grad will be less than pleasant this weekend.

Oh yeah, we have some unofficial events on campus this weekend too. Lacrosse has a handful of fall scrimmages starting early Saturday morning. Alumnae Weekend will welcome Indianapolis, Cincinnati, and Youngstown State to the Louisville Lacrosse Stadium.

Swimming and Diving will occupy Ralph Wright Natatorium today for their annual Red and Black Intersquad Scrimmage today beginning at 3:00 p.m. This is to help get their feet wet (literally and figuratively) before their first official meet next Friday.

We will try to bring you as much in person coverage for as many of these events as we can. Unlike, in the realm of Harry Potter, we can't be in multiple places like Hermione Granger, so having in person coverage at everything isn't always possible and we do try to prioritize in-season sports first.

Happy Friday and Go Cards!
Jared

Field Hockey Wins -- Women's Soccer Wins -- MONDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

It was a busy day on Floyd Street again with both field hockey and women's soccer in action. Also on Floyd Street, but not directly related to a UofL team was Bellarmine field hockey playing a match at Trager Stadium against Ball State. Bellarmine will be using Trager Stadium as their home location this season.

Paulie was out performing as a master chef at a birthday celebration most of the day and that, sadly, kept him and Sonya from campus. He also seemed to master his craft of grilling without catching anything on fire so hit him up for your burger and brats needs. With Paulie out for the day and myself practically living on Floyd Street for the next few weeks it was easier for me to go on and recap both games. He'll take my Tuesday article in exchange.

Field Hockey Shuts Out New Hampshire

There was a Wildcats team on campus yesterday but they weren't from down I-64 and they weren't from East High with their singing and dancing. It was the Wildcats of New Hampshire that visited Trager Stadium to take on Justine Sowry's squad.

The #5 ranked Cardinals cruised to a 3-0 victory to improve to 2-0 on the year. Each goal was scored by a different player in a different quarter.

Late in the second quarter, Alli Bitting inbounded the ball on a penalty corner. Aimee Plumb took a shot that was deflected the goalkeeper, but the ball bounced straight to eye level of Bitting who had an open goal to work with. Like in basketball, this is why you are taught to follow a shot.

After carrying a 1-0 lead into halftime, Louisville scored a second goal from a set piece. The inbounds pass went to Julie Kouijzer, whose shot was more of a pass to Katie Schneider standing at the foot of the goal. Schneider used her stick as a ramp to send the ball into the air and the back of the cage.

The final goal came late in the fourth quarter as an insurance goal more than anything. After a pressing Cardinals attack forward, the ball got knocked around and deflected until the freshman Filippa Niebuhr came face-to-face with the ball and cage for her first score of the year.

Louisville pulled off penalty corners like it was a rabbit in a magic hat, but the keeper for New Hampshire had herself one heck of a day and limited to the scores off the corners to just two. She tallied double-digit saves on the day and kept the Wildcats in the game for much longer than anticipated.

On the defensive end for the Cards, Louisville's Mila de Kuijer had little action in goal. She saw one shot on goal the entire day and easily saved it. Besides that, she was hanging out by the grill with Paulie.

We got a chance to speak with Coach Justine Sowry following the win. You can check out her interview here.

Following our interaction with Coach Sowry, we got a chance to speak with Alli Bitting and get her thoughts on the game. You can check that out here.

Louisville hits the road to Princeton next weekend to take on Penn and Princeton. They'll return home the weekend after.

Women's Soccer Improves to 3-0 with Win

After a short break at home to cool down for me, I went back to campus to Dr Mark and Cindy Lynn Stadium. The weather cooperated a lot better this time than the last go-around.

Louisville was fresh off a somewhat surprising close match against James Madison on Friday and bounced back with a 3-0 victory over instate opponent Northern Kentucky.

Unlike Friday's match, the Cards found a way to maintain position a majority of the night and continued to press forward without ever pulling off the reins.

It was fairly early into the game when Abby Baldridge lined up to send a free kick into the box. The ball connected with the head of fellow freshman Hayley Howard, who knocked the shot in for her first career goal.

Roughly 12 minutes later, Delaney Snyder broke loose from a defender hot on her tail to send a shot across the box and into the left corner of the goal for her second score of the year.

Midway through the second half, Emma Hiscock worked her way around a couple defenders to get a shot past the NKU keeper into the upper part of the goal for her team-leading third of the season.

It was the offense the proved to be the best defense for the Cards as their 18 total shots and eight shots on goal kept the Norse on their heels much of the night. NKU did find a little wiggle room on a couple occasions for a pair of shots on goal, both which were handled cleanly by Gabby Kouzelos.

With her save in the first half, Kouzelos recorded 200 career saves. Another save in the second half put her at 201 and a spot in the top five all-time in program history. After a rough game on Friday, Kouzelos looked back to her normal self in goal and was noticeably more vocal as she corralled her team and back line of defenders into position all night.

Louisville still has some work to do as they were heavy on the fouls on the night and are still figuring out the kinks with working on scoring opportunities, but you run into those issues with a young team that played seven freshmen and five sophomores (18 players saw minutes).

I wasn't able to stick around for postgame on this one but Coach Karen Ferguson-Dayes seemed much more pleased with her team following the match.

The Cards improve to 3-0 on the year and head to Saint Louis on Thursday before returning home Sunday night to take on Western Kentucky.

Happy Monday and Go Cards!

Jared

2021-22 Louisville women's fall sports expectations -- MONDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

 

SO...WAS IT A GOOD FOURTH? 

Just a brief diversion from today's topic to ask you...did you have a good fourth of July? Many of you may have been involved in social activities over the Fourth of July weekend, and wasn't it good to be able to do that again without the masking, distancing and less than full capacities, if you were? 

I was fortunate to go to an outing over the weekend with my wife where we saw people we hadn't seen in a very long time and to catch up on their lives, their highs and lows, share our experiences and enjoy an old-fashion cookout with fireworks in the evening.  Getting back to it works for now. Let's hope that we continue to slowly break away from the restrictions and limitations that the pandemic wrought upon us.  We are social creatures. It's good to interact. 

I hope you had a good fourth and many of you are most likely enjoying a "holiday Monday" today, getting an extra day away from the daily grind and hub-hub that can regulate our lives.

THE FALL APPROACHES -- WOMENS' SOCCER

It is getting closer, that time when our UofL fall women's sports squads will take to their various venues of competition and test their skills against competition.

Last year was weird with split schedules, limited competition and lack of fan attendance. Let's look at what might happen with Cardinal women's sports squads this fall. Maybe a "way-too-early" prognostication, but let's have some fun with it.

We'll look at women's soccer today. 

Louisville women's soccer has traditionally been the first Cardinal women's sports squad to get underway in the fall, and it'll be a squad that has undergone a few changes -- roster wise and coaching cadre. No worries about the top skipper, Karen Ferguson Dayes is still at the helm and will prowl the sidellnes at Lynn, watching her crew move the ball. She's got one assistant back from last season in Hunter Norton and one new assistant in Nick Stirrett. Stirrett is a "rising young gun" in the women's soccer world, and brings in an impressive resume of previous stops at Oregon State, Illinois and Penn State to the Cardinal camp. 

As far as the roster looks, it's good to have "Gabby the Goalie" (Gabby Kouzelos) back between the poles as goalkeeper and her experience and leadership will be more essential that ever this upcoming season. The line in front of the goalkeeper, the defensive backs, gets Sarah Hernandez back and a host of experienced mid-fielders in Taylor Kerwin, Maisie Whitsett, Jolene Ballard and Morgan Bentley.

When looking at potential lineups,  also consider that the Cards WSOC squad has 10 freshmen coming in and it'll be fun to see which of these rise up to gain playing time

The Kickin' Cards did lose Emina Ekic on attack to graduation and the NWSL, but .do get back Delaney Snyder, Coriene Dente, Ravin Alexander and Cassie Amshoff on the front line. Scoring is where I'd like to see the Cards increase their efficiency in the upcoming season, they tallied 12 goals in 12 games last season while allowing 13.

It'll be interesting to see if the trio of Cardinal coaches can "up" the scoring output. Stirrett did it at Oregon State when he was there, as the Beavers went from six goals to 31 goals from 2018-to 2019. 

I expect the Cards to improve upon last year's 5-7 record. There will be more games, I'm fully expecting, (the schedule hasn't been released yet) and Louisville should hopefully get numerous non-conference chances to work in before taking on an always tough ACC slate. 

We usually let Jared stick his neck out on the chopping block here for his eye-popping season predictions on various sports here at Cardinal Couple and I'm guessing he'll get to that as the season draws closer. With Gabby in place and experience in the other slots, it won't be too much of a trial and error scenario for Louisville Women's Soccer...I fully expect the Cards to rise above.500 in 2021-22 and get some great crowds into Lynn Stadium. 

paulie

Season Review: Soccer -- THURSDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

 Season Review: Soccer

We find ourselves back to reviewing UofL sports seasons. Today, we will take a look at women's soccer, another team that split their season between the fall and spring.

A solid start to the season quickly turned sour and the spring ended about as disappointing as possible with the final two matches of the season cancelled.

The fall season consisted of eight regular season matches against ACC opponents and then the ACC tournament. The spring season was set to be a non-conference schedule.

Louisville opened the season with a 3-0 win at Miami with Emina Ekic and Delaney Snyder doing all the scoring against the Hurricanes. The Cards remained in the Sunshine State where they fell to eventual National Runner-Up Florida State.

The Cards game home for a two-game homestand. UofL defeated Syracuse 3-0 as the Ekic-Snyder duo contributed to a majority of the scoring once again with Jessica De Filippo scoring the other goal. Boston College visited Dr Mark and Cindy Lynn Stadium next with the Cards taking the win 2-0. Ekic scored her fifth goal on the year and Taylor Kerwin recorded her first with the assist credited to both Ekic and Snyder.

Another road trip was next for Karen Ferguson Dayes' squad. It started with a 2-0 loss to Final Four contender Virginia, who did all their damage in the first half. They then went across the state to down Virginia Tech 1-0 with Morgan Bentley getting her first goal on the season.

Louisville came home to wrap up the regular season with a pair of matches. Notre Dame would take the first match 1-0. The regular season finale saw Louisville host Final Four contender North Carolina. It was Ekic who would put the Cards up early in the second half in the pouring down rain before the Tar Heels with three goals over the next 30 minutes to get the win.

At 4-4, Louisville earned the #6-seed in the ACC Tournament and saw a rematch with the Wahoos. Diana Ordonez would post a hat trick as Virginia would cruise to a 4-1 win. You can take a guess on who scored the Cards' goal- her seventh and final of the season.

We saw the spring season begin in early March with the Cards hosting Dayton and winning 1-0 on a Maisie Whitsett goal. Auburn came to town next and would go on to take a 1-0 in sudden death double overtime.

What would eventually be the final match of the season, Louisville traveled to Bowling Green. WKU relied on a goal 93 seconds into the match to get the win.

Matches scheduled against Tennessee and Wake Forest would get cancelled due to various reasons.

Louisville would end the year with a 5-7 record and a 4-4 mark in the ACC. One year after an impressive 13-5-2 mark, Louisville showed signs of struggling and a frustrating ending.

The Cards would end up getting outscored by just one, 13-12 on the year. Ekic led the way with seven goals and three assists. Snyder would be one of five Cards to score one goal this season but led the team with four assists.

Only three of the six scorers are set to return next season. Taylor Kerwin graduated after the spring semester. Jessica De Filippo transferred out after the fall season. Emina Ekic entered the NWSL Draft after the fall season and was drafted in the first round by Racing Louisville FC, where she has put on a show. Louisville is bleeding profusely on offense for next year. You cannot replace Ekic with any single player. Snyder looks to take the lead but needs a second and third scorer. Corinne Dente was a hopeful candidate but is still in recovery mode from a torn ACL. We may see Whitsett convert back to a forward or possibly Emma Hiscock steps up after a promising freshman outing.

Defensively, Sarah Hernandez is set to return as a centerback and power the back line. Gabby Kouzelos is expected to return for another season in goal. Kouzelos recorded 53 saves on 66 attempts for an incredible .803 save percentage. Louisville is set on defense for the fall 2021 season.

We quickly approach a holiday weekend with Memorial Day on Monday. Daryl returns back to her Friday column tomorrow and we should be back on our Cardinal Couple Radio Hour this Saturday.

Happy Thursday and Go Cards!

Jared

NWSL Draft Approaches -- SATURDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

Racing Has Picks, UofL Has Prospects

The NWSL draft has been long awaited in this area since the announcement of the formation of Louisville's expansion team, Racing Louisville FC. Excitement grew in November when the expansion draft allowed Racing's roster to really start to take shape, and the final step toward the first gameday roster will take place this week. The NWSL rookie draft is set for January 13th at 7PM, and Racing has five picks in the four round draft. They'll get the first player off the board in each round, as well as the fifth pick in the first round.

 

Prior to the last week or so, the process was pretty straightforward for the draft, and we only knew of one Louisville player making herself available for the draft, Emina Ekic. The NCAA approved a waiver late last year that would allow any eligible player to register for the draft and then decide whether to report before or after the collegiate spring season, but we haven't seen news of any other Louisville players electing to register for the draft. There are plenty of seniors on the squad, so you would expect they might want to take advantage of that, but they also have an additional year of eligibility on hand, so perhaps they'd rather ply their trade in college for one more year. Ekic has already announced that she will forego the spring season completely, leading me to believe that she is already working with draft assurances.

I said that was straightforward until last week because the NCAA and NWSL announced another rule change. This one granted blanket draft registration to any college player that has exhausted three years of eligibility. This comes without a formal draft declaration. It's similar to baseball, in that the expectation could be that players will not join the team, but it's much riskier since there are 40 picks over four rounds rather than hundreds of picks over 40 rounds. A team like Racing Louisville can hardly afford to use one of their five picks on a player that will not report. 

Another change in the rules is the extension of the protected player period. When a player is drafted and does not report, the professional team still retains their rights until the end of the subsequent season... typically. This year, however, and this year only, the protected period has been extended until the start of next season. This article goes into whether or not that's good for players' rights, but it is definitely interesting for selecting players this year, and signing them after the 2021 fall college season. Whether or not that will happen, Louisville went from one player registered and likely to be taken to a whole host of "registered" players. The following is a list of players that were redshirt sophomores or beyond on Louisville's 2020 roster:

Hanna Wise, GK

Gabby Kouzelos, GK

Sarah Hernandez, D

Nadege L'Esperance, MF

Ravin Alexander, D/MF

Emina Ekic, MF

Taylor Kerwin, MF

Shay Hampton, F

Kiana Klein, MF

Lana Batson, GK

Maisie Whitsett, F/MF

Delaney Snyder, F

Cassie Amshoff, MF

Now, obviously, most other programs' eligibility lists look like this, but there are some very interesting undeclared players on this list. The most obvious is Gabby Kouzelos, who seems destined for higher play. Is she ready? I don't know the answer to that question, nor do I know what NWSL front offices think of her, but the extended protection period means that teams could take a flyer and allow a player to develop further in college. Other interesting players in that vein would be Sarah Hernandez, who has proven to be a top defender as a three year starter, and Delaney Snyder, who appears to be a rather good goal scorer. Whether either of their play translates to the next level is up for debate, but, like I said, it's not such a black and white answer. 

All of our questions will be answered next week, and by the end of the month, as drafted players have until January 22nd to decide whether or not they will join the team. The draft will air in full on NWSL's Twitch Channel at 7PM on January 13th.

Cardinal Couple Radio Hour

Jared is out banking this week, but we'll still have a four-stack in the booth this week. Paulie will be back at the helm, thankfully, and Jeff, Daryl, and I will be along for the ride. We'll discuss the week that was in Louisville women's basketball, and then move on to look ahead at the upcoming week. There's plenty of joy and excitement to go around. Tune in at 11AM on the Cardinal Couple YouTube Channel for the live show, or check out the replay or podcast following the conclusion of the show.

Until next time, Go Cards!

-CH-

Ekic Earns ACC Honors -- SATURDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

Emina Ekic Grabs First Team All-ACC, Offensive POTY

Louisville may have been soundly defeated by Virginia in the first round of the ACC tournament earlier this week, but that didn't prevent Emina Ekic from earning top honors in the conference. Conference awards were announced yesterday, on the day of the conference semifinals, and Emina Ekic picked up an unsurprising award and one that was a bit unexpected. The unsurprising award was Ekic's naming to the First Team All-ACC team. Ekic was tied for the league lead in goals scored in conference play with six and her seventh goal, the stunner against Virginia in the quarterfinals, tied her for third in the country. Ekic made Louisville go during the fall, so it was straightforward for her to be named to the First Team.

The Offensive Player of the Year Award, though, didn't seem so straight forward. Ekic's scoring was strong, and she had good assist numbers, but Diana Ordonez of Virginia (you know, the one who poured in a hat trick on Tuesday night) had, I believe, the same number of conference regular season goals and had one more assist. She was also on the 3rd seeded team rather than the 6th. However, the conference voters put Ekic on top, and didn't even add Ordonez to the first team. Shows what I know. Florida State picked up three of the five major awards, earning Defensive POTY, Midfield of the Year, and Coach of the Year. Freshman of the year went to Lia Godfrey of Virginia. Surprisingly, the top seeded Tar Heels were locked out of the major awards.

Were there a goalkeeper of the year award, UNC may have found themselves in the top awards, as Claudia Dickey was named to the first team. Cristina Roque of FSU earned the second team spot, as Florida State was so good defensively, and Gabby Kouzelos picked up the third team honor. No other Cardinals made it onto an all-conference team, despite Delaney Snyder sitting in the top ten in assists. I would have thought she or Sarah Hernandez might have had a case with the good season they put up, but the ACC voters thought differently. 

Unsurprisingly, the ACC fall soccer season will wrap up tomorrow at noon with the conference championship between undefeated UNC and undefeated FSU. It's the matchup most people have been wanting to see this year, and we'll finally see which team will blink. FSU has looked stronger recently, but UNC has been a very good team the whole year. Tune in to ESPNU for the final. Looking ahead, we'll see how the national landscape looks in the spring, but the ACC plans to continue their soccer season in 2021.

Cardinal Couple Radio Hour

We're back on the airwaves (internet waves?) this week with a full house as Jared returns to the show. We'll talk about the recent ACC tournament results in field hockey and women's soccer and take a look toward basketball season as it's next on the docket. Tune in to the Cardinal Couple YouTube channel at 11AM for the live show, or check out the podcast after the live show ends by searching for "Cardinal Couple" in your favorite podcast player. Be sure to subscribe to both to catch the latest show as soon as you can!

Until next time, Go Cards!

-CH-

WSOC Shuts Out Syracuse -- FH vs. UNC Today -- FRIDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

 

STRONG SECOND HALF SENDS CARDS PAST ORANGE 3-0

Maybe Louisville head women's soccer coach Karen Ferguson-Dayes summed it up the best when she described yesterday's 3-0 win over Syracuse as "a tale of two halves". The Cards and Orange battled through a first half where neither team scored, but, Louisville registered three goals in a ten-minute stretch early in the second half en route to their second victory of the 2020 season. 

If anything, Syracuse showed more offense than the Cards in the first 45 minutes of the match. They attempted seven shots, four of them on goal against UofL goalkeeper Gabby Kouzelos, but the red-shirt senior was brilliant in the net and turned away all four attempts. The Cards offense wasn't running on high-octane yet...with six shots and none on Syracuse goalkeeper Lysianne Proulx. The teams went to the half-time locker room searching for scoring success.  Louisville had a 59% to 41% edge in ball possession stats in the first half. 

Louisville took the need-to-score challenge to heart and did it quickly in the second half. With just three minutes played in the final 45 minutes, sophomore forward Jessica De Filppo, who did not play in the first half, found the ball on a Cards corner attempt and sent it past the Syracuse defense for the contest's first goal. 

Louisville's defensive pressure was much improved in the second half and getting the ball back to the Cards and that was paying dividends. Just two minutes later, Delaney Snyder took the ball into the box and found Emina Ekic with a cross. Ekic, the Cards leading scored, dribbled the pass into scoring position and drove it past Proulx for Louisville's second score. 

It was Ekic again for the Cards final goal, taking a Snyder pass and driving into the box for her second goal of the game...putting UofL ahead 3-0 with 31 minutes left in the half.  The Cards were able to get plenty of shots off in the remainder second half, outshooting the Orange 19-4 over the final 45 minutes and maintained the offensive and defensive intensity the rest of the way.

We were able to catch up with Coach Ferguson-Dayes via phone (that's the way it is these days, no media on the field except for photographers and television camera guys) and discussed the win. You can hear her post-game comments at the link below:

 LINK: POST GAME KAREN FERGUSON DAYES

The Cards are now 2-1, Syracuse 0-2 for 2020. Louisville brings in Boston College Sunday for a noon match. 

In other ACC WSOC action: 

--  In a battle of unbeaten squads, North Carolina remained undefeated at 4-0 with a 2-0 win over Clemson (2-1).

-- Florida State picked up a road win at Virginia Tech 4-0. The Seminoles are 3-0 now and Tech drops to 0-2

-- Home-standing Notre Dame (2-1) took a 2-0 win over Boston College (0-1).

-- Wake Forest got their first win of the season with a 1-0 win over visiting Miami (0-4). 

-- Virginia gave Pitt their first loss of the season with a 2-1 win over the visiting Panthers in overtime.

LOUISVILLE FIELD HOCKEY HOSTS UNC TODAY

#1 in the nation comes to town today, when North Carolina Field Hockey faces Louisville at 4:30 this afternoon at Trager Stadium. 

The Tar Heels (1-0) haven't played in 12 days, but began their 2020 campaign with a 3-1 win at Wake Forest. UNC has won their last 47 games (let that sink in) but faces a challenging weekend where they'll play Louisville today, bus back to Chapel Hill and take on Duke in Durham at noon Sunday. 

Louisville (2-0) comes into the contest after two win over Duke last weekend at Trager. The Cards look to upset the powerhouse North Carolina squad...the Cards have scored six goals this season, while allowing just one. 

This match will be on the ACC Network and we'll have full coverage of the match in the Saturday Cardinal Couple column. Follow Paulie's tweets from the match (@cardinalcouple) as Louisville looks to pull off the upset. 

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

(Maybe the Cards Volleyball squad flying to Boston in the picture above?) 

As far as we know, Louisville Volleyball is still scheduled to take on Boston College tonight in Chestnut Hill for a 7:30 p.m. match. ACCNX will have the contest on-line. If that changes, we'll update the status here on the site. 

The Cards (0-1) had to cancel their second match against Notre Dame last week due to COVID-19 concerns, but-- hopefully -- are all well and ready to participate in their first road matches of the 2020 schedule.  Tonight's match will be the first of the season for the Eagles. 

(Special thanks to Jared Anderson for the photos from yesterday's women's soccer match!) 

paulie

 

 

Previewing Women's Soccer vs. Florida State -- SUNDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

 Cards Take on Seminoles at 1PM

Following a resounding win over Miami in the season opener, Karen Ferguson-Dayes' squad will get a much stiffer test in the second match of the season. The Cards traveled upstate from Miami over the last couple of days to prepare to face Florida State.

The Seminoles, as we've mentioned before on the site and the podcast, were one of three 1-seeds to come out of the ACC for the 2019 NCAA tournament. FSU didn't handle their bracket quite as easily as some might have thought, though, and exited in the Elite Eight with a whopping 4-0 loss to UCLA. UCLA, in turn, was thumped by eventual champion Stanford.

Despite the flashy scorelines, that's hardly a bad way to exit the tournament. You may recall Louisville lost 4-0 as well, being knocked out by BYU in the second round. 

That said, Florida State was a very good team. Unfortunately for Louisville, they still are. The Seminoles lost just two seniors from last year's team. 

While they were very key players--Deyna Castellanos and Caroline Jeffers were the leading points scorer and starting goalkeeper, respectively--that's still a heck of a lot of production to return. Jeffers backup, Brooke Bollinger, played in four games, starting three, and gave up no goals. Even with that nice record, Bollinger's succession was usurped by Cristina Roque, showing that the FSU doesn't lack talent between the sticks. And, while Castellanos led the team in points by a wide margin (16 more points than second place), the Seminoles return five double digit points scorers. 

The Cards had just two double digit earners last year, with Brooklynn Rivers scoring 10 points and graduating. 

Offensively, Louisville showed against Miami that they have the capability to score in different ways. They showed very good build-up play as well as high pressure. We didn't see too much countering from the Cards, but that is because Miami wasn't really able to put Louisville on the back foot. Florida State will not have trouble with that. Against Notre Dame, the Seminoles were relentless. They scored five goals on 18 shots, putting 10 of those shots on frame.

Notre Dame was able to notch only two shots, one on frame, for the entire game. Florida State's box score from Thursday's game doesn't include possession stats, but we can only assume they weren't great. Louisville will need to be able to protect the ball in the midfield and likely win it out of the back and counter to be able to move forward with any consistency. We know Delaney Snyder and Emina Ekic can finish, but they'll need a lot of help to get opportunities and to potentially keep up with FSU.

Defensively, it's hard to say what either team has. Without any non-conference games and with teams jumping straight into the conference schedule, there's no way to gauge conference opponents' performances. Is Miami as bad as they looked on Thursday against Louisville? Probably. Is Notre Dame? Who knows. All we know is that both Louisville and FSU were able to put the clamps on their opponents, but how impressive that was remains to be seen.

It's likely that FSU's defense is just that good. The Seminoles allowed just 27 goals last season, with four of those coming against UCLA, and forced opponents into 72 offsides calls. Did I mention already that they lost nothing in the defense or midfield outside of the goalkeeper? I feel like I might have mentioned that. It's probably relevant. Louisville, on the other hand, is working to replace three starters from what is effectively a back-six most of the time.

While UofL looked good enough on Thursday, we don't really know what Miami has offensively. They may score four goals all year for all we know. Based on experience alone, Florida State appears to have the edge here. Louisville will need to make the most of whatever opportunities they can get offensively and try to limit damage defensively.

In the series history, Louisville is 0-6-0 against Florida State. No wins, no draws, just losses. They came close the last time they played, falling just 2-1 in 2017, but this will definitely be a tough test. With Louisville already down a player that they considered to be a starter on the wing in Corinne Dente, this game and this season could be even tougher than they hoped. I don't think that this is the year Louisville gets a result against Florida State.

Having to play on the road, even without fans, is a challenge, and the fact that there has only been one game to tune up prior to this, with Louisville looking pretty flat in the second half, is not encouraging. I'd be thrilled to be proven wrong, as a result here, even if it's just one point, would go a long way to securing Louisville a spot in the eight-team tournament, but we'll see.

Cards and Seminoles kick off at 1PM on ACC Network. Tune in for what should be an exciting game regardless of the outcome.

Cardinal Couple Radio Hour

Man what an exciting week for the show! I've managed to do what I hoped to for a long time and turn the Cardinal Couple Radio Hour podcast into an actual podcast. 

As an even bigger step, I managed to power through and get the edits complete and the show posted yesterday before anything we talked about was out of date. As always, you can catch the recorded version of the live show on YouTube, with yesterday's show here. 

Alternatively, you can listen to the show as a podcast on your favorite podcast player. The direct show link for yesterday's episode on Anchor is here and you can listen to the show in the anchor player on your browser. The show is also searchable on pretty much every player now as well, so you can subscribe to the show however you prefer to listen and have the episodes come right to your device when they post. Check out the show and let us know what you think, and be sure to share it with your friends!

Until next time, Go Cards!

-CH-

Epic Ekic....Cards WSOC downs Canes 3-0 -- FRIDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

 EMINA EKIC WITH TWO GOALS IN WSOC WIN

The Louisville women's soccer team started the 2020 season with a bang, blanking the Miami Hurricanes last night in Coral Gables 3-0. All the scoring occurred in the first 20 minutes of the contest and senior midfielder Emina Ekic was involved in all three goals -- scoring two of them and getting one assist. 

The win was somewhat tampered when sophomore forward Corinne Dente fell to the turf just 2-1/2 minutes into the match, clutching her left knee. Dente was assisted off the field and did not return. No word, as of yet, on the Stamford, CT star's extent of injury...but it looked like it might be an ACL

Louisville took a 1-0 lead seven minutes into the match when Ekic found junior Delaney Snyder with a pass into the box and Snyder sent it past Miami goalkeeper Tyler Speaks for a Cardinal goal. 

The Cards got another opportunity with 30 minutes left in the first half when Ekic moved into the box with the ball and fired a shot past Speaks to make it 2-0 Cards.

Louisville added a third goal at the 19-minute mark when Snyder returned the favor to Ekic by setting her up with a pass into the box and Ekic deftly maneuvered the ball past defenders and into the back of the net. 3-0 Cards.

The rest of the first half featured Louisville controlling possession and limiting the Canes to just two shots. 

Louisville head coach Karen Ferguson Dayes went pretty deep into the Louisville bench in the second half, inserting eight off-the-sidelines players into the match, including five freshman. Ferguson-Dayes also started a freshman to begin the game...forward Jessica Camken, a Florida native. 

The Cards outshot Miami 6-3 in the final half, four of those coming from Jessica DeFilippo. Louisville held a 12-5 advantage in shots for the match and the Cards had five shots on goal, compared to Miami's one.

Louisville goalkeep Gabby Kouzelos had a relatively quiet night at the net, but the senior recorded the 24th shutout of her career. She recorded one save, in the second half with about 11 minutes to play. 

Karen Ferguson-Dayes post-game remarks:

"It's always great to open the season with a win in this league. We put together some good moments but there are also plenty of areas that we need to improve on. Every day we will continue to work on getting better." 

Louisville travels to Tallahassee next, to face Florida State in a Sunday, 1 p.m. match. The 'Noles hosted Notre Dame last night, but Irish eyes weren't smiling...ND taking a 5-0 loss to FSU. 

All in all, despite the Dente injury, a very exciting game to watch and impressive showing for the Cards in their 2020 opener. Louisville got very fluid play from their midfielders and Ekic showed why she is an All-ACC selection and potential candidate for All-American.  

Have a fortunate Friday

paulie                                                                                                              xxxxx 

 

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-

Two Cardinal Sports Remain Undefeated -- SATURDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

Women's Soccer Opens 2018-19 Battle of the Bluegrass Series with Win

Louisville and Kentucky waited two and a half hours to start their game after inclement weather put things on hold. They then waited an additional 91 minutes before seeing the game's first goal. Less than two minutes into the first overtime period, Brooklynn Rivers received a pass from Allison Whitfield near the top of the box, turned, and slotted a shot past the diving UK keeper for the Golden Goal. I will leave my thoughts on the Collegiate Sudden Victory rules aside for today, not least because Louisville benefited from them last night. 

It was a game that Louisville deserved to win, dominating both possession and the efforts on goal. Despite an even first half and Kentucky being denied by the crossbar in the second half, it was mostly the Cards providing the offense, outshooting the Wildcats 14-5 and 9-1 shots on goal. Louisville's advantage was the product of what we've seen from the Cards so far this season, a strong defense and relentless attack. Fortunately, counterattacks and set pieces were not to doom Louisville last night, as the two teams were even on fouls with only 7, no cards were issued, and Louisville limited Kentucky to only 2 corner kick opportunities.

A look at how the Cards performed against Paulie's keys to the game shows that the Cards executed these keys perfectly and they led to the win. Ideally, they would have led to even more goals, but I'll take a win to remain undefeated any way that I can.

1) Shutting the Door: As I've already mentioned, Louisville's defense was on lock, holding Kentucky to just the one shot on goal and limiting chances in general on their way to a clean sheet. Goalkeeper stats are typically lost when you only look at saves, as Gabby Kouzelos walked away with only one from last night, but when you save the only shot on goal, you have a better chance of winning. Goalkeepers usually gain numerous touches which don't go in the box score but can have just as big an impact on the game. It was a strong effort from the defense last night and one that I hope they can duplicate. The offense will be unable to find the net in future games for sure.

2) Flying Freshmen: Did Coach Karen Ferguson Dayes read yesterday's column? Not only did the freshmen have a huge impact, but all three major players mentioned (Sarah Hernandez, Delaney Snyder, and Maisie Whitsett) earned the start last night. Hernandez had her normal spot in the defense, and we have already discussed how that went. Snyder and Whitsett started for Taylor Kerwin and Allison Whitfield respectively. Whitsett had two of three shots on goal while Snyder was unusually quiet. Of course, passing and individual defending stats are not kept so without being able to watch last night's game, I'm unable to provide a full assessment of their performances.

3) Ekic Energy: Like the two freshmen, I'm not able to fully assess the game that Emina Ekic played, but she did add another two of three shots on goal. Ekic always provides strength through the midfield and I'm sure that with the overall team performance on display last night, she played her typical high performing game.

4) Super Subs: This was one that I added in the comments and it also played a huge part in the outcome of the game. Coach KFD did not go as deep as normal into the bench, but she outsubbed Ian Carry 5-2. Her subs were also extremely effective, with two normal starters coming from the bench in Whitfield and Kerwin and Mollie Rouse returning to the team. Whitfield provided a single shot and the lone assist in the game, and Rouse was much more offensive than expected, putting two of three shots on goal and being part of the buildup for the goal.

Louisville has already exceeded my expectations through this tough three game stretch, gaining 2
wins when I said I'd be pleased with at least a win and a tie. The game at Purdue on Thursday will still be a test, but Louisville has proven that they can win games that they were unable to last season. The Cards have given me a lot of optimism moving forward to the conference season, and I'm looking forward to seeing what the Cards can do as the season progresses.

POST GAME REVIEW WITH KAREN FERGUSON DAYES:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NknuTd7TL78&feature=youtu.be

POST GAME WITH BROOKLYNN RIVERS:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tx7nRH0mNwM&feature=youtu.be


HIGHLIGHTS FROM UK vs. UofL:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bNj-6QqLHxs

Volleyball Knocks off UCF to Move to 4-0

Facing a tough weekend, the Louisville volleyball team continued their hot start, moving their unbeaten streak to four matches. Through the four matches, the Cards have yet to drop a set, yesterday sweeping UCF in the first match of the Florida Bubly Invitational. As in the previous matches, it was a matter of Louisville’s superior hitting that propelled them to victory with the Cards outhitting the Knights 0.362 to 0.133.

Like before, Louisville struggled to close out the opponent in the second set, allowing UCF to bring the match to 23-22 before winning the final two points. Unlike other matches, though, it was not a failure in hitting by the Cards that made the set closer, as Louisville still hit .387 in the set, rather an improvement from UCF. Fortunately, Louisville was able to focus up and put the set away. Hopefully, this trend of second set letdowns will come to an end before the Cards are punished for it.

Statistically, the match was similar to what we’ve come to expect so far from UofL. Melanie
McHenry led the team in kills, Wilma Rivera in assists, and Molly Sauer in digs. If you’re new around here, allow me to inform you that those three names will be the team leaders for the majority of the matches this season. To go along with her 12 kills, McHenry completed a double-double with 10 digs. She did finish with 5 errors but peppered in 3 block assists and a solo block to put together a strong overall match.

UCF was not a pushover team, like those that the Cards faced last weekend, but their first true test will come today against hosts Florida. The Gators are coming off of a loss against USC last night and will be looking to put up a more notable performance after a poor showing last night. Louisville has played pretty good volleyball to this point in the season, but this will be the first match where Louisville is up against a team with a talent level at or above their own. The Cards can win today but will need to put together a complete performance to do so. Louisville and Florida get underway at 5PM and live video is available via ESPN Streaming. After a strong overall season in her first year at the helm, Coach Dani Busboom-Kelly will be looking for a marquee win early in this one


THE CARDINAL COUPLE RADIO HOUR

With Case on the farm and Jared carousing with mice in Florida, Worldwide Jeff and Paulie welcome Mike Gilpatrick into the studio for The Cardinal Couple Radio Hour.

We'll have a lively hour of discussion about last night's soccer and volleyball, plus look at today's football game against Alabama.

Join us, won't you?  Listen live at WCHQ 100.9 FM, on the website, on the WCHQ app or see us on Facebook Live. Promoting the joy and excitement of UofL women's athletics.

www.wchqfm.com


OH...FOOTBALL TONIGHT! 

In closing, the University of Louisville Football team travels to Orlando, FL to take on last year's
National Champions Alabama.

We'll watch as fans and hope the best for our Cardinals. A tough task, no doubt, to begin the post-Lamar Jackson era. We'll see how these Cards are dealt against a formidable opponent. New defensive coordinator, a Puma  in the backfield and lots of questions on defense...for UofL.

Feel free to share your thoughts about this or any other topics in the comments section!

Until next time, Go Cards!

-CH-