SHOWDOWN IN DURHAM
A fall trip to the TarHeel state to many sounds like a wonderful chance to catch the changing colors of the trees, revel in the majestic beauty of the western N.C. mountain ranges or maybe even get in a little golf down in the south east corner of the state at one of the nine courses at Pinehurst or nearby Whispering Pines or Southern Pines. I've had some fun football road trips to schools in North Carolina and make the trek annually to Greensboro for the ACC WBB Tournament and to visit relatives in Burlington and Haw River.
For the Louisville women's Soccer squad, though, it means two crucial games in ACC competition that offer the Cards a chance to make claim on a high conference ranking and inclusion to the ACC Championships.
That quest begins tonight at 7 p.m. against the Duke Blue Devils. #10 in the nation and sporting an impressive 11-2-2 record overall. The "Dookies" are also in second place int the ACC and have one more point (16) than the Cards in the scoring system for soccer that Jared explained to you in yesterday's column. The Cards are at 11-3 overall, already achieving more wins than last season with three contests remaining...but getting no love in the NCAA women's soccer polls and rankings.
If anything, one could suggest a tie tonight (in terms of game outcome, not mode of dress for watching the contest) and not be making a bold or improbable statement.
These two have faced five times in the series and four of them have ended in ties. Duke has the lone win...the heart-breaker we discussed a couple of days ago.
Louisville looks to continue the "no goal for you" strategy that they've employed in the last two and seven times, so far, this season. Funny, indeed, how the Cards have the "best goalie in the world" in Field Hockey...i.e. Ayeshia McFerran, but WSOC goal-tender Gabby Kouzelos has a 0.93 G.A.A. average (that means you give up less than one goal a game) and McFerran is at 1.13 in fifteen matches.
 |
| NO GOAL FOR YOU... |
Maybe we and the other media are promoting the wrong goalkeeper for "best in the world". (Don't get mad or send contemptuous e-mails my way, please. Just joking around, right?)
The Cards have multiple scoring threats, who shows up on which night is the question...but Emina Ekic, Brooklyn Rivers, Maisie Whitsett and Delaney Snyder are just some of the many on the Kickin' Cards rosterwho have the ability to boot the ball past the defender and into "net city".
In any event, I expect a low scoring one tonight that can be seen on the ACC Network Extra. Here's a link: DOOKIES AND BIRDS WOMEN'S SOCCER
Oh, yeah....Tie optional.
WHO'S BEING FOLLOWED?
Facebook, Twitter, SnapChat, Instagram, You Tube, Quora, Tumblr, Pinterest, Google + and Whatsapp. Yes, there are a lot of social networking and browsing sites and apps available for the internet user these days.
Where will it be ten years from now?
One of the most popular is Twitter. Do you tweet? A lot of people do, including me and my woeful efforts to put together constructive, meaningful and correct spelling efforts in the a readable, intelligent fashion. Don't even get me started about the "@" and "#" options.
People track everything these days. An enterprising (whatever) on Twitter that goes by the handle @SkullSparks has tweeted out some figures on the "Top 25 Most Followed Women's Basketball Teams on Twitter." He includes the hashtag #smsports on the tweet.
Nope. Western Kentucky, Louisville WBB's first opponent didn't make the list.
The Cards did, though...checking in at ninth place. Who's number 1? Why the UConn Huskies, of course. Kentucky WBB beats the Cards with a fifth place finish.
Does this surprise you? I've included the graphic so you can see who is where in popularity terms. I was surprised that Oklahoma finished in eighth, one above Louisville.
I guess those Sooners are more "trigger/finger/thumb happy" that the Cards WBB fans.
Shoot me a tweet, we can discuss it. @CardinalCouple. All of the "knuckleheads" at Cardinal Couple have one or more twitter accounts and you can follow them, too...Worldwide's is @CardCoupleRadio, Jared is at @MrAndersonJared and Case goes by @Bstcasescenario
After all, how many cute pet or sweaty locker room and funny GIF's are enough?
BUCKIN' KATIE
By now, most of you probably know that former Miss USA and Louisville Volleyball standout Katie George has packed her gear and headed to Milwaukee to be the sideline reporter for the NBA's Milwaukee Bucks. I miss not seeing her on local FOX affiliate WDRB or hearing her on Howie's Lindsey's morning radio show LOUISVILLE FIRST on 790 WKRD.
Katie seems to be doing OK, though, in the land of cheese curds and beer. I haven't seen one of her reports yet, but with the NBA season just starting, chances are I probably will soon. Truth be told, I'm more of a WNBA guy in terms of viewing and haven't given the Bucks much eye-time since the days of Junior Bridgeman and Kareem Abdul Jabbar prowling the court for them.
My NBA watching mostly consists of seeing how former UofL Cardinals are doing in "The League". This time of year has me busy prepping for UofL WBB and following other women's sports on the UofL campus. And, that's quite the task.
A story I'll share on Katie and her mom:
A few years back, me and Mrs. Cardinal Couple attended the UofL Volleyball banquet and found Katie, her boyfriend at the time (a soccer guy named Paolo Del Piccolo who currently plays for Louisville FC and seemed like an O.K. fella), Katie's mom and a few others at the same table.
Sonya asked me later that night, on the way home, about "Pablo The Pick and Roll"
Classic.
We had fun at the table and I caught a few interviews around the room to boot. Not with Katie, but...upon Sonya's suggestion... I interviewed Katie's mom. It's in the archives somewhere her at Cardinal Couple. Katie was listening intently. My rationale was "everyone always interviews Katie but how often does her Mom get any interview requests?"
We wish Katie the best in Milwaukee. Below, a link to an article recently published about her.
I miss the double fist pump. We always figured she was destined for more than just local Louisville media. She idolizes Erin Andrews.
She could very well become her equal or better down the road.
LINK: KATIE GEORGE INTERVIEW
paulie
xxxxx
( Written while battling a balky laptop that does not want to save or allow me to preview posts. I think I better call...GHOSTBUSTERS! )
CARDS, BLUE DEVILS GO 110 WITH NO SCORE
Sammy Hagar claimed he couldn't drive 55. John Fogarty and Creedence Clearwater Revival insisted 99 1/2 wouldn't do. Nigel Tufnel, of Spinal Tap, felt the need to go to 11 and Chicago wasn't sure if it was 25 or 26 to 4. Three Dog Night insisted 1 is the loneliest number that you'll ever know. Alice Cooper was 18...and didn't know what he wanted.
OK...enough of the musical number and artist ennui...
Last night Louisville women's soccer traveled to Durham, NC to face #7 Duke and after 110 minutes of play, the squads were right where they started on the scoreboard. 0-0, nothing to nothing...zip and zilch.
That isn't the whole story of the two-overtime thriller...both squads had near misses with shots on goal...especially Duke...and Cardinal goalkeeper Taylor Bucklin earned her scholarship monies with two "did-you-see-that?" saves (two of her season-high seven).
Louisville (6-2-2, 1-0-1) came out defensive-mined. It wasn't quite the "build-a-wall in-front-of-the-goal" strategy that Ball State used on the Cards two weeks ago...but the majority of the first-half action took place on the Cardinals part of the field...Duke had five of their seven shots on goal in that first 45 minutes (compared to zero, zip, zilch for the Cards) but none of them entered the net.
Here's a fun stat (avert your eyes, Justine Sowry)...these two squads have now played a total of 440 minutes and neither team has scored a goal.
It is a good, if rather boring, philosophy to employ when you are on the road against a quality opponent. Led by Inger Katherine Bjerke...who the Duke announcer on ACC Network Extra referred to as "Beercheck" a couple of times...the Cards routinely had 7,8 or 9 players back in the defensive role of making sure that nothing got past the posts.
It looked like the Blue Devils would break the scoreless match in the 71st. minute. Taylor Racioppi (whose name the announcers got right) slipped the Cardinal defense and found herself right in front of Bucklin with the ball. A shot was fired, Bucklin managed to get a knee in front of it and the ball bounced to the left side of net...inches short of going in. I almost had to go do a beer-check after that one. Bjerke was there also...but I'm not sure if she realized what was going on.
LINK: SHOT DENIED !
The Blue Devils out-shot Louisville 31-9...but after the five first half shots on goal...they only managed two more the rest of the way. Louisville did get their offense a little more employed as the contest went on and attempted five shots on goal. The Cards were firing away with about the same frequency as the Blue Devils in the last seven minutes of regulation but the scoreboard (and the Duke defense) refused to move.
Our columnist Case Hoskins has lamented about the whole two overtime process. And, it was clear that both of these teams were gassed in the second overtime...each team only getting one shot-on-goal opportunity in the 10 minutes. I'd like to see a strategy shift in college soccer to eliminate ties. Sure, go ahead and play your first ten minute overtime if you wish...but go to a one-on-one shootout against the goalie after that if it is still tied. First one to score wins the game. Or go to "first-one-to-3". Have the coaches meet at mid-field and play rock, paper, scissors. Anything. Just get rid of these extra 10 minutes.
Ties on the road against top ten foes are better than losing. They're not as rewarding as wins. Someone once said "a tie is like kissing your sister". I don't have a sister, so I can't fully understand or have any actual experience the concept...although I've kissed a few "sisters" in my days. If you've been kissing your sister...I probably don't want to hear about it.
Louisville comes home to face Boston College Sunday afternoon at the Lynn. Game time is 1 p.m. Dress is casual, wear something Cardinal and...
No ties, please...
My buddy Doug Bruno...he, of DePaul WBB, likes ties. Especially the Jerry Garcia style. I used to have to wear them years ago in the work-a-day world. These days, it's usually a funeral, wedding or Easter Sunday that gets one around my neck. Most useless piece of clothing ever invented...
I wonder if Doug could use a few dozen ties that span five decades? Boxed up and ready to ship...
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VOLLEYBALL, FIELD HOCKEY TONIGHT
7 p.m. is the start time for both Louisville Field Hockey and Volleyball tonight...with both teams on the road.
Anne Kordes' Wide-Netters are taking on Notre Dame. The Irish are an impressive 9-3 as their rebuilding process appears to be moving swimmingly along. This is the first of two challenges for the 5-5 Cards...they head to Florida State (7-2) Sunday. WatchESPN will carry the match.
Freshman Melanie McHenry leads the Cards with 126 kills this season. No other Cardinal has reached the 100 mark yet.
Louisville Field Hockey takes a swing thru Carolina this weekend...stopping first in Winston-Salem to face Wake Forest. This is a top 15 matchup...the Cards #7 and WFU #14. Louisville is also #11 in the RPI. UofL (7-1) heads to Boone, NC for a matchup with App. State Sunday. The Cards are first in ACC home Field Hockey attendance. Having seen how the total attendance is determined...the numbers are a bit suspect...but hopefully the Cards will draw well for the WFU match. Watching Louisville v Duke WSOC last night...the bleachers maybe had 15 people in them total. The TV view shows only one side of the field, of course...but it wasn't exactly a packed Lynn Stadium.
ACC play. Coming at ya at full speed this days. Love it!
paulie
xxxxx
If anything, one could suggest a tie tonight (in terms of game outcome, not mode of dress for watching the contest) and not be making a bold or improbable statement. 
Nope. Western Kentucky, Louisville WBB's first opponent didn't make the list. 
