And the award goes to...

THURSDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

(Jeff McAdams brings us the Thursday CARDINAL COUPLE with an awards-oriented theme today. How did the Louisville WBB squad do in Best Upset? Did Coach Pitino capture the Coach award? How about Angel and the WNBA Best Player category? Monitor your devices and get out the hankies...Jeff reviews the results.)

 

The Espy for Best Upset Goes to...

FGSU.  Well, its not terribly surprising, I guess.  Despite incredible strides in gender equality in sports, very few (no?) women or women's teams won ESPYs over men or men's teams.  Louisville's women's basketball team, a 26-point underdog to Baylor didn't get the Biggest Upset ESPY, instead the award goes to 12-point underdog FGSU beating Georgetown.

"Its an honor just to be nominated," is true, of course.  And FGSU did achieve something never achieved before, a 15 seed reaching the Men's Sweet 16.  Of course, UofL's women achieved something never before achieved either, a 5 seed reaching the Women's National Championship game.  The ESPYs are voted on by fans, though, and we're still far from the day where women's athletics gets the same level of respect and awareness that the men do.

I guess that just means that we here at The Cardinal Couple have more work to do, sharing the joy and excitement of Louisville Women's Athletics.  We couldn't be more proud of the UofL Women's Basketball team, we're thrilled that they've had the experience of being in the ESPYs crowd and have gotten some of the national attention that they so richly deserve.

I'll be in my seats for their games.  Join us, won't you?

Louisville is Bringing Home Some Hardware

An Espy...

Coach Rick Pitino did win the ESPY for Best Coach/Manager that was awarded during the ESPY pre-show, and I suspect we'll have a nomination in the 2014 ESPYs for Best Comeback with Kevin Ware.

Flying High?

Angel McCoughtry was in the running for WNBA Best Player. She fell, unfortunately...to Candace Parker. We, of course, disagree with the selection...nobody does it like Angel...but we are proud of her accomplishments and will soon prove the voters wrong when she and the Atlanta Dream take the WNBA title and she garners MVP.

And a Golf trophy...

Laura Restrepo came in second place in the Judson Collegiate Golf Tournament in Roswell, GA.  This tournament has 60 of the best collegiate golfers competing.  Congratulations Laura. Not an ESPY event, but a great honor for a Louisville golfer that will participate for what looks to be a powerhouse squad for coach Courtney Trimble this season.

Cardinal Couple Radio

Check out The Cardinal Couple Radio Hour on Crescent Hill Radio this Saturday at 11am.  I'm sure we'll be dissecting the Biggest Upset Award and how the UofL Women should've won it.  I also hope to have an interview with Louisville Volleyball Head Coach Anne Kordes, and I think Paulie has been spending some time on Floyd Street as well.  It should be a good show.

-Jeff McAdams

(Editor note: WE do have some great interviews lined up for Saturday. We spoke with Jeff Walz on his way to the ESPY awards, Arthur Albiero fills us in on Cardinal Swimming and Diving and Coach Karen Ferguson-Dayes and I sit down for another edition of 'Kicking It With Karen' .
We're on 11 a.m. Saturday at www.crescenthillradio.com and previous broadcasts can be found in the archives section at the site. Local...up close and personal..and never boring...the CARDINAL COUPLE RADIO HOUR is commercial free, thanks to our listener sponsors.  Paulie)

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Louisville Women's Basketball heads West

WEDNESDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

( Three categories in tonight's ESPY Awards at 9 p.m. on ESPN have current and former UofL hoopsters involved. Jenny O'Bryan catches us up on the BIGGEST UPSET OF THE YEAR category and the LADY CARDS nomination for their win over Baylor in the NCAA regionals. You can also vote for Pitino as Coach of the Year and Angel as best WNBA player. All three are deserving. Go vote! )  

IT is the eve of the ESPYs  (as I write this) and a contingent from Louisville Women’s Basketball has headed West.  If you are on twitter and follow the team basketball account, or any of the player’s accounts, you are seeing a photo montage of the trek. 

Bria Smith shared a Vine (for those of you not in the social media know, this is a 7 second video clip) in the wee hours of Tuesday morning announcing the departure.  Pictures and regular updates ensued from the coaching staff, each of the players heading out, as well as the basketball account. 

Coach Walz posted a picture of his new baby girl Lola, as they touched down in LA.  Sara Hammond posted a picture of an attendant waiting outside the gate with a placard with her name on it.  Pictures of lunch at Johnny Rockets, lunch on the beach, star sightings, and a pool party with all the celebrities have been captured all day long by Bria Smith, Antonita Slaughter and Sara Hammond.  Shoni Schimmel will also be arriving in LA, though she seems to have missed all the early arrival fun going on.  I have also read Jude Schimmel will also be in attendance. 

What an incredible time for these young women, and this program.  Well deserved, no doubt.  The Year of the Cardinal keeps on keeping on and I hope these young women are savoring every minute of it.  What an incredible opportunity for them, and what incredible exposure for this program! 

As much as I want and believe the win against Baylor is deserving of the biggest upset award, I am wary because it is a women’s game going up against 3 male sporting events, one of which was a football game.  Let’s keep that Ugly Duckling, Party Crasher mentality alive for one more event.   

Regardless of what happens tomorrow at the awards, Louisville takes the big stage with 3 nominations in total, the women’s team, Coach Pitino for Best Coach and Angel McCoughtry for Best WNBA player.   That is an enormous amount of exposure for one program, exposure that money can’t buy.  It is the reward of success!

Today marks the last day you can vote for our Louisville connections.   If you have not done so yet (why the heck haven’t you?),  here is the link:
 

http://espn.go.com/espys/2013/

Voting remains open until 9:00 p.m. today.  You can watch the awards this evening starting at 9:00 p.m on ESPN.    Go Cards!


-JENNY O'BRYAN

( EDITOR NOTE: We have an interview with Jeff Walz that reveals his feelings toward the nomination and other aspects of the importance of the award that will play on our Saturday Radio Show on Crescent Hill Radio. WE hope you'll tune in to catch it Saturday @ 11 a.m. or you can catch it on the Sound Cloud archived broadcast area on the home page. Link is www.crescenthillradio.com and you'll find three months of our archived broadcasts there. We wish all the Louisville entries the best of luck and success tonight in the ESPY's!)

-Paulie








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Tuesday Cardinal Couple -- USA WBB WUGS get Gold

TUESDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

- USA WBB WUGS roll past Russia 90-71

- Corral, Mexico fall in final to Great Britian

- Two days left to vote for ESPY's

It was hyped to be the ultimate matchup. A Russian team that had obliterated its previous five opponents against a USA squad, also undefeated, that had undergone a blood pressure check in escaping against a determined Aussie team two days earlier. Russia and the USA in a donnybrook.

It turned out to be a rout...USA jumping out to a 13-3 lead to begin the game and never in any serious danger while winning the third consecutive gold medal for the United States in World University Games women's basketball.

Offense, it is said...fills the seats but defense wins games. The USA WUGS applied a blistering first half defense that limited Russia to 31.4% shooting and a 41-27 halftime lead

With four players in double figures and shooting 52.5% for the game, the United States led by 24 with nine minutes left in the fourth quarter and Russia never got closer than 15 the rest of the way.

As for Ms. Schimmel...three minutes of mop up play...gathering one assist and taking no shots. She finished the six games with a 4.6 ppg, 3 assists stat line while averaging 12.6 minutes a game. Those numbers pretty much garnered from the first three games...she saw a total of 10 minutes and no points against Brazil, Australia and Russia in the final three USA contests. 

Still, she's only the second Lady Cardinal to ever win a gold medal with USA Basketball...Angel McCoughtry preceding her in the category. On a team deep with guards, Schimmel fell to the bottom of head coach Sherri Coale's rotation..behind talented Kaleena Mosqueda-Lewis, Bria Hartley, Odyssey Sims, Ariel Massengale, Aaryn Ellenberg and Crystal Bradford. We've expressed our thoughts on Coale's rotation...the bottom line, however is that it takes a team effort to win championships and Shoni's role, although limited, was in a team venue and concept.

Hey...there's a lot worse ways to spend two week in July. Shoni got to travel, practice against the best in women's college basketball and add to her resume. All things that will bode well for the UofL senior as she and her teammates attempt to return to the NCAA WBB Final Four. A quick turn-around for Shoni...from Kazan, Russia to the ESPY awards Wednesday night in Los Angeles...where her 2012-13 UofL team is nominated for Upset of the Year.

Could anyone blame her for wanting to take the upcoming weekend off?

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Louisville women's soccer star Charlyn Corral scored once in Mexico's 6-2 defeat to Great Britian in the WUGS women's soccer gold match.

Her goal gave Mexico a 2-1 lead at the 28 minute mark of the championship game. It was 2-2 late in the contest before the Brits exploded for four goals after the 86 minute mark.

Corral's 10 goals in six matches was four goals better than anyone else in the competition. The senior-to-be at Louisville brings the silver back to campus after a outstanding performance on the world's stage.

Could anyone blame Louisville head soccer coach Karen Ferguson Dayes for walking around campus with a big smile these days? A healthy Corral and Christine Exeter gives Louisville two prime weapons against the competition this fall. We're trying to catch up with Coach Karen for an interview for Saturday's radio show. We may have to check the stratosphere...since Coach Karen is probably walking on air lately...

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The ESPY's are Wednesday night. Two Louisville categories we think you should for for are the best coach and biggest upset. Louisville in each category, of course.

Just got off the phone with coach Jeff Walz this morning, who is driving to St. Louis to fly out for the ceremonies. He'll hook up with Jude, Shoni, Bria, Sara and Nita out there for the show.

We'll have the full phone interview on the Saturday edition of CARDINAL COUPLE RADIO on Crescent Hill Radio. A couple of teasers...

-What benefits does Coach Walz think being a candidate for an award provide for Louisville women's basketball?

-Is it Coach Walz's first trip to the ESPY's?

-Were Coach Walz and Shoni staying in touch during the WUGS?

Tune in Saturday morning for these answers and more words from Walz at 11 a.m.

www.crescenthillradio.com
 
You can also listen to last Saturday's show and previous CARDINAL COUPLE RADIO shows in the archives section at Crescent Hill Radio's homepage.

Also, when listening to the show "live" ... you do have to pick a selection (like Windows Media or another) to hear the broadcast. The preview that plays on the home page DOES NOT automatically connect you to our show. Sonja found that out the hard way last week.



--Paulie

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Monday Cardinal Couple -- Two Cards in U.S. Women's Am

MONDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

-Petrino, Andreas qualify for U.S. Women's Amateur

 UPDATE: USA Women's Basketball WUGS win the gold over Russia 90-71.
Shoni gets three minutes of mop up.

Mexico women's soccer finished with silver, Corral scores once. We'll have the full stories in TUESDAY CARDINAL COUPLE...


Two golfers for the University of Louisville women's golf team have qualified for the 113th U.S. Women's Amateur Championship set for Aug. 5-11th at The Country Club of Charleston in Charleston, SC.

Junior Katie Petrino and incoming junior transfer Haley Andreas are two of 156 players that will vye for the title.

Petrino qualified on July 1st. with a 71 in sectional qualifying at Kiawah Island, SC. She was ranked fourth on the Cardinal women's golf squad last season.

Andreas transfers in from Arizona where she played for the Wildcats for two years. Her qualifying came Thursday with a 73 in Dayton, OH.

It's the second year in a row Petrino has qualfied for the Women's Am.

WE wish both the best in the upcoming tournament and also in American Athletic Conference (we think) competition this upcoming season. The site for the AAC does list golf as one of the conference sports...but makes no distinction bewteen men's and women's sports in it.

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USA Women's basketball WUGS take on Russia for the gold today at 1:30 p.m. in Kazan, Russia. ESPNU will have the coverage. Louisville's Shoni Schimmel is a participant on the 12 player roster.

Get the gold, girls!

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Cardinal women's soccer forward Charlyn Corral will be going for the gold also in the WUGS finals for Mexico against Great Britian. She has nine goals in the games...tops by far for leading scorer title.

Louisville women's soccer gets underway against Vandy in Nashville for an exhibition game on August 12th.

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Don't forget to vote for the ESPY's at www.espn.com Louisville WBB is a candidate for biggest upset for the year for their win over Baylor in the NCAA Regionals.

-Paulie

WUGs, WUGs and ESPYs

THURSDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

- Corral corrrals in Koreans

- Field Hockey will teach you a thing or two

- WUGS in quarterfinals vs. Sweden

- Go Vote!


Charlyn Corral of Louisville Soccer seemsto be taking full advantage of her time representing her home country, Mexico, at the World University Games.   

Corral led her team to a 3-0 win over Korea in the quarterfinals on Thursday scoring 2 goals in the 3-0 win.  Corral has scored 7 goals in four matches and leads all scores in the tournament. 

Mexico will advance to the semifinals and face South Africa on Saturday, July 13. 

Congratulations to Corral for an outstanding performance thus far in the Games. 

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Coach Justin Sowry of Field Hockey kicked off her Elite Camp on Thursday, July 11 and it runs through Sunday, July 14.  The camp is for girls and boys in high school.  Campers can either commute or reside on campus for this event. 

If you are driving down Floyd Street you might see campers working on individual fundamental skills, team tactics or game play. 

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Shoni Schimmel and the basketball WUGs will be taking to the court Friday morning in the medal quarterfinals.  Teams win the medal rounds are competing for 1-8^th place. 

Team USA will face Sweden at 10:30 a.m. to open this round of play.  Also playing will be Australia vs Canada, Russia vs. Czech Republic and Taiwan vs. Hungary. 

You can follow updates through www.usabasketball.com.   The first opportunity to watch Team USA will be on Saturday, July 13 at 1:00 and 10:00 p.m. in the semifinals on ESPNU.  I believe the foregone conclusion is that Team USA will make it to the semi’s round.   Should Team USA advance to the gold medal game, that too, can be seen on ESPNU, Monday, 7/15. 

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Finally, if you have not done so yet, please VOTE!!!!  Louisville Women’s Basketball is nominated for ESPYs Biggest Upset in Sports for the biggest upset in the NCAA tournament (if not in the history of the tournament) , for the win over Baylor.   

Also nominated is former Cardinal Angel McCaughtry for MVP in the WNBA and Coach Rick Pitino for Coach of the Year.   

Please visit the below site and vote:

http://espn.go.com/espys/2013/vote/index?id=9402604
 

Several members of the team have been invited to attend the ESPY’s.  From what I can tell both Shoni Schimmel and Bria Smith will be in attendance.  Schimmel will arrive back in the States on 7/16 and will fly out to LA for the awards ceremony on 7/17.  I have read somewhere that 4 players were invited to attend, should I track down the names of the other two we will let you know.  

-Jenny O'Bryan

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