Field Hockey faces must win at Providence

.
FRIDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

-Post-season on the line at Providence for Field Hockey

-Football in a showdown with UC

The University of Louisville Field Hockey team travels to Providence, R.I. for a Saturday noon match that carries serious post-season consequences.

In short, if the Cards win, they're in the BIG EAST Tournament. A loss drops them into a three-way tie potentially with Rutgers and Villanova. The tie-breaker looks to be more complicated than figuring out ObamaCare or Mitt Romney's route to the ocean from Iran.

Louisville (11-7, 2-3) is on a three-game win streak, last defeating #22 Ohio State. They handled the Friars easily last year in Trager Stadium 6-0. The Cards lead the overall series 8-1.

Amber Thomas leads Louisville with nine goals this season and Becca Maddock follows closely with eight scores. Goalkeeper Erin Conrad allows a scant 1.85 goals per game.

Providence is 3-1 in their last four games and sports a record of 9-7 on the season...3-2 in the BIG EAST. They're automatically qualified for the BIG EAST Tournament as a third seed...but a loss to Louisville would drop them to the fourth seed.

Speaking of the BIG EAST Tournament, it will be held here in Louisville at Trager Stadium. Semifinal games are next Friday and the championship will be played Sunday. The other participants in the Big  East Tournament are top seeded UConn and Syracuse...who face off this weekend to determine who will win the regualr season title.

Good luck to Justine Sowry's flock as they fly north to cook the Friars!

v^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^v6v^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^

With no women's athletic events scheduled on campus today, we would draw your attention to a big football game being played at Papa John's Cardinal Stadium. The undefeated Louisville Cardinals take on one-loss Cincinnati at 8 p.m. on ESPN.

A contest that has sold out the Pizza Oven. Five things we like about tonight's matchup...

1) UC's quarterback's name. "Munchie" Legaux. Munchie Let-go. Seriously? Got to be one of our favorite opponent names since the days of Baskerville Holmes and Ace Custis...
2) Evening football. Gives one a chance to get stuff done during the day and still get out and tailgate a few hours. Friday is even better, we can now go watch the men's bb scrimmage tomorrow.
3) They play for "The Keg of Nails". That's just a tough-sounding award. Makes me want to grab a ladder and a hammer or something. Ooh-rah!
4) The payback factor. UC beat Louisville last year in Paul Brown Stadium and "Munchie" says he's a better QB than Louisville's Teddy Bridgewater. Harumph!
5) A chance for "two". Louisville Volleyball goes to UC for a Monday match. Chance to beat the Bearcats twice in several days appeals to us! Goooo CARDS!
.
....
...
.
..
...

Women's golf off to impressive start

.
THURSDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

-Louisville Women's golf team firing at the flag

-Really, Matthew?

-Next contest: A goalkeeper match

Emily Haas leading Cards in golf this season

Courtney Trimble

The Louisville women's golf team has participated in four events so far this season and fared well in each. With new head coach Courtney Trimble and assistant Mary Bryan on board, the Cards have finished no worse than 11th. in the four matches they have participated in and won the Cardinal Cup event in Simpsonville.

Mary Bryan

They started the season in Ft.Collins, CO in the Ram Classic and finished tied for fifth. After winning the Cardinal Cup, they travelled to Columbia, MO. and ended up 9th. in the Johnie Imes Invitational. In their most recent outing, the Tar Heel Invitational in Chapel Hill, NC., they came in 11th.

Leading the way for the Cards this season is sophomore Emily Haas. She's had two top-10 finishes in the four Cardinal matches this season and has a team best 74.0 strokes per round. Her lowest score for eighteen holes this year is 69.

Right behind her is Tara Lyons. Lyons has recorded one top-20 finish this year and averages 75.4 in her four starts. Her low round is a 71.

Katie Petrino has averaged 75.7 per round for the Cards and also has a top-20 finish this fall. Her lowest round is 71. The sophomore from Fayetteville, AR. is also
Bobby Petrino's youngest daughter...Bobby being an avid golfer as well.

( Just to show you how our fan base here sometimes works...we recently got an e-mail asking us that if Bobby Petrino accepted the UK head football coaching job, would Katie transfer?)

The Cards tee it up next in San Antonio, TX. for three days of swinging in The Alamo Invitational. First round action begins Oct. 28th.

Can't touch this? Don't want to...

Not sure what's in the water in Lexington, but we offer this clip of UK head women's basketball coach Matthew Mitchell at Big Blue Madness. The Michael Jackson one-glove approach should come in real handy when arguing calls with SEC refs... 

Keep dancing, Matty. Maybe you should be introduced before all the UK home games this way...

A battle of shot stoppers.

Next in our first round matches of Your Favorite Louisville Womens Athletes..we have a goalkeeper showdown.

Chloe Kiefer guards the net for the UofL women's soccer team and has done it quite efficiently over the past couple seasons. With seventeen career shutouts, getting the ball past Kiefer is as difficult as getting a can of beer in Pittsburgh's Heinz Stadium for college football. Not gonna happen.

Erin Conrad dons #90 to protect the net for the University of Louisville field hockey team. She's been there a couple of seasons as well. Against the #1 team in the country (Syracuse) she had five second-half saves. Trying to score on Conrad might be as hard as me duplicating Matthew Mitchell's dance. Not bloody likely...

Chloe or Conrad? You can vote on the infamous left side of the site.
.
..
...

Soccer wins over Wildcats -- Field Hockey and Volleyball today

.
SATURDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

-Charlyn "Corrals" Villanova 1-0

-Volleyball hosts Pirates in Cardinal Arena

-Field Hockey takes on #3 UConn today

-Next up in the contest: Katie Keller vs. Rebecca Shine

Second half goal good enough for Louisville women's soccer.

If high scoring matches are your thing, you might have been disappointed in last night's Louisville vs. Villanova women's soccer game at Cardinal Park, but there was no disappointment on the scoreboard at the end of ninety minutes...Louisville 1- Villanova 0

Charlyn Corral worked through Villanova defenders in the 74th minute of action and booted a 22 yd. rocket over the head of 'Nova goalie Jami Kranich for the game's only score. 

Stout defense by the Cardinals kept the Wildcats at bay for the entire contest, allowing only six shots on Louisville goalkeeper Chloe Kiefer...who picked up her 16th career shutout. 

Louisville moved to third place with the win in the BIG EAST National Division and returns to action  Sunday at Cardinal Park for a 1 p.m. match against #11 Georgetown.

"Villanova is a good team and this is a great win for us. We will refocus and get ready for a very good Georgetown team on Sunday" -- Louisville head coach Karen Ferguson-Dayes.

*********************************************

Seton Hall first of three matches for VolleyCards

Anne Kordes' VolleyCards take to the court for Saturday, Sunday and Monday matches. Seton Hall is the first opponent for UofL...this one in cozy Cardinal Arena today at noon.

The Pirates (15-2, 3-1) are having their best season since 1994 with losses only to Villanova and #19 Ohio
State. Fans who attend the match will notice the Manthorpe twins for Seton Hall. They have a combined 315 kills between them this season and will pose a tough challenge to the Cardinals' blocking game...along with outside hitter Molly Grammer.

We'll have a recap of this one for you tomorrow...and then it's Rutgers (15-4, 1-3) Sunday at noon in the KFC YUM! Center and Texas (11-3) Monday night at 7 p.m. also in the YUM!  

A busy three days for Louisville Volleyball, get out and cheer them on!

********************************************

Field Hockey faces tough weekend tests

If the Cardinal Volleyball schedule seems tough over the next couple of days, they'll not get a sympathetic ear from Justine Sowry's stick swingers. #3 UConn and Louisville will do battle today at noon and #11 Iowa squares off against the Cards Sunday at 1 p.m.

Both matches are at Trager Stadium.

A pregame Kids Clinic will be held this morning from 10-11 a.m. on the field. Poster making, face painting, jumping and pizza will be available for the kiddos as well. Maybe they can invite the Huskies out, too, and get them filled up and sleepy....at 12-0, UConn is one of only two undefeated teams in Division I women's college field hockey...Syracuse being the other.

Goalkeeper Sarah Mansfield allows a scant 0.75 goals per game for the Huskies. Louisville goalkeeper Erin Conrad and the defense will have their work cut out for them trying to contain UConn's Chloe Hunnable who is atop the BIG EAST scoring charts with 25 points this year. If she fails, teammate Marie Elena Bolles is second with 24. 

The Cards come into the match at 7-5 and 1-1 in the BIG EAST. 

********************************************

Next up in the Cardinal women's sports favorite contest. 


We have a battle lined up between softball's Katie Keller and tennis star Rebecca Shine as the Sweet Sixteen Contest to pick your favorite Cardinal women's sports athlete continues. 

Keller, the hard slugging infielder for Sandy Pearsall's softball team will also be in action today at Ulmer Stadium in exhibition games against Bellarmine and Tennessee State. A junior from Livermore, CA...Keller batted .277 in 60 games last season.

Shine advanced to the semifinals of the ITA Tournament a few days ago and is the #1 singles player for Mark Beckham's women's tennis team. She and Julia Fellerhoff combine as the #1 doubles team for the Cards. She hails from Augusta, GA.

Congratulations to cross country's Michelle Molodynia, who advances to the "Great Eight" by out-distancing rowing's Erin Bennett.

.
..
...

Monday Cardinal Couple -- Soccer wins, Field Hockey falls on Sunday

.
MONDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

- Soccer defeats DePaul

-Field Hockey loses in East Lansing to MSU

-Who's seeing who? 

Chalk up a win and a loss for UofL women's sports on Sunday...as the soccer team completed their weekend road trip with a 2-0 win at DePaul and field hockey loses in overtime to #19 Michigan State. We'll also look at some WBB visitors in today's edition of CARDINAL COUPLE. 

Holtz, Corral lead women's soccer to shutout

Louisville scored two first half goals against the DePaul Blue Demons and that was all they needed in a 2-0 win in Chicago against the BIG EAST foe on Sunday.

Courtney Holtz got the Cards on the board early in the contest, taking a feed from Charlyn Corral and finding the net just six minutes into the contest. It was her first goal of the season and the team-leading sixth assist of the year for Corral. 

UofL added an insurance goal in the 31st. minute of action when Corral was fed by Erin Yenney and hit paydirt. It was Corral's first score of the regular season and second assist of the year for Yenney. 

Goalkeeper Chloe Kiefer earned her fourth shutout of the season...an easy day for her with no shots-on-goal for the Blue Demons. 

"We played a much more complete game today and it allowed us to get a difficult win on the road. Our backs were much better and were more involved in our attack, which is why Courtney was able to score our first goal." -- Louisville head coach Karen Ferguson-Dayes. 

The Cards improve to 6-2-0 on the season and 1-1-0 in the BIG EAST. They return home for two this weekend...Syracuse on Friday at 7 p.m. and St. John's on Sunday at 1 p.m.

Michigan State pulls out 2-1 win over Field Hockey

Louisville battled the Spartans gallantly for two periods and a sudden death overtime but MSU's Abby Barker scored her second goal of the afternoon with just five minutes remaining to give Michigan State a 2-1 win in the finals of the Auto-Owners Insurance Spartan Invitational Sunday on the MSU campus.

Twenty minutes into the first half before either team scored in this match...Barker getting her first score of the day. The teams went into halftime with MSU holding that 1-0 advantage. 

Louisville tied the contest early in the second half when Haley Jurich provided Alyssa Voelme with a feed and she capitalized to tie the match. 

Senior Erin Conrad had five stops in the loss. Louisvlle drops to 5-3 on the year. 

"We had an opportunity to press Michigan State in overtime when we were a player up but we were unable to recognize and take advantage of the situation. We must now shift our focus to special situations and set plays as we prepare ourselves for our opening BIG EAST game on Friday." -- Louisville head coach Justine Sowry. 

The Cards face Georgetown at 6 p.m. in Trager Stadium on Friday. A great double header for Louisville fans on campus. Field Hockey followed by soccer. 

Visitor, visitor

The University of Louisville women's basketball team getting visits in with some pretty powerful 2013 recruits. Emmonie Henderson, Saniya Chong and Mercedes Russell all being courted by Jeff Walz and the UofL coaches, players and staff on campus or home visits. 

Three girls who will make an impact on any program they decide to align with. Three girls who have pared their lists down to include Louisville. 

Angel McCoughtry was also in Louisville on Saturday. No college eligibility left for the Olympian and WNBA star but a 2nd quarter apperance and introduction at the Louisville football game. Wearing her gold medal. 

She may have got the biggest cheer of the day from the 55,000 appreciative Cardinal fans in attendance. 

Think about that...Emmonie, Saniya and Mercedes. Coming back to Louisville after four fruitful years here.

Maybe with solid gold around your neck. Maybe making headlines in the WNBA. Getting love from 55,000 CARDINAL fans and making an apperance on national television. 

Cardinal fans appreciate, honor and love their women's athletes and Cardinal coaches are among the best, if not the best in college athletics. 

The best college sports town in America. Right here. 
.
..
...

Saturday Cardinal Couple -- Volleyball, Field Hockey capture wins

SATURDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

-Volleyball sweeps MTSU in three games

-Field Hockey gets double overtime win over CMU

-Soccer falls at Notre Dame

-Renew those tickets!

Louisville women's sports team went 2-1 on Friday. The VolleyCards rolling by Middle Tennessee in the KFC YUM! Center, field hockey earning a 3-2 double overtime win in East Lansing and soccer falling short in South Bend to the Irish 2-1. Here's the recaps...

Volleyball overpowers Blue Raiders

Louisville goes to 9-1 with a straight-set sweep over MTSU Friday night in the KFC YUM! Center. The 25-19, 25-11, 25-19 wins were a little closer than the scores would suggest...at least in two of the games.

MTSU broke away from a 5-5 tie in the first game and held leads over Louisville ranging from two to three points until a Cardinal rally tied the contest at 17-17. 

At 19-19, two straight kills from Brooke Mattingly put the Cards ahead to stay. Four straight MTSU attack errors against the stout Louisville defense gave the Cards the first game by six points. 

Louisville pulled away from a 5-5 tie in the second contest...getting four kills from Emily Juhl to lead 10-6. An attack error increased the Cardinal lead to 13-7 and two straight Brooke Mattingly kills made it 17-9 Louisville. Two consecutive Caitlin Welch aces gave the Cards a 21-10 advantage and UofL notched four out of the five next points to win 25-11. 

After the break, the teams were tied early at 3-3 before Lola Arslanbekova delivered two kills to give the Cards a 6-3 edge. That increased to 8-5 after a Kaitlynn James kill and 11-5 when Tanya Lukyanenko delivered a kill. Lola made it 13-6 with her fourth kill of the game but the Blue Raiders mounted a brief rally to cut it to 13-10. MTSU attack errors gave Louisville a 18-11 lead. Middle Tennessee would get within three again at 18-15 but three straight Cardinal point pushed the lead to six points. Lola's final kill of the night gave Louisville a 22-16 advantage, Tanya added another kill to get the Cards to a 24-18 lead and Katie George ended the contest and match with a kill to give  UofL another six point win. 

Gwen Rucker did not participate in the match because of an illness. No word whether she'll be available for today's games.

The VolleyCards return to action Saturday against UNLV and Miami (FL).

Field Hockey escapes in double overtime

Sophomore Alyssa Voelmle's goal a minute into the second overtime gave Louisville a 3-2 win over the Chippewas in East Lansing, Michigan. 

The Cards trailed 1-0 in the first half when Elisa Garcia took a pass from Becca Maddock at the 19 minute mark and tied it for Louisville. CMU went back ahead 2-1 less than a minute later but Louisville rallied to tie the contest on a Maddock goal at the 25 minute mark. 

The teams went into the half tied at 2-2 and played the second half in a scoreless effort to force overtime. 
Louisville held a 3-1 edge in shots in the first 15 minute extra session but could not score. With 1:01 expired in the second overtime, Voelmle took a pass from Garcia and drilled a shot past Central Michigan goalie Anastasia Netto for the sudden death victory.

Erin Conrad had five saves for Louisville in the win, which improved the Cards record to 5-2. 

Louisville faces the winner of the Michigan v. American game on Sunday. 

Late efforts by Cards fall short in soccer against Notre Dame. 

Louisville falls in their BIG EAST open to Notre Dame 2-1 in a match that was televised on ESPNU. The Cards had opportunities to score but couldn't manage it. An improbable one against four shot on goal by N.D. freshman Crystal Thomas gave the Irish a 1-0 lead late in the first half. 

The Cards fell behind 2-0 in the second half on a crucial defensive error by Louisville goalkeeper Chloe Kiefer which allowed Lauren Bohaboy to slide past her with the ball and sink a shot into the unguarded net.  

The Cards rallied for a goal in the last minute of play when Angelika Uremovich booted it a missed head shot by Charlyn Corral in front of the goal. 


A disappointing loss and a game Louisville certainly played well enough in to gain a win. Unforced errors and miracle shots can get ya, though...

Louisville drops to 5-2 overall and heads to DePaul next for a Sunday matchup with the Blue Demons. 

Win valuable prizes from UofL! 

Are you a UofL women's basketball season ticket holder? Have you renewed those tickets yet? If you haven't you may want to do it in the next couple of days. UofL is giving away 15 prizes to current season ticket holders who haven't renewed yet but do so by Monday! 

You can view the prizes and learn more about the promotion at the link below: 

Sign me up again, coach!
.
..
...

Sunday Cardinal Couple -- Volleyball defeats Illinois, Field Hockey over Ohio

.
SUNDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

- Lola-led Cards down Illinois 3-2 in Volleyball

- Paige Monson provides game-winner for Field Hockey

- Football goes to 2-0 with win over Missouri St.

( We'll also have an in-depth report by Jeff Mc Adams today on the VolleyCards successful weekend. DON'T MISS IT! )




CARDS DIG IN, OUT-POINT THE ILLINI

They may be the best un-ranked team in women's college volleyball and Anne Kordes' VolleyCards added to that legacy with a 3-2 win over #20 Illinois in the BIG EAST/BIG TEN Challenge Saturday in Cincinnati.

( EDITOR'S NOTE: I have since been corrected and told that Louisville is, in fact, 24th in the nation. Must be some hanging chads or voter machine malfunction still out there, though....because the Cards have defeated three teams this year with better TOP 25 rankings. The very un-official Timmy the Intern and Bill the Goat poll puts Louisville at #9 in the nation. We have no idea how they did their research and no clue who they've placed in the other Top Ten Spots.)

Leading the way for the Red and Black  was senior outside hitter Lola Arslanbekova...who delivered 22 kills and 21 digs against the Fighting Illini. 

"I'm so proud of the girls for these two wins because  the BIG EAST/BIG TEN Challenge is a prestigious tournament. We came so close last year, dropping both matches against Purdue and Illinois in five sets by the narrowest of margins. It just makes it that much more exciting to see the progress we have made. They are putting in the work and playing with confidence. I am very pleased." -Anne Kordes, head UofL Volleyball coach.

It didn't come easy for the Cards...who took the highly contested match 25-18, 23-25, 25-17, 22-25, 15-9. 

Louisville roared out to an early lead in game one and at 12-4, looked to be catching the Fighting Illini unfocused and unprepared. A Illinois rally made it 17-13 but Lola led the Cards on a 5-0 run after that to snuff the UofI surge. 

The Cards appeared to have the edge early in game two and actually led 11-7, forcing a Illinois timeout. Still in command at 20-15, Louisville ran into some inspired blocking at the net and was outscored 10-3 the rest of the game to knot the contest at 1-1. 

Game three saw the Cards jump out early again and grab a 8-3 advantage. Lola continued to fuel the Cards progress and enjoyed dominance at 14-6 and 21-11. Aided by Kaitlynn James and Emily Juhl late...the Cards coasted in with a eight-point victory. 

Illinois would not go away, though and hung tough with the Cards in game four, forcing 14 ties and five lead changes in the hotly contested battle. The Cards posted a 22-21 lead after a Lola kill...but UofI swept the final four points to knot the match at 2-2.

In the deciding game, Louisville sprinted out to a 8-2 edge and stayed in the drivers' seat at 12-5. A Gwen Rucker block and two straight Lola spikes provided the Cards with the final three points needed to take game and match. 

Lola was named All-Tournament for her efforts. 

The Cards return to the KFC YUM! Center for the Louisville Invitational on Friday and Saturday...with UNLV, Middle Tennessee and Miami (FL) the other participants. 

FIELD HOCKEY DOWNS OHIO IN BLOOMINGTON

Paige Monsen picked a great time for her first career goal as a Cardinal, delivering at the 57 minute mark in the second half yesterday to give UofL a 2-1 win over the Bobcats in Bloomington. 

The first half provided an intense, scoreless battle until the final minute...when Elisa Garcia also got her first goal in college...driving a shot into the net with 41 seconds left on the clock.

Ohio tied it at the 56 minute mark, but Monsen retaliated for Louisville to make it 2-1 and the Cards defense kept the Bobcats out of the net the rest of the way. 

Senior goalkeeper Erin Conrad with a busy day, gathering nine saves. Louisville (4-2) takes to the road again next weekend...headed to East Lansing for games against Central Michigan and either Michigan State or American University Sept 14th and 16th.

GOOD JOB, TEDDY

Finally, props to the Football Cards who whipped the Missouri State Bears 35-7 in Papa John's Cardinal Stadium. Teddy Bridgewater throwing for a career high 344 yards against the Bears. 

A wonderful day for tailgating and football and most excellent results for the 2-0 Cards. It gets considerably tougher next week...North Carolina visits the Pizza bowl and they'll probably be looking for a fight after losing 28-27 to Wake Forest Saturday. The Cards 14-7 loss to the Tar Heels easily qualified as the most boring football game of the Cardinals 2011 season.
.
..
...

Friday Cardinal Couple --Women's Soccer hosts UK...Field Hockey and Volleyball on the road

.
FRIDAY CARDINAL COUPLE


-Soccer Cards hosts the Cats in Cardinal Park

-VolleyCards travel to Cincy for BIG EAST/Big Ten Challenge

-Field Hockey in Bloomington for Hoosier match

Barack Obama shows how Gwen Rucker blocks shots at
the net at the Democratic National Convention. Michelle
applauds the women's soccer teams undefeated season.
(I'm pretty sure that's what they're doing...but it was late.)

Another busy, busy weekend for UofL women's sports! The action will be heated and intense as Karen Ferguson-Dayes undefeated soccer ladies take on also undefeated UK. Anne Kordes has her net prowlers in Cincinnati for two tough contests and Justine Sowry and the field hockey squad travel to IU for two this weekend. Put on the shin guards, knee pads and cletes...we're gonna kick up, set up and slap shot you today's trifecta version of CARDINAL COUPLE! 

Soccer Cards look to remain undefeated.

UK again. In Louisville again. The Cats surely must be tired of driving across I-64 to our fair city and getting beat in athletics...but they return today to face #12 Louisville women's soccer in a 7:30 p.m. match-up at Cardinal Park. 

It's the Courtyard Marriott Classic and the Cards kick it off against a UK team that is also undefeated (4-0) and who played the same two opponents Louisville did this last weekend up in Lexington. 

Louisville with many offensive weapons in Erin Yenney, Angelika Uremovich, Irene Young, Katie Walz, Charlyn Corral and...oh, yeah...the Cards leading scorer from last year Christine Exeter. Good time for her to gather her first (and hopefully more) scores of the season. Chloe Kiefer has three shutouts at golakeeper this season. She'll have her work cut out for her tonight.

Cards also looking for a little payback from last year when the Cats took a 2-0 victory in Lexington. UK leads the series 9-5-1 lifetime. 

It's a "red-out" in Cardinal Park and the match will televised on WHAS-TV. 11.2, Insight 432 and Comcast 207. You can also catch the action on CARDS TV. This one is worth the trip, though...hope to see you in the stands in Cardinal Park tonight! If you go, you just might see a couple of UofL WBB recruits in attendance as well. Stay away, rain!

Volleyball to face Purdue in Cincinnati Friday.

The #24 VolleyCards face another tough early pre-conference tilt this afternoon when they face off against #11 Purdue at 4:30 p.m. on the U.C. campus. 

Louisville looking for revenge against the Boilermakers...who put the Cards out of the NCAA Tournament last year. Purdue (5-1) returns ferocious outside hitter Ariel Turner, the pre-season Big 10 player of the year. She'll get a lot of help from Val Nichol and Annie Drews at the net. 

Louisville will look for big performances from Lola Arslanbekova, who leads the Cards in kills and is the pre-season BIG EAST player of the year...and her net-mates Gwen Rucker, Kaitlynn James, Emily Juhl, Brooke Mattingly and Tanya Lukyanenko. 

CARDINAL COUPLE'S Jeff McAdams will be in the Fifth-Third Arena and giving us a full report on the Purdue and Illinois games there this weekend. 

Field Hockey faces IU in Bloomington

A mid-afternoon face-off for Justine Sowry's field hockey Cards against the IU Hoosiers today. A re-match of sorts from the earlier exhibition match these two had in Trager back in mid-August that Louisville won 3-0. 

Cards (3-1) getting good scoring out of Becca Maddock, Mallory Mason and Erin Schneidtmiller so far this season and the defense has rallied around goalkeeper Erin Conrad, who is allowing a scant 1.5 goals per game and has a shutout as well. 

IU on the improve since their loss to the Cards a month ago. The Hoosiers (3-0) have downed Vermont, Missouri State and Kent State.

Louisville leads the lifetime series 8-6 and also won last year 1-0 at Trager Stadium on Senior Day. 

(Good luck to all three UofL women's sports teams today and if you can't make the drive to Bloomington or Cincy, join us at Cardinal Park tonight. The only thing better than beating UK twice is...beating them three times. See you there!) 
.
..
...

Monday Cardinal Couple -- Dyer aspires higher for Cards this year...Field Hockey gets first win.

.
MONDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

-Epps commits to UK

-Shawnta Dyer looks to build on freshman debut

-Field Hockey bests Miami (OH) 3-1

CARDINAL COUPLE SPECIAL REPORT

It looks like Makayla Epps has committed to UK following her visit to the campus today. Epps is considered the best point guard in the 2013 Class in Kentucky and had previously verballed to Louisville. 

**************************************

( We've been previewing the UofL WBB squad the last couple of months and we've reached the sophomore class. First up for us, red-shirt sophomore forward Shawnta Dyer.) 

For Shawnta Dyer ( to borrow a line from Tom Petty) the waiting had to be the hardest part. Part of the heralded class of 2010, Dyer looked to be a freshman that could impact the Cardinal front line right off the bat and had a successful debut in the 2010 exhibition game against Indiana Wesleyan. 

Then, a fractured heel beset the Marion, OH star and brought an end to the season. A season of analyzing and critiquing certain areas of the game. Cheering from the sidelines as the Cards marched to the Sweet Sixteen. 

After a season of rehab and waiting, she returned to the 2011-12 Cardinal contingent and became the leading rebounder for UofL. An inside force that got plenty of chances to impact the Cardinal scoring and rebounding game inside with Monique Reid on the shelf for a year. 

Improvements for 2012-13? Dyer will tell you that she wants to become a better student of the game. That basketball isn't simply putting the ball in the basket, but strategizing and coming up with a game plan to outsmart the opponent. 

She's been busy over the summer working on her individual skills. Ball handling, jump shots, free throws. As part of a deep and experienced Cardinal squad, Dyer will be counted on to continue her inside scoring abilities and rebounding prowess on both ends of the court. 

Ask Shawnta about the team and you'll get this reply:

"We've been working hard this summer on our individual skills, taking classes and building on our team chemistry every chance we get. We are making improvements in the off season, not only to become better basketball players...but also to become better people." 

The 2012-13 season looks to be one where the Cards will make a huge run to dispose Notre Dame and Connecticut as front runners in the BIG EAST. Shawnta Dyer will be one of the prime components in an essential area...rebounding and inside scoring. 

Hoping to become an elementary teacher after her days as a Cardinal are finished, Dyer will be "schooling" opponents this season on the boards and in the paint. We think she'll continue to be at the head of the class. 

Dyer numbers

     Games played  Games Started Min. Rebs. Pts. PPG
2011-12    33              4               17.8  165  242   7.3

*******************************************

Louisville Field Hockey captured their first win of the season Sunday with a 3-1 win over Miami (OH) in the consolation game of the Sherrill Brakemeier Classic at Trager Stadium. 

The Cards showed improvement in their passing, transferring and offensive attack...according to head coach Justine Sowry. 

UofL (1-1) opened the scoring in the first half when Erin Schneidtmiller netted her first goal of the season at the 9:22 mark. Louisville dominated the first half with a 12-0 advantage in shots. 

70 seconds into the second half, the Cards increased to lead to 2-0 when Becca Madock sent one past Miami goalie Sarah Mueller. Miami managed to cut the Cardinal lead in half a few minutes later, but Haley Jurich notched the Cards' third goal when she corralled a rebound from her first shot on goal and found success the second time around. 

Goalie Erin Conrad had two saves and Louisville outshot the RedHawks 20-6. 

The Cards take to the Trager Stadium turf again on Saturday when they host Davidson. They'll also face off against Ball State on Labor Day. Both are 2 p.m. starts.
.
..
...  

Friday Cardinal Couple -- Three women's teams in action this weekend.

.
FRIDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

- Volleyball, Soccer and Field Hockey in action this weekend. 

"72 hours, six events, a full tank of gas and I'm not
wearing sunglasses" (Photo by Charlie Springer)

If you're a University of Louisville women's sports fan (and would you be here if you weren't?) you've hit the trifecta this weekend. Volleyball plays three times over Friday and Saturday, field hockey gets in two matches on Friday and Sunday and soccer hosts Purdue Friday night. Any fan who attends all six contests deserves a medal of honor from Julie Hermann...Cardinal Couple will have reports on all six contests...so let's get to the preview essentials! 

(Maybe we should get the medal of honor...)

VOLLEYBALL

The Volley Cards take over the KFC YUM! Center Friday night and all day Saturday with three matches in the Active Ankle Challenge. First up are the WKU Hilltoppers at 7:30 p.m. Friday night. No pushover here, the 'Tops' were 31-4 last year and lost to Marquette in the NCAA Tournament. 

Make sure and go early if you're attending this one. They're will be an All-Sport Pre-Game Autograph Session where various student-athletes will be signing autographs in the Main Concourse of the KFC YUM! Center from 5:30-7:00 p.m. A free autograph poster will be distributed. Your chance to get your favorite UofL athletes on ink. UofL is asking that fans just bring one additional item to be signed. Can't have Jordan Trimble wearing out that rocket arm...

The Cards also face Morehead State Saturday at 11 a.m. and Penn State at 7 p.m. A busy weekend for Anne Kordes' net-blasters! 

FIELD HOCKEY

#23 in the nation Cardinal Field Hockey will open their 2012 season with the Sherrill Brakemeier Classic. The Cards first opponent is #21 Northeastern. A perennial C.A.A. power, the Huskies went 14-8 last season and return an all-conference goalie in Lizzie Priest. 

Louisville looked impressive in an exhibition against IU last weekend...getting a goal from freshmen Kendall Weeding and two from Victoria Stratton. Senior Erin Conrad had seven saves in the 3-0 scrimmage win. 

Game time is 6 p.m. Friday. The Cards will face either Northwestern or Miami (OH) on Sunday. Admission is free for all field hockey contest this weekend. 

SOCCER

#18 Louisville soccer hosts Purdue Friday night at 7 p.m. at Cardinal Park. The Cards enter the match off a 2-0 win at Butler last Friday. Casey Whitfield and Angelika Uremovich scored for the 'Ville" in the win. 

Chloe Kiefer notched her 11th career shutout at goalie for Louisville, aided by the strong Louisville defensive backfield. 

Purdue is 2-0 so far this season...with wins over Toledo and Eastern Illinois. 

Admission is free for the match and the first 200 fans entering the gates get a free Louisville Soccer t-shirt. 

We hope you'll get to at least one or more of the games this weekend on campus or at the YUM! 

CARDINAL COUPLE will have full recaps on the madcap action this weekend and the soccer match will be available on CARDS TV for subscribers....in case you're up in your summer igloo in Nome or basking on the beach in Bimini. Have a great weekend and...

LET'S GO CARDS! 
.
..
...