Volleyball Schedule Update; New FH Assistant -- FRIDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

Some minor changes to the lineup this week due to various obligations. Today you've got Case instead of Daryl, who is out on Bats duty. 

KFC Yum! Center Matches Announced

The speculation surrounding which UofL volleyball matches will take place in the KFC Yum! Center can end as the University announced tickets for the six matches were on sale yesterday. Surprisingly, the late-season midweek matchup against Notre Dame will not be one of them. Only two conference matches will be played in the big arena: Stanford and Pitt. 

Louisville will open the season against Tennessee in the Yum! Center on Sunday September 1st. The Cards are on the road after that until the Cardinal Classic, which will be downtown (mostly) this season. Louisville's first three games of the season will be in the Yum! Center, as their Friday match against Northern Iowa and their Saturday match against Creighton will be there. Friday and Saturday's Rice matches against Creighton and UNI will also be in the Yum! Center, but Sunday's final match of the event (UNI vs Creighton) will return to L&N Federal Credit Union Arena.

The Nebraska match, as everyone expected, will be one of the matches in the Bucket. The match still doesn't have an official confirmation according to the schedule as to whether it will be on Saturday or Sunday (the 21st or 22nd of September). The following week, Louisville will host Stanford on September 29th. 

Louisville's last regular season match in the KFC Yum! Center will be nearly two full months later, when the Cards take on Pitt on November 27th in the second to last game of the year. Louisville is on the road at Stanford to close the season. 

That Pitt match might not be Louisville's last game in the Yum! Center in 2024, though. Louisville will hope to host in the NCAA tournament. The arena will also be the site of the 2024 Final Four on December 19th and 22nd, and the Cards would very much like to be part of that event. 

More information on ticketing for these events can be found here.

Schneidtmiller Returns to UofL

After a couple of years with Bellarmine, Erin Schneidtmiller has rejoined Justine Sowry's field hockey coaching staff at UofL. Erin has spent just a few years away from the city of Louisville during her life, as she joined Louisville's squad after graduating from Mercy Academy in 2010. After her collegiate career ended in 2013 with first-team All-Big East and All-West Region honors, she worked with Mercy's program and headed to Bremen, Germany to continue her playing career. In 2015, she returned to the States and served as an assistant at American University from 2015-2017. Schneidtmiller joined the staff at her alma mater in 2018 and worked with Sowry for three seasons. From 2018-2020, Louisville won 43 games and made two NCAA quarterfinals (and one semi). 

Schneidtmiller departed UofL to help usher Bellarmine into Division I. The Knights won seven games last season, including three over MAC opponents. Schneidtmiller said she was "thrilled to be returning" and cited the pride that her previous experiences as a student-athlete and a coach have brought her. She replaces Malachi Mahan, who was with the team for the 2022 and 2023 seasons. 

Until next time, Go Cards!

Case

Field Hockey Opens Exhibition Season With a Win -- SATURDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

Cards Drop Bellarmine 4-0 in Extended Exhibition

Louisville field hockey opened their season yesterday afternoon with an exhibition game against Bellarmine. Whether Louisville was on the road or at home is a matter of linguistic preference, as the teams share Trager Stadium as their home facility. After picking up the win yesterday, Louisville is truly on the road today, as they head up to Athens, Ohio to take on the Bobcats of Ohio University in their final scrimmage tomorrow.

Bellarmine won four games last year, their fourth in D1. Their head coach was MAC coach of the year in 2021, a season in which they also won four games with two of those being in conference. In 2022, Erin Schneidtmiller joined the Bellarmine staff as an assistant coach. As I mentioned previously, the home locker room would have stayed the same, so hopefully it wasn't too much of a transition.

There isn't much out there about this game, since Louisville doesn't typically post box scores for exhibition games. We did have Jared on site, though, so we've got at least the final results and the makeup of the match. Louisville was mostly unthreatened in this one, and they jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the first half. It would probably be safe to assume that the Cards tried a few different lineups and introduced some new players in the second half, as Louisville only extended their lead to 4-0 by the end of regulation.

Because field hockey is played to a result in every game, it is important to practice the various post-regulation methods for when they're inevitably employed during the season. As a result, the two teams played one overtime period before going to a shootout. Remember that field hockey overtime is played with a reduced field player count, leading to different strategies and play styles. Neither team scored in the overtime and Louisville finished with a 4-3 advantage in the shootout. 

After the match Jared was able to catch up with Coach Sowry to get her thoughts on the team's performance. You can listen for yourself below, but one of the interesting items she mentioned was that she'll play almost an entirely different squad tomorrow. Jared was also able to throw Coach off a bit with a question that he could have only gotten away with given the final result. The sisters Plumb also got a special shoutout.

Postgame with Coach Sowry

The Cards are back in action tomorrow at noon, though we're likely to find out very little about that match with it being on the road. Their regular season will get underway next Friday when they host Northeastern at 5 PM. Bellarmine will actually open the regular season action at Trager when they host St. Louis at noon that day. Northeastern will also stay in town for the weekend, playing Bellarmine on Sunday. To make things more confusing, Louisville will travel to Evanston to play Northwestern on the 27th.

Cardinal Couple Radio Hour Podcast

We should have four in the booth once more as Daryl remains in full house prep mode. We'll have plenty to talk about now that there has been some on field action for Louisville, and I'm sure we'll get some preview time for the volleyball red and black scrimmage, which Jeff will talk about in his column tomorrow. As always, you can check out the live stream of the show by going to the Cardinal Couple YouTube page and clicking on the live video. Jeff usually creates that about an hour before the show, which officially starts at 11 AM Eastern. If the live time doesn't work for you, there are plenty of playback options, so be sure to check out whichever is best for you!

Cardinal Couple YouTube: Link

Anchor (podcast host): Link

Apple Podcasts: Link

Google Podcasts: Link

Overcast (free account required): Link

Pocket Casts (free account and app required): Link

RadioPublic: Link

Spotify: Link

Until next time, Go Cards!

Case

Louisville WBB- Notre Dame Comparison, Field Hockey Coaching addition... Wednesday Cardinal Couple

FIELD HOCKEY ADDS ASSISTANT

The sticks have added a new assistant coach for next season. Field hockey alumna Erin Schneidtmiller returns home, but this time as a coach. The former forward spent four seasons from 2010-2013 with the Cards.

After graduating from Louisville, Schneidtmiller went on to coach at Mercy Academy and spent time in Berlin playing professionally. She then went on to spend three seasons as an assistant at American University wearing red and blue (it only makes sense a school called “American” would rep those colors) and helping the Eagles to 39 wins and a conference championship.

Let’s see what Sowry, Schneidtmiller and the Louisville field hockey team have in store for us next season. Long time associate coach Lucas Piccioli remains on the staff. 

WBB PREPARES FOR IRISH BATTLE

Irish pep band from ACC Tournament two years ago.
Not sure what instrument the big head played...

The WBB Cardinals of the court are gearing up for their biggest game of the season thus far. Our third-ranked Cardinals face second-ranked Notre Dame tomorrow night. The game is so big that the lower bowl has sold out and tickets for the upper bowl are going fast. Athletics has marked it as a “RED OUT”.

Julie JC Sullivan gave us some interesting facts about the 18-0 start and a preview of what to expect tomorrow night during her Tuesday write-up. Case and Paulie gave us a VT recap and a small preview of the game during Monday’s write-up.

Instead of previewing the match-up even more we’re going to dive into Notre Dame and what the Irish look like.

UConn’s fourth quarter comeback is the only blemish on the Irish’s record. Their quality wins include victories over ranked opponents South Carolina and Michigan. Syracuse and Marquette are in the receiving votes category and Notre Dame defeated both as well.

The Irish have an average margin of victory of 22 in their 15 wins. Their closest win was by five at Oregon State, or you could argue their six-point victory in overtime against Marquette could be their closest as well. Their largest margin of victory came in the season opener win when they walloped Indiana University at Pennsylvania by 68.

Coming to squat on the Denny Crum Court...Miss Muffet
Not sure if red-headed Ray has any tuffets to sit on
at the YUM! 

Junior guard Arike Ogunbowale leads their team in scoring, averaging 20.8 points per game. She has some help on offense with three other players averaging double figures: Jessica Shepard (14.8), Jackie Young (14.8) and Marina Mabrey (12.5). Compared to Louisville, the Cards have Asia Durr (20.2) and Myisha Hines-Allen (13.4) as the only players in double-digits.

Ogunbowale and Mabrey are their three-point threats, having made 23 and 26 this season, respectively. ‘Night-night’ has made 56 on the year while three other Cards have made at least 11.

Down low, Shepard is hauling in just over eight rebounds per game while Young is pulling in 7.3 each game. ‘DOO-BLAY’ Is averaging 9.7 rebounds per game. No other Cardinals are even at five.

"Aw, jeez...Meathead. You got me and Edith tickets for
the women's game? She'll be screaming all night now." 

What we consider negative aspects of the game Notre Dame has excelled in.  No player averages more than two fouls per game while only one player averages more than two and a half fouls a game. Jaz Jones is on pace with 2.5 turnovers per game, but the rest of Louisville is in the 1.5-2 range currently, still enough to see more than 15 turnovers per game. The Cards have had some trouble with committing nearly 18 fouls per game, an easy way to give the opponent free throws.

This game is a competition between two similar teams. Both squads have the up-tempo pace to put up big numbers and can have a defense that can shut down any team. Will the Cards find an answer to Notre Dame’s recent dominance or will the home court advantage and the hot start be enough to propel Louisville to a win? Get involved tomorrow night to find out- 1 Arena Plaza, Louisville, KY, 40202, or ESPN for those who cannot make it.

Jared Anderson

Washington wins over UofL WSOC...FH defeats alumnae -- Monday Cardinal Couple

PEREZ'S TWO SCORES DOWN CARDS 2-1 

Louisville Women's Soccer scored first in the match against #20 Washington but saw Washington counter with the final two goals of the game. 

Rachel Avant got the Cards on the board at the 30 minute mark...connecting right in front of Husky goalkeeper Megan Kufield...but the Huskies notched their first score a minute later on a corner kick where Amanda Perez found net. 

The Huskies took the lead 13 minutes into the final half when Perez took a UofL goalie Taylor Bucklin deflection and sent it past her for the eventual game-winner. 

The Cards celebrated US women's team head coach Jill Ellis being in town with a special halftime presentation and Q and A with the fans...plus a post game clinic and skills session for the youth in attendance that Ellis mentored. Ellis was also honored at a special team dinner with the Cardinal squad Saturday evening at the home of head coach Karen Ferguson-Dayes and spent a couple of hours talking with the squad. 

Washington outshot the Cards 15-11 and both Bucklin and Kufeld have five saves each. 

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FIELD HOCKEY STARTS SLOW BUT ROMPS THE ALUMNAE 7-1

In the annual Field Hockey vs. Alumnae game at Trager Stadium...it was the grads who got goal first when 2004 All-Mid-American Suzanne Irwin Bush connected in the 19th. minute of play. The alums held that advantage another ten minutes before Shannon Sloss found net twice in the final six minutes to give the undergrads a 2-1 halftime lead.

Coach Sowry delivered an "inspiring" speech (by some accounts) to get the 2015 squad fired up for the final 35 and it did the trick. 

Five minutes into the final half, Victoria Stratton got Louisville's first goal of the half on a penalty corner. Then came Katherine Gwynne-Wood, Stratton again, Tess Hannah and finally Stephanie Byrne in the final two minutes for the 7-1 final.

Over 30 alums were present for the scrimmage...including Cardinal greats Alyssa Voelmle, Erin Schneidtmiller and coaching legend Sherill Brakemeier. 

paulie
xxxxx

Tuesday Cardinal Couple

TUESDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

Tennis Doubles Team advances

Julia Fellerhoff and Rebecca Shine have been representing Louisville Tennis quite well downstream in Memphis.  The team was seeded 5th in the USTA/ITA Ohio Valley Regionals hosted by Memphis.

Advancing against unseeded teams from Vandy, Ball State and Memphis, the due met up with the top seeded team in the tournament, Krisztine Kapitany and Mara Schmidt from Purdue in a Monday evening match and dispatched them easily in an 8-3 win.  The finals will be played today with a chance to play in the National Indoor Championship on the line.

Their competition will either be a team from UK or one from Memphis.  We here at the Cardinal Couple are spoiled by the prompt and informative updates from the Louisville Sports Information Directors.  A check of both UK's and Memphis' website at the time of this writing reveals nothing about which team won the other semi-final matchup.

Paige Brown Saves Another Award

Soccer goalkeeper Paige Brown picked up another weekly honor from The American Conference by picking up the Rookie of the Week award.  Brown had previously earned the GoalKeeper of the Week award from the conference on September 30th.

Rachel Melhado was named on the Honor Roll for the week for her defensive efforts.

Louisville holds a precarious lead atop the conference soccer standings with a 7-1 record in conference for a total of 21 points.  2nd place is held by UCF at 6-0-1 for 19 points.  The last regular season game for UofL is Friday evening at Cincinnati.  Cincinnati sits in 4th place in the conference with a conference record of 4-3-1, and an overall record of 8-9-1.  With a win over Cincinnati, Louisville would need UCF to not win at least one of their two remaining games (against SMU and Houston, both in the bottom half of The American Conference rankings) in order to secure the regular season conference championship.  The first two rounds of the conference tournaments will be played at campus sites (presumably as either the number one or number two seed, Louisville will host) with the semi-finals and finals being hosted by UCF in Tampa, Florida.

Volleyball in action

Volleyball heads down to Murfreesboro, TN to take on the always dangerous Middle Tennessee State University Blue Raiders.  MTSU sports a 13-7 overall record.  They will then continue their road trip with matches Friday and Sunday at Rutgers and UConn.


King of the Hill

University of Louisville goalkeeper Sydney King was named BIG EAST Field Hockey Defensive Player of the Week on Oct. 21. Erin Schneidtmiller was selected to the league’s weekly honor roll.

King, a sophomore from Newport Beach, Calif., helped the Cardinals to a 2-0 week, which included a 2-0 win against No. 11 Northwestern. She made a career-high 10 stops in the win over the Wildcats. King posted seven saves in a 2-1 double-overtime win against Rutgers, including two critical stops in overtime. She currently has a 1.52 goals against average for the season.

Schneidtmiller, a senior from Louisville, Ky., scored the game-winning goal in a 2-1 double-overtime triumph versus Rutgers and added an assist in a 2-0 win over No. 11 Northwestern.

The 17^th ranked Cardinals have a 12-4 overall record are tied for second with Old Dominion in BIG EAST standings with a 4-1 mark in conference play.

 

 

-Jeff McAdams

 

Sunday Cardinal Couple -- Field Hockey wins in 2 O.T.'s -- Swimming in 3rd place

SUNDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

- Schniedtmiller scores for Cardinal win

- Kylliainen wins three in Dallas


Today is "bet you can't spell it correctly" day at CC, as we go over the exciting Field Hockey win at Trager and swimming's impressive show in Dallas. Congratulations to both squads and Erin and Tanja...much easier to type than their last names...


CARDS RULE RUT-GALS

Erin scored after a set up from Mallory Mason and Shannon Sloss (who we'll refer to as MM and SS the rest of the article) and drove one in with 5:49 left in the second overtime to give #17 Louisville a 2-1 win on senior weekend at Trager Stadium. The Cards go to 11-4 with the win over the Scarlet Knights and 4-1 in THE BIG EAST conference with the "W".

Rutgers hit the scoreboard first...stunning Louisville with a goal less than two minutes into action...when Alicia Stever sent a long pass to a driving Rachel Yaney...who deflected it by Cardinal goalie Sydney King.

It would be the 8-6, 2-3 Scarlet Knights only tally of the afternoon.

For a long time, it looked like it might be enough for the Piscataway players. With less than five minutes to go in regulation, though, SS tracked down a feed from Elisa Garcia and flipped it past the Rutgers goal defender to tie the contest.

Neither team could produce a goal in the 15 minute, 7-on-7 first overtime. Louisville survived three penalty corner attempts by Rutgers in the final overtime before going on the winning drive.

The Cards outshot RU 24-11. Sydney King had seven saves...Rutgers goalie Sarah Stuby produced 10.

The Cards conclude the weekend with a 1 p.m. game versus Northwestern at Trager.

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Tanja splashes past foes in SMU CLASSIC

Nice performance in setting two school records in Louisville's third place finish in the prestigious event that features national powerhouses UNC, UCLA and University of Miami...plus UofL, IU and SMU.

Tanja scored first in the 200-fly, 200 IM and 400 IM.

Other successful ladies-in-the-water were Katie Worrell winning the 100-fly. Louisville also had several third place finishes against competition that all finished in the top 25 of the NCAA Tournament last season. 

-Paulie

...  

Wednesday Cardinal Couple -- Changes, Field Hockey and....

WEDNESDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

- A new look for the site

- Field Hockey cracks the Buckeyes 6-3

- Nared verbals to the Vols

- Restrepo named Golfer of the Month

We've done a little site view modification for CARDINAL COUPLE. We went with a red theme and moved the Left Side of the Site to the right side of the site. We're now calling it the RIGHT SIDE of the Site.

Go figure.

The content is still prettt much the same, though. Women's sports and commentary. My suggestions to the Cardinal Couple media staff to change the theme and subject matter to goat farming in Peru didn't pass the "majority rules" vote. Bill the Goat and I voted "aye". Jeff, Jenny and Sonja voted "no".

Where's David Watson when you need him?

We'll try to continue to give you the best coverage we can on UofL sports...we appreciate you reading and your comments are always welcome.

-Paulie


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FIELD HOCKEY SHELLS THE BUCKEYES

Maybe it's only fitting that a girl named "Peanut" scored all three goals for OSU in a 6-3 loss to #17 Louisville Tuesday. We can only be thankful that the Buckeyes roster didn't include any pecans, walnuts or cashews...

It took the squads nine minutes to get the scoring barrage underway. Alyssa Voelmle, the reigning BIG EAST defensive player of the week showed her scoring skills on a penalty corner.  "Peanut" Johnson countered three minutes later to tie it for OSU.

Voelmle decided to practice her assist skills next...setting up Shannon Sloss for a Cardinal score less than three minutes later. The Cards went up 3-1 when Becca Maddock tracked down a free hit by Elisa Garcia and found the back of the net.
A late OSU score by Peanut cut the Louisville lead to 3-2 and the teams entered the half that way.

Replenished from the concession stand we suppose...Peanut started the second half with her third goal of the game barely a minute into the action. The guys from Texas Roadhouse and Planters were probably going wild...

It would be the last OSU tally and final comment from the Peanut gallery, though.

Erin Schneidtmiller drilled a shot into the right corner of the cage two minutes late to give Louisville a 4-3 lead. Moments later, Schneidtmiller found success again...taking a missed Garcia penalty corner shot and finding the far side of the cage unguarded.

Louisville added an insurance goal with nine minutes to go in the game. Voelmle's penalty corner shot got deflected by OSU but she tracked down the rebound and sent it back netward...making it 6-3 UofL.

The Cards boasted a 15-10 advantage in shots and capitalized with a 12-1 advantage in corners. Sophomore Cardinal goalie Sydney King produced three saves to push the Cards to 8-2 on the season.

Louisville returns home to face #16 Temple Friday night in Trager at 6 p.m. They'll also host IU Sunday in the annual Pink Game. Admission is free to both contests.

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NARED SAID...NOT READY FOR RED

Tough news on the WBB recruiting trail. Do-it-all wing Jamie Nared verballed to Tennessee yesterday.

Jaime Nared‏@jaimenaredd4h

I'm going to Tennessee!!!!!!!

Keep hunting, Jeff.

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LAURA RESTREPO RECEIVES HONOR

( THANKS TO UOFL SID DEPARTMENT FOR THE ARTICLE ON THE SOPHOMORE)

Laura Restrepo has been name the Golfer of the Month by the AAC...

After the first month of fall competition, the American Athletic Conference announced the inaugural monthly awards for golf. Louisville sophomore Laura Restrepo earned Women’s Player of the Month honors for the month of September.

Restrepo was dominant in the first month of competition, winning the first two tournaments of the season and also adding an eighth-place finish. Led by her two individual championships, the Cardinals claimed team titles at two events to open the season. At the IU Fall Kickoff, Restrepo carded a 70-69=139 (-5) to take the title by one stroke. The Cardinals won the two-round event handily, as Louisville was the only team to shoot under par.

In her next event, Restrepo again claimed individual medalist honors as Louisville hosted the Cardinal Cup. Restrepo shot a 67-70-75=212 (-4) to defeat teammate Emily Haas and Kansas’ Yupaporn Kawinpakorn by one stroke. The Cardinals again cruised to a tournament title by a large margin.

In her final event during September, Restrepo shot a 70-72=142 to finish tied for eighth in a 92-golfer field as the Cardinals placed sixth as a squad at the Mercedes-Benz Collegiate. Restrepo finished the month with a stellar 70.4 stroke average.

 

 

The chip and putt Cards competed in the Windy City Collegiate Championship on Monday and Tuesday...finishing 10th.

 

Leading the way for UofL was Restrepo and Katie Petrino...who had 222 scores for the 54 holes. Emily Haas was one stroke back at 223 and Haley Andreas tallied a 227.

 

The Cards return to the tee Oct. 19th when they participate in the Hoosier Fall Invitational in Bloomington, IN.

 

 

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Saturday Cardinal Couple -- Field Hockey defeats ODU 3-2 in O.T.

SATURDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

-Field Hockey wins BIG EAST opener 3-2 over ODU

-Women's Golf in 3rd after first round

-CARDINAL COUPLE RADIO HOUR this morning!

-Volleyball with two today in CARDINAL ARENA


In soggy conditions on a "black out" Friday night that also experienced a 45 minute rain delay...Louisville Field Hockey improves to 5-2 with an overtime win over Old Dominion.

After seeing a 2-1 lead disappear in the final 1:44 of regulation, the Cards wasted no time in getting the win...Erin Schneidtmiller banging home a pass from Victoria Stratton just 45 seconds into the extra period for the sudden death win.

Louisville took the early lead in the contest when Stratton took assists from Mallory Mason and Paige Monson to score on a penalty corner sixteen minutes into first half action. ODU countered with a goal from Sarah Breen on a penalty corner five minutes later to tie the contest.

UofL took the lead at 2-1 with 2:26 left in the first half.

Mason corralled down a missed penalty corner attempt and sent it past ODU goalie Megan Hept. The lead held until halftime.

Threatening weather, lightning strikes and a torrential downpour halted action just ten minutes into the final stanza and the teams waited out a 45 minute weather delay with Louisville still leading.

The field had standing water everywhere but drained quickly as the rains subsides and the teams continued. It looked like the one goal Cardinal advantage just might hold...but Breen found the back of the net on a penalty corner attempt with just 104 second left in the game to tie it at 2-2.

Louisville came out on the attack in O.T. and secured the win when Schneidtmiller scored with 14:15 left in the first overtime.

ODU held a shot advantage for most of the game and, although Field Hockey doesn't keep a time possession stat, it seemed the Monarchs had the ball in Louisville's front court trying to score for close to 50 minutes of the 70 minute game. They held a 5-3 shot on goal advantage over the Cards with 7:18 left in regulation...credit the Cards defense and goalie Sydney King for keeping ODU to just two goals. 

After arriving at 6 p.m. and leaving at 9:30 p.m....I didn't stick around in the re-appearing rain to do a Coach Sowry post-game interview. Call me a fair-weather fan...

Louisville (5-2) will play Northeastern Sunday at 1:30 in Trager. In earlier action Friday, Northeastern shut out Michigan State 2-0. The Michigan State v. ODU game faces off at 11 a.m. Sunday.


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( We hope the weather clears up for Courtney Trimble's birdie makers today in Knoxville...as they seek their third straight tournament win in Big Orange country. )

The University of Louisville women’s golf team shot a 283 in the first round of the Mercedes Benz. UCF is sixth with a score of 286.

Collegiate Friday afternoon at the Cherokee Golf Course in Knoxville, Tenn. The Cardinals are currently in third place after one round of play. South Carolina leads the field with a score of 279. Arkansas is in second with a score of 282. Host Tennessee is fourth with a score of 285 while

Junior Katie Petrino shot a collegiate low of 69 in the first round. Petrino is currently tied at third after finishing the day with four birdies. UCF’s Fanny Cnops and South Carolina’s Katelyn Dambaugh currently lead the field after shooting a 68 in the first round.

Louisville sophomore Laura Restrepo finished the day tied at eight. Restrepo finished the day at one under par after finishing the day with five birdies and three bogeys. Junior Emily Haas shot a 72 in the first round. Haas is currently tied at 19^th along with teammate Louise Oxner. Oxner finished the day with three birdies and four bogeys for a score of 72.

Senior Tara Lyons carded an 83 in the first round. Lyons is currently tied at 90^th. The Cardinals will tee off on Saturday at 10:20 a.m. Live scoring for the tournament is available atwww.golfstat.com.



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Why not start your Saturday right by listening to the CARDINAL COUPLE RADIO HOUR from 11 a.m. to noon on Crescent Hill Radio? Paulie, Jenny and Jeff discuss a wide range of Louisville women's sports squads and results. Today's show has a great interview with Field Hockey head coach Justine Sowry, recaps of volleyball, soccer, field hockey and golf action, our weekly quiz and Don Paulie!

Join the knuckleheads for an hour of facts, fun, flubs, forecasting and frivolity at:

www.crescenthillradio.com


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And, if football isn't your thing, why not head over to Cardinal Arena on campus and catch a day's worth of Volleyball?

The WideNet Cards face Rice @ noon and Virginia Tech at 7:30 p.m. I suppose the Owls and Hokies play each other somewhere in between.

It's the Active Ankle Challenge...presented by Marriott Courtyard. You could even get those ankles active and walk down Floyd St. after the football game and see the action in Cardinal Arena.

It does fill up in there rather quickly....so don't stay tailgating too long after Louisville demolishes FIU.

Rice and Hokies...hmmm....sounds like the lunch special at Sal Monella's restaurant. Can I get brown gravy with that?

-Paulie
....

Sunday with Sonja

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SUNDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

**********From the scoreboard*********

- LOUISVILLE Volleyball defeats Cincy in straight sets 25-21, 25-13, 25-21.

- LOUISVILLE and USF tied 0-0 in women's soccer at end of regulation and two overtimes. USF wins 3rd overtime in a shootout 4-3. (More on these Monday...)

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-Field Hockey defeats Providence 2-1 to make BIG EAST Tournament

-Jenny's observations on WBB Scrimmage

-Russell to announce decision Tuesday

-Cards #9 in ESPN Preseason Poll

-Volleyball on ESPNU today


Cards come through in final regular-season game with win.

Knowing that the surest way to qualify for the upcoming BIG EAST Tournament was beating Providence, the University of Louisville Field Hockey team delivered...knocking off the Friars 2-1 yesterday at Providence.

The Cards (12-7, 3-3) clinched the #3 seed and will face #2 UConn Friday night in Trager Stadium at 7:30 p.m. Syracuse and Providence will match up in the first game Friday.

"We are just so proud of our team with the way we have applied ourselves in recent weeks. We knew what was on the line and we continued to stay focused on the process. We are absolutely thrilled that we have made it back to the BIG EAST Tournament and we are playing at home. To have this opportunity is fabulous and much deserved for this team." -- Justine Sowry, Louisville head coach.

The Cards opened the scoring with just 17 seconds left in the first half. Alyssa Voelmle got an unassisted score to give UofL the advantage after a half of solid defense by both teams.

Conrad comes through!

After the break, Providence tied the match seven minutes into the action. Louisville took the lead seven minutes later when the Cards capitalized on a Providence passing error near their net and Becca Maddock found Erin Scheidtmiller with a pass that Scheidtmiller converted into the final score of the game.

Erin Conrad stepped up in a huge way for the Cards with six saves. Providence outshot Louisville 11-9 in the contest.

Tickets for the BIG EAST Tournament are available through the UofL Athletic Office at 502-852-5151. Cost is $5 for adults, $3 for seniors/youth and college students get in free with a valid student ID.

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CARDINAL COUPLE staff columnist JENNY O'BRYAN attended the Saturday UofL men's scrimmage that featured the WBB squad opening the event with a mini-scrimmage. Here are her observations:

The women's team spent 10 minutes before the men's game scrimmaging/playing/practicing against their men's practice players. The women "won" 21-12.

All players played for a few minutes except Tia Gibbs, Asia Taylor and Cortnee Walton. Of the three, Tia hobbled on to the court and looked like she was in pain. Asia and Cortnee "presented" fine...although Asia looked like she was dog tired.

Coach talked for most of the time with P.A. announcer Sean Moth while the team was playing.

Megan Deines came down the court and nailed a three-pointer for the first shot of the scrimmage. She took a second shot a few minutes from beyond the arc and drained it also. She looked quick and agile. Coach Walz joked that those were the first two shots that she had made in a month.

The next three-point Cardinal specialist?

Sara Hammond looked lean and more toned than last year. She had a confidence about her that I did not always see last year. She looked solid and I expect her to have a break out season. Walz stated that she has been putting in a lot of work in the off-season and is looking great.

Shawnta Dyer looked good and showed a lot of strength in the paint.

Mo Reid was only in for a few minutes but was very impressive. Nice score in the paint and great rebounding. I have so missed watching Mo play. Walz stated that Mo is still recovering from her knee surgery and will play the minutes she can play. He expects her to be at full speed by conference play.

- Jenny O'Bryan

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Thanks for the great recap of the Cards 10 minutes, Jenny! In other WBB news, highly sought-after and #1 ranked in the 2013 Class recruit Mercedes Russell was in attendance and her high school coach announced that she will announce her decision Tuesday afternoon at a press conference at her high school. 2:30 p.m. Pacific time.
The date and time were apparently set before her visit to Louisville this weekend.  

Louisville also has a media day planned at the KFC YUM! Center that day. Coach Walz is scheduled to talk to the media at noon and players will be made available at 12:30. This raises some speculation. Will Walz fly to Oregon for Mercedes' announcement and should we read anything into whether he is at the scheduled media address at the YUM! or not? Has the 6'5" center already decided? Will it be a last-minute decision? 
Are we over-thinking things here?

Big things developing for Tuesday. And, the Cards open the season Wednesday with an exhibition game against Eckerd College. Free admission for all at the KFC YUM! Center.

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ESPN has released their 2013 Women's College Basketball Rankings and Polls for Week 1 and the Cards are positioned at #9. They received 657 points. Baylor heads the poll and got 1000 points.

Other BIG EAST schools in the top 25 are Connecticut at #2, Notre Dame at #5, St. John's at #14 and DePaul at #25.

Kentucky is #6 and Tennessee #20. Link below.

ESPN WBB Rankings - Week 1

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See Lola jump, see Lola swing, see Lola kill...

Just a reminder that you can catch Louisville Volleyball today on ESPNU against Cincinnati. First serve is at 1 p.m.

Have a great Sunday everybody and GO CARDS in the BIG EAST SOCCER Tournament against USF today!
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Friday Cardinal Couple --Women's Soccer hosts UK...Field Hockey and Volleyball on the road

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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!) 
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