Soccer Tames the Canes
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Maisie Whitsett presumably is in the middle of
that clump of celebration. |
Adding to the weekend full of activity in the airport, fairgrounds, UofL corridor, Women's Soccer contributed with a 1-0 win over the visiting Miami Hurricanes.
Louisville had lots of opportunities, but only Maisie Whitsett was able to convert one into an actual score in the second half. Miami played a very methodical offensive set, that unfortunately just wasn't able to produce much in the way of actual scoring opportunities. The difference in offensive styles was certainly reflected in the shots stats with Louisville holding a 7-2 advantage in the first half, and extending that further in the second by a margin of 10-1.
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Karsyn Cherry with a near miss header on a
corner set piece. |
The Whitsett score came in the 63rd minute of play off of a Savina Zamborini cross. Initially deflected by several Miami players in the box, they never really gained control over it and Whitsett was able to poke her foot into fray and find the lower corner of the goal.
This goal brings Whitsett to three goals on the season, and brings her into a tie with her fellow attacker Karsyn Cherry. Cherry had an opportunity in the first half off of a cornet set piece, but her header just cleared over the top of the goal.
Next up, the Soccer Cards head south in more conference play, going to Tallahassee to take on Florida State on Thursday.
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Paulie deals with music and planes...(but no trains or EMS vehicles) in the:
POST GAME INTERVIEWS:
(Photos by Jared Anderson, of course)
What a Difference an "S" Makes
Soccer may have had a late game, with a 7pm start, but Volleyball really had a late match with a 10pm EDT start. Of course, they were visiting Maples Pavilion and the Stanford Cardinal which made the local start time a more normal 7pm PDT.
A top 10 matchup, this one was, with the 3rd ranked Cardinals heading out west to take on the 9th ranked Stanford Cardinal. Louisville came away with a 3-1 win (26-24, 27-25, 14-25, 25-13) in front of just shy of 2500 fans.
Claire "Big Game" Chausse lead all scorers with 19 kills. She did take almost double the number of swings anyone else on the team got, resulting in a good, but not stellar, .310 hitting percentage. Aiko Jones stepped up and got the second most number of kills for the Cardinals-with-the-s, but was the most efficient on the team hitting .375 on 12 kills. Add in eight kills for close to a double-double and it's clear Jones had quite a good night.
Amaya Tillman was the only other player close to getting to double digits kills with eight kills and a trio of block assists, but the monster at the net was red-shirt freshman Cara Cresse getting involved in 10 blocks.
The first two sets were, as you can see from the set scores, barn burners, with neither team able to get more than a three point lead at any point in the first two sets. Very subjectively, from the fifth row of the stands I kept looking up at the scoreboard expecting Louisville to have a four or five point lead and finding Stanford, close, tied, or even with a slight lead of their own.
The wheels fell off for Louisville in the 3rd set. As UofL's side out percentage dropped a bit, Stanford was able to gradually build to a 9-4, and then 10-5 lead. Louisville would mount a mini run of three, with Raquel Lázaro at the service line, and Chaussee swinging away on the left, but Stanford shut it down with a 7-0 run, stretching the lead out to 17-8. Louisville would never be in this set the rest of the way. We saw appearances by Nena Mbone, and Phekran "PK" Kong in an attempt to shake things up a bit and shake the Cards awake, with little success.
I'm not sure what, if anything, Coach DBK said to the team after the 3rd set, but whatever it is, lets hope she can bottle it because the 4th set saw Louisville come out and just shut down Stanford almost completely. A 3-0 start grew to a 10-4 lead, then 14-5, 20-10, and finally the 25-13 set score that ended it.
A bit of a scary moment as Anna DeBeer came down hard on the floor and clutched her knee in obvious pain. After a few moments to get checked out by the Louisville athletic trainer and to get settled, it seems there was no real damage and DeBeer was able to get back up and finish playing the match, though not without favoring that knee slightly.
So all in all, a good win over a good, and well ranked, Stanford team. Earlier in the week Stanford beat 2nd ranked Nebraska, in Lincoln, no less, so with Louisville getting the job done with Kentucky earlier in the week, and Stanford last night, it's expected that the Cardinals will step up a ranking spot into the number two position. Any chance to move into the top ranked position will essentially depend on the less than likely prospect of current number one Texas losing to someone. We'll see, that's why they play the game, right?
Volleyball starts into conference play now with Louisville kicking it off with the southern swing. Friday evening at Miami, and Sunday afternoon at FSU. The week after that, they'll be back home welcoming in Clemson and Georgia Tech.
Field Hockey Today
Field Hockey will be in action today at Trager Stadium on Floyd Street against the Fairfield Stags at 2pm.
Louisville will be looking to climb back aboard with the winning horse, and, well, the chances are pretty good. Fairfield comes into the game at 2-5, with wins over Holy Cross and Lafayette, and losses to Monmouth, Villanova, UAlbany, Drexel, and Miami (OH). Only Miami was ranked, at 24th, of the Fairfield opponents.
The main offensive threats for the Stags are Agustina Casteluchi with three goals on the season, and Julianna Kratz with a pair. Kratz looks like she takes more shots (10, vs seven for Casteluchi). I would expect Payton Rahn to be in goal. She comes into the game with 14 goals against and 38 saves on the season.
This should be a relatively easy cruise to victory for the Cards after suffering a 3-0 shut out at the hands of UNC on Friday.
The game is at 2pm and is, of course, on ACC Network Extra.
And a few more bonus photos from Jared.
