Another Busy News Day -- SATURDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

Verhulst Invited to USA Trials

After the Cards moved into the new Denny Crum Hall earlier this week to get back on campus, Payton Verhulst was packing her bags again right away. Verhulst was invited to the national team trials in Miami this weekend in what is effectively a tryout for the FIBA 3x3 U23 Nations League. The tournament will be played in the Americas conference from August 13th through the 19th. The trials are the 5th through the 8th with training camp beginning on the 9th. It's a a very compressed schedule, but that is why the field is being kept so small. Only 11 players were invited to the trials and only six will make the team. 

This isn't Verhulst's first experience with Team USA, as she was a part of the 2021 U19 World Cup team that won gold and a part of the 2019 U16 team that won gold in the Americas Cup. Verhulst also has 3x3 experience, having played with the Louisville team in last year's Red Bull USA Basketball 3x3 Nationals. In that event, Verhulst joined forces with Liz Dixon, Mykasa Robinson, and Kianna Smith to finish 3rd after being knocked out by the championship winning Force 10 in the semifinals.

As always, we wish all Louisville athletes the absolute best when it comes to getting national team opportunities, as the experience--both on the floor and in life--is unmatched. 

Brooke Gray Commits to Louisville Softball

Image from @brookegray2023

Thursday afternoon saw a big get for Holly Aprile and company when Ballard's Brooke Gray announced her commitment to play for the Cards in 2023. Gray is a pitcher in the class of 2022 and is a key part of the defending state champion Bruins. Ballard went 39-0 last season, and Gray started and earned the victory in 28 of those games. In 29 appearances, Gray was 28-0 with a 0.85 ERA. She threw 15 full complete games, including one that went to 9 innings, and she added five complete games shortened by mercy rule. Gray amassed 350 strikeouts in 165.1 innings last season, good for a K/7 of 14.8. Yes, you read that right. Gray struck out an average of five full innings per game on average. Her best performance came against New Albany, when she pitched a perfect game with 19 strikeouts. She threw three other complete game no hitters and three run-ruled no hitters. 

MaxPreps hasn't listed batting stats for Gray since her eighth grade year in 2018-19, so it is unlikely that she will be a two-way player for the Cards. In that way, she will not be a direct replacement for Taylor Roby. However, we've discussed frequently how much of a strain it puts on a player to be a star at both positions. Tons of the best teams in the country do it without having a star two-way player, so if Gray can continue her success at the collegiate level and Aprile can continue to recruit offense, Louisville may be on to something. We wish Brooke the best of luck in her upcoming senior year.

Will Holt Returns to Louisville

After a brief stint with Indiana, Will Holt has returned to his alma mater to stand by Justine Sowry's side on the bench at Trager. Hot returns as an assistant coach after having served as a student volunteer assistant from 2012-2015. Holt began coaching in 2010 in Europe and returned after graduating to continue his coaching and playing career. He also earned 146 caps with the USMNT from 2014-2017 and scored 85 goals in that time. Coach Sowry calls Holt "a tireless worker" and says he is "the perfect addition" to the staff. 

Cards Face Off in NWSL 

Gaby Vincent returned to Louisville yesterday as a part of the Washington Spirit when they took on the hometown Racing Louisville. After a hot start and a brief stint near the top of the table, Racing has cooled off quite a bit and last night's match was between the 9th and 10th placed teams in the league. The two played to a draw last night, with Louisville taking the lead shortly into the second half and Washington scoring the equalizer 10 minutes later. A draw is the same result the teams played to in June, though they scored a pair of goals each in that one rather than just one apiece. Ekic came on in the 90th minute of last night's match in an effort to provide a spark in the five minutes of stoppage time, but Racing was unable to find a go-ahead goal. Vincent was available as a substitute for the Spirit but did not make an appearance in the game. 

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Cardinal Couple Radio Hour Podcast

We'll be without Daryl this week, but I'm finally back after my time away. We'll have plenty to talk about after taking last week off, so we'll do our best to bring you a great show. 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

Jeff Goes in 4 directions -- SUNDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

Guess Who's Back

Yes, I've been gone from the pages of Cardinal Couple for a couple of weeks taking a big vacation, but I'm back in the chair, refreshed and rejuvenated, and ready to bring you some joy and excitement around UofL women's sports.

As we are diving into the heart of summer, we will be doing a lot of checking in on former Cards now playing at the next level of their sports, mostly professionally.  Today is certainly no exception.

WNBA

No WNBA play yesterday, so no scores or updates to bring you, but that does mean pretty much the whole league will be hitting the court today.

Asia Durr with the New York Liberty will be hosting the Minnesota Lynx.  The Lynx did have Angel McCoughtry on their roster, but bought her out for the season giving her more time to recover from nagging knee troubles.  2 pm tip time.

Emily Engstler joins her Indiana Fever in a road trip to Atlanta to play the Dream.  3pm start.

Dana Evans and Chicago Sky play host to Myisha Hines-Allen and the Washington Mystics at 6pm

TV coverage for these games is all over the place.  The Fever may have something on their Facebook page?  The Sky/Mystics game seems to be primarily available on Amazon Prime streaming?  It sure would be nice to have something nice and consistently available.

US Open

We've been following former Card Lauren Hartlage as she starts to show up in the LPGA.  The current event is the US Open at Pine Needles in South Carolina.

A rough day yesterday for Hartlage as she tumbled down the ranks with a +7 round.  That puts her 18 strokes away from the lead, in a tie for 53rd place in the event.

Volleyball Nation's League

The Volleyball Nation's League has been playing their first week of play with the first selection of players that, for the US, included former Card Anna Stevenson.

The US squad faced off against Brazil, a country with quite a great tradition in volleyball.  Despite that, the US wins this in a 3-0 sweep; 25-21, 25-20, 25-18.

For Stevenson's part, she's playing in her usual middle blocking position paired with Dana Rettke in the other middle rotation.  Stevenson got four kills and a pair of blocks against Brazil.

Overall in the VNL, the US has not dropped a set, yet.  Their first match in the overall event was against the Dominican Republic, 25-21, 25-17, 25-18.  Then after a couple of days off, they swept Canada on Friday; 25-14, 25-22, 25-19, before taking on Brazil yesterday.

The last game of this first week of VNL play for the US is today at 4pm EDT against Japan.  These matches have been played in Shreveport, LA.

The VNL is a multi-week event with the teams able to make different roster selections every week.  So it's possible that we won't see Stevenson play after this week.  The 2nd week of play opens June 7th, so we can check rosters then and see if she made the roster selection for the coming week, at least.

NWSL

Two former Cards are on rosters in the NWSL, of course.  Emina Ekic is making some noise with the local club, Racing Louisville FC, as we well know.  Gaby Vincent, however, is still making appearances with the Washington Spirit.

Both teams were in action yesterday, but both went down to defeat.  Racing lost in a disappointing 3-0 decision against the NC Courage.  Ekic came on in the 67th minute for Alex Chidiac.

The Spirit lost 1-0 against the NY/NJ Gotham FC.  Vincent was not listed as being available for selection in this one.

Both teams in action next Saturday, though the Spirit do have a mid-week game at Chicago against the Red Stars on Wednesday.

Cardinal Couple Radio Hour Podcast

The CCRHP is also back.  Case is ensconced in his new home office, Jared, Paul, and myself were all on the call.

The group spent a fair bit of time discussing the permanent hiring of Josh Heird as Athletic Director at UofL.  We also showed some love for Carmyn Greenwood getting the All-American tag in Softball, Kelsi Dahlia joining the Notre Dame Swimming coaching staff, and Lauren Hartlage in golf.  We took a quick look at the Women's College World Series, and a swing around the WNBA.  We had a quick discussion about the WNBA, the Cards playing in it, a few who are not, and potential expansion of the league and potentially coming to Louisville.

It was a full hour for sure.  Check it out at:

https://anchor.fm/cardinal-couple/episodes/News-Galore-in-Cardinal-Country-e1jgfvv

JMcA

Sunday Cardinal Couple

 WNBA

Sundays are "Cards in the Pros" days it seems in the summer.  Today is no different.  The big crazy news stories like changes to NIL rules always happen during the week, but summer weekends means Pro play and we want to keep you up to date with what our former Cards are doing.

We start with the WNBA.  The New York Liberty put it to the Atlanta Dream yesterday.  A close first half, but the Liberty drew out to a good lead in the second.  101-78 was the final.  You might think the team was bolstered by the attendance of Asia Durr, who was in the stands for this one.  Durr is out for the second consecutive season dealing with the lingering effects of Covid.  After the win, pretty much the whole Liberty squad came over to embrace Durr and catch up, showing how much they miss her presence on the squad.

Kylee Shook continues in the starting lineup with the Liberty.  She played about 27 and a half minutes yesterday, got six field goals, and did a great job cleaning the boards on the defensive side, getting 11.  Also chalk her up for a blocked shot and an assist.

Jazmine Jones makes the most of her bench time, entertaining the WNBA crowds and the camera crews, but she is also getting some decent playing time as well.  We all know some of Jaz's contributions don't show up on the stat sheet, but she put some numbers in a few columns yesterday.  In almost 18 minutes of playes, she did get a field goal, a free throw, a couple of rebounds and a couple of assists.

The Dream will be looking for revenge when these teams meet again Tuesday again in Hotlanta at 7pm.  You can catch this one streaming on ESPN3.

Dana Evans is in Connecticut with the Chicago Sky team.  They'll be playing the Suns at 2pm today.  No easy viewing options for this one, unfortunately.

NWSL

The hometown Racing Louisville FC club were on the road yesterday, playing the Chicago Red Stars.  Chicago may be The Windy City, but it was rain that delayed the start of the game yesterday.

Emina Ekic played 26 minutes in this one, but it was after all the scoring was finished for the game.  Racing won this one by a convincing 3-0 score.  Ebony Salmon justifying her late arrival to the squad got it started in the 38th minute.  Yuki Nagasato got her first goal in lavender in the 56th, and Savannah McCaskill finished the trio of goals in the 62nd.

By the way, if you're a fan of Jazmine Jones in part because of her antics on and off the court, you should check out Yuki Nagasato.  She's got all the spirit and playfulness of Jones and has contributed tremendously to the success of this Racing team.

Gaby Vincent is the other Card in the Pros with the NWSL, playing for Kansas City.  The stats are incomplete for this game, and I didn't get to watch it live, but Gaby did see the field. We don't have info on how long she played as the minutes played column of the stat sheet is blank.  Vincent did get a shot, but it wasn't on-frame.

Kansas City will play again on Friday at 7pm, and Racing Louisville FC will take the field Saturday at 7:30pm.  Both will be streamed on Paramount+.

CARDINAL COUPLE RADIO HOUR PODCAST

Speaking of professionals.  The Cardinal Couple Radio Hour Podcast is definitely not.  Jared, Paulie, and I were on the call this week.  Daryl and Case missed out on a fun mascot quiz, but the recent developments in Name, Image, and Likeness rules, regulations, and yes... even court cases, dominated most of the discussion in this one.

Check it out below.

JMcA

Cards Past and Present -- Sunday Cardinal Couple

 The Cardinal Couple crew is busy these days.  Of course, we all have our "day jobs", but even in the world of sports fandom, even without collegiate team play happening in the UofL world, the CC crew is finding plenty of sports to be excited about.

Much of that centers on Cardinals, past and present, in their pursuits individually, or on pro teams.

WNBA

The Cards are actively represented on three different WNBA teams, and the CC crew is keeping an eye on them.

Myisha's Mystics

No, that's not just alliterative.  Myisha Hines-Allen returned from her European playing time and has made a major impact on the Mystics.

The Mystics did end up losing yesterday's matchup in Las Vegas, but it was a thriller down to the wire, 96-93.  Hines-Allen's stat line is impressive to say the least.  32 points, and 13 rebounds is the headline, but even beyond that, a trio of assists, a pair of steals, and a blocked shot.  Then look at her 9-10 from the free throw line and she definitely earns the "F" in her personal FRED report.

As is Myisha's playing style, most of her shots were inside the arc, going 11-19 in field goals overall, but she did try a pair of three pointers and made one as she has been improving her distance shooting skills.

Dana's Sky

Dana Evans is still looking to find her groove at the pro level.  She played almost seven minutes in the Chicago Sky's game against the Candace Parker-less Los Angeles Sparks.

After a disastrous start, the Sky were able to eat into the Sparks' lead over the course of the game, but weren't able to get it done in the end with the Sparks taking the victory 68-63.

Unfortunately, Dana didn't really help much in this one, missing both of her shots and not getting any supporting stats.

Kylee and Jaz's Liberty

The Liberty got blinded by the Connecticut Sun.  Going down in a  85-64 loss.

Shook as largely a non-factor with only one made field goal and an assist.  Jaz Jones did a bit better with a pair of field goals, a perfect four free throws, and trios of rebounds (all defensive) and assists.

The CC crew's assessment seems to be that the success of the Liberty goes the same way as the success of Sabrina Ionescu (five points, five assists, three rebounds).

NWSL

Emina's Racing

Two Cards are playing top level women's soccer.  Emina Ekic and the hometown Racing Louisville FC were in Portland to play the Thorns.  The Thorns would win this one 3-0.

Racing was at a fairly distinct disadvantage for this one, with a 7:30pm local start, equating to a 10:30pm start here in eastern part of the US.  Combine that with some travel disasters getting to Portland that even drew some snark from the Racing social media account.

Tonight’s final.

Quick turnaround to tomorrow and a tough rematch with @united on the way home. pic.twitter.com/pcwDxV6l8w

— Racing Louisville FC (@RacingLouFC) June 6, 2021

 

Emina Ekic got the start and played for 61 minutes, but this one was all Thorns.  The Portland club maintained control over nearly all of the play, with limited opportunities for Racing to get forward and attack.  Ekic only had one chance at an attack on the right side, but was called offsides.

Gaby's KC

Kansas City will be in action today, with Gaby Vincent on the squad.  KC will be looking for their first win of the season today at 2pm against the Houston Dash.  Kansas City is 0-2-2, and the Dash are 1-2-1.

WCWS

Less of a connection to UofL with the Women's College World Series, but the CC crew is having a lot of fun watching it, for sure.

The closest connection the Cards have to this event this year is fellow ACC squad FSU is a participant, with former Card Danielle Watson in their bullpen.

Yesterday, day three of the WCWS, was the first day of elimination games, with play moving down to the elimination bracket and four teams eventually packing their bags to go home yesterday.  Well, technically three teams lost yesterday, and one lost in the early hours of this morning.

The early session started with Oklahoma putting a bit of a beatdown on Georgia, beating them 8-0 in six innings.  That was followed up by an exciting Florida State vs Arizona game.  FSU would come back from a 2-0 deficit to win it 4-3.

The evening session was delayed by rain and lightning, finally getting underway about two and a half hours late.  In the first game of the session, top seeded Oklahoma defeated two seed UCLA, 10-3.

The final game of the "day" saw Florida State dispatch Oklahoma State, 4-2.

There will be two games for sure today, with top seed Oklahoma emerging from one elimination bracket to take on the Cinderella of the event, James Madison in a rematch of the opening game of the WCWS on Thursday.  This one will be at 1pm.  The other definite game will be Florida State emerging from the second elimination bracket to play Alabama at 3:30pm.  Both are on ESPN.

The "if necessary" games would be on ESPN2 and would be JMU vs Oklahoma at 7pm and FSU vs Alabama at 9:30pm.

Cardinal Couple Radio Hour Podcast

Finally, three of us hit the airways against, with Jared, Paulie, and myself getting together to talk about the WCWS, WNBA, Field Hockey honors, and another Cardinal Couple Quiz!

Check it out below.

JMcA

Gaby Vincent -- Manatee Squeeze -- WEDNESDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

VINCENT GETTING HER KICKS WITH ROYALS

Don't let the article sub-title fool you. Louisville women's soccer great Gaby Vincent isn't hanging out at Buckingham Palace or sitting down for tea with the Queen. 

She's another Cardinal in the pros and is playing defender for the Utah Royals in the National Women's Soccer League. The eight-team league is going through qualification rounds and Gaby and the Royals tied the Houston Dash in a 3-3 thriller in their first contest. Former NC State star Tziarra King had the tying goal for Utah. How fitting ...a "King" playing for the Royals, right? 

All eight teams (the Royals, Washington Spirit, North Carolina Courage, Chicago Red Stars, Houston Dash, Portland Thorns and the un-designated with any particular city -- Reign and Sky Blue) are centered in Utah. They're playing all the league matches at Zion Bank Stadium in Herriman, UT ( a suburb of Salt Lake City). No fans in the stands for the matches. 

The league has drawn media attention for allowing players to remain in the locker room or kneeling during the opening National Anthem. 

NWSL Games can be streamed on CBS All-Access. The Royals return to action on the fourth of July against the New Jersey based Sky Blue FC. 


NO SQUEEZING BY FOR MANATEE LAST NIGHT

In the FGCL Softball action last night, the Manatee Squeeze romped the Lynx last night 7-0. A four-run second inning, highlighted by a grand-slam home run for Stormy Kotzenick (Washington) proved to be all Manatee pitcher Jenna Greene (Presbyterian College) needed in the complete game, two-hit effort from  the circle. 

Louisville Cardinal Jordyn Wolfe went 1 for 4 in the win for Manatee, starting in right-field. Paige Schindler made an appearance at the plate and played first base for the Squeeze late in the contest, but failed to get a hit. 

The Manatee Squeeze are 7-2 on the second and are in second place in the league being the FGCL Myakka City RiverMocs (10-1) who won 5-1 last night. 

Games can be viewed on-line at Stream Live Tampa and you can follow Game Changer for stats and recaps.


KAREN FERGUSON DAYES TELECONFERENCE

Louisville head women's soccer coach Karen Ferguson Dayes takes to Zoom today for a scheduled 1:30 p.m. teleconference. 

Jared Anderson will review and report tomorrow on it -- providing his Internet is back up and functioning. If not, ol' Paulie will be back in the batters cage for you with the article.


Have a wonderful Wednesday!


paulie
xxxxx

  

DeBeer Honored, Pro Sports on the Horizon -- SATURDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

Anna DeBeer Picks Up POTY Award

Louisville Volleyball has been able to pick up top local talent for a long time. Though the relationship between the coaching staff and the local scene may have changed a bit when Anne Kordes left the head coaching position, Dani Busboom-Kelly and her staff have shown the ability to continue to keep the top players at home. We've known for awhile that Anna DeBeer, out of Assumption, would be donning the red and black, but earlier this week she was named the top player in the state. After being named the Gatorade POTY, Ms. Volleyball, and a member of two first team All-American teams, additional honors shouldn't be much of a surprise. However, MaxPreps award DeBeer the Athlete of the Year Award, recognizing her as the top women's athlete in the state in all sports. DeBeer, an outside hitter, will join the Cards in the fall.

Pro Leagues Plan for 2020 Season

While Major League Baseball still has not ironed out the details of finally starting what will definitely be a shortened 2020 season (I should probably figure out how that affects my fantasy team), other leagues have been hard at work setting up the remainder, or entirety, of their coronavirus-affected seasons. The NBA has probably grabbed the most headlines, as they'll be wrapping up their season by inviting 22 of the 30 teams to Florida for a mini-tournament to determine playoff seeding and then a full playoff. 

Also in the news has been MLS, as teams are allowed to return to their practice facilities for voluntary workouts. The reason this caught people's attention is that not a single player from FC Cincinnati bothered to show up. On a related note, the USL Championship Board of Governors voted in favor of returning to play with an anticipated starting date of July 11th. That means that Louisville City FC will finally be able to open Lynn Family Stadium, albeit without any fans.

The two leagues we're most interested in, though, are leagues that have shortened summer seasons to begin with and are trying to figure out how to get some kind of organized play in this year. The NWSL announced their plan last week. They'll be hosting a 25 game tournament in Utah starting on June 27th. The season regularly runs from April to October, so this will be a significantly reduce season. Louisville's Gaby Vincent will get to be a part of the home team during the tournament, as she remains with the Utah Royals. 

The WNBA has not completely sorted out their season, but the details are becoming clearer. The W is looking to play a shortened season, 22 games instead of 34, entirely at IMG Academy in Florida. IMG boasts 24 full size courts, so there's plenty of room to go around. The plan is not yet finalized, but the proposed starting date would be July 24th, one week before the NBA's planned start. The players can propose a counteroffer. It sounds like, despite our fears, we may still get to see the trio of Jazmine Jones, Kylee Shook, and Asia Durr return to the floor at the next level.

Cardinal Couple Radio Hour

Can you believe another week has gone by already? Despite the lack of sports to get us through the days, the news has been full and, in the blink of an eye, the weeks are flying by. Perhaps its the perceived light at the end of the tunnel. Anyway, all of that is to say that it's Saturday, which means it's time for another edition of the Cardinal Couple Radio Hour Podcast. Jared was available last week so I believe that means he'll be banking this week, but you'll have to tune in for yourself to find out. We'll discuss the return to campus, the planned pro and college seasons, and have ourselves a fun quiz. Tune in to the Cardinal Couple YouTube channel at 11 AM for the live show, or catch the recorded version any time after the show ends at around noon. 

Until next time, Go Cards!

-CH-

Of Gaby, Cards women's soccer and just what is a Billiken? -- THURSDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

2019 U 23 USA Women's National Team

Former UofL women's soccer team star Gaby Vincent and her teammates prepare for competition tonight in the Nordic Tournament tonight with an International friendly against Portugal in Philadelphia. 

Vincent, who now plays for the Utah Royals FC squad is one of 16 players from the National Women's Soccer League and the only Louisville Cardinal and Utah Royals player on the roster. 

Vincent has adjusted well, it seems, to the life of a pro. It looks to be the start of a great career for her. Her selection marks the first time she has been selected for any of the programs in the USYNT system. 

At Louisville, she made 54 appearances in games and the defender had six goals and three assists. 

Speaking of Louisville...


CARDS VS BILLIKENS TONIGHT

Louisville women's soccer puts their 2-0 record on the line tonight with a match against the St. Louis Billikens tonight in Lynn Stadium. The 7:30 p.m. match is on the ACCNX Network and features two very good squads. 

St. Louis is 1-1 on the season, with a 2-0 win over Indiana State at home and a 1-0 loss to highly regarded Notre Dame in South Bend. The ACC has five schools ranked in the top 25 in the latest polls. Neither Louisville, St. Louis nor Notre Dame are in the top 25 despite their early season success so far, but Louisville and Notre Dame are receiving votes. 

St. Louis is 9-2 all-time against the Cards. They were a perfect 9-0 when both schools were in Conference USA, but the Billikens have lost the last two when the squads faced in non-conference matchups.

St. Louis has seven starters back from the 2018 squad, including four that were selected for the A-10 preseason team and and -- in Alli Klug -- a senior defensive back, that was named to the MAC Hermann Trophy watch list. 

The Billikens were picked to win the A-10 in the conference's pre-season poll. The question we've got is...


 WHAT IS A BILLIKEN? 

"Spoon" 

A Billiken is a mythical good luck figure that "represents life the way it should be". 

Before he became St. Louis's mascot, he was a national sensation in the early 1900's. The Billiken was reproduced as dolls, marshmallows, piggy banks, hat pins, pickle forks, belt buckles, car hood ornaments, salt and pepper shakers -- and more.

No one is really sure when he became the St. Louis mascot. A popular myth is that he was adopted because he resembled former SLU men's basketball coach, the late Charlie Spoonhour. But, it goes back way before that...

Other rumors trace it back to an exchange between two SLU coaches -- attributed to the remark..."Well, you really have a bunch of Billikens on the field!" and the football squad was affectionately named "Bender's Billiken's" 

It was believed that buying a Billiken gave you good luck, but to receive a Billiken as a gift gave you even greater luck. 


There is a statue of a Billiken outside SLU's Chaifetz Arena and there is a student tradition of rubbing the Billiken's belly for good luck. 

And, now you know...

I've also got a great story about meeting Spoonhour in an airport years ago and our lively discussion about Coach Denny Crum and his prediction for one of his players. 

I'll share the "Tater" story with you sometime down the road, and how I ended up with a stuffed,toy Billiken. 

Let's hope the SLU WSOC squad doesn't stop off and rub the belly before heading to Louisville today...hopefully, UofL gives the Billikens a belly-ache tonight. 


paulie
xxxxx

Saturday News Roundup -- SATURDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

As the days until organized competition for Louisville women's athletics grow ever fewer, we are still stuck in the summer slump. There has been a bit of news that has gone on in the last few days worthy of coverage here at Cardinal Couple, though, so let's take a quick look.

Jeff Walz Leads USA vs Belgium

Louisville WBB head coach Jeff Walz has been in charge of the USA's FIBA U19 Women's World Cup team this summer. If you didn't know that, you must be living under a rock, or this is your first time to this site. If so, thanks for joining us. The USA has advanced to the semi-finals and are playing this morning for the opportunity to advance to take on Australia in the championship game. Australia defeated Spain 64-55 earlier this morning. At time of writing, Team USA holds a narrow lead over Belgium, 33-26 at halftime. Tune in tomorrow for what should see a full write-up of today's game and hopefully later next week for a write-up of the championship game.

Swimmers Keep Swimming

Louisville swimmers continue to impress as they compete for their countries at the FINA World Championships. Two names that frequenters of the site know quite well have been solid this week as they compete in some of their best events. Yesterday saw Kelsi Worrell Dahlia advance to the finals of the 50m butterfly when she finished second in her heat (fourth seeded overall). Mallory Comerford was also in action yesterday, finishing seventh overall in the 100m freestyle. Fellow American Simone Manual posted a new American record of 52.04 on her way to winning the event. Dahlia will compete in the butterfly final today.

Gaby Vincent Inks Deal with Utah

Gaby Vincent is "officially" a pro soccer player. Despite making numerous appearances for Utah Royals FC this season in the NWSL, Vincent had previously been only a member of the "supplemental roster." The supplemental roster is exactly as it sounds, allowing players to be used for competition while others are away, doing things such as competing in the Women's World Cup. Earlier this week, URFC made it official and signed Vincent to a full roster spot, despite the fact that both players she had been replacing this summer have returned from National Team duties. Vincent has her work cut out for her to get playing time for the rest of this year, as one of those players that is in front of her on the depth chart is the USA's Becky Sauerbrunn. However, being signed fully means that the club sees some future for Vincent, which can be very motivating in itself. Vincent has played 585 minutes in 7 games (6 starts), during which time the Royals have allowed 6 goals. She has 36 clearances, a 45% success rate on tackles, and an 84% passing rate, with 92% passing in the defensive half. Gaby is set up for success in the league as long as she continues to receive opportunities. We wish the Cardinal Forever the best of luck as her career plows forward.

Cardinal Couple Radio Hour

The Cardinal Couple Radio Hour returns this week, as it does nearly every Saturday, for another look at what's going on in the world of Louisville Women's Athletics. Jeff will not be joining us this week, but we'll have Daryl taking his spot. Daryl, Jared, Paulie, and I will do our best to get you through one of the final weeks of the summer slump, and I'll be doing my best to master the show controls in Jeff's absence. We'll discuss the goings-on from this week and Paulie brings us a quiz based on the world travelling Jeff... Walz that is. Tune in to WCHQ at 11AM this morning for the show. Find WCHQ at 100.9 FM, wchqfm.com, the WCHQ App in the App Store or Google Play Store, or follow along at Facebook Live. Links are on the sidebar of the site.

Until next time, Go Cards!

-CH-