VBall Recap -- WSoc Visits Clemson -- HALLOWEEN THURSDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

JARED'S ANNUAL HALLOWEEN SPECIAL

Volleyball Sweeps Notre Dame

Fans packed L&N Arena for a match between Louisville and Notre Dame. It certainly was not A Quiet Place as the Scream of the fans could be heard out to Floyd Street. Jeff and I were fortunate enough to get inside the packed arena and we Saw the entire match. Louisville's marketing team promoted it as a Halloween theme with special song choices throughout the match.

The Cards brought out the brooms en route to a 3-0 sweep (25-17, 25-17, 25-21). The blowout win meant Irish fans were quick to Get Out of L&N Arena. Things didn't appear to be going the direction of a blowout in the beginning.

Notre Dame raced out a 6-1 lead and then led 8-2 before Louisville settled in. The Cards rallied to go on a 7-1 run to tie the score at 9-9. Notre Dame's last lead in the set was at 14-13 and then it was all Louisville, who ended the match on a 12-3 run.

The second set saw some similar struggles early on with the Irish holding a 10-9 advantage. Louisville showed why they're the #4 team in the country from there, dominating the remainder of the set.

Coming out of halftime, things got out of hand quickly. The Cards found themselves up 19-7 and Dani Busboom Kelly decided it was time to empty the bench. The set felt like Child's Play up to that point. With several seniors set to graduate after this season, DBK knew it was time to let other players get some experience on the court. Notre Dame capitalized on the inexperience and cut Louisville's lead to 22-20. The Cards held steady and walked away with the win.

Louisville's Monster Squad pulled off some monster blocks, tallying 10 on the match. Middles Cara Cresse and Hannah Sherman led the way in that department.

One item to note is that Charitie Luper, who has been a Shining star for Louisville, sat out this match. She was seen wearing a sling at one point, but everything appeared to be just a precaution. Her replacement for the match, Payton Petersen, was all over the place. Notre Dame would've needed an Exorcist to stop her. Petersen posted nine kills, five digs, one ace, and one block.

Anna DeBeer did what she does best and led all players with 10 kills. Elena Scott had Goosebumps seeing a big time cheering section spelling out "We <3 Elena!", but that did not stop her on court performance of 13 digs and an assist.

"We <3 Elena!"

Notre Dame was left scratching their heads hoping it was nothing but a bunch of Hocus Pocus, but this match was no dream, just a true Nightmare On Elm Street (or Floyd Street). These two teams will meet in a rematch this coming Saturday in South Bend.

The Cards (18-3, 10-1 ACC) continue to chase a national championship, hoping to get The Ring this year. Let's hope DBK and Co are Conjuring up the right recipe to make that happen.

Women's Soccer Visits Clemson

Photo by GoCards

Wrapping up their regular season tonight, Louisville women's soccer hits the road to face Clemson. The match is slated for a 7:00pm kickoff time on ACCNX. This match should kick off when it is Near Dark and go well into the night. Thankfully, Historic Riggs Stadium is far from the Children of the Corn that you may encounter as you move further away from campus. 

Clemson enters the match 6-8-2 on the year with a 2-7 mark in the ACC. This is certainly not the same Clemson team that earned a 1-seed in last year's NCAA Tournament and made it to the Final Four. The Tigers started conference play losing four in a row and currently ride a three-game losing streak with a pair of wins sandwiched in between.

Photo by GoCards

Louisville enters the match with a slightly better record of 7-6-4 overall and 2-5-2. Despite this, the Tigers hold a slight edge in RPI. 

The Tigers have been outscored 28-20 on the year with 21 of those goals allowed coming in conference play. The Cards have run into a similar issue in goal differential in the ACC. Both teams are looking to Purge whatever woes they have had this season.

Mackenzie Duff, Christian Brathwaite, and Kendall Bodak have each scored three goals for Clemson. Defensively, Nona Reason and Addy Holgorsen have split the most time in goal. The former has had the most success with 49 saves and a 0.754 save percentage.

Photo by GoCards

For Louisville, Karsyn Cherry has been a Hellraiser for opposing teams. The center back has helped lock down the back line of defense while also scoring six goals. Makenzie Geigle has had a bit of a Sixth Sense this year, allowing her to score seven goals.

A win would help Louisville's chances at an NCAA Tournament bid, but the Cards might need to rely on the skills of Beetlejuice to help make that happen.

Field Hockey Awaits Their Destiny

Photo by GoCards

Louisville field hockey will find out if their season is over or will continue with a key game tonight. No, IT does not actually involve Louisville playing in a game. Instead, this one features California visiting Stanford for a 9:00pm start time on ACCNX. With such a late start time, hopefully they do not play From Dusk Till Dawn.

While this season has felt like A Scary Movie for the Cards, there is a chance their season is still alive. The loser of Cal vs Stanford will finish tied for last in the ACC with Louisville. Louisville would hold the tiebreaker over Stanford but not over Cal. In this case we want Cal to win, allowing the Cards to beat out the Cardinal for the final position in the ACC Tournament.

Most recently, Louisville concluded the regular season with a blowout victory over UC Davis. Stanford also took down UC Davis by a score of 1-0 back in September on Friday the 13th.

The Cards have had some major struggles this year that are nothing short of A Nightmare Before Christmas. I'm not even sure that The Ghostbusters could come in to solve the woes this year. 

We hope you got a good Smile and maybe even a Trick or Treat out of today's Halloween special.

Happy Thursday, Happy Halloween, and Go Cards!

Jared

FH and WSoc face BC -- VB vs Va Tech -- FRIDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

Happy Friday, Louisville fans!

I hope everyone is finding some fun fall things to get into this season. Fall sports, trips to Huber's, pumpkin carving and haunted houses. You know, the whole nine. I'm trying to figure out what I would like to carve my pumpkin into this weekend. I usually venture to attempt something Louisville themed... big surprise.

Some exciting personal news this week, I became an Aunt Thursday morning!! I look forward to meeting my nephew this weekend.  His father is a that team down the road fan... you bet your bottom that I will be doing my darnedest to keep that kid in a red onesie!   

Jared gave you the rundown on this weekend's events with a little preview in yesterday's edition of Cardinal Couple. The Field Hockey Cardinals look to start a new winning streak when they visit #12 Boston College this afternoon. The Volleyball Cards are on the road looking for a couple ACC wins to improve on their championship campaign.  Women's Soccer Cards has lost 3 of the last 4 matches by a score of 9-3.

FIELD HOCKEY - 1PM

Watch on ACCNX

Friday's game at #12 Boston College will mark the ninth top-25 opponent the Cardinals have faced this season. Louisville is 6-2 in those games with its only loss coming at the hands of then #2 (and current #1) Iowa on Sept. 19 and #2 Michigan on Oct. 10.  The Iowa loss also marked the first time the Cardinals were shut out since March 27, 2021 when Louisville fell 1-0 at then #16 Boston College.

The Cards lead the series with the eagles 5-4. The last meeting (3/27/2021), BC won 1-0 in Chestnut Hill in the spring season.  In the fall matchup, the Cardinals prevailed 2-1 at Trager Stadium on 10/4/2020.

WOMENS SOCCER - 4PM

Watch on ACCNX

Boston College enters Friday's match at Lynn Stadium with a 6-7-1 overall record and they are 0-6 in ACC play. In their six ACC games, they have been outscored 15-3. They are coming off a 2-1 overtime loss to #5 North Carolina that saw them take a 1-0 lead in the 49th minute before UNC scored late in the 88th and 98th minutes for the victory. Louisville is 3-3 all-time against Boston College and 2-1 at Lynn Stadium.

Weather could be a factor today for the Kickin' Cards. Rain and thunderstorms are forecast for this afternoon -- we could have the dreaded "Oh,no ! -- there's lightning -- clear the field and wait 30 minutes" scenario. And, it's a double header to boot, the men are supposed to play after the women. Let's hope the elements don't interfere. 

VOLLEYBALL - 6PM 

Watch on ACCNX

UofL holds the series lead over Virginia Tech 24-4.  The last time the two teams met in 2019, the Hokies got the win 3-1 over the #23 Cardinals. It was VTs first win over the Cards since 1992. The series dates back to 1980. Junior Logan Mosley leads the ACC in total digs with 292 and is third in the ACC in digs per set with 4.11. Senior Angel Robinson is fourth in total blocks with 74 and also sits at 55th nationally. Tasha Vipond has also had a hand in the Hokie block with 63 total, good for 9th in the ACC.

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In other 'news'.... the NCAA pretending to do something... 

The Division I Women's Basketball Committee and the Division I Women's Basketball Oversight Committee on Thursday voted unanimously on a proposal that would expand the Division I Women's Basketball Championship field from 64 to 68 teams, effective immediately.

 

The proposal will now advance for consideration by governance committees. A final determination is expected by mid-November.
Since 2015, the format for the women's basketball tournament has provided the top 16 overall seeded teams with the opportunity to host the first- and second-round games at their home venues.

 

Under the proposed 68-team format for 2022, the opening-round games of the women's tournament would take place at four of those top 16 seeds' sites.

Starting with the 2023 tournament, the opening round would be hosted at one predetermined neutral site.

We will delve more into this topic on Saturdays recording as well as the results of these games, but I will touch on the March Madness news as our group chat did pick up some steam on it.. 

It doesn't make sense why the same tournament format would be used in both championships but it does... and that's money.  And maybe sprinkle in a little disbelief in there too, y'know?   It seems like the NCAA is patting itself on the back for doing something that should've happened as the men's did in 2011.  The 2022 March Madness tournament will be 40 years old (only 39th champion will be crowned *no 2020 champ*) and TitleIX is a 50 year old law.   You do the math! 

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I know the gang has some colorful opinions on the sporting news this weekend so make sure to tune in for Saturday's edition of Cardinal Couple Radio Hour Podcast. In case you missed it -- maybe you were out collecting Himalayan salt or wrecked your tricycle into the Louisville Football defense (and gained 12 yards) -- here's a link to last week's show. (And, it's freeeeee!) 

LINK: CARDINAL COPLE RADIO HOUR PODCAST 10/9/21

Enjoy the weekend and don't forget the sunscreen! 

Go Cards
~Daryl  

 

WBB National Media Day -- Teeter's Canadian Side -- WEDNESDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

Asia Durr Heads to Women's Basketball National Media Day

Asia Durr is one of seven collegiate players selected to attend the Women's Basketball National Media Day.  The event, hosted by ESPN and the NCAA, will be held later today, just one day before Louisville's media day.  This is Durr's second straight year attending the event.


Kalani Brown (Baylor), Chennedy Carter (Texas A&M), Sabrina Ionescu (Oregon), Arike Ogunbawale (Notre Dame), Katie Lou Samuelson (UConn), and Teaira McCowan (Missisippi State) will be the other six to join Durr.  Geno Auriemma (UConn), Muffet McGraw (Notre Dame), and Vic Schaefer (Mississippi State) are the coaches that will present.

The senior was also named to the preseason All-ACC team.  Her 1,743 career points ranked her sixth in school history and she sits second on the list in made three-point field goals with 278.  You can follow @UofLWBB on their social media platforms to stay up-to-date with the events.

The honors and awards keep lining up for the
Douglasville, GA native. The WBB Cards will open their season on Nov 6th. with a short road trip to Western Kentucky to battle the Hilltoppers and first-year coach Greg Collins.

UofL will be looking to avenge a loss they suffered the last time they visited Bowling Green. On November 21st., 2015, Louisville fell to WKU 71-69 in E.A. Diddle  Arena. The Cards started the 2015-16 season at 3-5 before going on a 15 game win streak. That was UofL's first season in the ACC and Durr freshman year at Louisville.


Teeter Selected as U-19 Women's Canadian Lacrosse Team Head Coach

Scott Teeter's international accolades continue to pile up.  This time, The Canadian Lacrosse Association (CLA) announced that Teeter will lead the U-19 Women's Canadian Lacrosse Team at the 2019 FIL U-19 Women's Field Lacrosse World Championship in Ontario.

In 2015, Teeter led Team Canada to the U-19 Championship, winning gold.  He led the team to two silver medals in 2017, one at the FIL World Cup and one at the World Games.  In 2011, the team won a bronze medal at the championship.

On the U-19 coaching staff with him is Louisville lacrosse alumna and current assistant coach Kaylin Morissette.  A Canadian herself, Morissette was an assistant coach under Teeter at Canisius and has played on the Canadian National Team on multiple occasions.

Morissette is widely recognized as one of the best to don the red and black and play Lacrosse at Louisville. Her mastery of the draw control was legendary and she was named to the All-American teams three times in her playing days at UofL (2013-16).

With both Teeter and Kay helping coaching the Canadians, we can see them having great success and giving us another reason to admire and appreciate the brain trust of "Teeterssette".


Halloween


.No tricks here, just treats by Cardinal Couple.  Today is Halloween!

Halloween can be traced back all the way to Celtic times, where people would build bonfires and wear costumes as part of a fortune telling ceremony but also to ward off evil spirits.  The event, held on November 1, was known as Samhain.

The Roman Empire under Pope Gregory III later adopted the tradition in a more religious version.  November 1 was used to honor all Christian martyrs known as All Saints Day.  The tradition of games, costumes, masks, and parties became popular.

In America, the Protestant north was opposed to Halloween, but the holiday was adopted by the south, where parties became more extravagant.  Ghost stories started becoming more popular partly due to the influence of the Native Americans.  During the Irish potato famine the population of America grew rapidly and Halloween spread around the country.

Americans would walk door-to-door asking for food or money in the early forms of trick-or-treating.  The media encouraged households to decorate their homes in a frightening or grotesque manner to add to the holiday.  Small vandalism began appearing on homes or schools during the Halloween period.  To help their homes from being vandalized families would offer candy and other treats to keep the children at bay.

Here on the campus of the University of Louisville teams have added their own fun to Halloween by having practices featuring costumes.  Athletes will also have Halloween parties as a chance to dress up in a costume and have fun.  I guess college students are too old to go trick-or-treating anymore.


You can check out the UofL Symphony Orchestra's Halloween Spooktacular tonight if you're looking for something to do for free.  In the past they have been known to play pieces such as Ghostbusters, Beetlejuice, Harry Potter Hedwig's Theme, In The Hall of  the Mountain King, Pirates of the Caribbean, and much more while performing in costumes!  Seating fills up fast so arrive extra early if you plan to go.

Here are some popular Halloween songs to help get you into the spirit:

Monster Mash (Bobby "Boris"Pickett & The Crypt Kickers) music video

Thriller (Michael Jackson) music video

Ghostbusters (Ray Parker Jr) music video

This is Halloween (The Nightmare Before Christmas) music video

Have any Halloween stories, funny or scary?  Feel free to share!

We are approaching Donation Month at Cardinal Couple so don't forget to leave us a "treat" in the form of a donation. We accept Pay Pal donations (see the top of the site for the link), or you can send your check or money order to:

CARDINAL COUPLE
P.O. Box 91521
Louisville, KY  40291

Happy Wednesday, Happy Halloween, and Go Cards!

- Jared -

VOLLEYBALL FALLS TO FLA. ST....FIELD HOCKEY FACES MICHIGAN...FOOTBALL AT VIRGINIA -- SATURDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

WIDE NETTERS GET "NOLED" 3-1

Louisville Volleyball (7-14, 2-9) took another one to the chin last night in the KFC YUM! Center...#11 Florida State taking care of the Cards 25-23, 18-25, 27-29, 10-25 in four sets. 

The fact that the Cards were fairly close in a couple of these and actually won a set should be of some encouragement to Anne Kordes and a squad that is still trying to find a consistent identity. Melanie McHenry and Tess Clark combined for 27 Cardinal kills...despite the seemingly never-ending 'block party' power the 'Noles were displaying at the net. They had 12 stops at the net to Louisville's six. 

Coach Kordes saw some things she liked: 


"I am really excited about the way we came out strong. Gabbie Wiley had a career-best match. We have to place our focus on things we can control", said Anne Kordes, UofL coach. "We can control unforced errors, the service error and the hitting errors. I liked that we got a good glimpse of what we can do. But we have to continue the maturing process and not keep making the same mistakes. Credit to FSU, they wore us down mentally. We have to take things forward and learn from them."

Jeff McAdams will have more on this on today's radio show THE CARDINAL COUPLE RADIO HOUR and in his Monday column. 

LISTEN HERE TO CRESCENT HILL RADIO! Crescent Hill Radio



Louisville returns to the Denny Crum Court on Sunday to face Miami. 2 p.m. gets the first serve in the air. 


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FIELD HOCKEY FINISHES REGULAR SEASON AT MICHIGAN

Louisville Field Hockey ends the regular season today with a 1 p.m. pass-back in Ann Arbor against #11 Michigan. The Flock, seventh in the nation, is 15-3 and already knows their assignment in the ACC Tournament...starting off as the #4 seed and facing fifth seed UNC at 11 a.m. on Thursday, November 3rd. in Winston-Salem, NC on the Wake Forest campus. 

The Michigan test should be a good one to prepare the Cards for post-season play. The Wolverines (10-6) have won their last two games in overtime...taking down #10 Northwestern and #16 Iowa...two teams the Cards defeated also in the regular season. 

For Louisville, junior Nicole Woods was named ACC Offensive Player of the week last week...getting two goals and two assists in wins over #9 Virginia and #17 James Madison. 

This one will be available on Michigan's live stream via internet...in case you want to watch while viewing football today:

LINK: LOUISVILLE VS MICHIGAN FIELD HOCKEY


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FOOTBALL IN VIRGINIA

Right after our broadcast this morning on Crescent Hill Radio, the #5 University of Louisville Football team takes on Virginia in Charlottesville, VA. 

This one, arguably, shouldn't be that close. The Cavs have a hard time creating defense and that's never a good thing when you face an offensive juggernaut like Lamar Jackson and his Cardinals. When you add in the fact that Virginia doesn't produce much offense either...it's probably not going to go so well for the ACC foe. 

Will they try to take the air out of the ball...like Duke did against the Cards? They very well may. Will they have any success in that procedure? Probably not. I can easily see another 44-0 score at the half (or more) in this one. 

National TV again for Bobby's Boys...either ABC or ESPN2...depending on where you live. (Sigh)...another noon game. I hate noon games. 


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ON THE AIR WITH A LOT TO SHARE

We return to radio this morning after a week off. Expecting Worldwide and Case to join me in the studio as we cover Volleyball, Football, Field Hockey, Soccer, Hoops and more! 

I suspect we'll have a bit of Halloween mischief as well on the broadcast today. We won't be in costume...but wouldn't Worldwide be well-cast as an Ewok and Case as Herman Munster? As for Paulie...definitely as a UK Football player. That would scare the bee-jeezus out of a bunch of people. 

Tune in! We start haunting the airwaves at 11 a.m. 

LINK: THE CARDINAL COUPLE RADIO HOUR


paulie
xxxxx

HAPPY HALLOWEEN !! -- Friday Cardinal Couple

HAPPY HALLOWEEN TO ALL CARDINAL COUPLE READERS! Whether you are tricking or treating, have a great day and remember that UofL Volleyball plays tonight against Syracuse at the KFC YUM! Center. 

Paulie's Friday Breeders Cup picks for Friday are at the link below and we'll get the Saturday Selections up tomorrow.

FRIDAY BREEDERS CUP

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Here's the AP WBB Preseason poll. Cards are #12 and "you know who"...80 miles east is over-ranked @ #11. 

RANK	SCHOOL	POINTS
1	Connecticut (35)	875
2	South Carolina	824
3	Notre Dame	798
4	Tennessee	749
5	Texas A&M	702
6	Stanford	645
7	Duke	577
8	Baylor	573
9	Texas	532
10	Maryland	531
11	Kentucky	522
12	Louisville	505
13	North Carolina	504
14	Michigan State	433
15	California	423
16	Nebraska	314
17	West Virginia	306
18	DePaul	301
19	Iowa	236
20	Oregon State	183
21	Oklahoma State	158
22	Dayton	95
23	UCLA	86
T24	Rutgers	65
T24	Syracuse	65

paulie
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Cardinal Tricks and Treats and Paulie's Friday Breeders Cup Picks -- Thursday Cardinal Couple

TRICK OR TREAT CARDINAL STYLE


With Halloween rapidly approaching, we decided to look at some of the Cardinal women's sports treats that we've enjoyed and look forward to in the near future. We're not much on tricking anymore...our days of smashing pumpkins and soaping windows pretty much disappeared with the demise of Flock Of Seagulls ...although we'd love to see the Louisville Field Hockey team turn their sticks loose on a few jack o' lanterns or the Louisville Women's Soccer team try to kick a few carved pumpkins past Paige Brown in goal.

What the heck...let's go with the vegetable destruction scenario. I wonder if Katie Petrino could tee up a small pumpkin and knock it 200 yds. down the fairway or how many times the Louisville women's tennis and Volleyball squads could deliver serving aces on a ripe orange pumpkin. Could Sara Hammond dunk a pumpkin? Could Jude knock a couple of pumpkins through the net from trifecta range? 

OK, enough.

Cue up the Smashing Pumpkins and read on...

FALL TREATS

1) We've certainly enjoyed watching Louisville Field Hockey build a 14-4 record against possibly the toughest schedule in history. The Cards hope to collect more candy in their final regular-season game at Michigan State this weekend and progress deep into the ACC Tournament next week.

And, we'll be glad to place rocks in the trick or treat bags of the poll voters who assigned the Stick Cards 9th place in the latest rankings. Making Paulie look bad in predictions is a bad idea...

2) Hats off and extra Snickers bars to the Louisville women's golf team for a great fall schedule performance. The "putt and chip" Cards will take a few months off of competition and come out swinging in the spring in heightened ACC competition.  We're confident they'll receive a lot of belated "treats" in their upcoming matches. 

3) Louisville Volleyball has had a bag full of mixed results in their inaugural ACC season...but they'll be in action Halloween eve down at the KFC YUM! Center hoping to prank visiting Syracuse. Tess Clark has been a pleasant "treat" for the Cards in the middle this season and favorites Janelle Jenkins, Maya McClendon and Katie George haven't disappointed. 


4) Louisville women's Soccer is undergoing a youth movement that makes us wonder if the majority of the squad isn't that far from dressing up and going door-to-door on Halloween Eve...but the promise of how these youngsters could finish the season and excel in future years promises to be an event bigger treat than a bag full of Twix, Candied Apples and Milky Ways. 

OK...my sweet tooth is taking over. Enjoy your upcoming Halloween and let's hope our Football Cards can "trick" Florida State into a loss tonight in PJCS and give all Cardinal fans a great pre-Halloween treat! 

(And if you have any left-over Kit Kat or Three Musketeers bars after the visiting hordes are gone...remember your ol' pal Paulie...)  

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I'VE GONE AND DONE IT NOW...AFTER HANDICAPPING AND THINKING ABOUT THE FOUR BREEDERS' CUP RACES ON FRIDAY...I'VE ACTUALLY POSTED MY PICKS OVER AT MY PERSONAL WEBSITE.

ABANDON ALL HOPE, YE WHO ENTER THERE. LINK BELOW:

TELL YOUR STATISTICS TO SHUT UP -- THE FRIDAY PICKS

--paulie
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