Sunday Cardinal Couple - A Day of Rest...Or Not

Basketball Breather

Coach Walz's basketball squad has actually had a chance to catch their breath, and even have a day completely off before getting ready for current number two team in the nation NC State.

The Wolfpack did drop a game over the weekend, so they probably won't be in that second place position come game time, but make no mistake, this is a very good team.

In any case, we're going to take a bit of a break from basketball as well, but should be back at it with a full preview of the big game from Paulie tomorrow.

Swimming Beats Cincinnati

The UofL Cards beat Cincinnati by a total score of 165-91.  The Senior Day win....yes, really, the swimming regular season is now wrapped up, and it caught me by surprise, too...should help the Cards hang onto, and maybe slightly improve their 19th ranking.

The best results of the event for the Cards were in the 100 yard backstroke, where the Cards owned the whole podium in a 1-2-3 finish by Ashlyn Schoof's (53.62), Tatiana Salcutan (53.80), and Paige Hetrick (54.37).  Also the 200 butterfly, with Tristen Ulett (1:57.36), Carley Lowe (1:58.51), and Gabi Albiero (1:58.89) taking the podium.  Maria Sumida was fourth (1:59.58) in exhibition.  The 200 backstroke with Tatiana Salcutan (1:56.49), Ashlyn Schoof (1:58.37), and Abby Hay (2:00.05) forming the trio.

The Cardinals also took wins in the 200 medley relay, the 100 freestyle, the 200 freestyle (with a 2nd place finish as well), the 100 breaststroke, the 50 freestyle, and the 100 butterfly.

It was a good outing for the Cards, after the men's side of the squad got the win over Cincinnati in a session earlier in the day.

Swimming will be back in action next Friday and Saturday, the 12th and 13th, at the Ralph Wright for the "Louisville First Chance" as a tune up for the ACC Championships the week after in Greensboro.

Women's Tennis Sweeps Another

Tennis has also been in action, and they're just getting their season underway.  We don't have to worry about Senior Day for Tennis until April.  Normally Tennis gets their season started in the fall, takes a little bit of a winter break, and then has the bulk of their season in the spring.  This year, of course, the whole fall portion of the schedule didn't happen, and the first tournament of the spring season at Notre Dame got cancelled because of Covid.

So Tennis is really just getting underway for the year, and so far, so good.  In non-conference play so far, the Cards haven't lost even a single individual match, yet.  Both overall matches have been won by 7-0 scores, and even in the doubles matches where best two out of three individual matches wins the overall doubles points, the Cards have gone 6-0.

I don't want to get expectations too high, as tennis is another sport where the ACC excels and the Cards have a habit of waltzing through non-conference play before hitting the buzz-saw of conference matchups.

The latest match was against Miami (OH), and in it, the Cards only lost a single set, total.

On a very minor side note, the gocards.com write-up of the tennis match was written by Hollyn Barr taking a break from the field hockey cage.  It's not uncommon for players of various sports to intern with the athletic department and take on roles like this.  It has at times been a chance for the Cardinal Couple crew to meet and chat with various athletes, such as when Yacine Diop ran the scoreboard in the softball press box a couple of years back.

Well done to the tennis squad, and Barr in their roles.  The tennis squad will be back in action Friday afternoon against Wichita State, in Wichita.  No word on Barr's next duties.

Cardinal Couple Radio Hour Podcast

Basketball may have had a slight break, but The Cardinal Couple Radio Hour Podcast didn't take a break from covering them, that's for sure.

It was over an hour of recap, analysis, and preview of Cards basketball.  It was good fun with lots of games to cover.  Check it out!

JMcA

Cards Advance to FH Finals -- SATURDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

 Louisville Scores Early and Often in Semifinal

The Cards put any fears of their offense being MIA to bed yesterday when they scored five goals on Virginia to win 5-2, a match of the score between the two teams earlier this season. So much for my prediction that Louisville would rather play Wake Forest due to Virginia's additional motivation against the Cards. The win was a big one for Louisville, following the disappointing defeat against Syracuse to wrap up the regular season.

Louisville opened the scoring right off the bat with an Aimee Plumb goal less than two minutes into the match. The goal came on live play and is the first item listed in the game's play-by-play breakdown. Just after the opening goal, Madison Walsh attempted to double the Cards' advantage but her shot went just wide. The two teams went on to trade substitutions for the next six minutes with no terribly threatening action on either side before Virginia's Adele Iacobucci got free and tied the match at 1-1 with six minutes remaining in the first quarter. Virginia would go on to get two more shots in the first, with one requiring Hollyn Barr to make the first save of the game for either team, but the whistle blew with the score remaining 1-1.

The second period saw Louisville control the ball for the majority of the action, but it also saw them miss out on three penalty corner chances. The first two chances came back-to-back four minutes into the quarter. Alli Bitting set up Mercedes Pastor, but Pastor's shot was blocked out for another corner. The next set piece saw the same attack, with Meche's second attempt going wide of the goal. For the next eight minutes, neither team could get anything going in attack before Louisville earned their third penalty corner of the period. Again, Alli Bitting took the pass in, but it was Aimee Plumb on the receiving end this time. Plumb lined up her second shot on goal of the afternoon, but it was saved. The two teams headed to the locker rooms still tied at 1-1, and the game began to look like it could go either way.

That all changed with whatever Coach Sowry said in her halftime speech. The Cards came out on the front foot in the third quarter and didn't let up. Two and a half minutes in, Louisville earned their fourth penalty corner of the game. This one saw Madison Walsh with the in-pass to Julie Kouijzer, who continued it along to Katie Schneider. Schneider's shot found the back of the cage. 2-1 Cards. Less than two minutes later, Madison Walsh got the chance to add to the Louisville lead and took it with a shot into the corner. 3-1 Cards. After another four minutes of relentless attack, Louisville earned another penalty corner. Emilia Kaczmarczyk's shot was blocked, but Virginia was unable to clear. Alli Bitting got ahold of the ball and found Margot Lawn, who knocked in her fourth goal of the year and Louisville's fourth of the game. After that, Virginia made a keeper substitution, but the damage had been done. Immediately after entering, though, Henrikson got the opportunity to prove her mettle and saved a Meche Pastor shot. Louisville finished the quarter with a 4-1 lead.

The Cards picked up in the fourth where they left off in the third. Just a minute and a half in, Charlie van Oirschot snagged her third goal of the season and put this one all the way out of reach. Taylor Henrikson was able to pick up two more saves, including one on a Louisville corner attempt, but Virginia's offense couldn't make up the difference. The Cavaliers were able to claw one goal back after cleaning up a Hollyn Barr save on a corner attempt, but making it 5-2 with three minutes left is hardly the most inspiring goal. Louisville would go on wrap up the victory and advance to tomorrow's final. 

The Cards will now get the chance for some payback against UNC. Sure, Louisville took the victory earlier this season, snapping UNC's massive winning streak, and that was a huge win. However, this would be Louisville's chance to win their first conference tournament since winning the MAC in 2004 (hat tip to Kelly Dickey). Also, per that Kelly Dickey tweet, a win would give the Louisville athletic program just its third ACC tournament win since joining the conference (2018 men's soccer and women's basketball). Even more than that, Louisville is playing in a mirrored situation to 2017. In that season, the Cards hosted the ACC tournament and advanced to the finals to take on top-seeded UNC. They lost 1-0. This year, Louisville is the top seed and UNC host the tournament. Turnabout's fair play. Tomorrow's match will get underway at noon and will air on the ACC Network proper. Check out Coach Justine Sowry's postgame interview from yesterday by clicking the link below.

Coach Justine Sowry's Postgame Interview

Cardinal Couple Radio Hour

We're without Jared this week, but Paulie, Jeff, and I will still be bringing you the joy and excitement of Louisville women's athletics on the Cardinal Couple Radio Hour Podcast. As the regular season wrapped up last week, there aren't too many games to review, but that won't slow us down. With a big win yesterday, plus games to preview and more news throughout the week, we'll have plenty to discuss. Tune in to the Cardinal Couple YouTube Channel at 11AM for the live show, or check out the podcast following the conclusion of the live episode. 

Until next time, Go Cards!

-CH-

A Winning Weekend - Sunday Cardinal Couple

Volleyball Wins

In a match that, in a normal year, would've been Senior Night, the wide net Cards finished off the complete sweep of a good Syracuse squad.  In the CCRH, we all concluded that last night's volleyball match should be closer and more competitive than the Friday night match.  While the results were still a 3 set sweep, the play was much more competitive, and the set scores show it, 25-18, 25-21, 27-25.

Amaya Tillman and Aiko Jones probably
getting a block

The Syracuse squad in L&N Federal Credit Union Arena last night was much more like the Syracuse squad we all expected to see here in Louisville.  The Orange outblocked the Cards 9-7, and held Louisville to just .216 hitting.  Of course, the New Yorkers only hit .136.  The lesson being that just slowing down your opponent's offense isn't enough, you have to generate some offense of your own if you want to win games.

Things started well for the Cards, with a jump out to a 8-2 lead in the first set before the Orange seemed to wake up a little bit.  The two team would largely trade points the rest of the way through this set, but Syracuse would not be able to close the gap.  In the end, a powerful hit by Anna DeBeer would get the Cards the early set lead.

Louisville would play from behind in the 2nd when Syracuse got a 4-0 run early in the set to pull out from a 5-5 tie to 9-5.  More even play in the set would see Syracuse maintain that lead through 16-12 when the Cards would go on a mini run of three to shrink the gap, but not close it.  Finally, the Cards had enough and went on a six point run to take the lead and stretch it out to 22-18, helped in the process by Tori Dilfer's strong serving.  Syracuse could do nothing to close the gap, and Anna Stevenson would close this one out with a bit of an awkward looking, but effective, hit in the middle.

Aiko Jones getting to the hit before the
blockers can close out

The last set was a game of runs.  It started inauspiciously for the Cards with a pair of attack errors, but they quickly composed themselves and took a 6-2 lead including a string of three straight Aiko Jones kills.  The Orange would immediately get three of those back on good serving by the Israeli member of the Syracuse team, Ella Saada.  The Cards offense was playing well, but errors, mostly from the service line, kept them from putting together the next run.  The Cards would push out a slim lead 13-9, but then the Syracuse blocking would be instrumental in an 8-1 run to eliminate a four point Cardinal lead and get out in front at 18-15.  A pair of three point mini runs by the Cards would close down that lead and push the set into needing bonus points, tying it up at 24.  Finally, Aiko Jones would say, enough is enough and with a kill, a joint block with Amaya Tillman, and another kill would put the bow on this one, and send Syracuse back home without a set win in the weekend at all.

From a subjective and stats driven analysis, the same conclusions.  Our passing and digging were better this match.  This has been the weakest link of a pretty strong chain, but the numbers look good, with 16 digs for Libero Alexis Hamilton, and 12 for full-rotation player Claire Chaussee, the rest of the squad was all in the low to mid single digits.  I'd like to see more out of the DSes that are seeing time on the court, mostly Ayden Bartlett who only had a pair, but none from Alexa Hendricks, Mia Stander, and Ceci Rush is a little concerning.  To be fair to this trio though, they are mostly being used as serving specialists right now, so their time on the floor is limited.  Credit Claire Chaussee and Aiko Jones being fully capable of playing full rotations for limiting the role of the DSes.

Freshman Anna DeBeer showing her power

In hitting, Aiko Jones led the team with 17 and a reasonable .270, the newcomer, freshman Anna DeBeer showed her power with 12 on .259.  Perhaps keep an eye out this week for a Freshman of the Week honor?  I haven't looked around the league to see what others have been up to in comparison, but I'll be keeping an eye out.  The other Anna, Stevenson, only had seven kills, but it was an extremely efficient seven on nine attempts and only a single miscue, for .667.  A trio of service aces is a decent showing, but more importantly, keeping the service errors from getting out of control with only five helps.

Louisville will take the next week off, and then finish off the season the week after with perhaps the biggest challenge of this odd-ball season by heading up to Pitt for a pair of matches.

Field Hockey Wins

Wake Forest and Hurricane (well, Tropical Storm by that point) Delta made things interesting in Winston-Salem yesterday in Field Hockey.  The Cards would get the win 2-1 with scores in the 1st and 4th quarters.

A significant discussion point around this one was the impact tropical system Delta would have on the play and the field.  It wasn't clear, even as game time approached, just how much rain would be involved, and based on the comments from the play by play and color people on the telecast, it was looking like they would get away with minimal impacts, right up until the first pass.

But the heavens would open up and a significant amount of water would fall in the 1st half of play.  Normally I would point out that turf fields are routinely sprayed down with water to improve the playing surface for field hockey, so a little bit of rain just means a lower water bill for the hosting team.  However, in this case, there was enough rain in a short period of time to cause ponding on the field and that will have a dramatic impact on passes and part of the game, even altered how injections on penalty corners were attempted by the team to try to avoid water puddles.

The rain would largely stop, or at least slow down to a very light rain, and the field drained well for the 2nd half.

Beyond Delta, Wake Forest would keep things interesting as well, equally the Cards mark for Shots on Goal with 5, keeping Hollyn Barr busy in the cage.  When you broaden to overall shots, the Cards only held a slim edge at 12-10.

The Cards scoring got started late in the 1st quarter with Erica Cooper picking up a cross from Madison Walsh and firing it home. That was Cooper's 2nd goal of the season.  Wake would press their attack in the 2nd quarter, but Barr would get a pair of excellent saves to keep the Demon Deacons off the scoreboard in the first half.

That wouldn't hold in the 3rd quarter, though as Anne van Hoof would get a score four minutes in.  And, yes, van Hoof is indeed from the Netherlands as you might have guessed from her name.  The Cards would press their attack in the later part of the quarter, with eight shots and five penalty corners, but would not be successful in any of them.

The offensive attack would pay off in the opening minute of the 4th quarter, with the injection from Alli Bitting to Meghan Schneider for the stop to present the shot to Emilia Kaczmarczyk who fired it into the cage.  That would also be Kaczmarczyk's 2nd goal of the season.

Meche Pastor lead the team in shots, with 6, but she only put one on frame.  To her credit, however, for much of the game, she was drawing two and three defenders off of other Cardinal players to contain her.

The Cards will face Wake Forest again today at 2pm, again on RSN (so look around at the various Fox Sports Channels, Fox Sports South is a likely candidate).  This match up will not count for the conference record, but will apply to the overall record of the teams, the joys of being in the ACC, the only conference in NCAA DI playing field hockey at all.

Cardinal Couple Radio Hour

Finally, I think it was a winning outing for the Cardinal Couple Radio Hour.  With the normal full house, Case, Jared, Paulie, and myself ran through analysis and results of Volleyball, Field Hockey, and Women's Soccer in our ongoing quest to share the joy and excitement of UofL women's sports.

A fun hour, that we kept pretty close to the hour limit so we could shift our attentions over to the field hockey game starting right after.

If you missed it, of course you can join the fun below, or via the Cardinal Couple Radio Hour podcast which should be available at this point via all your normal podcast outlets and directories.

Cards See Three NCAA Advancements; Volleyball Sweeps -- FRIDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

                   *** BREAKING NEWS***

HAILEY VAN LITH SAYS "LOUISVILLE" !!!! THE #1 CLASS OF 2020 IS A CARDINAL ! THE 5'7" GUARD OUT OF CASHMERE, WA. COMMITTED TO UOFL AT 3:30 P.M. SATURDAY AFTERNOON. WE'LL HAVE MUCH MORE ABOUT THIS IN THE SUNDAY CARDINAL COUPLE. WELCOME TO THE VILLE HAILEY !!

Field Hockey Comes Back to Beat Michigan

In the first event of what was a busy day on Floyd Street, Justine Sowry's field hockey team got underway at Noon against the Michigan Wolverines. Coming into the game, Louisville was 5-0 against Big Ten opponents, but they had not yet played Michigan. The Wolverines finished the regular season at 13-5 before losing in the first round of the Big Ten Tournament to Iowa. That set up yesterday's matchup with the Cards, and Michigan seemed quite up to the task. 

In the first quarter, and for much of the game, Michigan seemed able to control the ball at will and play solid defense when Louisville got their chances. The Wolverines consistently held Louisville out of the circle with timely stick checks and intercepted passes. To their credit, Louisville also prevented Michigan from getting much of anything going offensively in the first quarter. Unfortunately, the one chance Michigan had, they took. With just over two minutes remaining in the first quarter, Meg Dowthwaite got free after a Katie Anderson pass and knocked in her eighth goal of the season. It was the only shot by either team in the quarter and it was on frame and in the cage.

Fewer than five game minutes later, Louisville got what appeared to be the equalizer. On a penalty corner, Bethany Russ deftly worked herself open before firing a shot that sailed into the net. The referees initially called a goal, but many Michigan players could be seen exclaiming about the height of the ball. Michigan's coach initiated a video referral and the review process began. The officials went to the monitor for nearly six minutes before coming out to have a conversation with the two coaches. They could be heard explaining that the shot was high and would be ruled a dangerous ball. Michigan's coach seemed pleased and walked away. Justine Sowry did not. After about 30 seconds of heated discussion, the officials returned to the review monitor for another six or seven minutes. We don't know what Coach Sowry said that made them continue their review, but it was ultimately to no avail. The goal was overturned. Michigan still led 1-0. The Cards continued to pressure in the second quarter, garnering three shots, but were unable to put any on frame. The halftime horn sounded with Louisville still behind a goal.

The third quarter was the busiest for both teams by far, with five total shots coming in that quarter. The quarter saw Hollyn Barr make an outstanding save to keep Louisville in the game and Bethany Russ refuse to be denied in her quest for an equalizer. After Louisville earned a penalty corner, Mercedes Pastor worked to get a shot that was blocked by a defender. Russ got ahold of the ball and used some impressive stick play to work just enough space to fire a shot into the back of the catch. The clank was unmistakable and Louisville had tied the match with two minutes to go in the third.

The fourth quarter and both overtimes required Barr to be nails. In those final 33 minutes, Barr picked up five saves. She had just one in the opening 45 minutes. While Michigan's offense peppered Barr, Louisville offense kept up the pressure as well. The Cards didn't have any shots in the fourth quarter, but they did have four in the 18 total minutes of overtime, including three on goal. Michigan's goalie was able to protect two shots in the first overtime, but with just under two minutes until a penalty shootout, Bethany Russ once more found the back of the cage. A crossing assist from Emilia Kaczmarczyk found Russ at the left side of the circle where she fired it home. Louisville won 2-1 on the golden goal and advance to the next round of the NCAA Tournament. 

All in all, it was a great game from the Cards. Coach Sowry discussed how they were able to stick to their game plan and execute when it mattered. Both teams had five corners. Louisville was able to stop Michigan from scoring on any of them. While the stat sheet doesn't technically say it, the Cards were successful on two of their five. Though one was disallowed and another was on a second effort, those are still better opportunities than Louisville has been getting throughout the season and this is an important time to clean up mistakes.

Cards Supporting Cards. Representatives from softball,
swimming/diving, golf, and lacrosse braved the cold.

Louisville will host the second round of the NCAA Tournament on Sunday at 1:00 PM. Boston College will come to town, likely looking for revenge. The Cards handed the Eagles a home loss when they played in the regular season, winning 3-2 in Chestnut Hill. Every game is a new day in the tournament, though, and Louisville will look to keep rolling into the next round.

Coach Sowry's interview apparently didn't make it to the screen, but a link to the transcript can be found here.  Paulie did catch the jumbled audio of Sowry's words and tou can hear them HERE.

It wasn't the most prepared or best set up scenario for NCAA post-game comments. 

Bethany Russ got podium time also time, which you can watch at this link or read the transcript if you prefer.

Soccer Ends Two Game Losing Streak at Perfect Time

The Cards ended their season with a pair of matches against NC State. The Wolfpack won both of those, sending Louisville into the NCAA Tournament with some confidence to rebuild. The Cards were able to do so last night, dominating possession of the ball on their way to a 1-0 win against the Lipscomb Bisons. Coach Karen Ferguson-Dayes noted in her post-game comments that she believed the possession was one thing Louisville could have done better on, but I believe Lipscomb's counter attacking ability was skewing her view of that stat. Louisville held possession for 71% of the first half and 64% for the entire game. 

Louisville's game plan in this match was pretty simple, and matched the rest of the season: sit on the ball, work possession through the midfield, and get chances on goal. Lipscomb's game plan was equally simple: disrupt the Louisville attack, win the ball, and counter. Had the Bison strikers been able to stay onsides for the life of them, we could be having a very different conversation this morning. After being called offsides 11 times in their last game, Lipscomb was called for four in the first half of last night's match. In each one, the Cards were beaten and Lipscomb either had a one-on-one opportunity or were poised for a very dangerous cross. On two, Lipscomb attempted shots after the whistle. On both of those, Gabby Kouzelos refused to get the ball out of the back of the net and made a pair of saves that don't go in the stat sheet. In scoreless games, seeing the ball in the back of the net can do things for both the offense and defense. Kouzelos refused to lose that psychological matchup.

As Louisville held possession, they also gathered a lot of chances. Fortunately for Lipscomb, Melissa Gray was up to the task. Gray had five saves in the first half, and would go on to finish with eight on the night. A couple of those first half saves were real beauties. However, all it took in this game was one chance, and Sarah Hernandez took that chance. Finishing her third goal of the season, all three on headers, Hernandez took flight Superwoman style to get to a perfectly placed free kick by Emina Ekic. Gray was caught out just a bit and the ball found the back of the net with 34 seconds remaining in the first half. Louisville finished the first half with 10 shots and six on frame, showing that they intended to keep beating on the door until they broke it down.

The second half saw quite a bit of the same. Louisville continued to earn chances much as they had in the first half. The Cards got five corners in the second half and ultimately put up seven shots. Though only three were on frame, the pressure was evident and the six shots off of the frame of the goal were close. As Coach Ferguson-Dayes mentioned in her postgame comments, Gray's play in the first half affected Louisville's shots in the second, putting more pressure on the Cards to be fine with their placement and ultimately leading to misses. 

Gabby Kouzelos maintained her staunch defense in the back, assisted of course by the back line. Lipscomb only finished with three shots and Kouzelos with two saves, but the defense saw quite a bit more work than the stats imply. Hernandez and Niamh Nelson both saw plenty of chances to clear crosses, through balls, and overhead balls, and they were up to the task last night. Kouzelos even got quite a bit more work than the box score shows, having to come all the way out of her box to win jousts at least three times and gathering a number of searching balls into the box by Lipscomb. Louisville picked up their tenth clean sheet on the way to this win.

After the match, the two teams gathered in a show
of sportsmanship.

Louisville's path gets harder from here. Their quadrant has seen nothing but chalk so far, as BYU, Arkansas, and NC State advanced last night. The second and third rounds will be held next weekend at the home site of the highest seed in the quadrant. In this case, the teams will travel to Provo, Utah, where Louisville will take on the Cougars of BYU. More information will be available as the first round ends across the tournament.

Hear the press conference style interview with Coach KFD, Emina Ekic, Sarah Hernandez, and Brooklynn Rivers here.

Ivine Chemutai Advances in NCAA Cross Country

Yesterday, Louisville cross country was in Charlottesville, Virginia to compete in the NCAA Southeastern Regional. The Cards did not have a ton of success in the regional, but there was some good news to come out of it. Sophomore runner Ivine Chemutai finished in 8th place in the women's 6K race, which was good enough for an automatic qualification in the NCAA Championship meet. No other Louisville runners qualified. Chemutai finished just thirty seconds off the pace of the winner and just 17 seconds behind third place. She was clear of 11th place, the non-AQ position, by 10 seconds. The National Championship meet will be held on November 23rd in Terre Haute, Indiana.

Volleyball Sweeps Syracuse in Return Match 

Louisville Volleyball has been reeling a bit since the loss of Melanie McHenry. Since McHenry went down in the Notre Dame match, and excluding that match, Louisville was 2-5. They quickly fell out of the chase for the ACC title and have since dropped behind five other teams that are tied for second. A benefit for the Cards in this situation is that they haven't given up. They're playing without McHenry, who happens to be the only senior on the team, meaning that the current iteration of Louisville volleyball is just getting additional practice time for next year. From now on, Louisville's priorities change a little bit. While the goals early in the season included a conference victory and potentially making a lot of noise in the NCAA Tournament, the Cards now need to focus on keeping their feet under them and building confidence going into next year. 

That started last night when Louisville completed a sweep in their first match of the final home stand of the year. The match was a revenge game against Syracuse, who beat the Cards in five sets in New York earlier this month. Louisville hit no worse than .280 in the three sets and held the Orange to .000 hitting for the match, despite having only five blocks. Louisville committed only 15 errors in the match and had a relatively low seven service errors. I know that's not a low number of service errors but the Cards have committed plenty more this season. Syracuse kept the first set close at 25-19 but the Cards did what they needed to and dominated the final two sets at 25-15 each. 

Amber Stivrins and Claire Chaussee led the way for the Cards in this one, both finishing with 10 kills. Chaussee even took an unusual lead from Aiko Jones in total attempts with 25 compared to Jones's 23. The two also added just six errors, and Stivrins finished with an outstanding .571 hitting percentage. Jones was a bit off on the night, finishing with just six kills and five errors, but she did add an ace, two assists, and three blocks to contribute to the cause. For the first time in awhile, we saw both Tori Dilfer and Shannon Shields in the same sets, though Shields finished with just one service error in the stat sheet. Dilfer appears to have taken at least a noticeable lead in the setter race as she has finished with the lion's share of the assists recently. 

Louisville will have two more home matches this season, both against teams they have defeated this year. The first will come against Notre Dame when the Irish come to town next Friday for a 7:00 PM matchup. Notre Dame will surely be looking for revenge for the five set loss Louisville handed them in South Bend, but the Cards need to keep their momentum rolling towards the end of the year. Head on down to L&N FCU Arena Friday to root on the Cards. 

Cardinal Couple Radio Hour

In case you couldn't tell, we'll have plenty to talk about this week on the Cardinal Couple Radio Hour. This week, Paulie, Jeff, and I will be joined in the studio by Daryl Foust. We'll talk all of the fall sports action that is still ongoing thanks to yesterday's victories and bring in basketball as it ramps up. The Cardinal Couple Radio Hour is still brought to you by WCHQ. Tune in at 11:00 AM to 100.9 FM, the WCHQ App, wchqfm.com, or on Facebook Live.

Until next time, Go Cards!

-CH- 

Volleyball Gets Road Win; Field Hockey Takes Home Loss -- SATURDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

Volleyball Sweeps Duke

In the first match of a four match road trip, the Louisville volleyball team got off to a pretty good start with an easy sweep of the Duke Blue Devils in Durham. Duke was only 8-9 on the season up until last night and only 1-3 in conference, so a clean win was to be expected. However, it was still the first conference road match of the season for the Cards so it was good to see them put together a solid performance. 

The Cards wins in last night's sets were progressively more lopsided as they completed the match at 25-21, 25-17, and 25-14. Louisville's biggest struggle came obviously in the first set as they worked to get their feet under them. The Cards had only 3 errors in the set, but Duke was able to stay around throughout the first set, even taking a lead past 15. Louisville's only other real trouble came in the third set when the Blue Devils went on a five point run to tie the set at 7. That would be short lived, though, as Louisville ultimately ran away with the set and the match.

Louisville's hitting last night was fantastic, as the Cards finished with a .430 percentage and had just 7 errors in the match. Noting that Duke had 3 blocks, that means the Cards hit the ball out of bounds just 4 times in the match. One of those just barely clipped the antenna. Louisville finished the final set with no errors and hit .630. The Cards were truly dialed in, as the Duke block number could have been much higher, had Louisville not shown excellent recovery ability on numerous block attempts. On the flip side, Duke also had some pretty good recoveries, as Louisville was only able to muster four total blocks. The Blue Devils would go on to finish with 20 errors, though, as they struggled to keep the ball in play.

As you might have guessed by the stats in this one, Louisville's primary standouts were on the offensive side. The Cardinal leading the way yesterday may come as a bit of a surprise, as Anna Stevenson paced the team in kills with 11. Stevenson also finished with just one error on her 17 attempts to finish with a whopping .588 hitting percentage. Other strong offensive performers were the usual suspects, with Melanie McHenry and Aiko Jones combining for 17 kills and 4 errors on 38 attempts. Tori Dilfer also assisted on 34 of the team's 36 assisted kills and had 4 kills on 4 attempts of her own. Claire Chausee returned to the floor in the final set and put down 4 of her 5 attempts with no errors. 

The one blemish for the Cards was one that has been ongoing throughout the year: service errors. Louisville finished with 7 of them, compared to just 3 aces, and they came from unusual servers. Four players had an error and no ace, and they aren't the ones you'd expect. Alexis Hamilton, Mia Stander, Tori Dilfer, and Claire Chausee couldn't put the ball in play, and Dilfer, uncharacteristically, added three assisting errors. These are certainly things to clean up, but in such a dominating match, they're a fairly small portion of the game film to have to correct.

Louisville is back in action tomorrow as they'll travel just up the road from Durham to Wake Forest to take on the Demon Deacons at 1PM. The match will be available on ACC Network Extra and should be another important road match for the Cards.

Field Hockey Falls to Virginia in Rain Adjusted Match

With last night's field hockey match due to start at 6, I thought Jared had made quite the error when he texted the group to say that Louisville had fallen 2-1 at around 6:30. As it turns out, the Cards and Cavs had made the decision to move the match start time to 5PM to try to avoid the worst of the rain. That would have been a great plan for Louisville, had it have worked. Unfortunately, as the rain began to fall in the fourth quarter, so too did Louisville's handle on the game. The Cards gave up two goals in the final period to lose their slim lead and drop the match 2-1 to 9th ranked Virginia.

This one was truly a tale of two halves, as Louisville fairly well dominated in the first half, and the script flipped in the second. The Cards scored their only goal off of a penalty corner in the first quarter as Mercedes Pastor knocked home the goal with assists by Meghan Schneider and Alli Bitting. They'd go on to earn four more corners in the half but would score none of them as their only other "goal" was waved off by the referees. Virginia did pick up two shots on goal in the first half, but both were saved away by Hollyn Barr. Louisville led in overall shots, penalty corners, goals, and, presumably, possession.

The second half, though, saw the Cards fall away. The offense was unable to continue to apply much pressure, earning only 3 shots in the entire second half. While all three were on frame, Virginia was able to keep the Cards out of the cage. The Cavs, on the other hand, put up 8 shots with 5 on frame, only three of which could be saved by Louisville. Hollyn Barr played well, earning four saves and nearly blocking the last goal as it was off of her legs, but she ultimately took the loss. Sam Minrath saw her first action for the first time in awhile as she was called upon early in the fourth quarter to act as the goalie for a penalty stroke. She saved the shot, at the time keeping Louisville ahead 1-0, but was immediately subbed back out for Barr. 

Yesterday's match put the two teams virtually even, as the Cards are now 10-2 (2-2) and Virginia moves to 10-3 (2-2). While a top ten conference win would certainly be nice, it doesn't hurt too badly to lose it. Louisville will likely drop from their fifth spot this week in the rankings, but they should stay in the top 10. The Cards will get their chance to get back on track on Tuesday when they take on the Cardinal of Stanford at 12PM at Trager. The match will be aired on ACC Network Extra.

Cardinal Couple Radio Hour

Jared and Paulie have left us to our own devices yet again, so Jeff and I will do our best to bring you the show on our own. We'll be as in the dark as everyone else about whether or not Daryl will join us, so tune in to the show for a surprise. We'll talk about the continued strong starts for Louisville's fall sports and preview the next couple of games for the Cards. The Cardinal Couple Radio Hour is brought to you each week by the fine folks at WCHQ FM. Tune in at 11AM as we bring you the joy and excitement of Louisville women's athletics. WCHQ is available at 100.9 FM, the WCHQ App, wchqfm.com, or on Facebook Live.

Until next time, Go Cards!

-CH-

Cards Sweep Friday -- SATURDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

Soccer Rebounds from UNC Loss, Beats 'Cuse 3-0

After suffering their first loss of the season last Saturday night, the Louisville women's soccer team hit the road for the first time since the opening game of the season. This weekend, the Cards headed to the northeast to take on Syracuse and Boston College to open their conference road schedule. The Cards faced their first hiccup before ever stepping foot on the field in Syracuse. Thursday evening, prior to the scheduled 6PM kick, an e-mail was sent out explaining that the team was suffering from a team-wide illness and that the game would be postponed to Friday morning. Though Syracuse has struggled this year, a team full of players recovering from food poisoning (the presumed culprit) did not inspire a ton of confidence for a strong effort.

Louisville proved me wrong. The Cards rolled out the primary starting lineup, showing that even if everyone wasn't fully recovered, thy were certainly going to go for it. Delaney Snyder got Louisville into business with their first goal less than two minutes into the game. Louisville had taken control of the game early, already earning a free kick deep in the offensive third, but the goal came on a bit of buildup play, with a through ball finding Snyder just barely onside (she looked off to me but the camera angle wasn't good). Snyder dribbled across the top of the box and deftly sent a ground ball into the opposite side of the net. Cards led 1-0.

Later in the half, it was a pair of subs that played add on. Louisville subbed quite a bit yesterday, perhaps showing that not everyone was fully recovered from their illness the night before. In this moment, it was Maisie Whitsett and Corinne Dente doing work for the Cards. In a similar situation to Snyder's goal, Dente found herself getting behind on a through ball from Whitsett. Just like Snyder, she settled herself and found the back of the net. It was Dente's first career collegiate goal (news flash to the Syracuse announcers and the women's soccer twitter, a freshman's first goal of the season is going to be their first career goal), and I get the feeling it won't be the last.

Louisville's final goal came much later in the second half, as Emina Ekic was determined to restart her points streak. Prior to the North Carolina game, Ekic had scored a point in every game except for the Ohio State game. That's a pretty impressive streak, and as long as she is finding ways to affect the offense, Louisville will continue to earn opportunities. Ekic's goal in this one was unstoppable, as her 76th minute shot rose to the upper left corner and was completely out of reach. Ekic's ability to score, assist, and draw fouls is what makes her a Hermann Award watch list player and it's what drives this team. It may be a little early to look at that award list, but with just a month left in the regular season, it will be time for the list to shrink soon. Ekic affects the game in so many ways, including those that show up on the stat sheet, but for those recordable stats, Emina's best is probably points per game. With five goals and four assists through nine games, Ekic currently sits tied for 67th at 1.56 points per game. That mark happens to be tied for fifth in the conference. Ekic is not likely to appear at the top of the list nationally, but she's only a few points behind the top points earner in arguably the top conference in the country. She's doing alright.

Louisville is back in action with what is a quicker turnaround than normal due to the schedule shift. The Cards will take on Boston College tomorrow at noon in Chestnut Hill. The game, like most, will be available on ACC Network Extra. Tune in to see if the Cards can continue to get back to their winning ways and earn their way back to the top half of the conference table. The Cards and Eagles are currently tied at 3 points, with BC sitting at 8-1-1 on the season compared to Louisville's 8-1-0. It should be a good match.

Field Hockey is Huge After Half Against BC

Continuing their trend of playing teams right around the same time as soccer, Louisville field hockey was in Massachusetts yesterday to take on the Eagles of Boston College. The Cards currently find themselves ranked sixth, and since they were playing in a conference game, you can be sure they were in a ranked matchup. This time around, Boston College is ranked 17th, right on the fringe of what might make the tournament this season. In a road match against a tough team, Louisville showed a bit of fight, despite going down early.

The Cards actually made two comebacks in this game, trailing 1-0 for nearly 25 minutes and then 2-1 for just over two minutes. The two teams scored four combined goals in the third quarter in under five minutes, in what was a wild swing for the fans in the stadium. Louisville's goals came from Bethany Russ, already her 8th this year, Margot Lawn (3), and Madison Walsh (4). All three were goals scored by taking advantage of big opportunities. Russ scored on a reserve shot after her shot was illegally blocked. Lawn did what makes everyone happy by converting a corner. Her shot was technically not on the corner, but was a rebound after the initial corner attack. However, since it was all one play, I'm counting it. Finally, Walsh's goal was an open play goal, as she knocked in a goal after her shot was originally saved. 

All three Louisville goals show different skill sets and different abilities to get on goal. A diverse scoring offense is key to not getting stymied by a strong team that can limit specific areas. Also important was the mental fortitude shown by Louisville to come back twice as I mentioned earlier. The Cards didn't give up throughout the first half, and put their halftime coaching to the test by getting a quick goal. After conceding quickly to trail again, a weaker team might get a bit deflated. Louisville instead scored a pair of goals in a pair of minutes to flip the script. 

Louisville's defense should also get a shout. Giving up two goals is not great, but when your team scores three, your only job is to give up fewer than three. Remember that this was a road game against a good team, and one of the goals came on a corner which are always challenging to defend. Perhaps surprisingly, Hollyn Barr went the distance in goal for the Cards, earning one save to go with her two goals allowed. If this was the test to see if she would be taking a stranglehold on the goalkeeping position, I can't say she locked it down. We'll see if Sam Minrath sees her way back into the net soon.

Louisville remains on the road for their next match and, like women's soccer, they'll stay in the northeast. Field hockey will take on the Providence Friars tomorrow at 1PM. This one won't be on ACCNX, but there is a watch link listed that takes you to a video player. Not sure if it's free or paid, but be sure to tune in to watch another good Louisville team.

Volleyball Goes Five in Win Over NC State

For the second match in a row, the Louisville volleyball team needed a fifth set to secure a win, as they did so last night in L&N Federal Credit Union Arena over the Wolfpack of NC State. Like field hockey, volleyball earned their win with multiple comebacks, losing the first and third sets and getting strong victories in the second and fourth to force a decider. 

After starting pretty hot, Louisville's hitting actually trailed off consistently through the third, fourth, and fifth sets. Fortunately for the Cards, so did NC State's. Louisville finished the match with a respectable, but not lovable, 0.254 hitting percentage compared to the Wolfpack's 0.150. The Cards earned more aces (5-4) and dominated in blocks, outblocking the Wolfpack 15-6. Anna Stevenson led the way on blocks, with 2 solo and 5 assisted. Emily Scott had a solo and five assists as well, and even Tori Dilfer got in on the block party with 5 assisted blocks. Dilfer also earned a career high in assists as she picked up 54 of the team's 61 assists in the match.

Leading the way offensively was a familiar name, as Melanie McHenry crushed 29 kills on 61 attempts with just 8 errors for a cool 0.344. I'm thinking she's back. Aiko Jones and Emily Scott effectively tied McHenry as they picked up a combined 29 kills with 7 errors on 68 attempts with 0.308 and 0.345 hitting percentages, respectively. 

Though perhaps not the cleanest win for the Cards against a struggling NC State team that is now 5-8 on the season, no one can complain about a victory in the conference opener. Louisville will have their hands full as they try to keep pace with Pittsburgh and Florida State in the title race, and every win counts. The Cards will be back in action, just like everyone else, tomorrow at 1PM against North Carolina. This match is at home, so if you can make it out, head on over to the Arena Formerly Known as Cardinal. As a home match, it will also be available on ACC Network Extra. 

Cardinal Couple Radio Hour

We're back in the studio once more for the Cardinal Couple Radio Hour this week. Jared is banking and Daryl wants to get to Louder than Life when the gates open, so Paulie, Jeff, and I will man the mics. Jeff may be there in name only, though, as he fights voice issues, and I'll try not to sound like a frog after the first night of LtL yesterday. We'll have plenty of game action throughout the week to talk about as well as important women's basketball news to cover. Tune in to WCHQ FM at 11 AM to listen along. WCHQ is available at 100.9FM, the WCHQ App, wchqfm.com, or on Facebook Live.

Until next time, Go Cards!

-CH-

Split Decisions as Two Cardinal Teams Open Season -- SATURDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

Field Hockey Shuts Out Indiana

After a somewhat disappointing offensive performance against Miami (OH) on Sunday, the Louisville Field Hockey team set out to learn some lessons from that game. The Cards were able to put those lessons learned to good use in their first opportunity, as they took it to Indiana yesterday, finishing the game with a final score of 5-0. Bethany Russ scored three goals for the Cards, her first career hat trick coming in the first game of her senior season. Also scoring for the Cards were Madison Walsh and Mercedes Pastor. Walsh also picked up an assist, while Whena Munn assisted on two goals as well. 

The scoring started early, with Russ getting to the IU goal just over three minutes into the game. It was Louisville's first shot of the season, and it found the back of the cage. Good start. The Cards and Hoosiers would finish the rest of the first quarter without any goals, as Louisville continued to pressure the goal but couldn't get anything else to show for it. Louisville's scoring difficulties were dismissed in the second quarter. The Cards scored their next three goals in the first 5:12 of the second quarter, scoring on all three shots in that time period.

Louisville was stifled for much of the second half. According to Coach Justine Sowry, IU adjusted the pace of play and Louisville was unable to react effectively to continue the relentless pressure from before. Flexibility to play styles in different situations is a portion of their game on which the Cards will need to work. Louisville did finally get a fifth goal late in the game, with Bethany Russ scoring her third with just under three minutes remaining in the game, a nice parallel to her first goal.

Despite the strong overall showing, one glaring question remains: who will be the primary goalie going forward? That question wasn't really answered yesterday. Hollyn Barr and Sam Minrath both played 30 minutes yesterday, with Barr taking the 1st half quarters and Minrath getting the 2nd. Both finished with one save, thus giving no one a positional advantage in the shutout. Coach Sowry has been clear that there is not yet a favorite for the position, and has backed that up by giving the two goalies different opportunities with their playing time. It may be notable that Barr has started in both this game and the scrimmage against Miami, but there may not be a lot there given the way that the playing time has otherwise been split. If they can effectively both play significant minutes and continue to not give up goals, maybe it doesn't even matter if there is a true starter.

The Cards will be back in action on Sunday at 12PM when they host UMASS at Trager Stadium. The two have met just twice previously, most recently in 2015. The Cards have won both games in the history of the matchup, but with such a long time between the games (12 years between games one and two and now four years since the last game), the historical matchup is probably not particularly indicative. The Cards will look to continue the strong offensive showing and clean up some of the missteps against the Hoosiers.

Volleyball Falters in Opener Against Florida

Once again, Louisville volleyball is opening the season with a very tough couple of matchups. Once again, they find themselves in a hole to start the season. In front of a sold out crowd at L&N Federal Credit Union Arena, the Cards stumbled their way through a season opening sweep. Louisville kept it fairly close in the second and third sets, ultimately losing both 21-25, but close only counts in horseshoes and hand grenades, neither of which describes the sport of volleyball. 

Louisville's issues from last night aren't hard to find when you open the box score. Louisville was outblocked 14-3 by Florida, and the Cards finished the night with a whopping .107 hitting percentage. While blocks do contribute to the final error number, committing 21 errors while finishing only 32 kills is not an ideal situation. Melanie McHenry led the team with 11 kills, while committing only 5 errors for a final percentage of .222. She was second on the team in hitting, behind Anna Stevenson who finished with a .286 on six kills. The freshman we're all looking for to have a big season as a hitter, Aiko Jones, had a night not worth writing home about, putting in 4 kills but adding 5 errors and finishing with a negative .071. Amaya Tillman was also negative with 2 errors on 8 attempts and no kills. She did contribute with the only solo block on the night and two block assists, however. 

Outside of hitting, Louisville was forced into positions they couldn't quite be fans of. Alexis Hamilton, as expected, led the team with 11 digs, though that number seems rather small. McHenry was forced into defensive action as well, with seven digs herself. The one that stands out as rather unfortunate is 11 total digs between Tori Dilfer and Shannon Shields. Defensive action by a setter is considered a loss on any possession. While it may not guarantee a loss of a point, it certainly puts you in a bad offensive position. Think trying to play an offensive possession in basketball but your point guard is off limits. 

In the setter battle, Dilfer appears to have a lead, as she started all three sets and saw the lion's share of the playing time. She finished with 19 of the Cards 29 assists on the night on 47 attempts. Shields finished with just 5 on 31 attempts, which is not quite as good. However, Shield was not likely playing with the 1s quite as often as Dilfer, giving her a bit of a pass in that particular category. I imagine that the setter battle will continue for at least a bit longer. If nothing else, Shields would be a more than serviceable backup to spell Dilfer for whatever reason. 

All in all, it was an unfortunate way to start the season, but we are talking about taking on a top-ten team in the country. It would have been nice to take a set, but it wasn't like Louisville was beaten by ten in each set of the sweep either. The Cards lost by an average of just over five points per set, which can easily be swung on any given day. Louisville will get a chance at redemption tonight when they take on Texas A&M at 7PM (or following the Florida/Dayton match, whichever comes later). Head on over to the Arena to root on the Cards.

Cardinal Couple Radio Hour

Well, we're in it now. Four games this week have us ready to bring the heat on the Cardinal Couple Radio Hour. The summer slump is officially over, and it's time to get back into the groove. Tune in as the stars align to allow the A-Team to get back together in the studio this week. The Cardinal Couple Radio Hour begins at 11AM on WCHQ. Find WCHQ at 100.9FM on local radio, the WCHQ App, at wchqfm.com, or watch along on Facebook Live.

Until next time, Go Cards!

-CH-

Jared Anderson Reveals His Breakout Players of 2019-20 -- WEDNESDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

(CARDINAL COUPLE WRITER JARED ANDERSON HAS NEVER BEEN SHY ABOUT MAKING PREDICTIONS AND GIVING HIS THOUGHTS ON SUBJECTS. TODAY, HE REVEALS HIS LIST OF THE 2019 BREAKOUT PLAYERS FOR SEVERAL UOFL WOMEN'S FALL AND WINTER ATHLETIC SQUADS. HIS CHOICES DO NOT NECESSARILY REFLECT THE REST OF THE CARDINAL COUPLE STAFF, BUT THEY MAKE FOR INTERESTING READING...)  -- PAULIE

My Breakout Players of 2019

It’s pretty often we see players have a breakout season, expected or by surprise. Sometimes it’s an incoming freshman and sometimes it’s an upperclassmen that has something to prove. Many of our fall and winter sports have left the door wide open for players to have breakout seasons.

Hollyn Barr, Field Hockey

Will FH "go to the Barr?" 

The redshirt junior has played her whole career behind Ayeisha McFerran. With McFerran being renowned as the best goalkeeper in the world expectations for Barr are unknown, leaving the door wide open for Barr to prove herself. The talent surrounding her is strong and she has the potential to add to that.

Jessica De Filippo, Soccer

De Filippo comes in as a freshman but could make it in the starting rotation quickly. She impressed spectators during the spring season and was a high scorer in her high school and soccer club days. She’ll have tough competition for the golden boot with players like Brooklynn Rivers, Maisie Whitsett, Delaney Snyder, and Emina Ekic on the roster though.

 Keep an eye on De Filippo to see what she does in her rookie season.

Piper Roe, Volleyball

Roe, roe, roe...you Card !!

Roe earned her spot in the starting rotation after a couple injuries on the roster shook things up. She didn’t disappoint and had a solid season. Roe played for Team USA over the summer. The redshirt junior will stun people in her role as a middle blocker alongside Emily Scott while finding ways to tally high in blocks and kills.

Mykasa Robinson, Basketball

We’ve seen what players like Jaz Jones and Dana Evans are capable of. Robinson was the only freshman to make much of an impact last season as Walz praised her defense. With Carter and Durr having graduated the spot for another guard to see a heavy number of minutes is open. If Robinson can improve her scoring and jump shot then she’ll have a smooth transition into that effective second guard role.

We’ll take a look at potential spring spirits breakout players as their seasons come closer. Got a different take than mine on my breakout players? Let us know in the comments section. 

Be sure to check us out tomorrow for Paulie's interview with UofL WBB senior Kylee Shook.

Happy Wednesday and Go Cards!

Jared