Volleyball, Field Hockey highlight women's sports action today -- FRIDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

VOLLEYBALL FACES TOP NOTCH FOES IN ACC/BIG 10 CHALLENGE

Top flight competition comes at Dani Busboom Kelly's wide-net squad right off the bat to start the 2017 season as they participate in the annual conference challenge. They'll play host and #7 ranked Wisconsin tonight at 7:30 and then face #4 Minnesota at 4 p.m. Saturday. 

Much has been made of the transfers outside hitter Amanda Green and setter Wilma Rivera for the Cards this year and from all reports...the two looked good, along with recently converted outside hitter Tess Clark  in the Red/White/Black scrimmage in Cardinal Arena last weekend. Molly Sauer is also an integral and important cog in the Cardinal plans and the libero also got glowing reports in the scrimmage. 

Facing two top teams to start the season is a bit daunting but the matches will give Kelly a frank and real look at where the team is, what is working and what needs work. 

The Gocards website lists internet viewing for these...if it's like last night's Soccer match against IU though. it'll be pay-per-view...but here's the link to tonight's action.

https://www.btn2go.com/game/louisville-at-wisconsin-on-08252017

Let's hope it turns out to be a freebie. There is also mention the games will be on IHeart Radio. If you have the app...that could be an option. I did find the stats page pretty useful last night while listening to a dreadful radio broadcast of women's soccer...here it as well:

 http://www.sidearmstats.com/wisconsin/wvball/


Anyway...the opening match should give Worldwide and the boys plenty to chat about on THE CARDINAL COUPLE RADIO HOUR tomorow at 11 a.m. on WCHQ 100.9 FM and on-line at www.crescenthillradio.com

Good luck, CARDS! 


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W. SOCCER WINS...FIELD HOCKEY HOSTS THE HOOSIERS

The season officially begins for Justine Sowry's Field Hockey flock today at 2 p.m. when IU comes to the Trager. This...after the UofL women's soccer was in Bloomington last night and did win 2-0 in a brilliant defensive effort...with goals from Emina Ekic and Kennadi Carbin. The Cards controlled the shots statistics and continue to keep goalie Gabrielle Kouzelos clean back between the pipes. 

Field Hockey will face a Hoosier squad that comes in also getting the chance to play #3 Delaware at Trager. The Cards dominate the series against the Hoosier lifetime 11-5 and took down IU 5-1 last year in Bloomington. 

The fans will be waiting to see if Minnie Mink can keep Case's bold prediction of a two goal per game average alive with a couple of scores and also how Louisville will do without All-American Ayeshia McFerran between the pipes. Holynn Barr will guard the nets for Louisville

IU features a few Louisville girls on the roster in Maddie Latino (Sacred Heart) and Claire Dickinson (Kentucky Country Day) 

ACC Network Extra has the feed for this one, I'll be out there Tweeting and will have the description for you tomorrow here at the site and also on the radio. 

Once again....GO CARDS! 



paulie
xxxxx

Cardinal Couple Monday - Soccer Wraps Exhibition Play

(Worldwide here, filling in for Paulie as he and Sonja have their hands full dealing with some family issues.  Spare a moment to send some well wishes their way.)

Soccer Gets It Done Over IU

Soccer split their preseason games with a tight win over IU, 1-0 in play at Lynn Stadium.

Sophomore Alison Price got an assist from Casey Whitfield to head the ball into the net for the only score of the game against IU Sunday afternoon.  The win over IU pairs with the loss to NKU Wednesday evening to give the Cards a .500 record in their preseason exhibition games.

The play appeared to be fairly even between the teams, with several shots on goal for each, usually with pretty easy saves for the keepers, but Price was able to sneak one in on a crowded play in the box.  (Apologies for the vague stats, but as an exhibition game, no official stats were kept.)

IU seemed to have a slight edge in ball control, and much of the game was played on Louisville's side of the field, though the latter part of the first half saw that reversed some.  Louisville was able to play some counters down the field into IU territory and threaten several times for scores.  The coaches were visibly taking the opportunity to give some significant guidance and corrections in a game situation.  Goalkeeper Paige Brown did a fantastic job of keeping the IU attacks at bay.

While I'm not a soccer expert, I would say UofL could do better at clearing balls out of dangerous territory in front of their goal, as their clears seemed a bit clumsy at time.  Also, overall ball control still seems to be a little bit of an issue, both in maintaining possession in traffic as well as hitting targets of passes.

Overall, I see an improved team, but a team still with some challenges to overcome.

The Cards open their Women's Soccer season this Friday at 7:30 against Wright State at Lynn Stadium, now nick-named The Palace.  Early weather forecasts look good, with only a slight chance of rain, and what looks to be a very pleasant temperature.

JMcA
xxxxx

Louisville Women's Soccer exhibition vs. IU today....CARDINAL COUPLE RADIO -- SUNDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

WSOC at 5 p.m. in The Palace today

Opposing teams to the Lynn Soccer Stadium refer to it as The Palace because its regal and impressive design. Driving South on I-65 and first seeing it when one reaches the former silo curve...you get the impression of a beautiful, state-of-the-art stadium. And, you aren't disappointed when you get there. 

The Palace would love to have thousands of loyal subjects on hand today when Louisville women's soccer stages an exhibition match against IU at 5 p.m. 

Admission is free. 

IU had a similar season to Louisville last year...going 7-11-1 and 3-9-1 in the BIG 10 conference. Like the Cards, they didn't get an NCAA invite and is looking to right that ship. 

Four to watch:

Jessie Bujouves -- A senior mid-fielder from Ontario, Canada who led IU in scoring last season with five goals.

Sarah Stone -- The redshirt senior goal keeper hails from Evansville, IN and allowed a scant 1.32 goals per game.

Marissa Borschke -- Named to the Big 10 Preseason watch list, the senior defender is another Ontario, Canada native


Kayla Smith -- Second leading scorer in 2014, the sophomore forward was also named to the Watch List. 

For Louisville, the objective is simple, evident and clear. Get some balls in the net. 
After the NKU exhibition, we expect to see a tighten attack from the Cards and continued defensive dominance. 

We'll have more on this one Monday. 

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CARDINAL COUPLE RADIO SHOW


We had a great Saturday Radio show yesterday listening to the sounds of the first annual Fall Sports Media Day luncheon for UofL Volleyball, Field Hockey and WSOC. 

So many sounds that we weren't able to gt them all in, so we held Katie George and Anne Kordes over until Aug 23rd.

Have a listen at the link below:  

CARDINAL COUPLE RADIO 8/15/15

paulie
xxxxx

Sunday Cardinal Couple -- Women's Soccer falls to IU

SUNDAY CARDINAL COUPLE


- IU tops Cards in exhibition game


The Indiana Women's Soccer program got the 2014 schedule underway on Saturday night with an exhibition game against Louisville at Bill Armstrong Stadium. With teams shuffling players in an out throughout the game, both teams were looking to try different things before the season gets underway next week.

"We talked in the pregame, and really all week, that we were really not concerned with the result tonight," Indiana head coach Amy Berbary said. "We were looking to see if we could execute some of the concepts and style of play that we have been working on to this point in preseason." The result on the scoreboard after 90 minutes show that the Hoosiers defeated the Cardinals, 1-0, on a goal by Abby Smith in the 80th minute, with the assist going to Jordan Woolums. "The positives from tonight are that we got a lot of players in the game and we had some people in some different positions," Berbary said. "I think that gave us, as a coaching staff, a good picture of what some of the players can do."