We got a bit of significant and interesting news to start off this week, so let's catch up on some of these excellent and noteworthy Cardinals women athletes and squads information nd achievements..
AWARDS
We'll start with Hailey Van Lith. The junior guard out of Wenatchee, WA. was named to the 2023 Ann Meyers Drysdale Award watch list. The award is presented annually to the best shooting guard in women's college basketball. 20 college student-athletes are on the initial list of candidates. Some other names you might recognize are Celeste Taylor (Duke), Cameron Swartz (Georgia Tech), Jakia Brown-Turner (NC State), Ashley Owusu (Virginia Tech) and Azzi Fudd (UConn).
Owusu, who is now at VT, won the award in 2021 while at Maryland. UofL's Asia Durr (before she became AD) won the award in 2019 and last year's winner was Christyn Williams (UConn). Fan voting begins Friday, Oct 21st
Another Cardinals guard, Chrislyn Carr, was named to the Nancy Lieberman Award Watch List. This award goes to the best point guard ib the nation. 20 candidates start out on this one also. Some that are on the list with Chrislyn are Caitlin Clark (Iowa), Anastasia Hayes (Miss. St.) Olivia Miles (Notre Dame), Deja Kelly (UNC),and Gina Conti (UCLA).
Fan voting for this begins Oct 21st also. Last year's winner was Caitlin Clark and Paige Bueckers got the 2020 award.
UConn was dealt quite the blow when it was announced Bueckers would sit out the 2022-23 season recouping from her leg injury, in case you might have been wondering why she wasn't on the Lieberman list.
Associate coach for Louisville women's basketball Jonneshia Pineda has been named to the Next Up 2022 Finalists. She's one of twelve on the list. The honor indicates rising young coaches in DI WBB and concentrates on underrepresented groups. Anyone who has ever been around Coach Pineda knows her fire, enthusiasm and dedication is fr from being underrespresented and noticed, though. .
Cardinals Field Hockey goalkeeper Sasha Elliott was named ACC Defensive Player of the Week after tending a shut out against Liberty and allowing just one goal against Duke. It's the second time this season she been honored as the Defensive Players of the Week.
RANKINGS
We were pleased with some of the early week rankings of several of the UofL women' sports squads.
Field Hockey has moved up to #4 in the nation, after Penn State, Iowa and Virginia took losses and the Cards climbed from #7 to #4. Louisville is 12-3 on the season and has been defeated by UNC (currently undefeated and #1), at Virginia and at Wake Forest.
Volleyball remains at #2 in the nation (behind Texas) after winning their matches against Syracuse, Virginia Tech and Wake Forest. And, the Cards are getting it done without the services of Anna DeBeer. The Cards will be in the KFC YUM! Center next Wednesday, so go if you can !
Women's basketball was ranked #7 in the preseason AP poll. South Carolina, Stanford, Texas, Iowa, Tennessee and UConn are the schools ahead of Louisville in the preseason poll.. As we all know, preseason rankings are usually worth little or nothing, since (obviously) no one has played a game yet. They're usually based on four things...1) how a team did last year, 2) who is returning from that squad, 3} who they lost and 4} who they've gained.
I think there will be a lot of coaches who look at the vast talent base Walz has ( Van Lith, Carr, Jones, Cochran, Robinson, Dixon, Verhulst, Russell, Williams and Konno...plus the five highly ranked freshmen) and wonder how in the world do you prepare for and how do you beat a squad like this?
Yes, Louisville will miss Engstler, Hall and Smith...no doubt about it. But, the competition looks to be competitive, tough and full of talent to replace them. It's way too early to speculate on a starting lineup yet but if you have Van Lith, Carr, Jones, Cochran and Williams on the court...a lot of teams won't be able to match that strength, speed, shooting and skill.
paulie
