Former Card Earns National Callup -- SATURDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

Kaela Dickerman to Represent US in WMF World Cup

While many national representation discussions these days have been focused on the Olympics, there are still other competitions being prepared for and set to take place. One of those is a bit outside the normal realm of our coverage, but it involves a former Louisville women's soccer player. The World Minifootball Federation covers multiple formats of "minifootball" which covers the smaller version of traditional soccer and other indoor formats. 

The WMF World Cup has been held every two years (with the exception of 2021) since its inception in 2015. The US hosted the inaugural event and took the gold medal. They have not finished better than 11th since then. This year, the WMF is introducing the U23 and the women's versions for the first time, and Croatia will play host from October 7th through the 10th.

Minifootball, per the regulations, is played on a field that is between 46-50m long and 26-30m wide. The FIFA recommended dimensions of a traditional field is 105m long by 68m wide, so minifootball is about half the size. The goals are also half the size. Play is between six players on each side, including goalkeepers, and matches are 50 minutes long. 

Kaela Dickerman was selected to the US National Team roster for the event. Dickerman, who played in 71 matches for UofL from 2014-2017, will be used to a smaller format. The Cedar Rapids, Iowa native is currently heading an effort to have professional indoor soccer on the women's side in Louisville. Dickerman and another former Card, Erin Yenney, joined forces to create Louisville Triumph FC earlier this year in the Premier Arena Soccer League. Arena soccer is roughly the same format as outdoor minifootball, but with walls in place of touch and end lines. 

We wish Kaela the best of luck with this upcoming opportunity!

Cardinal Couple Radio Hour Podcast

You'll have three on board today, as Paulie, Jeff, and Jared bring you the week that was. Daryl and I are out this week. The guys will talk Olympics, the latest news, and the upcoming week that includes Media Day and the first event of the fall sports calendar. You can check out the live stream of the show by going to the Cardinal Couple YouTube page and clicking on the live video. Jeff usually creates that about an hour before the show, which officially starts at 11 AM Eastern. If the live time doesn't work for you, there are plenty of playback options, so be sure to check out whichever is best for you!

Cardinal Couple YouTube: Link

Spotify: Link

Apple Podcasts: Link

Google Podcasts: Link

Overcast (free account required): Link

Pocket Casts (free account and app required): Link

RadioPublic: Link

Until next time, Go Cards!

Case

Lynn Wins and More -- SUNDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

We have a lot to celebrate today as Louisville sports fans today, and I'll get to that, but I feel like I need to take a moment and address larger events from this weekend.  I suspect, but will not presume, that I speak for all of the writers here at Cardinal Couple, so I will speak for myself and let others chime in as they see fit.

The University of Virginia is a fellow member of the ACC in Charlottesville, VA.  Friday night the UVA campus was the scene of a disgusting display of bigotry and hatred.  The events of Friday night, however, turned out to only be a warm-up act for Saturday, including the death of a young woman speaking up for justice and compassion for one another.  A death at the hands, and bumper, of a hateful bigot.

Denial of the value of a fellow human, whether that be expressed through the idea of skin color and ethnicity, or through gender, or whatever other classification one can come up with, is vile, and it is incumbent on all of us to speak up, even when our categorization is not the one being attacked.

I joined Cardinal Couple in large part because I feel like women get short shrift in many areas of life, sports included, and I wanted to take some part in trying to balance those scales.  Misogyny and bigotry are different limbs of the same root tree, the tree of supposed superiority and denial of value of "other".  The thoughts and attitudes on display by white nationalists in Charlottesville must be countered and opposed by people of conscience.

Thank you.

EDITOR'S NOTE: 

We must change situations like this. A Confederate monument, a Robert. E. Lee statue are symbols of the past...a past that was regrettable and reprehensible in many areas. The white nationalists promoting violence at what was supposed to be a "peaceful protest" are to blame here and I sincerely hope that Charlottesville, the commonwealth of Virginia and our President immediately go to work to make sure that nothing of this sad and regrettable nature ever happen again. The Ku Klux Klan sucks. Any other hate-mongering or supremacy group does too...

- Paulie

Lynn Wins

In positive news, the University of Louisville Men's and Women's Soccer teams were both in action
at Lynn Stadium last night.  My esteemed Cardinal Couple colleague Case Hoskins was in attendance and forwarded a few notes from the game.

This was an offensive show for the Cardinals, with the 2-0 final tally, and an impressive 20-3 advantage in shots.  OSU's coach on Wednesday described the Cards as a physical team, and that is born out by the 8-3 foul total.

Kennadi Carbin got an early breakway in the first minute that pulled the keeper out to defend, but Carbin lost control and was unable to finish the score.  Later in the first period, Brooklyn Rivers, mentioned at media day as a likely contributor and scorer, found the back of the net with a Kaela Dickerman assist.  Rivers found the corner from about 15 yards out on an angle shot in the 23rd minute.

The second half saw more of the same, with Carbin atoning for her earlier miss.  She fired one home to the bottom right corner of the goal from out at the top of the box.

The Cards finish their pre-season with a win and a loss.  The loss coming at the hands of a quite good OSU team, and the win over a quality DePaul team.  They open play Friday evening at 7:30 vs Boston U at Lynn Stadium.

The men followed for the nightcap in an exhibition match against Lipscomb University out of Nashville.  The only score in the game came from UofL's Cherif Dieye in the 12th minute.  That would prove to be enough in an otherwise defensive battle for the men.

The men continue their pre-season engagements in Westfield, IN (outside Indianapolis) on Thursday at 7:30 vs a very good, and pre-season 7th ranked Indiana Hoosiers.

Slugger Sell-out

Elsewhere in the city, and while we're talking about soccer, the Louisville FC USL team was in action at Slugger Field against rival FC Cincinnati.  This one was a sell-out with almost 14,000 walking through the gates at Slugger field.  That crowd did include Women's Basketball Assistant Coach Sam Purcell and his family, according to his tweets.

In front of the record and raucous crowd, Lou City went to town.  Spreading the scoring love around the team, the hometown heroes marked down scores by Niall McCabe, Luke Spencer, Mark-Anthony Kaye, Richard Ballard, and Sean Reynolds.  Yes, that's 5 scores for the Louisvillians, while shutting out the rivals from up-river.

Basketball Blowout

Early this morning, Asia Durr scored 8 on 4 of 9 shooting with 2 rebounds in a balanced attack by Team USA over the Canucks to our north in a 107-61 victory.  With 18 turnovers for the Americans, and 35 for the Canadians, the American defense really had an impact on the game.

Team USA will wrap up their competition, and hopefully the championship, in a game against Japan at 5:30am EDT August 15th.  (Aren't timezones such a wonderful thing?)

Radio Rambling

Case, Paulie and I were back on the radio against yesterday.  I'm still gobsmacked that they continue to let us do it, but thankfully we had lots of audio for people to listen to from the Fall Sports Media Day.  We also talked about the US Team in Japan with Coach Walz and Asia Durr romping on the rest of the world.  And we had another quiz, where I managed to barely hang onto (thanks to a few lucky guesses) my undefeated streak.  You should be able to check out the recording of the broadcast when it becomes available here.

-- JMcA

A Mixed Bag -- MONDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

Women's Soccer Defeats Indiana St. 4-0

Louisville's women's soccer team picked up their first win of the 2016 regular season yesterday with an impressive win over the Indiana State Sycamores. The win keeps the Cards unbeaten in the very young season and brings their record to 1-0-1 (W/L/D) after a 1-1 tie against IU late last week.

DICKERMAN CHATS WITH FANS AFTER THE WIN

Despite a meeting running long, and fair traffic holding me up, I was able to make it out to yesterday's game only about 10 minutes after kickoff. It was a near perfect day for soccer, and I arrived not a moment too late. Kaela Dickerman scored Louisville's first goal of the game, and first home goal of the season, on a beautiful header as I sat down with my hot dog and nachos. The 13th minute goal was set up by a wonderful cross by the Canadian freshman, Sarah Feola. Kaela wasn't done scoring, though, and picked up her second goal in the 49', this time assisted by another freshman, Brooklynn Rivers. Dickerman's second goal was a great show of fundamentals as she accepted a pass at the top of the box and worked past a defender clinically before slotting the ball into the side netting.

As a former keeper myself, I have to give credit where it is due. Indiana State's goalkeeper, Brittany San Roman, played a heck of a game, despite allowing 4 goals (it would have been five if not for a spectacular save from one of her defenders). Brittany was all over the goal, and a fantastic save in the 33' caught my attention enough to make note of it. In what was almost a sure goal in a one-on-one situation, the keeper made a great diving save on a ball going across the goal. It was at that point that I realized just how many ISU fans were in the crowd. I'll give them credit as well, because they cheered passionately and intelligently, two things that are great to see anywhere.

WSOC meet and greet with fans

Unfortunately for San Roman, the ensuing corner kick from her great save led to the second
Louisville goal. The 34' goal was brought on by a pair of freshmen as Allison Whitfield played the corner in from the left side and Niamh Nelson knocked it home. Whitfield is a name you should be used to hearing when it comes to UofL women's soccer, and, according to the Louisville head coach, Karen Ferguson-Dayes, it's one you'll continue hearing for quite some time. Ferguson-Dayes had high praise for the freshman, who picked up her second assist when she set up Bridget Stewart in the 74', saying in her post-game interview that Whitfield "is going to be a very good college player.". Her sister, Casey Whitfield, was a very special player at Louisville for five years. Both went to Louisville Manual.  The youth on the team bodes very well for the future of women's Cardinal soccer.

The defense was not to be outshone by the offense in this game. The back line held strong enough that Louisville's starting keeper, Taylor Bucklin, was asked to make no saves. Victoria Gabor, who Coach calls Tori, came on for the last 14 minutes of play, saved the Sycamores' only shot on goal (a shot from about 25 yards out) in the 88th minute. It is not always that both sides of the ball can be clicking so well, as the Cards saw in their less than stellar first half against IU. However, when Louisville plays like they did yesterday, they will be a dangerous team.

The women's team takes the field at Lynn again on Friday, 8/26, against the UAB Blazers as part of a home double-header with the men's team. The women's game begins at 5:30 and admission to one game gets you in to see both.

Hear Paulie's post game interviews with Coach Karen Ferguson Dayes and Kaela Dickerman below:



COACH K. WITH PAULIE

PAULIE WITH KAELA


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Speaking of Men's Soccer...

The men's team finished their preseason with a 1-1 draw against UAB in Birmingham Saturday night in a game that lasted only 40 minutes due to weather. This comes after a 1-1 draw last weekend against Memphis. Louisville was picked by the coaches to finish fifth in the ACC's Atlantic division. We will hope to see head coach, Ken Lolla, help this team exceed those expectations in what seems to be a bridge year for the Cards.

The men open their regular season when they take on Butler in the double header on Friday. I'll be attending both the men's and women's games, and hopefully they'll give me good things to talk about when I join Paulie on the Cardinal Couple Radio Hour on Saturday morning.

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The Wait for Football is Almost Over

Sunday saw the release of the Associated Press Preseason poll, which marks the final major event before college football begins. Due to a scheduling error (I thought the open practice was in the afternoon. It was in the morning. I missed it.), I don't have any insightful personal information to pass along. That will have to wait until after September 1st. However, when Bobby Petrino's Cardinals take the field behind Lamar Jackson, they'll be doing so ranked 19th by the AP, 23rd by the Coaches, and 19th by Sports Illustrated. The Cards will face a host of teams ranked in the top 25, but they'll need to take the season one game at a time if they want to achieve their loftiest goals. I'm looking forward to it, and hope you are too.

Until next time, Go Cards.

-CH-