Cherry Makes Debut -- WEDNESDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

Karsyn Cherry Appears for Angel City FC

The University of Louisville can add another alumni to the list of players that have stepped onto the pitch for an NWSL squad. While I'm not able to find a full list of players, I believe that UofL's former players to appear at the next level in the US is quite limited. The league started in 2013, and to the best of my knowledge, Emina Ekic is the only former Cardinal to have checked into a game for an NWSL team until this past weekend. 

Karsyn Cherry made her debut for Angel City on Sunday, and she'll be looking for more opportunities moving forward. While her opener was short (just one minute) Cherry was quite productive. She had three touches and was successful on her two attempted passes. She also won a corner in the opposing box, though her attempt to score the game-tying goal was off target. Angel City fell to NC Courage 2-1. Cherry signed with Angel City in January as a free agent, as the NWSL eliminated the rookie draft this past season. The former Card is listed as one of just seven defenders on the roster, so it would seem likely that she'll get more chances to see the pitch soon. 

Erynn Floyd will hope to make her debut this season as well. Louisville's former goalkeeper remains in town as a reserve with Racing Louisville. Racing's primary goalkeeper went out with an injury a couple of games ago, so Floyd may be closer to seeing the field than anticipated. It's still a crowded keeper room, though, so it will be tough. 

New head coach Hunter Norton will be hoping to continue the development of the UofL-to-Pro pipeline and build up the Cardinal program as a destination for players looking to take the next step. Norton's first season at the helm begins in a little over two months. 

Until next time, Go Cards!

Case

Former WSOC Star Headed to LA -- SATURDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

Karsyn Cherry Signs with Angel City FC

The NWSL eliminated its traditional draft process as part of its most recent collective bargaining agreement, making the 2025 collegiate soccer season the second to not end with players hoping to hear their names called to play at the next level. Instead, players are free to sign anywhere that they have an opportunity to play, whether that is in the US or beyond. Louisville graduated a number of seniors with a lot of experience, so we'll be keeping an eye out for more announcements, but their multi-year captain was the first to find a spot in the NWSL.

Karsyn Cherry was among three rookies signed by Angel City FC, the NWSL team that calls Los Angeles home. Coincidentally, all three signees came from the ACC, as Cherry joins FSU midfielder Taylor Suarez and Duke midfielder Carina Legeyre. Cherry signed a three-year contract with the team, which she says she is "excited and grateful to be able to play for". Cherry heads to LA after an incredible career at Louisville, which included 5,610 minutes played over 69 career games with 68 starts. Cherry scored in her first career start as a freshman in 2022, which marked the first of her 12 career goals with the Cards. 

Cherry (r) with fellow SR defender Lizzie Sexton

Cherry was part of a 2025 defense that helped Louisville go undefeated at home and posted 12 clean sheets. She scored three goals as a senior, down on her previous two seasons, but still good for seventh on the team. One of those goals was a game winner, and she added four assists for good measure. Behind Erynn Floyd, Louisville is likely to miss Karsyn Cherry more than any other player on the field next season, so it's great to see her getting an opportunity to show her skills at the next level. 

Coincidentally, Cherry isn't the only player who spent last year in Louisville to be headed to LA. Ary Borges left Racing Louisville as a free agent at the end of the season and was announced as a signee by ACFC earlier this week as well. Angel City finished the 2025 season standings in 11th, out of 14 teams. They posted a -10 goal difference on a 7-13-6 record, and they were nine points out of a playoff position. What I'm getting at is that they definitely have room to improve, and there may be an opportunity for new players like Cherry to make an early impact. 

We're wishing a huge congratulations to Karsyn and hoping for success in her next chapter. As I said at the top, Louisville had a lot of key contributors graduate, so we'll keep you posted on any other advancements. 

Until next time, Go Cards!

Case

UofL Tops UK in NCAA First Round -- SUNDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

Cards Beat Cats in PK Thriller

Could it have been any more dramatic? That's how Coach Karen Ferguson Dayes opened her postgame remarks yesterday evening, and the answer, quite frankly, was no. Louisville and Kentucky played a heart-in-throat match that needed not only extra time, but extra penalty kicks as well. In the end, Louisville prevailed in the eighth round of the shootout to take down their rival and advance to the second round of the NCAA Tournament. 

In yesterday's column, I wrote about a schedule quirk that gave UK an extra draw instead of a loss for their shootout loss against Georgia in the SEC Tournament. During the actual match yesterday, I learned that it wasn't a quirk: it's how the NCAA scores a penalty shootout. Both teams are granted a draw on their records and then whichever team comes out on top after penalties "advances" to the next stage of play. I mean... sure. But if that's the case, why make the overtimes golden goal? It matters not. What matters is that Louisville officially finished the season unbeaten at home, as they'll hit the road for any games they have remaining. 

Yesterday's match was everything you might have expected from a heated rivalry such as the Battle of the Bluegrass. With football last night, there were plenty of available fans, and the crowd size actually grew once people came over from downtown when the basketball game ended (more on that later). The official attendance was listed as 1,106, and I was somewhat pleasantly surprised that it seemed like no more than a third of the crowd were UK fans. Chants went back and forth, but most of both fan bases were well-behaved. At least as well-behaved as the teams, that is. 

The game ended with a whopping 36 fouls, and those were only the ones that were called. There were six total yellow cards (three for each team) and a couple of fouls could have seen yellows if the referee wasn't generous with players that already had one. There was a Louisville bloody nose that resulted in no foul and a yellow issued to the Kentucky bench (unrelated). Yesterday's match had it all. But even after all that, it wasn't a particularly ugly game. Emotions were high, and the players played hard and got a bit chippy, but the fouls were fairly evenly split (UK 20 - 16 UofL) and both teams were (largely) playing the ball throughout the day. 

Louisville opened the game very tight. They were playing at home in front of a big crowd, against their arch-rivals who were an underdog. UK had nothing to lose. While Louisville managed to get the first shot and forced a save, UK took a decent amount of control after that. Louisville maintained possession for 54% of the first half, but most of it was not held in a particularly attacking manner. The Cats ultimately took five shots in the first half, putting just one on target, but it was their second shot that nearly broke things open. A cross came in for a header in the center of the goal that had Erynn Floyd beaten. Fortunately for the Cards, the ball couldn't beat the bar. It hit the front-bottom of the crossbar and kicked down and out of the goal. The ball fell down to UK but a second attempt was blocked away. The entire stadium stopped holding its collective breath. 

UK would take three corners in that first half, more than Louisville would take in the entire game (two in the second). UK finished with eight corners, which had the Cards under quite a bit of pressure considering they scored their goal off of a corner in the second half. Louisville's offense was able to find shots in the first, taking four and forcing two saves, but they weren't particularly threatening. Louisville would have dearly liked to have scored before the end of the first half, but UK took advantage of the opportunity to play a new 45-minute game early. Just two minutes into the second half, the Cats earned a corner that found Thalia Morisi unmarked in the six-yard box. As a former keeper, allow me to let you in on a little secret: you don't want someone unmarked in the six-yard box on a corner. Morisi found the ball with her head and Floyd had little chance. UK led 1-0. 

Another note KFD made in her postgame interview (I won't spoil the whole thing, I promise), was that she specifically told the team at the half that she hoped it wouldn't take a goal to wake them up. Welp... Now was the time to wake up. To the Cards' credit, they did. Louisville's offense sprang into action after the goal and continued to hound the Cats. They took two shots and forced a save before the 60 minute mark. Both of their corners came in succession, but neither earned a shot. Then UK nearly doubled their advantage. Another corner managed to get to the feet of Catherine Rapp who forced an incredible save by Floyd to keep the deficit at just one. That was UK's third shot of the half, and they would earn just two more, with only one forcing a simple save from Floyd. 

Louisville seemed to press a bit with trying to find a goal, but they were able to find some good attempts at goal. The Cards finally broke through in the 79th minute as a ball clattered around near the top of the box. Amelia Swinarski managed to get control with just enough space to slide one through the surrounding defenders. The ball stayed low and Khadijah Cisse couldn't track it. She was unable to attempt a save as the ball rolled into the bottom-right corner. Cards had leveled it and it was game on for the final ten minutes. UK very nearly ripped Louisville's hearts out by scoring immediately after the equalizer, but the shot went high. The Cards had five shots over the final ten minutes and forced three saves, but we headed to overtime. 

Collegiate soccer dropped regular season overtime a couple of seasons ago, but it remains in the postseason. The teams play two (if necessary) ten-minute periods of golden goal overtime. If neither team has scored, it's on to penalties. Both teams were very tight in that first overtime period, with neither wanting to extend too much and give their opponent a counter-attack opportunity. The only shot came with just ten seconds left, when Rapp found herself open near the top of the box, but it was right up the middle and Floyd was able to fall on it to run the clock out. 

The second OT period was a bit more free. UK had a shot advantage, but all three of their attempts came in a single possession as shots were blocked away. They took three shots in a span of 24 seconds. None forced a save, and the third was off target out of bounds. Louisville took two shots in the period, including their attempt at a late game winner, which saw Swinarski test Cisse in basically the same way as the other period ended with seven seconds remaining. The clock hit 0:00 and it was time for penalties. 

By the way, penalties are often referred to as PKs. You probably already knew that, but remember how I said more on that basketball game ending earlier? Well, PK wanted to watch some PKs. Pat Kelsey was there to support the Cards after the men's basketball game ended, and it's impossible to not be a fan of the guy. He's so into the university and the athletic department as a whole and he feels like a fan of his own school. He was right behind the goal, getting into it with the rest of the crowd to try to distract UK shooters. 

But the stage was set. Penalties are the ultimate showdown. It's a mental battle just as much as a physical one. If you keep your tendency as a shooter, the keeper might know where you're going and pick up the save. If you try too hard to make a difficult shot, you might miss. If the keeper guesses wrong, it's almost automatic. The ball is placed twelve yards from the goal and it's away we go. 

UK had the opening shot and they opened the door for Louisville immediately with a miss. Karsyn Cherry stepped up and slotted home her shot to take the lead. UK scored their second and Amelia Swinarski kept the Cards ahead 2-1. UK scored their third, but Louisville was still in a good position. AG Gibson's shot was saved and it was 2-2 after three rounds. UK's fourth shot was off the mark and everyone waited to see who Erynn Floyd was delivering the ball to to take Louisville's fourth shot. After a few seconds of head-scratching, we realized it was herself. 

(Side note: this is an interesting move. In a professional game, this is bold but not crazy. If the shootout continued, the keepers would need to take a shot eventually anyway, and this would mean Louisville's had already gone and they'd have a shooter vs a keeper round. However, collegiate rules mean you only assign ten kickers. If the shootout continues beyond ten rounds, you just go back to the top. That means Floyd just was in the top ten (or top five, even) shooters for this Louisville team. It's not insane. Keepers are usually decent at penalties since they have to be very familiar with the ins-and-outs of the process.)

Unfortunately, Floyd's shot was high of the bar. UK sunk their fifth shot and the mood flipped immediately. After a chance to go up 3-2 after four, Louisville now trailed 3-2 down to their final shooter. Fina Davy nailed it and kept the Cards alive. After five rounds, it meant sudden victory. If anyone led after each round, it was game over. Floyd opened sudden victory with a save, but Liza Suydam was saved as well. 

Once you're in this part of the penalty order, the pressure on every taker ramps up. You weren't expected to be taking your shot and now the fate of the game could rest on your shoulders. In the case of the team shooting second, that was literally true. With each shot, you're either going to win it with a make or lose it with a miss. UK scored with their seventh taker and Grace Maddox calmly kept Louisville alive. In round eight, Erynn Floyd snagged her second penalty save of the sudden victory period, setting up her fellow senior. Mackenzie Geigle set the crowd alight with a goal and ran straight into her keeper's arms. Could it have been any more dramatic?

Louisville moves on to face 3-seed Kansas in Durham on Thursday afternoon. The match will be on ESPN+ at 4PM. The Cards' victory meant the ACC went 9-0 in the opening round. Incredible. I'm still riding high on yesterday's win. Check out the interviews below and join in on the elation. 

POSTGAME WITH MACKENZIE GEIGLE

POSTGAME WITH ERYNN FLOYD

POSTGAME WITH KFD 

Until next time, GO CARDS!!!

Case

Soccer Lands 3 on All-ACC Teams -- THURSDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

Cherry, Swinarski, and Jennings Honored

Louisville women's soccer tied a program-best for players on All-ACC teams in a single season with three this year. Karsyn Cherry, Amelia Swinarski, and Emersen Jennings were among the players honored by the ACC for the 2025 regular season. Cherry and Swinarski were named to the second team, while Jennings was named to the third team. Louisville had no players appear on the preseason All-ACC team and were picked to finish 14th in the conference, so the Cards definitely exceeded expectations.

Karsyn Cherry finished her senior year as part of a defense that recorded 12 overall shutouts and went undefeated at home. The Cards gave up 0.63 goals per game overall, but yielded just 0.37 goals per game in conference. Of their seven goals allowed in conference play, Louisville yielded just one at home, which came in a 1-1 draw against then #3 Virginia. Though she didn't tally a point in conference play, Cherry also had three goals and three assists during the season. Cherry finished ahead of two FSU defenders in the voting to land on the second team. 

Amelia Swinarski did much of her work in the non-conference, but the super sophomore had a stellar second season. She finished with nine goals and ten assists, ranking her fourth all-time in UofL history for single season assists. Despite a much lower output in conference play, Swinarski did still co-lead the team in goals with three and had an assist. Part of her reduced production was a significant focus on her by ACC opponents. Swinarski had just ten total shots in conference play, placing four of them on target and converting three. 

The other co-leader...along with Swinarski's... in conference goals was Emersen Jennings. Jennings scored a career-best five goals this season, with three of those in conference. She also had four assists in non-conference play. Jennings scored the game-winning goals against Virginia Tech, Miami, and SMU. Jennings exceeded her previous career high in minutes by roughly 40% and played in all 19 games, while starting a career-high 14 games. It was fantastic to see her make the most of her opportunities in an expanded role. 

One player I feel may have been a bit snubbed was Erynn Floyd, though she may have been a victim of the team's stellar defensive play. She finished with only 26 saves in conference play. Floyd was beaten to the third team by Valentina Amaral of Wake Forest who had 43 ACC saves. However, Floyd gave up half the number of goals as Amaral and had a higher save percentage (.788 to .754). Nevertheless, I won't forget how well Floyd played this year, keeping Louisville in many of their games and making the ACC tournament possible. 

Louisville finished the season as the 6th-ranked team in the conference, making their first conference tournament since 2020. They were knocked out by Duke in a tight 1-0 match on Sunday, but they are a virtual lock for the NCAA tournament and are well-positioned to host a first round game, if not more. The ACC tournament semifinals will be played today, with #2 Notre Dame vs #3 Duke and #1 Stanford vs #5 Virginia. The final will be on Sunday at noon. Louisville will learn their NCAA fate during the tournament selection show on Tuesday November 11th. 

ACC Field Hockey Championship Update

Due to Tuesday's tragedy, play was suspended in the ACC Championship at Trager Stadium. As a result, the tournament schedule was adjusted. The quarterfinal games were completed Wednesday, and the semifinals were moved to today rather than the teams having a break between the semifinals and final match. The final will be played on Friday at 3PM. Syracuse spoiled the top-4 party by upsetting(?) Wake Forest 3-1, so the 6th-seeded Orange will face #2 Virginia at 1:30 today. That match will be preceded by #1 UNC vs #4 Duke at 11am. 

Until next time, Go Cards!

Case

Soccer Kicks Off Fall Season -- THURSDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

Cards Face Auburn Tonight

At long last, the University of Louisville fall sports will begin regular season action tonight. We'll have to wait a week for the home opener, but Louisville women's soccer will get the season underway tonight in Auburn, Alabama as they take on the Tigers from the SEC. Tonight's matchup will be the second meeting all-time between Louisville and Auburn in women's soccer with the Tigers taking the first match 1-0 on March 20, 2021. Yes, that was a regular season match, despite the date, as the Fall 2020 season was postponed to Spring 2021 due to the covid pandemic. 

Mackenzie Geigle

Auburn finished last season at 27 in the RPI after a second round exit in the NCAA tournament. The Tigers reached a highest ranking of 6th in the Coaches Poll and spent three weeks in the top ten before a bad road loss (4-1 to unranked Texas A&M) knocked them down to 16th. Auburn entered the NCAA tournament on a bit of a skid, going 1-1-3 in their final five conference games to finish 5th in the SEC at 4-2-4 in league play. They responded to that skid by losing in the first round of the SEC tournament to 11-seed LSU 2-1. The Tigers of Auburn had thumped the Tigers of LSU 4-0 just one month prior.

Auburn clunked into the NCAA tournament on a four-match winless streak, where they took on FIU in a first round match at home. The Tigers beat the Panthers 4-1, but their late slide put them in a disadvantageous seeding position. Auburn took on Ohio State in the second round in Winston-Salem and ended their season with a 2-1 loss. 

Auburn faced a rash of departures, mostly due to graduation, and they return just 11 players from last year's team. As a result, the coaches are much less bullish on the squad this season, as they enter the year receiving just nine points worth of votes in the preseason top-25 poll. While it's "just nine points," that is nine points more than Louisville received, so glass houses and all that. Also, of the 11 returners, three of those were in the top five in points scorers for the 2024 team, including Olivia Woodson, who led the team in points (25) and goals (11). Dylan Driver and Shelby Sallee each had 14 points, with Driver second on the team in assists (8) and Sallee tied for second with five goals. 

Erynn Floyd

Auburn did lose all of their goalkeeper minutes from last season and two of the top three minutes earners among field players were graduating defenders. Unfortunately for the Cards, the other two minutes earners in the top four were also defenders who are now seniors. While it will hurt Auburn to have broken up a very seasoned back-five, keeping two senior defenders will give Louisville's new look offense plenty of headaches. The Tigers appear to have an open competition in goal, as they return a redshirt sophomore and a redshirt freshman while also bringing in a transfer redshirt junior and a true freshman. We'll see who gets the nod against the Cards tonight. 

Louisville, to their credit, will have plenty of consistency from their defensive unit as well. The Cards will likely start a defensive unit that returns 5/5 players. Erynn Floyd returns in goal while Karsyn Cherry, Hadley Snyder, Lizzie Sexton, and Brooklyn Lee shore up the defense. Let's not think about next season just yet, as four of those five are seniors. The defensive consistency continues even more if you extend it to the defensive midfielders and Karen Ferguson-Dayes keeps the same philosophy as last year. In that case, Louisville's back seven will remain the same, with Betsy Huckaby and AG Gibson taking the lion's share of the minutes as the back two midfielders in a 4-5-1 formation last season. 

Cherry celebrates with Emma Kate (EK) Schroll

Karsyn Cherry, by the way, received a late preseason honor, as TopDrawerSoccer issued their preseason top-100 players earlier this week. The list excludes incoming freshmen, but there are still thousands of players across D1 women's soccer. TDS ranked Cherry 73rd among them. She was the only Louisville representative, but joins 25 other players from the ACC, including 14 of the top-25 and seven of the top-ten. Cherry is the 17th-ranked player listed as a defender on their roster. She'll shore up the defense for Louisville, and may even play a significant role in the offense once more, as she was second on the team in goals last season with six. 

Louisville will need a strong defense, as they may find themselves in quite a few rock fights this season. The Cards return their leading goal scorer in Mackenzie Geigle, but she had just seven last year. They lost their leading assister in Brooke Dardano and they'll see quite a few changes in the midfield and forward positions. Looking for big steps up from Fina Davy and Amelia Swinarski in their sophomore seasons, the Cards will also depend on Monmouth transfer Liza Suydam to make the offense go. 

All that gets underway this evening at 7:30 PM. The match will be carried on SECN+, which you should have the same access to for streaming as ACC Network Extra. 

Until next time, Go Cards!

Case

More Summer Soccer -- THURSDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

19 Total Cards with Summer Clubs

Last week I wrote about the University of Louisville women's soccer players that had stayed with the hometown Racing Louisville development team for their summer play. In the process, I inadvertently left off a number of Cardinals that will be participating with other teams, including many remaining local. In all, 19 players are suiting up for clubs this summer to keep touches on the ball, which is 83% of the players currently listed on UofL's roster for the 2025 season. Not too shabby. 

First, another Louisville player was added to the Racing roster. Nicole Jodoin, an incoming freshman forward from West Boylston, Massachusetts, will join Fina Davy, AG Gibson, Betsy Huckaby, and Grace Maddox in a very attack heavy representation. 

Floyd (30) and 2024 graduate Ava Nielsen

The next largest contingent of Cardinals headed east on I-64 to play for Lexington SC. While Racing's squad sports mostly offensive players from Louisville, Lexington sees most of the starting defense held together. Erynn Floyd, Louisville starting goalkeeper, is joined by three of her starting backline: Karsyn Cherry, Lizzie Sexton, and Hadley Snyder. That group will play Racing twice this season, with the first of those matches coming last night. After a 9-0 victory to start the season, Louisville played Kings Hammer FC to a 3-3 draw before a 0-0 draw last night against Lexington. A good showing for Louisville's defenders, while hopefully not too concerning for the attackers. 

Another player that will see her teammates on the opposing side of the pitch is Emersen Jennings, who is suiting up for Indy Eleven. The rising senior forward is from Noblesville, so, like Huckaby and Gibson, she's playing for her hometown club. Jennings is one of eight players that is a sole Louisville representative on her squad. Mackenzie Geigle (F-Sr) is another of those players, as she will once again represent her local team with the NC Courage's development program. 

Maya Maxwell (8), Jennings (27), and Gigs (3)

Most Cardinals are remaining local, to be fair. Emma Kate Schroll (MF-Sr), a Dacula, Georgia native, is playing for United FA, a Georgia academy team tied to the Arsenal Football Development program. Likewise, Amelia Swinarski (MF-So), from Madison, Ohio, is playing for Internationals SC in northeast Ohio. Also competing this summer are Brooklynn Lee (D-So; FC Olympia), Liza Suydam (MF-Jr[transfer]; PA Classics), Kailey Kimball (GK-Sr; Oakland Soul), and Brielle Baker (GK-Fr; Paisley Athletic). The only two other Cards who aren't alone in summer player are rising freshmen Karina (F/MF) and Kiley (D) Peat. The twins are from Wilmington, North Carolina and are playing for Port City in their hometown. 

Good luck to all of the Kickin' Cards this summer as we look forward to the 2025 season, which will get underway in just under three months. 

Until next time, Go Cards!

Case

Volleyball Sweeps; Soccer Falls in Conference Opener -- SUNDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

Volleyball Takes Down Northern Iowa

As Jeff mentioned yesterday, he and I swapped days this weekend. Unfortunately, that means you won't get a Jeff writeup of either volleyball match this weekend. Since volleyball usually plays on Fridays and Sundays, you don't get Jeff covering them anyway, but that's beside the point. Yesterday Louisville hosted Northern Iowa in the Cards first match of the Cardinal Classic and walked away with a 25-23, 27-25, 25-15 sweep of the Panthers. 

Louisville didn't get off to the cleanest start yesterday, but they managed to stretch out to a 13-7 lead in the first set. A few miscues erased that lead, though, and UNI brought the game back to a one-point contest at 14-13. The Cards were able to build another small gap before the teams more or less traded pairs of points through the rest of the set. The Cards won the first game 25-23 on a combined block by Reese Robins and Cara Cresse. Yeah, I would avoid those two. 

The second saw Louisville as the chaser, but the Panthers couldn't build a lead larger than the 4-point advantage they held at 15-11. UNI did manage to take a 20-17 lead to make things rather nervy for the Cards, but Louisville won six of the next eight points to flip the script and take a 23-22 lead. Traded points led to extra volleyball, but another Cresse block made it 26-25 and an unforced error gave the Cards a 27-25 victory.

UNI won the first three points out of the half, and it seemed like we were in for another tight set. After the teams went back and forth for the first 30ish points, though, Louisville was done with the theatrics. A UNI kill made the score 15-14 in favor of Louisville, and the Cards decided that they wanted to be done for the day. The Cards won six straight points which included two blocks and an ace and put them up 21-14. A rare Elena Scott service error (rare for Scott, not for the team yesterday) broke the run, but Louisville won the next four points to take the game 25-15 and the match 3-0. 

Scott's ace in the final sequence was Louisville's only ace of the match. The Cards had a nightmare at the service line, swatting 10 service errors compared to the single ace. UNI had five aces and only eight errors, so the Cards made their lives much harder at the line. They'll need to clean that up against Creighton for sure. 

Offensively, only two players jump off the page. While Louisville hit 0.327 as a team, only two players exceeded that number on the floor. Outside of Charitie Luper's 0.536 and Cresse's 0.538, the highest Cardinals were Robins and Sofia Maldonado Diaz, who both hit 0.250. Luper and Cresse were impressive, though. Luper finished with 16 kills on 28 attempts and had just one error. Cresse was 9/13 with two errors. Cresse also led the team in blocks, taking two of Louisville's three solo blocks and adding four assists. The Cards outblocked the Panthers 11-3. 

Louisville's sweep should prime them for another top-ten matchup as they face Creighton today at 1PM. That match will be in the Yum! Center and it will be carried on ESPN. Creighton is currently 9th in the country and sits at 8-1 on the year. Their only loss came on the road against Nebraska, where they went down in five sets. The Blue Jays swept UNI on Friday and did the same against Rice yesterday morning. 

Cards Fall 3-1 at Pitt

Pittsburgh women's soccer finished last season ranked 8th in RPI. This season, they entered last night's game at 6-1-1. However, they weren't ranked as they drew Georgia to open the season and lost to Buffalo a week later. Their wins are over Duquesne, Bucknell, Loyola Marymount, Cal State Fullerton, Dartmouth, and Mercyhurst. Not many powerhouses in that bunch. I say that, though, to indicate that Pitt may be overlooked because of their loss to Buffalo. The Panthers had a good team last year and their goal difference stood at +21 entering last night's game. 

Am I rationalizing? Maybe. Louisville opened the season on a 5-0-2 undefeated streak before a road loss to Dayton broke up the party. After seven games without a loss, the Cards are now on the tail end of a 2-game losing streak with conference play upon them. Louisville still has plenty of time to recover, but Pitt was one of the games they would have liked to have had a result in. Even when the Panthers were ranked last season, Louisville managed to pull off the upset win. 

Louisville's offense has been a bit hit-or-miss this season. After the seven-goal explosion against Bellarmine to open the season, Louisville has scored only 13 goals in the eight games since opening night. Last week's game against Dayton was their only shutout so far, but they've been able to eclipse three goals in a game just twice. Offense was the missing piece again last night as the Cards couldn't match the pair of late goals by Pitt and lost 3-1. 

Kailey Kimball played all 90 minutes in goal for the second game in a row after Erynn Floyd left the game early against UT Martin. Kimball finished with nine saves, and the offense should have done more to help, but I'd like to see Louisville's starter get back to the pitch. Kimball is certainly an adequate replacement, but I don't think this team's ceiling is as high without Floyd in the net. 

Pitt scored first last night, breaking the tie just 11 minutes into the game. The Cards would tie it up with Karsyn Cherry's fifth goal of the season in the 21st minute. Like her previous four, this one came on a set piece, but it was quite different. Rather than heading in a corner kick, Cherry was tasked with taking a penalty. She slotted it home to make it 1-1. 

Tied at one is what the game would stay for the next 50ish minutes before Pitt's Samiah Phiri scored her sixth goal of the year. She matched Cherry ten minutes later with a penalty kick goal of her own, moving Phiri's total to seven. Louisville didn't have any answer offensively, as they managed just five shots on the evening (two on frame), and the Panthers took the victory. Pitt controlled the match offensively, and Louisville was fairly lucky to escape with just three goals allowed. Pitt took 27 shots in the match. Yikes. 

Louisville will get a break to get back on track and end their skid. After 12 days off, the Cards will head back on the road as they go down to Blacksburg for their next match to take on Virginia Tech on 9/26. VT is 6-2-1 on the year so far and they'll take on Syracuse today. The Hokies drew Monmouth in late August and dropped back to back games against Liberty and Northwestern last weekend. They opened conference play with a road win against Clemson, though, so they're certainly no slouches. They'll play BC next Sunday before meeting the Cards.

Until next time, Go Cards!

Case 

Soccer Roster Takes Shape -- THURSDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

Cards Return 14 from Last Season

Louisville women's soccer fans will have their work cut out for them this season when it comes to learning new faces and names. That's because the roster of 27 players includes just 14 returners from last season and sports 13 newcomers. The Cards are looking to recover after a string of tough years, and they've turned to the transfer portal in addition to the recruiting class to make that happen. Like softball last season, there were some surprising departures by players that were expected to be key contributors going forward. Louisville will have their work cut out for them to get on the same page, but let's not get ahead of ourselves. Today is about starting that familiarization process. 

Departures

It wouldn't be fair to roll right into the new roster without covering who we lost. The roster was 26 last year, so that means an even dozen players won't don the red and black be Cardinals play for Louisville this year. Addie Chester, Louisville's top points earner last season, will continue her career at Ball State, indicating that it probably wasn't the aesthetic of UofL that she wasn't vibing with. 

In addition to Chester, Louisville looks to replace all but four players that tallied a goal or an assist for the squad last season. Emma Hiscock, Ravin Alexander, Lucy Roberts, Savina Zamborini, and Autumn Weeks all graduated. Fiona Gaiꞵer has returned to Europe to pursue her professional career, and Hayley Howard joined Chester in choosing to transfer. Like Chester (Muncie, IN), Howard (Brentwood, TN) returned closer to home(ish) by opting to play for the Tennessee Volunteers. 

Howard (1372) tallied the most minutes of any Cardinal not named Erynn Floyd (1575), and Chester (1152) was eclipsed by only Karsyn Cherry (1334) and Betsy Huckaby (1297). Seeing only a few minutes and joining the departures list were a pair of transfer goalkeepers. After being named as the best club goalkeeper in Quebec in 2018, Alyssa Zalac will move on to her 3rd school having not played any competitive minutes since 2019. After Vanier College's 2020 season was canceled due to Covid, Zalac redshirted at Ole Miss before transferring to Louisville and sitting for two seasons. Malene Nielsen decided that her year of backing up Floyd, which saw her earn just one half of play time, was not in her best interest and left Louisville after one season. 

Louisville also graduated Morgan Bentley and Maddy Ellsworth. Ellsworth was a transfer from Oregon State who started at right back and played 1031 minutes. Bentley was a four-year Cardinal who started in 11/12 games as a freshman before seeing her minutes decline. She played 336 minutes over 14 games last year with one start. 

Returners

While there are a lot of losses, especially on offense, Louisville does return 40% of their minutes from last season. That said, if goalkeeper minutes are excluded, that number falls to 33%. They bring back 64 field-player starts out of a possible 180. A fair amount of turnover was inevitable; Louisville was not a young team last year. They bring back just three sophomores from last year's team (there are six on the roster, but we'll get to the others later). I've mentioned Betsy Huckaby as a major contributor, and she's joined by Molly Cochran and Viktoria Wik. 

The rising junior class is large. Headlined by Floyd and Cherry, the class includes Mackenzie Geigle, Maya Maxwell, Lizzie Sexton, Hadley Snyder, Emma Kate Schroll, and Emersen Jennings. The Cards return just three players set to graduate this season: Amber Jackson, Ava Nielsen, and Brooke Dardano. 

The Transfers

Joining those last three on Senior Day will be just one senior transfer, Jolie St. Louis. JSL comes to the Cards from UAB after spending one season with the Blazers. Hailing from Atlanta, the forward started her career at Seattle. (Let me chime in here to say that the roster and player pages no longer include positions. I have no idea why. It's irritating, but we endeavor ever onward.) St. Louis also represented Trinidad and Tobago at the 2022 World Cup Qualifiers, playing in three matches and starting one. She led UAB in goals and points last year, scoring five goals in 748 minutes over 13 games. She played in 23 matches over two seasons at Seattle. 

Replacing the outgoing goalkeepers is Kailey Kimball. Kimball is a junior from Danville, California who played two seasons at Purdue. Kimball saw 810 minutes over 10 games as a freshman but struggled to find her footing. She allowed 21 goals over those games, giving up a score in all but one appearance (45 minutes in what was ultimately a 3-0 loss to Northwestern). Seemingly losing the position battle, Kimball played in three games in 2023, allowing one goal in 144 minutes (ironically, against Northwestern). She had a complete game clean sheet on the road at Maryland that finished in a 0-0 tie. 

The other three transfers are all sophomores. Berkley Patterson is a midfielder from Austin, Texas who comes to Louisville from Texas Tech. She played 148 minutes over six games and had two shots. She earned just five minutes in conference play, coming on in a 3-0 win over Cincinnati. While Patterson seems to be leaving home, the other two sophomore transfers went to school far from their hometowns and will stay rather far from them.

Gianna Angelillo is fairly familiar with Louisville, having played 37 minutes against them last season. The midfielder from Glastonbury, Connecticut started her career at Miami. She played 432 minutes over 11 games, earning three starts. She scored one goal on five shots, netting the game-winner against Syracuse. 

Ella Kane is also probably familiar with Louisville, although the Cards and Cats didn't play last season. Kane, from Macomb, Michigan, played 13 games for UK last year, primarily in reserve situations. Kane had 197 minutes and scored her only goal in her longest outing: 33 minutes against Belmont. If you exclude games in which she played fewer than 5 minutes, her average goes from 15.1 minutes per game to 24.1, a fairly large jump. She played 20 minutes against Florida, her largest showing in conference play. 

The Freshmen

That leaves just one group. If you're keeping track at home, 14 returners plus five transfers means that we have eight freshmen rounding out the 27-player roster. It feels like deja vu all over again to be talking about these freshmen, which tells me I'm pretty sure I've covered them before. We'll do a quick refresher in number order. Fun fact, Louisville's jersey numbers are nearly a clean count. The Cards wear 1-30 with 16, 19, and 29 excluded. (Ava Nielsen wore 29 as a freshman before switching to 13. I'm not sure why, since 13 was available at the time.) The freshmen this year are numbers 5, 6, 10, 11, 12, 17, 20, and 24.

Grace Maddox is a defender from Statham, Georgia. Despite playing defense, she broke the school record for goals when she scored 29 as a freshman. She was a captain for six years with her club team. 

Piper Davidson comes from a town Cards fans might have heard of before: Wenatchee, Washington. The forward/midfielder scored 62 goals and had 46 assists in her high school career. She was all-conference with her club team. Funnily, Davidson wore #4 in promo photos before changing to #6 to yield the number to Jolie St. Louis. 

Lauryn Contini will inherit the mantle of the #10. The midfielder from New Philadelphia, Ohio was the 2023 district player of the year and was voted as Ohio's second best girls soccer player of the year. Contini won the Golden Boot in Ohio in 2022, scoring 55 goals in her junior campaign. 

Amelia Swinarski is another Ohioan, hailing from Madison. Swinarski is a midfielder that scored 30 goals and had 23 assists in her two years playing at Madison High School and was twice named first team All-Conference. 

Avery Oergel is a defender from Fulton, Maryland. As a lefty, it will be interesting to see whether she plays her dominant foot to the inside of the field or if Lizzie Sexton swaps sides. Oergel traditionally plays left back and her speed is an asset. She was a two-time first team All-Conference selection in the North Atlantic Conference of ECNL.

Brooklyn Lee and Davidson will have to remind each other of the Pacific Northwest. Lee, from Tacoma, will give Coach Karen Ferguson-Dayes options for who to pair alongside Karsyn Cherry in the middle of the defense. Lee scored 20 goals and had nine assists from the back as a senior. She and Maddox could also be options to take over in the defensive midfield, replacing Howard and allowing Huckaby to move forward.

Fina Davy amassed a hefty number of accolades at Olentangy Berlin High School in Delaware, Ohio. The forward/midfielder holds the school record for career goals, career hat tricks, and season assists. As a senior, she was first team All-Conference after a 20 goal, 18 assist year. 

Last, but certainly not least, comes the Louisvillian: AG Gibson. Gibson played high school ball for Assumption where she was twice named first team All-State and 7th Region Player of the Year. She clubs with Racing Louisville. Throughout her career at Assumption, the midfielder tallied 56 goals and 53 assists. AG fulfills a lifelong dream of playing for Louisville and we'll do our best to avoid comparisons to another highly touted Louisville native who played a commanding midfield position. 

The season is just a month away, and I'm looking forward to seeing the new look squad in action. Join me and the rest of the crew at Lynn for the season opener against Bellarmine on August 15th at 7:30. 

Until next time, Go Cards!

Case

Cards Score First Home Goal; Fall 2-1 -- FRIDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

Illinois Outlasts Women's Soccer

For about 80 minutes, it looked as though Louisville was on for another repeat of the prior three home games of the season. The Cards were threatening on goal, they outshot their opponents, and they were staring down their fourth shutout (not in the good way) of their five-game old season. Savina Zamborini, who has taken 11 of Louisville's shots (tied for second with Ravin Alexander, behind Addie Chester with 13) this season, finally found the breakthrough for the Cards at home. Ironically, the goal was the type of shot that goes in when a team seemingly can't be stopped, not when they seemingly can't buy a goal with all of Ft. Knox's gold. 

Unfortunately for Louisville, Zamborini's late second half miracle was not enough to pull the game level. Louisville trailed 2-0 at the time, and, although they continued the pressure for the remaining seven minutes and change remaining, they couldn't find an equalizer. 

The Cards fell behind in this one relatively early. Illinois took the lead in the 11th minute of the game with good combination play to take advantage of a Louisville defense that was caught slightly out of position. (Side note: this goal was the result of the type of plays Louisville tries to run and just misfires on so frequently. With more time together, they're sure to start connecting, but they're running out of time for that to matter faster than we expected.) One of the negatives of playing a wide four in the back with the wingbacks extending forward is that it's very easy for them to find themselves overextended. Such was the case on the game's opening goal, as a winning run by the Illinois left wing forced Louisville into a recovery formation. 

This is more or less what the defensive shape looks like by design.

Once we get here, we have a problem. 

Swinging your defenders across the field only works if the back line moves as if it's connected, and it also only works if you can maintain at least an even matchup on numbers. The defense doesn't need to be at an advantage to stop goals, but it can't be at a disadvantage. As it was, Karsyn Cherry stepped farther out to defend the ball, replacing the beaten wingback, and Autumn Weeks slid over to replace her. Louisville effectively went from a 4-back formation with Cherry and Weeks as right and left center backs to a 3-back formation with Cherry on the outside. I'm getting very in the weeds on how and why this worked for Illinois but it's important because it's informative for Louisville's offensive and defensive performance (and communication). 

This is our solution. Simple enough.

Louisville, unfortunately, had a minor breakdown after that. Remember how I said that the team needs to maintain at least neutrality on numbers? That isn't just players in the defensive third. If a defender is out in space and not marking someone, they may as well not be there (more on defenders who may as well not be there later...). Anyway, the Cards found themselves with a hole in their recovery formation. The opposite wingback didn't close in quite quickly enough, and one of the center defensive mids wasn't able to (or thought the left back would) cover the third attacker. 

Oh no it's a problem again.

As a result, Illinois makes two passes (it's the second pass that gets you), and has an open player on the back side. You may often hear players or coaches or fans yelling "backside". It frequently refers to a player to the right of the player in yellow, completely hidden from the defense because they all have their backs turned. In this case, the highlighted player is not quite on the back side of the goalkeeper (Floyd is definitely aware of her), but without a defender able to make a play (remember Cherry and Weeks are accounted for with their marks), she's on the back side enough. Floyd, as anyone would expect, has to react to the ball right in front of her when it's centered, or else that player will just have an easier shot, and she has no help once the second pass finds the open player in the box. 1-0 Illinois.

Like I said, this is informative to how Louisville is communicating as a team up and down the field. We've seen them unable to make this play work, despite having the set up and even a numbers advantage to do so. Either the second pass isn't made, or it is made and the recipient isn't there, or the first pass is never made, or there are four people where one should be. Pick your poison and Louisville has found it under the kitchen sink this season. Defensively, there's no excuse for the unmarked player at that spot at that stage in the game. Even on a counter attack, Louisville had numbers back and that rotation should be automatic. If you get beat because of a surprise winger on the complete opposite side of the field, so be it, but you can't be late to the center of the box. 

Enough on that. I won't draw any more pretty pictures. The Cards continued to receive and withstand pressure, with Floyd picking up two saves in a five-minute span midway through the half. After that, Louisville took some control of their own. From the 26th minute on, Louisville took seven shots to Illinois' zero for the remainder of the half. Their best chance came when Betsy Huckaby got a hold of a rebound about 14 yards out. The stats don't show it, but it pretty much should have been a goal. A slight deflection gave the ball just enough lift to find the crossbar and clatter out of danger. 

The second half opened with hearts in mouths on both ends. Both teams forced a save in the first three minutes, with the ball spending seemingly just as much time on either end early. Louisville was the team to find the advantage though, and they seemed to capitalize on it when Hayley Howard sent a ball across the face of goal after some chaos on a corner kick. The Illini saved the ball off the line with a combined effort of two defenders, but not without a fair amount of shouting and arm raising by Cardinals on and off the pitch. As Howards shot floated toward the line, the first Illinois defender (keeper was out of position: corner chaos, it happens) threw her knee up to block the ball down so she could boot it away. She was a touch slow, though, and the ball instead clipped off her thigh, keeping its momentum toward the goal line and going up instead of down. Conveniently, another part of the defender's body got in the way, knocking it down so it could be cleared away by the second defender.

Yes, I'm talking about her hand. As the center referee signaled that he would go to VAR, a replay appeared to show that Louisville would be taking a penalty, and the only question would be whether Illinois would be finish the game down a player (intentional handball and DOGSO [Denial of an Obvious Goal-Scoring Opportunity] are both yellow card offenses and two yellows make a red). Instead, after multiple TV replays verified that everyone correctly saw what happened the first time, the referee determined that it was not a handball, no penalty or card was awarded, and the ball was out of play for a throw-in. There are a number of justifications a referee may have for not awarding a handball. I've already done my deep dive today, so I will spare you the details. In my (and Casey Whitfield and Jeff Greer and other viewers) opinion, the referee got it flat wrong.

Either way, Louisville still trailed 1-0, and the game went on. Such is life for Louisville soccer so far this season. The issue came when Louisville completely lost focus as a result of the situation. Illinois grabbed the momentum by the horns and took off. Meanwhile, the Cards tilted like a pinball machine. Three minutes after the VAR opportunity, Illinois doubled their advantage when Lucy Roberts decided for Erynn Floyd that Floyd should come out for a contested ball in the box. I may have some bias here, but that's... um... not Roberts' call. Instead of contesting the attack and forcing an awkward shot, a misplay, or a retreat, Roberts elected to peel off the ball to screen the attacker when it was still beyond the penalty marker and out to the side of center. That's a fine decision when you're chasing a ball that is sent forward and trying to outrun an offensive player. You and the keeper agree, the keeper starts coming out, and you screen off the attacker to keep your goalie clean. 

What you shouldn't do, though, is jockey for position with an attacker into the box, see your keeper making no play on the ball, and choose to peel off and screen for a keeper pickup. Keepers are good sprinters for the most part. It's usually all we do so we get good at it. From the position they were in, though, Roberts set herself up for a Herculean effort in screening an attacker for as long as she would need to without fouling and giving up a free penalty. As you might expect from the number of words I'm giving this, she was unsuccessful. The attacker got free, beat Floyd to the ball, and slotted it home. 

A minute and a half later Floyd had to make a leaping save to flip the ball over the bar to prevent Illinois from extending their lead to three. Two more saves were split by an Autumn Weeks yellow card that was lucky not to be a red and Louisville was up against the ropes. They bounced back. In the 76th, Louisville worked forward and earned a corner. A couple of minutes later, a ball fell to an open Emma Kate Schroll about 10 yards out and she lifted her head just enough to get the ball up and onto the bar. I don't want to dump on someone for being upset when they hit the woodwork, but the time to lament that miss is when the ball is out of play or the game is over, not when it bounces back down into an attacking position. Mackenzie Geigle collected the rebound and fired it toward goal. Illinois' keeper could only block the ball away to a void just inside the six yard box. That void should have been full of one (1) EK Schroll who could immediately make up for her miss. Instead, she was still standing where she took the shot when the ball found its way free and she couldn't outrun a defender to it before it was cleared away.

Louisville maintained pressure but didn't really threaten much offensively over the last 12 minutes of the game. That feels incredibly odd to say, considering the Cards scored their first home goal of the season in those 12 minutes, but they really weren't threatening. Louisville earned one corner in the 80th, but other than that, Zamborini's goal was their only real effort into the box. I genuinely don't want to take anything away from Savina, because she goes out there and gives it her all for the Cards game in and game out, but she took half a chance as she went down with her cleat stuck under her and the keeper misread her position. Instead of calmly stepping back and reaching up to catch the ball, the keeper felt a goal line that wasn't there on her heels. She bounced a couple of times to prep herself, then leaped back to pop the ball over the crossbar. The primary issue with that tactic was that she was about two yards from the endline. I'm not really sure she would have gotten the ball over anyway, given that she flubbed the swat a bit, but from her position, the ball was much more likely to be hitting the underside of the top of the net instead of going over the bar. 

I don't want to end on that note, though, so I'll get one more bit of praise in for the goal scorer: while it looked a bit goofy both live and in the replay, it was an impressive effort by Zamborini to get the ball on frame with a bit of pace. We have given Louisville players a bit of a hard time for seemingly kicking it right at the keeper when they get it on frame, but tonight was a bit of a lesson in why you don't try to get too fine with it. Two could have been goals found the crossbar instead and a shot that would be saved 9 (or more) times out of ten found the back of the net. Put shots on goal and good things will happen.

The Cards ultimately weren't able to get their first win tonight, but they showed a fair bit more promise at stages. There is still a lot of ground to gain and not a lot of time to do it, but there are definitely things that the coaches can point out on film in the positive and not just the negative from this game. Coach KFD clearly hasn't been slow to make her opinion of a player's performance known to them, either, as the Cards started their fourth different lineup in the last four games. The bench also went 8 deep, with players finding themselves back off the field in short order if they weren't getting it done. There are plenty of different (and correct) philosophies to sub patterns and using them as a motivator. While it's unclear if this one will work, Coach is showing she isn't afraid to find out. Louisville is back in action on Sunday against Central Michigan. The Chips come into Lynn Stadium at 7:30PM, and you can catch the game on ACCNX if you can't make it out.

(photos by Jared Anderson)

Volleyball and Field Hockey Hit the Road

If you're still with me, I appreciate you, and I'll keep it short and sweet from here on out.

Field hockey is in Philadelphia for the ACC/Ivy League Crossover (we really don't have to name every interconference event like this, folks). The Cards will take on No. 10 Princeton at 11 AM today on ESPN+ and the 9th-ranked squad will take on the hosts, Penn, on Sunday at 1:30PM. That game will also be on ESPN+. After a nail biter in the road win at Northwestern, Louisville could continue to build their strong early resume with a pair of nice wins this weekend.

Volleyball kicks off their road schedule with the Missouri Classic. Louisville will play South Dakota today at 2PM before taking on NKU tomorrow at noon and facing the hosts at 3:30 on Sunday. All times are Eastern, and but the Go Cards site isn't currently listing any video availability. If you're looking to make the drive to Mizzou, I can assure you that the drive is just as boring as normal and that Labor Day travelers combined with construction lane closures will probably slow you down quite a bit (I just drove to STL and back this week for work). We'll have all the updates for you here on the site as always.

Until next time, Go Cards!

Case

Women's Soccer Roster Preview -- TUESDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

Cards Look to Replace Significant Production

With Louisville women's soccer just under a month away from kicking off their season with an exhibition and just over a month away from beginning the regular season in earnest, what better time to take a look at the roster than now? The Cards have had quite a bit of roster turnover due to graduations and transfers, so let's take some time to see who is gone, who is back, and who is filling the gaps.

The Goalkeepers

Because the goalkeeper position is so intertwined with departures, returnees, and new entrants, I'm breaking it out here. Louisville had the unique problem of replacing a career stalwart in goal last season. Gabby Kouzelos graduated after playing six seasons for the Cards. Kouzelos is Louisville's career leader in games played with 85, having started in all of them. To have done that as a goalkeeper is even more impressive, as she played more than 2,000 minutes more than the next highest goalkeeper (Meredith Miller, 01-04) and has the fifth lowest goals against average (1.13). Kouzelos's 28 shutouts were good for 33% of her total matches and put her atop the leaderboard in that career stat as well. (Side note: As impressive as Kouzelos's numbers are over her entire career, they benefit from Louisville only having the services of Joanna Haig for two years in 2006 and 2007. Haig only played around 3,600 minutes, about 4,000 fewer than Kouzelos, but those made up nearly every minute of the 41 games in those two seasons. She put up a goals against average of 0.48 and had 20 shutouts (48.7%). That's... pretty good.) 

While losing an experienced goalkeeper is unfortunate, Gabby Kouzelos showed that KFD is more than willing to hand over the reins to a freshman goalkeeper and let that player defend their position for their career. While Olivia Pratapas looked set to inherit the spot between the pipes for Louisville, her role was threatened by the incoming transfer of Alyssa Zalac and the arrival of freshman Erynn Floyd. As it turned out, Pratapas had no competition from Zalac, as Alyssa was inactive for the season. Early on, Coach Karen Ferguson-Dayes seemed content to rotate Pratapas and Floyd to determine who would earn the spot. It took much less time than expected for the full-time job to be handed over to Floyd. Pratapas ultimately earned just 212 minutes, playing in three games, while Floyd played 1228 minutes in 14 starts.

Olivia Pratapas, originally from Clemmons, North Carolina, transferred to NC State following the 2022 season. NC State notes that they were interested in Pratapas during her initial collegiate search, but that she committed to Louisville very early in the process. While it's unfortunate to see a player transfer in conference, we wish her the best going forward.

UofL Athletics

As noted, the goalkeeping position appears to be Erynn Floyd's to lose entering the 2023 season. Floyd allowed 17 goals over her 14 games, an average of just 1.25. She had a save percentage of 65.3%, with 32 total saves. Louisville only scoring 13 goals on the season didn't help her win/loss record, but she also played with a pretty stout defense in general. Floyd showed a lot of promise as a freshman, so it will be interesting to see her development.

While Floyd has the keys to the car, it's not yet clear if it's only a lease. The aforementioned Zalac has a full season under her belt in the program and is technically in the same class as Floyd after redshirting at Ole Miss prior to transferring. Zalac is interesting, having been eligible to play last year but seeing no time. Zalac hasn't seen live action since club ball in Quebec in 2019. Her one season at Vanier College in Montreal was scrapped due to Covid in 2020 and she didn't play prior to redshirting at Ole Miss.

Another transfer also entered the goalkeeper room this season. Malene Nielsen is a junior transfer from Fairleigh Dickinson (perhaps best known for the puns on their name during March Madness). Nielsen hails from Juelsminde, Denmark and is of no relation to junior midfielder Ava Nielsen. Nielsen started 21 games last season, allowing 1.88 goals and tallying 100 saves. She had five or more saves in 10 games, tallying nine in the season opener. In her freshman season, Nielsen was named NEC Goalkeeper of the Year and made the All-NEC First Team. She played in every minute of the 2021 season, allowing just 1.2 goals per game and saving 78.7% of shots faced. My guess is that this is the primary threat to Erynn Floyd, and I would expect to see all three goalkeepers early in the season.

Key Departures

Louisville loses a number of major contributors from last season. While a total of nine players left the program via graduation, transfer, or other departure, three of those players recorded no stats for the Cards in 2022. Two freshmen, Evelyn Pazienza and Riley Goss, and junior Riley Mullady didn't get on the field last year and are no longer a part of the team. In addition to the three players departing that earned no stats, five other rostered Cardinals saw action in 0 games. Since we've already talked about goalkeepers, I'll take them out of the equation as well. For the purposes of any future stats, the numbers will be out of the 19 field players that played in at least one game. 

Jared Anderson

Louisville loses Sarah Hernandez, Patricia Ward, Corinne Dente, Anouk Denton, and Maisie Whitsett. That's five of 19 active players from last season, right around 26%. The production they lose, though, is a bit more lopsided than that. All five players played in every game in which they were available. Four of the five were regular starters, with the fifth being a top sub that earned seven starts. The team loses 34.4% of its minutes from last season. The average active player for Louisville played 758 minutes last year. Hernandez and Denton played 1260 each. Only Ravin Alexander (1416) and Savina Zamborini (1287) played more. Ward and Whitsett also exceeded the average, each with around 900 minutes, while Dente came in at 609.

Although two of the five departures are defensive starters, the offensive production lost is even more significant. Louisville loses just 36% of its shots from last year, but it loses 61.5% of goals, 50% of assists, and 58.8% of total points. Louisville's 13 goals were scored by eight players. All five departing players scored at least one goal, with Maisie Whitsett being the team leader. Three of the players took above the average number of shots (at least 10), and Whitsett accounted for nearly 33% of the team's points on her own. She had four goals and three assists on the year. 

Sarah Hernandez didn't have the flashy offensive stats, but she had been a defensive stalwart since her freshman year. Hernandez played in 82 games over five years, starting in every one. In those 82 games, she played 7,404 minutes. That's an average of 90.3 minutes per game. There are 90 minutes in a regulation match. Replacing a center defender like that doesn't come easy. Hernandez was an instrumental part of the defense Gabby Kouzelos commanded, and she made it her own last year in Kouzelos's absence. In addition to being the primary defender, Hernandez finished her career with eight goals and an assist. She scored three game winners. Just like losing Kouzelos was hard the year before because of all she provided on and off the pitch, losing Hernandez will be hard this season.

Jared Anderson

While the Cards expected to lose four of these five players, it doesn't make it easier to stomach. Graduations can be planned for, but Louisville would have liked to have had more production from returning players to count on. They'll now need to depend on the incoming freshmen and transfers that much more. For a team that struggled offensively as much as it did last season, watching half of that offense walk out the door is a bit painful. 

The big shock came when the Cards learned they would also lose Anouk Denton. Denton decided to leave Louisville to return to England to play for West Ham United in the Women's Super League. It's hard to fault her for the decision, but it means Louisville loses two of four defensive starters from last season instead of just one. Denton was a major factor in Louisville's strong defense as well as their play from the back, as Denton worked the opposite side of the field from Ravin Alexander. She had a goal and 11 shots out of the back. 

Key Returners

Perhaps Louisville's most important returner is the previously mentioned Ravin Alexander. Alexander returns for a graduate year in what will be her fifth active season for the Cards. She redshirted as a freshman in 2018. Alexander has started in 56 of her 57 career matches. While she has just two goals and no assists in that time, she has played in over 90% of the available minutes. Alexander has put 50% of her 30 shots on frame, presenting pressure to the opposing defense if not actually getting the ball in the back of the net. Her presence is most felt in her recovery speed on the outside of a wide defensive line. Alexander frequently works the ball up the sideline, but is hardly ever beaten back after a turnover. The ability to work both directions will remain critical as the Cards need to replace both her running mate and a center defender this year.

Aiding Alexander on the back line will be one of the freshman revelations from last season, Karsyn Cherry. Cherry stepped in alongside Sarah Hernandez in the center of the defense. She was afforded a bit of leeway defensively with Hernandez there to clean up some mistakes, but she loses that safety net this year. Hernandez's presence allowed Cherry to float forward, as she threatened Whitsett's offensive dominance early in the year. Cherry ended up second on the team in goals, as she finished with three. Cherry played 1230 minutes in 14 games. She'll be asked to develop quite a bit, as the lead of the defense will fall on her shoulders, but she showed last year she can be quite capable. 

Jared Anderson

Savina Zamborini came into her own a bit last year. Zamborini will be looking to get on top of the ball more this year, as she came away with no goals and just one assist offensively last season. Zamborini played 1287 minutes, starting all 16 games, but she was able to put just eight of 28 shots on frame. With Whitsett out the door and Cherry being asked to hold back, Zamborini will need to find the back of the net this season. She's more than capable, and the issues could be fixed in training, but if the junior was in her head last year, the pressure may make that even worse this year. We'll look for a fast start for Savina to get out ahead of the yips.

Another freshman surprise last season was the midfield pair of Addie Chester and Lizzie Sexton. They played 820 and 920 minutes, respectively, with 15 and 16 games played and 12 and 13 games started. Chester played more of the offensive minded midfield role with Sexton filling the center defensive mid style. Chester finished with two assists and took 17 shots, but she couldn't find the back of the net. Both of these players taking big steps forward could be critical for the Cards.

The New Additions

Louisville was a very young team last year. Seventeen players on the roster were freshman or sophomores, with 11 of those being active contributors. While there are still 14 underclassmen on this year's roster, only five are freshmen. Eight of the nine returning sophomores played in at least one game and seven of those eight played in at least half of Louisville's games. In addition to the five freshmen, Louisville brought in four transfers, with one being goalkeeper Malene Nielsen. Joining her are forwards Maya Anand and Amber Jackson and defender Lucy Roberts.

It looks like KFD may be attempting to fill the major holes left behind with upperclassmen transfers. Roberts and Anand are both grad transfers, while Jackson is a senior. The Cards replace one English defender with another in Lucy Roberts, who comes from USF and has previously missed time due to English National Team obligations. Roberts was on the TDS Preseason Best XI Freshman team ahead of the 2019 season and proved worthy with an all-conference rookie team selection. She has started 57 games and scored six goals with two assists. At age 17, Roberts became the youngest player in Liverpool history to debut for the WSL team. 

Maya Anand comes to us from Binghamton, which competes in the America East conference. Over the last two seasons, Anand started 36 games and scored 18 goals. She was the 2022 America East Striker of the Year. Amber Jackson started 52 games in three years for Oregon State. She has played a full 90 on 12 occasions and scored eight goals over the last two years while adding three assists in each. Jackson also had two assists as a freshman. 

In addition to the two international transfers, Louisville brings in two international freshmen in Viktoria Wik (Denmark) and Fiona Gaißer [Gaisser] (Germay). Each has represented their country at the U-17 level and plays high level club ball. Wik is a midfielder with HB Koge, who advanced to the second round of the 2022 Women's Champions League and currently leads the Danish League. Gaisser plays as a forward for Bayern Munich II in the second division of the German women's league. She scored seven goals in the most recent season and has scored nine goals in 25 matches over the last three seasons.

Louisville's other three freshmen come from America, though one is from the west coast. Emma Sanchez is a defender who played club ball for Northwest Elite FC ECNL out of Washington. She did not play high school soccer. Sanchez was named to the All-Conference First Team in the 2021-22 season and has been part of the US Soccer ID Camps. The other two freshmen are in the midfield. Molly Cochran is from Madeira, Ohio and was All-Conference First Team in the Ohio Valley ECNL playing for Ohio Elite. She was selected for last year's ECNL national game. Cochran earned First Team All-Conference honors in high school three times and was named to the All-American and All-State teams in her sophomore year. Betsy Huckaby is a local product, playing for South Oldham High School. South Oldham went 77-11-2 in Huckaby's four years, winning the state championship last year after finishing as runners-up the year before. Huckaby was first team all-region and second team all-state as a junior. She bested herself as a senior by being named District MVP, 8th Region POTY, first team all-state, and Ms. Kentucky Soccer.

Louisville loses a lot from last year, but the future is bright with the returning talent and incoming stars. The season starts soon. I'll see you there.

Until next time, Go Cards!

Case