Louisville women's golf in NCAA regional starts today -- Thursday CARDINAL COUPLE

CARDS IN BRYAN REGIONAL

The Louisville women's golf squad tees off in the NCAA Regionals today in Bryan, TX. The Cards are one of eighteen teams in the regional that leads to the NCAA Championships.


The Cards, who are in the tournament as an at-large squad and ranked as the #10 seed will put Laura Restrepo, Katie Mitchell, Molly Skapic, Ellen Kehoe and Olivia Cason on the tee shortly after 9 a.m. this morning on the first of three days of qualifying for the NCAA Championships. They'll be paired with Miami and Tulane for the Thursday round. The top six teams from each of the four regionals advance to the Championships...which will be held in Eugene, OR. May 20-25 at the Eugene Golf Club.

Louisville is ranked #35 by Golfstat and the Cards birdies and pars can be followed at www.golfstat.com

The Cards are led by two seniors. Restrepo, who was an all-ACC selections and averages a 73.10 score. Mitchell, who finished 13th. in the ACC Championships carries a 73.90 average. 

Hit 'em straight and putt well, Cards! 

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THURBY IN LOUISVILLE

The Thursday of Derby week here in Louisville is known as "Thurby" and has become known as "Louisville's Day at the Races" 

If you're contemplating a trip to the Twin Spires today...we'll see if we can give you a little help on a couple of the races today.

Go to Paulie's blog THURBY AT CHURCHILL DOWNS where we've suggested a couple of plays today that hust might have you smiling at the cashier's window.

We also have the Friday picks available at that site also for Oaks Day. Six stakes races! Woo Hoo! 

Jeff McAdams, back from floating around Europe in a boat, returns to the pages for the Friday and Saturday columns.

Happy Thurby!

paulie
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Classroom Cards...Louisville ranks high in National APR -- THURSDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

WOMEN'S LACROSSE, WOMEN'S GOLF IN TOP 10 FOR ACADEMIC PROGRESS RATE

The responsibilities of a student-athlete include performance on and off the playing venue and the Louisville women's sports programs excel at keeping the standards and results exemplary in both areas.

Courtney Trimble's women's golf team and Kellie Young's lacrosse squad are ranked in the top ten nationally in the APR.

So what exactly is this APR we speak of? 

Known as the academic progress rate...it is the data collected to provide a measure of successes in the areas of academic eligibility, retention and graduation for student-athletes over a four-year period. 

Louisville Lacrosse has been recognized for the last five years by the Intercollegiate Women's Lacrosse Coaches Association for having a cumulative 3.0 or better GPA.  

Cortnee Daley and Hannah Koloski were selected for the All-ACC Women's Lacrosse Academic in 2015.

Louisville women's golf registered the highest GPA of all teams on campus for the Fall 2015 with a 3.524 mark. Laura Restrepo and Katie Mitchell earned ACC postgraduate scholarship awards and the team included three Dean's Scholars (4.0 GPA). Kudos to men's basketball and men's golf also...for hitting the top ten in the APR. 

It is a requirement of the various coaches on the Belknap Campus...the equal attention to academics and athletics and a goal to perform at the peak ability in each that the student-athletes pursue very seriously. 

Taking care of business....on the pitch, in the fairway and in the classroom...from hole to goal. UofL Athletics. 

paulie
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Top five fall sports performers for UofL women's fall sports -- Tuesday Cardinal Couple

WHO IS THE BEST OF THE BEST SO FAR?


With soccer, volleyball, field hockey, golf, rowing and cross country underway for the University of Louisville women's sports programs...the past few weeks have been non-stop fun and coverage for us here at CARDINAL COUPLE. 

Add in the recruiting pursuits of Jeff Walz and staff and we've been fortunate to have a full plate of items to cover, discuss and analyze .And there is plenty of action ahead! 

I was thinking about the performances of the squads so far and who was making a huge impact on their teams' successes and have decided to present my top five performers...so far...for women's sports at UofL.

(Please keep in mind these are Paulie observations and may not reflect the opinions of the rest of the Cardinal Couple staff and management.) 

If not, I'm sure I'll hear about it...

HONORABLE MENTION

One certainly has to be pleased with these girls' performances so far and they do deserve honorable mention for their contributions. 

Field Hockey: Elisa "Chile" Garcia, Katherine "Woody" Gwynne-Wood, Victoria Stratton, Stephanie Byrne.

Volleyball: Janelle Jenkins, Maya McClendon, Molly Sauer, Tess Clark, Roxanne McVey.

Soccer: Inger "KB" Katrine Bjerke, Paige Brown, Hannah Konermann, Alison Price, Rachel Avant.

Cross Country: Clare Noser, Aurilla Wilson, Bernadate Cherulyot.

THE TOP FIVE:

5) Erin Fairs. 

As good as promised after transferring to Louisville from USF. A force to be reckoned with as a outside hitter and showing her skills translate from the AAC to the ACC. Bringing "wow-power" and delivering. "Erin-go-kill" sounds great to us! 

4) Casey Whitfield.

She leads Women's soccer in goals scored, points and shots...all while playing less than full-time while rehabbing on an Achilles injury. Plus, the girl can tap-dance and that rates high with Paulie. The best is yet to come with her...if the tendon can remain healthy. Her team leadership and enthusiasm for the program and her team-mates is something that can't be hobbled.   

3) Katie Mitchell

She led from wire-to-wire in the Georgia event against some really great golfers from Georgia, Tennessee and Georgia State. Her 66 in the first round led her to a 13 stroke advantage over all her teammates. This senior is poised to do some great things for the drive-and-putt Cards and has gotten the season off "mas bueno". 

2) Katie George

Let's stay with the Katie's. Everyone's favorite volleyball player and "home-girl"...she was MVP of the Active Ankle Challenge and has thrived this season as the set-up perfectionist now that the Wide-Net Cards passing has improved. You gotta feed the killers in Volleyball and Katie provides them an all-you-can-spike buffet each and every match. Keep rocking and celebrating, KG!

1) Ayeshia McFerran

Field Hockey is 5-1 and ranked #11 in the nation. "Mac" is allowing less than one goal per game and is arguably the best one-on-one goalie in the nation...as a freshman. Tough between the pipes...McFerran typifies the "all in", team first attitude that Justine Sowry advocates. She's #1 in our book and is the un-movable force on a powerful squad...our top performer so far for the UofL women's sports squads.  

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BITS AND PIECES

-- Congratulations to Molly Sauer for being named ACC Volleyball freshman of the week! The Assumption libero has stepped in and got it done for Anne Kordes.

-- Lauren Benner has been named assistant coach for Louisville Lacrosse. She comes from the University of Denver...where she held a similar position.

-- How rare is this? Field Hockey, Volleyball and Soccer are all on the road this weekend. FH goes to Chapel Hill for two, Volleyball hits Cincinnati and Lexington and Soccer takes off to Boston College. 

paulie
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Bionca Dunham and Jazmine Jones announce "It's Louisville."....Golf 2nd and 4th in Atlanta -- Thursday Cardinal Couple

WALZ ADDS TWO FOR CLASS OF 2016

Jazmine Jones, a talented off guard from Tallahassee, FL., and Bionca Dunham, a dynamic post from Philadelphia, PA are the two newest recruits that have announced they intend on attending the University of Louisville in 2016. 

They join Kylee Shook and Sydney Zambrotta as high school student-athletics who have pledged that they will join the University of Louisville basketball team for the 2016-17 season. 

So...how did Jeff Walz and his coaching staff spend the day after getting this great news? Wild partying and fist bumps? Nah.

Recruiting. 

Reports are that Walz is still quite interested in several more possible candidates for the 2016 class...including Lauren Cox and Jensen Caretti...who are also very talented 2016 prospects that are still uncommitted.

As we mentioned yesterday, if there was a picture of recruiting in Webster's Dictionary...it would be a group photo of Walz, Sam Purcell, Samantha Williams and Steph Norman. 

The way I see it...the building blocks to constructing a great program are made of recruiting players that will fill your needs. Coach Walz and his staff have attracted the best and the brightest over the past several years and "recruiting never sleeps". 

Recruiting. 


It's what the fans want to know about, hear about, speculate about, read about and....occasionally...argue about.

They have no interest in my excellent Italian Sausage, peppers, onions and mushrooms recipe. That's well and good...but always remember that fans know considerably less about what a program needs than the coaches. 

Also remember that Angel McCoughtry was lightly recruited.

As the modest owners of a women's sports site, we balance the fan fervor and expectations in recruiting against the reality of what the coaches know they want. Somewhere in between (and the most important aspect of the equation) are the players themselves. 

We get comments, observations, criticisms, suggestions and speculations from, you...the readers...on the "what, where, why, when and how" concerning the "who" in recruiting. ( I need an e-mail assistant, believe me...since I fired Bill The Goat for replying "NYYAAAAHHHHHH" to all e-mails and eventually eating half the keys on my laptop.) 

We don't claim to be experts or the authority here on women's sports. Just a fan-based website that loves UofL women's athletics and the joy and excitement they bring. Every once in a while...we get something right.

Read it again. Joy and excitement of UofL women's sports. 

We found the hub-bub and anticipation leading up to the eventual announcements by Jones and Dunham very exciting. Just as we did last year, the year before...and so on and so forth. 

In the final analysis, though...it breaks down to a player, parents and coach reaching a mutual accord. Trust in your coaches....they know what is best for the program. Trust in Jeff Walz. He's been at this awhile and surrounded himself with the best assistant and associate coaches in the business. I feel pretty confident with them driving the bus...how about you?

Bionca Dunham, Jazmine Jones, Sydney Zambrotta and Kylee Shook (and any others that may join them) will have a whole new and exciting world awaiting them when they arrive on the Belknap Campus less than a year from now. After going through their final year in high school -- which is a magical time-- they'll join a basketball family and community that will welcome them with open arms.

They'll learn from the elder stateswomen on the squad and, in turn, pass that on when they become elder stateswomen.

Just as the five freshmen on campus are experiencing now.

What will the 2015-16 UofL women's sports teams
accomplish? We have no way of predicting but
we're watching with high level interest and hopes.

Welcome aboard, baby birds of 2016! Whatever size this class ends up being...it'll be a fun one to watch grow and develop under the watchful eye of the Cardinal coaches. 

Meanwhile...

Basketball season is just nine weeks away...field hockey, soccer, golf, volleyball, cross-country and rowing are happening now.

It's a great time of year...right?  

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KATIE MITCHELL FIRES 138 TO WIN FALL KICKOFF.

I know....kickoff and golf don't exactly go together (unless you've seen me play and know I can kick a golf ball further than I can hit it) but Fall Kickoff is what they named the tournament in Atlanta...so we'll go with it. 

Katie Mitchell can also call it...hers. An opening round 66 and two-day total of 138 propelled her to the lowest score and first place in the six team, 30 player event at the Highlands Course at the Atlanta Athletic Club. Her Louisville "A" squad finished second in the event...15 strokes behind Georgia.

Louisville's "B" squad finished fourth in the two-day event.

paulie

Golf ends season with 12th place finish in NCAA Regional -- Sunday Cardinal Couple

CARDS WRAP UP 2014-15 WITH REGIONAL APPEARANCE

The University of Louisville women's golf team finished 12th in the NCAA South Bend regional Saturday...capping a three day effort of 902 strokes. Conference opponents Duke and Wake Forest finished first and second in the qualifier for the NCAA Championships. 

Leading the way for the Cards was redshirt junior Katie Mitchell with a 36th. place finish and a 220 three day total. Senior Emily Haas carded a 226 and fellow senior Katie Petrino toured the three days with a 232. 

Junior Laura Restrepo had a two under par the final day and shot a 227. Louise Oxner had a triplicate...three days at 78...and 234.

In addition to Haas and Petrino, the Cards graduate Haley Andreas and Sara Karlsson. 

Returning with Mitchell, Oxner and Restrepo are Shannon Gramley and freshman Molly Skapic. 

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Our weekly broadcast of CARDINAL COUPLE RADIO is available on the Soundcloud at Crescent Hill Radio now. It was a fun show with me, Worldwide and Sam the
Intern all in the studio discussing softball, lacrosse and hoops. 

The fellas did well on the Worldwide Quiz...getting 100%. We also sampled soundbytes from Sam Purcell, Samantha Williams, Kelsi Jones, Maryssa Becker and Sandy Pearsall.

Link below:

CARDINAL COUPLE RADIO ON WCHQ 100.9 FM



paulie
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CC Podcast - Field Hockey vs Cal -- Sunday Cardinal Couple

We're going to try a new thing here on Cardinal Couple...a podcast format of update.  This won't take the place of the daily articles posted, but hopefully will be relatively quick and short audio updates.  You should see an embedded audio player just above this message if you are reading it on the website that you can use to play this podcast directly in your browser.

Don't expect a podcast entry for every UofL Women's sporting event, of course as these take a bit more work to put together and post, but I hope to be able to do them fairly frequently and bring a new dimension of reporting on our favorite topics here at Cardinal Couple.

This is an update about the Field Hockey game this afternoon against the Cal Bears.

Let me know in the comments what you think of this sort of update.  Thanks!

jmca

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THE LATEST CARDINAL COUPLE BROADCAST IS UP AND RUNNING ON THE ARCHIVES OF CRESCENT HILL RADIO. GO TO THE SITE AND HAVE A LISTEN!



https://soundcloud.com/chradio/cardinal-couple-101814



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As mentioned in the podcast the Stick Cards roared back after a disappointing loss in field hockey on Friday to shut out the Cal squad 4-0.  Louisville got the only goal they would actually need with nine minutes gone in the game when Mallory Mason connected on a penalty corner.

She's done that more times this season than I've been to Arby's and the 1-0 lead held to halftime.

The Cards burst out with a rush in the second half...getting a Alyssa Voelmle score in the first two minutes and Lotta Kahlert connecting less than a minute later.

The Bears never did come out of hibernation ( maybe they needed Ditka) and freshman Stephanie Byrne got her third goal of the year with about a minute to go to make it 4-0.

The 11-4 Cards will head to Athens, OH on Tuesday for a match against Ohio University.

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Women's golf got a big boost from the "Katie's" yesterday and climbed to the top of the ladder in the

Mercedes-Benz Tournament in Knoxville. (We wonder if they use Mercedes Benz's instead of golf carts in this one).

Katie Petrino and Katie Mitchell both fired one under par 71's yesterday and Louisville lead the tournament by 4 strokes over Kent State. Emily Haas continued her good golf with a 72, Molly Spanik finished with a 73 and Laura Restrepo carded a 75.

The tournament ends today with a final 18 holes. Go get 'em Chip and Putt Cards!

paulie
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