FH Cards Move Up in NFHCA Poll, Win ACC Awards -- WEDNESDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

 

FIELD HOCKEY NOW #5 IN NFHCA POLL

Not a bad Tuesday for Louisville Field Hockey...

After a successful Labor Day weekend in North Carolina, the Cards moved up four spots in the National Field Hockey Coaches Poll (NFHCA) from #9 to #5.  The Vards benefitted from  their wins over Penn and Princeton in their last two matches. 

Louisville Field hockey probably should have gone to #4, they were just eight points behind 2-1 Michigan. How a 2-1 squad gets a #4 ranking is something I'd probably need the coaches to explain to me, I guess...but, so it goes. The sport still allows overtimes and shootouts to settle tied contests after regulation, and that's OK by me.

Northwestern remains #1 in the poll and North Carolina remains at #2. Both are 4-0, just like Louisville. Northwestern has wins over Maine, UMass, Duke and Boston College -- knocking the latter two off in the BIG Ten/ACC Challenge in Boston. North Carolina's four wins are against Michigan, Iowa, Princeton and Penn.

The top nine in the poll are from either the BIG Ten or ACC. After Northwestern and North Carolina, Maryland checks in at #3, then Michigan and Louisville round out the top five. Iowa, Syracuse and Penn State check in at #6, #7, and #8 and Virginia and UConn fill out the final two spots. 

The remaining three ACC schools that play Field Hockey -- Duke, Wake Forest and Boston College, check in at #16, #18 and #20, respectively. 

The Cards will face unranked JMU at Trager Stadium on Friday before the showdown against  #4 Michigan Sunday. Admission is free for Cards Field Hockey. 

KOUIJZER, SCHNEIDER TAKE ACC AWARDS

Two Louisville Field Hockey stars have gathered ACC Player awards for the week that ended Sept 6th. 

Katie Schneider was named ACC Offensive Player of the Week and Julie Kouijzer got ACC Defensive Players of the Week honors. 

Schneider scored twice in Friday's 4-1 win over Penn and had an assist and a goal in the 2-1 win versus Princeton. She has four goals on the season for the Cards so far. She led Louisville in scoring last year with nine goals and has 23 in her career at Louisville. From San Diego's Serra High School, the graduate player red-shirted in 2019 and played on the squad with her sister Meghan Schneider for several years until Meghan graduated after the 2020-21 season. 

Julie Kouijzer is from Amsterdam and a senior back on the 2022 Louisville squad. She helped the Cards hold Penn and Princeton to a goal apiece over the weekend, and a total of just 12 shots in the two games. Julie is one of three student-athletes on the squad from the Netherlands and has earned the nickname "Jules" on the squad. 

Congratulations to these two Field Hockey stars and to the squad as a whole. !!

paulie

 

Volleyball and Field Hockey Continue Winning Weekend -- SATURDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

Volleyball Downs No. 15 San Diego

Louisville volleyball dropped their first set of the season last night against the Toreros, but they recovered to win a thrilling 3-1 match that saw extra points in the fourth set. The Cards took a 25-18 win in the first before dropping the second 13-25. They came out of the break firing to regain the advantage with a thundering 25-11 win in the third and had to come back after a late charge in the fourth to win 26-24. The Cards led in every statistical category, this was just a matter of playing a very good team that wouldn't go down easily.

Louisville jumped out to a quick 3-0 lead in the first before SD scored and brought it back close. For the remainder of the set, the Cards were unable to stretch more than that three point advantage until Aiko Jones followed her own kill with an ace to give them a 21-17 lead. San Diego scored one more point to break the run but Louisville use a block, an ace, and a kill while benefitting from an error to win the last four points. Neither team was particularly crisp in the first, with the Cards finishing with a 0.286 hitting percentage and the Toreros seeing just a 0.132. Louisville's low percentage was due primarily to the San Diego defense, as they committed just three errors.

The second set saw Louisville commit twice as many errors as they had in the first while San Diego cut their number from seven to one. The roles were generally flipped as the Toreros hit 0.379 in the set with Louisville putting in an 0.161. After Louisville won the opening point of the set, San Diego won the next six points and ultimately took a 9-3 lead. The Cards were unable to get any rhythm going in the second, never winning more than two consecutive points. SD had four aces, three blocks, and benefitted from two service errors in the set on the way to their win.

As I mentioned, though, Louisville recovered after halftime in a big way. The Cards returned the favor granted by the Toreros in the previous set, giving up the first point and then winning the next six. Louisville did them one better and held a 9-2 lead. USD was unable to score consecutive points in the set until they grabbed a pair of kills from Katie Lukes to make the score 10-23 and then 11-23. Louisville shut the door quickly on their dominating set, having committed no errors and hitting 0.696 in the frame. 

Both teams struggled mightily in the fourth set with their hitting as they combined for 18 errors in the set, with only six of those being blocks. Both hit their worst percentages of the afternoon, with Louisville's 0.105 edging out the 0.073 from San Diego. The poor hitting didn't take away from the excitement, though, as I mentioned the brief dip into extra points. San Diego jumped out to a quick lead with a 4-1 run helped by a pair of Louisville errors. The Cards won a couple of points to close the gap slightly before the teams traded points. Another error put the Toreros up 9-6 before they got the yips. Louisville went on a 6-0 run that was aided by a service error and three errors from San Diego. The Cards added a block and a kill, and it looked like they may start to pull away. It wasn't meant to be the case, though, as the teams traded points with SD grabbing two extras in the mix to bring the set level at 15-15. After a service error gave Louisville a lead, things got a bit nervy for them as San Diego won the next five points. 

No team with a 2-1 lead in the fourth set wants things to go to a fifth set, so Louisville buckled down and closed the gap to 20-19. An error broke their run but they picked right back up with a pair of kills to tie it at 21-21. Traded points again put the teams in a stalemate before Louisville grabbed a block to go to match point at 24-23. It looked as though Amaya Tillman would grab back-to-back blocks to win the match but the ball was out off the touch to tie it at 24. Louisville made short work of the extra points session, though, as Aiko Jones got a kill and Tillman got a second chance to shut down Katie Lukes for the win. Tillman didn't miss the moment a second time as she grabbed the solo block to win.

Tillman's block was her second solo block of the night and she picked up four block assists to lead the match defensively at the net. Tillman added seven kills, good for fourth on the team. In a bit of an odd situation, only six Cardinals scored kills in the match. They were led by Claire Chaussee and Aiko Jones who both snagged fifteen. The Toreros keyed in on Anna DeBeer as she was only able to score eight kills. Cara Cresse scored six out of the other middle position and Raquel Lazaro got the last of Louisville's 52 kills. Lazaro was busy all over the court, as she assisted on 44 of the other 51 kills, scored a service ace, assisted on a block, and had the most digs on the team with 14. Aiko Jones was busy from the line as well, adding three aces to her fifteen kills. 

Louisville struggled a bit from the serve, though, with eight aces compared to nine errors. The negative ratio didn't hurt too much as San Diego matched it with six and seven. That gave the teams a tie on the serve, but Louisville made their hay elsewhere. Louisville led the blocking battle 11-6, something we'll hope to see a lot this season. While Grace Frohling made herself known with 13 kills, Louisville held Breana Edwards down in the same way San Diego did to DeBeer. Katie Lukes stood in the Chaussee role in picking up the slack with 17 kills to lead the way. It was a strong effort from the Toreros, and they'll look to bounce back against OSU today.

Louisville will get Ohio State tomorrow, hopefully with the Buckeyes coming off of a five-setter today. Jeff will have more on that match preview tomorrow before he heads down to the L&N Federal Credit Union Arena for a 2PM match. Tomorrow's event will be on ACC Network proper, so be sure to tune in.

Field Hockey Leaves No Doubt in 4-1 Win

Louisville welcomed Penn to the 2022 season in the ACC/Ivy League Crossover with a bit of a thumping as they scored early and often on the Quakers in Chapel Hill. The Cards will get Princeton at Karen Shelton Stadium tomorrow after the 13th-ranked Tigers fell to UNC 4-3 yesterday evening. 

The first quarter was largely uneventful as neither team was able to make an impression on the play-by-play outside of a pair of substitutions. Aimee Plumb changed that for the Cards when she scored her second goal of the season with an unassisted goal six minutes in. Both teams went on to have one more shot in the period, but neither was on frame. 

Louisville came out with a bit more fire in the second quarter, with Plumb earning a penalty corner just two minutes in. Katie Schneider doubled the Louisville advantage off a Julie Kouijzer assist just 9 seconds after the corner was awarded, but the stats don't recognize the goal as a conversion. I'm not quite sure how that works out, so I'm going to say it counts, giving Louisville a 1/2 rate on the afternoon. With six minutes left in the half, Penn earned their first corner of the game, forcing Sasha Elliott into her first save. The Quakers turned that into another penalty corner, which they were able to convert the second time around. The Cards blocked the first shot attempt, but the goal was scored after the rebound. Louisville wasn't deterred, though, putting their lead back to two goals ahead of half time. Again, Aimee Plumb was involved, as she forced a save from the Penn goalkeeper. Katie Schneider was in the right place at the right time, recovering the rebound and finding space to score her second goal of the match unassisted. 

Penn made a goalie change at the half, but it was Louisville under pressure in the third quarter. Sasha Elliott went to work, picking up four saves in the quarter. Louisville's defense was heavily involved as Penn earned four corners in the period. Louisville penalty corner kill was strong once more, as they kept the cage clean on every attempt, weathering the storm well. The offense struggled for the Cards, though, as they didn't make an impression on the stat sheet at all in the third. That offense came right back in the fourth with Emilia Kaczmarczyk scoring her first goal of the season on an unassisted attack two minutes into the quarter. Louisville continued the pressure with a shot by Aimee Plumb being saved and another Kaczmarczyk shot being saved on an ensuing corner. Penn held tough after the goal to move them to 4-1 and worked hard to close the gap. Their best chances came with just under five minutes remaining when they put together a sequence of three straight corners. In effort, Elliott was forced into two saves and Julie Kouijzer earned a defensive save on the final corner.

The stats don't look particularly great for Louisville in this one, as the defense was forced to win this one despite the final score. Penn had more shots on goal than Louisville had overall shots, and they had more penalty corner attempts that Louisville had overall shots. The Cards finished with eight saves, seven by Elliott, and gave up just the one goal. Louisville's calling card was efficiency, turning eight shots into seven on frame and four goals. It will be difficult to keep most teams out of the cage when they give up so many opportunities, but as long as the Cards can make the most of their own chances, they'll be in a lot of games. Louisville takes on Princeton on ACCNX tomorrow at 11AM.

Cardinal Couple Radio Hour Podcast

We'll have plenty to cover this week with a ton of wins and a lot to look ahead to in the upcoming days. There will be four of us on the call today to bring you the show so be sure to tune in. As always, 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

Anchor (podcast host): Link

Apple Podcasts: Link

Google Podcasts: Link

Overcast (free account required): Link

Pocket Casts (free account and app required): Link

RadioPublic: Link

Spotify: Link

Until next time, Go Cards!

Case

Field Hockey ekes by Bellarmine 2-1 in rain-shortened match -- MONDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

 CARDS FINISH PRESEASON EXHIBITION SEASON WITH WIN OVER KNIGHTS 2-1

In a rain-shortened Sunday exhibition against Bellarmine, Louisville came from behind to knock off the Knights 2-1 at Trager Stadium. The Cards went deep into the roster in this final exhibition, playing all but four players (holding them out presumably because of injuries?) on an afternoon where weather eventually defeated both squads and the contest was called midway through the final quarter. 

UofL requested that I not use names of any of the student-athletes in the exhibition, which, I understand...due to "peeping eyes". It makes a write up a bit more difficult, but we can't go divulging any Cardinals student-athlete superlative performances to the likes of Bucknell or Penn State or ACC foes, can we now?  (Not that there were a trunkful of those on a day where stats would be a bit misleading to someone if they were reading them with no idea of the final score.) So, I only used the names that were used in the Go Cards write up.

A weather delay (because of lightning in the area) pushed the start time back to 2:05 (from a scheduled 1 p.m. beginning) -- the fans were asked to leave the stadium but started lining up to get back in once the skies cleared. It looked to be about an equal amount of fans for Bellarmine and Louisville in the east-side bleachers at Trager..

 Bellarmine does have nine players on their roster from the Louisville area or Oldham County. 

The Cards had 19 shots in the contest, 12 on goal -- while Bellarmine had just six shots (four in the first quarter) and only two were on goal. But, Bellarmine found success with just five minutes gone in the contest when Anna Crump converted on a penalty corner attempt. Louisville dominated in the penalty corner department, too -- 14 to 2 -- and the Cards did get the tying goal on a penalty corner conversion with 9:45 gone in the contest...freshman Izzy Bianco doing the scoring

The Cards defense stiffened up considerably after the first quarter and a lot of the second quarter action took place with Louisville on attack in Bellarmine territory. The tie score held firm, though, and the squads went to the half knotted at 1-1

After the half. the Cards took eight shots in the third quarter, but none of them scored a goal. To use an old term that a Louisville coach used years ago, we all love shooters but we prefer makers. Bellarmine got just one shot in the entire second half, so one could surmise that the Cards were the dominant offensive threat in the final 30 minutes. Louisville went ahead when Katie Schneider fired, missed, got the rebound and successfully scored on her second attempt. The deciding goal came with about nine minutes left in the fourth quarter. 

Lightning was spotted about a minute later and action was halted again. The fans were asked to go through the same exit drill, except this time they did not return. After waiting a while to see if things would clear, the officials and coaches made a determination that conditions didn't appear to be getting any better and the match was called. 

Bellarmine led Louisville in one category and that was in saves. They recorded 10, while the Cards two goalies that saw action had just one. 

We did not get a post-game interview with Coach Sowry or any of the Cardinals student-athletes after this one. The SID staff seemed anxious to get to another event with one of the other women's squads at the north end of the campus, and there wasn't anyone around to interview, anyway, if we had wanted an interview or two. So, off we went into the rain, which miraculously, began to lighten as we trudged toward the vehicle.  

So, the Cards take off to begin the regular season in University Park, PA next week -- where they'll face Bucknell on Friday and home standing Penn State on Sunday.  

Color me surprised that Louisville managed just two goals on the Knights. Either Bellarmine has gotten worlds better since they joined Division I and the MAC Conference...or this Louisville team isn't very good yet.  It is early, though, and maybe the Cards need a bit more time to jell on their passing and shooting. The Cards roster list looks impressive. Let's hope they play better against someone who isn't in the MAC next week. Identical 2-1 wins in the preseason, one against league favorite and one against lower level predicted Bellarmine. 

We'll see. The season hasn't officially begun and the Cards are young. Stay tuned. 

(PHOTOS BY JARED ANDERSON)

paulie

 . 

Cards Field Hockey Brings in 10 New Players -- MONDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

 NINE FRESHMEN, ONE GRAD TRANSFER JOIN FIELD HOCKEY ROSTER

With women's soccer underway, the next fall women's sport we'll wait for to get started is Cards Field Hockey. It'll be a fun team to get to know, with 10 new faces on a 23-player roster. 

Let's start with the grad transfer. The Cards were looking for goal keeper help and went out and got a good one when they landed Sasha Elliott from VCU. Elliott helped lead VCU to a Atlantic 10 title her senior season and was a two-time NFHCA All-South Region selection. She's one of three student-athletes on the squad from The Netherlands and Sasha was a four-year starter at VCU. 

The Cards also brought in a freshman goalkeeper in Logan Jancerak, out of Danville, NJ. She gathered a lot of honors while in high school, being named to the 2020 US Under-16 National Team and the 2021-22 U-15 National Indoor Development team. 

Three forwards join the squad and one of them is a name well-known in the Louisville high school Field Hockey circles in Ella Martin. Martin, from Assumption High School and IFHCK club team, scored 54 goals in her high school career. She was ranked among the top 100 in Max Field's 2022 list and a top 40 in the  West/Midwest High School Players to watch. 

Jane Ramsey is another new forward and is out of Brisbane, Australia. She helped her team win the U18 Hockey Australian Championship.  The third forward is Sophia Parker, from Doylestown, PA. She was a first team Pennsylvania High School AAA pick in 2021. 

The four midfielders are Izzy Bianco (Berlin, NJ), Chloe Cuzzupe (Woodstown, NJ), Tatum Kroon (Den Bosch, The Netherlands) and Rylie Wollerton (Gibsonia, PA). Cuzzupe was a four-time All-Regional selection in high school, Bianco had 104 assists in her career, a New Jersey record. Kroon was the captain of the Dutch National Under 16 team and Wollerton had 139 goals in four years of high school. 

Luciana Carpenter is a defender that was a three-time all state selection in Pennsylvania. 

The newcomers join a roster that has a wealth of returning talent that includes Sofia Pendolino, Aimee Plumb, Emilia Kaczmarczyk, India Reed, Filippa Niebuhr, Katie Schneider, Mattie Tabor and Julie Kouijzer. The Cards were 16-4 last year and lost to Harvard in the NCAA Tournament. Louisville was 6-1 in ACC play, winning the regular season conference title with a 6-0 mark. The Cards won all six of their overtime contests. 

Scoring shouldn't be a problem for Louisville, unless it takes awhile to get familiar with the new turf out at Trager Field. There should be a strong defense also in front of the new goalkeepers...Kouijzer and Pendolino have seen extensive playing time at defender. 

Louisville opens the 2022 season with a couple of exhibition matches, at Miami (OH) on Friday 8/19 and hosting Bellarmine on Sunday 8/21. The Cards return their top four scorers from last year in Schneider, Kouijzer, Plumb and Tabor. Starter Charlie van Oirschot from last year did transfer to Duke, but the midfielder only scored one goal last year for Louisville. 

An extensive search by me failed to find any preseason DI or ACC Field Hockey polls or pre-season rankings. Hopefully I can learn more about that at the Fall Sports Media on Wednesday. 

paulie

Field Hockey Academic Honors -- TUESDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

Field Hockey Academic Honors

We're stepping away from Louisville Women's Basketball for a day to look back at a fall sport and some awesome academic accomplishments for some of the student-athletes. Louisville Field Hockey is one of the smartest team sports due to the hard work and effort of many of the players on the team.

The Cards placed seven student-athletes on the All-ACC Field Hockey Academic Team. The requirements to making the teams are a cumulative 3.0 GPA for your career and a 3.0 GPA in each of the last two semesters. So, averaging a 3.0+ GPA for your career but having a semester where you had a sub-3.0 GPA gets you off the list.

Maintaining a 3.0 GPA or better is already difficult for any student due to the amount of work and studying involved, but adding the athlete part of that (practices, workouts, matches, travel) makes it that much more impressive.

Alli Bitting, Erica Cooper, Mila de Kuijer, Julie Kouijzer, Aimee Plumb, Katie Schneider, and Mattie Tabor were all named to the All-ACC Field Hockey Academic Team.

Bitting had even more great news come in as she was named the ACC Field Hockey Co-Scholar Athlete of the Year. North Carolina's Erin Matson shares the honor with Bitting.

Bitting, who graduated in December with a degree in sport administration, was named to the Dean's List and AD Honor Roll every semester she was a student at Louisville. She is also a four-time ACC Honor Roll selection. On top of her academic accomplishments, Bitting is a three-time NFHCA All-American (first team 2021, second team 2020, 2019) and will have her banner hung alongside the other All-Americans at Trager Stadium.

As much as we love reporting the on-field successes of our student-athletes, we love reporting on their academic successes even more.

Louisville has always prided itself on the academic successes of its student-athletes and it's great to see that tradition continue.

                                                        *************************

We're in a three-day break from any women's sporting events. Jeff Walz's squad breaks that hiatus with an 8:00 p.m., tip-off against Florida State on Thursday. The Cards look to extend their winning streak and solidify their second spot in the ACC standings above Georgia Tech and Virginia Tech, both whom are looming nearby. Including Thursday, UofL has 11 games remaining in the regular season, and we know A LOT can change in that time span.

Happy Tuesday and Go Cards!

Jared

FH Cruises to Win -- VBall Rankings -- TUESDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

Field Hockey Cruises Past Miami (OH)

In a rare Monday night game, Louisville Field Hockey welcomed Miami (OH) to Trager Stadium. The Redhawks fell at home to Wake Forest on Sunday, which is the reason for the Monday match.

The Cards cruised along to a 4-1 win over the Redhawks to improve to 11-1 on the year.

Due to my church dart ball league starting up last night, I was unable to make the match, but did catch in on ACC Network. Thankfully, this one was easy to catch on TV or online unlike the snafu with Louisville Volleyball at Wake Forest the other day.

We recently questioned if the offense had the firepower to pull off a high-scoring affair. The Cards answered with a four piece as Louisville threw a volley of shots at Miami- 11 total shots with nine on frame- to tally four goals.

Julie Kouijzer, who has made a name for herself on the stat sheet recently, put the Cards on the board in the second quarter. Penalty corners have been better this year than in recent years and Louisville showed why again last night. Aimee Plumb inbounded the corner to Charlie Van Oirschot, who halted the ball in position for Kouijzer's shot to break through the charging defense.

Less than three minutes later, Camryn Pichea dribbled the ball into the circle and near the baseline to the left of the cage. Pichea found an opening for a shot, but her shot got deflected ever so slightly and wound up making contact with the stick of Katie Schneider. The connection was small, but enough to hit the back of the cage for the 2-0 lead right before halftime. It confused the scorekeepers for awhile, with credit to the goal going to Pichea, but eventually Megan got the official "goal mcored" stat.

Schneider wasn't done, as just three minutes after intermission, the senior scored her seventh goal of the season. A pass got tipped and made its way towards Schneider, whose powerful swing would not be stopped and Louisville would race ahead to a 3-0 lead.

The crowd was rocking and the time was ticking down to just under four minutes remaining in regulation. Mackenzie Karl was ready for her second career goal (both this season) when a rebounded shot came her direction. Her swing from the left side of the circle went across to the opposite side of the cage and the Cards held a comfortable 4-0 lead with just a few minutes remaining.

By this time, Coach Justine Sowry had switched out a few players for reserves who don't see as much playing time. With 39 seconds remaining, the Redhawks managed one final corner. Their fifth corner proved fruitful as Miami prevented being shutout with Claudia Negrete Garcia's 11th goal on the season.

Sacred Heart players on the Cards
and RedHawks roster

Besides the lone goal at the end of the match, Louisville kept Miami at bay much of the night. In fact, goalkeeper Mila de Kuijer saw only two shots on frame prior to that and saved both of them. The Cards maintained possession for much of the match... to the point de Kuijer pulled out a lawn chair to look at the stars.

Louisville remains out of conference for another match as they head to Ann Arbor on Sunday for a noon match against #2 Michigan. The Cards fell to the Wolverines 2-1 in sudden death (golden goal) overtime in the Final Four last year so they'll be looking for revenge.

POST GAME JUSTINE SOWRY

It took two people to replace Jared and his post-game questions for Coach Sowry -- but it is a nice and lengthy session with the coach. Listen below: 

COACH SOWRY POST MIAMI REDHAWK MATCH

VolleyCards Remain #3

Despite two more sweeps, both on the road, and one of them against a ranked opponent, Louisville Volleyball was not able to move up in the rankings. The Cards remain #3 in the AVCA Poll.

Texas stayed atop the rankings and were a unanimous #1. Pitt held their #2 ranking after sweeping Virginia and Duke during the week.

Purdue dropped from #4 down to #6 while Wisconsin and Kentucky moved up to #4 and #5, respectively. Georgia Tech stayed put at #18 while Florida State made the receiving votes category.

Louisville's RPI remains high due to a tough strength of schedule that has so far featured wins against now-#5 Kentucky, #6 Purdue, #10 Nebraska, and #18 Georgia Tech.

The Cards return home to L&N Federal Credit Union Arena this weekend to host Boston College on Friday and Syracuse on Sunday.

Happy Tuesday and Go Cards!

Jared

FH Wins in 2OT -- VBall Climbs Again -- TUESDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

 Field Hockey Wins at Ohio State in Double Overtime

I hate golden goal and I will continue to hate it until the day I die, but it worked in favor of Louisville Field Hockey at Ohio State yesterday. Julie Kouijer's goal in double overtime lifted #4 Louisville over #19 Ohio State.

The goal is Kouijzer's fourth of the year and second straight game winner. The junior scored the only goal in a 1-0 victory at #18 Duke Friday.

"Every time we play at Ohio State, it is a tough contest and can go either way," said Coach Justine Sowry. "We had some great periods of play but also we became too frantic and went away from our typical possession play. Hats off to their goalkeeper who came up big for them. Overtime, I was very pleased with how we controlled the play and ultimately were rewarded with a victory. It was another gritty performance by our team on the road."

For a match that featured two ranked opponents you'd think the Big Ten could manage to find a TV channel or free online streaming location to air the Cards vs Buckeyes, but it wound up being on a pay-per-view Big Ten + viewing online. I think Paulie paid to stream it, but most of us were at work and couldn't follow along other than the StatBroadcast check in.

The two foes went into halftime scoreless with very little offensive output from either side. The Cards did have three shots on goal before the break but all three looks were saved. Ohio State did not record a shot on goal in the first half.

At the 38' mark in the third quarter, the Buckeyes broke through with a goal. Louisville, who had managed just two goals over their previous three matches this season, needed to find a way to get an equalizer and a game winner if they wanted to leave Columbus with a victory.

Late in the match, with 8:02 remaining in regulation, Louisville evened the score. Originally credited to Minna Tremonti, the goal credit was later given to Katie Schneider. The scored her fourth goal of the year on an assist by Kouijzer.

With momentum now on their side, Louisville was ready for overtime. In field hockey, overtime is sudden death scoring while playing just 7x7 on the field for ten minutes or a goal is scored. By dropping a handful of players off the field for each team, the pitch really opens up and you hope for a fast break or for the other team to wear down before you.

A scoreless first overtime helped the nerves continue to build as each team traded a flurry of shots. But Louisville was able to control possession for a heavy amount of the second overtime period. Back-to-back shots were blocked and sent wide before Kouijzer took the rebound of a shot and sent it into the cage.

Louisville improves to 9-1 on the year following the win and caps off an extended weekend with a pair of ranked wins on the road. The Cards are now 5-1 against ranked teams.

With #3 Northwestern losing to #10 Rutgers over the weekend, it is expected that the Cards will climb up to that third spot.

Louisville returns home to host #16 Wake Forest on Friday at 4:00 p.m.

Volleyball Climbs to #3

Louisville Volleyball is the hottest team on campus at 12-0 on the year with 10 of those matches being "Sweeps" or 3-0 set wins. A pair of easy victories over the weekend and key losses by Wisconsin and Ohio State helped the Cards move up to #3 in the latest AVCA Poll.

The 12-0 start is the second best start in school history. In 2005, Louisville started the year 20-0 and reached a #6 ranking before finishing the year 31-3 and reaching the Sweet Sixteen. The longest win streak in school history was 2004 when the Cards won 22 straight matches (19 sweeps in that period) en route to a 30-3 season and Sweet Sixteen appearance. 

Based on all the digging I could do dating back to the first recorded season in 1976, the #3 ranking is the highest ranking Louisville Volleyball has ever received. Whether that is the case or not, Coach Dani Busboom Kelly has built a powerhouse of a program and looks to be a favorite for not only the ACC Championship, but also the NCAA Championship.

Louisville visits Clemson this Friday, in which I believe our good friend Arthur and his wife Bea will be in attendance. The Cards will head a little further south on Sunday to square off against #18 Georgia Tech.

Both Field Hockey and Volleyball have been having historic seasons. If you are able, I highly recommend making it out to see both squads this year. Watching on TV/online is fun, but there's just such a good feeling of being in person in the live game atmosphere. Field Hockey is free admission during the regular season, but Volleyball is a ticketed event.

Happy Tuesday and Go Cards!
Jared 

Vball Gets First Home Win; FH Does Same on the Road -- SATURDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

Volleyball Opens Cardinal Classic with Sweep

Louisville welcomed Missouri into the L&N Federal Credit Union Arena last night for Louisville's first home match and the second match of the Cardinal Classic event. Unfortunately for the Tigers, the Cards sent them packing quite quickly with a comprehensive sweep. Missouri fell 25-16, 25-18, and 25-16 in a match where they were never closer than three points once the sets reached the halfway point. Louisville dominated with eight blocks to Mizzou's one, and the Cards hit 0.469 compared to the Tigers' 0.184. Louisville never hit less than 0.400 in a set.

Louisville continues to work on their serving, as they finished the evening with five aces and just seven errors. Eventually, you want to see that ratio flip, but they had more aces and fewer errors than the opponent, so it's better than nothing. Offensively, Louisville was extremely sharp. The team committed only eight errors in the match, with Nena Mbonu committing three. Despite hitting the lowest on the team last night, Mbonu still finished at 0.214 as she gathered six kills as well. The team was led by Anna DeBeer and Amaya Tillman, who both finished with 10 kills on fewer than 20 attempts. Tillman finished with just two errors and DeBeer with just one. Aiko Jones added eight kills and even Tori Dilfer picked up five kills on nine attempts. I guess if they're gonna leave the setter open...

Defensively, Tillman tied with Anna Stevenson with two and a half blocks. Tillman got all of her points on block assists while Stevenson picked up two solo blocks, the only person on the team with solos. Ayden Bartlett and DeBeer tied with six digs apiece while Dilfer and Elena Scott were right behind them with five.

Louisville is back in action this evening at 6PM when they host South Dakota. Matches in the LNFCU are ticketed, but tickets are available. Tonight's match will also be available on the ACC Network Extra. 

Field Hockey Beats Penn

It was a bit nervier than expected at times, but Louisville Field Hockey took a 3-1 win over Penn yesterday afternoon at Princeton. The Cards scored in each of the first three quarters and maintained the lead throughout on their way to their first road win of the season. It was Penn's season opener and moved Louisville to 3-0 on the year.

The Cards got the action started early, earning a penalty corner just three and a half minutes into the match. It was the first of six for Louisville, two of which they would convert. This wasn't one of the conversions, though, as Julie Kouijzer's shot went wide. Eight minutes in, Louisville earned another corner. Once again, it was taken by Alli Bitting and Kouijzer took the shot. This time, it was saved by the Penn goalkeeper. Just over a minute later, Louisville earned their third corner as they completely controlled the first quarter. This time, Bitting went to Charlie van Oirschot who made a second pass to Kouijzer. Third time was the charm and Louisville led 1-0. The remainder of the quarter was relatively uneventful.

The second quarter began with more Louisville control, leading to a penalty corner five minutes into it. Bitting went to Kouijzer again, but this time Julie passed it off to Katie Schneider who scored her third goal of the year. A minute later, Aimee Plumb put forth the first open play shot of the game for either team, but it was saved. A minute later, Penn returned the favor with their first shot of the game, which made it into the cage. Both teams would have a penalty corner after the goal, but the score remained 2-1 into the half.

Louisville came out of the locker room fired up and controlled the third quarter completely. Louisville earned another penalty corner and put up five open play shots, but could only score one goal, an Embry Jane Imorde tip in after a Mattie Tabor cross. The offensive onslaught meant Penn couldn't respond at all on the other end. In the fourth, Penn had a bit more offensive success but still couldn't score. Louisville grabbed a couple of shots to no avail, but the defense turned away three penalty corners. It was a slow day for Mila de Kuijer, who had no saves on the afternoon. After the first Penn goal, the other four shots were either blocked by defenders or missed the goal completely.

Louisville didn't score quite as many goals as we might have expected, but it was a fairly dominating performance. The Cards will look for a bit more offensive success when they take on the hosting Princeton Tigers on Sunday at 1:30 PM.

Van Lith and USA Go 3-0

Hailey Van Lith is still with the USA 3x3 team as their world showcase continues. Yesterday, the team was in Montreal, and swept Pool A to give themselves a bye to today's semifinals. Pool A consisted of Germany, Austria, and the Netherlands, with Germany giving the USA their hardest competition in the first game when they went to overtime. 

In the three games, HVL scored a total of 18 points and gathered eight rebounds. Her highest scoring game came against the Netherlands where she scored nine of the team's 16 total points. She was 0-5 from beyond the arc on the day, but was effective from the floor otherwise. 

Team USA will await the winner of the second quarterfinal matchup between Germany and Canada. The semifinal will take place at 4:25 PM today. You can watch all of the action from the event live on YouTube here.

Cardinal Couple Radio Hour Podcast

After another busy week, we're back with the Cardinal Couple Radio Hour Podcast. We've got events from all three fall sports to talk about as well as plenty to preview. We should have a full house on board for what will be a very busy show. Join us in celebrating the joy and excitement of Louisville women's athletics as we look back on the winning week that was. As always, 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

Anchor (podcast host): Link

Apple Podcasts: Link

Breaker: Link

Google Podcasts: Link

Overcast (free account required): Link

Pocket Casts (free account and app required): Link

RadioPublic: Link

Spotify: Link

Until next time, Go Cards!

-CH-

Field Hockey Wins -- Women's Soccer Wins -- MONDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

It was a busy day on Floyd Street again with both field hockey and women's soccer in action. Also on Floyd Street, but not directly related to a UofL team was Bellarmine field hockey playing a match at Trager Stadium against Ball State. Bellarmine will be using Trager Stadium as their home location this season.

Paulie was out performing as a master chef at a birthday celebration most of the day and that, sadly, kept him and Sonya from campus. He also seemed to master his craft of grilling without catching anything on fire so hit him up for your burger and brats needs. With Paulie out for the day and myself practically living on Floyd Street for the next few weeks it was easier for me to go on and recap both games. He'll take my Tuesday article in exchange.

Field Hockey Shuts Out New Hampshire

There was a Wildcats team on campus yesterday but they weren't from down I-64 and they weren't from East High with their singing and dancing. It was the Wildcats of New Hampshire that visited Trager Stadium to take on Justine Sowry's squad.

The #5 ranked Cardinals cruised to a 3-0 victory to improve to 2-0 on the year. Each goal was scored by a different player in a different quarter.

Late in the second quarter, Alli Bitting inbounded the ball on a penalty corner. Aimee Plumb took a shot that was deflected the goalkeeper, but the ball bounced straight to eye level of Bitting who had an open goal to work with. Like in basketball, this is why you are taught to follow a shot.

After carrying a 1-0 lead into halftime, Louisville scored a second goal from a set piece. The inbounds pass went to Julie Kouijzer, whose shot was more of a pass to Katie Schneider standing at the foot of the goal. Schneider used her stick as a ramp to send the ball into the air and the back of the cage.

The final goal came late in the fourth quarter as an insurance goal more than anything. After a pressing Cardinals attack forward, the ball got knocked around and deflected until the freshman Filippa Niebuhr came face-to-face with the ball and cage for her first score of the year.

Louisville pulled off penalty corners like it was a rabbit in a magic hat, but the keeper for New Hampshire had herself one heck of a day and limited to the scores off the corners to just two. She tallied double-digit saves on the day and kept the Wildcats in the game for much longer than anticipated.

On the defensive end for the Cards, Louisville's Mila de Kuijer had little action in goal. She saw one shot on goal the entire day and easily saved it. Besides that, she was hanging out by the grill with Paulie.

We got a chance to speak with Coach Justine Sowry following the win. You can check out her interview here.

Following our interaction with Coach Sowry, we got a chance to speak with Alli Bitting and get her thoughts on the game. You can check that out here.

Louisville hits the road to Princeton next weekend to take on Penn and Princeton. They'll return home the weekend after.

Women's Soccer Improves to 3-0 with Win

After a short break at home to cool down for me, I went back to campus to Dr Mark and Cindy Lynn Stadium. The weather cooperated a lot better this time than the last go-around.

Louisville was fresh off a somewhat surprising close match against James Madison on Friday and bounced back with a 3-0 victory over instate opponent Northern Kentucky.

Unlike Friday's match, the Cards found a way to maintain position a majority of the night and continued to press forward without ever pulling off the reins.

It was fairly early into the game when Abby Baldridge lined up to send a free kick into the box. The ball connected with the head of fellow freshman Hayley Howard, who knocked the shot in for her first career goal.

Roughly 12 minutes later, Delaney Snyder broke loose from a defender hot on her tail to send a shot across the box and into the left corner of the goal for her second score of the year.

Midway through the second half, Emma Hiscock worked her way around a couple defenders to get a shot past the NKU keeper into the upper part of the goal for her team-leading third of the season.

It was the offense the proved to be the best defense for the Cards as their 18 total shots and eight shots on goal kept the Norse on their heels much of the night. NKU did find a little wiggle room on a couple occasions for a pair of shots on goal, both which were handled cleanly by Gabby Kouzelos.

With her save in the first half, Kouzelos recorded 200 career saves. Another save in the second half put her at 201 and a spot in the top five all-time in program history. After a rough game on Friday, Kouzelos looked back to her normal self in goal and was noticeably more vocal as she corralled her team and back line of defenders into position all night.

Louisville still has some work to do as they were heavy on the fouls on the night and are still figuring out the kinks with working on scoring opportunities, but you run into those issues with a young team that played seven freshmen and five sophomores (18 players saw minutes).

I wasn't able to stick around for postgame on this one but Coach Karen Ferguson-Dayes seemed much more pleased with her team following the match.

The Cards improve to 3-0 on the year and head to Saint Louis on Thursday before returning home Sunday night to take on Western Kentucky.

Happy Monday and Go Cards!

Jared