WSOC defeats SEMO 1-0...Men's Soccer and Cats battle tonight -- TUESDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

MORGAN DEWEY'S LATE SCORE LIFTS WOMEN'S SOCCER PAST SEMO

This one was as good a defensive battle as you can get for 83 minutes late night in Cape Girardeau, MO last evening. Louisville women's soccer (5-1) denied time after time by a strong RedHawks defensive contingent and the Cards keeping the action right in front of the hime teams' net but unable to convert until  Kennadi Carbin crossed the ball over into the box to find freshman Morgan Dewey with 6:20 left in regulation. Dewey sent a steamer past SEMO goalie Kindra Lirtz into the right corner of the net and that proved to be all the Cards needed for the road win against the OVC foe. 

" I'm super proud of our gutsy performance tonight." Louisville head coach Karen Ferguson-Dayes commented after the victory. "Southeastern Missouri was very organized and difficult to break down but we kept at it and it eventually paid off. I am so happy for Morgan Dewey. She played in her first collegiate game. She worked hard for her opportunity to get in this game and it certainly paid off for her." 

Louisville controlled the ball to start the contest and continued to do so in the first half. They got off eight shots in the first 45 minutes...compared to just two for the RedHawks...but only one 'on goal'. On several different occasions...just when it like the Cards would have a scoring opportunity...a RedHawks defender would come up with a deflection or stop. The half ended with no score. 

The Cards kept plugging away in the second half. A rough incident about 20 minutes into the final session when Cards sophomore forward Allison Whitfield dropped to her knees...covering her face after a SEMO elbow. No penalty was called, though, and after a brief stoppage of action Whitfield was assisted from the field and play resumed. Three minutes later, the RedHawks had their best opportunity to score but Cards goalie Gabrielle Kouzelos (shall we call her "GK"...since that is the initials for goalkeeper and that's what she does so well) came up with a big save on a SEMO shot on goal attempt. 

Sarah Feola had two tries miss in the 71st and 72nd minutes...the first stopped by Lirtz and the second just barely over the top crossbar. Nine minutes later, though, Dewey broke the ice and gave the Cards the first score of the contest. 

Louisville returns home for their next match...they'll face Purdue on Friday at 7:30 p.m. in Lynn Stadium. 

Dare we say it again?  Go. Cards. Beat. Purdue. 




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Lynn Stadium will be rocking tonight for you soccer affectionate fans and for boys and girls and children of all ages as the Kentucky Wildcats come to town for a contest. 

The 10th ranked Cards are 3-0 on the season, UK is 3-0 on the season...so something has to give tonight under the Lynn lights, right? 

The Cards have allowed just one goal in 270 minutes of pitch time this season and defender Tim Kubel has tallied two of the game winning scores for Ken Lolla's squad. 

Louisville comes into the contest after a 1-0 win at Georgia State and UK took a 1-0 win over Memphis on Saturday. The Cards did defeat UK in Lynn Stadium in 2015 2-0 but fell to the Cats in 2016 in Lexington. Louisville has won five out of the last seven matchups. 

Soccer is a ticketed event...but good seats remain at the UofL box office from what I'm hearing...and the northern berm features a playground and good viewing opportunities if you want to bring the kiddies. The game is also on the ACC Network Extra feed. 

You never know just who you'll see there. Many of UofL's women's sports student-athletes attend these events. I've been wanting to join Jared Anderson and the rowdy bunch of Louligans by the east end zone and may engage in that tonight. I wonder if they'd let me toot on my vuvuzela during the match or borrow Jared's euphonium? 




paulie
xxxxx

Lynn Wins and More -- SUNDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

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

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

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

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

Thank you.

EDITOR'S NOTE: 

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

- Paulie

Lynn Wins

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Slugger Sell-out

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

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

Basketball Blowout

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

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

Radio Rambling

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

-- JMcA