Preseason Cards Womens Soccer Predictions -- SUNDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

 WILL 2025 WSOC CARDS BREAK .500? 

With WSOC at UofL starting in just five days, I figured it might be a good time to look at the schedule and give a prediction on how the squad might do. With last year's squad going 7-6-5, one can only hope that the 2025 squad can improve on that. 

Unfortunately, the rest of the ACC doesn't see the Cards being a league title contender. The Cards were predicted to finish 14th out of the 17 teams in the ACC in a preseason coaches poll.. 

Louisville starts off 2025 with (2) road games against SEC schools. Opening at Auburn won't be an easy task for the Cards and I'm going to predict that they drop this one to the Auburn squad. Next up, a trip to Vandy, a squad that made it to the NCAA Sweet Sixteen last season and upset #1 tanked FSU in the NCAA Tournament.  Unfortunately, I don't see a win in Music City for the Cards in their second match of the season. 

The Cards begin their first home series against Detroit Mercy. Surprisingly, Detroit Mercy is 1-0 all-time against the Cards and is coming off a 10-8-2 season. They did go 7-1-2 in the Horizon League and could come in and give the Cards all they want. But, I look to the Cards to play them well, and this just might be the first "tie" of the season for Karen Ferguson Dayes squad. Wright State is up next for UofL, and it i here where the Cards get their first win of the season. USC Upstate comes in next for a Thursday 3 p.m. match (which is a bit confusing...3 p.m. on a Thursday?) USC Upstate was 10-5-4 last year but I can see Louisville getting the win here. After all, UNC defeated then 8-0 last year in the first round of the NCAA Tournament. 

Coastal Carolina comes to town next and was 8-7-6 last year. I see Louisville picking up their third win of the season in this one. Kent St. comes to town to open Sept. action and I am seeing the Cards getting their fourth win of the season against the Golden Flashes. The streak of home games ends with Dayton coming to visit. Dayton has owned the Cards in the series with a 13-4-1 win record over UofL, and the two teams battled to a scoreless tie in 2025 in Louisville. I'll go out on a limb here and give the Cards a narrow win. 

Conference play begins Sept 11th for the Cards when they visit FSU. The Cards probably won't win this one in Tallahassee and the schedule doesn't get any easier with a visit from Virginia Tech, who finished second in the ACC last year.I see the Cards falling to the Hokies.  Clemson is the next to visit Lynn Stadium and the Tigers come in as a preseason top ten prediction, so the Cards will most likely fall to the Tigers.   

Miami visits Louisville next and the Cards will face a squad that has eight transfers in. It's hard to say just how good the Canes will be, but we should have a fairly good idea in the Cards 12th game of the year. I see Louisville getting their first conference win.

A  three game road trip is next for UofL...starting at Notre Dame. Unfortunately, I see the Cards dropping this one and also the next away game...at Wake Forest. Next is a trip to Boston College. The two schools are basically a "pick 'em" but since BC is hosting, we'll give this one to them. 

Virginia travels to Louisville next and the Cavs are hovering around the top ten ranking in the preseason poll. They should come in and get the win. NCST lines up next for the Cards and Louisville should get this win over the (2024) 4-10-4 Wolfpack in Raleigh. The regular season ends the day before Halloween when SMU comes to call on the Cards. I do see the Cards ending the season with a win, and a 8-9-1 record overall. 

Got a different take? Weigh in at the comments section.

CCHRP

It was Paulie, Case and Jared on the Cardinal Couple Radio Hour Podcast Saturday and the guys discussed a lot of soccer, volleyball and a bit of golf. Give a listen at the link below:

Catdinal Couple Radio Hour Podcast 8/9/25

paulie 

Louisville Field Hockey, Women's Soccer Win On Sunday -- MONDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

Success nf Floyd Street again on Sunday as two Cardinal women's squad won their respective bird battles. Field Hockey squad started the day with a 1-0 scrimmage win over the Miami (OH) RedHawks and Women's Soccer sealed the deal with a 3-0 victory over the Morehead State Eagles. 


FIELD HOCKEY

A good crowd on hand in Trager Stadium for the first action of the day, maybe bolstered by the fact that Miani (OH) squad has three players from three players from Louisville Christian Academy on their squad. With bright sunny skies and 81 degree weather in the area, Louisville shone the brightest with the 1-0 win over the Oxford, OH visitors.

Whena Munn (pronounced "Thena") got the match's lone goal. The Wellington, New Zealand senior took a feed off a cross from the left side right post from freshman Minna Tremonti (out of Ann Arbor, Michigan) in the 27th minute of play in the first half and gave UofL the lead for good. 

Field Hockey is four quarters now, instea of two halves,and....despite the low score -- Louisville looked to be the aggressor and more dominant. There was also a 10-minute overtime and "shootout" after the contest. The Cards won both of those as well -- 1-0 in the overtime and 3-1 in the five-player per side tie breaking feature. Both coaches agreed to the extra practice. 

Still no clear choice in the battle for Cards goalkeeper. Redshirt freshman Sam Minrath (also from Louisville and Christian Academy) started "in keep" for Louisville and played the first half. Redshirt junior Hollyn Barr protected the pipes in the third and fourth quarter. Minrath had one save, Barr two. 

UofL had a 13-6 shot advantage in the match...and had six shots on goal, compared to Miami's three. 

We have Coach Justine's post game comments linked up below. The Cards start the regular season Friday, August 30th. when Indiana comes to town for a 3 p.m. match. Paulie mistakenly muttered "post-season" instead of "pre-season" at the end of the interview which drew a quizzical look and reply from Coach and a bit of joshing after the interview.

It happens.  

LINK:  COACH SOWRY COMMENTS


(photos by Jared Anderson) 


SOCCER KICKS PAST MOREHEAD STATE 3-0 

Under cloudy conditions and a bit of rain later in the contest, Louisville women's Soccer displayed multiple scoring skills and a very solid defense in their 3--0 win over Morehead State last night, 

Sophomore midfielder Maisie Whitsett (San Diego, CA) got the party started when she took a pass from senior Arianna Ferraro 24 minutes into the contest to make it 1-0 Cards. The first half ended with thar 1-0 Cardinal lead. Despite the Cards winning the possesion stat 70% to 30%, Louisville's nine shots and 4 on goal were hampered by the excellent play of Morehead State goalkeeper Grace Gaffney (Danville, KY) 

Louisville picked up two more scores in the final half. Sophomore Delaney Snyder (Moon Township, PA) received a nice feed from Emina Ekic seven minutes into second half play to make it 2-0 Cards. 10 minutes later, it was Allison Whitfield's set up for sophomore Sarah Hernandez (Moorpark, CA) that resulted in the contest's final score. 

Louisville dominated the stats with 17 shots. The Cards also had a 14-0 advantage in corner kicks. Louisville went deep into the roster, playing 21 student-athletes and we got to see redshirt-sophomore goalkeper Lana Batson (San Diego, CA) tend the pipes for 32 minutes in the second half. 

Team Captain Arianna Ferraro left the game after a collision in the second half and did not return. Her status is currently unknown for Louisville's next game -- Thursday night against St. Louis. 

Case Hoskins and I caught up with Coach Karen Ferguson Dayes and Snyder after the contest for post-game remarks linked up below. If you haven't done so, be sure to follow Case's in-game Tweets this women's soccer season. 

(@bstCASEscenario)

They are informative and quite detailed. 

LINK: DELANEY SNYDER INTERVIEW

LINK: KAREN Ferguson Dayes


paulie
xxxxx