WBB faces Boise St Tonight -- Jared Plays It -- MSOC Eliminated -- MONDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

WOMEN'S BASKETBALL FACES BOISE ST TONIGHT

It may seem like it's been since forever, but, in reality it's been 10 days since the University of Louisville women's basketball team has had a game.

They are in Boise, ID. tonight to face the 3-0 Boise State women's basketball team for a contest that starts at 9 p.m. (EST).  

If the name sounds familiar, the Cards faced the Broncos to start their march to the NCAA Final Four with a first round 74-42 win against them in the KFC YUM! Center on March 16th, 2018 in first round NCAA Tournament action.

Louisville used a strong 27-8 third quarter to pull away from a 32-22 halftime lead in that one. Sam Fuehring and Kylee Shook led the Cards in scoring with 14 points each in the 32-point blowout, Jaz Jones and Bionca Dunham rounded out the double figure scorers that night with 10 points each. Jazzy, with her hustle and skills, could have a big night tonight. 

Both squads return four starters from last season. For B.S.U., the start of the 2018-19 season has been quite successful. They opened with a 74-63 win over Cal State Northridge, followed that up with a 91-46 drubbing of Southern Oregon University and rolled past Northwest Christian University 93-26 on Friday night. In the win over NCU, the Broncos led 57-7 at the half and ended up 11-22 from beyond the arc. 

All their wins have been on their home court, the stylishly-named Taco Bell Arena on campus. The Broncos will spend the month of November there with Louisville being the fourth of six home games before the friendly fans. 

HOW IT CAME ABOUT

Jeff Walz and his staff like to invite teams that are playing against them in the NCAA Tournament out for a "bite and a drink" when they come to town. Boise State's staff took them up on the offer. We're pretty sure Coach picks up the tab as well, which is doubly nice. 

We'll have to come up with a "Cardinal Couple" squad and qualify for the NCAA Tournament...so we can get in on the "Walz Is Buying" bonanza. (Hey, we got height with Jared, Case and me). 


Here's a link where Coach explains it all: 

WALZ TALKS ABOUT THE BOISE STATE SERIES


WHO SHOULD WE LOOK OUT FOR? 

A'Shanti Coleman

Marta Hermida leads the Broncos in scoring with a 13.7 p.p.g in the Broncos three outings. She's a senior from Madrid, Spain.  She had nine points against the Cards in their previous meeting. A'Shanti Coleman, a 6'2" red shirt junior forward who transferred in from Arizona, has produced a nine-point average so far . She played 19 minutes but did not score against Louisville back in March. Joyce Harrell is second in scoring with 13.0 a game and leads in rebounding with 7.7 a night. Back in March, she got two points in ten minutes against the Cards.

Riley Lupfer is the third double-figure scorer for B.S.U with 10.0 per contest. She's a 5'9" guard that played 33 minutes against Louisville in the NCAA Tournament and gathered nine points. Ellie Woerner is a 6'0"red-shirt junior guard who was previously at Portland. In 19 minutes against Louisville, she totaled two points. 



FOR THE CARDS

Third quarter romps have been the standard in the opening two games for Louisville and it was as well when the two schools faced in March. We'll hope Asia likes tacos and can throw a few treys in the cylinder against Boise. Both Kylee Shook and Bionca Dunham had good games against the Broncs back in March and we'd like to see a repeat of that. Sam Fuehring should have a field day inside against the foe and we'll look to her for a big night. Dana Evans' quickness won't catch B.S.U off guard...she played 24 minutes and had seven points back in the spring...but will they be able to stop the speedy sophomore? 

I LIKE TO WATCH

The game will be shown on the Mountain West Network. The link is below: 

https://broncosports.com/sports/2018/7/31/mountain-west-digital-network.aspx

Nick Curran and Adrienne Johnson will be describing the action on 790 AM WRKD Cards Radio. Always worth a listen! 




PLAY IT, JARED! 

We all know how talented the youngest member of the Cardinal Couple "A" team is with his photography and writing skills. Did you know he's also excellent with the euphonium? 

The baritone brass instrument looks like a "mini" tuba...and Jared has mastered it, as well. He played in the UofL marching back and also currently plays with a couple of orchestras and musical ensembles around town. 

Sunday afternoon was a highlight for him. He was asked to play the National Anthem before the start of the NCAA Field Hockey Championship game between North Carolina and Maryland. Hear/see the performance at the link below: 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n_jj878q6N8&feature=youtu.be

Jared is also co-owner of River City Cards, another fine UofL-oriented website and has his own photography business...www.jdaphotos.com  Contact him for quality photo shoots at very reasonable prices. 

He also holds down a 40 hour a week job. It's rumored he sleeps, we just don't know when. He was also seen later on Sunday night banging the drum and yelling with a cheer group at the Louisville men's soccer game.

We pleased as punch and proud of "Mr Anderson Jared" and, if we can get him in the studio with the euphonium...maybe he can play THE CARDINAL COUPLE RADIO HOUR show-opening music one Saturday morning! 


LOUISVILLE MSOC FALLS TO SPARTIE ON SUNDAY

A tough loss for the guys Sunday Night in second round NCAA Tournament action at Lynn Stadium -- falling to Michigan State 2-1 in overtime. 

Louisville fell behind early but tied the contest with 12 minutes left in regulation on a goal that was reviewed by the officials. A rough way to end the season for Ken Lolla's guys...who were #4 in the nation. The Cards end the 2018 campaign with a 11-5-3 record.

Hisses to the post-game behavior of the Spartans. Starting a fight in the end zone after the game-winning goal is a  pure example of "no-class" whatsoever. And, the refs just stood there and watched it. 

Ken Lolla discusses the match at the link below: 

KEN LOLLA POST-GAME


DONATION MONTH

"Donate! After this food fight! " 

As we go into the final 12 days of Cardinal Couple Donation Month, I'm not sure what else we can say or do to ask for your support for 2019. 

So, I'll share a letter we got, along with a check, from a reader: 

"Paulie...I start my day with CARDINAL COUPLE. I've learned so much about UofL women's sports by reading the site over the years. My favorite women's sport in basketball and, being out of town, I appreciate the coverage you and your writers provide on it and the other sports on campus. 

I couldn't imagine a day with having my morning coffee, getting on my computer and reading about what's going on with Cardinal Women's Athletics. I wish I could donate more. Know that you have a very loyal, out-of-town reader that appreciates your coverage of the school and squads I love!" 

(Name withheld) 

You can send us a check at: 

CARDINAL COUPLE
P.O. Box 91521
LOUISVILLE, KY 40291

Use Pay-Pal if you want. No amount is too small or too large. 

Thank you! For being Cardinal Couple! WE never forget that.


paulie
xxxxx

Trio of Cardinal wins on Sunday -- MONDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

FIELD HOCKEY DOWNS CALIFORNIA IN OVERTIME 2-1


Starting off the Louisville women's sports double-header on Sunday, the #11 Field Hockey squad got an overtime goal from standout sophomore Mercedes "Meche" Pastor to knock off un-ranked California 2-1 at Trager Field.  

A contest where defense was the priority for most of the contest. The visiting Golden Bears struck first with just 4:36 left in the first half due to a Cardinal miscue and jailbreak type attack that caught Louisville's defense a bit unaware. The Cards were taking a penalty corner...but the insert of the ball skipped past the Cardinal attack formation and rolled to midfield. The Bears had the numbers and rapidly advanced the ball to the net, where they got and unassisted goal. 1-0 at the half. 

Louisville head coach Justine Sowry outlined to The Flock at halftime what she wanted to see out of them in the second half and the theme was "playing to your strengths". That came to fruition at the 54:36 mark when junior Whena Munn (pronounced "Thena") took a pass from Pastor and the New Zealand native fired from in front of the California cage to find net. Louisville and Cal would both have opportunities to win this one in regulation...but the defenses held and it was still 1-1 at the end of regulation. 


The sudden death scenario in Field Hockey consists of lowering the on-field -participants to just seven players per side. They then go to work and first score wins. 

Louisville received a penalty corner opportunity four and one half minutes into the extra session and Pastor, who hails from Buenos Aires, Argentina, rifled a shot past Cal goal-keeper Danielle Mentink for the game-ender. 

The Cards go to 4-2 on the season and are 1-1 now in extra-time hockey. They bring in Boston College Friday night to Trager Stadium next.


We caught up with Coach Sowry and Meche Pastor after the contest and got their reactions. For some reason, the UofL link to post game Sowry video takes you to her discussing the loss to UNC Friday...so we didn't include it here. Interns running amuck in the post-game processing, I suppose. The audio I did is below: 


LINK: COACH SOWRY POST GAME

I've included both interviews with Pastor here...the UofL video of it, which was a bit abridged and my full uncut audio interview: 

LINK: POST GAME MECHE PASTOR VIDEO INTERVIEW

LINK: MECHE PASTOR POST GAME AUDIO


WSOC RUNS PAST EKU 5-1

Moving to Sunday evening, Louisville women's soccer scored early and often in a dominating 5-1 win over the visiting Colonels from Richmond. 

Four different scorers for the Cards in the victory. Brooklynn Rivers got the onslaught started when she took a pass from Arianna Ferraro in front of the goal 17 minutes into action and booted it in for the first score of the contest. The Kickin' Cards added to the total six minutes later when Mollie Rouse took a cross from Emina Ekic in front of the EKU keeper and sent it into the net to make it 2-0 UofL.

Delaney Snyder picked up her third goal of the season when she followed up on a rebound and drove it into the back of the net just two minutes before the end of the first half. The teams took to the locker rooms with Louisville comfortably ahead 3-0.

Louisville was not done with the fireworks, however and San Diego freshman Maisie Whitsett took over. She found success just two minutes into the second session, taking a nice feed from fellow freshman Anna Henderson (Kirkland, WA) and drove it past the EKU keeper Zoe Aguirre into the net to make it 4-0 University of Louisville. 

Eastern Kentucky got their lone goal when they took a dribble and Idalys Rea pushed one past Gabby Kouzelos to draw them within three at 4-1...six minutes into the final half. 

Just two minutes after that, it was Whitsett time again. The Cards got a rebound in front of the net and Brooklynn Rivers got the ball to Whitsett who tapped it in for the final score of the night. 

Louisville went deep into the roster as time continued in the second half. Eight reserves saw action, including junior Sarah Feola, back from injury and appearing for the first time this season on the field. The Quebec, Canada midfielders entrance and exit after 25 minutes was met with enthusiastic response from the Cardinal players. 

Domination in the stats for the Cards in this one. They took a total of 21 shots, 13 on goal, compared to just four for EKU....three of those on goal. 

The #24 Cards go to 6-1 for the season on a cloudy, foggy and drizzly night for soccer. Next up,  a road trip to Pittsburgh to open ACC play against the Panthers on Saturday night. 

We were able to get comments and remarks from Louisville head coach Karen Ferguson Dayes back in the soccer complex interview room after the impressive Louisville win...plus Maisie's first interview ever post-game as a Cardinal. She handled it quite well...as you'll hear. Once again, I'm including the UofL official video of these and my audio. 

JARED ANDERSON VIDEO OF COACH KAREN FERGISON DAYES POST GAME EKU

KAREN FERGUSON DAYES POST GAME EKU VIDEO

PAULIE AUDIO OF KAREN FERGUSON DAYES POST GAME EKU COMMENTS

MAISIE WHITSETT POST GAME REMARKS AFTER EKU GAME

PAULIE AUDIO FROM MAISIE WHITSETT INTERVIEW AFTER EKU GAME



MEN'S SOCCER UPSETS DUKE 3-0


While Field Hockey was toiling against Cal on the middle section of Floyd Street, Louisville men's soccer was engaged in battle with #2 Duke on the southern part of Floyd Street in Lynn Stadium. The men's squad found the flow in the second half with three goals and upset the Blue Devils 3-0 on Sunday afternoon. 

Scores from three different Cardinals gave Louisville this win. We'll let head men's soccer coach Ken Lolla describe the victory for you in the UofL post game video link: 

KEN LOLLA POST-GAME DUKE

( A special "Good Job!" to JARED ANDERSON, who took photos at all three events today after a long night of covering Cardinal Football Saturday night! We feature his photos today).

paulie
xxxxx

Mystics Defeat Dream -- WEDNESDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

Washington Mystics Defeat Atlanta Dream to Advance to Finals

Myisha Hines-Allen's rookie season is not yet over.  MHA and her teammates on the Washington Mystics are still standing as they head to the WNBA Finals.  The Mystics defeated the Atlanta Dream last night 86-81.

The two teams were even following one period and Atlanta went into the half with a one-point lead.  Washington won the third quarter by four points and the fourth quarter by two points.

Angel McCoughtry, who is out with the ACL injury, did not play, nor would she have played had the Dream advanced to the Finals.  MHA was active, but did not play.  The Mystics only played eight players despite having 12 active players for the game.


Washington will take on the Seattle Storm.  The Storm, who have been carried by UConn alum
Breana Stewart and broken-nose Sue Bird, defeated the Phoenix Mercury 94-84 to advance to the Finals.  Seattle relied on a huge fourth quarter to propel them to the series win.

The finals are set to begin this Thursday with a tip-off time not yet set.  It will be aired on ESPN 2.  Four of the five potential games will be on "the Deuce" with the only exception being ABC hosting the second game of the series.

Best wishes to MHA and the Mystics in the WNBA Finals!


Other News and Notes

Our longtime friend Paige Sherrard recently got engaged to her now-fiance Benjamin Hemp, or as Paulie calls him "Benjamin Weed".  Paige has been a guest on The Cardinal Couple Radio Hour on numerous occasions and currently writes for SB Nation and Cardinal Sports Zone.

Daryl Foust and myself followed the men's soccer team down I-64 for a match against Kentucky last night.  Sadly, their results were not as good as the women, who won their battle 1-0 in overtime.  The #7/9 Cards were stunned as they fell 3-0.  They play at 2:00 on Sunday at Lynn Stadium vs #2 Duke while the women are set to face Eastern Kentucky later that day at 7:30 p.m. No word on whether Daryl the Disco Duck went to the contest.


What Day Is it?


Happy International Day of Charity!  Doesn't it feel great helping others out?  It's also National Be
Late For Something Day, preferably not work, though.

For you food lovers you can enjoy a cheese pizza today. Can a guy get a little Italian Sausage and mushrooms with that?

Today is also "show around" day over at the renovated football Cardinal Stadium for us media types. Someone please check the scoreboards out and see how close they are to getting the seats finally installed in the north end zone.


Coming Attractions



If you happen to be on the UofL campus this weekend and see a couple of tall girls you don't recognize, it's rumored from a highly credible source close to the UofL WBB program that Maori Davenport and Laeticia Amihere are expected to visit this weekend.

Amihere is a dunking machine. The 6'3" front liner is out of Canada has Louisville and several other schools on her list. Davenport you know from her time playing for Jeff Walz and the U19 USA squad in Mexico City. The Cards are in the mix for her, too. She's 6'4" and neither would have much trouble getting things off the top shelf.

We hope both girls have a pleasant visit, love what they see and keep the Cards "ever on their minds" as they enter their senior seasons in high school.

We came across skills tapes for both Amihere and Davenport and they're pretty awesome. Give them a look:

LINK: Laeticia Amihere

LINK: Maori Davenport



Happy Wednesday and Go Cards!

- Jared -

Volleyball Falls in NCAA Tournament -- SATURDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

Magical Season Ends with Unceremonious Sweep by UNI

Louisville's head coach left the program at the end of last season after an extremely disappointing final stanza. No one faults Anne Kordes for doing what is best for herself and her family, at least I don't, but there was a lot of uncertainty about what was next for a program that had been building itself up to the status of "consistently decent". When Dani Busboom-Kelly was hired, I had no idea what to expect. I didn't know much about her, and I didn't know enough about the volleyball program at the time to know if the issues on last season's team stemmed from talent or coaching. Coach DBK promptly came in and showed what she could do with all of the talent on this Louisville Volleyball squad. Many of them will be back next year, but what they did in the first year of a new coach's tenure is impressive. You may be able to say that the ACC was in a bit of a down year, but this team still won 11 straight matches to end the season as the ACC regular season champions. They beat every team in the ACC and showed a lot of promise for next season.

Their impressive first year under DBK came to a close last night with a 21-25, 15-25, 25-27 sweep loss to the University of Northern Iowa. Louisville got a rough draw in the NCAA tournament as it was, being shipped up to a host region of a powerhouse Big Ten team, but there was hope for them to at least advance. I believe I actually made the prediction that they could win an NCAA tournament game earlier in the year. Nonetheless, despite the rough outing yesterday, Louisville still did amazing things this season, and their seniors will be missed.

As for yesterday's match, there is not a lot to say. Louisville was close in the first set, actually pushing out to an 18-15 lead after bouncing back and forth with the Panthers. The Cards yielded a 6-0 run, though, which gave UNI a 21-18 lead from which Louisville was unable to recover. The wheels fell off in the second set, as Louisville hit -.025 with 9 errors and only 8 kills. Louisville actually had the set tied at 11 before UNI won 14 of the next 18 points to defeat the Cards 15-25. There was not a lot to build on in the second set during halftime. From a mentality standpoint, I think it would have been much better for Louisville to have had the very rough set in the first, and show some fight in the second, rather than what happened. 

The Cards did show a spark of life in the third set, though. They led most of the third set by 3-4 points and actually had two set points at 24-22 and 24-23. They were unable to finish on either of those opportunities, unfortunately, and UNI came back to finish the match with a 25-27 third set victory. Louisville's offensive bright spots were few, as only Jasmine Bennett hit above .300 for the team. Melanie McHenry and Tess Clark both had rough days, hitting .075 and .074 respectively. Amanda Green led the team with 9 kills and added 2 aces, but tacked on 4 errors of her own, contributing to Louisville's total of 19 through the match. Molly Sauer did what she could defensively with 15 digs, and was joined by Wilma Rivera with 9 and McHenry with 8. 

After a lot of uncertainty before this season, and an unfortunate looking start to the season, Louisville has hope for the future. The team never found the top-25, which I found to be foolish given what the team accomplished, but one can be sure that this is not the last time that Coach Dani Busboom-Kelly finds her team in the NCAA tournament. A lot of the talent for the team returns next season, and Coach DBK will be able to add her own stamp on the recruiting of the team, which will help her implement her chosen style of play even more. I am sure Jeff will have plenty more to add about the team when he returns from Minnesota. 

Volleyball was not the only team who saw their season come to a close last night. Louisville's men's soccer team fell to Akron on extra penalties at Lynn Stadium, ending their hunt for a national title. I would be okay with Ken Lolla's team never having to face Akron ever again. Both losses leave Louisville football as the only major fall team sport that can end their season with a victory. The bowls will be announced after the College Football Playoff is determined, which will come after conference championship weekend concludes. Louisville is hoping to avoid a bowl conflict with their midday tilt against UK in the hardwood version of the Battle of the Bluegrass.

Soccer highlights:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aazcFZOZBWo

Cardinal Couple Radio Hour

Daryl Foust

Paulie is your only regular host this morning, but that is absolutely no excuse to miss today's edition of the CCRH. In fact, it may be even more incentive to tune in! Paul is joined by Paige Sherrard, Daryl Foust, and Julie Sullivan. All three are wonderful to have in the studio alone as guests, and I'm sure they'll be a treat all together. The CCRH comes on at 11AM on 100.9 WCHQ FM. It is also available on wchq.com and the WCHQ app, both of which can be accessed from anywhere. Tune in for wonderful coverage about, with today's lineup, what I would expect a lot of women's basketball coverage. Daryl may need a shoulder to cry on after the soccer game last night as well.

Listen here:  THE CARDINAL COUPLE RADIO HOUR 12/2/17

That's all from me. Since I didn't have an article in the last week of November, allow me to sincerely thank everyone that donated over the last month. Your support--mentally, through page views, and financially--is extremely appreciated. I am happy to be a part of the Cardinal Couple team.

Until next time, Go Cards!

-CH-

Tournament Time! -- MONDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

Tournament Time

Two tournament updates this morning.  Men's Soccer and Volleyball are both in tournament season.

Men's Soccer

The Men's Soccer team advanced over Colgate by a score of 2-0 last night at Lynn Stadium.  Goal's by Tate Schmitt and Walker Andriot in the first half made the tally for the Cardinals, while the defense was able to largely shut down the Colgate attack.  The Cards led in nearly every statistical category with 11 shots to 5, 5 of those were on goal for the Cards compared to only a single on goal for Colgate.  Louisville had 4 corner kicks in the first half, while Colgate only had 2 in the 2nd half.

Schmitt's goal game at 34:47 off of a corner set piece inbounded by assister extraordinaire Tim Kubel, who put the shot right on Schmitt's forehead to put it home.  Andriot's goal came at 40:21, with the assist to Ziyad Fekri.  Initially it looked like Schmitt had gotten a touch on this one as well, but it was later ruled that he hadn't, so the goal goes to Andriot.

The Cards continue their march to the College Cup with a 7pm matchup with the Akron Zips.  Akron advanced in a 3-2 win over Wisconsin, and also defeated Louisville in 2010 in the finals of the College Cup in Santa Barbara, CA.  If the Cards win this game, they advance to this year's College Cup in St. Louis.

Volleyball

The NCAA Selection Show for the Volleyball field of 64 was last night at 9pm.  Media, including yours truly, were invited down to the Cardinal Volleyball film room where the team watched the unveiling of the brackets.

The Cardinals were guaranteed a berth, but speculation was all over the place as to where they would be placed in the bracket.

The Cards will be traveling to Minneapolis, MN to Maturi Pavilion for the sub-regional hosted by Minnesota.  The 1st round opponent for UofL will be the University of Northern Iowa.  UNI sports as 26-8 overall record with some notable wins in the mix including victories over USC (Southern California, who is the 10 seed in the NCAA tourney), and Nebraska (NCAA tourney 5 seed).  They are definitely not a team to take likely.

Assuming UofL advances over UNI, then host Minnesota will likely be the opponent as I don't expect too much difficulty for the 7 seed to defeat North Dakota in the nightcap match on Friday night.  Advancing beyond that and the road will likely go through Gainesville, FL, where 2 seed Florida will be the favored team to advance over the likes of Alabama State, Miami, Cal Poly, and UCLA.  Assuming chalk on our side of the regional matchup, we would first play Southern California in the 3rd round presumably in Gainesville.

Coach Busboom Kelly wasn't particularly pleased with the selection as she was looking for a bit more respect from the selection committee with a matchup with a double-digit seed.  Overall, there are certainly a lot harder quadrants of the brackets to advance through...particularly the bottom left quadrant which contains the likes of Kentucky, Notre Dame, WKU (all in the Lexington sub-regional...WKU/ND is a 1st round matchup!), Oregon, BYU, Baylor (with former Card Aniah Philo),  Colorado (former UofL Asst Lee Maes), Florida State, and Nebraska.  I'm quite glad not to be in that mix.

The 1st round match will be at 5:30 eastern (4:30 central) in Minneapolis.  TV/streaming isn't yet listed, but it will almost assuredly be on ESPN streaming.

Your humble correspondent is working on plans to make the trip.


NOVEMBER IS DONATION MONTH AT CARDINAL COUPLE

The days are winding down in the 11th month and so is the Donation drive at Cardinal Couple.

We go to great lengths to report on the joy and excitement of UofL women's sports and Cardinal athletics. We'll be on the road this week, with Paulie in Bloomington, IN for UofL women's basketball and Worldwide most likely headed to Minnesota to cover Volleyball's first two games in the NCAA Tournament.

And, chances are, we're likely to be the only Louisville based media at each event. Even if Worldwide is in the seats...he'll be observing the action and sharing with us what he sees.

Help us continue to report to you. Four days left in the month. Help us finish strong.

PAY PAL link at the top and checks are welcome at:

Cardinal Couple
c/o Paul Sykes
PO Box 91521
Louisville, KY   40291


Thank you!

--
JMcA

Louisville Women's Basketball, Volleyball and Men's Soccer wins! -- MONDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

(PAULIE filling in at the keyboard for Case and a well-deserved day off! )


WBB JUMPS ON DUCKS EARLY IN 74-61 WIN

The FatHeads. Julie Sullvan will write about them tomorrow.

Get on them early. It was what the UofL Cardinals women's basketball team wanted to do Sunday afternoon at the KFC YUM! Center against the Oregon Ducks in the preseason WNIT Finals. 

Mission accomplished. The Cards win the tournament! 

UofL went on an early 9-0 run over a three minute span in the first quarter to go from a 5-4 deficit to 13-5 lead and Oregon would get no closer than six the rest of the day. Asia Durr had seven of the points in the run and 26 in the contest, making the All-Tournament Team along with Most Valuable Player Myisha Hines-Allen (17 points, 12 rebounds). The Cards improve to 5-0 on the season and are #5 in the nation. 

Louisville led this one 23-14 after one and Durr had 14 of them on 5-7 shooting and Hines-Allen added seven in a quarter where the Cards forced six Oregon turnovers. 

Louisville kept the foot on the gas in the second quarter, winning the 10-minute session 20-13 and led by 18 points at 42-24 after a Hines-Allen jumper with 1:50 until half. It was a thing of beauty to watch...the bench produced 13 first half points...Dana Evans and Syd Zambrotta contributing 11 of these with 8 for 12 shooting. 

The Cards already had two players in double figures at the halftime break in Myisha and Asia and had forced 14 Ducks turnovers. UofL was shooting a hot 55.6% from the floor and were 9-10 from the charity stripe. 

One had to wonder and worry a bit about an Oregon rally. These quackers trailed Texas A&M by five in the semifinals at College Station Thursday before roaring back to win 83-68. 

It didn't happen. 

Jazmine Jones dropped in eight points in a five minute stretch to keep the Cards comfortably ahead in the third frame and Hines-Allen produced the final four points in the quarter to keep the Cards head of #10 Oregon 61-46 with ten minutes to go. The Ducks would sneak back to within 11 a couple of times in the final action...but two Durr baskets and Hines-Allen inside pushed UofL back out to a 74-58 lead with 1:17 to play and the Cards take a 13 point victory over a very good Oregon squad 74-61. 

THE CARDS WIN, THE CARDS WIN !!!!


THE FRED REPORT

FRED GWYNNE - Herman Munster
is today's Fred Figure. The Cards could
have used his height Sunday

FREE THROWS -- 12-14 (85.7%) gets a big "O.K!!" from us, with four players going 2-2 and Sam Fuehring going 4-6. She did not get a chance to prove the Walz "3 is better than 2" theorem, since her misses were the first of two both times. WE HAVE NO PROBLEM AWARDING A CAPITAL "F" HERE. 

REBOUNDING -- When you face a squad that has seven players 6'2" or taller, you can expect that grabbing boards might be a bit difficult for you. Oregon won the backboard battle 29-27, despite Hines-Allen's 12 for Louisville. Ruthie Hebard is one of the best forwards in the nation and controlled nine missed shots for the Ducks. WE CANNOT AWARD A LETTER HERE, but hats off to Myisha for her efforts. DOOO-BLAY puts on her hard-hat and reports to the site each and every game. 
I'll give her a special "R" for her board work. 

EXECUTION/EFFORT -- Louisville started hot and remained hot for the entire 40 minutes Sunday. 24 made baskets on 20 assists and despite 17 Cardinal turnovers and 11 Oregon steals, displayed great energy and got great bench participation from Jones and Zambrotta. Louisville's starters shot 57% in the contest (24-42) and WE'LL GIVE UP A CAPITAL "E" FOR SUNDAY'S EFFORT. 

DEFENSE -- Holding high intensity and prolific scoring Oregon to 61 points is a remarkable feat. They came into the contest averaging 95 points in three games. The Ducks had 20 turnovers and shot just 44.4% for 40 minutes. Road fatigue? Maybe, but Sabrina Ionescu didn't score in the first three periods (Great job Louisville guards!) and she finished with just eight points. THE CARDS EARN THE CAPITAL "D" HERE, NO DOUBT ABOUT IT! 

FRED RECAP:   F-_-E-D


SO...

We doubt Coach will travel this
week dressed like this but that
outfit would have been welcome
Saturday at football! 

-- With the convincing win and now 5-0, will the Cards creep up from #5 in the nation? #1 UConn is still 3-0 and #2 Texas remains unbeaten also. #3 Baylor did fall 82-68 to #8 UCLA and #4 South Carolina went to 4-0 with a win over Wofford. 

The WBB Cards are #1 in the latest RPI report. Movin' on up! 

-- Sam Fuehring is a warrior and has gained maturity. She was getting slammed by Ionescu all game and had to be separated from her twice in the contest. She kept her calm, though, something a freshman or sophomore Sam might have not done. She finished with 10 points and about 3,000 charges drawn, most of them not called by the all-star but basically average referring crew on Sunday of Dee Kanter, Cam Inouye and Bruce "Papillon" Morris. 

-- Turkey Time. The players will get a few well-deserved days off before returning to action on Friday against Murray State in the KFC YUM! Center. We did find out in the post-game presser that Myisha and Asia are big fans of sweet potato casserole as a side dish and, yes, marshmallows are approved of in the dish. Coach Walz will jump on the recruiting trail with trips to California and Texas before coming home to carve the turkey (Or it is ham. Or both?) for the family. 

-- We do pay attention to turnovers and Sonya and I explored another stat Sunday. Who forced the turnover? We tracked them for the first three quarters and on Oregon's 17 miscues...14 were forced. Sam Fuehring with 4 forces, Myisha Hines-Allen responsible for three, Arica Carter and Kylee Shook two each Dana Evans, Jaz Jones and Asia Durr one each.  Out of the Cards 13 turnovers through three, 11 were forced. Ruthy Hebard led the Ducks with four, Lexie Bando with two forces and five players with one each.

Great, another stat to track...


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VOLLEYBALL WINS THE MARATHON 3-2 OVER UNC

Melanie also played football in
High School. Don't tell Petrino! 

At Cardinal Arena, the Volley Cards got an exemplary effort from Melanie McHenry and her 30 kills as Louisville won in five sets over troublesome North Carolina 25-21 25-17, 23-25, 21-25 15-11. 

The Cards go to 22-6 on the season and 16-2 in the ACC, good for a first-place tie with Pittsburgh. 

On Senior Night, it was a sophomore that was the star for Louisville. Head Coach Dani Busboom Kelly of the Cards shares her thoughts: 

"I really can't single out just one person. I feel like the whole team stepped up. They started looking each other in their eyes again and decided we're going to do this. McHenry carried us today, she's been due for a great match. She had two great matches, back to back, this weekend. It's awesome to see her perform that way.  Gabbie Wiley led our team in digs and that's extremely difficult for a defense specialist but she was awesome today also. 

In the deciding set, UNC popped out to and early 5-1 lead before Louisville fought back and took a 7-6 edge. Tied at 11, the Cards swept the final four points of the match with the final point coming on McHenry's 30th kill. 

Jared and Worldwide have joined the
Louisville Volleyball squad! 

Louisville has a ten-game win streak in Cardinal Arena against ACC foes but will end the regular season on the road at Boston College on Wednesday and Syracuse Friday. 


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KICKIN' IT

Congratulations to Louisville men's soccer and their 3-2 win Sunday night over San Francisco at Lynn Stadium in second-round NCAA Tournament action. Tate Schmitt with the game winner in the 78th. minute of action.

Louisville advances to the Soccer Sweet Sixteen and will host Colgate Sunday down on Floyd Street. 

Louisville is 12-2-4 on the season. 

We got this photo late last night from the intrepid Jared Anderson at Men's Soccer. Seems he found Louisville Field Hockey star Minnie Mink in attendance and got a selfie with the "scorer, that's what I do" sophomore. Whether she discussed next year's predictions is not known as of this article being published. 

I spend 20 minutes trying to rotate the picture and finally gave up. Lay on your side if you want a better view, or maybe Worldwide will saunter over to our site late today and use his I.T. skills to turn it around. (Jared's the one on the right, or bottom, depending on when you view this).   


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EXPRESSING THANKS

Thursday is Thanksgiving. A day where we take the day off from the site and, this year, I have much to be thankful for. A new hip that works great, three of the best writers around that grace these pages daily and contributions from Julie Sullivan and David Watson. I am so grateful they are a part of this independent, non-profit daily look at the joy and excitement of Louisville women's sports and Cardinal athletics. 

We are fortunate and thankful to take to the airwaves once a week at WCHQ 100.9 FM for The Cardinal Couple Radio Hour and blessed to have the services of "Monk" -- Kathy Weisbach in studio with "Punkin" alongside to engineer and guide us through our 60 minutes of madness and minutia each week. Each week she sacrifices her Saturday morning to hear us babble and that's a Most Valuable Player award-worthy effort! 

Our latest show: https://soundcloud.com/chradio/cardinal-couple-20171118

We are most fortunate to have excellent readers that are knowledgeable and generous. 
You are Cardinal Couple and we never forget that. You inspire us. Keep us going. 

We are in our November Donation period right now and you can help us continue what we do here at this website. We accept Pay-Pal donations and checks can be sent to: 

CARDINAL COUPLE
c/o PAUL SYKES
P.O. BOX 91521
LOUISVILLE, KY  40291

Thank you.



paulie
xxxxx

CARDINAL WIN AND CARDINAL LOSSES -- MONDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

NOVEMBER is donation month here at Cardinal Couple. Here is another reason why we could use your support. I'll be quite honest with you...I really like the group of writers and photographer I have here on the site right now. Three guys who work full time at other jobs, have lives outside of work and our website, friends and family and responsibilities. They take the time each week to express their thoughts and opinions about UofL women's sports...all UofL sports...on these pages. We are a non-profit. They do this for love of game. Here's the deal. I would like to be able to get them a little something besides the occasional gift card. Maybe a prepaid gas card now and them to help them with the expenses of going around and covering these events. Something to say "Thank You" for the hard work, dedication, Cardinal coverage and creativity that Jeff, Jared and Case bring to these pages. 

Please consider donating to Cardinal Couple. Check, Pay-Pal...heck, even walk up to me and hand me cash if you want.

Our mailing address is Cardinal Couple c/o Paul Sykes PO Box 91521, Louisville, KY  40291. Make your check payable to Cardinal Couple. Thank you. YOU are CARDINAL COUPLE and WE never forget that. 


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VOLLEYBALL ROARS BACK TO DOWN DUKE ON ROAD

As Duke and Louisville played Volleyball on Sunday afternoon in Durham, NC...they had two avid watchers on the ACC Network Extra. Worldwide Jeff and I were following the action while covering the Louisville Field Hockey game in the ACC Tournament Finals. I was also following it on Stat-tracker. Early on, it wasn't going so well for the Serve and Volley Cards. Down two sets and in a dog-fight in the third...the "Busboom Boomers" were in distress. 

Then, Field Hockey ended and I needed to wander down to get post-game chatter from Coach Sowry. Worldwide wasn't budging....choosing to remain in the press box and watch the action in Durham. I expected nothing less. 

Maybe it's good I left. While I unsuccessfully attempted to get post-game comments from Coach Sowry (she got those out of the way quite quickly before this old man could get down the steps and onto the pitch...talking to a media contingent that had been noticeably absent all season. Go figure) the Volleyball squad started to rally. While I trudged back to my car and headed home, the Cards had won the third and fourth sets and when I entered the house, I was able to catch the fifth and final set. 

Cards WIN! The Cards WIN! A back and forth, topsy-turvy exciting thriller on the Duke campus. 23-25, 22-25, 25-22, 25-16, 15-19. Melanie McHenry with 16 kills. Backs to the wall and on the ropes, the Serve and Volley Cards come back. 

It almost didn't happen. The Cards fell behind in game three 19-17 before going on a 8-1 run to stay alive and win the contest. Maggie DeJong had two kills during the final nine volleys of the third game.  

The Cards commanded action in the final set by jumping out to a 5-1 lead. The Blue Devils could not contain Tess Clark in the final chapter...she registered three kills late -- including the set and match point. She ended up with 12 kills on the day. 

The win puts the Cards in a three-way tie for first place in the ACC standings with Pittsburgh and NC State...all 12-2 in ACC play. Louisville comes back from their Tar Heel state jaunt to face Virginia (7 p.m.) on Friday night and Virginia Tech (2 p.m.) on Sunday in Cardinal Arena. 

Be there.


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FIELD HOCKEY FALLS IN FINAL TO TAR HEELS 1-0

When you can't score, you aren't going to win and that's what happened to Louisville Field Hockey Sunday in the ACC Tournament Championship finals. Shooting predicates scoring and the Cards weren't doing much of that either against UNC...one shot in 35 minutes of first half action and just three in the final half. The TarHeels got 13 shots off in a game that emphasized defense. 

UNC was the #5 seed in the tournament but actually had a better record (14-4) than the third seeded Cards (14-6) coming into the match. And, make no mistake about it...this is a very good North Carolina squad. Ashley Hoffman is the ACC defender of the year. They were more organized than Louisville and played a lock-down, stifling defense. 

The Cards had a shot at getting on the board with 13 minutes left in the game. Whena Munn got free on a jailbreak and dashed down the pitch to try UNC goalie Amanda Hendry but her shot was denied. The Cards also got a penalty corner attempt a couple of minutes later. Hendry covered that shot up as well. 

Although I didn't get to record this, losing coach Sowry did say: 

" It's so disappointing that we were unable to put one in the back of the net. We're young. Even right up to the last minutes we really didn't know how to handle those moments. I'll put it down to youth, but it's been one heck of a season so far. To win back-to-back against Syracuse and a formidable Duke squad , that's preparing for the NCAA Tournament and ultimately the Final Four here. I'm super proud." 

Freshman Alli Bitting and sophomores Ayeshia McFerran and Carter Ayars were named to the All-ACC Tournament team. 

And so, the Cards move on to the NCAA Tournament. Yes, they are in...one of the 18 teams (and six ACC squads) who got invites. Louisville will open in Ann Arbor, MI against #9 Northwestern on Saturday (game time to be announced). If UofL wins, they would get either Michigan or Syracuse in Round Two. 

The Cards have played all three schools in the Michigan bracket this year. They fell to the Wildcats of the Big Ten 2-0 in the regular season and Michigan came to Louisville and knocked them around 5-0 in Trager. Louisville had two 3-2 wins over the Orange...one in regular season play and one in the ACC Tournament.

Chances of Louisville getting through this gauntlet and back to Trager Stadium for the Final Four? Difficult but not impossible. Michigan had their number, obviously...and starting the tournament against Northwestern wasn't the best match the Cards could have hoped for. 

Chances of Paulie getting a final post game interview with Field Hockey players and Coach Sowry this year...also difficult but not impossible. It is regrettable and a bit disappointing that the guy who conducted the vast majority of the post-game home interviews this year got shut out twice in a row...but I'll end on a positive note here and say that it has been a joy to cover them this season and they have played some exciting hockey. 

Turn Minnie Mink loose. Jared needs the goals. She's a scorer (that's what she does). A big thanks to him for the wonderful photo work he has done this year and it is featured here again today. You can see all of his photography work from Sunday (and the season) on his Facebook page (Jared Daniel Anderson). 

We'll update you when we get specific game times and ways to watch. The chances are 100% that Cardinal Couple won't be there for live coverage. 


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Louisville men's soccer went through 110 minutes of scoreless soccer Sunday against Virginia before losing in a shootout (Doc Holiday, Wyatt Earp, OK Corral!) The Cards are eliminated from the ACC Tournament with the loss at Lynn and will wait their fate in the NCAA Men's Soccer Selection Brackets that will be released on Saturday. The Cards were ranked 6th in the nation before the game and will hopefully get a chance to host opening action in the 64 team field. 



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THE CARDINAL COUPLE RADIO HOUR

The weekly edition of The Cardinal Couple Radio finally got put up for rebroadcast at WCHQFM. Hear it here: 

THE CARDINAL COUPLE RADIO HOUR 11/3/17

We had big fun talking UofL women's sports, bashing each other, and went off on an interesting tangent about space launches. No, we're not sending Walz to the moon...nor Sowry to Saturn but it was revealing. 
Have a great Monday! 

Paulie