Cards Advance to FH Finals -- SATURDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

 Louisville Scores Early and Often in Semifinal

The Cards put any fears of their offense being MIA to bed yesterday when they scored five goals on Virginia to win 5-2, a match of the score between the two teams earlier this season. So much for my prediction that Louisville would rather play Wake Forest due to Virginia's additional motivation against the Cards. The win was a big one for Louisville, following the disappointing defeat against Syracuse to wrap up the regular season.

Louisville opened the scoring right off the bat with an Aimee Plumb goal less than two minutes into the match. The goal came on live play and is the first item listed in the game's play-by-play breakdown. Just after the opening goal, Madison Walsh attempted to double the Cards' advantage but her shot went just wide. The two teams went on to trade substitutions for the next six minutes with no terribly threatening action on either side before Virginia's Adele Iacobucci got free and tied the match at 1-1 with six minutes remaining in the first quarter. Virginia would go on to get two more shots in the first, with one requiring Hollyn Barr to make the first save of the game for either team, but the whistle blew with the score remaining 1-1.

The second period saw Louisville control the ball for the majority of the action, but it also saw them miss out on three penalty corner chances. The first two chances came back-to-back four minutes into the quarter. Alli Bitting set up Mercedes Pastor, but Pastor's shot was blocked out for another corner. The next set piece saw the same attack, with Meche's second attempt going wide of the goal. For the next eight minutes, neither team could get anything going in attack before Louisville earned their third penalty corner of the period. Again, Alli Bitting took the pass in, but it was Aimee Plumb on the receiving end this time. Plumb lined up her second shot on goal of the afternoon, but it was saved. The two teams headed to the locker rooms still tied at 1-1, and the game began to look like it could go either way.

That all changed with whatever Coach Sowry said in her halftime speech. The Cards came out on the front foot in the third quarter and didn't let up. Two and a half minutes in, Louisville earned their fourth penalty corner of the game. This one saw Madison Walsh with the in-pass to Julie Kouijzer, who continued it along to Katie Schneider. Schneider's shot found the back of the cage. 2-1 Cards. Less than two minutes later, Madison Walsh got the chance to add to the Louisville lead and took it with a shot into the corner. 3-1 Cards. After another four minutes of relentless attack, Louisville earned another penalty corner. Emilia Kaczmarczyk's shot was blocked, but Virginia was unable to clear. Alli Bitting got ahold of the ball and found Margot Lawn, who knocked in her fourth goal of the year and Louisville's fourth of the game. After that, Virginia made a keeper substitution, but the damage had been done. Immediately after entering, though, Henrikson got the opportunity to prove her mettle and saved a Meche Pastor shot. Louisville finished the quarter with a 4-1 lead.

The Cards picked up in the fourth where they left off in the third. Just a minute and a half in, Charlie van Oirschot snagged her third goal of the season and put this one all the way out of reach. Taylor Henrikson was able to pick up two more saves, including one on a Louisville corner attempt, but Virginia's offense couldn't make up the difference. The Cavaliers were able to claw one goal back after cleaning up a Hollyn Barr save on a corner attempt, but making it 5-2 with three minutes left is hardly the most inspiring goal. Louisville would go on wrap up the victory and advance to tomorrow's final. 

The Cards will now get the chance for some payback against UNC. Sure, Louisville took the victory earlier this season, snapping UNC's massive winning streak, and that was a huge win. However, this would be Louisville's chance to win their first conference tournament since winning the MAC in 2004 (hat tip to Kelly Dickey). Also, per that Kelly Dickey tweet, a win would give the Louisville athletic program just its third ACC tournament win since joining the conference (2018 men's soccer and women's basketball). Even more than that, Louisville is playing in a mirrored situation to 2017. In that season, the Cards hosted the ACC tournament and advanced to the finals to take on top-seeded UNC. They lost 1-0. This year, Louisville is the top seed and UNC host the tournament. Turnabout's fair play. Tomorrow's match will get underway at noon and will air on the ACC Network proper. Check out Coach Justine Sowry's postgame interview from yesterday by clicking the link below.

Coach Justine Sowry's Postgame Interview

Cardinal Couple Radio Hour

We're without Jared this week, but Paulie, Jeff, and I will still be bringing you the joy and excitement of Louisville women's athletics on the Cardinal Couple Radio Hour Podcast. As the regular season wrapped up last week, there aren't too many games to review, but that won't slow us down. With a big win yesterday, plus games to preview and more news throughout the week, we'll have plenty to discuss. Tune in to the Cardinal Couple YouTube Channel at 11AM for the live show, or check out the podcast following the conclusion of the live episode. 

Until next time, Go Cards!

-CH-

Cardinal Teams Split Friday Results — SATURDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

 Field Hockey Remains Undefeated

Taking on Virginia in their second to last regular season ACC match, Louisville was looking for a win to remain undefeated and hold on to their number one seed. The Cards went into Charlottesville and handled their business, taking down the Cavaliers in the first of their two games by a final score of 5-2. By my math, that locks up the number one seed for the Cards, as the worst they could now finish in the conference is tied with North Carolina, a team they beat earlier this year and should hold the tie-breaker over. Coach Justine Sowry, of course, will be looking to keep her team’s momentum up and follow through with an undefeated regular season.

Louisville scored early and often in the match yesterday, putting up two goals in the first quarter with the opening goal coming from a Meche Pastor penalty stroke 8 minutes into the game. Louisville would go on to score in every quarter but the second. The Cards’ second goal also came against the run of play, as a penalty corner was converted by Aimee Plumb. It was officially assisted by Meche Pastor, putting her in a class near Emina Eric in terms of goals responsible for. Louisville would finish the game with 9 penalty corner attempts, but the second goal of the game was the Cards’ only conversion. We often talk about missed opportunities on corners, as it can be tough to score otherwise, but Louisville had no troubles yesterday despite the corner issues. 

After UVA clawed one back in the second quarter, the offenses died down briefly for the final ten minutes of the half. Louisville took a 2-1 lead into the half and had to be feeling confident. While confident about your chances at 2-1, you can hardly afford to sit  back and coast to the finish. Fortunately, that’s not what the Cards had in mind. Meche made sure Louisville stayed in control early by scoring just a minute and a half into the third quarter. This one came in live play with the ball being deflected off of a defender before finding the back of the cage.  The Hoos would manage to bring it back to a one score game just a few minutes later but Louisville still wasn’t done. With under a minute remaining in the third quarter, Madison Walsh took advantage of a mess in front of the Virginia goal and tucked the ball away with just 34 seconds remaining in the quarter.

The final quarter saw strong defensive play from the Cards as Virginia tried to get back into it. After ten minutes of no further scoring, Louisville put a bow on the match in the form of a Margot Lawn goal assisted by Embry Jane Imorde. The final goal put the Cards up by three with fewer than four minutes remaining and that was that. Louisville has just two games remaining on the regular season schedule before the ACC tournament gets underway and they’ll play one of those two today. As Jeff and I both mentioned on the show last week, it may not be the worst thing in the world for Louisville to take a close loss prior to the tournament in order to relieve some pressure. The best game to lose would seem to be today’s rematch against Virginia as it will not count as a conference game. Of course, if Louisville isn’t feeling the pressure of an undefeated season, they’re more than welcome to just keep winning. Today’s match is at 2PM and will be aired on the ACC Network Extra. 

Volleyball Loses Winning Streak at Pitt

Despite the struggles that Pitt volleyball has been facing this season, Louisville’s woes against the Panthers persisted in the Fitzgerald Field House last night. The Cards were ultimately swept in this one, but were out scored by a total of only 8 points. Louisville played pretty well, actually finishing with fewer errors than Pitt, but the offense just couldn’t find the gaps with their attack attempts. 

The Cards had 14 blocks compared to just 7 for Pitt and only allowed the Panthers to snag 7 aces to their own 3 while the two teams matched service errors at five. Unfortunately for Louisville, every Pitt advantage seemed to come at exactly the wrong time. While seemingly everyone in red got involved in the block party, the offense was quite spread out as well. Aiko Jones, Claire Chaussee, and Anna DeBeer  all finished with seven kills while Amaya Tillman added six and Anna Stevenson five more. Similarly, Pitt had an extremely balanced offense, and their hitters finished with more total attempts and kills. So it goes.

There isn’t a whole lot more to say about a match like this. Statistically, Louisville was right in it, and if you review just the numbers, it seems unlikely that they would lose in straight sets. But that’s what happened. 26-24, 25-21, and 25-23 shows just how close this match was. Louisville’s best chance at a comeback came in the third set when they managed to take a 19-18 lead, but they just couldn’t hold on. 

The final moves Louisville to 4-2 and Pitt to 4-3. To maintain a lead on the Panthers in the standings, Louisville will have to get revenge tomorrow in the final match of the fall season. Neither team can catch Notre Dame in pod play, but as the fall schedule will just carry over to the spring, the Cards will need to take advantage of their last chance to play one of their rivals, as they spring season will not see any of these teams matched up against one another again. The final match gets underway tomorrow at 3:30PM and should be available on the ACC Network Extra.

No Cardinal Couple Radio Hour This Week

Due to the Noon kickoff for Louisville football pulling Paulie away, Jared working his day away at the money management center, and Jeff and I finding our own messes to get into, we’ll be taking this week off at the Cardinal Couple Radio Hour. We’ll have plenty more to get into when we’re back online next weekend so be sure to stay tuned to the site and to the podcast feed. 

Until next time, Go Cards!

-CH-

Triumph at Trager, Success in Simpsonville and Beating at Blacksburg -- MONDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

# 5 FIELD HOCKEY WINS IN OVERTIME OVER #6 IOWA 3-2

it wasn't one for the faint-hearted Sunday on Floyd Street. 

Louisville Field Hockey managed a miracle goal off a penalty corner with no time remaining in regulation to tie the contest and force an overtime against the Hawkeyes. 

And, then, the winner with four seconds left in overtime. 

Trailing 2-1, a desperation play of sorts...the Cards on a final, last chance attempt to score. They got the corner awarded when an Iowa player deliberately knocked a pass intended for Margot Lawn out of bounds. 

By the rules of Field Hockey, a penalty corner is awarded when a defensive player intentionally hits a ball over the back line, so Louisville was awarded the corner and went into the corner formation. Bethany Russ's shot was stopped after the set but the deflection went to Carter Ayars, hanging out at the corner of the right goalpost. She tapped the orb back in over Iowa goalkeeper Leslie Speight's out-stretched stick for the tying goal. 

Overtime. 

The Hawkeyes almost ended it early in the overtime session when a shot bounced off the post and failed to get into the goal.  Seconds later, a diving stop, out of the circle area, by UofL goalkeeper Hollyn Barr stopped another Iowa drive. 

The Cards mounted another last-chance attempt to score with 15 seconds left in the O.T.

An Ayars pass connected with Alli Bitting who advanced the ball for a shot-on-goal. Her attempt was deflected by an Iowa defender, but Madison Walsh was in position to take the deflection and fire it into the net for the winning goal. Four seconds remained on the clock, but it was over because of the sudden death format of Field Hockey overtimes and the Cards had improved to 13-2 on the season. 

Right place, right time. The right tap in the right place. 

A good day for The Flock on Floyd.


THEY SAID IT

Our Jared Anderson was there post-game to catch comments from Coach Sowry, Carter Ayars and Madison Walsh.

He even managed to get in a few questions for the players. 

JUSTINE SOWRY POST GAME IOWA

MADISON WALSH POST GAME IOWA

The interview with Carter Ayars was split into two parts because she was needed for a team photo. 



CARTER AYARS POST IOWA -- PART I

CARTER AYARS POST IOWA -- PART II


(PHOTOS BY JARED ANDERSON) 


LOUISVILLE WOMEN'S GOLF WINS CARDINAL CUP

Led by Lauren Hartlage's record-tying, program low, seven-under-par 65 the Cards won the Cardinal Cup-- the final campaign in their Fall schedule.

Louisville shot 868 for the three days out at the University of Louisville Golf Club, including a final day of 280, which propelled them from second place to first over Kentucky by eight strokes. 

Hartlage finished the event tied for sixth place with a 216. 

Mairead Martin had a great weekend for UofL, ending up in second place with a 210 over the 54 holes. Hana Ryskova tied for third at 213.

From head coach Whitney Wade Young: 

"It was an unbelievable day. The team really came together. Everyone contributed this week and especially today. They just kept fighting and making birdies. To be able to have my first team victory as a head coach here at the Cardinal Cup...I could not ask for anything more". 

Cardinal women's golf resumes in February when they travel to Melbourne, FL to host the Moon Golf Invitational . 



VOLLEYBALL FALLS IN FOUR AT VIRGINIA TECH. 

Not the best day for the #23 ranked Cardinal Volleyball squad in a four-set loss to Virginia Tech at Blacksburg on Sunday.

The Cards did prevail in the opening set 25-19, hitting .400. A 7-2 run late was the key in the UofL set win. Claire Chaussee had four kills, 

Things took a turn for the worse after that. 

The hitting dropped to .163 in set two and the Hokies used a 7-1 run early to take a lead they would not relinquish. Tied at 22-22, VT got a service ace, a kill and benefited from a Cardinal ball-handling error to come out on top 25-22.

More of the same in set three...VT's 6-0 run early led to a 25-21 win. Louisville hit just .119 for the third set and witnessed a 4-1 VT run late to swing the match in favor of the home squad. 

The Cards put up a brief effort in the fourth set, managing an 8-8 tie early. VT responded with  6-2 run, though to take a 14-10 lead and went on to win 25-17. Louisville hit .181 for the match and was hampered by six service errors.

The Cards were without Melanie McHenry, who suffered a season-ending knee injury at Notre Dame earlier in the week. Aiko Jones had 19 kills for UofL but the visitors fall to 14-4 on the season and suffer their first ACC loss. 


Check today's comments section for a probable and more detailed observation from our Volleyball guru at Cardinal Couple -- Jeff McAdams.  


Have a magical Monday! 

paulie
xxxxx

Another Undefeated Friday -- SATURDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

For the second week in a row, I'm bringing you a column talking about three wins for Louisville women's athletics teams. Two of the three are the same, and soccer did still win their Thursday game, but this week we've added swimming and diving to the list. Let's get into yesterday's goings-on. 

Field Hockey Downs Wake Forest 3-0

For the second night in a row, a Louisville team on Floyd Street defeated Wake Forest to move to 9-1 on the season. Thursday, it was the women's soccer team in a comeback victory that Jared wrote about yesterday. Last night, it was the field hockey team handling the Demon Deacons with little opposition. The final score doesn't show a huge domination, though 3-0 is a strong victory, but the game stats indicate a lopsided game.

Louisville finished yesterday with only two more total shots than Wake, with that battle ending 8-6, but the Cards amassed 6 shots on goal while the Deacs could muster none at all. Even after earning four penalty corners, Wake was unable to pressure Hollyn Barr, who played the whole game and finished with no stats. Louisville scored in the first, third, and fourth quarters to keep up consistent pressure and converted on one of their three penalty corners. Barr's full game is her second in a row, perhaps indicating that Coach Sowry has made a decision about the position going forward. With Minrath on the bench, the team still has a solid option in the event that things go sideways, but Barr appears to have snagged the starting spot for the time being.

Yesterday's first goal came off of a penalty. With just two minutes left in the first quarter, Carter Ayers took the ball downfield and ended up earning a corner. She and Meghan Schneider would start the play and ultimately set up Mercedes Pastor to score her fourth goal of the season. The teams held onto the 1-0 score for about 19 minutes, going through the rest of the first, the entire second, and just the start of the third without any other goals. Madison Walsh changed that when she picked up her fifth goal of the year by tapping in a deep pass from Margot Lawn about a minute and a half into the second half. Three minutes into the final quarter, Walsh picked up a brace when she scored another tap in, this time from Bethany Russ.

All in all, Louisville had a stranglehold over Wake for the majority of the game and made sure to put away their chances. Scoring on 38% of your total shots and 50% of your shots on goal is a pretty efficient day. With Louisville's high volume offense, converting at that rate is going to continue to win a lot of games. Sprinkling in a defense that is capable of shutouts never hurts either. Louisville is back in action on Sunday when Penn State comes to town at Noon. That match will be available on ACC Network Extra.

Check out Paulie's interviews with Coach Sowry and Madison Walsh below. Videos of the interviews are available at gocards.com.

Coach Sowry Recaps the Win

Madison Walsh Talks About Her Double

 Volleyball Makes Short Work of Georgia Tech with Sweep

After pretty much dominating the first two sets, Louisville weathered a comedy of errors that took the third set to extra points before claiming victory over the Yellowjackets of Georgia Tech. After only a pair of errors total in the first two sets, Louisville committed 10 in the final set and hit negative in the third en route to a 27-25 set win. The Cards were saved only by even worse hitting by the Techies who committed 13 errors and also hit negative in that final set. Despite that final set, Louisville still managed to finish with .278 hitting for the night, showing just how strong those first two sets - .433 and .484, respectively - really were.

Louisville finished the match winning in every major category. The Cards won blocks 11-4, aces 4-2, had fewer service errors at 7-8, and fewer overall errors at 12-25. The teams finished tied at 39 kills, but the efficiency of Louisville's hitting was ultimately the difference. As was typical, Anna Stevenson was a brick wall, assisting on 5 Louisville blocks, and Emily Scott and Nena Mbonu got in on the block party as well by snagging a combined two solo and five block assists. Alexis Hamilton reliably led the team in digs, but also added a pair of unlikely receiving errors. Hot on her tail in digs were Melanie McHenry and Aiko Jones with 8.

Offensively, McHenry didn't have the best night, hitting only .125 on 24 attempts, earning 6 kills. Stevenson also finished with 6 kills on 20 attempts. Mbonu was second on the team last night with 8 kills on 18 attempts, a bit of a breakout night for her. Tori Dilfer continued to hold down her starting setter position, earning 30 of the Louisville's 34 assists on the night. The star of the night was undeniably Aiko Jones. Jones had the previously mentioned 8 digs, added 3 block assists and a solo block, and hit a whopping 13 kills with no errors on 18 attempts. She also chipped in with one of the four remaining assists for an all around outstanding night. Only one blemish came out of her night, and it has been one that has haunted for much of the season. Jones finished with 4 service errors and no aces. Despite that, I think when a player is pretty much unstoppable above the net, you'll live with some serves to Nowheresville.

Louisville's win pushes them to 10-3 on the season and 3-0 in conference. The Cards will have one more match at home against Clemson on Sunday at 1 before they hit the road for a massive four game road trip. Louisville will face Duke, Wake, Notre Dame, and Virginia Tech over that stretch before coming home for a big pair of matches against Virginia and Pitt. It's a bit early to be predicting such things, but the Pitt match 7 opponents away could be huge for the conference championship race. Louisville will need to show a bit more consistency and close out against weaker opponents to stay on track this season, but an ugly third set victory last night is still a victory. Cards and Tigers will get underway tomorrow at 1PM in L&N Federal Credit Union Arena and the match will be available on ACC Network Extra.

Swimming and Diving Opens Third Straight Season with Win

Louisville swimming and diving hosted Xavier in a one-on-one meet yesterday and both the men's and women's sides easily claimed victory. The women earned more than three times as many points as the Musketeers and won every race en route to a 194-62 victory. The Cards are beginning their first season without a "superstar" swimmer on the women's side since before Kelsi Worrell arrived, but there are plenty of swimmers ready to take up the mantle. In addition to every winner in the pool, Molly Fears showed yesterday that she still intends to be a champion from the board. She won the dives from both the 1 and 3 meter boards yesterday. Listing every winner for the Louisville swimmers would take quite some time, so let me just say that you should check out the overall results and see how balanced the winners for the Cards were yesterday. 

Cardinal Couple Radio Hour

Due to the early start time for football, we will be without Jared and Paulie in the studio today, but Jeff and I will be joined by Daryl Foust to help keep us on track for the Cardinal Couple Radio Hour. We've got plenty of wins (our favorite thing to talk about) to discuss so we'll break down the weeks in soccer, volleyball, and field hockey before looking ahead to the upcoming weeks and a bit about the upcoming basketball season. Tune in at 11AM on WCHQ FM for the show. WCHQ is available at 100.9 FM, the WCHQ App, wchqfm.com, or on Facebook Live.

Until next time, Go Cards!

-CH-

Cards Sweep Friday -- SATURDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

Soccer Rebounds from UNC Loss, Beats 'Cuse 3-0

After suffering their first loss of the season last Saturday night, the Louisville women's soccer team hit the road for the first time since the opening game of the season. This weekend, the Cards headed to the northeast to take on Syracuse and Boston College to open their conference road schedule. The Cards faced their first hiccup before ever stepping foot on the field in Syracuse. Thursday evening, prior to the scheduled 6PM kick, an e-mail was sent out explaining that the team was suffering from a team-wide illness and that the game would be postponed to Friday morning. Though Syracuse has struggled this year, a team full of players recovering from food poisoning (the presumed culprit) did not inspire a ton of confidence for a strong effort.

Louisville proved me wrong. The Cards rolled out the primary starting lineup, showing that even if everyone wasn't fully recovered, thy were certainly going to go for it. Delaney Snyder got Louisville into business with their first goal less than two minutes into the game. Louisville had taken control of the game early, already earning a free kick deep in the offensive third, but the goal came on a bit of buildup play, with a through ball finding Snyder just barely onside (she looked off to me but the camera angle wasn't good). Snyder dribbled across the top of the box and deftly sent a ground ball into the opposite side of the net. Cards led 1-0.

Later in the half, it was a pair of subs that played add on. Louisville subbed quite a bit yesterday, perhaps showing that not everyone was fully recovered from their illness the night before. In this moment, it was Maisie Whitsett and Corinne Dente doing work for the Cards. In a similar situation to Snyder's goal, Dente found herself getting behind on a through ball from Whitsett. Just like Snyder, she settled herself and found the back of the net. It was Dente's first career collegiate goal (news flash to the Syracuse announcers and the women's soccer twitter, a freshman's first goal of the season is going to be their first career goal), and I get the feeling it won't be the last.

Louisville's final goal came much later in the second half, as Emina Ekic was determined to restart her points streak. Prior to the North Carolina game, Ekic had scored a point in every game except for the Ohio State game. That's a pretty impressive streak, and as long as she is finding ways to affect the offense, Louisville will continue to earn opportunities. Ekic's goal in this one was unstoppable, as her 76th minute shot rose to the upper left corner and was completely out of reach. Ekic's ability to score, assist, and draw fouls is what makes her a Hermann Award watch list player and it's what drives this team. It may be a little early to look at that award list, but with just a month left in the regular season, it will be time for the list to shrink soon. Ekic affects the game in so many ways, including those that show up on the stat sheet, but for those recordable stats, Emina's best is probably points per game. With five goals and four assists through nine games, Ekic currently sits tied for 67th at 1.56 points per game. That mark happens to be tied for fifth in the conference. Ekic is not likely to appear at the top of the list nationally, but she's only a few points behind the top points earner in arguably the top conference in the country. She's doing alright.

Louisville is back in action with what is a quicker turnaround than normal due to the schedule shift. The Cards will take on Boston College tomorrow at noon in Chestnut Hill. The game, like most, will be available on ACC Network Extra. Tune in to see if the Cards can continue to get back to their winning ways and earn their way back to the top half of the conference table. The Cards and Eagles are currently tied at 3 points, with BC sitting at 8-1-1 on the season compared to Louisville's 8-1-0. It should be a good match.

Field Hockey is Huge After Half Against BC

Continuing their trend of playing teams right around the same time as soccer, Louisville field hockey was in Massachusetts yesterday to take on the Eagles of Boston College. The Cards currently find themselves ranked sixth, and since they were playing in a conference game, you can be sure they were in a ranked matchup. This time around, Boston College is ranked 17th, right on the fringe of what might make the tournament this season. In a road match against a tough team, Louisville showed a bit of fight, despite going down early.

The Cards actually made two comebacks in this game, trailing 1-0 for nearly 25 minutes and then 2-1 for just over two minutes. The two teams scored four combined goals in the third quarter in under five minutes, in what was a wild swing for the fans in the stadium. Louisville's goals came from Bethany Russ, already her 8th this year, Margot Lawn (3), and Madison Walsh (4). All three were goals scored by taking advantage of big opportunities. Russ scored on a reserve shot after her shot was illegally blocked. Lawn did what makes everyone happy by converting a corner. Her shot was technically not on the corner, but was a rebound after the initial corner attack. However, since it was all one play, I'm counting it. Finally, Walsh's goal was an open play goal, as she knocked in a goal after her shot was originally saved. 

All three Louisville goals show different skill sets and different abilities to get on goal. A diverse scoring offense is key to not getting stymied by a strong team that can limit specific areas. Also important was the mental fortitude shown by Louisville to come back twice as I mentioned earlier. The Cards didn't give up throughout the first half, and put their halftime coaching to the test by getting a quick goal. After conceding quickly to trail again, a weaker team might get a bit deflated. Louisville instead scored a pair of goals in a pair of minutes to flip the script. 

Louisville's defense should also get a shout. Giving up two goals is not great, but when your team scores three, your only job is to give up fewer than three. Remember that this was a road game against a good team, and one of the goals came on a corner which are always challenging to defend. Perhaps surprisingly, Hollyn Barr went the distance in goal for the Cards, earning one save to go with her two goals allowed. If this was the test to see if she would be taking a stranglehold on the goalkeeping position, I can't say she locked it down. We'll see if Sam Minrath sees her way back into the net soon.

Louisville remains on the road for their next match and, like women's soccer, they'll stay in the northeast. Field hockey will take on the Providence Friars tomorrow at 1PM. This one won't be on ACCNX, but there is a watch link listed that takes you to a video player. Not sure if it's free or paid, but be sure to tune in to watch another good Louisville team.

Volleyball Goes Five in Win Over NC State

For the second match in a row, the Louisville volleyball team needed a fifth set to secure a win, as they did so last night in L&N Federal Credit Union Arena over the Wolfpack of NC State. Like field hockey, volleyball earned their win with multiple comebacks, losing the first and third sets and getting strong victories in the second and fourth to force a decider. 

After starting pretty hot, Louisville's hitting actually trailed off consistently through the third, fourth, and fifth sets. Fortunately for the Cards, so did NC State's. Louisville finished the match with a respectable, but not lovable, 0.254 hitting percentage compared to the Wolfpack's 0.150. The Cards earned more aces (5-4) and dominated in blocks, outblocking the Wolfpack 15-6. Anna Stevenson led the way on blocks, with 2 solo and 5 assisted. Emily Scott had a solo and five assists as well, and even Tori Dilfer got in on the block party with 5 assisted blocks. Dilfer also earned a career high in assists as she picked up 54 of the team's 61 assists in the match.

Leading the way offensively was a familiar name, as Melanie McHenry crushed 29 kills on 61 attempts with just 8 errors for a cool 0.344. I'm thinking she's back. Aiko Jones and Emily Scott effectively tied McHenry as they picked up a combined 29 kills with 7 errors on 68 attempts with 0.308 and 0.345 hitting percentages, respectively. 

Though perhaps not the cleanest win for the Cards against a struggling NC State team that is now 5-8 on the season, no one can complain about a victory in the conference opener. Louisville will have their hands full as they try to keep pace with Pittsburgh and Florida State in the title race, and every win counts. The Cards will be back in action, just like everyone else, tomorrow at 1PM against North Carolina. This match is at home, so if you can make it out, head on over to the Arena Formerly Known as Cardinal. As a home match, it will also be available on ACC Network Extra. 

Cardinal Couple Radio Hour

We're back in the studio once more for the Cardinal Couple Radio Hour this week. Jared is banking and Daryl wants to get to Louder than Life when the gates open, so Paulie, Jeff, and I will man the mics. Jeff may be there in name only, though, as he fights voice issues, and I'll try not to sound like a frog after the first night of LtL yesterday. We'll have plenty of game action throughout the week to talk about as well as important women's basketball news to cover. Tune in to WCHQ FM at 11 AM to listen along. WCHQ is available at 100.9FM, the WCHQ App, wchqfm.com, or on Facebook Live.

Until next time, Go Cards!

-CH-

A Super Sunday -- WSOC, Field Hockey win thrillers -- MONDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

THE UNDEFEATED

Two fall UofL women's sports squads. Two unbeaten squads. Two tough non-conference foes awaited them Sunday. 

One away, one on Floyd Street. One opponent ranked in the top ten and one opponent knocking on the door for top ten status. Both nailbiters. 

Both wins for UofL ! 

Beginning with Field Hockey's trip to the capital city of Ohio, let's run through these two "W"s.

FIELD HOCKEY GOES TO 6-0 WITH 2-1 WIN OVER OHIO ST. 

A quote from years past, from the late John Belushi in the movie Animal House, went: 

"It ain't over until we say it's over" 

and that was the prevailing theme yesterday against the Buckeyes. 

(Hear the dialogue below)

LINK: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tG25f13s2JA

Two second half goals...the first one from senior Bethany Russ to tie the contest...and the clincher from junior Madison Walsh propelled Louisville to this hard-fought, come-from-behind road win. 

Field Hockey is now four quarters instead of two halves, and the first quarter at Buckeye Field was scoreless. three shots per team but no scoreboard movement. A highly questionable decision on a review by the officials led to a penalty shot for OSU halfway through the second quarter. Mackenzie Alleessie, a member of USA junior squads since 2016, lined up for the stroke against UofL goalkeeper Hollyn....no, wait !!...coming in at goalkeeper for the Cards to defend was Sam Minrath...redshirt freshman from Louisville Christian Academy. 

Sowry made a change that was either going to make her look like a genius or leave her with the wrong coupon in checkout lane. 

Alleessie sailed the shot past Minrath and the BuckNuts were on the board. 1-0 Ohio State. I've learned over the years not to harp on coaching decisions...especially with Justine...so, it was what it was. 


And, in the end, it didn't matter. 

Sowry talks to her squad a lot about playing "Louisville Field Hockey" and I'd guess that that was part of the halftime chat. Louisville looked a step slow at times in the first half and, although there are no "possession" stats made available for media perusal...like there are in women's soccer...I'd wager the Big 10 school held the edge in that stat after 30 minutes. 

The Cards came out with a new purpose in the final 30. Sowry re-installed Hollyn Barr between the pipes. The attack was more intensified. As third quarter action drew to a close, Louisville was awarded a penalty corner. The sequence went from Alli Bitting to Megan Schneider to Bethany Russ and the Melbourne, Australia senior drove a shot into the cage for her team-leading seventh goal of the season. The score was 1-1 and the fourth quarter awaited. 

Success came early for UofL in the final session.

At the 13:05 mark, the Cards got another penalty corner provided to them. The previous sequence went to work again...but this time Schneider's 

pass went to Madison Walsh, on the right side of the cage. Walsh gave the orb a tap and GOOOOOOAAALLLLL Cards for the lead!  2-1. The Ville.  

That lead held for the rest of the contest.

Louisville ended up out-shooting OSU 10-6, had six corners to four over the Buckeyes and, most importantly, one more goal.

The action swings to Chapel Hill, North Carolina next for the "stick girls". They'll start ACC play Friday with a encounter against #1 in the land...UNC. 

EPIC EKIC

Meanwhile, back on the Floyd Street ranchero...the kickin' Cards were ready to face #9 Vanderbilt. 

Delaney Snyder lends a helping hand for the cramps in leg

This one went scoreless for 99 minutes (regulation and just about all of the first overtime) until Emina Ekic got clobbered going for a shot and was awarded a penalty kick. 

26 seconds remained. 26 anxious teammates awaited the impending action. 

These penalty kicks, dear reader, differ from the penalty corners. On a penalty kick, it's a one-on-one situation between the goalkeeper and the kicker.

Ekic sized up Commodore goaltender Taiana Tolleson, stepped forward to adjust the ball ever-so-slightly and then stepped back and booted it by the diving goalkeeper for the lone goal of the contest.  She saw a brief "tell" that the goalie was leaning right, so she buried it in the left corner.

"It ain't over until she says it's over"...and Emina had just decided that...it's over. 

The vuvuzela-wielding crowd went crazy, Ekic was mobbed by her joyous teammates and Coach Karen Ferguson Dayes made a small but emphatic fist punch before leaving the sidelines to congratulate the team and the junior from Manual High School in Louisville, KY.  Reserve goalkeeper Lana Batson basically threw Ekic over her shoulder and gleefully carried her off the field as the prolonged celebration wound down. It was fun pandemonium. A must-see moment. The joy and excitement of Louisville women's sports.

You wanna know why we run this website? That's why. For moments like that. 

The "golden goal" improved the Cards record to 7-0 and gave Vandy their first loss of the season. 

It was Ekic's fourth goal of the season. Maybe the biggest of her career.

Both teams had several scoring opportunities throughout regulation, but some brilliant goalkeeping work by both Vandy goalkeepers and UofL's Gabby Kouzelos kept the slate clean until the extra session. 

A contest that had only five shots in the first half. Louisville led those 3-2 and led the possession stats 59% - 41%. Those stats changed in the final 45 minutes to a smaller 51%- 49% Cardinal edge. Overall, the Cards led with 10 total shots and five on goal. Vandy's numbers were four total shots and two on goal. 

Without a doubt the biggest win of the season so far for Coach Karen's crew and a fitting way to end non-conference regular season play.  Louisville faces tough UNC next, on Saturday 21st, at Lynn. 

The TarHeels may come in a bit angry, suffering their first loss Sunday to Arkansas. A 2-10 blanking from Wooo-Pig-Suey. Previously, they were #1 in the nation. 

In a back-and-forth, cat-and-mouse chess game, the Cards got the break, the opportunity and the score. A fitting end to a Super Sunday.

(Soccer photos by Jared Anderson) 

THEY SAID IT

LINK:  EMINA EKIC

LINK:  KAREN FERGUSON DAYES

LINK:  EKIC'S GOAL

paulie

xxxxx

Split Decisions as Two Cardinal Teams Open Season -- SATURDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

Field Hockey Shuts Out Indiana

After a somewhat disappointing offensive performance against Miami (OH) on Sunday, the Louisville Field Hockey team set out to learn some lessons from that game. The Cards were able to put those lessons learned to good use in their first opportunity, as they took it to Indiana yesterday, finishing the game with a final score of 5-0. Bethany Russ scored three goals for the Cards, her first career hat trick coming in the first game of her senior season. Also scoring for the Cards were Madison Walsh and Mercedes Pastor. Walsh also picked up an assist, while Whena Munn assisted on two goals as well. 

The scoring started early, with Russ getting to the IU goal just over three minutes into the game. It was Louisville's first shot of the season, and it found the back of the cage. Good start. The Cards and Hoosiers would finish the rest of the first quarter without any goals, as Louisville continued to pressure the goal but couldn't get anything else to show for it. Louisville's scoring difficulties were dismissed in the second quarter. The Cards scored their next three goals in the first 5:12 of the second quarter, scoring on all three shots in that time period.

Louisville was stifled for much of the second half. According to Coach Justine Sowry, IU adjusted the pace of play and Louisville was unable to react effectively to continue the relentless pressure from before. Flexibility to play styles in different situations is a portion of their game on which the Cards will need to work. Louisville did finally get a fifth goal late in the game, with Bethany Russ scoring her third with just under three minutes remaining in the game, a nice parallel to her first goal.

Despite the strong overall showing, one glaring question remains: who will be the primary goalie going forward? That question wasn't really answered yesterday. Hollyn Barr and Sam Minrath both played 30 minutes yesterday, with Barr taking the 1st half quarters and Minrath getting the 2nd. Both finished with one save, thus giving no one a positional advantage in the shutout. Coach Sowry has been clear that there is not yet a favorite for the position, and has backed that up by giving the two goalies different opportunities with their playing time. It may be notable that Barr has started in both this game and the scrimmage against Miami, but there may not be a lot there given the way that the playing time has otherwise been split. If they can effectively both play significant minutes and continue to not give up goals, maybe it doesn't even matter if there is a true starter.

The Cards will be back in action on Sunday at 12PM when they host UMASS at Trager Stadium. The two have met just twice previously, most recently in 2015. The Cards have won both games in the history of the matchup, but with such a long time between the games (12 years between games one and two and now four years since the last game), the historical matchup is probably not particularly indicative. The Cards will look to continue the strong offensive showing and clean up some of the missteps against the Hoosiers.

Volleyball Falters in Opener Against Florida

Once again, Louisville volleyball is opening the season with a very tough couple of matchups. Once again, they find themselves in a hole to start the season. In front of a sold out crowd at L&N Federal Credit Union Arena, the Cards stumbled their way through a season opening sweep. Louisville kept it fairly close in the second and third sets, ultimately losing both 21-25, but close only counts in horseshoes and hand grenades, neither of which describes the sport of volleyball. 

Louisville's issues from last night aren't hard to find when you open the box score. Louisville was outblocked 14-3 by Florida, and the Cards finished the night with a whopping .107 hitting percentage. While blocks do contribute to the final error number, committing 21 errors while finishing only 32 kills is not an ideal situation. Melanie McHenry led the team with 11 kills, while committing only 5 errors for a final percentage of .222. She was second on the team in hitting, behind Anna Stevenson who finished with a .286 on six kills. The freshman we're all looking for to have a big season as a hitter, Aiko Jones, had a night not worth writing home about, putting in 4 kills but adding 5 errors and finishing with a negative .071. Amaya Tillman was also negative with 2 errors on 8 attempts and no kills. She did contribute with the only solo block on the night and two block assists, however. 

Outside of hitting, Louisville was forced into positions they couldn't quite be fans of. Alexis Hamilton, as expected, led the team with 11 digs, though that number seems rather small. McHenry was forced into defensive action as well, with seven digs herself. The one that stands out as rather unfortunate is 11 total digs between Tori Dilfer and Shannon Shields. Defensive action by a setter is considered a loss on any possession. While it may not guarantee a loss of a point, it certainly puts you in a bad offensive position. Think trying to play an offensive possession in basketball but your point guard is off limits. 

In the setter battle, Dilfer appears to have a lead, as she started all three sets and saw the lion's share of the playing time. She finished with 19 of the Cards 29 assists on the night on 47 attempts. Shields finished with just 5 on 31 attempts, which is not quite as good. However, Shield was not likely playing with the 1s quite as often as Dilfer, giving her a bit of a pass in that particular category. I imagine that the setter battle will continue for at least a bit longer. If nothing else, Shields would be a more than serviceable backup to spell Dilfer for whatever reason. 

All in all, it was an unfortunate way to start the season, but we are talking about taking on a top-ten team in the country. It would have been nice to take a set, but it wasn't like Louisville was beaten by ten in each set of the sweep either. The Cards lost by an average of just over five points per set, which can easily be swung on any given day. Louisville will get a chance at redemption tonight when they take on Texas A&M at 7PM (or following the Florida/Dayton match, whichever comes later). Head on over to the Arena to root on the Cards.

Cardinal Couple Radio Hour

Well, we're in it now. Four games this week have us ready to bring the heat on the Cardinal Couple Radio Hour. The summer slump is officially over, and it's time to get back into the groove. Tune in as the stars align to allow the A-Team to get back together in the studio this week. The Cardinal Couple Radio Hour begins at 11AM on WCHQ. Find WCHQ at 100.9FM on local radio, the WCHQ App, at wchqfm.com, or watch along on Facebook Live.

Until next time, Go Cards!

-CH-

Friday Sees Mixed Results -- SATURDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

Volleyball Takes Two at Stacey Clark Classic

After the women's soccer team fell at Purdue Thursday night, Coach Karen Ferguson-Dayes squad probably passed Coach Dani Busboom Kelly and the Louisville Volleyball team somewhere on I-65. The Net Cards headed up to Purdue for a three match set yesterday and today, taking on Lipscomb, Xavier, and Purdue. 

Louisville played Lipscomb in the first match of the tournament yesterday at noon and may have been looking ahead to the other two matches a bit. Lipscomb made themselves seen and refused to be walked over by the better team in Louisville. In fact, the Bisons were able to take an extended third set off of the Cards at 28-30 and led 18-14 and 22-21 in the final set before Louisville was able to wake up and finish the match. Louisville ultimately took the match 3-1, but played a much closer match than I'm sure they anticipated. 

As is to be expected in a match that goes additional sets, the final raw numbers were a bit higher than normal. Melanie McHenry led the Cards with 17 kills and was followed by Jasmine Bennett (14) and Megan Sloan (10). Molly Sauer added 5 (!!) service aces to her 23 digs and 5 assists, and Emily Scott contributed to 9 of 13 team blocks. Lipscomb did not have the ability to take Wilma Rivera out of her typical role as she assisted 45 of the team's 59 kills and added 2 kills of her own. 

As a match that the Cards ultimately won, it is hard to find exactly where they went wrong. They won the first two sets 25-20 and 25-14, but after that they may have forgotten that it was a best of five series. Errors are easy to point at as a culprit, as the Cards committed only 4 total in the first two sets followed by 7 and 5 in the third and fourth respectively, but there is more to it than that. I don't think Lipscomb suddenly got a lot better during the halftime break, so it is definitely something to look out for in the future. Earlier in the season, Louisville was having trouble getting out of second sets. Now do we have to worry about them looking past lower tier teams? Let's hope not.

In the second match of the day for the Cards, they took on the Musketeers of Xavier. Xavier was 1-5 coming into the match and they left it at 1-6. Ultimately, they put up no real resistance to the Cards, with Louisville completing the sweet 25-18, 25-15, 25-14. Xavier's best hitting percentage in the match came in the first set when they hit .074. Both other sets were negative. In addition to Xavier's best hitting set, Louisville committed 7 errors in the first set, leading to the relative closeness of that score. The Cards cleaned it up a bit after that and walked out of the building with two wins. They'll take on Purdue, the biggest test of the weekend tonight at 7:30PM.

Once again, Melanie McHenry led the way with 15 kills, this time with no one joining her in double digits. Claire Chaussee was closest with 8. Melanie had a very big game, completing one of her highest hitting percentages of the season at .440. I know that Xavier was a very down team, but being able to complete kills and find spots even against a bad team is important. If you can do it against an inferior opponent, you have a better chance of doing it against better teams. 

Wilma Rivera was called on to get 6 digs in this one, second only to Molly Sauer's 9, but she was still able to contribute 28 assists out of the team's 35 on 40 kills, so it's safe to say she was still comfortably in her role. The Cards again put up double digit team blocks with 12 but had far too many service and hitting errors. 

While I just made a case about Louisville overlooking lower tier teams and then talked about them thumping Xavier, I still think the point is valid. Xavier is very bad, and Louisville still was not the cleanest against them. Had Xavier been of the talent level of Lipscomb, the match probably would have been very similar. Louisville will play tough matches and they will play less tough matches in the ACC. The goal is to always win the games that you should, and I would hate for the Cards to drop matches that they shouldn't due to a lack of focus. There is still plenty of time to get it together this season, but they'll need to do so relatively quickly if they'd like another shot at an ACC title. 

Field Hockey Falls To UNC

Louisville began their conference season the same way that they ended it last year: a loss to North Carolina. The Cards actually struck first in this one with a goal by Katie Schneider, assisted by Madison Walsh, 10 minutes into the game. Unfortunately, that goal would be one of only three shots on goal the Cards could muster as the Tar Heels dominated for most of the rest of the game. 

The majority of the action (and all of the scoring) came in the first half, as UNC put up 12 total shots. They scored three times in the half, and 3-1 would be the final score. UNC was content to come out of the half playing more defensively, as they only put up 4 shots in the second half, even while winning 4 corners. Ayeisha McFerran started in goal and finished the game with 6 saves. One of the UNC goals came off of a rebound off of McFerran's pads and another came from penalty corner. Both are hard to blame on McFerran and the turnover in Louisville's defense may be starting to show. The Cards have always been a strong defensive team but now have two losses where they've given up three goals in a single half. 

There is not much good to glean from this match. North Carolina was able to do pretty much whatever they wanted. They are the number 2 team, sure, but Louisville was number 11 and you'd like to see UNC have to work for it a bit. The Cards were outshot convincingly 16-5 (10-3 SOG) and that's with UNC letting off of the gas in the second half. I harped on the defense a bit before, but not having consistent attacking can also contribute to too much pressure on the defense. Louisville lost a lot in the attack over the summer and Coach Justine Sowry will need to find some answers fast or the high hopes that Louisville had of building on last season may be slipping away already.

Field hockey takes on California in their next match on Sunday at 2PM. That is a home game but is also available on ACC Network Extra. Cal is 2-1 on the season with a 5-0 loss to #4 Maryland and will take on UNC today at 1PM. Cal's wins were a 5-1 win over Providence to start the season and a narrow 1-0 victory over Miami (OH) this past Sunday. The Cards will hope to get back on track with a win tomorrow.

JUSTINE SOWRY POSTGAME

UNC COACH KAREN SHELTON POSTGAME

Cardinal Couple Radio Hour

After taking the day off last week, I'm back in the studio today for the Cardinal Couple Radio Hour. We'll have plenty to talk about this week with nearly every fall sport in action, so be sure to tune in to WCHQ FM at 11AM. The show is available on local radio at 100.9 and online via the website (wchqfm.com), the app (WCHQ FM), or on Facebook Live. Join us as we bring you the joy and excitement of Louisville women's sports as only the Cardinal Couple Crew can.

Until next time, Go Cards!

-CH-

Field hockey pictures in today's article provided by Jared Anderson. As always, check out more of his work at jdaphotos.com.