Women's Soccer Roster Preview -- TUESDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

Cards Look to Replace Significant Production

With Louisville women's soccer just under a month away from kicking off their season with an exhibition and just over a month away from beginning the regular season in earnest, what better time to take a look at the roster than now? The Cards have had quite a bit of roster turnover due to graduations and transfers, so let's take some time to see who is gone, who is back, and who is filling the gaps.

The Goalkeepers

Because the goalkeeper position is so intertwined with departures, returnees, and new entrants, I'm breaking it out here. Louisville had the unique problem of replacing a career stalwart in goal last season. Gabby Kouzelos graduated after playing six seasons for the Cards. Kouzelos is Louisville's career leader in games played with 85, having started in all of them. To have done that as a goalkeeper is even more impressive, as she played more than 2,000 minutes more than the next highest goalkeeper (Meredith Miller, 01-04) and has the fifth lowest goals against average (1.13). Kouzelos's 28 shutouts were good for 33% of her total matches and put her atop the leaderboard in that career stat as well. (Side note: As impressive as Kouzelos's numbers are over her entire career, they benefit from Louisville only having the services of Joanna Haig for two years in 2006 and 2007. Haig only played around 3,600 minutes, about 4,000 fewer than Kouzelos, but those made up nearly every minute of the 41 games in those two seasons. She put up a goals against average of 0.48 and had 20 shutouts (48.7%). That's... pretty good.) 

While losing an experienced goalkeeper is unfortunate, Gabby Kouzelos showed that KFD is more than willing to hand over the reins to a freshman goalkeeper and let that player defend their position for their career. While Olivia Pratapas looked set to inherit the spot between the pipes for Louisville, her role was threatened by the incoming transfer of Alyssa Zalac and the arrival of freshman Erynn Floyd. As it turned out, Pratapas had no competition from Zalac, as Alyssa was inactive for the season. Early on, Coach Karen Ferguson-Dayes seemed content to rotate Pratapas and Floyd to determine who would earn the spot. It took much less time than expected for the full-time job to be handed over to Floyd. Pratapas ultimately earned just 212 minutes, playing in three games, while Floyd played 1228 minutes in 14 starts.

Olivia Pratapas, originally from Clemmons, North Carolina, transferred to NC State following the 2022 season. NC State notes that they were interested in Pratapas during her initial collegiate search, but that she committed to Louisville very early in the process. While it's unfortunate to see a player transfer in conference, we wish her the best going forward.

UofL Athletics

As noted, the goalkeeping position appears to be Erynn Floyd's to lose entering the 2023 season. Floyd allowed 17 goals over her 14 games, an average of just 1.25. She had a save percentage of 65.3%, with 32 total saves. Louisville only scoring 13 goals on the season didn't help her win/loss record, but she also played with a pretty stout defense in general. Floyd showed a lot of promise as a freshman, so it will be interesting to see her development.

While Floyd has the keys to the car, it's not yet clear if it's only a lease. The aforementioned Zalac has a full season under her belt in the program and is technically in the same class as Floyd after redshirting at Ole Miss prior to transferring. Zalac is interesting, having been eligible to play last year but seeing no time. Zalac hasn't seen live action since club ball in Quebec in 2019. Her one season at Vanier College in Montreal was scrapped due to Covid in 2020 and she didn't play prior to redshirting at Ole Miss.

Another transfer also entered the goalkeeper room this season. Malene Nielsen is a junior transfer from Fairleigh Dickinson (perhaps best known for the puns on their name during March Madness). Nielsen hails from Juelsminde, Denmark and is of no relation to junior midfielder Ava Nielsen. Nielsen started 21 games last season, allowing 1.88 goals and tallying 100 saves. She had five or more saves in 10 games, tallying nine in the season opener. In her freshman season, Nielsen was named NEC Goalkeeper of the Year and made the All-NEC First Team. She played in every minute of the 2021 season, allowing just 1.2 goals per game and saving 78.7% of shots faced. My guess is that this is the primary threat to Erynn Floyd, and I would expect to see all three goalkeepers early in the season.

Key Departures

Louisville loses a number of major contributors from last season. While a total of nine players left the program via graduation, transfer, or other departure, three of those players recorded no stats for the Cards in 2022. Two freshmen, Evelyn Pazienza and Riley Goss, and junior Riley Mullady didn't get on the field last year and are no longer a part of the team. In addition to the three players departing that earned no stats, five other rostered Cardinals saw action in 0 games. Since we've already talked about goalkeepers, I'll take them out of the equation as well. For the purposes of any future stats, the numbers will be out of the 19 field players that played in at least one game. 

Jared Anderson

Louisville loses Sarah Hernandez, Patricia Ward, Corinne Dente, Anouk Denton, and Maisie Whitsett. That's five of 19 active players from last season, right around 26%. The production they lose, though, is a bit more lopsided than that. All five players played in every game in which they were available. Four of the five were regular starters, with the fifth being a top sub that earned seven starts. The team loses 34.4% of its minutes from last season. The average active player for Louisville played 758 minutes last year. Hernandez and Denton played 1260 each. Only Ravin Alexander (1416) and Savina Zamborini (1287) played more. Ward and Whitsett also exceeded the average, each with around 900 minutes, while Dente came in at 609.

Although two of the five departures are defensive starters, the offensive production lost is even more significant. Louisville loses just 36% of its shots from last year, but it loses 61.5% of goals, 50% of assists, and 58.8% of total points. Louisville's 13 goals were scored by eight players. All five departing players scored at least one goal, with Maisie Whitsett being the team leader. Three of the players took above the average number of shots (at least 10), and Whitsett accounted for nearly 33% of the team's points on her own. She had four goals and three assists on the year. 

Sarah Hernandez didn't have the flashy offensive stats, but she had been a defensive stalwart since her freshman year. Hernandez played in 82 games over five years, starting in every one. In those 82 games, she played 7,404 minutes. That's an average of 90.3 minutes per game. There are 90 minutes in a regulation match. Replacing a center defender like that doesn't come easy. Hernandez was an instrumental part of the defense Gabby Kouzelos commanded, and she made it her own last year in Kouzelos's absence. In addition to being the primary defender, Hernandez finished her career with eight goals and an assist. She scored three game winners. Just like losing Kouzelos was hard the year before because of all she provided on and off the pitch, losing Hernandez will be hard this season.

Jared Anderson

While the Cards expected to lose four of these five players, it doesn't make it easier to stomach. Graduations can be planned for, but Louisville would have liked to have had more production from returning players to count on. They'll now need to depend on the incoming freshmen and transfers that much more. For a team that struggled offensively as much as it did last season, watching half of that offense walk out the door is a bit painful. 

The big shock came when the Cards learned they would also lose Anouk Denton. Denton decided to leave Louisville to return to England to play for West Ham United in the Women's Super League. It's hard to fault her for the decision, but it means Louisville loses two of four defensive starters from last season instead of just one. Denton was a major factor in Louisville's strong defense as well as their play from the back, as Denton worked the opposite side of the field from Ravin Alexander. She had a goal and 11 shots out of the back. 

Key Returners

Perhaps Louisville's most important returner is the previously mentioned Ravin Alexander. Alexander returns for a graduate year in what will be her fifth active season for the Cards. She redshirted as a freshman in 2018. Alexander has started in 56 of her 57 career matches. While she has just two goals and no assists in that time, she has played in over 90% of the available minutes. Alexander has put 50% of her 30 shots on frame, presenting pressure to the opposing defense if not actually getting the ball in the back of the net. Her presence is most felt in her recovery speed on the outside of a wide defensive line. Alexander frequently works the ball up the sideline, but is hardly ever beaten back after a turnover. The ability to work both directions will remain critical as the Cards need to replace both her running mate and a center defender this year.

Aiding Alexander on the back line will be one of the freshman revelations from last season, Karsyn Cherry. Cherry stepped in alongside Sarah Hernandez in the center of the defense. She was afforded a bit of leeway defensively with Hernandez there to clean up some mistakes, but she loses that safety net this year. Hernandez's presence allowed Cherry to float forward, as she threatened Whitsett's offensive dominance early in the year. Cherry ended up second on the team in goals, as she finished with three. Cherry played 1230 minutes in 14 games. She'll be asked to develop quite a bit, as the lead of the defense will fall on her shoulders, but she showed last year she can be quite capable. 

Jared Anderson

Savina Zamborini came into her own a bit last year. Zamborini will be looking to get on top of the ball more this year, as she came away with no goals and just one assist offensively last season. Zamborini played 1287 minutes, starting all 16 games, but she was able to put just eight of 28 shots on frame. With Whitsett out the door and Cherry being asked to hold back, Zamborini will need to find the back of the net this season. She's more than capable, and the issues could be fixed in training, but if the junior was in her head last year, the pressure may make that even worse this year. We'll look for a fast start for Savina to get out ahead of the yips.

Another freshman surprise last season was the midfield pair of Addie Chester and Lizzie Sexton. They played 820 and 920 minutes, respectively, with 15 and 16 games played and 12 and 13 games started. Chester played more of the offensive minded midfield role with Sexton filling the center defensive mid style. Chester finished with two assists and took 17 shots, but she couldn't find the back of the net. Both of these players taking big steps forward could be critical for the Cards.

The New Additions

Louisville was a very young team last year. Seventeen players on the roster were freshman or sophomores, with 11 of those being active contributors. While there are still 14 underclassmen on this year's roster, only five are freshmen. Eight of the nine returning sophomores played in at least one game and seven of those eight played in at least half of Louisville's games. In addition to the five freshmen, Louisville brought in four transfers, with one being goalkeeper Malene Nielsen. Joining her are forwards Maya Anand and Amber Jackson and defender Lucy Roberts.

It looks like KFD may be attempting to fill the major holes left behind with upperclassmen transfers. Roberts and Anand are both grad transfers, while Jackson is a senior. The Cards replace one English defender with another in Lucy Roberts, who comes from USF and has previously missed time due to English National Team obligations. Roberts was on the TDS Preseason Best XI Freshman team ahead of the 2019 season and proved worthy with an all-conference rookie team selection. She has started 57 games and scored six goals with two assists. At age 17, Roberts became the youngest player in Liverpool history to debut for the WSL team. 

Maya Anand comes to us from Binghamton, which competes in the America East conference. Over the last two seasons, Anand started 36 games and scored 18 goals. She was the 2022 America East Striker of the Year. Amber Jackson started 52 games in three years for Oregon State. She has played a full 90 on 12 occasions and scored eight goals over the last two years while adding three assists in each. Jackson also had two assists as a freshman. 

In addition to the two international transfers, Louisville brings in two international freshmen in Viktoria Wik (Denmark) and Fiona Gaißer [Gaisser] (Germay). Each has represented their country at the U-17 level and plays high level club ball. Wik is a midfielder with HB Koge, who advanced to the second round of the 2022 Women's Champions League and currently leads the Danish League. Gaisser plays as a forward for Bayern Munich II in the second division of the German women's league. She scored seven goals in the most recent season and has scored nine goals in 25 matches over the last three seasons.

Louisville's other three freshmen come from America, though one is from the west coast. Emma Sanchez is a defender who played club ball for Northwest Elite FC ECNL out of Washington. She did not play high school soccer. Sanchez was named to the All-Conference First Team in the 2021-22 season and has been part of the US Soccer ID Camps. The other two freshmen are in the midfield. Molly Cochran is from Madeira, Ohio and was All-Conference First Team in the Ohio Valley ECNL playing for Ohio Elite. She was selected for last year's ECNL national game. Cochran earned First Team All-Conference honors in high school three times and was named to the All-American and All-State teams in her sophomore year. Betsy Huckaby is a local product, playing for South Oldham High School. South Oldham went 77-11-2 in Huckaby's four years, winning the state championship last year after finishing as runners-up the year before. Huckaby was first team all-region and second team all-state as a junior. She bested herself as a senior by being named District MVP, 8th Region POTY, first team all-state, and Ms. Kentucky Soccer.

Louisville loses a lot from last year, but the future is bright with the returning talent and incoming stars. The season starts soon. I'll see you there.

Until next time, Go Cards!

Case

Random Louisville Women's Sports News -- FRIDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

We've come to the weekend at last, Cards fans! I am no Daryl, as she and I traded days so she could keep working hard with the Louisville Bats. Summertime can be tricky as there is usually minimal news for us to hit, especially with current teams and players.

We do have random news and notes to hit that have happened periodically throughout this past week that we might not have mentioned yet that we for sure want to hit before the weekend officially arrives.

Oh, and for the kiddies...the 80's sensation --  the Lover Boy video "Working for the Weekend" HERE

Louisville Volleyball in Brazil

Louisville volleyball continues their summer trip to Brazil and remained undefeated with a 3-1 victory over the Brazilian U21 National Team. The Cards took the match by winning three straight sets (25-23, 25-17, 25-19) after dropping the opening set 19-25.

Women's Soccer Representation with Indy Eleven

Louisville women's soccer has plenty of representation on Indy Eleven in their USL W League. Last night, Indy Eleven took on St. Charles, but fell 2-0. Current Cardinals Addie Chester and Lizzie Sexton were part of the starting XI.

Cardinal alum Maisie Whitsett entered the match as a substitute. She led the 'Eleven' with five shots. Current Cardinal Karsyn Cherry is also listed on the roster but did not play.

Ekic Back with Racing Louisville

Louisville women's soccer legend Emina Ekic returned to the pitch this week with Racing Louisville following a stint on the inactive list due to injury. She subbed in during the second half of Racing's 3-0 victory over Houston in front of roughly 5,000 fans and nearly 200 dogs.

Engstler Signs with Lynx

Louisville women's basketball alum Emily Engstler is back in the WNBA. She recently signed on with the Minnesota Lynx under a hardship contract due to the Lynx have two players out with injuries.

While Engstler is guaranteed to be on the roster for at least three weeks with multiple other players out, her contract is subject to change as other players return.

She will be eligible to play when the Lynx take on the Los Angeles Sparks tonight at 10:00 p.m. ET. The Lynx will remain out west when they face the Las Vegas Aces on Sunday at 9:00 p.m. ET.

Go Cards !

Jared

WBB Faces Virginia Tech -- WSOC News -- THURSDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

Louisville Travels to Ranked Virginia Tech

Louisville women's basketball hits the road to face #13 Virginia Tech tonight at 7:00 p.m. The game is slated to be aired on ACCNX with Jason Patterson and Mack McCarthy on the call. You can also tune into 93.9 FM to hear Nick Curran and Cortnee Walton.

The Cards are fresh off wins against Georgia Tech (63-55) and Pitt (76-69) at home. The wins moved Louisville to 13-5 on the season and 4-1 in ACC play. 

After a hot 10-0 start to the season, Virginia Tech has dropped three of their last six games to get to 13-3. The Hokies post a 3-3 mark in ACC play with wins against Boston College, North Carolina, and Virginia. Their losses game against Notre Dame, Miami, and Clemson. Their non-conference schedule features wins against Power Five opponents Kentucky, Tennessee, Missouri, and Nebraska.

Virginia Tech has been tough at home, going 8-1 at Cassell Coliseum. The Hokies have averaged 2,608 per game at home, which is slightly under par for the average attendance per game in the ACC in recent years (2021-22- 2,973; 2020-21- 3,144; 2019-20- 2,885). Attendance numbers provided by the NCAA.

Kenny Brooks is having arguably his best season as the helm for Virginia Tech, where he is currently 137-72 all-time. The Hokies have never made it past the second round in the NCAA Tournament since he took over in 2016.

This year, VT has been outscoring opponents 74.9-55.4 on average. On the offensive end, they have shot extremely well at .433 from the field and .337 from three. They've averaged 15.8 assists per game.

Three-point defense has been strong for the Hokies, allowing opposing teams to shoot just .261 from downtown. They've also forced opponents into 16.1 turnovers per game. 

Elizabeth Kitley has been a workhorse for the Hokies this year. The 6-6 senior is a walking double-double, averaging 18.4 points per game and 10.7 rebounds per game. She also leads the team with 32 blocks. Five other Hokies average between 9.8-13.9 ppg, giving VT several scoring threats.

The free throw line has been a strong suit for Virginia Tech, as no player is shooting below .708 from the line. They've shot a collective .762 from the charity stripe this year.

A ranked road match-up will help show how far the Cards have come this season after a few speed bumps early in the year. A win would surely strengthen the case for Louisville to get back into the Top 25. A win would keep the Cards in the top three in the ACC while a loss could potentially drop them several spots.

Walz's Wednesday Presser

Coach Jeff Walz held a presser to discuss the upcoming VT game on Wednesday at The Planet Fitness Kueber Center media room

You can hear the presser at:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qrxoIyp_pNg

Women's Soccer News

The NWSL Draft is tonight at 6:00 p.m. Sadly, this is only being aired on Paramount+. Pretty sad when they can't get something better than that. We do wish Cardinal Great Maisie Whitsett the best of luck in hoping she hears her name called.

Sticking with women's soccer for a moment, Louisville women's soccer announced their spring schedule this week. The Cards will face Racing Louisville on Feb. 26 in what we believe will be at Lynn Family Stadium downtown. The release mentioned Racing Louisville's facilities downtown so it could be at their training facility as well. Louisville will also participate in the Spring Cup where they will face Bowling Green in Bowling Green, Ohio, host Michigan State, and then face a third team to be named later.

Happy Thursday and Go Cards!

Jared

WSOC Falls to FSU -- FH Hosts Indiana -- Vball Visits Miami -- FRIDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

Another Trip Around the Sun

Another year older and wiser. The older part I can certainly believe, but the wiser part seems farfetched. I celebrated an enjoyable 28th birthday yesterday that was capped off by a visit to Brazeiros Brazilian Steakhouse, a first for me. I won't say no to red meat! The food coma afterwards was a different story.

Sorry, no selfies. I was too busy practicing folk and knife execution. 

Jimmy Buffet and Martina McBride sang a little ditty about birthdays. Here it is for you:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BaKqwvGa6Bw

Women's Soccer Falls at Florida State

Louisville women's soccer began a three-match road slate by visiting #7 Florida State last night. Unfortunately, for Louisville, it was not a pretty match, with the Seminoles claiming a 5-1 victory.

Just 88 seconds into the match, FSU found the back of the net. The Seminoles were awarded a penalty kick and they would not be denied. 11 minutes later, Florida State would add a second goal.

Louisville would not be shut out thanks to a Maisie Whitsett goal in the 32nd minute. The Cards were awarded a penalty kick with the super-senior chosen to take the kick. Whitsett aimed to her left. The FSU keeper dove the same way, but was too slow to stop Whitsett's rocket, her fourth score this year.

The Cards went into the half down 2-1, but it was all Florida State the second half. Another quick score less than five minutes into the match helped the Noles build a 3-1 cushion. Another Florida State goal eight minutes later extended their lead. Barely a minute after their fourth goal, FSU added a fifth.

Jenna Nighswonger scored twice and assisted on two others for Florida State, who outshot the Cards 17-4.

Louisville falls to 4-2-2 on the year with a 1-1-0 record in the ACC. They return to action on Sunday when they visit #2 Virginia at 2:00 p.m.

Field Hockey Hosts Indiana

A few fall sports are on campus this weekend, but the only women's sport playing at home is Louisville field hockey. #4 Louisville stays at Trager for the second straight weekend and hosts Indiana today at 6:00 p.m. This one will be on ACC Network Extra.

The Cards come into the match with a 7-1 record after falling to North Carolina and whooping Fairfield recently. The loss to UNC did not knock the Cards down in the rankings.

Indiana brings a 6-3 record into the match. They're 0-2 against ranked opponents with losses to Liberty and Iowa. The 6-3 start is similar to the 2021 season, where the Hoosiers had a decent non-conference record before getting chewed apart in conference play to finish 10-10.

IU is fresh off a 2-0 victory against Longwood at home. Sydney Keld logged both scores to give her three goals on the year, a mark that is tied for second on the team with Anna Mozeleski. Jemima Cookson has been their top scorer with six goals and 13 total points.

Indiana has limited opponents to 15 goals this year, much to the credit of keeper Arabella Loveridge. The sophomore keeper has 32 saves for a .681 save percentage while logging every minute in goal this season.

 I plan to be in attendance to catch this one.

Volleyball Visits Miami

Riding a hot streak and now up to #2 in the country, Louisville volleyball begins ACC play on the road in the Sunshine State. The first stop on the tour is in Coral Gables, where Miami awaits them.

Miami had a hot start to the year by winning their first six matches. Since then, they've gone 1-4 with losses to UIC, #25 UCF, South Carolina, and #21 Oregon. The Hurricanes went from being just outside the top-25 do dropping way down.

Anglea Grieve has been the go-to outside hitter this year with 126 total kills (3.23 kills/set). Peyman Yardimici and Flormarie Heredia Colon has also been strong on the outside with 113 and 111 kills, respectively. Miami is a strong serving team with 66 aces and four players in the double-digits.

Savannah Vach has been one of the star players as their setter. With 430 total assists, the senior is averaging more than 10 per set. Blocking has been a committee approach for the Canes. Six players have been involved with anywhere from 14-26 blocks and a as a team Miami is out-blocking opponents 96-81

This 7:00 p.m. start time is slated for ACC Network Extra.

Happy Friday and Go Cards!

Jared

Women's Soccer Ties Indiana -- FRIDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

Louisville Earns Second Consecutive Scoreless Draw

Indiana entered last night's match just 1-0-3 on the season, but all three draws had been scoreless. Add on a 3-0 win in their last outing, and the Hoosiers had a season-long clean sheet running. Louisville was coming off of the highs of a thrilling back and forth win over a ranked team and a thoroughly meh 0-0 draw against JMU. 

The Cards hosted Alumni Night and had a good turnout for the regional rivalry match, including a pair of members of the Racing Louisville squad in Emina Ekic and Allison Whitfield. Despite pretty good efforts, Louisville was unable to be the first team to score on Indiana this season, and the whistle blew on the Cards' second straight 0-0 draw and the fourth in five matches for IU.

Despite the final scoreline, the game was not without excitement. The two teams combined for 17 shots and put eight of them on frame. Louisville led the way with 11 shots, but had only one more shot on goal: 5-4. For IU's Jamie Gerstenberg, a four-save performance contributed to her fifth clean sheet of the season and 15th of her career. As just a sophomore goalkeeper, that's quite the performance. Gerstenberg's impressive mark was nearly ruined early, though, as Louisville earned a corner just 14 seconds into the match. The ball fell to Karsyn Cherry, who has been known to score a time or two from that position. Unfortunately, this one was high. The corner to open the match was hardly the prime opportunity for the Cards, however.

The big chance came in the fourteenth minute, when Gerstenberg was subjected to a questionable back pass. The pass and subsequent touch took her to no-man's land towards the side of the box and the ball fell to Savina Zamborini's feet. With nothing but an open net in front of her, Zamborini lined up a methodical shot and placed it right on goal. Unfortunately for Louisville, the shot had all of the pace of an empty jar of salsa, and an IU defender was able to clear it away. So it came to pass that Gerstenberg would finish with four saves and a clean sheet on a night that Louisville had five shots on goal.

The Cards would get a couple of more chances to break the draw as the game went on, but not before IU took their turn. Despite being scoreless in their first three matches, the Hoosiers were able to string together some concerning offense. It took them a bit to get into the flow of the game, but for a stretch of 10-12 minutes, Indiana became the aggressor. The run saw Indiana with three shots, two on frame, with Louisville earning a couple of counter-attacking shots that were off the mark. 

Louisville finally regained composure and worked their offense forward, but not before losing Maisie Whitsett to an ankle injury. Whitsett, admirably defending from the front, slid through a ball near midfield, when her heel dug into the turf. She wasn't the first or last player to gain unwanted purchase in the ground while sliding, but hers did appear to be the most significant. Whether it was a rolled ankle or a significant kick to the ankle bone on the follow through that got her, Whitsett's night was done after just 21 minutes. She was able to walk without a noticeable limp on the sideline in the second half, but she didn't see any more game action.

As the half wound down, Louisville got into the offensive third again, shortly after Indiana forced a save from Floyd. This time, Patricia Ward found herself relatively alone in the box and tried a shot. The effort had some speed and necessitated a reach, but it was pretty much straight at Gerstenberg, who didn't have to jump to palm it over the goal. On the ensuing corner, Louisville was unable to get another attempt. After that, the teams played a harmless six minutes before heading into the locker room.

The second half started more tepidly than the first, with a foul going against each team as the only recordable stat for almost ten minutes. Anouk Denton broke the monotony for Louisville, picking out a shot in the 55th minute. Unfortunately for Denton and the Cards, it wasn't really intended to be a shot, and Gerstenberg had little difficulty in grabbing it for a save. 

The next substitution sequence saw a bit of a rarity: a mid-half unforced goalkeeper substitution. With 33 minutes remaining in a tense 0-0 match against a team that had not yet given up a goal, I was a bit baffled at the decision to disrupt the defensive structure so abruptly. Don't get me wrong, I'm excited for Oliva Pratapas to get a chance to earn the starting position, but the moment seemed all wrong. Those concerns were exacerbated immediately by a poor decision to call for a back pass followed by a disastrous clearance that resulted in a long throw opportunity for Indiana. The Hoosiers had shown their throw-in set pieces to be nearly as dangerous as corners already, and this one was no exception. Louisville managed to work out of the jam without a shot, despite the ball spending a considerable amount of time in the box, and Pratapas settled into the game after a few minutes.

Louisville's last best chance of the game came just before the 70th minute mark. Addie Chester, who hadn't drawn the start, lined up a shot from just inside the box and straight on. Chester's attempt was a good one, and Gerstenberg wasn't able to get a full hand on it. Unfortunately, the deflection was enough to send the ball up into the crossbar, from which it ricocheted back down into the box. Louisville was unable to corral possession and attempt another shot, and IU cleared it away. The Cards managed four more shots in the game, but the only one that was on frame was another ball that was intended to be a threatening pass more than a shot. 

The Cardinals' defense held strong for much of the second half, despite needing to recover aggressively from a couple of well-placed and well-timed through balls by Indiana. Louisville overran a few attacks and had a couple of lazy passes turn into breakaways, but their speed on the back line saved them from disaster. 

The 88th minute saw Pratapas tally her first save of the season on a dangerous last chance from IU. The Hoosiers had another one of their breakaways, this one set up by a goal kick, and had two players into the Louisville penalty area. Louisville's defense had tracked back fairly well, but a well placed centering pass could have spelled late doom for the Cards. Fortunately, Abbey Iler attempted a shot instead, and Pratapas was able to cover and hold it, preventing a disastrous rebound. Louisville put on heavy pressure for the last two minutes, but Addie Chester took just too heavy of a touch while beating a defender in the box and the ball rolled across the end line for a goal kick. With twenty seconds left, IU substitutions iced the game. 

The draw moved Louisville to 3-1-2 on the season puts them on a four-game unbeaten streak to end non-conference play. While I wouldn't have said "no" to seeing another win among the six games, I'm quite happy to not see more than just the one loss. Paulie and Jared caught up with Coach KFD after the game to talk about the result, which you can see at the link below. Louisville gets more than a week off as they prepare for conference play, with Miami coming to town on Saturday, September 17th. 

Postgame with Karen Ferguson Dayes:  https://youtu.be/1lKzh1DiHBc

(PHOTOS BY JARED ANDERSON...MOSTLY) 

Friday Action

Field hockey opens their home season at Trager today when they host JMU at 5PM. The Cards are breaking in new turf for the first time in regular season play, as the new field installed over the summer has seen only exhibitions so far. The Dukes come to Louisville 2-2 on the season, with an even goal differential the hard way. JMU opened the season with a 3-1 win over Richmond and followed it up with a 6-2 win over Bucknell. You may remember that Bucknell opened their season with just a 2-1 loss to Louisville. Anyway, after their strong opening weekend at home, things went a bit sideways for the Dukes on the road. Last Friday saw them roundly thumped by Old Dominion, as they lost 6-1. While their Sunday match was much more impressive, they fell to 12th ranked Virginia 3-2 in overtime. This evening's match is available on ACC Network Extra.

Volleyball is also back in action tonight, and they'll look to recover from a frustrating weekend. After opening the season with four straight sweeps, the Cards dropped their first set in a 3-1 win over San Diego. The Toreros went on to sweep Ohio State on Saturday, which boosted them from 15th to 12th after the weekend. Ohio State, on the other hand, dropped to 0-3 and had won just one set in their three matches. To be fair, their first two losses were to the second ranked team in the land in Texas, and their third was on a neutral court to a top-15 team. That said, Louisville would have expected to send the Buckeyes back to Columbus with their fourth loss. Instead, the Cards added their second, third, and fourth set losses of the season to drop the match 3-1. The AVCA voters have looked kindly on both teams, keeping Ohio State at 8th and dropping Louisville just one spot to 4th, but the Cards will need to bounce back in a big way. 

Louisville hosts 11th ranked Purdue tonight, and they'll look to beat them for the third time in sixteen tries. The Cards swept the Boilermakers last season, but Purdue returns a strong team. They've opened the season 6-0 after a fourth round tourney exit last season, but they've played a fairly tame schedule. Tame or not, Purdue returns a senior libero who was last week named B1G Defensive Player Of The Week and a sophomore middle blocker who joined the U21 US National Team over the summer. Raven Colvin has 30 blocks already this season, and she's joined on the front line by freshman Ava Hudson. Hudson has 96 kills with a .315 hitting percentage and has twice (in two weeks) been named the B1G Freshman of the Week. The two teams will get it started at 7PM on ACC Network Extra.

Go Cards Beat Purdue. (If you don't know the story behind these four words, I'll let Paulie add it in the comments section)

Until next time, Go Cards!

Case

Cards Knock Off Tigers and Other Sports in Action -- FRIDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

WSOC Beats #23 Memphis 3-2

It was an up and down night for Louisville women's soccer in Harrisonburg, Virginia as they took on the Memphis Tigers but it ended on the highest of highs with a 3-2 victory over the 23rd ranked team from down south. Louisville gets redemption after they dropped their ranked game at Lynn Stadium last week against Xavier, and they'll look to carry the momentum against the hosting James Madison Dukes on Sunday.

Erynn Floyd drew the start in goal for the fourth game in as many opportunities, so it seems safe to say that she has won the position battle over Alyssa Zalac. She was put to the test right away as Memphis earned the first shot of the game and the first on goal just 37 seconds in. The shot was low and to the middle of the goal, so it wasn't the biggest of saves, but it could have put Louisville in a terrible position on a neutral field against a ranked opponent if it had gone in.

Fortunately, that wasn't the case, and it was Emersen Jennings--making her second start of the season opposite Patricia Ward--who got the scoring started. Jennings got her opportunity at the start of the sixth minute off a Maisie Whitsett assist and put the right-footed shot into the bottom left of the net. The goal was Jennings' first--of the season and her career--and it came on just her third shot. The assist was Whitsett's third of the season and it stretched her points lead over Karsyn Cherry.

The Cards kept the pressure on after the goal, earning a pair of corners, an offside call, and snagging a shot over the next six minutes. An offsides isn't a positive, per se, but it does show that the offense was working. Lizzie Sexton's shot was saved by the team, and momentum shifted slightly. Memphis was called for an offsides and a minute later forced Floyd into her second save of the night. On the next major charge, Maisie Whitsett nearly put the game squarely in Louisville's favor when she put a shot in the bottom right corner, but the Memphis keeper was able to make the save. After things calmed down a bit, Eef Kerkhof finished the job she had started a few minutes prior and tied the game at one in the 22nd minute. 

So it would stay for the remainder of the half, with both teams putting a bit of pressure on the other but ultimately having nothing to show. Louisville had another corner and Memphis had two, but Louisville was the bigger winner on shots, claiming four more in the half and forcing three more saves from UofM goalkeeper Sarah Bozeman. That would be it for Bozeman and Floyd both, as they seemed to leave their gloves in the locker room for the second half. 

The teams came out of the break a bit chippy, both committing fouls in the first four minutes. Louisville earned a corner in the 50th, but came away with nothing to show for it. After an early off-target shot by Cherry and the inability to grab another goal in the first half, things were looking dire against a ranked team. They looked even more dire five minutes later when Memphis earned a corner. The Tigers were unable to score on the set piece, but Louisville was equally unable to clear the ball. Once the chaos died down slightly, Momo Nakao sent a ball to the top right of the goal to give Memphis a 2-1 lead in the 57th minute.

Not to be discouraged, Louisville reacted immediately. Forty seconds later, the Cards earned a corner, and 30 seconds after that, Karsyn Cherry brought Whitsett's points lead down to one with her third goal of the season. Addie Chester provided the assist and the Cards had brought it back to a 2-2 draw with just over a half hour to play. With the new rules surrounding draws implemented this season, it will be interesting to watch how teams approach the position that Louisville found themselves in: tied in the second half against a ranked team. It wasn't quite late enough to park the bus, but this is a team (although with a different roster) that we've seen put nine players in the defensive third to start a game. 

After all that, though, Louisville didn't have to do much deciding on how they wanted to play as the clock wound down. Instead, the Cards brought on fresh legs to start the 62nd minute and let them go to work. Two minutes later, one of those substitutes earned a free kick, and Louisville took advantage of the offensive opportunity. Not letting the ball get out of their attacking end, Anouk Denton found herself with an opportunity and hammered home the Cards' third goal (her first) to give them the lead with 25 minutes remaining. 

Memphis didn't let the Cards go quietly. They earned a corner kick two minutes after the goal and another six minutes later. A Louisville foul in the 79th prompted more subs to bring the game home and Emersen Jennings' return to the pitch wasn't looked at very kindly by the referee. I'm unsure what she did or said, but Jennings snagged herself a yellow card just 16 seconds after coming back into the game. Given the surrounding events that all have the same timestamp, it could be inferred that she had thoughts about either the foul committed by Memphis or the offsides call on the ensuing free kick. Either way, not the way you want someone to come on with ten minutes left in a tight game. Memphis's next best chance came in the 83rd minute when they earned a corner kick and 20 seconds later drew a foul from Ravin Alexander. Louisville was able to escape without giving up a shot, and the last shot of the game would go to the Cards. Addie Chester put a shot toward goal to ice the game in the 88th but the attempt was blocked. Louisville got a corner out of it but couldn't produce another shot. 

Memphis had one last dying breath, and it's among one of the scariest you can face, especially with no stoppage time and a hard draw rule. The Tigers earned a corner kick with 15 seconds remaining in the match: just enough time to sprint to the corner, get everyone (including your keeper) up to box and send one last hope in. The Cards prevented the shot and time ran out. Louisville wins 3-2.

I'm impressed with the way Louisville played last night, at least on paper. I wasn't able to keep up with this one and was disappointed there was no way to watch. Once I checked statbroadcast with five minutes left and saw the score I figured I shouldn't start watching at that point for fear of jinxing it. No harm, no foul, though as the Cards escaped. Despite being unranked and considered the underdog in the match, Louisville largely dominated. Possession stats aren't available, but Louisville finished with 11 shots to Memphis's five. The Tigers were more efficient, putting four on goal compared to just seven four Louisville, but Louisville put two of their four second half shots in the back of the net, which I'll take over shot-on-goal percentage. Memphis also earned one more corner, but they were largely unable to do anything with their set pieces. Both teams committed eight fouls and Louisville was called for one additional offsides offense.

Louisville will now turn their attention to James Madison for what will be just the second home game of the season for the Dukes. JMU opened the year with a draw at home against VCU before hitting the road to take wins over Morehead State, Charlotte, and La Salle. Their most recent game came on the road last night against Virginia while Memphis and Louisville occupied their home field. The Dukes played tough, holding the Cavaliers scoreless in the first half, but a penalty to open the second broke the seal and the fifth-ranked Hoos went on to win 2-0. JMU finished with no shots or corners on the night, and the penalty came on one of just two fouls they committed. Virginia, on the other hand, teed off on Alexandra Blom to the tune of 22 shots, but they were able to put just seven of them on target. Blom finished with five saves and two goals given up, with one of those being the penalty. Louisville will have some work to do to get past her Sunday. The match gets started at 1PM and will be available on ESPN+.

Volleyball and Field Hockey Back in Action

I'll have plenty to talk about Saturday when the results are in tomorrow, but let's take a quick look at the Friday matchups for the other two fall sports in play. 

Field hockey will get it started with a 2:30PM match against Penn. The Cards have played the Quakers just once and own the only victory. The game was played last season in Princeton and Louisville took a 3-1 win. Penn will be a tough matchup with another year to gel, as they return their top four scorers and all four of their all-conference players from last season. There's not a ton to know about the team other than that, though, as today's game is their season opener. They'll take on the 9th ranked Cards and then get the 2nd ranked Tar Heels, who are hosting this weekend, on Sunday. Yikes. Louisville will take on Princeton Sunday just ahead of that start. Because these games are hosted by UNC, both today's match and the match on Sunday will be available on ACCNX.

Volleyball looks to avoid an upset when they bring in the Toreros of San Diego (not the Aztecs of San Diego State). USD opened their season in College Station with a stunning 3-2 win over the sixth-ranked Pitt Panthers. They went on to sweep Texas A&M and Hawai'i to finish their 3-0 weekend. Their road won't get easier just yet, as they take on #3 Louisville and #8 Ohio State. Louisville is also undefeated, going 3-0 in their first weekend and making it four straight sweeps with a midweek victory over WKU. The Cards will have home court advantage, but that won't make the task of taking down #15 USD much easier. San Diego returns a 2021 All-Region player (Pacific South - boy, I wonder what other kind of teams are in that region) and they brought in a transfer setter and outside hitter. Grace Frohling, the All-Region awardee, finished the weekend with 35 kills and 9 blocks. Breana Edwards, the transfer on the other side, finished with 36 kills and 7 blocks. The Cards and Toreros get things started on ACCNX at 7PM.

Until next time (tomorrow), Go Cards!

Case

Field Hockey Downs Penn State -- WSOC beats NKU -- MONDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

SECOND HALF RALLY GETS FIELD HOCKEY BY PENN STATE 2-1

Louisville Field Hockey improved to 2-0 on the season with a come-from-behind win over Penn State at Penn State Sunday afternoon. The Cards got goals from Katie Schneider and Aimee Plumb to tie and pass the Nittany Lions, after Louisville found themselves trailing at halftime 1-0 

Head coach Justine Sowry was deservedly proud of her Field Hockey flock: 

"I am so proud of this young team. We took some lessons from Friday's game and we were able to connect on some great attacking plays.  The winner of the day was our gritty defense all over the field against a quality opponent." 

The #9 Cards have gathered four 2-1 wins so far this season, two in exhibition games and two in the regular season... 2-1 wins over Bucknell and, now, #11 Penn State. The Cards were probably pretty lucky to be trailing by just a 1-0 margin after the first half. Penn State had a 8-2 advantage in shots on goal and a 3-2 edge in penalty corner attempts.  A tip of the cap to UofL goalkeeper Sasha Elliott, who had seven first half saves.

Whatever strategy Justine and the coaches discussed with the Louisville squad to rev up the offense during halftime worked.

The home-standing squad wasn't getting nearly as many shots or shot opportunities in the third quarter. Try zero, as a matter of fact, for PSU. And, with 27 seconds left in the third quarter, Katie Schneider worked her way open for a shot-on-goal and sent it into the net to tie the match at 1-1. 

The squads combined for eight shots UofL 5 - PSU 3) in a frenetic final quarter. Louisville drew a penalty corner with 4:20 to play and Aimee Plumb scored to put the Cards ahead 2-1. 

Louisville survived a couple of Penn State penalty corners in the final 30 seconds of play. Elliott got a block on the first attempt and a Cards defender made sure the second attempt failed also. 

Penn State's head coach Charlene Morrett-Curtis saw the loss this way:

"I thought it was our game to win. We have to either find a teammate, get the ball on corner or get a corner. It was hard for us to get corners or players in front of the goal. We made great runs to the goal and we got the ball into the circle but people weren't there. That can't happen." 

The Cards return to action Friday when they continue the run of playing schools from Pennsylvania...this next one against Penn at UNC. 

 

WSOC DOWNS NKU 1-0

Louisville women's soccer made the trip up I-71 to Highland Heights, KY and defeated Horizon league member Northern Kentucky 1-0 Sunday evening. 

The Cards got the only score of the night when they earned a free kick with 14:44 gone in the contest. Maisie Whitsett's shot was deflected, but Karsyn Cherry was there for the header to give the Cards a goal. 

Louisville dominated this one in offense stats numbers. The Cards had a 18-1 shot advantage and held a 7-1 corner attempt edge.  

Louisville dominated this one offensively. The ball spent a lot of time in the NKU half of the turf. I know the Cards had a huge shot advantage at one time, the major problem is that the shots were wide or high. Shots on goal were 4-1 in UofL's favor. 

Cardinals goalkeeper Erryn Floyd had a pretty quiet evening. A great defensive effort by all the Cards, but Sarah Hernandez, Anouk Denton and Cherry made sure the Norse weren't getting a good look at anything except Louisville maneuvering with the ball in the NKU portion of the pitch.  

Louisville did have a huge opportunity to score with 16:21 let in the first half when a shot went off the crossbar and landed in front of Morgan Bentley. Her put-back sailed just left of the goal, though.   

And, so...it was a win that the Cards needed after losing to Xavier on Thursday.  A win that had to reinforce in Karen Ferguson Dayes' thoughts that this squad can definitely play some very good defense. Something that will be needed when ACC play rolls around. 

A road trip for the Cards (2-1) to James Madison University next --  to play JMU and Memphis next week -- will give the Cards a chance to try and develop a few more offensive weapons. We know Maisie Whitsett can be a scorer, the question is who will join her in burying balls in the back of the net. Pam Ward, Ravin Alexander and Savina Zamborini seem to be the logical candidates and we can't help think that Corinne Dente could add a lot to the attack also. Morgan Bentley and Brooke Dardano have shown they can move and distribute the ball quite effectively and I'll wager neither is shy about shot attempts. 

When the defense keeps giving you the ball possession, you need to convert with goals.   

Still, we'll take a 1-0 win a dozen more times or so the remainder of the season. The old adage is that offense puts people in the seats but defense wins games. In Louisville's case, defense is leading the way right now and offense needs to catch up. 

paulie

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WSOC douses Flames 3-0 to open the regular season -- FRIDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

 STRONG FIRST HALF SENDS WSOC CARDS BY UIC 3-0

A convincing, shutout win to start the 2022 Louisville women's soccer regular season. 

Louisville women's soccer scored twice in the first eight minutes of play and added a third sore before the half ended to hold a comfortable lead over the UIC Flames Thursday night in Dr. Mark and Cindy Lynn Stadium on the UofL campus. Coming out with an aggressive attack, the Cards got an unassisted goal from freshman Karsyn Cherry with just 6:20 played. Cherry corralled a  deflected shot and sent the rebound into the net.

I barely had time to tweet out the score when the Cards struck again. It was grad student/athlete Maisie Whitsett performing the honors for the second score...a nice unassisted put-back into the Flames net at the 8:38 mark. It was 2-0 Cards and, strangely enough, it was those same two who did the scoring in the Cards 2-0 exhibition win last Friday night over Cincinnati.  

Louisville would go on to pick up another goal in the first half, this time it was grad student-athlete Autumn Weeks (a transfer from IUPUI) with ten minutes remaining in the first half. Weeks goal was assisted by Whitsett. 

The Cards took the 3-0 advantage into the halftime locker room, and had held the visitors to just one shot in the first half and no shots on goal. Erryn Floyd drew the start in goal for UofL and she and defenders Anouk Denton, Sarah Hernandez and Karsyn Cherry were keeping the Flames out of any significant offensive attack or pattern. 

The Cards had 11 first half shots, four on goal.

We figured there would be a pretty large amount of Louisville substitutions in the final 45 minutes, but Louisville head coach Karen Ferguson Dayes only went six deep into the bench and did not alternate out goalkeeper Floyd at all. 

The Cards defense looked just as sharp in the second half, allowing just one shot again and no shots on goal but the offensive attack failed to produce any Louisville scores in the second half. Louisville had their chances with seven shots and three of them on goal, but nothing found the net for Louisville. 

The Flames did have three goalie saves in the second half, as goalkeeper Lauren Keiser  replaced first half goalkeeper Sara Sanabria.  (I did check,and Sara is not related to former Louisville softball infielder Tiarra Sanabria)

It's always good to win the season opener and to get a shutout in the process, but, you could tell the crowed was anticipating a little more offense and scoring from Louisville in the second half. One thing that definitely hurt the Cards was a total of eight off-sides calls from the referees, seven of them in the second half.  We have bragged about Louisville's increased speed this season, and it just might have needed to be held in check in the second half.

Still, a win in front of an appreciative and loud crowd of about 400 is always a great way to start the season. Especially in the way Louisville did it -- establishing dominance early and keeping the opponents offense quiet and unproductive for the entirety of the match. The night's goal was to "win in Lynn" and Louisville did that, convincingly. 

The Cards will face #24 Xavier next Thursday at Lynn -- a Musketeers squad that shut out visiting WKU Thursday night 1-0 and comes off a 16-3-1 season in 2021., losing to Milwaukee in the first round of the NCAA Tournament. 

POST GAME

We caught up with Coach and Maisie after the win: We even got a train to come by and show appreciation for the win. The music? yeah, a distraction after the game, but it's early in the season, we'll work on eliminating that post-game deterrent for interviews.

KAREN FERGUSON DAYES

MAISIE WHITSETT

(photos and post-game video recording by Jared Anderson) 

paulie