Field Hockey Honors -- Tuesday Cardinal Couple

Field Hockey Honors

With Field Hockey's appearance in the NCAA tournament, we now have word of All-Region honors for Cardinal Field Hockey players.  Five Cards have received the honor.

Elisa "Chile" Garcia, Paige Monsen and Allysa Voelmle were tabbed for the first team, while Sydney King and Mallory Mason got nods for the second team All-Region.

None of the Cardinal All-Region team honorees are attackers, a testament to the Cardinal defending this season.  Garcia and Monsen are midfielders, while Voelmle and Mason are defenders.  Three of the five, Monsen, Voelmle and Mason, are seniors, while the Field Hockey team will still have the services of Garcia and King for another year.

Sydney King is the Cardinal GoalKeeper and also got a nod on my Cardinal Couple/Worldwide All-Syd team back in September.  King is somewhat unusual by being a west-coast Field Hockey player, hailing from Newport Beach, California.

Garcia was not nicknamed after this delicious
meat, beans and tomato dish 

Garcia earned the nickname "Chile" due to Santiago, Chile being her hometown, part of a significant contingent of international players on the Cardinal squad.  I suspect there was also a desire to more easily distinguish between "Elisa" and "Alyssa" which sounds somewhat similar when spoken.

The other three honorees all came to Louisville from the New England area, with Monsen being from Marathon, NY; Voelmle having come from Hershey, PA; and Mason claims Simsbury, CT as her hometown.

Volleyball Time Correction Correction

Last week we brought news of a time change for the Volleyball match vs Duke this Friday the 21st.  There's now a correction to the correction.  The match is now set for a 6pm start at Cardinal Arena.

-jmca-

Women Soccer wins 1-0 @ Pitt...Field Hockey tonight! -- Friday Cardinal Couple

KB's first goal of the year gives UofL 1-0 win

Inger Katrine Bjerke picked a great time to score her first goal as a Louisville Cardinal. The freshman defender from Baerum, Norway was there to tap in a blocked attempt from fellow freshman Chatham DeProspo's shot on goal with 7:04 on the clock in overtime to give Louisville Women's Soccer a 1-0 win in Pittsburgh.

The Cards got the free kick opportunity when another freshman Isabella Habuda was fouled in the box in front of the Pitt goal just three minutes into the overtime period.

"KB" was also the subject of one of Paulie's infamous player

interviews several weeks ago. Her smile after last night's score was just as wide as it was during her chat with Cardinal Couple. We're guessing that game-winner was almost as fun as driving around the Belknap Campus in a van full of chimps and bananas...

Cardinal defense dominated in this one early and the majority of the second half featured numerous Louisville drives to the Pitt goal that seemed to just come up short or wide. Louisville took 17 shots in the game...nine on goal...while limiting the Panthers to six shots and just two on goal.

At 7-7-2, the Kickin' Cards stay on the road and head to Notre Dame for their next one. A Sunday 1 p.m. affair that will be on ESPN3. 

I wonder how you say GGGGOOOAAAALLLL !!!! in Norwegian?

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It's hard to believe that this is the final home game of the regular season today for Louisville Field Hockey. 

The seventh-ranked University of Louisville field hockey team will play host to UC Davis in its home finale on Friday at 6 p.m. UofL will also honor seniors Hannah Boyle, Becca Maddock, Mallory Mason, Rachel McCarthy, Paige Monsen and Alyssa Voelmle in their final regular season home game. Admission is free.

Following Friday’s match Louisville will hit the road to face No. 19 Indiana Sunday at 1 p.m.

SHOE DRIVE FRIDAY: As part of the campus wide sustainability week initiative, Student-Athletes Taking Action (SATA) will be hosting a WaterStep Shoe Drive collection at Friday’s Field Hockey game vs. UC Davis at 6 p.m. Bring in any new, used, or old shoes at the provided bins as part of athletics’ efforts to support the cause.  Donated shoes will support water projects in underdeveloped communities around the world, providing safe drinking water to someone that needs it. It is estimated that 3.4 million people die every year from waterborne illnesses and UofL is looking to collect 34,000 shoes by November 19.

Cardinal Quick Hits

• The Cardinals (12-4) have completed their inaugural ACC season with a 3-3 mark in league play which currently places them fourth in the standings.

• Louisville enters the weekend ranked No. 7 in the National Field Hockey Coaches Association poll released on Oct. 21. This marks the second straight week at No. 7 and the third week in the top 10 after reaching the highest ranking of the season at No. 5 on Oct. 7.

• Senior Alyssa Voelmle leads the team with 21 points and nine goals. Fellow senior Mallory Mason has 19 points with six goals and seven assists while junior Elisa Garcia also has 19 points (5G, 9A). Junior Sydney King carries a 1.40 goals-against average with four shutouts.

Cards against the field

UC Davis

Friday, Oct. 24, Louisville, Ky. – 6:00 p.m.

Series Record: Louisville leads 1-0

Last Meeting: Sept. 13, 2013- UofL won 5-0 in a neutral site matchup at Michigan.

Promotions: Senior Day. Koozies will be given to the first 100 fans and jumpies will be located adjacent to the stadium for children in attendance.

Scouting the Aggies: UC Davis comes into the weekend with a 4-10 overall record after a 3-2 overtime loss to Pacific last Saturday.  Sophomores Agustina Singh and Kayla Wigney each scored a goal in the loss.

• Offensively, the Aggies have a balanced attack as six players have scored at least three goals. Junior Stephie Sabraw leads the squad with five goals. Singh leads the team with 15 points while Wigney adds 14 points on the season.

(Thanks to Lori Korte - UofL Field Hockey SID for the feed.) 

CC Podcast - Field Hockey vs Cal -- Sunday Cardinal Couple

We're going to try a new thing here on Cardinal Couple...a podcast format of update.  This won't take the place of the daily articles posted, but hopefully will be relatively quick and short audio updates.  You should see an embedded audio player just above this message if you are reading it on the website that you can use to play this podcast directly in your browser.

Don't expect a podcast entry for every UofL Women's sporting event, of course as these take a bit more work to put together and post, but I hope to be able to do them fairly frequently and bring a new dimension of reporting on our favorite topics here at Cardinal Couple.

This is an update about the Field Hockey game this afternoon against the Cal Bears.

Let me know in the comments what you think of this sort of update.  Thanks!

jmca

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THE LATEST CARDINAL COUPLE BROADCAST IS UP AND RUNNING ON THE ARCHIVES OF CRESCENT HILL RADIO. GO TO THE SITE AND HAVE A LISTEN!



https://soundcloud.com/chradio/cardinal-couple-101814



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As mentioned in the podcast the Stick Cards roared back after a disappointing loss in field hockey on Friday to shut out the Cal squad 4-0.  Louisville got the only goal they would actually need with nine minutes gone in the game when Mallory Mason connected on a penalty corner.

She's done that more times this season than I've been to Arby's and the 1-0 lead held to halftime.

The Cards burst out with a rush in the second half...getting a Alyssa Voelmle score in the first two minutes and Lotta Kahlert connecting less than a minute later.

The Bears never did come out of hibernation ( maybe they needed Ditka) and freshman Stephanie Byrne got her third goal of the year with about a minute to go to make it 4-0.

The 11-4 Cards will head to Athens, OH on Tuesday for a match against Ohio University.

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Women's golf got a big boost from the "Katie's" yesterday and climbed to the top of the ladder in the

Mercedes-Benz Tournament in Knoxville. (We wonder if they use Mercedes Benz's instead of golf carts in this one).

Katie Petrino and Katie Mitchell both fired one under par 71's yesterday and Louisville lead the tournament by 4 strokes over Kent State. Emily Haas continued her good golf with a 72, Molly Spanik finished with a 73 and Laura Restrepo carded a 75.

The tournament ends today with a final 18 holes. Go get 'em Chip and Putt Cards!

paulie
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Louisville Field Hockey upsets #1 North Carolina -- Sunday Cardinal Couple

SUNDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

- #14 Cards pull off upset over #1 UNC in Field Hockey

"Why not?" 

It's the final chant the Louisville Field Hockey team uses

when they break from a team huddle. When I predicted during a Wednesday interview with Coach Justine Sowry (available later today in the CARDINAL COUPLE RADIO archives) that the team would win 3-2 over UNC... it was her response.

Why not?

#14 Louisville downed #1 UNC 3-2 Saturday afternoon in front of over 600 screaming fans in Trager Stadium. Becca Maddock delivered the game-winning goal with five minutes left in the contest off a penalty corner assist from Alyssa Voelmle to break the tie. 

It was helter-skelter from that point on...UNC pulling their goalie to increase their offensive capabilities and try to tie the contest...but the Louisville defense held firm to preserve the win.

The biggest win in UofL Field Hockey history and in Justine Sowry's coaching career. The most noteworthy moment in 2014 UofL Fall Sports. 

Why not?

The teams engaged in a middle-of-the-field defensive struggle for the first half of the first half before the Cards drew a penalty corner and senior Mallory Mason...whose job it is to deliver the first inbounds shot on penalty corners...took a rebound off a missed Alyssa Voelmle shot and corralled the ball past UNC goalie Shannon Johnson for the first score of the game. 

Louisville's 1-0 lead would hold until the final ticks of the first half...another penalty corner attempt for the Cards and almost the same results....Mason scoring near the net...this time on a feed from Chili Garcia. 

2-0 Cards at the half. A huge upset in the making and a sense of guarded excitement from the UofL players and fans. UNC was simply too good to remain shut out and forward Charlotte Craddock scored two unassisted goals in the first two minutes of the final half to tie the game.

Nervous time? Yes, indeed...but the Cards regained their composure and tightened up on Craddock and the Tar Heels.

It looked like UNC had taken the lead with 17:35 remaining when Lauren Moyer slammed one home off a penalty corner attempt...but the goal was waved off since the ball has to leave the circle and come back in on a penalty corner. The ball never left the circle on this particular sequence so the score was disallowed and the Cards retained possession.

The defensive battle continued until Maddock's tie breaker...her fifth goal of the season. 

Statistic to know. The Cards received 5 penalty corners and scored on three of them. UNC received 4 and could not convert on any of them. 

Louisville (5-1) got a yeoman's effort from goalie Sydney King with two saves in the contest. The defense was spectacular in the fact that they allowed just four shots on goal by North Carolina...all in the final 35 minutes of play.

This is the first time that the Louisville Field Hockey program has defeated a #1 ranked opponent and the win also preserved the win streak at Trager...which is now 13 consecutive games. 

The win also shows the rest of the ACC Field Hockey conference and the nation that the Cards are a bonafide contender. The close loss to Virginia last week showed Louisville could compete in the strongest field hockey conference in collegiate athletics. Yesterday's win indicates the Cards just might have a chance in winning the ACC Conference.

Why not? 

paulie
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Sunday Cardinal Couple -- Field Hockey wins in 2 O.T.'s -- Swimming in 3rd place

SUNDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

- Schniedtmiller scores for Cardinal win

- Kylliainen wins three in Dallas


Today is "bet you can't spell it correctly" day at CC, as we go over the exciting Field Hockey win at Trager and swimming's impressive show in Dallas. Congratulations to both squads and Erin and Tanja...much easier to type than their last names...


CARDS RULE RUT-GALS

Erin scored after a set up from Mallory Mason and Shannon Sloss (who we'll refer to as MM and SS the rest of the article) and drove one in with 5:49 left in the second overtime to give #17 Louisville a 2-1 win on senior weekend at Trager Stadium. The Cards go to 11-4 with the win over the Scarlet Knights and 4-1 in THE BIG EAST conference with the "W".

Rutgers hit the scoreboard first...stunning Louisville with a goal less than two minutes into action...when Alicia Stever sent a long pass to a driving Rachel Yaney...who deflected it by Cardinal goalie Sydney King.

It would be the 8-6, 2-3 Scarlet Knights only tally of the afternoon.

For a long time, it looked like it might be enough for the Piscataway players. With less than five minutes to go in regulation, though, SS tracked down a feed from Elisa Garcia and flipped it past the Rutgers goal defender to tie the contest.

Neither team could produce a goal in the 15 minute, 7-on-7 first overtime. Louisville survived three penalty corner attempts by Rutgers in the final overtime before going on the winning drive.

The Cards outshot RU 24-11. Sydney King had seven saves...Rutgers goalie Sarah Stuby produced 10.

The Cards conclude the weekend with a 1 p.m. game versus Northwestern at Trager.

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Tanja splashes past foes in SMU CLASSIC

Nice performance in setting two school records in Louisville's third place finish in the prestigious event that features national powerhouses UNC, UCLA and University of Miami...plus UofL, IU and SMU.

Tanja scored first in the 200-fly, 200 IM and 400 IM.

Other successful ladies-in-the-water were Katie Worrell winning the 100-fly. Louisville also had several third place finishes against competition that all finished in the top 25 of the NCAA Tournament last season. 

-Paulie

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Saturday Cardinal Couple -- Field Hockey defeats ODU 3-2 in O.T.

SATURDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

-Field Hockey wins BIG EAST opener 3-2 over ODU

-Women's Golf in 3rd after first round

-CARDINAL COUPLE RADIO HOUR this morning!

-Volleyball with two today in CARDINAL ARENA


In soggy conditions on a "black out" Friday night that also experienced a 45 minute rain delay...Louisville Field Hockey improves to 5-2 with an overtime win over Old Dominion.

After seeing a 2-1 lead disappear in the final 1:44 of regulation, the Cards wasted no time in getting the win...Erin Schneidtmiller banging home a pass from Victoria Stratton just 45 seconds into the extra period for the sudden death win.

Louisville took the early lead in the contest when Stratton took assists from Mallory Mason and Paige Monson to score on a penalty corner sixteen minutes into first half action. ODU countered with a goal from Sarah Breen on a penalty corner five minutes later to tie the contest.

UofL took the lead at 2-1 with 2:26 left in the first half.

Mason corralled down a missed penalty corner attempt and sent it past ODU goalie Megan Hept. The lead held until halftime.

Threatening weather, lightning strikes and a torrential downpour halted action just ten minutes into the final stanza and the teams waited out a 45 minute weather delay with Louisville still leading.

The field had standing water everywhere but drained quickly as the rains subsides and the teams continued. It looked like the one goal Cardinal advantage just might hold...but Breen found the back of the net on a penalty corner attempt with just 104 second left in the game to tie it at 2-2.

Louisville came out on the attack in O.T. and secured the win when Schneidtmiller scored with 14:15 left in the first overtime.

ODU held a shot advantage for most of the game and, although Field Hockey doesn't keep a time possession stat, it seemed the Monarchs had the ball in Louisville's front court trying to score for close to 50 minutes of the 70 minute game. They held a 5-3 shot on goal advantage over the Cards with 7:18 left in regulation...credit the Cards defense and goalie Sydney King for keeping ODU to just two goals. 

After arriving at 6 p.m. and leaving at 9:30 p.m....I didn't stick around in the re-appearing rain to do a Coach Sowry post-game interview. Call me a fair-weather fan...

Louisville (5-2) will play Northeastern Sunday at 1:30 in Trager. In earlier action Friday, Northeastern shut out Michigan State 2-0. The Michigan State v. ODU game faces off at 11 a.m. Sunday.


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( We hope the weather clears up for Courtney Trimble's birdie makers today in Knoxville...as they seek their third straight tournament win in Big Orange country. )

The University of Louisville women’s golf team shot a 283 in the first round of the Mercedes Benz. UCF is sixth with a score of 286.

Collegiate Friday afternoon at the Cherokee Golf Course in Knoxville, Tenn. The Cardinals are currently in third place after one round of play. South Carolina leads the field with a score of 279. Arkansas is in second with a score of 282. Host Tennessee is fourth with a score of 285 while

Junior Katie Petrino shot a collegiate low of 69 in the first round. Petrino is currently tied at third after finishing the day with four birdies. UCF’s Fanny Cnops and South Carolina’s Katelyn Dambaugh currently lead the field after shooting a 68 in the first round.

Louisville sophomore Laura Restrepo finished the day tied at eight. Restrepo finished the day at one under par after finishing the day with five birdies and three bogeys. Junior Emily Haas shot a 72 in the first round. Haas is currently tied at 19^th along with teammate Louise Oxner. Oxner finished the day with three birdies and four bogeys for a score of 72.

Senior Tara Lyons carded an 83 in the first round. Lyons is currently tied at 90^th. The Cardinals will tee off on Saturday at 10:20 a.m. Live scoring for the tournament is available atwww.golfstat.com.



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Why not start your Saturday right by listening to the CARDINAL COUPLE RADIO HOUR from 11 a.m. to noon on Crescent Hill Radio? Paulie, Jenny and Jeff discuss a wide range of Louisville women's sports squads and results. Today's show has a great interview with Field Hockey head coach Justine Sowry, recaps of volleyball, soccer, field hockey and golf action, our weekly quiz and Don Paulie!

Join the knuckleheads for an hour of facts, fun, flubs, forecasting and frivolity at:

www.crescenthillradio.com


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And, if football isn't your thing, why not head over to Cardinal Arena on campus and catch a day's worth of Volleyball?

The WideNet Cards face Rice @ noon and Virginia Tech at 7:30 p.m. I suppose the Owls and Hokies play each other somewhere in between.

It's the Active Ankle Challenge...presented by Marriott Courtyard. You could even get those ankles active and walk down Floyd St. after the football game and see the action in Cardinal Arena.

It does fill up in there rather quickly....so don't stay tailgating too long after Louisville demolishes FIU.

Rice and Hokies...hmmm....sounds like the lunch special at Sal Monella's restaurant. Can I get brown gravy with that?

-Paulie
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SUNDAY CARDINAL COUPLE-Field Hockey, Volleyball in action Saturday

Junior Alyssa Voelmle had a goal and an assist in the scrimmage against Indiana

SUNDAY CARDINAL COUPLE


-FIELD HOCKEY BATTLES IU TO 4-4 TIE


-VOLLEYBALL HOLDS RED/BLACK GAME


The University of Louisville field hockey team went to  Indiana for a preseason scrimmage that ended in a 4-4 tie. The format featured two 25-minute periods followed by a 20-minute period. An overtime session followed and the scrimmage concluded with a shootout.

"This scrimmage was a great opportunity to play against someone else besides ourselves," said U of L head coach Justine Sowry. "We were able to play 19 players, which gives us confidence moving forward that we have a number of different options and more depth than last season. With that being said, it was a reality check. We lost our structure at times, which created some problems and we must be able to retain more possession especially at the critical moments of the game."

Louisville opened the scoring in the ninth minute of action when sophomore Victoria Stratton connected on junior Alyssa Voelme's pass from the top of the circle. Indiana answered on Kate Barber's goal in the 14th minute to tie the contest at 1-1.  The teams entered the second 25-minute session knotted at 1-1. The Hoosiers pulled ahead on Kayla Cunningham's unassisted goal, but the Cards answered six minutes later. Senior Michelle Amon delivered pass to the right side of the circle to freshman Jennifer Pels who sent a shot into the cage to tie the game at 2-2. In the third session, Voelmle connected on penalty corner assists from Pels and junior Mallory Mason to pull the Cards ahead 3-2. Louisville increased the lead to 4-2 after a ball pushed from outside the circle deflected off of an IU player and rolled into the cage for an own-goal.

The Hoosiers pulled within one on Corinne Karch's goal which made the score 4-3.
 

After three complete sessions, the Cardinals led 4-3. Both teams entered a simulated 10-minute overtime session which went to the Hoosiers. Indiana's Mollie Getzfread collected a rebound off of sophomore Sydney King's pads and netted a goal to the score at 4-4. Overtime was followed by two shootouts, the first a best-of-five, and the second a sudden victory round. Louisville would take the best-of-five by a score of 3-2 with sophomore Katharine Gwynne-Wood, freshman Lotta Kahlert and Voelmle. In the sudden-victory session, Indiana's Heilman would convert on the Hoosiers' first to give the second round to Indiana.  On the day, IU held a 13-10 edge in shots, but Louisville had eight penalty corners to the Hoosier's two. King collected six saves for the Cardinals.

"We don't have a lot of time to prepare for our opening weekend but for now we have a good base in which we can build upon," said Sowry.

Louisville will officially open the 2013 season at No. 7 Virginia on Aug. 30. They will stay on the road to face No. 21 Richmond on Sept. 1.

(Thanks to IU...some information in this article from IU Sports Information Department)

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Cardinal volleyball fans got a glimpse of the 2013 squad as the University of Louisville held a scrimmage at Cardinal Arena. Coach Anne Kordes' team won 15-25, 25-15, 25-17 in a competitive matchup featuring various lineups.


"I thought our seniors looked good. Emily Juhl and Brooke Mattingly lived up to being named Co-Preseason Players of the Year," said U of L head coach Anne Kordes. "After we got going, I thought the defense on both sides was exciting. I am very happy to see that because our system relies on our grit and our scrappiness and I saw that on both sides. Janelle Jenkins also showed what she was capable of and our phenomenal crowd made for a great atmosphere."

Mattingly and Juhl each had eight kills with defenders Caitlin Welch and Haley Pouliezos leading in digs with eleven and nine respectively. Carly Sahagian and Jenkins each had five kills and freshman Maya McClendon added five as well. Randi Ewing led blocking with four.   The Cardinals open their regular season at Penn State Invitational with Syracuse on Friday in State College, Pa.

Our Jeff McAdams will be at State College, PA and give us a report on the action.

(Thanks to gocards.com for information used in this report)


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Our Saturday Radio Show is now up and posted on the SoundCloud at Crescent Hill Radio. Give us a listen, take the quiz and use caution when opening doors in public places. Give it a click below...

RADIO THE WAY IT USED TO BE (in the Czech Republic)


-Paulie

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Friday Cardinal Couple --Women's Soccer hosts UK...Field Hockey and Volleyball on the road

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FRIDAY CARDINAL COUPLE


-Soccer Cards hosts the Cats in Cardinal Park

-VolleyCards travel to Cincy for BIG EAST/Big Ten Challenge

-Field Hockey in Bloomington for Hoosier match

Barack Obama shows how Gwen Rucker blocks shots at
the net at the Democratic National Convention. Michelle
applauds the women's soccer teams undefeated season.
(I'm pretty sure that's what they're doing...but it was late.)

Another busy, busy weekend for UofL women's sports! The action will be heated and intense as Karen Ferguson-Dayes undefeated soccer ladies take on also undefeated UK. Anne Kordes has her net prowlers in Cincinnati for two tough contests and Justine Sowry and the field hockey squad travel to IU for two this weekend. Put on the shin guards, knee pads and cletes...we're gonna kick up, set up and slap shot you today's trifecta version of CARDINAL COUPLE! 

Soccer Cards look to remain undefeated.

UK again. In Louisville again. The Cats surely must be tired of driving across I-64 to our fair city and getting beat in athletics...but they return today to face #12 Louisville women's soccer in a 7:30 p.m. match-up at Cardinal Park. 

It's the Courtyard Marriott Classic and the Cards kick it off against a UK team that is also undefeated (4-0) and who played the same two opponents Louisville did this last weekend up in Lexington. 

Louisville with many offensive weapons in Erin Yenney, Angelika Uremovich, Irene Young, Katie Walz, Charlyn Corral and...oh, yeah...the Cards leading scorer from last year Christine Exeter. Good time for her to gather her first (and hopefully more) scores of the season. Chloe Kiefer has three shutouts at golakeeper this season. She'll have her work cut out for her tonight.

Cards also looking for a little payback from last year when the Cats took a 2-0 victory in Lexington. UK leads the series 9-5-1 lifetime. 

It's a "red-out" in Cardinal Park and the match will televised on WHAS-TV. 11.2, Insight 432 and Comcast 207. You can also catch the action on CARDS TV. This one is worth the trip, though...hope to see you in the stands in Cardinal Park tonight! If you go, you just might see a couple of UofL WBB recruits in attendance as well. Stay away, rain!

Volleyball to face Purdue in Cincinnati Friday.

The #24 VolleyCards face another tough early pre-conference tilt this afternoon when they face off against #11 Purdue at 4:30 p.m. on the U.C. campus. 

Louisville looking for revenge against the Boilermakers...who put the Cards out of the NCAA Tournament last year. Purdue (5-1) returns ferocious outside hitter Ariel Turner, the pre-season Big 10 player of the year. She'll get a lot of help from Val Nichol and Annie Drews at the net. 

Louisville will look for big performances from Lola Arslanbekova, who leads the Cards in kills and is the pre-season BIG EAST player of the year...and her net-mates Gwen Rucker, Kaitlynn James, Emily Juhl, Brooke Mattingly and Tanya Lukyanenko. 

CARDINAL COUPLE'S Jeff McAdams will be in the Fifth-Third Arena and giving us a full report on the Purdue and Illinois games there this weekend. 

Field Hockey faces IU in Bloomington

A mid-afternoon face-off for Justine Sowry's field hockey Cards against the IU Hoosiers today. A re-match of sorts from the earlier exhibition match these two had in Trager back in mid-August that Louisville won 3-0. 

Cards (3-1) getting good scoring out of Becca Maddock, Mallory Mason and Erin Schneidtmiller so far this season and the defense has rallied around goalkeeper Erin Conrad, who is allowing a scant 1.5 goals per game and has a shutout as well. 

IU on the improve since their loss to the Cards a month ago. The Hoosiers (3-0) have downed Vermont, Missouri State and Kent State.

Louisville leads the lifetime series 8-6 and also won last year 1-0 at Trager Stadium on Senior Day. 

(Good luck to all three UofL women's sports teams today and if you can't make the drive to Bloomington or Cincy, join us at Cardinal Park tonight. The only thing better than beating UK twice is...beating them three times. See you there!) 
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Sunday Cardinal Couple -- Volleyball, Field Hockey win

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SUNDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

- Volleyball dispatches of Samford in evening session

-Field Hockey waits out rain delay, wins 3-2 over Davidson

-Annual gridiron clash may have to dodge a few puddles

Louisville Volleyball followed their morning win over Marshall win a Saturday evening triumph over Samford in the KFC YUM! Center in four games...winning 25-22, 25-16, 22-25, 25-15. 

A sluggish start for the Cards to open the match, falling behind 5-1 early and trailing by scores of 7-3, 12-7 and 14-10 in the first game before mounting a rally that tied it at 15-15 on a block from Tanya Lukyanenko. The Cards were still deadlocked with Samford at 20-20 and proceeded to lose two of the next three volleys before scoring the final four points of the game on a kill from Kaitlynn James and blocks from Gwen Rucker and Lukyanenko. 

Louisville came out much more aggressively in the second game and jumped out to a 4-1 lead after a kill from Lola Arslanbekova. A brief Samford rally pulled them to within one at 8-7, but after that...the Cards steadily pulled away and led 15-12 after a Samford service error. Louisville went on a 9-2 run after that to lead 24-14 following a kill from Carly Sahagian and ended the match with another kill from Sahagian to win 25-16.

After the halftime break, Samford showed they had some fight left in them by playing the Cards close throughout all of game three...neither team able to gain an advantage of more than three points and Louisville found itself holding a 22-21 late in the action. Samford got four straight points, though on two kills from Katie Murphy and then two from Elizabeth Neisler to win game three 25-22.  

The Cards got the wake-up call and jumped out early in the final game. Lukyanenko's kill made it 5-1 Louisville. Kaitlynn James made it 10-5 with a kill. Lola got in the action with a kill to make it 15-8 Cards. It was 20-13 after a Sahagian kill and another from Lukyanenko had Louisville ahead 24-14. Lola put the Bulldogs out of their misery with a kill that ended the game at 25-15. 

Lola led the Cards with 22 kills. She was also named MVP of the tournament and made the all-tournament team along with Gwen Rucker and Brooke Mattingly for the Cards. 


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Field Hockey beat Davidson 3-2 and also outlasted the weather that caused nearly a two-hour delay in the Saturday afternoon game at Trager Stadium. Lightning and heavy downpours stopped the match with the Cards up 3-2 with about 17 minutes left in the game. 

The Wildcats scored first but the Cards responded quickly with goals from Mallory Mason and Erin Schneidtmiller in a four-minute stretch to regain the lead at 2-1. That's the way the first half ended...the Cards holding an 8-4 shot advantage. 

Becca Maddock pushed the Cards ahead 3-1 when she scored about eight minutes into the second half. A couple of minutes after the Wildcats cut the lead to 3-2, the skies opened and the flash of lightning sent both team to the sidelines.

After play resumed, Davidson and the Cards battled scoreless the rest of the way. 

"It wasn't a pretty one, that's for sure. The delay in the game made for a very long day under difficult conditions. We got a win and that's a great thing, but a lot of lessons need to be taken away from this game. Davidson didn't allow us to play the game we wanted to. Some positives to take away were definitely our attack play - that was an area we really wanted to work on. We generated some pretty good scoring opportunities but overall we do need to take a lot of lessons from today and continue to grow and move forward." -- Louisville field hockey head coach Justine Sowry. 

The Cards (2-1) return to action Monday when they play Ball State at 2 p.m.

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Finally, the Battle for the Bluegrass takes place in Papa John's Cardinal Stadium this afternoon at 3:30 p.m. when Louisville and Kentucky put on the helmets and duke it out in front of 57,000+ rabid fans in football. 

You've seen the staff picks. Our informal poll revealed that 70% of you think UofL will win by 10 points or more. Louisville picked preseason to win the BIG EAST, UK picked to secure the basement in the SEC East Division. The chance of stormy weather and soggy conditions for these young men as Red and Blue clash in front of a sold out stadium and national television audience. Ponchos as important as tailgate food today, it appears. 

CARDINAL COUPLE will be there, but not in reporting or game coverage mode. May the best team win. If you go, remember to be "good" Cardinal (or Cat) fans and act responsibly. Be gracious in victory and complimentary in defeat. The eyes of the nation are watching, don't act like idiots. Cheer heartily for your team but don't be an obnoxious loudmouth. Enjoy the game and allow others around you to do the same.  

And, GO CARDS!      
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