Field Hockey Wins on Senior Day -- MONDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

Cards Ride Big Second Half to 6-0 Win

Louisville celebrated three seniors Sunday afternoon prior to their game against Ohio University. Abby Grimes, Marigrace Ragsdale, and Nicole Woods have been huge factors since arriving on campus, especially this season, and their presence will be missed going forward. There is still time to enjoy them this season, though, and they continued their contributions this weekend. I mentioned on Saturday's radio show that Louisville field hockey needed a big win to get a confidence booster going into the postseason. After only a 1-0 lead at halftime, it looked as though the Cards would be in for a tougher challenge than previously anticipated. 

The first half goal was scored by Minout Mink, her ninth of the season. Mink came up well short of Jared's prediction of two goals per game, but her nine tops the team. Louisville was relentless in that first half, despite only the one goal, with 10 shots on frame and 8 corners. Ohio got only two shots in the half. In the second half, the pressure kept up and the floodgates opened. Whena Munn got the second half party started in the 41st minute. She was followed by Alli Bitting, Marigrace Ragsdale, Abby Grimes, and Madison Walsh on 17 second half shots. 

The big win was mostly expected, with Ohio's rough season thus far, but it is still good for the Cards to accomplish what they needed to. A six goal, shutout performance is a great end to the regular season for Louisville after last week's frustrating losses. This will be a big confidence boost as the Cards look to begin postseason play. Louisville will shoot for it's first single game win in the ACC tournament since joining the conference when they face Syracuse on Thursday evening. An important part of postseason play is the ability to be streaky, and Louisville has shown that they maintain that capability, having gone on a seven game win streak earlier in the season. As long as they can shake last weekend's rough outings and focus on the things that they did well during their streak, the Cards could be poised for a big postseason.

(Editor Note) 

Jared Anderson handled the post-game interview with Coach Sowry in true CARDINAL COUPLE fashion! Good work, Jared.   LINK: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x769d7yAMwU&feature=youtu.be

He also took all the photos you see here today.

Until next time, Go Cards!

-CH-

PS: I intended to talk about women's soccer a bit today, but life has pulled my time in other directions. Look for my thoughts on the issue in the upcoming days. Sorry for the brief article today!!


OTHER JARED PICTURES FROM SUNDAY'S GAME

Senior Nicole Woods

Senior Marigrace Ragsdale

Senior Abby Grimes

Vince Tyra was there. Talking to Carole Banda before match

Volleyball Scores Big Win, Field Hockey Senior Day -- SATURDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

Volleyball Defeats ACC Leading Pitt, 3-2

PC: Jared Anderson

In what was ultimately a match that you might expect to see out of two of the top teams in the conference, Louisville was able to hold on to a narrow lead in the fifth set to knock off the number one team in the ACC, Pittsburgh. The first game was back and forth, with both teams trading runs of around 4 points for the entire game, before Louisville finally shut the door at 25-23. Both teams hit very poorly (-.026 for Pitt and .025 for Louisville) with 9 errors for the Panthers and 10 for the Cards. It wasn't all that pretty, but it was exciting, as errors were coming on big hits just missing the line. Fortunately, Louisville was able to squeak out the win. In the second game, Louisville's erroneous woes continued (9) while Pitt cleaned their act up (3). What followed was a game in which Louisville could do almost no right, and they lost 15-25. 

After halftime, the two teams battled once more. Neither team got further than 2 points from the opponent for the first 30 points of the game. Louisville was able to string together some runs after that point, though, and won the game 25-18. In this game it was Pitt's turn to be extremely outhit. The Panthers mustered only .088 hitting in game 3 with the Cards posting a cool .400. For the first time in the match, in the fourth game, both teams were able to exert a bit more control. Louisville hit only .214 but was able to stay with Pitt's .370 for most of the game. In the end, Pitt won 19-25 and set up the fifth set for the conference lead. 

Early in the final game, it looked ugly for our heroes, as Pitt took a 5-2 lead right off of the bat. Louisville quickly turned things on their head with a whopping 10-1 run to take a 12-6 lead in a game that goes only to 15. Pitt wasn't going to go down without a fight. They righted the ship and pulled back to 14-12 before Jasmine Bennett finished them off with a kill. The win moved Louisville to 10-2 in the conference and 16-6 overall and the loss put Pitt at 9-2, just a half game back. 

PC: Jared Anderson

Tess Clark was Louisville's hitting queen last night, posting 19 kills with a .340 hitting percentage. That's pretty good stuff. Amanda Green also had 11 kills and hit .320. Melanie McHenry split the two with 13 kills, but Pitt was clearly trying to keep her out of the offense as she ended up with 12 digs. Wilma Rivera (who else?) led the team in assists with 53 and Molly Sauer shored up the back line with 13 digs. Alexis Hamilton was back for the Cards and made her impact clear with 10 digs of her own. 

Now, after taking the lead in the conference, Louisville will have to sit back and watch as NC State and Pitt get the opportunity to rejoin them at the top, as the Cards have an entire week off. They'll get the opportunity to maintain their status atop the standings when they travel to Winston-Salem, NC to take on Wake Forest on Friday 11/3. More on that game when it gets closer.

Cross Country Finishes 2nd in ACC Championships

In their best ever finish in the conference championship, Louisville women's cross country took home (well, they were already home) 2nd place at EP Tom Sawyer Park. The Cards were led by Dorcas Wasike, who ran a personal best in the 6K and nearly won the race. Wasike was beaten by Paige Stoner, a senior from Syracuse, but as a sophomore, it is clear that Wasike will be a huge factor for Louisville cross country in the years to come. Three other Cardinals (Kassidy Manning, Mia Ross, and Aurilla Wilson) posted personal best times in the race and the Cards finished with 5 runners in the top 50. NC State won the event. The Cards will travel to Panorama Farms, Virginia for the NCAA Southeast Regionals on 11/10 and hope that they can have some qualifiers for the NCAA Championships which will be hosted back at EP Tom Sawyer on 11/18.

Field Hockey Celebrates Senior Day

Picture per gocards.com

After an unfortunate weekend last week at Trager Stadium, Louisville will hope to finish the regular season with a much better taste in their mouths. The Cards fell to Virginia and Michigan last week, hurting both their ACC standing and their resume with the NCAA. Louisville will play host to Ohio University tomorrow, looking to get back on a winning streak at Trager, where they could play a bunch more important games this year. Louisville will honor Abby Grimes, Marigrace Ragsdale, and Nicole Woods today for senior day as they'll play their last regular season games as Cardinals this afternoon. The game begins at 1PM and is available on the ACC Network Extra if it's too chilly for you to make it out to Trager.

Cardinal Couple Radio Hour

As Jeff mentioned yesterday, they've still not kicked us off of FM radio, yet. Tune in to the Cardinal Couple Radio Hour at 11AM today brought to you by our gracious hosts at WCHQ, Crescent Hill Radio. In the area, you can find the show on 100.9 FM but you can listen anywhere from the WCHQ app or crescenthillradio.com. Unlike ESPN, these streaming options aren't subject to blackouts. 

Until next time, Go Cards!

-CH-

Worldwide Looks On The Bright Side -- Sunday Cardinal Couple

First off...

You might have figured out that many of us here at Cardinal Couple like musical references and borrowing themes from songs.

Today's theme: "Always Look On the Bright Side of Life" from Monty Python's Life of Brian.

You can listen to the tune HERE....be advised there is one "potty" word in the lyrics...if that kind of thing brings you down. There were plenty of potty words out at PJCS yesterday...

To that end, we're going to keep this first section really short.

Football

Boston College, who is, let's face it, the traditional doormat of the ACC Atlantic division, came in to
PJCS and hung an L on the Cardinal Football team, 45-42.  Novels could be written about this one, and I suspect, if you combine the output of various sports media properties associated with Cardinal Athletics, essentially one has already been written.

Paulie reports that Louisville played
 "efense" quite a bit  ( no "D") 

Moving on.

Swimming and Diving

The SMU Classic has wrapped up and UofL Swimming and Diving finished the competition in 2nd place.  8th ranked USC just narrowly edged UofL out of the top spot, by half a point.  UofL came into the competition ranked 7th, and beat out 6th ranked Michigan by 8 and a half points.

Mallory Comerford won all 3 of the events she entered, the 500 free...she's not just a sprinter, folks...the 100 free, and the 200 free relay.  Beyond those victories, there were a lot of 2nd and 3rd place finishes.

The other victory for the Cards last night was in the 200 medley relay, with Alina Kendzior, Maria Astashkina, Grace Oglesby, and Lainey Visscher.  Molly Fears, who won the 1-meter springboard event Friday evening, came in 4th in the 3-meter event.

This meet was a great showing, in a unique format, by one of the most successful teams at UofL right now against very high level competition.

Field Hockey

Minnie

We've said it many times before.  ACC Field Hockey is mind-bogglingly good.  UofL met the latest
challenge in the conference gauntlet with the #11 Cardinals squad meeting the #5 North Carolina squad.  

While it was a bit of a lackluster first half, they did go into halftime tied with the TarHeels at one apiece.  The Cardinals goal came on a corner with 12 minutes left in the first half.  Marisa Martin Pelegrina inbounded the corner, Katie Walsh provided the stop, and Minout "I score goals" Mink fired it home.  If you're keeping track, and I think Jared has given up at this point, that's a team leading nine for her on the season.

The Cardinals would score again early in the 2nd half on another corner.  Abby Grimes gets the tally on this one off the stop by Marigrace Ragsdale.  The insert came from Marisa Martin Pelegrina.  UNC would tie it up again at 2-2 on a rebound from a shot.  The final, game winning, score of the game came just a couple of minutes later with just under 10 minutes left in the game when Taylor Stone to the rock to the hole unassisted.

Ayeshia

With about 8 minutes left in the game, UNC called a timeout and lifted their GK to get a little more offense on the field.  The Cards were able to hold off the extra attacking and finish out the game with the 3-2 win.

This is another huge positive result for the Field Hockey squad.  After their woes early in the season on penalty corners, it's good to see them pull that part of play together and get two goals out of their corners.

In ACC standings, this win leaves the Cards tied for 1st with only Virginia, dropping UNC to 3-2, compared to the 4-1 records of UofL and UVA.  Duke also holds a 3-2 record to hold the tie with UNC in 3rd.  Beyond that, the standings are Wake Forest at 2-3, Syracuse at 2-4, and Boston College at 0-5. The Cards face the Hoos next (at Virginia) for top spot in the conference. 

Next Up

On tap today, all four of the golf and tennis squads are in action.  Only Men's Tennis is here in the 'Ville, at Bass-Rudd hosting the Louisville Invitational.

For a entry in the  Panera Card drawing...be the FIRST
to identify this guy in front
 (by name in movie) in the
comments section.

In team sports, Volleyball finishes the weekend at home with a 3 o'clock start (note the later than
typical start time!) against Georgia Tech.  I've said in past articles and on the radio that GT really shouldn't be a major challenge for this UofL team the way the Cards have been playing, Dani Busboom Kelly, after the Clemson match Friday, disagreed, and GT really is something of an enigma.  In one week of play, they lost in four to Boston College, who isn't an absolutely awful team...but they're not very good, either.  Then they go in Friday and beat Notre Dame in 4.  OK, Notre Dame isn't the powerhouse they used to be, they're rebuilding (and rebuilding fast!), but they can put up some stiff competition and GT rose to the challenge.  Admittedly, Notre Dame is also a bit of an enigma this year, having split a two match home and home weekend with Ohio State, though that's somewhat explicable by pointing out that each team won on their home floor.  Then they went 1-1 on a weekend at home losing to Miami and beating Florida State.  And, ok, you can kind of explain that by pointing out that FSU isn't nearly as good as we thought they were early in the season, but they are still a good team.

The takeaway from all of this I think can only be, if you're trying to predict outcomes in ACC volleyball right now, Good Luck!  If UofL shows up and plays the way that we know they are capable of playing, this should be a win today, but things are topsy turvy enough around the conference that it's really hard to get a good feel of how good various teams are, and that certainly includes the engineers from Atlanta.

This one will be on the ACC Network Extra. Could we possibly get out buddy Cortnee Walton doing some audio?

CCRH

Julie JC Sullivan also goes by the
moniker "Bird Lady".  

The recording of The Cardinal Couple Radio Hour is up on the Soundcloud.  You can listen to the replay, here.  I was able to catch most of the broadcast via TuneIn in my car on my way to Indianapolis where I joined my mother for a zany 20 minute dash in and out of an opening weekend Ikea store.  What I will say is that the Swedes (did you know that they're actually headquartered in The Netherlands, now?) know how to do traffic and crowd control really well.  Over 7,000 had entered the store as we were going in at around 1pm, and yet we were able to make it in, pick up what we needed and get out in 20 minutes.  Impressive!

Back on topic, I was able to hear Jared, JC, and Case cover the latest, and deal with the tense confusion of pre-recorded shows ("This event will have been played by the time you hear this.").  They did a fine job, and it was an excellent show, please check it out if you didn't hear it at broadcast time.

-- 

JMcA

That Winning Feeling -- SATURDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

Field Hockey Wins Shootout Thriller

Louisville and Wake Forest went the distance last night, playing a full game, two sudden death overtimes, and finally going to a shootout before Louisville came away victorious. The final score will go down as 3-2, but Louisville did officially score two goals in the shootout. One of them was scored by Minnie Mink so we'll give her that credit. For the first time this season, she scored two goals in a game as Jared wished she would all year. Both sides of the ball have been struggling lately, so it was good for the Louisville defense to limit goals with the number of opportunities Wake had and it was great for the offense to support the defense's efforts by scoring two goals. 

Ayeisha McFerran looked to return to form as the All-American goalkeeper we know her to be and she did so with 5 saves last night as well as keeping balls out of the cage during the shootout. Wake's offensive attack last night was ruthless, as they ended the game having earned 9 penalty corners and taken 15 shots, with 8 on goal. After an efficient second half, in which Wake scored a goal on only 2 shots and Louisville scored their only shot of the half, the teams played an aggressive first overtime. Both teams earned a PC and had three shots. The second overtime was all Wake Forest, but the Louisville defense was up to the task. Wake earned 3 penalty corners and took 6 shots in the second overtime period. Louisville's offense was nonexistent during that time. However, the defense held strong and kept the Demon Deacons off of the scoreboard, taking the game to the aforementioned shootout. In the shootout, Wake failed to convert its first four shots (thanks, Ayeisha) and Meghan Schneider and Minout Mink scored in the first and fourth positions for Louisville. Since Wake's fifth shooter couldn't score two goals at once, the game was over and the Cards were victorious.

Scoring in the regular period, in addition to Mink, was Marigrace Ragsdale, which brought her goal total to 3 on the season. It may not have been the prettiest win, but after the dreadful road trip the team just endured, I'm sure Coach Sowry is more than happy to get a win in any way possible. The victory moves Louisville back above .500 with a 5-4 record (remember that according to my prediction, they can't lose anymore games in the regular season) and earns them their first conference win. The game last night was Wake's first conference loss. Louisville gets the day off before hosting James Madison at noon tomorrow. The game is at home and available on ACC Network Extra.

Paulie Interview with Minnie Mink

Paulie Interview with Ayeshia McFerran

Paulie Interview with Coach Justine Sowry

Dani Busboom Kelly Wins First ACC Game

It was an up and down and back up again match for the Cards last night, but it seemed to be destined from the start. After going the full length with Notre Dame and winning in 5, Louisville is now 20-3 in conference home openers since 1995 (per gocards.com). The win gave Dani Busboom Kelly her first ACC victory as head coach in her first ACC game. Here's hoping for many more.

 The Cards jumped out early, winning the first game 25-23, having to come from behind as they trailed 16-20. This would come to be a theme throughout the match. Louisville led the second set 21-19 before ultimately falling 23-25 and led 17-9 in the third set before stumbling to a 25-27 loss. The Cards finally took control in the fourth set, leading wire-to-wire and winning 25-18. The Cards were again in control of the fifth set, trailing only 0-1 before winning 15-11 and taking the match. On offense, the Cards were led by Melanie McHenry with 21 kills, Tess Clark (16), and Jasmine Bennett (15). On defense it was Molly Sauer with 36 digs, Wilma Rivera (21), and Alexis Hamilton (16). 

The win over Notre Dame is no small feat. The Irish lost only one game in their non-conference schedule, a sweep against a ranked Ohio State team which they managed to avenge with a 3-1 win two days later. ND also has a win over Michigan State and did not drop more than one set in any match other than the OSU loss. Louisville will continue to test their mettle as they travel to North Carolina to face off with the Tar Heels tomorrow at 1PM. The game will be available on ACCNE.

Cardinal Couple Radio Hour

With Paulie and I hitting the noon football game, Jared at work, and Jeff fearful of facing the studio alone, we're taking the week off from our standard set-up. However(!), you can still tune into WCHQ via your radio, app, or online at 11AM to hear a collection of exclusive Cardinal Couple interviews compiled throughout the week. These sound clips will include previews, conversations about players, and post-game thoughts that can't be found anywhere but Cardinal Couple. As always, we thank you for reading, commenting, and listening.

Until next time, Go Cards!

-CH-

Field Hockey Bounces Back -- MONDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

Happy Labor Day!

Whether you plans are for a picnic, just taking it easy or even having to go punch the clock...all of us here at CARDINAL COUPLE wish you a great Labor Day! 

Woods Impresses, McFerran Returns in Win

After a frustrating defeat at the hands of Ohio State on Friday, Louisville's field hockey team was determined to right their ship quickly. There is no time to take days off in field hockey. The schedules are fairly short and, in the ACC, every conference game is tough. Louisville returned to form against Kent State yesterday and handled business with a 5-1 win. Quite honestly, Kent State was completely outmatched. Yesterday's loss drops the Golden Flashes to 1-3 with a combined score of 4-14. They have yet to play Ohio State in Columbus, a matchup set for Tuesday. Their only win came against St. Francis (PA). In short, this is a game Louisville should have dominated, and they did.

The Cardinals won the shots battle 25-6, the shots on goal battle 16-2, the corners battle 11-4, and had fewer fouls at 17-24. Nicole Woods paced the Cards with a hat trick in the first 17:19 of the game. Her third goal was the fourth for the team, and Kent State was in a major hole early. Marigrace Ragsdale added her second goal of the season in the midst of the hat trick and Minout Mink scored the lone Louisville goal in the second half to push the lead to 5-0. 

Mink has scored only 3 goals in 4 games, putting her well behind the 8 ball on Jared's prediction of two per game. Although she has not started a game, she has played more minutes than some girls that have started all 4, so her usage is a bit confusing to me. She is doing her job, though, tied for the Louisville lead in points with 7 and goals with 3. Ayeisha McFerran returned to action yesterday, giving Hollyn Barr a break with approximately 12 minutes remaining.

It was McFerran that gave up the only Kent State goal, but the goal was late in a decided game and came off of a corner penalty. Yesterday was also McFerran's first live action of the season so a readjustment period is warranted, especially coming off of an injury. One spot for concern to come from yesterday's game is the corner defense. Louisville has given up only 5 goals this season. However, all 5 have come off of a penalty corner. I understand that those plays are the easiest to score on in field hockey, but that is a opponent's completion percentage of nearly 25% (5/21). Louisville is converting corners at a much greater rate of 39% (9/23), yes, but good teams are going to take advantage of those opportunities and Louisville is going to face a lot of good teams.

Here is hoping that Louisville can shore up the corner defense, especially in situations with the game on the line like at Ohio State, and continue to convert in great numbers on their own corners. Louisville remains on the road for a matchup with American on Friday at 4PM at Maryland's pitch in College Park and they'll take on the Terps Sunday. 

Women's Soccer Looks to Continue Great Start

After taking down the rival Wildcats, Karen Ferguson-Dayes' team is back on the road tonight against Southeast Missouri State. The Redhawks (I looked it up) are currently 3-2 with wins over Evansville, Springfield, and Phoenix and losses to Missouri State. SEMO was picked to finish 5th in the Ohio Valley Conference in the preseason. Interestingly, all of SEMO's games this season have finished with one team being shutout. I expect Louisville's stout defense and imposing offense should be able to continue that trend for the Redhawks, and I would hope to see a win by 3 goals or more.

Anything can happen in soccer, especially on the road, but Louisville has impressed so far this season and this is a game they should win without issue. The days before the conference season arrives are growing shorter and it is time for Louisville to bring the same intensity to every game. Excluding the second half slip-up against Boston University and the awkward 2-0 loss against Marquette, Louisville has looked strong throughout this season. Performing well against a lesser opponent is a mark of a quality team and Louisville will need to do such tonight.

Until next time, Go Cards!

-CH-

A Full Friday -- SATURDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

But First, FOOTBALL!!

I know that we all come to this site for the women's coverage, but I cannot pass up the opportunity to share my excitement about the start of football season. Louisville is returning it's first ever Heisman Trophy winner at quarterback, the stable of wide receivers has been supposedly restocked, the offensive line is under new tutelage, and the defense is more than ready to go behind their new leader. Louisville takes on Purdue tonight at 7:30 in Lucas Oil Stadium. If you didn't already know that, where have you been? Purdue is coached by former Cardinal, Jeff Brohm. According to multiple sources, Brohm was working to get Louisville on the schedule at his previous place of employment (Western Kentucky) under the stipulation that Lamar Jackson be off the Louisville team prior to the game. Unfortunately for him, Purdue hadn't made such arrangements. Sorry, Jeff! Louisville is heavily favored in tonight's game and they should be chomping at the bit to get the bad taste of last season's collapse out of their mouths. Purdue is a good team to do that against. They aren't a cupcake, so there is some talent to match up against, but they are also a team that isn't quite good enough to punish every mistake Louisville makes. Let's hope we're going into next season's opener against Alabama after ending this year on a higher note. But we can't worry about next year, yet! There are 12 (hopefully 13, maybe even 14 or 15) games to be played before we turn the football calendar over. It all starts tonight, so let's sit back and enjoy the ride.

Field Hockey Takes First Loss in OT

Marigrace Ragsdale was once again a point getter for the Cards yesterday as she netted her first goal of the season at the end of the 21st minute. It was the first goal of the game for either team and the last goal of the game for Louisville. Ohio State was able to draw level with fewer than 10 minutes remaining in the game after a Louisville defended corner was deemed to be illegal and Ohio State was awarded a second penalty. Louisville was unable to defend a second time and the score was tied 1-1. The teams played 10 and a half minutes of overtime before a second corner goal for Ohio State ended the game and Louisville's undefeated streak. Coach Sowry was clearly disappointed by the team's performance, noting in her post game remarks (per gocards.com) that "it was ... a disappointing performance on the field, and really, that's no surprise given how we practiced all week." Scathing words from Coach who later went on to lament that Ohio State dictated the play and that Louisville is an inexperienced team that needs to look at a lot of things on the individual and team level. It's a hard fall, losing to an unranked team after defeating the defending national champion, but there is still plenty of time to recover. Perhaps Louisville needed a loss like this, one in which they were in control for the first half and just coasted to a loss in the second and beyond, to wake up before conference play starts. There will be no days to take off in the ACC. While it is frustrating to lose any game, it is important to learn from that loss rather than let it lead to additional failures. Louisville is back in action, hoping to get back on track, against Kent State tomorrow at noon at a neutral site.

Wide Netters Break the Win Column

After hard fought losses to top ten teams last weekend, Louisville was ready to put a tally in the win column this week as they returned to Cardinal Arena for their first regular season action in their official full time home. Last night's match came against the Hilltoppers of Western Kentucky, a team that found themselves in the top 25 after a good opening weekend. It was not "Tops on Top" last night, though, as Louisville pulled away in the third and fourth games to win the match 3-1. WKU started out strong, taking the first game from Louisville 18-25, and it appeared as though there might be another long night in store for the Cards. The first game saw only 4 ties and 1 lead change. Louisville hit only .107 in the first to WKU's strong .343 mark. However, the Cards came out in the second game and led wire to wire, drawing level on the set score after a 25-19 win. Louisville hit .214 to WKU's .161 in the second game. The Toppers fought valiantly in the third and fourth games, holding tight to the Cards for the first 20 points or so in both games and forcing 14 ties and 4 lead changes between the two games. Louisville pulled away though, due partly to costly WKU errors and very good hitting by the home team, to win the last two games 25-15 and 25-16. 

On the night, Louisville was paced on offense by Melanie McHenry, Maggie DeJong, and Tess Clark, who all hit over .300 on more than 10 attempts. Wilma Rivera did her part on offense with 34 assists. Gabey Wiley did her part with 5 aces and 0 service errors. Defensively, Rivera and Molly Sauer held strong with 12 and 11 digs, respectively. Wiley chipped in 7 and McHenry 6, to go along with her 12 kills. The Cards stood tall with 13 team blocks to WKU's 4. It was a game to be proud of, but one that Coach DBK is still likely to find places to improve, as all good coaches should. The Cards will look to pull their season record level today at 12:30 as they take on Kent State.

Cards Take First Rivalry Game of Season

Both inhabitants of Lynn Stadium were on the road last night, protecting our glorious soccer field from the tortures of long spikes on such a rainy night as last night. The men's team took a 1-0 win against Georgia State with a goal by Tim Kubel (that guy is really good), but it is the women's team with which we are interested. After 6 straight losses in the series, Louisville finally took one off of the Cats in Lexington. It was a rain soaked field, a goalkeeper's worst nightmare, and it showed, with 4 goals on the final scoreline. Kentucky was able to mar Louisville's clean sheet with a goal off of a corner kick in the 77th minute, but were unable to overcome the three goal lead Louisville had already built by that time. After a previously wide open goal race, the offense of Louisville is starting to settle in and one player is beginning to stand out as a present and future force that opposing defenses need to be wary of. Freshman Emina Ekic netted her 3rd and 4th goals last night, once off of a free kick and once off of a post rebound, adding these types of goals to her arsenal after already showing this season that she can score in space and off of the dribble. Alison Price, a senior stalwart on the front line, scored her second goal of the season on a corner kick. If you've paid much attention to my writeups so far this season, you'd know I am glad to see that Louisville is scoring on set pieces (twice this game). It is unfortunate that they gave up a corner kick goal, but they also defended two more and probably defended a few free kicks as well. (I have no way of knowing exactly how many fouls because that is an a statistic that is egregiously left off of the box score, but with 5 yellow cards issued in the match, I have to figure both teams had more than a few fouls.) (Also, I know it's a lot to ask, but possession stats and passing percentages would also be really cool to have.) It is great to see Louisville bounce back from the tough loss against Marquette, especially against their biggest rival, but I will have to wait until they return home to see if they've made some of the adjustments I can't get out of a game recap or box score. Louisville is back in action against Southeast Missouri State on Monday at 6:30. The road trip continues, so hopefully the Cards can take another road win before returning home against Purdue next Friday.

Cardinal Couple Radio Hour

If you've made it this far, I applaud you. There was a lot to talk about today. If you didn't get your fill from the text on this page and would rather hear a few goofs talk about it over the airwaves, tune in to the Cardinal Couple Radio Hour from 11-12 on WCHQ FM. The station is 100.9 in the Crescent Hill area or you can listen on the WCHQ app or station website. The show is always available for rebroadcast, usually beginning on the Sunday after the original air date if you've missed it. 

Until next time, Go Cards! (Beat ... Purdue!)

-CH-

Setting the "Barr" and an away weekend for most UofL sports -- THURSDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

HOLLYN "SETTING THE BARR" AT GOALKEEP FOR FIELD HOCKEY

Barr named Longstreth/NFHCA NAtional Defender of the Week

After waiting patiently for a season behind the 2016 UofL Field Hockey goalkeeper Ayeshia McFerran...sophomore Hollyn Barr knows a thing or two about patience, learning and being prepared. With McFerran sidelined with an injury right now, Barr...who was the third string goalie last season... was the only goalkeeper left on the roster and was pressed into action for the 2017 season. No need to panic, though...she was ready to raise the "barr". 




Hollyn was impressive in the preseason wins in exhibitions against the alums and Miami (OH). How would she hold up, though, against a better-than-average IU squad and the defending national champions in #3 Delaware? 

The answer is just fine, thank you.

She allowed just one goal in the #9 Cards regular season opener against the Hoosiers last Friday in UofL's 4-1 win. The same scenario Sunday...one goal as the Cards down the Blue Hens 3-1. 140 minutes of tending the nets, an average of 1.0 goals allowed per contest and 13 saves on shot on goal. For comparison, McFerran had a 1.24 average for 2016 on goals allowed per game...which was in the top five in the nation and graduated back up goalkeeper Elina Pereira had an average of 1.96 goals per game in 35 minutes of play. 

Good goalkeeping is promoted a lot by stellar defense and the Cards had a few gaps to fill in there as well. Senior Abby Grimes, normally a midfielder with excellent attacking abilities was transitioned into a defender. So was sophomore Carter Ayars. Junior Taylor Stone has seen her share of defensive work...plus freshmen Meghan Schneider, Alli Bitting and AnnMarie Habelow all getting starts on the back line. 

Good goalkeeping is also benefited by an aggressive offensive attack against the opponents and the Cards have shown the propensity to advance the ball. Favorites Minnie Mink and Marigrace Ragsdale are back for the Cards on the attack and...combined with freshman Marisa Martin Pelligrina...have been responsible for four goals and six assists this season. Maybe we should call them "the M M and M girls" or "Triple M's".

Yes, it is still early in the season. Plenty of hockey to be played. The Cards head to Columbus, OH this weekend to face the Buckeyes in their home opener. The Ohio State University dispatched Lehigh 4-0 on the road last weekend. That's the start of a strenuous six game road swing that will have UofL Field Hockey in Columbus for the Buckeyes and Kent State, in College Park, MD for Maryland and American, visiting Durham for the ACC Conference opener against Duke and going to Evanston, IL for always-strong Northwestern.

I did inquire why Louisville was still ranked at their preseason ranking of #9 after knocking off the Blue Hens. I was told by George Lane...director of ACC Communications...that rankings aren't released until the end of the second week of competition. 

You learn something new every day.

What opponents will learn is that they're playing a rock-solid Louisville team that features speed, multiple scorers and a fondness for controlling the action down around the foe's net...plus a denying defense. 

They'll also discover if you hang around the "Barr" and her "barr"tenders...they'll make you pay. 


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ROAD TRIP(S) 

Besides Field Hockey travelling this Labor Day weekend, we also find women's soccer on the road for tests at UK Friday and Southeastern Missouri State on Monday. Men's Soccer travels to Georgia State for a Friday match and...of course...the Louisville Football team will be in Indy Saturday for a showdown with Purdue. 

Volleyball remains on campus. They host the Cardinal Classic that starts on Friday night with a match against Western Kentucky at 6:30 p.m. They'll face Kent State at 12:30 Saturday afternoon (which will have Worldwide doing his Dagwood Bumstead imitation of dashing out of the Crescent Hill Radio studios to get to Cardinal Arena) and the Wide Net gals will conclude the Classic Saturday night against, yet another Big 10 foe...this time the fighting Illini from Champaign. 

Remember that games at Cardinal Arena (and elsewhere on campus) have now implemented the "clear bag" policy. You can read more about that at the link below: 

CLEAR BAG POLICY FOR CARDINAL ARENA

I'll see you again on the radio Saturday morning for THE CARDINAL COUPLE RADIO HOUR and here on these pages next Tuesday. Case and Worldwide will get you through the weekend here at the site. If i don't run into you, have a great Labor Day weekend. Be safe, responsible and stay dry tomorrow...the Louisville area could be pretty wet Friday. 


paulie
xxxxx

Late Edition - Fall Sports Media Day -- FRIDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

Paulie and I have just finished up approximately an hour and a half of interviews and remarks from various members of UofL fall sports programs.  An event now three years strong that always makes for a pleasant day and a chance to catch up with Volleyball, Field Hockey, Women's Soccer, and an addition this year, Cross Country.

The remarks got started with the four coaches making opening remarks.  Dale Cowper lead the pack with remarks about the chance to host the NCAA Championships at E.P. Tom Sawyer Park.  He mentioned that they have re-arranged the course at the park this year, and expects the event to be better than ever.  In perhaps a little bit of one-upmanship, Justine Sowry went next and spoke about how strong the ACC is as a Field Hockey conference (a refrain repeated numerous times, with reason, here on Cardinal Couple), and mentioned that they get to host both the ACC Championships, as well as the NCAA championships.  Karen Ferguson-Dayes came next, talking up the experience of the senior class, as showing some excitement in the attackers, who were mostly freshmen last year, coming back with another year of experience under their belts.  Dani Busboom Kelly spoke about the move of all of the Volleyball facilities to Cardinal Arena, and how it is now a dedicated facility.  She also spoke of how much of a difference the renovation of Cardinal Arena has made and how great it is to be on-campus where they hope to get more student support, and to have a "Volleyball Compound" where they don't have to share court time and access to other facilities with other programs.

In questions from the media, we heard of the challenges that both Sowry and Ferguson-Dayes have with some number of their players not yet returning from International play over the summer.  Busboom Kelly was asked about being picked "sixth or seventh" in the conference (actually eighth) and what that meant to the team, responding that they expected to finish better than anyone expects in conference, showing some confidence that it would be better than sixth as the question alluded to.  Asked about her favorite part of the newly renovated Cardinal Arena, she said that it was the balcony seating in the end-zones, as that should be expected to up the energy level of the crowd.  She did mention that it limits their ability, due to the closeness of all of the seating to the Volleyball court, of chasing down shanked balls, so it ups the importance of digging and passing cleanly, and overall ball control.

Asked about stand-outs that maybe aren't so well known so far in practice, Busboom Kelly mentioned Wilma Rivera, a transfer setter from Penn State who will be competing for playing time with last year's main setter, Kali Eaken.  Also, freshman DS/Libero Alexis Hamilton got a shout-out for her outstanding play so far.  Karen Ferguson-Dayes mentioned some names we already know, in Inger Katrine-Bjerke, and Gabbie Vincent, both Cardinal Couple favorites from interviews in past years, she named a couple of other names, that I didn't catch (listen to the Cardinal Couple Radio Hour tomorrow to hopefully hear more of them), as well as Brooklynn Rivers.  Sowry mentioned Meg Schneider and Mercedes Pastor, both freshmen, as having contributed well so far in practice.  She also mentioned Hollyn Barr, the backup goalkeeper, as having been playing extremely well, and that she would likely be starting in the cage for the first few games due to unavailability of Ayeisha McFerran.  She also spoke of the depth of the roster, and mentioned the likelihood of going 17 deep, which is unsurprising given her penchant for rapid-fire substitutions.

After the session with the coaches broke up, the media moved into the next room to speak with representatives of the various teams.  We first got the opportunity to speak with Tess Clark and Molly Sauer, of the volleyball team.  They re-iterated coach Busboom Kelly's thoughts of Wilma Rivera and Alexis Hamilton being the stand-out newcomers to the team.  Tess confirmed that she will be playing as a left side hitter, and does have some passing and digging duties.  She mentioned that Sauer helped her out a lot by taking a lot of the passes from her.

Moving on, we spoke with Inger Katrine-Bjerke and Gabbie Vincent from the Soccer team.  Paulie asked about KB's trip to China, then her further globetrotting back home to visit with family in Norway before returning to Louisville.  They talked about the importance for the backs in the game of Soccer, how they were most responsible for communication on the pitch, and how they had the best vantage point to see the whole field of play and thus were in the best position to communicate what needed to be done.

Finally, visiting with Marigrace Ragsdale, Abby Grimes, and Taylor Stone on the Field Hockey team, we heard about their excitement for hosting both the ACC and NCAA Tournaments at Trager.  We also learned that Marigrace and Abby, both being from St. Louis, have played field hockey together since they were twelve.  We learned how the recruiting process worked to get both of them to Louisville (Abby committed first, Marigrace later asked if it was ok if she also came to play with her at Louisville, an exuberant affirmative being the answer to that.)

Paulie will have much of the audio from these interviews tomorrow on The Cardinal Couple Radio Hour, so be sure to tune in at 11am on Crescent Hill Radio, 100.9 on the FM dial in the central area of Louisville, to hear the recorded audio.  On the plus side, you won't have to listen to us knuckleheads nearly as much as most weeks.

-- JMcA