Volleyball rises in poll -- Soccer news -- TUESDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

VOLLEYBALL NOW #22 IN AVCA POLL

Our boys "mug it up" with a few
Volleyballers

Since the debacle against Kentucky back on Sept 14th...Louisville Volleyball has quietly but effectively done nothing but win. The victory streak is up to seven games now -- with the 3-0 sweep of Wake Forest on Sunday -- and the Cards are now getting a bit of national and regional recognition as well now. 

Louisville (13-4, 6-0) climbed to #22 in the nation in the latest AVCA (American Volleyball Coaches Association) poll recently and freshman middle blocker EMILY SCOTT was named ACC Freshman of the Week yesterday for her efforts out on the hardwood against conference foes the Duke Blue Devils and Winston-Salem's finest...the Wake Forest Demon Deacs.  

Dani Busboom Kelly has built the squad around a combination of old and new...and had to deal with a few significant injuries along the way.  Senior MOLLY SAUER, the two-time ACC Defensive Player of the Year, is having another stellar season with 268 digs...just short of 16 per match. (Maybe Bobby Petrino should consult her on his current defensive woes). She's also provided 21 service aces. We'll say it..."Good Golly, Miss Molly!" 

MELANIE McHENRY, everyone's favorite Speedway Sprocket,  has been credited for 217 kills on the season, tops for the Cards, and is just 33 short of reaching the 1,000 kill club at Louisville. The junior also has a little football in her high school background but Cardinal Volleyball fans know her for those vicious floor burners she sends over the net. You can thank WILMA RIVERA for a lot of that success. The Setter of The Year in the ACC last year, she's already "helped out" 650 times this season and is a high risk, high reward server who's notched 20 service aces in 2018. Since transferring her from Penn State, she's been a superlative and intergral part of the Cards attack and I know Fred Flinstone is out there somewhere yelling "Wilma!" or maybe "Yabba Dabba Doo!" after each magical set up.

AMANDA GREEN, PIPER ROE, MIA STANDER, MARIJKE VAN DYKE...and many others have helped build this squad into a top 25 contender. And, the Cards have also had to overcome significant injuries with ALEXIS HAMILTON out for the year (knee), and JASMINE BENNETT and KELLY O'NEIL watching from the end zone recently because of dings and dents. 

Roc the Panther has something to growl about this year
in Volleyball 

The Cards are one of two ACC schools ranked in the top 25. Pittsburgh is cruising along at #6 in the nation...sporting a perfect overall and ACC record. Our Volleyball "savant" Jeff McAdams has seen a bit of Panther play and assures me that they are the "real deal" and the Cards will face a very strong foe on Oct 21st. (a Sunday) when the Cards travel to the Fitzgerald Field House on "the Hill" to face them. 

The Cards and Panthers finished atop the ACC last year and all indicators point to a similar finish in 2018. Plenty of Volleyball left in the season, though, and it continues when the Fighting Irish of Notre Dame visit Cardinal Arena tomorrow night for an ACC show down. UND is 10-6 on the season and 4-2 in conference but stumbled in five sets against Duke Sunday. 

The Cards and Irish start at 7 p.m. and it'll be available on the ACC Network Extra if you can't attend.


UPDATE ON ROUSE 

We've noticed lately that Cardinal sophomore midfielder MOLLIE ROUSE hasn't been "on the pitch" for Louisville women's soccer contest. A confirmed sighting of her at a recent game, sitting in street clothes in the "Boyle" section of the stadium watch the Cards play raised some questions.

Transfer? Injury? Suspension? Alzheimers?  

A CARDINAL COUPLE associate ran into her leaving Lynn Stadium after the Miami game and confirmed that the English sophomore is looking to transfer. No further details were provided. 

Rouse spent the first part of the season playing for the English National Team in World Cup competition before arriving on campus. She's play in five contests for the Cards, starting two games. A total of 204 minutes on the Lynn Stadium turf with two goals, one assist and eight shots. 

Each side has two stories. We've haven't heard UofL's version yet and may not. Understandable there. Rouse declined on commenting as well, except to confirm her transfer plans. There's as many reasons for a player transferring as there are blades of grass on a soccer field, so we'll take the high road here and wish her the best of success on wherever she ends up. 


DID YOU KNOW? 

If you watch the Cards WSOC squad on the ACC Network Extra, you've undoubtedly noticed the dulcet tones of one of the women's commentators providing the analysis. That would be ERIN YENNEY...who played for Karen Ferguson Dayes squad from 2011-14. 

The former mid-fielder from Troy, OH came to Louisville and made an impact immediately...starting all 24 matches her first year. After graduation, she continued her soccer pursuits, spending 2016 with the Swedish football club Ostersunds DDF, 2017 in Colombia playing for Independiente Santa Fe and 2018 with the Chicago Red Stars in the NWSL. 

Erin played in 72 matches as a Cardinal and scored 13 goals in her time as a student-athlete. She's one of those Cardinals that actually played in three conferences during her time at UofL...the Big East, AAC and ACC. 

We're guessing she's got a pretty huge and varied collection of different conference t-shirts, jerseys and logo-ed travel bags stashed. We heartily approve of Erin transition from the floor to the booth! Erin, go announce! 

Erin was one of Paulie's favorite WSOC players back then and, I'm pretty sure that if I researched Cardinal Couple back files and history...I could find a clip or two of us interviewing her after a game or at a Fall Sports Media Day. It's always good to have "one of your own" up behind the microphone providing analysis of the action. The sad thing is that I don't get to hear her call, since I'm at all home Louisville women's soccer games covering the action while she's two booths over doing work. 

Erin's been a pretty popular first name among Cardinal women's athletes over the years.

Your assignment today:  Name three other "Erin's" that come to mind associated with Louisville women's sports. No "Googling" the results!  



paulie
xxxxx

Two Cardinal Sports Remain Undefeated -- SATURDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

Women's Soccer Opens 2018-19 Battle of the Bluegrass Series with Win

Louisville and Kentucky waited two and a half hours to start their game after inclement weather put things on hold. They then waited an additional 91 minutes before seeing the game's first goal. Less than two minutes into the first overtime period, Brooklynn Rivers received a pass from Allison Whitfield near the top of the box, turned, and slotted a shot past the diving UK keeper for the Golden Goal. I will leave my thoughts on the Collegiate Sudden Victory rules aside for today, not least because Louisville benefited from them last night. 

It was a game that Louisville deserved to win, dominating both possession and the efforts on goal. Despite an even first half and Kentucky being denied by the crossbar in the second half, it was mostly the Cards providing the offense, outshooting the Wildcats 14-5 and 9-1 shots on goal. Louisville's advantage was the product of what we've seen from the Cards so far this season, a strong defense and relentless attack. Fortunately, counterattacks and set pieces were not to doom Louisville last night, as the two teams were even on fouls with only 7, no cards were issued, and Louisville limited Kentucky to only 2 corner kick opportunities.

A look at how the Cards performed against Paulie's keys to the game shows that the Cards executed these keys perfectly and they led to the win. Ideally, they would have led to even more goals, but I'll take a win to remain undefeated any way that I can.

1) Shutting the Door: As I've already mentioned, Louisville's defense was on lock, holding Kentucky to just the one shot on goal and limiting chances in general on their way to a clean sheet. Goalkeeper stats are typically lost when you only look at saves, as Gabby Kouzelos walked away with only one from last night, but when you save the only shot on goal, you have a better chance of winning. Goalkeepers usually gain numerous touches which don't go in the box score but can have just as big an impact on the game. It was a strong effort from the defense last night and one that I hope they can duplicate. The offense will be unable to find the net in future games for sure.

2) Flying Freshmen: Did Coach Karen Ferguson Dayes read yesterday's column? Not only did the freshmen have a huge impact, but all three major players mentioned (Sarah Hernandez, Delaney Snyder, and Maisie Whitsett) earned the start last night. Hernandez had her normal spot in the defense, and we have already discussed how that went. Snyder and Whitsett started for Taylor Kerwin and Allison Whitfield respectively. Whitsett had two of three shots on goal while Snyder was unusually quiet. Of course, passing and individual defending stats are not kept so without being able to watch last night's game, I'm unable to provide a full assessment of their performances.

3) Ekic Energy: Like the two freshmen, I'm not able to fully assess the game that Emina Ekic played, but she did add another two of three shots on goal. Ekic always provides strength through the midfield and I'm sure that with the overall team performance on display last night, she played her typical high performing game.

4) Super Subs: This was one that I added in the comments and it also played a huge part in the outcome of the game. Coach KFD did not go as deep as normal into the bench, but she outsubbed Ian Carry 5-2. Her subs were also extremely effective, with two normal starters coming from the bench in Whitfield and Kerwin and Mollie Rouse returning to the team. Whitfield provided a single shot and the lone assist in the game, and Rouse was much more offensive than expected, putting two of three shots on goal and being part of the buildup for the goal.

Louisville has already exceeded my expectations through this tough three game stretch, gaining 2
wins when I said I'd be pleased with at least a win and a tie. The game at Purdue on Thursday will still be a test, but Louisville has proven that they can win games that they were unable to last season. The Cards have given me a lot of optimism moving forward to the conference season, and I'm looking forward to seeing what the Cards can do as the season progresses.

POST GAME REVIEW WITH KAREN FERGUSON DAYES:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NknuTd7TL78&feature=youtu.be

POST GAME WITH BROOKLYNN RIVERS:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tx7nRH0mNwM&feature=youtu.be


HIGHLIGHTS FROM UK vs. UofL:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bNj-6QqLHxs

Volleyball Knocks off UCF to Move to 4-0

Facing a tough weekend, the Louisville volleyball team continued their hot start, moving their unbeaten streak to four matches. Through the four matches, the Cards have yet to drop a set, yesterday sweeping UCF in the first match of the Florida Bubly Invitational. As in the previous matches, it was a matter of Louisville’s superior hitting that propelled them to victory with the Cards outhitting the Knights 0.362 to 0.133.

Like before, Louisville struggled to close out the opponent in the second set, allowing UCF to bring the match to 23-22 before winning the final two points. Unlike other matches, though, it was not a failure in hitting by the Cards that made the set closer, as Louisville still hit .387 in the set, rather an improvement from UCF. Fortunately, Louisville was able to focus up and put the set away. Hopefully, this trend of second set letdowns will come to an end before the Cards are punished for it.

Statistically, the match was similar to what we’ve come to expect so far from UofL. Melanie
McHenry led the team in kills, Wilma Rivera in assists, and Molly Sauer in digs. If you’re new around here, allow me to inform you that those three names will be the team leaders for the majority of the matches this season. To go along with her 12 kills, McHenry completed a double-double with 10 digs. She did finish with 5 errors but peppered in 3 block assists and a solo block to put together a strong overall match.

UCF was not a pushover team, like those that the Cards faced last weekend, but their first true test will come today against hosts Florida. The Gators are coming off of a loss against USC last night and will be looking to put up a more notable performance after a poor showing last night. Louisville has played pretty good volleyball to this point in the season, but this will be the first match where Louisville is up against a team with a talent level at or above their own. The Cards can win today but will need to put together a complete performance to do so. Louisville and Florida get underway at 5PM and live video is available via ESPN Streaming. After a strong overall season in her first year at the helm, Coach Dani Busboom-Kelly will be looking for a marquee win early in this one


THE CARDINAL COUPLE RADIO HOUR

With Case on the farm and Jared carousing with mice in Florida, Worldwide Jeff and Paulie welcome Mike Gilpatrick into the studio for The Cardinal Couple Radio Hour.

We'll have a lively hour of discussion about last night's soccer and volleyball, plus look at today's football game against Alabama.

Join us, won't you?  Listen live at WCHQ 100.9 FM, on the website, on the WCHQ app or see us on Facebook Live. Promoting the joy and excitement of UofL women's athletics.

www.wchqfm.com


OH...FOOTBALL TONIGHT! 

In closing, the University of Louisville Football team travels to Orlando, FL to take on last year's
National Champions Alabama.

We'll watch as fans and hope the best for our Cardinals. A tough task, no doubt, to begin the post-Lamar Jackson era. We'll see how these Cards are dealt against a formidable opponent. New defensive coordinator, a Puma  in the backfield and lots of questions on defense...for UofL.

Feel free to share your thoughts about this or any other topics in the comments section!

Until next time, Go Cards!

-CH-

Softball Releases Fall Schedule -- Mollie Rouse Returns to Campus -- WEDNESDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

Softball Releases Fall Schedule

Other than playing inter-squad scrimmages it has been a few years since we have seen Louisville softball face true opponents in a fall schedule.  It appears Holly Aprile wants to change that.  Their fall schedule was released yesterday.

On Sunday, Sept. 16, the Cards will  travel to Richmond to face Eastern Kentucky in a double-header.  Then they will head up to Bloomington to take on Indiana in a double-header on Sunday, Sept. 30.

The Cards will also host a few games at Ulmer so fans can get a sneak peek at what's to come.  Morehead State will come to town on Sunday, Oct. 7 for a double-header.  They'll take on Kentucky and Western Kentucky on Saturday, Oct. 13.

Playing other Division 1 opponents will give Coach Aprile a chance to see what her team can do before the true season starts in February.

The only roster changes we currently know of include Sydney Warriner transferring and Catie Barber deciding that her softball career has come to a close.

Mollie Rouse Back at UofL

After earning a bronze medal with the English National Team at the FIFA U20 World Cup, Mollie Rouse is back in the states.  Sadly, her bronze medal was not on display, but I'm sure we will see it at some point this season.

It is currently unknown if Rouse will play Friday against Kentucky and if she does, how much time she will see.  Rouse has not had the off-season and early season to practice with UofL and has not had a chance to familiarize herself with the game-plan (it's more than just 'win').  Fortunately, having played all summer and against some of the best players her age internationally, she shouldn't miss a step when she's ready for action.

Other News and Notes

-This is a reminder that the women's soccer match on Friday is early- 5:30 p.m.  They will face Kentucky and is a part the women and men's teams double-header.  The men will face St. Louis following the conclusion of the women's match.  Tickets are a 2-for-1 deal.

-Men's Soccer defeated Georgia State last night 1-0 to improve to 2-0 on the year.  They join women's soccer (4-0) and volleyball (3-0) in the undefeated column.  Field hockey is currently 1-1, winning on the road and losing at home.

-Men's Tennis release their fall schedule.  You can catch Coach Rex Ecarma and the men's team at the Bass-Rudd Tennis Center from Oct. 19-21 when they host the Louisville Invitational.

What Day Is It

Although you are more than welcome to help another on any given day today is Willing-To-Lend-A-Hand Wednesday.  You can't go wrong helping others!

According to Englishman Edmond Hoyle it is According to Hoyle Day.  For you food lovers, it is More Herbs Less Salt Day, Lemon Juice Day, Chop Suey Day, and Swiss Wine Growers Day.  I wouldn't mix the four of them though, that sounds gross.

Happy Wednesday and Go Cards!

- Jared -

Field Hockey, Volleyball Take Openers -- SATURDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

Volleyball Earns Sweeps in First Two Matches of Season

Louisville Volleyball opened their season yesterday in the Cardinal Classic, hosting three teams in Cardinal Arena. Louisville played their first game against UT Martin and showed the fans on hand that last season's performances were no fluke by putting together a dominant performance against the outmatched Skyhawks. The Cards finished the match hitting .478 as a team and had a whopping 10 aces. UT Martin was outscored 75-36 over the duration of the match, with the closest game of the three coming at 25-17. 

Despite Melanie McHenry and Amanda Green both finishing with 9 kills, it was really Piper Roe who paced the office, converting 8/11 attempts with no errors to finish the night with 8 kills and a .727 hitting percentage. Roe also added 5 block assists and a dig to round out a very solid match. My player of the match would have to be Wilma Rivera, though. Rivera picked up right where she left off and finished the first match of the day with 2 kills (on 2 attempts), 23 assists, 4 aces, 2 blocks, and 7 digs. Rivera was the Setter of the Year last year and it is good to see her come out of the gate strong. 

Unfortunately..we found out before the first game, Louisville lost a key contributor on defense in Alexis Hamilton. It was confirmed by her family at the later game that Hamilton tore her ACL and will likely miss the remainder of the season. Look for Coach Dani Busboom-Kelly to apply a medical redshirt to Hamilton this year to give the sophomore an additional year of playing time.

In their second match last night, Louisville took on the Salukis of SIU. The team from Illinois put up a bit more of a fight, scoring a total of 42 points, and pushing one game to 25-19, but in the end, Louisville walked away with a second sweep. The Cards again hit well as a team with a .443 performance, and finished the second match with 7 aces. Unfortunately, the aces were outnumbered by service errors, and you know that I like to look for the bad in the good to find things the team can improve.

Despite her effectiveness in the first match, Piper Roe did not start the second match. Roe came away ok with her limited opportunities, though, earning a kill on 4 of 6 attempts, but erring on the other two. It was Emily Scott that started in place of Roe and Jasmine Bennett that played a similar game to Piper. Bennett finished the match with 10 kills on 15 attempts with just one error for a .600 hitting percentage. McHenry and Green were again strong, with 10 and 8 kills respectively, and Rivera again put together a solid match with 38 assists. The new transfer, Marijke Van Dyke, finished the second match completing 4/5 attempts with no errors and may find herself moving up the depth chart if such success continues.

Louisville will wrap the Cardinal Classic today against IUPUI at 5PM and will look for another strong outing. Winning 9 straight sets would be a good way to start the season. I will be looking for the Cards to perform better in the second set, as that was where the best games came from both opponents yesterday. Jeff will have plenty more to say about this opening weekend in his writeup tomorrow so be sure to check back in then!

Field Hockey Defeats Indiana in Opener 2-1

The Cards opened and closed the scoring yesterday with both goals coming on converted penalty corners. Shout out to the box score play-by-play for calling them "penalty kicks". Maybe they let Paulie at the controls for a moment. Louisville's first goal came after 23 minutes from Bethany Russ. Russ was active on the ball yesterday, taking a total of 6 shots and putting 2 of them on frame. 

The Louisville lead would last only 4 minutes, as Indiana scored a goal in the run of play after a bad pass from the defense led to an open breakaway. To the potential surprise of many, Ayeisha McFerran heard her number called yesterday to start the game in goal. She gave up the one goal (but it is hard to blame a goalkeeper for getting scored on in a one-on-one situation) but finished the game with 4 saves, including 3 during a tied second half. 

After Indiana's goal, the two teams went on the be frustrated for about 43 minutes before Louisville's Erica Cooper prevented overtime with a goal with no time on the clock. Louisville was awarded a penalty corner as time expired, and field hockey rules state that the penalty awarded team must be allowed an untimed play to complete their offensive attack. Indiana was unable to clear the ball, and a second attempt from Cooper saw her loft a shot over the IU keeper for a buzzer beating goal. It was the first goal of the freshman Cooper's career at UofL, and it came at a pretty good time for the Cards.

The goal gave Louisville a 40% completion rate on penalty corners for the day while the Cards successfully defended all 5 attempts from the Hoosiers. The defense for this team will be a strong point for Louisville, but the passing and possession out of the back will need to be cleaned up to prevent more open attempts like came in the first half of yesterday's game. It was good to see McFerran back in the goal so quickly and playing well when it was expected that she would miss a few games.

Louisville field hockey is back in action tomorrow at 1PM against Ohio State at Trager Stadium. The game is available on ACC Network Extra.

Rouse and England Place Third

Like Ayeisha McFerran, Mollie Rouse will be returning from international duty with some hardware in tow. The Young Lionnesses were bumped from the finals in a defeat by Japan earlier this week, but took on the host team France in the third place game yesterday morning. Japan went on to defeat Spain 3-1 in the championship. It took penalties for England against France after the teams were tied at 1 with both goals coming in the second half. England converted 4 of their 5 penalties in the shootout and held France to just 2 of 4 (the last kick by the hosts being moot). Rouse will likely not return to the squad before tomorrow's match against Michigan, but may be back with the team by Friday's match against Kentucky. Match fitness shouldn't be an issue after starting nearly every game for England, but her team cohesion, as mentioned before, may be. However, with the surprising speed of McFerran's return to the field hockey starting lineup, I'll be keeping an eye on Coach Karen Ferguson-Dayes onboarding of Rouse. The Cards take on Michigan tomorrow at 2PM. No video is listed for the game.

Cardinal Couple Radio Hour

We're without Jared today, but should have plenty to fill our Cardinal Couple Radio Hour as more fall sports have gotten underway. We'll talk women's soccer, volleyball, and field hockey as all three have been active and will do our best to generally present the joy and excitement of Louisville women's sports. As always, join us on WCHQ at 11AM via 100.9 FM, wchqfm.com, the WCHQ app, or on Facebook Live. 

Until next time, Go Cards!

-CH-

Rouse, England Fall To Japan 2-0 -- Davenport has a top five -- TUESDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

ENGLISH LOSE IN WORLD CUP SEMIFINAL TO JAPAN 2-0 

It was a match-up of the two highest scoring teams in the FIFA U 20 World Cup semifinals yesterday in Vannes, France but the Japanese squad did all the scoring in a 2-0 win to advance to the finals against the Spanish team...who defeated France 1-0 in the other semifinal match. 

UofL women's soccer standout Mollie Rouse isn't quite done with her contributions to the English U 20's yet, though. The English will meet France with the bronze medals on the line Friday in Vannes. Rouse, from Warwichshire, England (a county in south-central England and about two hours northwest of London) went to Stratford-upon-Avon school...maybe best known for being located where famous writer William Shakespeare was born.  Rouse played in the semi-final match after sitting out the quarter-finals against The Netherlands. Like her teammates, though, Rouse could find no answers or scores against a technically sound and ball-hawking Japanese defense. 

Both goals were scored in the first half and within five minutes of each other when Japan connected on a Riko Ueki attempt from the outside corner of the box in the 22nd. minute of action. 

What it means for Louisville women's soccer is that Rouse will definitely miss the Thursday, August 23rd. game at Dayton and most likely the August 26th Sunday match at Michigan. The Friday August 31st. annual battle of the Bluegrass against Kentucky at Lynn Stadium is a definite possibility for her, though. 

As we saw with Field Hockey's goalkeeper extraordinaire Ayeisha McFerran, getting acclimated to "stateside" and college action takes a bit of time...although McFerran was impressive in the 2018 team's romp over the alumnae on Saturday and their 3-1 exhibition win against Michigan in Columbus, OH yesterday. 

Speaking of McFerran, she and Louisville head Field Hockey Coach Justine Sowry will be meeting with the media on Wednesday this week (tomorrow) at 2:30 over at Trager Stadium to discuss the 2018 season and Ayeisha's adventures in England with the Irish National Field Hockey squad that finished second in recent World Cup competition. 

The Field Hockey squad begins their regular season in Bloomington, IN against Indiana University with a 3 p.m. scheduled start. 


MAORI DAVENPORT NARROWS IT TO FIVE SCHOOLS

Maori Davenport, a 6'4" post out of Charles Henderson H.S. in Troy, Alabama, has narrowed her college list to five schools and Louisville is one of those five...along with Mississippi State, Georgia, Florida and Rutgers....according to several Tweets from last night.
Earlier reports that South Carolina was one of the five (at another website) appear to be incorrect. 

Davenport played on the USA U19 squad that Jeff Walz was the head coach of and that won the FIBA Americas tournament in Mexico City recently.  She was selected to the All-Tournament team after the competition. She's #2 ranked at her position in the latest ESPNW listings and #13 overall in the 2019 class. 

Davenport hasn't commented on when she'll narrow it down any further or make a choice between the five schools. Visits to the schools haven't been announced yet either. 


Three SEC Universities are represented in the final five and Florida head WBB Coach Cam Neubauer is a former assistant to Coach Walz. Maybe a bit of concern over the wealth of SEC suitors...all three schools are not that far of a drive for her parents and the close proximity of the other SEC schools to Troy, AL. are something to consider. Rutgers definitely a "long haul" from Troy but has the allure of head coach C. Viv Stringer. Tim Eatman, who served as an assistant coach at Louisville from 2004-07, is an assistant on Stringer's staff. 

Troy, AL. is just a seven-hour trip up I-65 from "the Ville". Ultimately, of course, it eventually breaks down to what is the best fit for the player, the coach and the team goals and philosophy fitting the player. 

Walz has the edge in coaching her in the FIBA events and both got a chance to evaluate each other's style and philosophies. The Cards had the second best 2017-18 season of the "final five" in Davenport's list.

The recruiting game. So many factors and intricacies. We'll let you know when we know more. CARDINAL COUPLE has a interview scheduled with Coach Walz on Wednesday, and although we can't talk recruiting, we'll discuss the FIBA and USA experiences Walz had and hopefully get a little first-hand insight into the 2018-19 season. Be sure to check back here on Thursday for the interview recap and audio! 


Guess who's going to classes? 

If there was any worry among our readership or Louisville WBB fans out there, rest assured. All three freshmen on scholarship are on campus, enrolled in classes and attending them.  They say a picture is worth 1000 words, so...we present this shot from 
Sam Purcell's Facebook account. 

All three would be best advised to avoid Sam as much as possible....everything, as we know, is his fault...study well and learn all you can Mykasa, Molly and Seygan! 



paulie
xxxxx

The Season is Upon Us -- SATURDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

More Fall Sports Teams Getting Underway

Thursday marked the true beginning of the fall season for Louisville athletics. As Jared wrote about yesterday, the women's soccer team opened the season with a bang. We'll talk a bit more about that later and plenty more about it on the Cardinal Couple Radio Hour today, so I'll leave that be. If you haven't read Jared's recap, I recommend doing so. It was a really fun game Thursday night. Though football won't start for another couple of weeks, almost every other sport will be in action this weekend.

Field hockey will be the first to join women's soccer with action on the field. (I know men's soccer had an exhibition where they knocked off highly ranked Indiana, but that was an away exhibition which hardly counts.) The Cards will take on former members of the team in the annual Alumnae Game today at 1PM. Louisville's current players will be led by former All-American and newly named Preseason All-ACC defender, Taylor Stone. Like Stone, Ayeisha McFerran was also awarded as a Preseason All-ACC player, but her status for today's exhibition is unknown as she recovers and reacquaints herself with the team after missing extended time this summer for the Field Hockey World Cup. The Cards will pack up their gear after today's exhibition and head to Columbus, Ohio for a neutral site scrimmage against Michigan tomorrow afternoon.

Men's soccer will open their home book tonight as they take on Evansville in their second exhibition matchup this evening at 5PM. The Cards have the aforementioned victory over Indiana, a 1-0 thriller on the road, so far this preseason. Louisville was picked to finish third in the Atlantic, with no votes for first place in the division. Strangely enough, the Cards did receive one vote to win the overall conference, which would be quite a feat. Ken Lolla's teams should never be discounted and we'll look forward to finding out what he has brought back to Lynn Stadium this season.

Volleyball is the third and final sport in action today as they will host their annual Red and Black Scrimmage in Cardinal Arena tonight at 6PM. We've talked about volleyball at length so far in the leadup to the season and for good reason. In her second season, head coach Dani Busboom-Kelly has lost a bit of talent but returns the bulk of last season's ACC co-championship team. The Cards aren't expected to duplicate their success from last season, which was a dream run, but they should still be quite the formidable squad. The Cards made quite a bit of noise last year and most people will be looking to chalk it up as a fluke. It is on Coach DBK's team to show that their legit. We'll see what the team is working with tonight when they take on themselves.

Mollie Rouse Update

Louisville women's soccer handled Wright State on Thursday. An 8-1 final is nothing to scoff at. However, there is still one unknown about the team as they head into their second match tomorrow against Xavier: What the heck do you do with Mollie Rouse? Rouse is currently with the English U20 Women's National Team in the U20 Women's World Cup in France (just in case you've been living under a rock as far as Cardinal Couple News goes). Yesterday, England defeated the Netherlands 2-1 in the quarterfinals to advance. Mollie did not participate, as she was suspended for one game due to yellow card accumulation. She will likely return to the starting lineup on Monday when the Young Lionesses take on Japan, as she started all three group games and was missed in the midfield yesterday.

With England advancing to the semifinals, they are now guaranteed to play a game next Friday, the 24th, whether it is the final or the third place match. For Louisville, that means Rouse will not return to the team until after that time. She will surely miss the 8/26 match against Michigan, and her status for the 8/31 match against Kentucky is uncertain. Looking at the match against Wright State, it doesn't appear that Rouse will be sorely missed. However, the tape would show differently. One of the areas in which Louisville struggled the most was in the defensive midfield. That just so happens to be where they have an international caliber player waiting to return to the squad. 

"So it's simple," you say, "plug her back into the lineup when she returns." There are some issues that go along with that as well, though. By the time Rouse returns to match fitness for UofL, the Cards will have played at least four, and as many as five, regular season matches on top of the two exhibitions. Rouse has also missed all of preseason training. She is an even better player than she was last year and could contribute greatly, but there is still a lot of team onboarding to be done. 

Additionally, Coach Karen Ferguson-Dayes has to wonder if discipline might be an issue. Rouse was one of only two players to receive a pair of yellow cards in the three games of the group stage of the World Cup, but she still has two more games to play in the tournament. Louisville's lone goal against Wright State came on a completely unnecessary foul in the attacking third. The Cards were able to recover from the 1-0 deficit, but they can ill-afford to give up free kicks like that as the season goes on.

I've been impressed with Rouse's performances for England so far in this World Cup tournament, but only time will tell how she contributes to this iteration of the UofL women's soccer team. I'm sure Coach KFD has something in mind for the sophomore from Warwichshire, England, but I'm also sure that none of us will know what that something is for a couple of more weeks.

The Cardinal Couple Radio Hour

The full "A-team" is back in the studio today and there is actually stuff to talk about. With women's soccer getting a head start on the rest of the fall sports, you'll be able to hear me talk in length about my favorite sport, but we'll also have plenty to say about these upcoming exhibition matches for the other fall sports.

Join us this morning at 11 a.m. for the broadcast at WCHQ 100.9 FM.

We'll do our best to keep everything on track, and we look forward to bringing you an hour's worth of the Joy and Excitement of UofL Women's Athletics. Join us on WCHQ FM via FM radio on 100.9, the internet at wchqfm.com, your smartphone on the WCHQ App, or via Facebook Live!

Until next time, Go Cards!

-CH-

Analyzing Fall Sports -- Louisville women's soccer -- MONDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

LOUISVILLE WSOC -- TALENT RETURING, TONS OF FRESHMEN

Over the next several days this week, we'll be looking at some of the Louisville women's fall sports and trying to provide a pre-season analysis of how they might do and who will be doing it in their contests.

We'll start with Louisville women's soccer, who actually have started their season with a 4-0 exhibition win over Morehead State Saturday night in Louisville at Lynn Stadium. 

Cardinal Couple's Case Hoskins will provide a lot of the breakdown and analysis of the WSOC games this year -- he'll be our "lead" when it comes to the sport --  and his thoughts may differ from mine (Paulie) or the other staffers...but I'll also be at all the home contests I can make and will offer today my "take" on the season and squad. Plus, I hope to have plenty of post-game interviews with Coach Ferguson-Dayes and players through-out the 2018 season.

30 student-athletes are listed on the 2018 Louisville WSOC roster and 13 are freshmen. When 43% of the roster are freshmen, it can be a bit of an uncertain...but exciting and maybe a little nervous time for a coach. Ask Karen Ferguson Dayes. Out of the freshmen, it's our best guess that we'll see significant playing time from defender Sarah Hernandez, forward Delaney Snyder, midfielder Anna Henderson, defender Morgan Jackson and forward Amari Hopkins. 

Out of the returning 17 Cardinals, Emina Ekic returns from a season-ending knee injury last year and should be very influential in the offense. Midfielder Mollie Rouse is still in England playing for the English U 20 World Cup squad and, depending on how they do (they've already qualified for the quarterfinals), she may not be back until the Michigan or Kentucky game in late August. "Gabby squared" -- Gabby Kouzelos at keeper and Gabrielle Vincent at middle defender, give the Cards a strong middle in the defensive set. Those two were a strong presence in last year's defense, which produced eight shutouts.  Lana Batson provides strong backup as a reserve keeper.

Niamh Nelson, Nadege L'Esperance, Taylor Kerwin, Brooklyn Rivers, Allison Whitfield and Kennadi Carbin all provide excellent scoring potential for the Louisville offense...the state of Kentucky trio of Ekic, Rivers and Whitfield were the leading scores last year for the squad. Nine starters from last year return. 

A roster breakdown by state (and country) shows six players from Kentucky (five from Louisville), six from California (four from San Diego) and five from Ohio. Two players from Colorado and one each from New Jersey, Virginia, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Wisconsin, Tennessee and Washington. Two Cardinals are from Canada and one is from England. By class the roster has 13 freshmen, seven sophomores, eight juniors and two seniors. 

The schedule features 17 games before the ACC Tournament. Nine will be played at Louisville's Lynn Stadium. There are ten conference matchups, Louisville playing each of the 10 schools once. There are actually 14 teams that play women's soccer in the ACC, the Cards will not face Boston College, Clemson or Florida State in regular season play. That might work out well for Louisville...FSU is ranked #10 in preseason polls and Clemson is in the "also receiving votes" column. 

In 2017, the Cards went 9-7-2 overall and 3-5-2 in conference. 

The Cards open the regular season with two home games... Wright State, from the Horizon League (12-8, 6-3 in 2017)  followed by A-10 school...Xavier (8-8-4, 4-3-2). I will predict the Cards put both in the win column.

Trips to another A-10 school in Dayton (9-9-2, 4-4-2) and the Big 10's Michigan (6-6-6, 3-5-3) follow. I'll predict a win over Dayton and let's go with a tie against the Wolverines. 

The Kentucky Wildcats (8-12, 3-7) visit Lynn Stadium on Aug. 31st. Louisville defeated the SEC school at Lexington last year 3-1 in a rain-soaked affair and I choose Louisville as the winner again this year.

Next the Kickin' Cards travel to Purdue (10-7-2, 5-4-2) on Sept 6th. The Boilermakers have looked pretty good in exhibition play, beating Indiana State and battling preseason #14 Notre Dame to a scoreless tie. I'll say Purdue in a low scoring affair up there.

Louisville ends the non-conference part of the schedule against Eastern Kentucky from the OVC (11-5-4, 6-1-3) at Lynn and I'll go with a UofL victory prediction here.  

ACC play begins Set 15th. at Pittsburgh. The Cards were predicted in the preseason poll to finish ninth out of the 14 schools. I think they'll do a little better than that and be one of the eight schools that make the ACC Tournament. Against Pitt (0-9-1, 3-12-3) I see Louisville winning their first conference game.

Thursday, Sept. 20th. features Notre Dame coming to town. The Irish were 9-8-5 overall in 2017 and 5-3-2 in conference. They finished the season ranked 18th. in the polls. The prediction here is a hard-fought battle that ends in a tie.

Louisville hosts Syracuse (7-8-2, 2-6-1) on Sept 23rd. and I'll go with the Cards getting their second conference win in this one.

A trip to North Carolina (17-3-2, 8-0-2) follows on Sept 29th. Last year, the Cards pulled off a major shocker against the #8 school in the nation with a scoreless tie. The TarHeels are preseason-ranked at #6 this year and I hate to say it, but I think they get the better of Louisville in 2018. 

October features six ACC matches. Virginia (13-7-4, 5-2-3)  comes to visit on Oct. 4th. The Cavaliers finished 2017 ranked #9 in the nation and took Louisville 1-0 last year in Charlottesville. I'll hope for a loud and rowdy Thursday night crowd that will help Louisville get a tie against Wahoo Nation this year.

Sunday, Oct 7th. brings Miami (1-9-1, 5-11-0) to "the Ville" and I think the Cards pick up their third conference win in this one over Bassy the Ibus and company. 

Louisville goes on a three game tour of the state of North Carolina next, beginning with a October 12th. stop at Wake Forest (13-7-4, 5-3-2). UofL tied the Demon Deacons last year in Lynn Stadium 0-0 and I'll call for another tie this year in Winston-Salem.

The road trip continues in Durham on Oct 21st. with a Sunday match against Duke (10-0-0, 23-2-1). The Blue Devils are placed #3 in the nation in preseason prognostications and I'm afraid they'll have a little more than the Cards can handle and defeat UofL. 

The tour of Carolina ends with a Oct 21st. visit to Raleigh and the North Carolina State WolfPack (15-5-2, 6-3-1). The Cards visited there in 2017 and left a 2-1 loser. N.C.State  finished 21st. in the nation in 2017 and they'll give Ms. Wuf a reason to dance and they'll probably best the Cards again this year.

Louisville ends the regular season on Oct. 25th. when they host Virginia Tech (1-5-3, 7-6-5) on a Thursday night. These two did not meet in 2017. I'm predicting a Cardinal win to end the regular season. 

So, let's recap. I'm calling for a 10-3-4 overall finish and 4-3-3 ACC mark. That would equal out to 15 "points" in conference standings. That's also four more points than Louisville amassed in 2017. Boston College was the final qualifier for the ACC Tournament with 13 points in 2017.

Feel differently about the season? Agree with me? Let me know in the comments section. 

Injuries, weather conditions and players who shine in reserve roles can obviously affect a season...as any coach will verify. Here's hoping for a minimum of "dings and dents", bearable temperatures with clear skies and lots of Cards contributing on the pitch. 

Join in the fun at Lynn this season, won't you? 




paulie
xxxxx

Soccer Shutout - SUNDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

Louisville Women Get Underway

The UofL women's soccer team got their competition underway yesterday with a scrimmage against Morehead State.

I wasn't able to make it to the game due to previous engagements, but Paulie, and Jared were in attendance.  Perhaps we can get their impressions added in the comments.

Information is scarce on this one as stat sheets and post-game recaps don't get put out by sports information for women's soccer exhibitions.  We do know that Louisville came away victorious with 4 goals and a clean sheet against the Eagles.

Odds are that "Gabby Squared", Gabby Vincent, and Gabby Kouzelos, were instrumental on defense,
Vincent as center back, and Kouzelos in goal.

No word on how much time on the turf Emina Ekic got as she continue to recover from a knee injury last year.

The season (and stats sheets!) officially gets underway Thursday at 7:30 with the Wright State Wolves come to play in Lynn.

( A great job last night on the photos by Jared Anderson! Thank you! )

England U-20 World Cup Advances

Louisville is still down a high impact mid-fielder, with Mollie Rouse still off in France playing for the English U-20 team in the U-20 World Cup.

Late breaking news on this one as England routed Mexico 6-1 to secure the top spot in the group with 7 points for the quarter-finals.  North Korea finished out the group stage with 6.

Rouse and the Brits will play next on the 17th in the first round of the knockout stage, which means that Rouse will certainly miss the UofL match against Wright State.  If England advances, the next game will be on the 20th, meaning UofL would be without her services for the Xavier match on the 19th.  Winning that would put England into the finals which will be contested on August 24th.  That would prevent Mollie from playing in the Dayton match on the 23rd, and could jeopardize her appearance for the Michigan match on the 26th.

We wish the best to Rouse and the English side in the World Cup, but we'll also be glad to have her back in "The 'Ville" playing for the Red and Black, instead of the Red and White of England.

Cardinal Couple Radio Hour

Worldwide and Case try to get some sense out of
Paulie

The knuckleheads were a man down yesterday as well, Jared off turning 20s into 2 dollar bills.  Most of the show was a recap of the Fall Sports Media Day from Thursday.  We didn't get to hear all of the audio from the event, check out Friday's article for links to all of it, and we didn't get to hear from Taylor Stone, and Katie Walsh at all (my apologies to the two of them) due to me not having sufficient knowledge on how to pause and resume clips.  It's a learning process, folks.

In any case, we interspersed a bit of commentary and analysis with Paulie, Case, and I with the bulk of the audio.  We heard from the three major women's team sports of the fall, with Field Hockey (Coach Justine Sowry, Taylor Stone, and Katie Walsh), Volleyball (Coach Dani Busboom Kelly, Wilma Rivera, Jasmine Bennett, and Molly Sauer), and Soccer (Coach Karen Ferguson-Dayes, Emina Ekic, Gabrielle Vincent, and Gabby Kouzelos).

Check out the replay at:

https://www.facebook.com/WCHQfm/videos/2158687654154506/

I did spend a few minutes after the show to learn how to pause and resume clips, so we'll be able to better break up and comment on audio in future episodes.

-- 

JMcA