Lacrosse Cards Look to Take Down Team USA -- FRIDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

As we're fully into the summer slump now, the news gets more and more sparse. I'm filling in for Daryl today, and I've got the write again tomorrow, so no fair jumping on me about not emptying the coffers in today's column. Daryl should return next week, but, for now, enjoy a look at Cards playing outside of their season.

Team Canada Heads to World Championship Final

Ten representatives from the Louisville lacrosse program went to Maryland last week to begin their representation of their countries. All ten advanced to the knockout stage of the final sixteen teams, but only one of the five teams remains. The team in question is Canada, which is home to six of the ten Cards participating in the tournament. The Canadians, led by Scott Teeter on the bench and featuring Kay Morissette on the field, had to knock out Monica Negron of Puerto Rico and Anna Lottmann of the Czech Republic. Kokoro Nakazawa's Japan team was knocked out by the US in the quarter finals and Stephanie McNamara's Australian squad fell to the Yanks in the semis. 

Canada, which is also represented by Allison Daley (assistant coach), Nicole Perroni, Hannah Morris, and Brenna Shanahan, defeated England 11-9 in their semifinal yesterday to advance to the rematch with the US. Kay Morissette had eight draw controls alone, matching the entire total for England. Team Canada and Team USA played each other to open the tournament in a game in which the US took victory 16-11. Team USA is chasing their fourth consecutive title as they will play in their 11th straight gold medal match. In addition to a rematch of the opener, this is also the third straight gold medal match to feature this matchup. Scott Teeter and company will look to finish the job tomorrow at Noon. The Lacrosse World Championship site gives conflicting reports for the television viewing, so be sure to check both ESPN2 and ESPNU around that time to find the game.

Until next time, Go Cards!

Case

A History of Louisville women's sports Chapter 7 - Lacrosse -- FRIDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

A History of Louisville Women’s Sports Chapter 7: Lacrosse

Happy Friday and welcome to chapter 7 of our history lessons! Today we look at a team that is barely a decade old. The lacrosse team is one of the newest sports at UofL.

"All the way" Kay -- The best ever to step on the LLS turf.

In 2008, Louisville founded a women’s lacrosse team. They found success right away, winning their inaugural game 21-3 against Bryant. They went on to finish the year 12-4.

The Louisville Lacrosse Stadium (LLS) was constructed specifically for the lacrosse team, making it one of the few lacrosse-only facilities in the country. Many schools use a multi-purpose field that has served host to other sports such as track and field, field hockey and soccer. It is an all-turf field with bleacher seating. A press box was added a few years ago.

Louisville has faced 48 opponents in program history. They hold a winning record against 33 teams and are tied with one.

Kellie Young was the first of two coaches in program history. During her 10-year run she had one losing season. The Cards saw Top 10 rankings on several occasions and were a threat in a strong Big East Conference. Young oversaw the transition to the ACC. The AAC does not field women’s lacrosse so the Cards went straight from the Big East to the ACC. Young was relieved of her duties following the 2017 season due to an investigation regarding mistreatment of players.

Scott Teeter came to Louisville in 2018 and has been the head coach for two seasons. Teeter game from Canisius and was head coach of the Canadian National Team. He has spent the last two seasons focused on rebuilding a program that lost over half of its roster. He is set to start season three during the spring of 2020.

This past season saw a couple program scoring records broken. Tessa Chad set records with most goals scored in a game, most goals scored in a single half and most goals scored in a season.

Another big time player was Kaylin Morissette. She is now an assistant coach, making her the first former player to become a coach at Louisville lacrosse. She also played for and coached with Teeter during some Canisius and CNT days. Morissette dominates the record sheet in ground balls and is high on the all-time scoring list.

The pride of Lakeville, MN -- Hannah Koloski

Bergan Foley, Faye Brust and Hannah Koloski also find themselves high on several record sheets in terms of scoring. Monica Negron was a key defender for Louisville Lax from 2011-14, garnered several Big East honors and is still on campus as an assistant director for student-athlete leadership and development. She also serves as a "spotter" for home lacrosse games. 

Lacrosse games are free admission and we should see a few of them make it on TV on the new ACC Network next spring. You can often find many of us at Cardinal Couple out at the LLS covering our lax team.

RADIO

The A-team will be back in the studio Saturday for another episode of The Cardinal Couple Radio Hour.

Come join us at 11 a.m.-- locally on on WCHQ 100.9 FM, or wtch us on Facebook Live. You can download the WCHQ app or listen live at the station website  wchqfm.com. Paulie has a quiz planned for the "knuckleheads" that you can play along with and the boys have been encouraging me to bring in the euphonium and deliver a song or two.  

Happy Friday and Go Cards!

Jared

Tuesday Cardinal Couple -- Rowing title and another year of the Cards?

TUESDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

 

First, Some Results

The UofL Rowing team competed over the weekend in the AAC conference championship in Rowing.  I'm not sure how to put this other than to say that Louisville dominated the competition.

The Rowing competition consisted of time trials followed by the Grand Final in three different levels of 8+ person and 4+ person competitions.  In all 12 outings, the first boat across the finish line was Cardinal Red.  I went and watched the highlight video on the AAC website, and most of the finishes weren't competitive for first place.  By and large, the excitement was between Rutgers, UConn, and UCF for second, third and fourth places.

Unsurprisingly, given the above, there were four rowers - Darya Marchanka, Morgan Dunham, Hannah Ritter, and Jami Montesano - that earned placement on the AAC first team, along with three - Lucy Wilshier, Andrea Zorn, and Elise Valantine - on the second team.  The Coaching Staff of the Year award also went to Louisville, and how could it not, given that performance.

Another "Year Of The Cardinals"?

Hard to believe that last year about this time, all of the talk was about "The Year Of The Cardinals",
and everyone (yours truly included) was falling all over themselves recounting the various successes of UofL Athletics in 2012-2013.

No one could argue that 2013-2014 has been as successful as 2012-2013, but honestly, no one could have realistically expected it to be, either.

To be sure, however, 2013-2014 has been a good year, and its not yet over.  The Rowing team, as mentioned above, has just absolutely obliterated the competition in the conference and earned a berth in the NCAA championships in Indianapolis May 30th-June 1st.  We'll be continuing to follow the Rowing team as they finish out their competition for the year.

I'd like to take some of my columns over the next several weeks and look back on the successes achieved by some of the women's athletics teams at UofL.

Let's start with...

Lacrosse

The UofL Lacrosse squad achieved unprecedented success this year.  I'm almost obsessive about pointing out that the Lacrosse program at UofL is only seven years old, because its a lesser known sport and with the successes they achieved this year, a casual UofL fan could be excused for not realizing that it hasn't been around longer.

Preseason, our Lacrosse team was picked to finish third in The Big East, behind Georgetown and UConn.  In the preseason poll, no one voted for UofL to finish in first place (coaches aren't allowed to vote for their own school).  UofL had three selections for the preseason All Big-East Team, in Monica Negron, Kaylin Morissette, and Nikki Boltja...three names that I've learned well enough that I don't have to double-check their spelling anymore.  The three selections were overshadowed by the six selections from Georgetown and four from Rutgers.  Without a doubt, in the preseason, Georgetown was considered the cream of the crop of Big East Lacrosse.

The season opened with a loss, though to be sure a loss to Duke is nothing to be embarrassed about.  They followed that up with an overwhelming victory over Detroit, but we beat them pretty badly last year as well.  Next a close win over Old Dominion, who we substantially beat last year and all of a sudden some doubts about how well this season is going to go start to creep in.

A win over William and Mary, and then a good win over Denver that we lost to in a similar margin last year and things are starting to look up a little.  Next a heart-wrenching loss to a very good Ohio State team 11-12 which was an 12-11 victory for the Cards last year, followed up with a loss to another good team in Notre Dame, but one that we had taken to sudden-death double overtime the previous year.  At this point, a 4-3 record doesn't look terribly exciting, but one can take heart that the schedule to this point has involved playing a number of very good Lacrosse teams, so let's not give up hope.

A chance to start the winning ways with Canisius which was a solid win last year, but alas the
weather didn't cooperate and the game was cancelled.  The last non-conference game was against Vanderbilt, and a good win in overtime in Nashville is encouraging leading into the conference slate.

And the encouragement was needed as the conference slates starts off with the big one.  Playing Georgetown, on their home field in Washington D.C....and an upset, but very close, win.  Next on the road trip is Cincinnati...maybe in a few years they'll be ready to join the adults Lacrosse table, but right now they're not there.  I think they were tying together the shoelaces of some of the Louisville players to try and make it competitive, but it didn't work.

Finally finishing off the road trip with a weekend visit to Philadelphia to play both Temple and Villanova in one weekend.  A victory over Temple probably isn't terribly surprising, but such a solid win over Villanova perked up some ears.

Finally, returning home, and starting to think that maybe this team can win out the season.  UConn and Rutgers come to town one weekend and Marquette the next and all get cut down by what's now a rolling juggernaut of a UofL squad.  In doing so, laying claim to the Big East regular season championship.

Off to the conference tournament, again on Georgetown's home field in Washington D.C.  Knocking off first Rutgers and then homestanding Georgetown to capture yet another, and last for UofL, Big East Conference Championship.  History is made in the process, by ensuring UofL a bid for their first ever NCAA tournament in Lacrosse.

The tournament starts with a matchup against mighty Ohio State.  In six previous meetings with the Buckeyes, Louisville has only won one, last year, and it was a victory by only one point.  Also remember the meeting previously this year was also a one point victory, but that one for OSU.  Another fearsome battle ensued, your Cardinal Couple correspondents were glued to GameTracker and one of us to Twitter...a surely frustrating way to keep up with the progress of a game, but better than nothing.  Coming away with another sudden-death double-overtime win to advance to the second round of the tournament.

Mighty Northwestern awaits to put an end to an amazing year for the Cardinals Lacrosse team.  Like the opening game of the season, a loss to Northwestern is nothing to hang your head about.  Scoring eight points against one of the best teams in the country has to be encouraging to a program still in its early years.  Northwestern will be playing this weekend in the Lacrosse final four, having pulled off a minor upset, by one point, over another very good Florida squad.  Northwestern will be the only squad in the Final Four that isn't from The ACC, with Maryland, Virginia and Syracuse filling out the four teams.

Speaking of The ACC...UofL will be back playing Lacrosse next year, but this time in The ACC.  Going into the NCAA tournament with an impressive 16th place ranking in the country, UofL was still behind seven of the eight women's lacrosse playing teams in The ACC.  New challenges for sure await, but also new opportunities to learn, improve, and build this program to greater heights.

The UofL Lacrosse team picked "Finish" as their word for this year.  The team finished the year in grand style, and while it ended in a loss, its important to remember that its very difficult to finish playing with a win.

 This team has outperformed anything that was expected of them, and will be back and hopefully taking it to yet another level next year.

We're proud of you, Louisville Lacrosse.  We can't wait to see you take on the competition in The ACC next year.

-JMCA
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Tuesday Cardinal Couple -- Sara, Becky, Katie and LAX

TUESDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

JEFF MCADAMS IS FEATURED TODAY WITH HIS REGULAR TUESDAY CARDINAL COUPLE COLUMN. HE EXPLORES LACROSSE, BECKY BURKE, SARA HAMMOND AND SOFTBALL TODAY. HE CAN ALSO BE HEARD ON OUR SATURDAY RADIO SHOW AT CRESCENT HILL RADIO. HE'S THE INTELLIGENT ONE.

 

Lacrosse

So, the UofL Lacrosse season has come to an end.  In a three point loss to one of the regular lacrosse powerhouses - Northwestern....there is no reason for sadness.  Of course, as fans, we would've loved to have seen the upset over Northwestern, and of course coaches, players and families would wish for the team to be playing next weekend.  This team exceeded all expectations for success this year, and there appear to be great things ahead in the years ahead.

We did notice the absence of Monica Negron on the field Sunday, and a quick query to head coach Kellie Young revealed that Monica had suffered a season/career ending injury between the game Friday and Sunday.  We don't have details on what the nature of the injury is, but wish the best for Monica.

 

WBB Coaching Moves - Becky Burke

Becky Burke, after spending two seasons as the Director of Basketball Operations at Cal State
Fullerton...and thus being the impetus for the phrase, "Tusks Up", being said on Cardinal Couple Radio...is moving onward and upward.

It was announced late yesterday that the Double B is taking an Assistant Coaches position at Saint Joseph's College in Indiana.  Saint Joseph's is in Rensselaer, IN, which you'll be forgiven if you don't know where it is.  About halfway between Purduetown (Lafayette, IN) and ChicagoLand along I-65, Rensselaer is not exactly a bustling metropolis, but it is considerably closer to home for Becky - a native of Clarks Summit, PA.

Saint Joseph's is a Catholic College with enrollment of approximately 1,200.

Softball

Sandy Pearsall's squad is back out on Ulmer field today and tomorrow practicing for their appearance in the Tuscon Regional.  They will be leaving tomorrow afternoon to travel to Arizona to prepare for their first game Friday evening at 8:30pm (EDT).  Because Tuscon, like most of Arizona, does not observe Daylight Saving Time, the start time is 5:30 local.  Louisville has the early game of the evening, and the game will be carried on ESPN3.

Louisville comes into the tournament with a 36-20 record, while LSU sports a 35-22, but plays in the always-tough-in-softball SEC conference.  LSU was eliminated from the SEC conference tournament in an extra innings game against Kentucky.

The nightcap game on Friday is Arizona vs Boston University.  Arizona is 41-13 on the season, and BU heads out west with a record of 35-19.

3x3 Basketball

The article yesterday mentioned that Takeover, the team with Sara Hammond, won the USA
Basketball 3x3 Championship at the US Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs, but we now have information about further competition that will follow.

Sara will be joining her Takeover teammates, Cierra Burdick of Tennessee, Jewell Lloyd of Notre Dame and Tiffany Mitchell of South Carolina in going to Moscow, Russia to represent the US in the FIBA 3x3 World Championship from June 5th through 8th.  The 3x3 World Championship is a biennial tournament, and will be played for the second time this summer.

-jmca



EDITOR'S NOTE

Sara is an integral part of the 2014-15 team that Jeff Walz will guide in the Cards first season playing as Atlantic Coast Conference members. Three conferences in three years has made the Sara and the Cards appreciate their fans that back them in home appearances. They've seen the vacant arenas and gyms on road trips and realize just how fortunate they are to be wearing the Cardinal uniform.

With another strong season in the headlights...one wonders if the Mt. Vernon, KY native will be the next UofL WBB player to walk up on the podium and hold a WNBA jersey in front of her. If hard work and determination are any factors at all...we expect that "The Hammer" will be nailing post players in the "Big Show" this time next year. Wouldn't it be great to see her defending Asia on a drive? Or maybe grabbing a rebound, getting the outlet pass to Shoni...who no-look passes to Angel for a score!   -paulie

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Friday Cardinal Couple -- Lacrosse ranked #3 in BIG EAST

FRIDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

- Lacrosse picked to finish third in BIG EAST

- Women's Tennis achieving success


The University of Louisville lacrosse team has been picked to finish third in their final season of the BIG EAST. The BIG EAST Preseason Coaches' Poll has the Cards behind Georgetown and Connecticut. All eight BIG EAST lacrosse coach participated in the voting and were not allowed to vote for their own team or players.

Three Louisville lacrosse players were selected to the All- BIG EAST Preseason team.

MONICA NEGRON was an unanimous selection and was also named the BIG EAST preseason Defensive Player of the year. It's her second season on the squad. She led the BIG EAST in draw controls per game and led the Cards in caused turnovers in 2013. She's a senior.

NIKKI BOLTJA was also a unanimous pick. NB was an All-American selection last year and is the BIG EAST's top returning points earner and goal scorer. She was also an All-BIG EAST selection in 2013 and scored 63 goals in 17 games.
Senior Boltja is the all-time leading goal scorer for UofL.

KAYLIN MORISSETTE makes the All-BIG EAST squad after a successful freshman season where she scored 40 goals and won 66 draw controls. Morissette, from Canada, was part of a highly-heralded freshman class that cracked the Lacrosse starting lineup last year in several positions. 

Coach Kellie Young is understandably proud of the trio:

" THIS IS A WELL-DESERVED HONOR FOR THESE THREE STUDENT-ATHLETES. THEY ARE A PART OF OUR PROGRAM'S CORE, THE WORKER-BEES, PASSIONATE ABOUT THE SPORT AND THEIR TEAM, AND DRIVEN TO SUCCEED."

First up for the Cards is a trip to Duke on Feb. 9th. Coach Young will take 21 letter-winners from last season and a talented incoming class to Durham to battle the #6 Blue Devils. The Cards were 11-6 last season, 8-1 at home but inexplicably left out of the NCAA Tournament.

You can congratulate Nikki, Monica and Kaylin at the Lacrosse Kickoff dinner Saturday night at the PNC Plaza in Papa John's Cardinal Stadium but you need to make that call today.

The University of Louisville women's lacrosse program is hosting its annual Crease Club Banquet and Silent Auction on Feb. 1 at the PNC Club in Papa John's Cardinal Stadium.

Tickets for the event can be purchased for $40 apiece by e-mailing executive director of operations, Patty Norton, dennison@louisville.edu, or calling (502) 852-0100. At 4 p.m., doors to the event open and the auction will begin and dinner will be served at 4:30 p.m. The team opening ceremony takes place at 6:30 p.m. Headlining the banquet is Kelly Berger Rabil, a 2013 World Cup gold medalist for Team USA. She was a member of the U.S. Lacrosse Developmental Team in 2005-06 before moving to the Elite team.

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Louisville women's Tennis travels to Chicago Saturday to face DePaul. The Cards are coming  off a 4-0 sweep of Missouri in the ITA Kickoff Weekend, contested in Gainesville, FL.

Fellerhoff and Shine are doing just fine.

Shine teamed with Manuela Velaquez to win 6-4 in doubles and Fellerhoff took the court with Olivia Boesing to capture a 6-2 victory. The Cards also swept all three singles matches...with Fellerhoff, Shine and Elle Stokes getting wins.

Five matches, four points. I will never understand tennis scoring.

Louisville returns home for Bass-Rudd action beginning Feb. 6th. against Morehead. Evansville visits on Feb. 8th. and Cincinnati comes in on Feb. 9th.

paulie
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Sunday Cardinal Couple -- Cards lead Canada to runner up finish in Lacrosse

SUNDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

-Foote, Morissette and Dzikewich fall to USA


Another coach that will probably be walking around on clouds on the UofL campus is head lacrosse coach Kellie Young. One former, one current and one soon to be player participated in the FIL (Federation of International Lacrosse) World Cup tournament, along with her assistant coach Cristi Foote.

The Canadians lost to USA in the title game 19-5.

Foote played at Notre Dame before taking the assistant job at Louisville, Janaye Dzikewich is a graduated senior and Kaylin Morissette will be a sophomore in the upcoming season. Stephanie McNamara is an incoming freshman who played for Australia in the Cup.

It was an impressive Cup for the Canadians. Team Canada captain Lindsey Svec saw it like this:

"Usually we're fighting our way into the bronze medal game and now we're going for the gold. There were tears. We're proud of the way we finished and obviously we would have liked to do a little better, but I think Canada lacrosse took a big step forward this week and we're excited about that."

Much like baseball is the USA's summer pastime, lacrosse has been the official summer game in Canada since
1994.

Lacrosse at Louisville is a "second semester" sport...which means they get the season underway in late winter. Coach Young has most of her starters back from last season and some very promising freshmen that are arriving on campus in a couple of weeks.

The roster looks to be possibly the strongest and most talented squad since Coach Young got lacrosse underway at Louisville seven years ago and if you haven't made it out to Louisville Lacrosse Stadium yet for the action, be sure to catch this squad in the upcoming season. Leading scorer Nikki Boltja returns...along with the fun, witty and talented Monica Negron...who can play attack. midfielder or defender. We featured Negron in one of our semi-serious, mostly goofy interviews on CARDINAL COUPLE RADIO a couple of weeks ago. She was a good sport and played along with Paulie's out-of-the-box questions

The Year of the Cardinal continues.

-Paulie

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Holiday Activities, Games and Travel

Cardinal Couple spares no expense as this week they send Sandy to the west coast for coverage of the top game in the country.   CC also plans to provide backup laundry coverage during the trip.

Travel to Stanford v UConn Game

This week not only finds me frantically trying to keep up with this week’s laundry but also packing for a trip to Palo Alto, CA (home of Stanford Women’s Basketball) where hopefully the weather God’s will allow me to arrive in time to watch the UConn @ Stanford women’s basketball game this Saturday where either Stanford’s # 1 national position will be solidified or where Big East member Connecticut will take over the top ranking. 

Currently the trip is in flux as when I went to the Cardinal Couple worldwide office to submit my travel voucher I found that Timmy had cleaned out the travel and candy fundraiser accounts for his next week’s trip to Co-Co’s SEP game being held in the People’s Republic of Domesticated Chimps located somewhere off the coast of Tahiti.  I have been forced to barter for his twin cousin’s staying at my home with my 4 legged kids.  

I hope to provide a first-hand report of the game where it is reported that all 7500 seats have been sold.   Louisville once again finds itself so fortunate to be located in an area where not only basketball but all of women’s sports are so well supported by the community.

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SWIMMING - DIVING

The student athlete of the week is the swim team’s Lindsey Stephens.  She plans to become a physical therapist after graduation.  Her profile can be found at http://www.gocards.com/sports/c-swim/spec-rel/121412aaa.html.  She is a senior from Louisville, KY and is a member of the Dive Team.

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LACROSSE

This Year’s Lacrosse team has named their team captains.  Coach Kellie Young has announced that the team has again named Katie Oliverio, Monica Negron and Janaye Dzikewich as captains for the 2^nd year.  This year begins the LaCrosse teams 6^th season of play with the first match against Canisius at home on February 10.   I hope their uniforms have a snow suit option.  Go to http://www.gocards.com/sports/w-lacros/spec-rel/122012aaa.html for individual and team information.

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GOLF

Congratulations continue to go to Louisville for our team facilities.  The Tom Musselman Practice Facility, Cardinal Club, has been selected as a 2012 Golf Range Association of America Top 50 Range in the Private Category. 

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BASKETBALL

Make sure your calendars are marked for Louisville’s next game which is at home on New Year ’s Eve.   End your 2012 year in the best possible way which begins at the KFC YUM! Center where at 6:00 pm you can watch the 12^th ranked (11-2) women defeat Tennessee State in the last non-conference game of the season.   After the game you can move on to dinner at one of the downtown eateries while waiting to participate in the downtown festivities and ringing in the New Year.

Sunday Cardinal Couple -- Lacrosse adds nine.

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SUNDAY CARDINAL COUPLE


-Lacrosse adds nine student-athletes for 2012-13 season


-Downs after Dark: June 16th report

Coach Kellie Young

Kellie Young is the only head lacrosse coach that the University of Louisville program has ever had. She enters her sixth season...coming in from James Madison University and building the Louisville program from scratch. 


Nine student-athletes will join the program as freshmen this fall. A look at the list shows the east coast remains an area that Louisville is still targeting...with two newcomers from Maryland, two from New York, and one each from Massachusetts, Virginia, Maryland, Pennsylvania and Ontario. No local area players are a part of the incoming class and the UofL lacrosse rosters shows no local players from the Louisville area. Currently, 12 high schools in the metro area offer women's lacrosse as a team sport. 

Boltja's back

Young was 43-24 in her first four years as Louisville's head coach before undergoing a rebuilding season last year and finishing 3-12. The Cards do return leading scorer junior Nikki Boltja and defender Monica Negron...both were second team Intercollegiate Women's Lacrosse Coaches Association All-West/Midwest Region team selections.  


"The class of 2012 features an outstanding group of young women. They have given great thought to choosing Louisville and are passionate about representing our University and our Athletic Department at the highest level in the classroom, on the field and in life. Driven to be the best on and off the field, their talent and work ethic are bound to propel this program forward."  -- Coach Young, on the incoming freshmen. 

The Cards look to improve over a disappointing season where they went 0-5 at home and lost 9 out of their last ten games. We expect to see a return to the winning ways of Louisville Lacrosse this year and a return to the BIG EAST Conference Tournament. 2009 was Louisville last apperance in post-season play. 


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Churchill Downs ran the Stephen Foster Day racing card under the lights for the first time Saturday. A late decision to attend got us out there shortly before the third race and we changed up our normal track-visit routine....spending several hours "down on the bricks" mingling with the party-goers and would-be handicappers. 

Things were getting active and the paddock area was packed when we arrived. Night racing definitely brings  a younger crowd than usual at the Downs...not sure if they fully understood the significance and quality of the race card tonight, but they were having a grand time. 


Paul got us off to a great start in the fourth race by insisting that Brian Hernandez, Jr. would win the mile and sixteeth turf event. He's that way about Brian on the turf. He wouldn't tell me how much he bet on him until after the race...when he showed me the ticket. Risky stuff...but Twist of Silver and Brian did not disappoint, beating the field at odds of 22-1.

That definitely paid for the rest of the evening. 


There were four huge stakes races tonight: The Matt Winn, The Regret, the Fleur de Lis Handicap and the Stephan Foster Handicap. I'd like to tell you we did well in all of them, but....alas, we did not. Only Royal Delta, in the Fleur De Lis gave us a cashable ticket and it wasn't much. 


The evening did end on a good note, though when he and I invested $12 in a final race .10 cent superfecta  and got back $187 for our picks.

 Also, a very nasty spill in the 9th race of the evening in the stretch...three horses and jockeys involved. Johnny Velazquez was taken to Audubon Hospital for observation. Hate to see that stuff happen. Even more 
frustration when one of the horses was our selection and looked to be going for the lead when the mishap occurred. Mr. Producer, the Johnny V. mount that stumbled and fell was euthanized on the track. The other two horses lost their jockeys but returned to the barns under their own power. John McKee and Manny Cruz, the other two jockeys involved walked off the track with no assistance needed.


WE left after the final race but things were still thumping with the D.J. and crowd when we left. A great night for it and leaving with money in your pocket is always good...


Happy Father's Day to all the Dads out there today! Whether it's a cookout, day of rest or gathering with family...enjoy it, guys. 


Sonja
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Golf finishes 2nd in BIG EAST, Soccer and Lacrosse Awards, Cats v. Cards

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WET WEDNESDAY @ CARDINAL COUPLE

Anna-Karin Ljungstrom forced
a playoff for the individual title.

(Here's hoping everyone made it through the storms

last night that hit Louisville. Paul slept through them.)

-Women's Golf 2nd in BIG EAST TOURNEY

-Softball Heads to Lexington

-Negron receives lacrosse award

-Kuric gets women's soccer honor

-Smith on the way to Louisville

The University of Louisville's women's golf team finished second in the BIG EAST Tournament with a third round effort of 305..for a 915 three day total. Sophomore Anna-Karin Ljungstrom  closed well for the Cards, firing a final day 73 to tie for lowest round and the tournament lead. She faced St John's Harin Lee in a sudden death playoff for the title...but lost on the 4th hole of the match. Still, a big effort from the Cardinal.
Notre Dame captured first place...12 strokes lower than Louisville.

Sara-Maude Juneau had a 77 on the final day, along with Laura Anderson. Maria Castellanos finished at 78 for the final eighteen and Tara Lyons took 83 strokes to finish the third day.

The Cards now await their NCAA Tournament fate...to be announced Monday April 25th. A great season of chip and putt for the ladies and good job, 'Coach K' with a team that had no home meets and just might have travelled further to compete throughout the season than any other sports squad at UofL. Unpack those bags and rest awhile, ladies!

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The Softball Cards travel to Lexington to face the Wildcats for a single game today. The #16 ranked UK squad dropped a previous meeting this season to Sandy Pearsall's squad 6-0 in Ulmer Stadium. A quick turnaround for the Louisville Sluggers...they begin a three game series at Ulmer on Thursday against Providence that will conclude the home part of the regular schedule for the Cards.

Freshman Hannah Kiyohara is
batting .387 for the Cards. 

Although the Cards are unranked in the polls, they are having a great season at 32-13 and 10-4 in the BIG EAST. They are in 4th. place in the BIG EAST standings, behind DePaul (10-1) South Florida (9-1) and Notre Dame (7-1). With the return of Tori Collins to the pitching rotation, they have two pitchers that are headaches for opposing teams to face. Caralisa Connell (18-6) had a twelve game win streak earlier in the season and has a 2.38 ERA.

Louisville also has tons of firepower when at the plate. Hannah Kiyohara leads the Cards with a .387 batting average and has 18 RBI's on the year. Colby Wherry is at .370 with five home runs and third baseman Chelsea Bemis has smashed eight base cleaners, driven in 37 RBI's and sits at .368.

Freshmen Maggie Ruckenbrod, Katie Keller and Taner Fowler have contributed heavily to the Cards offensive attack and Alicja Wolny is a threat to reach base anytime she steps into the box.

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Louisville lacrosse in 10-4 this year and 3-2 in
BIG EAST play.

Monica Negron has been named BIG EAST Defensive Player of the week in lacrosse for her excellent work against Rutgers and Villanova in the Cards last two wins. She held Rutgers leading scorer Marlena Welsh to just one goal in Louisville's 10-8 win over the Scarlet Knights. Against the Wildcats leading scorer, Justine Donodeo, Negron limited her to no goals and just four shots.

The lacrosse Cards face a decisive road trip beginning Thursday...visiting 13th. ranked Syracuse (5-7, 3-1) and then Connecticut on Saturday. Here's hoping the Cards high-powered offensive attack of Bergan Foley, Liz Lovejoy and Katie Oliverio can find the net successfully and frequently against the Orange and Huskies....

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Katie Kuric was a BIG EAST
All-Academic selection.



Louisville women's soccer player Katie Kuric was named Senior of the Year Monday night at the Student Awards banquet. Kuric complied a 3.945 GPA during her four years at Louisville (OK, whose the kill-joy who gave her a "B"?) and was a four year competitor in women's soccer. She was a Dean's Scholar, a Black and Red Scholar and made the Dean's list and A.D. Honor roll. Kuric chronicled her journey overseas with brother Kyle last year on a trip to Egypt during summer break at http://www.uoflsports.com/ . Seeing the pyramids is on the "Bucket List" for us at CARDINAL COUPLE. Not that we're going anywhere soon, mind you.  

Kyle is an outstanding hoopster for Rick Pitino's Louisville basketball team and his out of this world, "are you kidding me" dunk against Notre Dame this past season was the Papa John's Dunk of the Year in college basketball. The one-handed throw-down in South Bend against Scott Martin near the end of the first half was simply amazing. Kyle will be a senior wing for the Cards this fall.

Katie has her degree in Management and is a great example of combining academic excellent and athletic dedication on the collegiate level. Louisville Soccer will miss her...but WE have the feeling that you'll hear plenty more about Ms.Kuric after her college days are done...

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Bria Smith visits Louisville today. Where
would you take her?



Bria Smith lands in Louisville this morning for an official visit to the Cardinal campus. She's still uncommitted to a college and is ranked the eighth best player in the class of 2011...and second at her guard position. We have no doubt the the Lady Cards basketball staff, coaches and players have a full and exciting day planned for her. We were speculating on the top five things that you'd want a perspective recruit to see while in Louisville. By no means is this how her day will go...but the list of things to see below would make for a fun visit to "the Ville". 

1) The KFC YUM Center. A must stop for any potential hoopster contemplating UofL. The showcase by the Ohio River draws over 10,000 for women's hoops.

2) Cardinal Park. The multi-use athletic facility offers a great walking and jogging track to stay in shape during the off-season and also has three state of the art stadiums for track, field hockey and softball.

3) Churchill Downs. The legendary Twin Spires and a jaunt thru the Kentucky Derby Museum never fails to fascinate even the horse racing novice.

4) Cardinal Arena. Lady Cards spend a lot of time there...practicing, training and the locker rooms, player access areas and coaching offices are state of the art.

5) Ali Center. A magnificent tribute to "the Greatest"...Interactive displays and a testament to the will and desire of the greatest boxer of all-time.
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Enjoy your stay, Ms. Smith and here's hoping your flight this morning wasn't too bumpy. Take it all in and have fun...because if you choose UofL...four years in the greatest college sports town in America await...

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