Cardinal Couple: Morgan Bentley

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Thursday, May 27, 2021

Season Review: Soccer -- THURSDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

Season Review: Soccer

We find ourselves back to reviewing UofL sports seasons. Today, we will take a look at women's soccer, another team that split their season between the fall and spring.

A solid start to the season quickly turned sour and the spring ended about as disappointing as possible with the final two matches of the season cancelled.

The fall season consisted of eight regular season matches against ACC opponents and then the ACC tournament. The spring season was set to be a non-conference schedule.

Louisville opened the season with a 3-0 win at Miami with Emina Ekic and Delaney Snyder doing all the scoring against the Hurricanes. The Cards remained in the Sunshine State where they fell to eventual National Runner-Up Florida State.

The Cards game home for a two-game homestand. UofL defeated Syracuse 3-0 as the Ekic-Snyder duo contributed to a majority of the scoring once again with Jessica De Filippo scoring the other goal. Boston College visited Dr Mark and Cindy Lynn Stadium next with the Cards taking the win 2-0. Ekic scored her fifth goal on the year and Taylor Kerwin recorded her first with the assist credited to both Ekic and Snyder.

Another road trip was next for Karen Ferguson Dayes' squad. It started with a 2-0 loss to Final Four contender Virginia, who did all their damage in the first half. They then went across the state to down Virginia Tech 1-0 with Morgan Bentley getting her first goal on the season.

Louisville came home to wrap up the regular season with a pair of matches. Notre Dame would take the first match 1-0. The regular season finale saw Louisville host Final Four contender North Carolina. It was Ekic who would put the Cards up early in the second half in the pouring down rain before the Tar Heels with three goals over the next 30 minutes to get the win.

At 4-4, Louisville earned the #6-seed in the ACC Tournament and saw a rematch with the Wahoos. Diana Ordonez would post a hat trick as Virginia would cruise to a 4-1 win. You can take a guess on who scored the Cards' goal- her seventh and final of the season.

We saw the spring season begin in early March with the Cards hosting Dayton and winning 1-0 on a Maisie Whitsett goal. Auburn came to town next and would go on to take a 1-0 in sudden death double overtime.

What would eventually be the final match of the season, Louisville traveled to Bowling Green. WKU relied on a goal 93 seconds into the match to get the win.

Matches scheduled against Tennessee and Wake Forest would get cancelled due to various reasons.

Louisville would end the year with a 5-7 record and a 4-4 mark in the ACC. One year after an impressive 13-5-2 mark, Louisville showed signs of struggling and a frustrating ending.

The Cards would end up getting outscored by just one, 13-12 on the year. Ekic led the way with seven goals and three assists. Snyder would be one of five Cards to score one goal this season but led the team with four assists.

Only three of the six scorers are set to return next season. Taylor Kerwin graduated after the spring semester. Jessica De Filippo transferred out after the fall season. Emina Ekic entered the NWSL Draft after the fall season and was drafted in the first round by Racing Louisville FC, where she has put on a show. Louisville is bleeding profusely on offense for next year. You cannot replace Ekic with any single player. Snyder looks to take the lead but needs a second and third scorer. Corinne Dente was a hopeful candidate but is still in recovery mode from a torn ACL. We may see Whitsett convert back to a forward or possibly Emma Hiscock steps up after a promising freshman outing.

Defensively, Sarah Hernandez is set to return as a centerback and power the back line. Gabby Kouzelos is expected to return for another season in goal. Kouzelos recorded 53 saves on 66 attempts for an incredible .803 save percentage. Louisville is set on defense for the fall 2021 season.

We quickly approach a holiday weekend with Memorial Day on Monday. Daryl returns back to her Friday column tomorrow and we should be back on our Cardinal Couple Radio Hour this Saturday.

Happy Thursday and Go Cards!

Jared

Monday, October 19, 2020

Defense Delivers in Cards Women's Soccer 1-0 Win at VT -- Monday Cardinal Couple

CARDS SHUT OUT HOKIES 1-0 IN BLACKSBURG

On an ideal Sunday afternoon for soccer in Blacksburg, VA, the Louisville Cardinals Women's Soccer squad scored the lone goal and withstood numerous Virginia Tech shots to get the win 1-0.

Defense did it for the Cards, shutting out the Hokies after they had put up eight goals on Thursday against Miami...and when you talk defense, you gotta be Gabby.

The Cards redshirt senior goalkeeper Gabby Kouzelos recorded eight saves against the home-standing Hokies. Try as they might (VT took 18 total shots and five of them were on goal) Virginia Tech could not get the ball past the Cards stellar goalkeeper or Louisville defense.

Kouzelos was "pretty in pink" and pretty proficient, leaving the box on numerous occasion tos cover VT shot attempts. Maybe the most spectacular stop for Gabby came in the final minute of play when VT, desperately seeking a score, got the ball to freshman Tori Powell on a cross and she fired at goal...but Kouzelos was there to make the stop and keep her slate clean.

The shutout was Gabby's fourth of the season and 27th. of her illustrious career as a student-athlete at Louisville and improved the Cards to 4-2 on the season.

The Cards are playing in a new "system" during the 2020 slate, which Case Hoskins elaborated on in our Saturday Cardinal Couple Radio Hour Podcast, and it seems to be defensively aligned...Louisville has allowed just three goals in six contests.

Oh, yeah...let's not forget to mention how the deciding goal was scored...

Louisville turned to a freshman...Morgan Bentley...a midfielder from Atlanta, GA for their lone goal in the 32nd minute of the first half. The Cards had received a corner kick and after the ball was brought into play, VT made the stop on the incoming kick but the ball bounced to Bentley. She had a clear look at the net and drilled it home for her first goal of the season and her career at Louisville.

Statistically, the Cards only attempted five shots in the 90 minutes, compared to Virginia Tech's 18. Louisville's lone shot on goal was Bentley' conversion...the Hokies had eight shots on goal. Corner kicks were solidly in VT's favor as well, with a nine to three advantage in those.

It's not how many times you kick it, though...it's how many times you kick it in the goal that determines wins, ties or losses in soccer and the Cards got the "W" for the first time against Virginia Tech since 1995.

I tried several different sources to find any quotes from Louisville women's soccer head coach Karen Ferguson-Dayes but was unsuccessful. That sometimes happens when a squad is on the road...

#13 ranked Louisville has two matches remaining on the fall schedule before the scheduled ACC Tournament. The contests will be home matches for the Kickin' Cards at Lynn Stadium and the first one takes place Sunday, October 25th. against the #14 ranked Fighting Irish of Notre Dame.

The Irish (3-3) hosted Clemson yesterday but fell to the Tigers 2-1. The Cards end the fall ACC slate and season with a bang as they bring in #1 North Carolina on Thursday, October 29th.

The ACC Women's Soccer Tournament is scheduled for November 10-15th in Cary, NC at the Wake Med Soccer Complex. The top eight teams will vie for the tournament title -- Louisville is currently tied for third place in the league standings with 4-2 Clemson with 12 points.

Florida State and North Carolina are atop the ACC standings...they're both 6-0 and that translates out to 18 points each. You can do the math on the league standings below, keeping in mind a squad gets (3) points for a win (1) point for a tie and (0) points for a loss.

LEAGUE STANDINGS AFTER SUNDAY, OCT 18th MATCHES:

FSU 6-0

UNC 6-0

LOU 4-2

CLEMSON 4-2

DUKE 3-1-2

VA 3-2-1

PITT 3-3

ND 3-3

WAKE 2-3-1

VT 2-4

BC 0-5

SYR 0-5

MIAMI 0-5

(NOTE: NC ST IS NOT PLAYING FALL WSOC AND GT DOES NOT FIELD A WSOC TEAM)

have a meaningful Monday!

paulie xxxxx

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Welcome to the right side of the site! Table for two? Or would you like a seat at the bar? Over here, you'll find schedules, results, pictures, characters, notices, links and other ennui and general nonsense we offer and come across. You can find out more about women's sports by following us... by reading daily ! Of course, they've shunned us at UofL and bulliedsome of our former writers but we go on anyway.. It takes a great person to attack someone dying of kidney disease and suffering hypoxema..Please don't double park or take up two spaces while you're here and tip your server !

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We are an independent website that covers the joy and excitement of UofL women's sports. We're not about birds here, or trysts with other like-minded couples or major league baseball. We write about women's sports at the University of Louisville. We are non-profit, we run no ads and don't ask you for fees and our writers volunteer their services. We have no premium boards or fee-based reads. We are "daily". Any questions, comments or observations can be left in the comments section at the bottom of any article or sent directly to Paulie at: cardinalcouple@twc.com .. Thank you for reading. As we like to say..."You ARE Cardinal Couple! We never forget that and we appreciate you" !!

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Case Hoskins writes here Saturdays and engineers our podcasts when he isn't busy getting muddy, moving to a new house, field dressing deer. or saying "Yes, dear" to lovely Lindsay his wife.. He's also co-conspirator on the Cardinal Couple Radio Hour Podcast with Jeff -- when he has an Internet connection. consider him our soccer expert here at CARDINAL COUPLE....we just have to keep him away from WSOC head coach KFD. During the day he helps blueprint and design better mouse-traps or fancy-schmancy buildings and stuff. Another one of them engineer types. Known for his love of the Seattle Seahawks and dislike of games that end in ties...he adds a voice of reason, intelligence and rationality to THE CARDINAL COUPLE RADIO HOUR PODCASTS. ( Or so he thinks...) Truth told, he's probably a candidate for smartest one of this bunch of hoodlums, outlaws and ne'er do wells...but don't tell him that. Often mistaken for NFL quarterback Andrew Luck...we're 99% sure that ISN'T Bobby Petrino sitting to his left. . Free to a good home that will give him a bath, something to argue about and some Rice-a-Roni.

CO-FOUNDER AND CO-OWNER

The other co-owner and voice of reason....the lovely Sonja...who returns to us on a permanent basis after what can be called an "interesting" time at Rivals. In her words..."you work, slave, research and study for hours and build a site... a women's board. You spend hours on a three column article and several of the readers decide to take aim at you when all you're trying to do is enlighten. I've never seen so many mis-spellings of Louisville WBB players names anywhere...which made me think I was dealing with third graders over there... I have decided to stay off that street and source from here on out and I'm so glad to be back with those who love and appreciate me... not with haters and self-anointed experts " An avid fan of native gardening, hiking and the Smoky Mountains....she loves German potato pancakes and Led Zeppelin....and reminds you to plant native species. I've only seen her mad once (when she was ready to punch out another woman writer who was spreading lies about her) and I've got a feeling that might be a typhoon you want to steer clear of. One of the original writers on the site (with Paulie and David Watson), she has returned. Not as a columnist, but as a proof-reader, confidant and one to bounce thoughts and ideas off of. She's tired of guys with very limited women's basketball knowledge but huge egos calling her out when they are usually chauvinistic, and can be compared to the dog outside barking at something he can't see...We welcome her back and know she'll enjoy the calm waters here. You've got nothing you need to prove or defend with us....you are among those who love you.

About the photos...

CARDINAL COUPLE uses photos from all sources in the daily columns that we present to you. If we've used a photo you have taken and want published credit it for it...just contact us and we'll be glad to do so. Shoot, we might even write a feature article about you and call your Mom and tell her what a good son or daughter you are. WE avoid pictures that may be subject to copyright. Our legal advisors are busy enough chasing ambulances and wheelchairs when they're not trying to figure out trifecta plays at Churchill. Some of the photos are actually taken by the staff of CARDINAL COUPLE. (When we can get the camera away from the chimps). Paulie uses his cell phone to take pictures, too. You have been warned. Please realize that the captions that go with the photos are sometimes parodies. It's up to you to figure out which ones are and aren't. We can't spoon feed everything to you, you know... Jared Anderson is our main photographer and we have loved his work (even his selfies) for many years. Congratulations if you made it this far in your reading! We know...reading stuff like this can be pretty boring but WE have to put it on the site somewhere so that we can say..."hey, there is disclaimer on the site" in case some bozo decides that they want to sue us or something. Like we have any money. We're so poor we can't even pay attention. We even owe bums money.

I was walking down this road once years ago and I saw this guy chopping down a tree. It was hot, the guy was really sweating and I stopped to watch a while. He finally took a break, cracked a can of beer and then asked me if I had a gun. I hesitated before answering but finally told him that I didn't. He said: "That's a darn shame. I'm cutting down this tree because it's my neighbor's and I'm really pissed off at him right now. I was going to just shoot his sorry a$$...but I decided to do this instead. I'm having second thoughts...though." Sometimes, there just aren't enough trees... (I've never chose that particular walking route since..) .

If I'd taken a picture of that guy working on that tree, I'd been glad to share it with the entire world. That's the way WE see other photos out there. Share 'em and create through exposure and appreciation. We provide credit to the photographer when we feel it's needed. We also pay our taxes on time...