VOLLEYBALL faces Notre Dame Tonight -- MONDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

 

24-0 CARDS HEAD TO SOUTH BEND FOR MONDAY MATCHUP

There is one undefeated squad on the UofL campus and they have put up two dozen wins this season. Louisville Volleyball (24-0) puts the record on the line tonight with a 6 p.m. match against conference foe Notre Dame in the on-campus Purcell Pavilion.

A quick check with UofL women's basketball associate coach Sam Purcell confirmed that the facility was not named after him and the fine work he has done for the Cards.  The pavilion, dedicated in 2010, bears the name of financial stalwart Phil Purcell III, with Morgan Stanley, who provided the leadership grant of $12.5 million for the renovation of the facility that is home to Notre Dame basketball as well. It's also known as the Joyce Center, The dome has the pavilion in the southernmost part of the dome. 

The Irish have had what could be called a rebuilding season this year, sitting at 11-13 overall and 8-6 in the ACC. Mike Johnson is in his fourth year as head coach of UND. 

Notre Dame is led by outside hitters Aubrey Hamilton and Charley Niego. Both have 272 kills. Hamilton is a 6'2" sophomore out of Hartland, WI and Niego is a 6'0" senior from Chicago. Zoe Nunez is the main setter for the Irish and Hattie Monson sees the majority of time at libero for Johnson's squad. 

Dame downed visiting NC State Friday in straight sets (25-16, 25-17, 25-20) and dominated all three sets against the Wolfpack. The win was a reversal of fortunes for the Irish, who previously had dropped a five-set match to  NCST in Raleigh five days earlier. 

This will be the 41st. matchup between the Cards and Irish. Notre Dame leads the overall series 23-17.and swept the Cards in straight sets last year in the LNFCU in the squads' only meeting. UND went to the NCAA Tournament as well, but was eliminated in the second round by Oregon. 

The Cards are #1 in the nation in ranking and now in RPI.

 

The Cards know that the Irish are a dangerous foe that cannot be overlooked. Louisville has four matches remaining in the regular season. After tonight's match, the Cards will travel back home to face Duke on Friday, November 19th., then head to Pittsburgh for a Weds. November 24th.showdown before ending the regular season facing the Irish again, this time in Louisville, on Friday, November 26th.

This one will be shown on the ACC Network tonight. 

Best of luck to Louisville tonight! 

                                            ********************************************

Just how crazy has the NCAA Field Hockey Tournament been?   The Final Four was determined yesterday and the top three seeds were knocked out of action !!

Liberty took down #1 seed Rutgers 3-2, Northwestern eliminated 2 seed Iowa 1-0, Harvard upended #3 seed Michigan 1-0 and Maryland earned a berth by beating the lone ACC school left in the dance, Syracuse,  2-1 

Liberty gets Maryland next and Harvard will face Northwestern. 

Yes, it's a "twilight zone" scenario and we could possibly see a championship game devoid of a Big 10 or ACC member school.  

If anyone had told me a Liberty vs. Harvard NCAA Championship game might be a possibility before the season began, I would have signaled the bartender to "cut them off". 

Maybe the old heavy metal band Savatage had it right. Madness reigns in the hall of the Mountain King. 

LINK: MADNESS REIGNS

Have a marvelous Monday! 

paulie

Cards Volleyball defeats UNC in Four Sets -- Field Hockey in NCAA Tournament -- MONDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

 CARDS VB STAYS PERFECT

Louisville Volleyball didn't look like Louisville Volleyball normally does in the first set at North Carolina yesterday, but the Cards ended up winning the match after that first set stumble 14-25, 25-11, 25-18, 25-17. 

Louisville is now 23-0 and 13-0 in ACC play. 

That target on the back was pretty huge in Set One and the TarHeels took it to a Cardinal team that seemed a bit slow in reacting and unable to generate much offense. UNC did hit .495 for the set, UofL .211 and the Cards were never in it, sad to say, in the set. Carolina saw it as a chance to get their biggest win of the season and were fired up. The 14-25 set loss was Louisville worst set loss of the season.  

Louisville did regroup, respond and retaliate in Set Two.  Louisville took an early lead and was buoyed by three consecutive Elena Scott service aces to take a 15-7 lead. The Cards were hitting better in the second set, going .407, while UNC plummeted to .036. UNC had only one block in the set. They went to halftime with a 25-11 second set win.

After the halftime break, the two squads to a 10-10 tie in Set Three, but Scott serving helped the Cards gain a 17-10 lead. That grew to 19-11, Carolina took a timeout to talk about it. Louisville stayed hot, though , and gained a 25-18 set win. 

In Set Four, the Cards continued their winning momentum. They grabbed a 12-7 lead and pushed that to 17-11. UNC had seen enough, called their final timeout, but were probably dismayed that Jeff McAdams wasn't there to lead the C-A-R-D-S cheer. Or, fired up? They went on a run that pulled them within three at 20-17. UNC would not register a point the rest of the way, though, and UofL gets out of Chapel Hill with a 25-17 fourth set win. 

For Louisville, Anna DeBeer registered 11 kills and Anna Stevenson ended up with 10, plus seven blocks. 

The Cards come home to face dangerous Georgia Tech on Friday and we're guessing Louisville will be #1 in the land for that one, since Texas lost to Baylor. Louisville is the only unbeaten team in DI now. That target gets a little bigger, but UofL keeps taking opponent's best shots and still coming out on top. 

FIELD HOCKEY TO BEGIN NCAA TOURNAMENT VS. HARVARD

The Field Hockey Cards found out last night during the NCAA Selection Show that they would be opening in Michigan against Harvard. Many thought that Louisville would receive an opening round hosting opportunity, based on their 16-3 record, but, the Cards loss to Virginia in the ACC Tournament must have influenced the bracketing and selections by the NCAA Committee. . 

Louisville will face Harvard on Friday at 2:30 in Ann Arbor. Harvard won the Ivy League and boasted a record of 15-1. 

If the Cards get past Harvard, they'd face either Michigan, Miami (OH), or Maine in second round action.

Four ACC squads made the 18-team Tournament. Virginia, UNC and Syracuse join the Cards in the dance. The Big 10 placed six teams in the field. 

Maybe it's good the Cards get a chance to play an early game on the site of the Final Four in Ann Arbor....but the "slight" by the NCAA in not extending the Cards one of the four early hosting bids is glaring. Rutgers, who won the Big 10, got an opening-at-home slot, along with Iowa, Michigan and Penn State. 

We'll let you know about TV or Internet accessibility for the Cards opener later this week. 

We're in, we're dancing and we'll take 'em on wherever they send us, right? .

(today's PHOTOS BY JARED ANDERSON) 

Have a marvelous Monday!

paulie  

Field Hockey in Final Four vs Michigan today -- Softball goes to NC State -- FRIDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

HE'S BACK AGAIN 

Today would normally be our "Fridays with Daryl" segment, and I guess it still technically could be, except she's taking a day away from the site today....after putting in 18 hour days lately.

So, ol' Paulie emerges from the relative comfort of sleeping in on Friday and gets a third straight day bringing you the joy and excitement of UofL women's sports news.  Grab a coffee, grab a chair -- there's blueberry muffins on the table and make sure your seats are in their upright position -- we blast off as soon as we find a pilot and boldly go where...ok...let's get into it. 

FIELD HOCKEY VS. MICHIGAN

We have come down to the final four squads remaining in the NCAA Field Hockey Championships and your Louisville Cardinals will take the field in the second game today at Karen Shelton Stadium in Chapel Hill, NC to vie for a chance to advance to the National Championship game Sunday. 

The foe is Michigan, from the Big 10, and entered the tournament as the #2 seed. The Wolverines received a first round bye in the 12-team tournament, like Louisville did -- and faced Bucknell in the second round. Bucknell had gotten their by downing VCU in the first round. The Bison, as their known, faced "Go Blue" on the Penn State field in University Park, PA but ended up on the short end of a 2-0 score. 

14-2 Michigan got a goal with less than a minute left in the first half from junior Katie Anderson for the only score they'd need...then followed it up early in the third quarter when senior Kathryn Anderson connected on a penalty corner. It was UM's first non-conference game of the season and the 11th straight win of the season for Michigan. Goalie Anna Speicker has had nine shutouts this season. 

The Big 10 version of Field Hockey is a bit more physical and contact-laden than the way they play the game in the ACC. And, they did not play in the fall like the ACC did,  We'll see how Louisville's quickness and speed counters against this style of "hockey". 

As for the Cards, they reached the final four with a 1-0 win over UConn. Alli Bitting provided the lone goal off a penalty corner, following up on a Meche Pastor shot attempt and driving it home.  Bitting confided that she'd practiced the scoring scenario "about a million times" in UofL practices and the Cardinal senior proved that practice makes perfect. 

The shutout was orchestrated by the Cardinal's shut down defense and with Sam Minrath in goal service. The redshirt-sophomore from Louisville's Christian Academy was the second-string goalkeeper in the fall but assumed the starting nod when the Cards' Hollyn Barr opted-out for the spring season. Minrath has been a guiding force in goal service and a team leader in the locker room. She continues the superlative sequence of Cardinal net-tenders, we all remember Ayeshia McFerran...and Louisville Field Hockey head goal Justine Sowry was a goal-tender as well, in her collegiate days. Minrath was also under the tutelage of first-year volunteer coach Cat O'Connor -- former Wake Forest goalie and now attending Law School at Louisville. 

The Cards play the second game today, after they find out whether it will be UNC or Iowa that advance to the championship round. That first match takes place at 1 p.m. today, and the Cards vs. Blue is tentatively scheduled for 4 p.m.  The weather this morning on the UNC campus is cloudy and rainy -- that rain is forecast to hang around most of the days and the temperatures hovering around the 60 degree mark. Hey, they usually water the field before and at halftime of games -- so -- it hopefully won't mess with the matches too much. 

This one will be available on the internet at ESPN3. Here's the link that UofL lists on the GoCards website -- you know how those can go at times -- but I guess it's worth a shot: 

LINK: https://www.espn.com/watch/player?id=213ce35b-ada6-4651-9877-8cae1fa476f3

We wish the best for our Field Hockey team today and a win that'll take them to Sunday's championship !!  When you have Meche Pastor on your team, anything is possible. I like our chances. 

SOFTBALL AT N.C. STATE

That rainy weather forecast for Chapel Hill, North Carolina also extends to the Tar Heels softball diamond --  where Louisville Softball will hope to get in their final regular season series before the ACC Tournament .against (12-23, 8-17) UNC Softball. This one is huge for the TarHeels, they are three games and .013 percentage points out of 10th place. 

The top 10 teams head to Louisville and the ACC Tournament next week, so the Tar Heels will look to end their nine-game losing streak and sneak into the first-round action on Wednesday at Ulmer Stadium with a combination of a series sweep over Louisville and some luck with either Syracuse dropping a few to Clemson, or Pitt falling to visiting Florida State.

You got this, Funke. "W" up !!

Wins are also needed by the Cards on their visit to Tobacco Road.  They'd love to finish the season in sixth place in the conference standings, because the top six squads get a first-round bye in the ACC Tournament. 

These two start the action (for now, at least -- we know how weather an alter schedules) at 5:30 p.m. and it'll be on ACC Network Extra. 

The question is: Would Jared need a 
media pass at his own stadium? 

UNC plays their home slate in Anderson Stadium on campus. Our Cardinal Couple photographer and columnist Jared's last name is Anderson. Maybe the Softball Cards will feel right at home and comfortable seeing their ol' buddy Jared's name on the facility?  Just in case, bring the bats, Cards, and let's have success in the circle. 

Have a fun Friday!

paulie 

Sowry, Bitting meet with media -- Lauren Hartlage -- WEDNESDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

 FIELD HOCKEY CARDS PREPARE FOR MICHIGAN

Head Louisville Field Hockey coach Justine Sowry and senior student-athlete Alli Bitting met with members of the media yesterday via teleconference to discuss the Cards upcoming Final Four match in the NCAA versus Michigan.  We have the two linked up below for you. 

LINK: JUSTINE SOWRY 5/4/21

LINK:  ALLI BITTING 5/4/21

It is the Cards first-ever appearance in the NCAA Field Hockey Final Four. The Cards, obviously, are not ready for their season to end and will have the second game on Friday against the Wolverines. 

Best of luck to the Louisville "stick girls" and keep on dancin' !!

HARTLAGE NAMED TO ARNOLD PALMER CUP TEAM

UofL women's golf has a student-athlete that will play on the United States team in the upcoming Arnold Palmer Cup -- and it is Lauren Hartlage. 

The challenge pits the best college male and female collegiate golfers in the United States against an international squad. This year's event will take place June 11-13 at Rich Harvest Farms in Sugar Grove, IL. 

Hartlage leads the Cards with a 72.13 stroke average this season in 15 rounds. Hartlage and her teammates return to action May 10-12 in the 2020-21 NCAA Championships.  Louisville is hosting a regional for the championships this year, being held out at the UofL Golf Club in Simpsonville, KY. The Cards are the #12 seed in the Louisville region. 

Hit 'em straight and stay out of the sand, Lauren !! 

Have a wise Wednesday! 

paulie

ACC Softball Standings — Sowry Interview — TUESDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

 Post Derby depression is in full force in Louisville as we all had to head back to work. To cap it off, we also dealt with a bit of rain yesterday with plenty more in the forecast.

ACC Softball Standings

A bit of good news, though, as UofL softball appears to be a lock for the ACC Tournament. The Cards sit seventh in the current ACC standings. The top 10 teams qualify for the ACC Tournament here at Ulmer Stadium in Louisville.

Louisville only has a four-game series against North Carolina remaining. The Tar Heels sit 11th in the conference and will be battling to keep their season alive a little longer. Coincidentally, UofL field hockey will also be in Chapel Hill as they compete in the Final Four this weekend.

Holly Aprile’s squad is 13-19-1 in the conference and fresh of a 2-2 series tie at Boston College. We hoped to see a series victory, but an even series did not hurt the Cards.

They sit a couple games behind NC State, who plays Duke this weekend. If the Cards can take the series in Chapel Hill and the Wolfpack can falter against the Blue Devils, Louisville could move up the 6-seed and earn a first-round bye. The 7-10 seeds play an opening round.

Losing all four games to UNC could potentially knock the Cards out of the tournament. Multiple losses could also knock Louisville down to any of the 8-10 seeds. The 5-seed is out of reach but it would be nice to get the bye since Louisville will more likely than not need to win the ACC Tournament in order to go dancing when the NCAA Tournament rolls around.

We will preview that series as it comes closer.

Field Hockey Interview

Justine Sowry and Alli Bitting will be having a press conference later today to preview their match with 2-seed Michigan.

Louisville advanced to the NCAA Semifinals (Final Four) for the first time in program history with their 1-0 win over UConn. The Cards have a chance to continue making history.

Michigan dominated the Big Ten and then won the Big Ten Tournament and are nearly as good as North Carolina. However, you could make a similar argument about Louisville, who is the only team to defeat the Tar Heels in the last three years.

Never underestimate the Cards as they can be surprising and have plenty of talent.

We will tune in to see what Coach Sowry and Bitting have to say and share that with you tomorrow.

Happy Tuesday and Go Cards!

Jared

Field Hockey to Final Four -- Softball Wins -- MONDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

 FIELD HOCKEY SHUTS OUT UCOON TO ADVANCE TO NCAA FINAL FOUR

 

A first quarter goal by Alli Bitting proved to be the difference yesterday in College Park, PA -- as the #3 Louisville Cardinals Field Hockey team blanked the #6 UConn huskies 1-0 in NCAA Tournament "Great Eight" action. 

The Cards got the lone score off a penalty corner.  Meche Pastor fired the initial shot-on-goal, Bitting was there to chase down the deflection by the UConn goalkeeper and fire it back into the net for the Cards. 

UConn was actually out-shooting the Cards in the first half, but could not get anything by the Cardinal defense. Sam Minrath, in goalkeep for UofL, collected five saves in the win. The Cards played "a player down" for about half the final quarter when Erica Cooper was whistled for a yellow card and UofL survived three penalty corner attempts by the Huskies. 

The Huskies pulled goalkeeper Cheyenne Sprecher with about three minutes to go in the match, to try and gain an offensive edge, but the defense held their ground and it is Louisville who advances to the Final Four -- facing #2 Michigan on May 7th in Chapel Hill. 

The Wolverines knocked off Bucknell 2-0 to advance out of quarter-final action yesterday. On the other side of the bracket, #1 seed UNC took a 2-0 win over Stanford and #4 seed Iowa advanced over fellow Big 10 member Northwestern 3-1. 

Post game Louisville Field Hockey head coach Justine Sowry: 

The entire year has been a very long season  -- two seasons. We've had some highs and lows. We've had some tears and certainly some laughter and fun along the way. And to get to the point where we are, we're pretty excited and relieved. The team is excited to get another matchup against Michigan, a quality opponent. We're going to celebrate, and then get back to business tomorrow morning." 

SOFTBALL BEAT BOSTIN COLLEGE 4-1

UofL pitcher Taylor Roby gave the Cards five strong innings in the circle and Louisville plated three runs in the top of the fourth inning to win the finale of the four-game series at Boston College 4-1. 

Between Roby and Jen Leonhardt, BC managed just four hits in the seven inning UofL win. Meanwhile, the Cardinal exploded for 12 hits against the ACC foe, Maddy Newman getting three of them and Carmyn Greenwood driving in two of the four Cardinal runs. 

Louisville put a run on the board in the top of the second inning when Rebecca Chung and Celene Funke singled, Elana Ornelas came in to run for Chung, went to third on a walk to Jenna Servi and scored on a Cass Greenwood grounder, 

Louisville pushed the advantage to 4-0 in the fourth when Funke got on with a single, scored on a Servi triple and then Servi scored on another Greenwood grounder. Louisville then got single from Newman and Roby -- Newman reaching home on a Makayla Hurst double. 

The Cards (19-25-1, 13-19-1) will head to Chapel Hill to end the regular season with a series against the Tar Heels before coming home to host the ACC Softball Tournament. The Cards are currently seventh in the ACC standings -- the top 10 finishers qualify for the ACC Tournament.. 

Have a marvelous Monday! 

paulie

Sunday Cardinal Couple

Field Hockey Gets In

The NCAA Selection Show for Field Hockey was last night at 10pm.  The massive field of 12 was announced and UofL was able to get one of the very few at-large bids for the tournament.

With nine automatic qualifiers for a 12 team tournament, only three at-large bids were available.  The top two teams in the NFHCA poll were UNC and Michigan.  Both got the automatic qualifier bid for their conferences (ACC and Big 10).  Ranks three through five are UofL, Iowa, and Northwestern (ACC, Big 10, Big 10) and these are the three teams that got the at-large bids for the overall tournament.  Ranked 6th is Liberty, who did not get into the tournament.  With the at-large bids exhausted, the Big East AQ bid went to UConn, ranked 7th.

(I should point out here that the at-large bids were not based on the NFHCA poll, but they did track perfectly with the poll, and I use it here to highlight the absurdity of the NCAA's decision-making with respect to field hockey.)

UofL will play Sunday, May 2nd at 3pm.  They will be playing the winner of UConn vs Rider (Northeast Conference).  The 1st and 2nd rounds will be hosted by Penn State, while the semifinals and finals will be hosted by UNC.  There is no information available that I've been able to find for live streaming the first and second rounds, but the semifinals will be on ESPN3, and the finals will be shown on ESPNU. A good guess would be ncaa.com , they hosted the selection show. 

Lacrosse vs Notre Dame

UofL closed out the season in a loss to Notre Dame, 15-11.

The Irish were in control for most of the game, stretching out an eight goal lead at 10 minutes into the 2nd half.

The Cards went on a 6-1 run to narrow the lead to only three before Notre Dame got a goal in the closing minute of the game to reach the final score.  The hero of the run was Nicole Perroni.  The Canadian sophomore (Whitby, Ontario) got the first hat trick of her career in the run.

Caroline Blalock also got a hat trick in the game, while Hannah Morris put a pair in the back of the net.  Single goals to Ally Hall, Kylea Dobson, and Kokoro Nakazawa would account for all of the scoring from the Cards.

Paulie caught up with Louisville Lacrosse head coach Scott Teeter post-game and you can those remarks below: 

POST NOTRE DAME SCOTT TEETER

Next up for Lacrosse is the ACC tournament.  All eight teams in the ACC will participate in the tournament, with UofL getting that 8th seed.  That matches the Cards up with top seed UNC in the first round of the tournament also hosted by UNC.  The game will be at noon on Wednesday, presumably on the ACC Network Extra, but that has not yet been confirmed.

Today's Activity

Things are starting to calm down slightly from the crazy spring of sports that this has been with the extra load of fall sports also playing in the spring.

Only two games on the slate for today and they're both Softball finishing up their weather-altered schedule with FSU.  Their double-header will kick off today at noon with the 2nd game at 2:30(ish).  The first game will be on the ACC Network with the second one shifting over to the streaming on the ACC Network Extra.

A Personal Note

I and my family would like to thank you all, the readers of Cardinal Couple, and the listeners of the Cardinal Couple Radio Hour Podcast, for your expressions of sympathy and support on the death of my father, Charlie McAdams.  My father looked forward to each day's article, and to the Saturday "radio" podcast.  The staff and readers/listeners were more than just names to him.  As an avid sports fan and UofL fan, you all were kindred spirits to him.

We appreciate your support.

Jeff

Cardinal Couple Radio Hour Podcast

Speaking of the Cardinal Couple Radio Hour Podcast, we were on the air again yesterday as normal.  Missing Case, we did have Daryl join us this week as she had a day off from button pushing... given the rescheduling of the Softball series versus the Noles..

We celebrated Jared and Katy's engagement, discussed the ACC Commissioner's visit to UofL's ACC Network studios, Softball, Lacrosse, Field Hockey, and wrapped up Volleyball for the year.  Check out the fun below!

JMcA

Sudden Heartbreak -- FH Cards Fall to BC 2-1 in Shootout -- MONDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

#5 LOUISVILLE FIELD HOCKEY 1 - BOSTON COLLEGE 2

On a overcast and chilly Sunday afternoon in Louisville, two ACC teams took the field at Trager Stadium to play for the right to head to the NCAA Field Hockey Final Four. Louisville Cardinals and the Boston College Eagles. A epic and incredible match ensued.

Yes, the chance to go to Field Hockey's Final Four for one of them.

Louisville had beaten Boston College earlier in the season 3-2 in Boston. Throw all that out the window, though, this was win or go home time. In a battle for the ages...the Cards heart-breakingly lost 2-1 in a sudden-victory shootout that took place after 80 minutes of intense competition.

It is always hard to write about a loss that ends a squad's season. Even harder to do an interview with the coach of that losing squad. That still is the case this morning as it was yesterday afternoon at at jammed Trager Stadium. Still, we go on and review what was a monumental battle between two teams.

Boston College got on the board first. With just six seconds until halftime, the Eagles converted on a penalty corner. Elizabeth Warner gathered a missed Sky Caron attempt and tapped it home to give BC the lead. 

Louisville did not score until the third quarter of the match. Dependable senior Bethany Russ drove into the Boston College arc...barely...and released a reverse stick shot from the top of the circle that eluded Dwyer for the Cards goal. An official's review after the score verified that Russ had fired a "legal" shot and it was 1-1 with 5:13 left to play in the quarter.   

Neither team could get the decider in the net in the fourth quarter. This classic battle would go to overtime...the Cards sixth of the season and Eagles third venture into extra minutes

Stats-wise, the Cards out-shot the Eagles 20-9 and had nine shots on goal compared to B.C.'s three. Credit Boston College goalkeeper Sarah Dwyer for an outstanding afternoon between the pipes. 10 to 4 in favor of UofL in penalty corners also. The Cards dominated the final 30 minutes of action with a 7-0 shot advantage but the score remained the same.

After 60 minutes of play, that 1-1 score still held. A 10-minute, seven player vs, seven player overtime took place and neither team could grab a goal in the sudden victory format. So, the squads lined up and did it again. Once again, no goals in the second 10-minute session. 

For situations such as these, NCAA Field Hockey goes to the "shootout" phase next.

Each team selects five players. One-by-one, they try to score on the opposing goalkeeper in a allotted time period per attempt. The Cards went first.  Each team connected on three out of five attempts, so another shoot-out session was called for. It was Boston College's turn to shoot first. This time, if a team gained a one-goal advantage and the other team could not tie, the match would be over.  The Eagles made their first attempt against Cards goalie Hollyn Barr. The Cards followed suit and scored. A second score for BC, this time from sensational freshman Margo Carlin, and it was up to Louisville to score or the match ended. 

A Cardinal shot from sophomore midfielder Mackenzie Karl was sent. It was Karl who had given Louisville a 3-2 lead in the first shootout.The ball flew over Dwyer, but just a couple inches too high and over the top bar. Nine times out of ten, that shot is a score.

A brilliant idea and the right-thing-to-do it the spur-of-the-moment situation. It was the only way the ball was going to get past the on-charging Dwyer. Credit to Karl for the creativity and attempt. 

Boston College had the "W". I sat stunned in a quiet press box...only the sign-off from the ACC Network announcer audible.  


Yes, Field Hockey is a game of inches, like the other sports on the Belknap Campus. Inches that had saved Louisville at the end of the second overtime, when a BC shot attempt bounced off the right Cardinal goal post. An inch to the left and BC wins in overtime, not shootout. 


You win as a team and you lose as a team.

A tale of two teams developed after the winning goal. The Eagles celebrating loudly and wildly in the north end zone. A stunned, shocked and saddened Cardinal squad wandering around mid-field. Lots of tears and sympathy hugs being shared. 

Coach Sowry spoke with me for the post-game media interview after the match. It was one of the hardest interviews I've had to do in quite a while...and I barely uttered just a few words. Link below: 

COACH JUSTINE SOWRY POST GAME BOSTON COLLEGE

To mirror what coach said, after the disappointment and sadness eventually fades from this heartbreaking loss, it should be celebrated that this was a team that did reach new heights for Louisville Field Hockey. A lot of distraught, hurt and heartbroken Louisville girls walked off that field, and it will take time for the recovery...but they will recover and come back stronger. You can see it in the eyes, hear it in the words of this flock. They are a band of sisters. They were a part of Louisville Field Hockey history. 

The first squad to ever advance to the final eight in Cards Field Hockey history.

I'll let that stand alone a minute. 

In over 40 years of recorded, documented Louisville Field Hockey...no one had accomplished what the 2019 squad has. A group of seniors and underclassmen who banded together.

For senior Bethany Russ, a career that saw her a two-time All-ACC selection, tied for seventh on the Louisville all-time list for goal (26) and the primary scoring force late in the season to get the Cards as far as they got. Senior Carter Ayars the glue of the squad. 

As I wandered over to talk to a couple of the Cards assistant coaches after the Sowry interview, I happened to glance over my shoulder and Sowry had gone to the turf on her knees, head on the ground. After consoling a number of players, a emotional post-game circle with the team and speaking with the media, it was Coach's turn to "have that moment" and reflect. It was justly deserved. Even the strongest of leaders deserve to have that time of self-realization and contemplation after a major event. 

Four teams go on to the Final Four. North Carolina, who will face Boston College and Virginia who won over always-tough Maryland and will face the lone, non-ACC participant Princeton. They'll play on Friday in semifinal action and a winner will be crowned Sunday. 

And, so, a fall sports squad's season ends on a chilly Sunday. A season that gave Cards Field Hockey fans and observers a ton of fun, some thrilling wins, the highest ranking ever and the first chance to host the first and second rounds of the NCAA Tournament. 

I hope "Ms. B." got a chance to watch it on-line. The patron saint of Louisville Field Hockey, I am sure, is very proud of these warriors for what they've accomplished and how far they went.

 It was a season to remember and one I'll not forget anytime soon.  

Good times, sad times -- they all are part of running a daily website. Even with the sadness of the Field Hockey loss yesterday, we still have to look for and find a bit of the joy and excitement that is our mission statement here at Cardinal Couple -- joy over how far this incredible bunch of girls went and excitement about the rest of the fall, winter and spring schedule for the rest of the women's sports on the Louisville campus.

What a season, Louisville Field Hockey! Record-breaking and unforgettable. 

(PHOTOS BY JARED ANDERSON) 

Have a meaningful Monday, 

Paulie
xxxxx

  

FIELD HOCKEY TO HOST FIRST TWO ROUNDS OF NCAA TOURNAMENT -- VB FALLS AT FSU -- MONDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

CARDS #4 SEED IN NCAA FIELD HOCKEY TOURNAMENT DRAW MICHIGAN IN FIRST ROUND

We now know the where, who and when for post-season NCAA Louisville Field Hockey play.

The Cards were placed as a #4 seed (behind UNC, UConn and Virginia) and will host the first two rounds in one of the four regionals. Louisville will start against Michigan (13-8) on Friday, Nov. 15th at 2:30. If they win, they would play the winner of Boston College vs. Northwestern, who have the first game at noon Friday in Louisville, in the 2nd round (or Great Eight) in Trager Stadium at 1 p.m. Sunday. 



Last night's selection show revealed that six of the seven ACC schools that participate in Field Hockey were invited to the 18-team tournament. All six of the ACC schools (Louisville, Duke, Virginia, UNC, Boston College and Syracuse) selected are all ranked in the nation's top 12 and are all in the top eight in the latest RPI. 

Louisville returns to the tournament after not being selected in 2018 and it is the sixth appearance in the last seven years for Justine Sowry's Cards.

It was a joyous, raucous celebration, as you might well expect, when Louisville heard their name called. A Twitter link to it below:  

FIELD HOCKEY CARDS REACT TO HEARING THEIR NAME CALLED

Ticket information will be released in the next day or so. We'll have the details for you here att Cardinal Couple.

This is huge for the Stick Girls.

They made it to the semifinals of the ACC Tournament by beating Syracuse, They fell to UNC in the semis, who defeated Boston College in the finals for their 42nd consecutive win. The question we had here at Cardinal Couple was...did the overall body of work from Louisville get them into a hosting chance and a top four seed? 

Yes it did, in the eyes of the selection committee.  We couldn't agree more. 


SHE SAID IT

Coach Justine Sowry's comments about the selection: 


“Just to make the NCAA tournament is not easy, and we missed out last year, so that was our first goal this year, to get back to the tournament,” said UofL head coach Justine Sowry. “As the season went on, we kept building and got some big wins. It was a tight race this year. We’re excited to be in, but to be the first team in our program that has hosted here at Louisville is really exciting for our program. But the work starts tomorrow morning when we get up. Michigan is an incredible opponent and we’ve had difficulty with them in the past. We’ve set ourselves up well and now it’s back to the drawing board and hopefully we can advance past the next round."




Congratulations to the first of two fall UofL women's sports squads to make it into the "Big Dance" !!  Women's soccer will find out today at 4:30 p.m. where they'll be placed for the NCAA Women's Soccer selection Show. Jared Anderson will have all those details in his Tuesday article 

The selection show can be viewed on line at: 

www.ncaa.com


VOLLEYBALL KNOCKED OFF BY NOLES IN FOUR SETS

When two Volleyball teams have identical records and face each other, often the deciding factor can be the venue. That was the case yesterday 

The #24 Cards fall in four sets 25-18, 16-25, 12-25, 22-25 to unranked FSU. 

The Louisville Volleyball squad ended their southern swing with a stop in Tallahassee, FL yesterday to take on Florida State, who had the identical record as the Cards going into the match (16-7, 9-4). The Cards looked impressive in the first set. Despite FSU opening the game with three straight points, the Cards roared back to take a 5-4 lead. The Noles returned the favor and battled their way to a 15-12 lead, but UofL dominated the rest of the way, closing out the set with a 13-3 run for a 25-18 win. Claire Chaussee had six kills and Anna Stevenson produced three blocks.   

It went south for UofL after that. 

FSU jumped out to a 9-1 lead in the second set and had little trouble in getting a nine-point win. The Cards did battle back to close the gap to four at 16-12 but FSU regained their momentum and put a 9-4 fun on UofL to win by nine. 25-16 

It was all Noles again in set three early on. They led 7-1 before UofL fought back to close the gap to 7-5. FSU closed the door, though, with a 10-2 run for a 17-7 advantage.  They ended set three by taking six of the seven final points for a convincing 25-12 win.

In the final set, the Cards looked much better and, in a back and forth affair, were tied at 8-8, led 15-14 and were within one at 21-20. Three of the final points went FSU's way, though, and all three came on FSU blocks at the net as the Noles secured the set and match by three at 25-22. 

Chaussee recorded a career-high 19 kills for Louisville. The Cards return home to face Syracuse Friday night at 7 p.m. in the LNFCU Arena on campus. Combined with Field Hockey, Friday looks to be a great day to spend on Floyd Street !! 


VETERANS DAY

A heartfelt "Thank You" to my wife, father, father-n-law, uncles, cousins and all who have served this nation to protect us. 

To say, "I will serve to protect our freedom and way of life. I will fight for you" is admirable and noble. To be willing to lay your life on the line to make sure we are safe is the ultimate duty and sacrifice.

Bless each and every one of our veterans. 

Whether in peacetime or war, -- Army, Navy, Air Force, Marines or Coast Guard -- what was done was done out of love and respect for this country.

If you see a veteran today, say "Thank you".  And, let us pray for all of our current servicemen as well.  


FINALLY...

I know, we don't cover football here, as a rule but I have the link below of former Cardinal and current Baltimore Ravens QB Lamar Jackson and his out-of-this-world 47 yard TD against the Bengals
Wow. 

SIMPLY "LAMARVELOUS"


Have a marvelous Monday ! 

paulie
xxxxx