National Signing Day -- THURSDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

National Signing Day

Yesterday was a rather quiet day for many, including myself, as I enjoyed a rare bank holiday.  However, in the world of collegiate athletics, it was an extremely busy day.  Yesterday was National Signing Day and we saw many high school student-athletes sign their letter of intent with the Cardinals.

Basketball

Basketball saw just two players sign yesterday, which is a tad lower than normal.  The Cards only have only one senior  The talent of that class remained right on par though.

Payton Verhulst is a 6-1 guard from Kansas and is ranked anywhere from #7-#12 in several national rankings.  Verhulst is the 2020 Kansas Gatorade Player of the Year and a Naismith Trophy All-American.  Paulie and I met Payton and her dad at a home game last year. She decided to play a bit of Volleyball this fall and her Bishop Miege squad won the Kansas 4A Tournament. 

Sydni Schetnan is a 6-5 center hailing from Sioux Falls, S.D.  We are familiar with volleyball players from the area in recent graduate Maggie DeJong and current volleyball player Phekran "PK" Kong.  She is rated anywhere from #69-#101, but is consistently listed as a Top 10 post player, a position that has been of concern with the graduation of Kylee Shook and Bionca Dunham.

Schetnan will also be a dual sport athlete at Louisville.  Her other sport will be volleyball.  Schetnan is an outside hitter, but won't actually join the VolleyCards until 2022 

Paulie has inteviewed both earlier this year and those l9inks are below. 

PAYTON VERHULST INTERVIEW 

SYDNI SCHETNAN INTERVIEW

Volleyball

Volleyball announced four signees yesterday, which is right on par with numbers. The first is Sydni Schetnan, whom I mentioned earlier under the basketball section.  As previously mentioned, she will join volleyball in 2022, as she adjusts playing a role for two Top 25 UofL squads.

Cara Cresse is a 6-5 middle blocker from Ft. Wayne, Ind.  Cresse joined the volleyball world just a few years ago, but quickly rose and was named the BCS Blocker of the Year. Paige Morningstar is a 6-0 setter from Pittsburgh, Pa.  Morningstar was a two-sport athlete in high school, also playing basketball, but will pursue just volleyball at UofL.  She was named the TRIB Female Athlete of the Year.

Elena Scott is a 5-9 libero/defensive specialist from here in Louisville.  The Mercy star is arguably the best player in the state of Kentucky for the 2021 graduating class and helped lead the Jaguars to a 3-2 upset over Assumption last week in the KHSAA state tournament.

Soccer

Soccer had a rather large signing class yesterday, recording 10 signees.

Abigail Baldridge is a 5-10 forward/midfielder from Elmhurst, Ill.  Baldridge tallied seven assists and three goals in her most recent full season.

Brooke Dardano is a 5-6 midfielder hailing from South Oldham High School.  Dardano is the lone Kentucky native from this class and scored 11 goals to go with 27 assists her junior year.  She also scored a perfect 36 on her ACT.

Mikayla Hampton is a 5-6 forward graduate transfer from Northwestern University.  She was a leader on a rather subpar Northwestern squad and recently recovered from an injury.  In 69 games during her high school career in Wyoming, OH. (a little confusing on that, right?), she scored 69 goals and earned 20 assists.

Hayley Howard is a 5-9 midfielder from Brentwood, Tenn.  Howard will graduate early and join the Cards soon after leading her team to a 17-1 record and an appearance in the Tennessee state championship game.

Nina Nicosia is a 5-8 midfielder from Oswego, Ill.  Nicosia is the daughter of former professional Argentinian soccer player Gustavo Nicosia.  Nina was homeschooled, but her talents have been compared to those similar to Emina Ekic.

Ava Nielson is a 5-5 midfielder from Malverne, N.Y.  Nielson was a three-sport athlete at her high school and scored eight goals in a 6-0 season that was cut short by COVID-19.

Olivia Pratapas is a 5-9 goalkeeper from Clemmons, N.C.  Pratapas is a highly touted goalkeeper that has drawn national attention from her time with the NC Fusion club team.

Julia Simon is a 5-5 forward from Wheaton, Ill.  Simon's accolades as a soccer player have been overshadowed by her work as a basketball player in high school, where she set her school's single-season record for steals.  

Lilly Yordy is a 5-4 defender from Hamilton, Ohio.  Yordy moved around a lot during her time with the Cincinnati Development Academy and scored 10 goals, but was also known as a shutdown defender.

Sophia Zinn is a 5-6 defender from Ft. Lauderdale, Fla.  Zinn sat out her junior year due to an injury and had her senior season cancelled because of COVID-19.  Her 1-on-1 defensive skills were enough to woo Coach Karen Ferguson-Dayes into bringing her aboard.

Lacrosse

Lacrosse also signed 10 players to their team.  With lacrosse being a spring sport we will not see these signees in a Louisville uniform until spring 2022.

Ava Coyle is a defender from Northeast Philadelphia, Penn.  She also played basketball and field hockey in high school, but was known for her defensive skills in lacrosse that earned her Under Armour All-American accolades.

Lauren Figas is a midfielder from Parkland, Fla.  Figas is a big time scorer but is also dominant in the circle on draw controls.

Bri Lang is a midfielder form Upper St. Clair, Penn.  Lang scored 26 goals to go with seven assists in her most recent season that saw her time finish runner-up in the sectional championship.  Both of her parents played sports at Penn State.

Tiffany Natoli is an attacker form Baldwinsville, N.Y.  Natoli led her team to a sectional championship, state regional championship, and a state runner-up finish.

Juliana Pleck is a goalkeeper from Auburn, Ga.  Pleck recorded 100 saves as a freshman and 150 as a sophomore to earn her Under Armour All-American honors.

Haley Reeck is a midfielder from Edina, Minn.  Reeck was team captain for both lacrosse and soccer and has been named an Under Armour All-American and a US Lacrosse All-American.

Isabella Rulapaugh is an attacker from Centreville, Md.  Rulapaugh is a high-level scorer that also has stellar skills in the circle.

Marley Scott is a defender from Milton, Ga.  Scott is ranked #1 in the south and #10 in the nation after leading her team to back-to-back state championships.

Abby Scully is an attacker from West River, Md.  Scully scored 19 goals with seven assists as a sophomore as her team rose to #16 in the national rankings.

Izzy Seikel is a midfielder from Dublin, Ohio.  Seikel led her team to the OCC Championships in both tennis and lacrosse in 2018 and 2019.  She was also named Lacrosse Freshman of the Year in 2019.  Both of her parents were athletes in college.

Softball

Softball took to social media to announce their six signees, but have not given information on the newcomers yet.  It is worth noting that the only signee from the state of Kentucky, Ally Alexander, has interacted with several of the Cardinal Couple staff on twitter in the past.

We will provide more information on the softball signees when we receive it.

There was no word from any of the other sports (field hockey, cross country, swimming and diving, track and field, tennis, rowing, and golf) on any signees yet.  We will update that when they give us information on who will be joining the Cards.

Soccer Pick Em

With Louisville's loss Tuesday night we saw the final three perfect brackets fall.  The Cards were a heavy favorite among the 10 entries, going as far as winning the championship in a few, but fell to Virginia.  The good news for anyone who entered a bracket is that there are five 2-2 brackets and five 3-1 brackets so this is still anyone's game.

For now, I will kick back and enjoy a couple much needed days off from work to start a long weekend.  

We will talk more about the signees and the brackets Saturday morning on the Cardinal Couple Radio Hour™.

Happy Thursday and Go Cards!

Jared

East Coast Still Dominating Lacrosse Roster -- Wednesday CARDINAL COUPLE

Lacrosse Signing Class

As we get to a less hectic time of the year now that all of the fall sports are over (well, there's still a football game to play, but that's not all that big of a deal, right?), I want to go back and pick up some coverage of the signing period for various sports that we didn't get to fit into our coverage at the time.

Nine Sign, All from East Coast States

It's no secret that Lacrosse is most popular along the east coast, particularly the northern coastal states, and Kellie Young's signing class reflects that strongly with all nine signees coming from the states from Connecticut to Virginia.

It's also becoming rather unsurprising to discover that nearly all of the signees were multi-sport athletes in high school.

Alexandra Ball

Alexandra Ball comes to us from Charleton, NY, which is just north of the Schenectady and Albany area of New York.  Ball will be bolstering the already impressive ranks of the goalkeeping squad at UofL.  This high school All-American also lettered all four years of her high school career in Field Hockey.

Allison Arcidiacono

From Somers, NY, just north of NYC, Arcidiacono is a three sport high school athlete, with Soccer and Basketball being on her busy schedule in addition to Lacrosse.  She helped propel her Lacrosse team to the state finals.

Ashley Lynch

Ashley is from Cold Springs Harbor, NY, on Long Island and dual-sported with Field Hockey.  Lynch is a First Team High School All-American, and was named by Inside Lacrosse as one of the Top 25 players in the country.  She was also a member of the US Lacrosse National Girls Team Champions.

Julia Schmuckler

Schmuckler also participated in three sports in high school.  Lacrosse, was joined by Field Hockey and Squash on her calendar.  She was named the Kent Place School Unsung Hero while racking up some fairly impressive scoring, assist, and ground ball numbers.  Schmuckler hails from Chatham, NJ, which is a suburb of Newark.

Chloe Harris

Harris also arrives from New Jersey, from Mountain Lakes, NJ in fact, which is a bit farther out from Newark, but still in the general vicinity.  Also playing Soccer, Chloe played for the Building Blocks Lacrosse Elite Travel program which produced 15 Division I signees this year.

Emily Petillo

Another calendar overachiever, Petillo could be found on the Soccer field as well as Track & Field.  She was named a 2014 Brine National All-Star team member and also played on the New Jersey South Women's National Tournament Team.  Manasquan, NJ is on the Jersey Shore about halfway between Atlantic City and Newark.

Katie Caddigan

Moving further south, Caddigan is from Fulton, MD, about halfway between Baltimore and Washington DC.  Another tri-sport athlete, with Soccer and Basketball.  Katie, if she played basketball for UofL, would be eligible for the Attack Yorkie squad at 5'6", but that isn't anticipated.  A finalist for the Howard County High School Female Athlete of the Year, and did pick up the Scholar Athlete Award.  She is also goalkeeper on the three time state champion soccer team.

Alexa Biller

Biller comes to us from Ashburn, VA outside of Washington DC (as an IT guy, I didn't even have to look this one up...lots of data centers and telecom interconnects in Ashburn).  Biller will be joining her high school teammate Heidi Smith here at UofL.  She also played Field Hockey and Basketball.

Annika Ekvall

Back north for this one, Ekvall hails from Old Greenwich, CT, which is about halfway between New York City and Bridgeport.  Ekvall was twice named to Brine's New England All-American list as well as being invited to participate in The Ride, an event for the Top 50 players nationwide where she was named Top Defender in 2014.  She also helped propel her team to a state runner-up.

As a spring sport, these players won't hit the turf in recorded competition for The Cardinals until Spring of 2017, but store these names away in the back of your mind to bring them out in a little over a year as they start to make an impact on an already excellent Cardinal Lacrosse team.

-- JMcA

Thursday Cardinal Couple - Letters, We've Got Letters

THURSDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

( CARDINAL COUPLE columnist Jeff McAdams puts the pen to paper and sings signs today's column before faxing it to Co-Co...who promptly delivers it to Bill The Goat for a tasty mid-morning snack. Here at CARDINAL COUPLE, we do a lot of singing, not so much signing anymore since Timmy The Intern fed most of our writing utensils to Billy. )

Apparently yesterday was National Singing Day...though why so many people were so gung ho about their favorite choirs, I'm not so sure.  Signing?  Not singing?  Oh, well that's different.  (With apologies to Emily Litella).

Yes, yesterday was the beginning of the spring signing period, where athletes sign and submit their National Letters of Intent to the school of their choice.  This process was enacted to give prospective student athletes a way to turn off the deluge of communication from college coaches in their recruiting efforts.  Although, it appears to have also given the student athletes the forum to make grand pronouncements and garner massive amount of sports media attention...at least for a few sports.  By signing a National Letter of Intent, the student athlete is put off-limits for further recruiting efforts.  The other significance to the NLI is to allow the schools to publicly speak about the recruits.

In addition to Football, however, yesterday started the signing period for a number of other sports, notably for us here at The Cardinal Couple:  Field Hockey, Soccer, Track and Field, and Cross Country.

Field Hockey

Gianna Perrone is the only prospective student athlete, outside of Football, that has been confirmed as submitting an NLI to Louisville.

Gianna is out of Eastern Regional High School in Vorhees, New Jersey in the Camden, NJ/Philadelphia, PA metro area.  Eastern has quite the reputation as a Field Hockey powerhouse, most recently by being ranked as the number one team in the country for the past two seasons.  Eastern also holds the national record for consecutive wins at 153 and has won 14 consecutive state championships in New Jersey.

Louisville Field Hockey coach Justine Sowry has apparently signed another 5 players, who will be announced in the coming weeks.

-- This has been the first Signing Day in several years that your affable Co-Owner Paulie hasn't been involved in a Signing Day Party at the Parrish House with Louisville Sports Report for Cardinal Football. That's probably because the Parrish House has been vacated and the new tenant hasn't been determined yet. It still didn't prevent a few of us from going down there, though...and signing (and singing a bit as well) each other's shirts, newspapers and court-ordered summons documents out in the middle of Boxley Avenue. We haven't determined how well Gianna Perrone can sing yet...maybe she'll stop in for Timmy The Intern's weekly karaoke at the Fischer's caboose. Yup, slow Wednesday night. --