World Cup Field Hockey: Irish fall 1-0 to Eng. -- USA ties India -- USA U squads WBB -- MONDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

ENGLISH MANAGE LATE GOAL TO DEFEAT IRELAND 1-0

With Ayeshisa McFerran in goal and a depleted Louisville scoring attack a possibility for 2018 Louisville Field Hockey, we had joked on the Saturday morning CARDINAL COUPLE RADIO HOUR broadcast that Louisville Field Hockey might be winning a lot of 1-0 contests this season. In Women's World Cup action, we got a 1-0 final in the final game of pool play, but it was the English with the "1" and McFerran's Ireland squad posting the "0" Sunday afternoon in the finals of Pool B play. 

A penalty corner with about seven minutes remaining gave England the lone score of the contest. The goal wasn't really McFerran's fault either...the "score" shot deflected off of a Irish defender's leg, which altered the path of the ball and the orb skipped past the out-stretched Louisville and Irish goalkeeper to find net. Sad to say, but that's how the ball bounces. (Groan). 

McFerran's heroics in goal kept the Irish in it for 53 of the 60 minutes. The English controlled the attack throughout the contest and had several shots on goal that McFerran was able to prevent from becoming scores. The Irish offense was not faring well against #2 England defense...they had no shots on goal in the first half on Sunday. 

Despite the close loss, Ireland still wins their Group play and had already advanced to the quarterfinals. The Green Army enters crossover play, waiting to see who their next opponent will be, pending the winner of the India vs. Italy match. McFerran's team will play again on Thursday.  The English needed at least a draw to make crossover play but vaulted to second place in the pool with their first win in the 2018 World Cup. 

No disgrace in keeping the second-best team in the world scoreless for over 80% of the match and falling 1-0. Ireland finishes Group B Pool play with a 2-1 record with 6 points, England second with 5 points, India and USA with 2, but the tie-breaker (goal differential) belongs to India. 


USA TIES INDIA 1-1...FINISHES LAST IN POOL PLAY

For the other Louisville Field Hockey player (Nicole Woods) participating in the Field Hockey World Cup, the results weren't so good. A tie Sunday against India lands them last in the Group B Pool and effectively ends their World Cup run. Only the top three teams advance out of the pools. 

USA needed a win to assure a shot at the crossover round...to face Italy...but couldn't not win a match in the three-game Pool play, getting just a two ties and a loss. 

I was unable to view the USA vs. India match, and the stat sheets for these games aren't made public, so I don't know how much time Woods saw on the turf. 

Still, it's a great honor to be selected for the team for the recently graduated Woods, a native of Beverly, MA. 

For Ayeshia, a chance to keep that Cardinal (and Green Army) spirit alive. Ireland has already gained a berth as one of the eight teams to play for the World Cup title. Here's hoping they can continue the success. 


USA U 17 WBB TEAM WINS GOLD

Going into the semifinals of the FIBA U 17 World Cup Girls Basketball game, the USA squad had a simple motto to follow. "Defense wins Championships". In Minsk, Belarus...the USA squad lived up to the motto by eliminating Hungary 84-39. The win advanced USA to the gold medal round against France and they once again lived up to the phrase by pounding the French squad 92-40 to capture the gold. 

Outscoring their opponent 46-12 in the second half and limiting them to 24.6% shooting for the entire game, USA easily captured their fourth goal in the event. 7-0 in this year's competition and a sparkling 36-1 since the event began in 2010. The USA squad entered the this year's quarterfinals and emerged with a 66-31 drubbing of Spain to advance. USA allowed 110 points in three basketball games. It equates to basically giving up nine points a quarter. 

Jordan Horston was named the tournament MVP and Aliyah Boston led USA 's five double-digit scorers in the final with 16 points (in a mere 17 minutes) 

Horston, a part of the stellar 2019 class is uncommitted for a college choice yet. A slew of schools are hot on her trail and UNC, Ohio State and UCLA have already received visits from the 6'1" point guard. She's also planning trips to Louisville, Duke and South Carolina. 

Boston, a 6'4" post from St. Thomas in the Virgin Islands and also a part of that 2019 class, is also uncommitted and has Louisville's interest as well. She's another top 10 prospect like Horston and the #1 ranked post in the class. She's a bit of a youngster (only 15 years old) but Boston is used to playing against older competitors. Her older sister Alexis has served as a motivation for her to grow into the game.

Alexis spent the 2017-18 campaign playing for Owens Community College (Perrysburg, OH) as a freshman.  

Now, it's Jeff Walz and the U18's shot at a gold. They're already in Mexico City and will begin play August 1st. when they take on Argentina in Pool play this Thursday at 7:30 EST.

Today, we've discussed a lot of pools. Hey, it may be time to go swimming! 


paulie
xxxxx

Angel, Asia, Ayeshia and Myisha: How Are They Doing? -- THURSDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

NUMBERS ON THE CARDINAL TRIO IN THE WNBA

UPDATE: Ireland defeats India 1-0 to advance to the Women's Field Hockey World Cup quarterfinals. Louisville's Ayeshia McFerran with a shutout in goalkeep and several great saves for the Irish...now 2-0. 

As the WNBA heads to their All-Star game, we though we'd catch you up on how the three UofL WBB players in the league are faring. 

ANGEL McCOUGHTRY -- ATLANTA DREAM

The Dream are having the most success of the three teams that have Cardinal WBB players on them and Angel is a huge part of Atlanta's success. Atlanta is 16-9 on the season, in second place in conference standings and 2.5 games behind league leader Seattle as of 7/25/18, and Angel is the second leading scorer for the Dream with 16.5 points per game. 

The Dream defeated Los Angeles 81-71 Tuesday night and Angel had 19 points to lead Atlanta in scoring. She also grabbed seven rebounds in the win, which was streaking Atlanta's eighth win in a row. Putting in a team-high 31 minutes, Angel also pilfered three steals. Tied after three, the Dream outscored the Sparks by 10 in the fourth quarter. 

McCoughtry is the second leading scorer this year for Atlanta with  16.5 p.p.g and averages 28 minutes on court. She's started 24 of the 25 Atlanta games. She be in the All-Star game Saturday, playing for team (Candace) Parker.

Interesting that the WNBA has eliminated the conference vs. conference match up in the All-Star Game and the player selections were made by a "draft" between the two players that have the squads named after them...Parker and Elena Della Donne. 


MYISHA HINES-ALLEN -- WASHINGTON MYSTICS

At 14-11 and in seventh place in the overall league standings, the Mystics are 4.5 games back of the league leaders. Myisha Hines-Allen, who has been on the roster all season is serving primarily as a back-up player on the front line in her rookie season in the WNBA. 

In Tuesday action, the Mystics ran into a tough Connecticut Sun foe and fell 94-68 despite winning the first quarter. Myisha saw 11 minutes and picked up four points and three rebounds in the loss. 

She's played in 22 of the Mystics' 25 games this season and has 1 start to her credit. She's been averaging 11 minutes per contest and scoring 3.9 points per game. 

Such are the trials and tribulations of being a rookie on a team that has an unquestionable superstar like Delle Donne. The Mystics play three guards a lot to set up Della Donne and we're no WNBA experts here but have noticed that Washington averages -1.0 rebounds less than their opponents this season. Maybe Myisha could help that stat? Interesting that Hines-Allen was averaging 18 minutes a game in the Mystics' first nine games (where they were 6-3) but time has dropped off since then. 


ASIA TAYLOR -- INDIANA FEVER

Woe is the plight of the Fever, the worst team in the WNBA with a 3-23 record. Asia Taylor was picked up by Indiana after Washington released her and has provided a back-up role on a team that seems to have lost their identity and has no clear leadership on the court. Asia played in the Tuesday night 92-72 loss to league-leading Seattle but saw just three minutes with no points and no rebounds.

For the season with the Fever, Asia has played in 13 contests with no starts. She averages 2.0 points per game and 8.3 minutes a night. 

Surprising that a team with Candice Dupree and Cappie Pondexter, who both have 12 years inn the league, could be so bad. Three very talented rookies in Victoria Vivians (Mississippi St) and Ohio State stars Kelsey Mitchell and Stephanie Mavunga have seen plenty of time but Indiana just can't seem to find a winning balance. 

Losers of seven out of their last eight, maybe Indiana and head coach Pokey Chatman needs to shake things up a bit and give our Asia a bit more time on the court? Let's be perfectly frank and honest here. Could it get any worse for the Fever? Give A-Tayy, the rookies and Natalie Achonwa a chance to see what they can do. 

We wish all three Cardinals Forever the best of luck in what's left of the WNBA schedule and hope that their successes are huge the rest of the way. 


USA FIELD HOCKEY TIES ENGLAND 1-1

In their second contest in the Women's Field Hockey World Cup, the United States pulled off a pretty big surprise by tying #2 ranked England 1-1 yesterday in London, England. Almost 11,000 on hand for this one...The English taking a 1-0 lead after a scoreless first half but USA getting the equalizer from Erin Matson (UNC) about five minutes later for the tie and final score. 

Trying to find a box score for this event is like looking for a needle in a haystack. Coupled with the fact that the events are now pay-per-view, it's almost like the USA Field Hockey Association is trying to drive fans away instead of fostering interest. I never came up with a box score. Let me know if you find this pebble on a beach. 

UofL's Nicole Woods is part of the 30 player roster and Taylor Stone plus Katie Walsh on the Development roster. Woods has graduated from UofL. Stone and Walsh will be seniors for Justine Sowry in the 2018 season. Not sure if Woods played or not since I didn't purchase the event. 

Ireland, with UofL goalie Ayeshia McFerran in net, will take on India this morning at 9 a.m. EST. I'm debating buying this one. 


Grudingly. It's only $3 but it's the principle here. 


paulie
xxxxx

Ireland, Ayeshia Upset USA in World Cup Field Hockey -- Sunday Cardinal Couple

Field Hockey In London

The Field Hockey World Cup is underway in London.  We here at Cardinal Couple will be keeping a particular eye on Pool B to start out.

Pool B consists of England, India, Ireland, and the USA.  Cardinals fans may have a couple of interests in the pool, with Ayeisha McFerran having been in goal for the Irish National Team for several years now, and with Nicole Woods joining the US National Team for the World Cup action this year.  Nicole is a mostly an attacker, with some time spent in the mid-field.  She's most often seen on the left side attack.

In the opening day of play, England and India played to a draw, followed by what may have been the marquis matchup for UofL fans with Ireland and USA starting play early afternoon (Eastern time).

Woods came in off the bench (and was wearing a large white headband, making her easy to spot on the field), and contributed some strong attacking, but the Irish defense, and particularly McFerran were too strong to be breached frequently.  Ireland took the 3 points in the standings with the 3-1 victory over the US.

Ireland was a significant underdog in this matchup, but came out and played inspired Field Hockey.

While they only saw limited success in the offensive set, the Irish counter-attack and fast breaks were stunningly impressive, with 2 of their goals coming on counter-attack fast breaks that resulted in effectively 1 on 1 chances against the US GK.

The US squad will be back in action on July 25th at 3 in the afternoon Eastern Time (assuming I've got my timezones right).  Ireland will play the next day at 9am Eastern time (with the same caveat).

The current results in the pool clearly put Ireland in the driver's seat, with the US a bit behind the 8 ball.  England is the 2nd ranked team in the world, so the US (7th) will have their work cut out for them.  It's a little early to talk about end results in pool play due to the large number of permutations possible still.  But the US really needs to at least get a point off of England with a draw to have a good advancement picture.  A subsequent win against India would put them in a reasonable place for advancement.  Of course wins against both will put them in quite good shape.  The Irish (ranked 16th in the world, and one of the worst tanked teams in the World Cup competition) have certainly upset the apple cart winning the 3 points, and put themselves on a path towards advancement that many didn't expect them on.

Swimming in Irvine

A number of UofL (current and past) swimmers are headed west to Irvine California for the US
Nationals Open championship.  This event is a qualifying event for the Pan Pacific Championships that will have in Tokyo August 9-12.  This event, combined with results for the Pan Pacific event, will be qualifiers for selection to the US team for the 2019 FINA World Championships next summer in Gwangju, South Korea.

The US Nationals Open event will occur July 25th-29th.  I'm confident that the UofL Swimming and Diving twitter feed will post UofL relevant results.

Cardinal Couple Radio Hour

It was a depleted set of knuckleheads on the radio yesterday, with just Paulie and I in the studio.  Case gave some lame excuse about wedding planning, and he really needs to get his priorities in order.  Jared was back at the bank making change.

You can check out the Facebook Live link of the broadcast.  Topics were Holly Aprile's hiring as Softball Head Coach, Angel McCoughtry's selection to the WNBA All-Star game, Jeff Walz heading out west to coach youngin's for the US National program, an honoring of passed local music legend and Cardinals fan Mickey Clark, and what I think was one of the most enjoyable segments we've done - and it had nothing to do with sports whatsoever - we were able to get The Monk, Kathy Weisbach, out in front of the FB Live camera for once, and on the mic to talk about the origins and development of our wonderful hosts, WCHQ.

As the program transitions to me doing the engineering for the show, Kathy won't be with us on a regular basis on Saturday mornings anymore, so we wanted to take the opportunity to honor her role in the development of CCHR and thank her for her efforts for Cardinal Couple, and the Louisville community in general.  WCHQ's laser focus on local Louisville music is a rare treasure, and Cardinal Couple has been thrilled to be a tangential part of it.  We're thrilled to continue to have a home at WCHQ where we can bring you a bit of live programming (with flubs and all), so that we can remain as up to date and topical in our radio content.

Thank you, Kathy, for all the hours, dedication, ideas, guidance, support and the opportunity. We won't say "Goodbye". We'll just say "See ya down the road now and then." You are the "H" -- the "heart" of WCHQ.

FACEBOOK LIVE REPLAY LINK: https://www.facebook.com/WCHQfm/videos/2123648084325130/

-- 

JMcA

Woods to World Cup -- TUESDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

NICOLE WOODS ON USA FIELD HOCKEY WORLD CUP SQUAD

To represent your country on the International stage. To be considered one of the best 18 players in the nation and making one of the 16 squads that will compete for the World Cup. It is a very prestigious and high honor in Field Hockey and Louisville's Nicole Woods will be one of the Americans participating in London, England beginning July 21th to vie for the title. 

Woods, who graduated in 2017 from UofL, is the second Cardinal to be selected for the event. Goalkeeper Ayeshia McFerran will play for the Irish squad. Both the USA and Ireland are in the same pool and will meet each other in first round competition on July 19th. 

Louisville head coach Justine Sowry must be bursting at the seams with pride for the two. 
In a recent interview, she indicated to Cardinal Couple that she'd be traveling to the event as a spectator to see her two play. 

Woods has had a storied career at Louisville. The Beverly, MA. native has earned 24 caps in her Field Hockey career. She helped the USA squad qualify for the World Cup when USA won the 2017 World League Semifinals. She also went with USWNT for matches against The Netherlands, Chile and Argentina. 

At UofL, Woods was selected for NFHCA All-American honors in 2017. In her career, she was a three-time NFHCA All-West Region selection. A three-time ACC selection, Woods finished her student-athlete time with the Cards as the ninth-highest in history in career points and assists. Louisville advanced to the ACC Championships in 2017 with an upset win over Duke at Trager Field. 

For Nicole, it came down to either Field Hockey or Ice Hockey as she entered her junior year at Beverly High School. She ultimately chose the "un-frozen" sport and one of the reasons was because of having "to put on that wet and cold ice hockey suit." 

A life-long New England Patriots fan, Nicole made no effort to hide that in her four years at Louisville...often seen in a Pats hat, sweatshirt or Brady or Gronk jersey. She's also a big fan of musical rockers U-2. Unlike Bono or The Edge...it does look like Nicole has found what she's searching for...she got her degree in middle and senior high school education and aspires to teach. 

The USA will compete in one of four pools in the World Cup. Each pool has four participants. In Pool B, the USA squad joins #10 India and #16 Ireland. With a #7 World ranking, USA is also in the pool with #2 England, who took the 2016 Olympic Gold in Rio.

The USA squad returns six players who competed in the 2014 World Cup.  The Netherlands drew the #1 ranking for the 16-team format. Those Dutch have an impressive record in both the World Cup and Olympics....winning seven World Cup titles since 1974 and three golds in the Olympics since 1980. As assistant UofL coach Lucas Piccioli once expained to me...Field Hockey is...in The Netherlands what the NCAA College Football season is here in the United States. 

The World Cup format consists of one game against each of your pool opponents. The USA faces Ireland on Saturday, July 21st, England on July 25th. and India on Sunday, July 25th. The quarterfinals begin Aug. 1st. and the final is set for August 5th. 

We'll monitor the USA's progress here at Cardinal Couple and hope that Nicole and her teammates can advance out of their pool play and make Field Hockey's Final Four in 2018. 



paulie
xxxxx 

Field Hockey Wins on Senior Day -- MONDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

Cards Ride Big Second Half to 6-0 Win

Louisville celebrated three seniors Sunday afternoon prior to their game against Ohio University. Abby Grimes, Marigrace Ragsdale, and Nicole Woods have been huge factors since arriving on campus, especially this season, and their presence will be missed going forward. There is still time to enjoy them this season, though, and they continued their contributions this weekend. I mentioned on Saturday's radio show that Louisville field hockey needed a big win to get a confidence booster going into the postseason. After only a 1-0 lead at halftime, it looked as though the Cards would be in for a tougher challenge than previously anticipated. 

The first half goal was scored by Minout Mink, her ninth of the season. Mink came up well short of Jared's prediction of two goals per game, but her nine tops the team. Louisville was relentless in that first half, despite only the one goal, with 10 shots on frame and 8 corners. Ohio got only two shots in the half. In the second half, the pressure kept up and the floodgates opened. Whena Munn got the second half party started in the 41st minute. She was followed by Alli Bitting, Marigrace Ragsdale, Abby Grimes, and Madison Walsh on 17 second half shots. 

The big win was mostly expected, with Ohio's rough season thus far, but it is still good for the Cards to accomplish what they needed to. A six goal, shutout performance is a great end to the regular season for Louisville after last week's frustrating losses. This will be a big confidence boost as the Cards look to begin postseason play. Louisville will shoot for it's first single game win in the ACC tournament since joining the conference when they face Syracuse on Thursday evening. An important part of postseason play is the ability to be streaky, and Louisville has shown that they maintain that capability, having gone on a seven game win streak earlier in the season. As long as they can shake last weekend's rough outings and focus on the things that they did well during their streak, the Cards could be poised for a big postseason.

(Editor Note) 

Jared Anderson handled the post-game interview with Coach Sowry in true CARDINAL COUPLE fashion! Good work, Jared.   LINK: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x769d7yAMwU&feature=youtu.be

He also took all the photos you see here today.

Until next time, Go Cards!

-CH-

PS: I intended to talk about women's soccer a bit today, but life has pulled my time in other directions. Look for my thoughts on the issue in the upcoming days. Sorry for the brief article today!!


OTHER JARED PICTURES FROM SUNDAY'S GAME

Senior Nicole Woods

Senior Marigrace Ragsdale

Senior Abby Grimes

Vince Tyra was there. Talking to Carole Banda before match

Volleyball Scores Big Win, Field Hockey Senior Day -- SATURDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

Volleyball Defeats ACC Leading Pitt, 3-2

PC: Jared Anderson

In what was ultimately a match that you might expect to see out of two of the top teams in the conference, Louisville was able to hold on to a narrow lead in the fifth set to knock off the number one team in the ACC, Pittsburgh. The first game was back and forth, with both teams trading runs of around 4 points for the entire game, before Louisville finally shut the door at 25-23. Both teams hit very poorly (-.026 for Pitt and .025 for Louisville) with 9 errors for the Panthers and 10 for the Cards. It wasn't all that pretty, but it was exciting, as errors were coming on big hits just missing the line. Fortunately, Louisville was able to squeak out the win. In the second game, Louisville's erroneous woes continued (9) while Pitt cleaned their act up (3). What followed was a game in which Louisville could do almost no right, and they lost 15-25. 

After halftime, the two teams battled once more. Neither team got further than 2 points from the opponent for the first 30 points of the game. Louisville was able to string together some runs after that point, though, and won the game 25-18. In this game it was Pitt's turn to be extremely outhit. The Panthers mustered only .088 hitting in game 3 with the Cards posting a cool .400. For the first time in the match, in the fourth game, both teams were able to exert a bit more control. Louisville hit only .214 but was able to stay with Pitt's .370 for most of the game. In the end, Pitt won 19-25 and set up the fifth set for the conference lead. 

Early in the final game, it looked ugly for our heroes, as Pitt took a 5-2 lead right off of the bat. Louisville quickly turned things on their head with a whopping 10-1 run to take a 12-6 lead in a game that goes only to 15. Pitt wasn't going to go down without a fight. They righted the ship and pulled back to 14-12 before Jasmine Bennett finished them off with a kill. The win moved Louisville to 10-2 in the conference and 16-6 overall and the loss put Pitt at 9-2, just a half game back. 

PC: Jared Anderson

Tess Clark was Louisville's hitting queen last night, posting 19 kills with a .340 hitting percentage. That's pretty good stuff. Amanda Green also had 11 kills and hit .320. Melanie McHenry split the two with 13 kills, but Pitt was clearly trying to keep her out of the offense as she ended up with 12 digs. Wilma Rivera (who else?) led the team in assists with 53 and Molly Sauer shored up the back line with 13 digs. Alexis Hamilton was back for the Cards and made her impact clear with 10 digs of her own. 

Now, after taking the lead in the conference, Louisville will have to sit back and watch as NC State and Pitt get the opportunity to rejoin them at the top, as the Cards have an entire week off. They'll get the opportunity to maintain their status atop the standings when they travel to Winston-Salem, NC to take on Wake Forest on Friday 11/3. More on that game when it gets closer.

Cross Country Finishes 2nd in ACC Championships

In their best ever finish in the conference championship, Louisville women's cross country took home (well, they were already home) 2nd place at EP Tom Sawyer Park. The Cards were led by Dorcas Wasike, who ran a personal best in the 6K and nearly won the race. Wasike was beaten by Paige Stoner, a senior from Syracuse, but as a sophomore, it is clear that Wasike will be a huge factor for Louisville cross country in the years to come. Three other Cardinals (Kassidy Manning, Mia Ross, and Aurilla Wilson) posted personal best times in the race and the Cards finished with 5 runners in the top 50. NC State won the event. The Cards will travel to Panorama Farms, Virginia for the NCAA Southeast Regionals on 11/10 and hope that they can have some qualifiers for the NCAA Championships which will be hosted back at EP Tom Sawyer on 11/18.

Field Hockey Celebrates Senior Day

Picture per gocards.com

After an unfortunate weekend last week at Trager Stadium, Louisville will hope to finish the regular season with a much better taste in their mouths. The Cards fell to Virginia and Michigan last week, hurting both their ACC standing and their resume with the NCAA. Louisville will play host to Ohio University tomorrow, looking to get back on a winning streak at Trager, where they could play a bunch more important games this year. Louisville will honor Abby Grimes, Marigrace Ragsdale, and Nicole Woods today for senior day as they'll play their last regular season games as Cardinals this afternoon. The game begins at 1PM and is available on the ACC Network Extra if it's too chilly for you to make it out to Trager.

Cardinal Couple Radio Hour

As Jeff mentioned yesterday, they've still not kicked us off of FM radio, yet. Tune in to the Cardinal Couple Radio Hour at 11AM today brought to you by our gracious hosts at WCHQ, Crescent Hill Radio. In the area, you can find the show on 100.9 FM but you can listen anywhere from the WCHQ app or crescenthillradio.com. Unlike ESPN, these streaming options aren't subject to blackouts. 

Until next time, Go Cards!

-CH-

On Field Hockey, Volleyball and Tom...MONDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

FIELD HOCKEY CHIPS AWAY AT CHIPPEWAS 

When a squad get off 27 shots compared to the opponent's two, when 17 are on goal and the foe has none on goal...and the visitor comes into your place 0-10 on the season, you might expect a pretty lopsided score.

That wasn't the case, though, yesterday at Trager Field. #12 University of Louisville did defeat the Central Michigan Chippewas 2-0 in front of abut 300 fans...some who were displaying pro-UofL and Tom Jurich posters...but it wasn't a blowout. 

It was the fourth win in a row for the Cards (8-4) and they swept the quartet of home games over the last two weeks. Coach Justine Sowry did play a multitude of different combinations in the UofL victory and was effusive in her praise for the Chips: 

"I think Central Michigan played well. They had good energy, they defended well in numbers. I think they are better than what their records shows and their goalkeeper had an outstanding game today." 

That goalie, Lily Amadio, had a total of 15 saves against Louisville. Down at the other net, Coach Sowry gave Ayeshia McFerran and Hollyn Barr equal minutes defending the pipes with 35 each. They had no saves in a contest where the ball rarely got out of UofL's offensive possession. 

Our favorite, Minnie Mink, got the scoring started for the Red and the Black after 25 minutes of scoreless action on the pitch. She popped in an unassisted goal on a nice reverse stick shot from the top of the circle. The squads went to the halftime locker room at 1-0 and Louisville had a 16-0 shot edge. 

Louisville continued the storming of the pitch in the final 35 minutes...Nicole Woods getting the final net-finder with 12 minutes left in the contest. The Beverly, MA senior has five goals on the season but wasn't too worried about that...telling me in the post-game interview that she wasn't even sure how many scores she had on the year, the important thing was just the ball getting into the back of the net however and whoever does it. 

Jared catches me trying to figure out technology

It is usually a dicey situation...playing a Sunday non-conference match-up after a huge conference Friday win...like the Cards had against Syracuse. A letdown, bit of a hangover after downing the Orange? A fatigue factor? Not so much, according to Justine Sowry...but Katie Walsh commented about that a bit more in the interview below. 

The Cards leave the friendly confines of Trager to spent a weekend in New England next. They face Boston College ( a 6 p.m. Friday NIGHT game...pay heed UofL planners) and then onto New Hampshire for a Sunday 1 p.m. tilt. 

Great photo work Sunday from Jared Anderson. You can see the rest of his shots he snapped at the contest on Facebook. He's a ball of energy, from press box to field..then rinse and repeat. Coincidentally, Minnie scored in the presence of Jared as he framed her up. Or was it coincidence? 

We have Paulie's interviews with Coach, Nicole and also junior and Louisville Ballard grad Katie Walsh below. 

A win is a win and they're all important in trying to make the NCAA Field. Louisville FH accomplished that and moves forward without the rear-view mirror attached. 

PAULIE AND COACH JUSTINE SOWRY

KATIE WALSH AND PAULIE

NIK NIK NICOLE WOODS POST-GAME WITH PAULIE


VOLLEYBALL DEFENDS CARDINAL ARENA WITH SWEEP

From a visitng "0-fer" squad on one end of the campus to an undefeated guest on the north end of Belknap. Louisville Volleyball took down undefeated Miami yesterday in Cardinal Arena in a straight-set sweep  25-17, 25-22, 25-20..

The Cards were led by sophomore outside hitter Melanie McHenry and her 15 kills. Junior Jasmine Bennett was also active at the net with eight blocks...featuring two of them at the very end of the third set to end the game. 

Louisville held Miami to .097 hitting for the match and Coach Dani Busboom Kelly was quite pleased with the job Louisville did spreading the offense and maintaining a nice rhythm in the hitting attack. 

The Cards jumped out to a early 5-2 lead in the first game. Miami rallied to make it 11-9 but the Cards went on a 6-1 run to put the contest in their hands. In game two, Louisville grabbed a 9-3 early lead but Miami responded to tie at 19-19. The Cards got a timeout, refocused and scored the final three points for the three-point win. Continuing the trend, Louisville jumped out early, withstood a Miami charge that put them ahead 19-18 but, thatnks to Bennett and crew, Louisville went on a game-ending 6-1 run. 

The Wide-netters head to Virginia next for a road trip that takes them to Charlottesville (UVA) and Blacksburg (Va. Tech). With yesterday's win, the Cards are now 8-5 on the season and 3-1 in ACC play. 


BOARD MEETING ON TOM

As I type this article up here on Monday morning, the Board of Trustees is in executive session discussing the events of last week. We could learn the fate of Tom Jurich later today and we'll jump back in and post that when (and if) it is determined .

I haven't talked to a coach or player yet in the past five days that wants Tom to go and I have to agree with them. He has built so many things here at UofL and not just contribution-wise-on-buildings and structures. He built a strong women's program here. He got us into the ACC. 

Keep Tom. 

Update: No one was fired today at the meeting. Because of it being a "personnel" issue, interim President Postal would not discuss either Rick Pitino or Tom Jurich. We could learn of a possible interim Athletic Director on Tuesday. Other than that, there is nothing else of major importance that came out of the board meeting. 


FINALLY...

Our hearts go out to those involved in the senseless Las Vegas shooting during the concert. Over 50 dead. Over 400 injured. 

Apparently, a "lone-wolf" attack. From the 32nd floor of the Mandalay Hotel. A coward, killing himself as police tried to enter the room. 

This madness makes no sense to me. Country music singer Jason Aldean was on stage, playing before a crowd of over 22,000 at the Route 91 concert. 

A fun, festive evening transformed into a bloody slaughter...filled with panic, choas and terror. We worry about our current University situation, folks, but this is real. And sad. A mystery. No clear indication of what the motive could have been...yet. 

Why? 


paulie
xxxxx

Field Hockey Bounces Back -- MONDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

Happy Labor Day!

Whether you plans are for a picnic, just taking it easy or even having to go punch the clock...all of us here at CARDINAL COUPLE wish you a great Labor Day! 

Woods Impresses, McFerran Returns in Win

After a frustrating defeat at the hands of Ohio State on Friday, Louisville's field hockey team was determined to right their ship quickly. There is no time to take days off in field hockey. The schedules are fairly short and, in the ACC, every conference game is tough. Louisville returned to form against Kent State yesterday and handled business with a 5-1 win. Quite honestly, Kent State was completely outmatched. Yesterday's loss drops the Golden Flashes to 1-3 with a combined score of 4-14. They have yet to play Ohio State in Columbus, a matchup set for Tuesday. Their only win came against St. Francis (PA). In short, this is a game Louisville should have dominated, and they did.

The Cardinals won the shots battle 25-6, the shots on goal battle 16-2, the corners battle 11-4, and had fewer fouls at 17-24. Nicole Woods paced the Cards with a hat trick in the first 17:19 of the game. Her third goal was the fourth for the team, and Kent State was in a major hole early. Marigrace Ragsdale added her second goal of the season in the midst of the hat trick and Minout Mink scored the lone Louisville goal in the second half to push the lead to 5-0. 

Mink has scored only 3 goals in 4 games, putting her well behind the 8 ball on Jared's prediction of two per game. Although she has not started a game, she has played more minutes than some girls that have started all 4, so her usage is a bit confusing to me. She is doing her job, though, tied for the Louisville lead in points with 7 and goals with 3. Ayeisha McFerran returned to action yesterday, giving Hollyn Barr a break with approximately 12 minutes remaining.

It was McFerran that gave up the only Kent State goal, but the goal was late in a decided game and came off of a corner penalty. Yesterday was also McFerran's first live action of the season so a readjustment period is warranted, especially coming off of an injury. One spot for concern to come from yesterday's game is the corner defense. Louisville has given up only 5 goals this season. However, all 5 have come off of a penalty corner. I understand that those plays are the easiest to score on in field hockey, but that is a opponent's completion percentage of nearly 25% (5/21). Louisville is converting corners at a much greater rate of 39% (9/23), yes, but good teams are going to take advantage of those opportunities and Louisville is going to face a lot of good teams.

Here is hoping that Louisville can shore up the corner defense, especially in situations with the game on the line like at Ohio State, and continue to convert in great numbers on their own corners. Louisville remains on the road for a matchup with American on Friday at 4PM at Maryland's pitch in College Park and they'll take on the Terps Sunday. 

Women's Soccer Looks to Continue Great Start

After taking down the rival Wildcats, Karen Ferguson-Dayes' team is back on the road tonight against Southeast Missouri State. The Redhawks (I looked it up) are currently 3-2 with wins over Evansville, Springfield, and Phoenix and losses to Missouri State. SEMO was picked to finish 5th in the Ohio Valley Conference in the preseason. Interestingly, all of SEMO's games this season have finished with one team being shutout. I expect Louisville's stout defense and imposing offense should be able to continue that trend for the Redhawks, and I would hope to see a win by 3 goals or more.

Anything can happen in soccer, especially on the road, but Louisville has impressed so far this season and this is a game they should win without issue. The days before the conference season arrives are growing shorter and it is time for Louisville to bring the same intensity to every game. Excluding the second half slip-up against Boston University and the awkward 2-0 loss against Marquette, Louisville has looked strong throughout this season. Performing well against a lesser opponent is a mark of a quality team and Louisville will need to do such tonight.

Until next time, Go Cards!

-CH-

Wild Wednesday with Jared Anderson -- WEDNESDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

NEWS, NEWS AND MORE NEWS

This Wednesday it seems we have everything to talk about. Swimming, Field Hockey, Lacrosse, Women's Soccer and Volleyball all have things going on. From more awards, to adding players and conference predictions  -- today is packed. Let's get to it! 

SWIMMING

Andrea Cottrell joined Team USA and got a bronze medal in the 100 meter breaststroke in the World Games. Our swimmers continue to show their dominance worldwide. Local swimmer Brooke Forde (Sacred Heart) who will swim for Stanford as a freshman this fall qualified in the 200 meter individual medley in the World University Games. Forde was the Kentucky Female Athlete of the Year and a five-time individual state champion. One that got away from Arthur Albiero but we're proud of her nevertheless.   

Cottrell is a world class swimmer that just continues to add credence to the fact that Louisville Swimming is a top ten program nationally and one of the best in the ACC. 



LACROSSE

Kellie Young has added a pair of graduate transfers to her roster from Furman. Molly Marshall and Hope Herline will have one season at UofL. They helped lead Furman to a 12-7 season last year and started each game

Lacrosse receives Hope

Herline is a midfielder who is a scoring threat and should bolster the LaxCards attack with the graduation of Hannah Koloski and transfers of McKayla Conti and Meghan Siverson. Marshall is a defender that will help strengthen the Cards back line. Kellie Young thinks that both will come in a provide immediate leadership and experience to the roster. Both played for new Lacrosse assistant coach Faye Brust at Furman...who joined the Cardinal staff this summer.

Brust, one of the top Lacrosse performers in Louisville history, seems to be gathering her posse and moving them to the Ville.



WOMEN'S SOCCER

The Kickin' Cards load the buses and head to Bloomington, IN for a Thursday match against the Hoosiers. The 7:30 p.m. match is scheduled to be shown on the BTN2GO network on line...a part of the BIG10 network...not sure if it'll cost you or not yet. It's the first road trip of the season for Louisville, who won their first two games of the regular season last week in Lynn Stadium. 

So far, the Cards scoring has been a balanced affair...with five players posting a goal each in the 2-0 win over Miami (OH) and 3-2 victory against Boston University. Let's hope the KFD troops return home 3-0. IU is 1-1...having defeated Cal Poly and losing to Clemson...both in Bloomington. 

On another soccer related note, soccer drums and artificial noisemakers have been approved for Louisville Soccer home games this season. Be on the lookout for drums and the occasional bright red trombone in the supporters section at the east end of stands. 

(EDITOR'S NOTE...We at CARDINAL COUPLE assume no responsibility for the quality of or the musical selections that these Louligans will offer...but we bet it'll be fun and look out for the tall guy in glasses!) 

VOLLEYBALL

From my perspective on the Saturday night Red/Black scrimmage at Cardinal Arena, the Volleyball team looked good. I think it's obvious that they'll improve on last year's record and [Bold prediction alert] I believe that they could creep into the top 25. 

They'll get a true test coming up in Wisconsin as part of the BIG10/ACC Challenge this week. Both opponents...Wisconsin and Minnesota are pre-season top 10 ranked and will give Dani a good idea of where her team is at. 

FIELD HOCKEY

The Stick Cards get the regular season underway Friday when IU comes to Louisville. The 2 p.m. game should be a good opening test for Justine Sowry's squad. With a lot of the starters also being returning players, they have the needed experience to take on the toughest conference in college Field Hockey. The ACC pre-season poll was released yesterday and the Cards are ranked fourth. Three Cards made the Conference Selections...Minnie Mink, Ayeshia McFerran and Nicole Woods. Louisville is ranked #9 nationally. 

[ Another bold prediction alert]  I still stand by my preseason prediction that Minnie Mink will average two goals per game and will buy Paulie, Case and Jeff dinner when she does. 

Your move, Minnie. 

Have a great Wednesday all and...Go Cards! 

( EDITOR NOTE: I'd like to see this wager consisting of if she doesn't get there but free eats are free eats. Can we pick the dining spot? Also...the last time we had a Cardinal Couple dinner...the three writers we had there with Sonja and I eventually quit. Just sayin'...) 


Jared Anderson