Lacrosse Gets Midweek Break -- TUESDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

Cards Off for Spring Break

Louisville lacrosse has had a tough go of it so far this season, so spring break comes at a good time for them. The Cards are 4-5 overall and sit at just 1-4 in conference after taking a thrilling 11-10 OT win over Cincinnati on Thursday and then falling 14-16 in a heartbreaker at Duke on Saturday. The Blue Devils are ranked 15th in the country, so it is encouraging to see Louisville hang with them, but the game was ultimately another in a long line of "coulda, shoulda, woulda" games that the lacrosse program has seen since joining the ACC. 

Louisville opened the season with a pair of losses before taking their first win against Kent State. The good vibes from that victory were short lived as a trip to Chapel Hill loomed on the weekend. The Cards fell at the hands of the #1 Tar Heels 24-3 and moved to just 1-3 overall and 0-2 in conference. A win over Canisius put Louisville over .500 in non-conference play (2-1), but they continued their alternating wins and losses with a tough 13-10 defeat against Syracuse at home on the last day of February. The Orange were ranked 12th at the time.

The Cards started March with a bang, hosting a rare midweek conference game when they brought Florida State into UofL Lacrosse Stadium. Louisville beat the Seminoles 15-5 to get off the 0-fer mark in conference play. That set up the first winning streak of the season for the Cards when they defeated Cincinnati last week, but it was the shortest possible streak following the loss to Duke. Still, back-to-back wins is somewhere to start, and Louisville is now 3-1 in non-conference play. That they are 1-4 in conference is difficult, but there is still time to get some momentum in conference play. 

After this mid-week break, Louisville will host three straight matches at home. They'll play California this Saturday, Vanderbilt next Wednesday, and Virginia on 3/28. The Cards are guaranteed to finish above .500 in non-conference play, as the Vandy match is their final non-ACC competition of the season, barring an NCAA appearance. Vandy is also Louisville's penultimate mid-week game of the regular season, as they'll get breaks two weeks in a row before closing the season on the road at Notre Dame on Thursday, April 16th. Before that match, they'll face Stanford on the road and Pittsburgh at home. 

The Cards are currently tied for second to last in the ACC with Cal, so there is work to do if they want to make the ACC tournament. Only the top eight teams make it, and there are 13 competing schools. Fortunately for Louisville, most of their remaining opponents are directly competing for one of those eight spots. Unfortunately for Louisville, they still have to play Stanford, who is undefeated. The Cards missed a big opportunity against Virginia Tech in the ACC opener, as the Hokies are one of three teams at 2-3 (Notre Dame, Clemson). Virginia is 3-2 (losses to Stanford and Clemson) and Pitt is 2-4 (wins over Duke and VT). There's still way too much that can happen before we can look at scenarios, but winning on Saturday is a must. 

The Cards are led offensively this season by sophomore Ella Berg. Berg had six goals and three assists in the first five games of the season last year before suffering a season-ending injury. This season, she has started all nine games and scored 23 of Louisville's 103 goals. She also has five assists, tied with Reese Whiteman. Whiteman is second on the team in points, scoring one less goal than Berg. The two have taken the same number of shots (49), though Berg is slightly more accurate, with four more on target. 

Charlotte Jackson, Maggie McMahon, and Erin Nicholson are the other three Cardinals with double-digit goals, as Jackson has 14 and McMahon and Nicholson both have 11. Jackson leads the team with eight assists, while McMahon has six. Nicholson is a senior midfielder who takes deadly advantage of her opportunities, scoring 11 goals on just 27 shots, with 19 of those on target. Most efficient is Grayce Kitchen, who has eight goals on just 12 shots (11 SOG). Kitchen is also second on the team with seven assists. Senior captain Rian Adkins has eight goals and six assists. 

Sophomore Haley Richards has solidified her position as this team's goalkeeper. Richards has started all nine games and has played nearly every minute. Her only time out of the net during which Louisville had any goalie in the back was against UNC. She was pulled after three quarters when the score was 18-3 to give Campbell Murray the opportunity to get beat up by the Tar Heels. Coming off in that game gave Richards the opportunity to stay above 50% save percentage. She has allowed 107 goals and made 108 saves. 

It's all to play for with just a month left in the regular season, so let's see what this squad can do as they chase their first full season above .500 (they were 5-4 in 2020) since 2017. 

Until next time, Go Cards!

Case

Lacrosse Opens Season at Home -- TUESDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

Teeter's Squad Hosts Ohio State

Louisville lacrosse is off to the races this week in their season opener, which is no surprise based on past seasons, but the unusual part this year is that they won't open with their traditional Colorado opponents. This year, Louisville will open the season at home, and they'll take on the Buckeyes of Ohio State. Louisville and OSU meet regularly, with the home team winning the last two matchups. Ohio State leads the all-time series 8-4, and they beat the Cards 9-6 360 days ago. 

The Cards are 14-4 all-time in home openers, which is quite the impressive mark. They're 11-7 in overall season openers and they won last season's opener over the #15 ranked Denver Pioneers. The Cards finished last year 7-10 with a disappointing 1-8 ACC mark. Louisville seemed on the verge of a breakthrough in 2024 when they posted their best ACC record under Scott Teeter with three wins. Last season was a step back in that regard, and we'll be looking for the Cards to get back to a higher win total this season. 

Louisville is making a fair number of replacements, with perhaps the most critical of those being Ashley Osborne. Osborne was a sixth year senior defender who reached a program-record 82 games played last season. She had a team-high 25 ground balls last year in a season that saw her become the 8th player in program history to amass 100 career ground balls. The Cards graduated a total of eight seniors, which also included goalkeeper J Pleck. Pleck's 258 career saves were fifth all-time in the program. 

The Cards had a freshmen battle at the backup position last season between Hanna John and Haley Richards. John transferred out of the program, so Richards will look to win the spot over fellow sophomore Campbell Murray, who transferred from Mercer, and senior Aubrey Bagenstose, who has been a career Cardinal but has not seen action in a game since 2023. Richards had seven saves in five games last season. 

 

Louisville does return three of their top six scorers from last season and a pair of defenders who started all 17 games. Cate Kangas and Olivia Scroggie will continue to hold down the defense, while Rian Adkins and Reese Whiteman lead the offensive attack. Whiteman was the team leader in goals (26) and points (32) last year, while Adkins was third on the team with 23 points. 

Louisville and Ohio State will get underway at noon today, and admission to the Louisville Lacrosse Stadium is free. 

Until next time, Go Cards!

Case

Cards Nearly Sweep Friday -- SATURDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

Lacrosse Upsets Denver in Opener

Louisville lacrosse, which we discussed a lot last week after Paulie and Jared's interview with Scott Teeter, opened their season yesterday with a midday game against the 15th-ranked Denver Pioneers. As Teeter  mentioned in that interview, the team was ready to play someone other than themselves. That showed when Louisville opened with a 5-1 first quarter. Louisville weathered storm after storm, ultimately holding on through a 1-4 fourth quarter to win the game 10-8. 

Denver opened the scoring less than two minutes into the game when Olivia Ripple scored from Raegan Wilson. Louisville was undeterred, though. Lauren Figas scored her first, an unassisted goal, just 35 seconds later to tie the match. With both teams back on level footing, they settled into a rhythm or, if you rather, a game of cat and mouse. Neither team could score for about ten minutes before Reese Whiteman, a sophomore set to see more time, scored from Negai Nakazawa with just under four to play in the quarter. That goal was the start of a 4-0 run to close the quarter with Ella Berg and Erin Nicholson scoring unassisted goals and Figas scoring her second on Nakazawa's second assist. 

The second quarter started basically the exact same way, with Olivia Ripple scoring her second goal just 1:22 into the quarter. This one was unassisted, but Raegan Wilson would add another point to her tally by scoring herself with 1:08 remaining in the first half. They were the only two scorers in the quarter, and Louisville held on to a 5-3 lead heading into the locker room. 

I think Teeter may have mentioned Olivia Ripple's trend during the break, because she didn't score the third goal of her hat trick until there was only 5:50 remaining in the third quarter. By that time, Nakazawa had extended Louisville's advantage by two, once unassisted and once from Berg. Figas matched the Ripple hat trick less than a minute later and Rian Adkins got on the board to push Louisville's advantage to five with 2:34 remaining in the third. 

The fourth returned to form for Denver in more ways than one. They scored less than a minute into the quarter, but this time it was Caroline Colimore. Adkins scored a minute and a half later to push Louisville's lead back to five, but it would be the last time they scored in the game. Fortunately, the defense was able to bear down. The Pioneers scored three more goals (including a fourth by Ripple), but their last goal came with 6:27 remaining. The Cards were able to keep them at bay for the remainder of the game and hold on for the huge season-opening upset. 

Louisville's defensive was aided by a player advantage, as Lindsey Wilmot of Denver was shown a red card with 4:18 to go. The penalties were certainly fewer than last season, as Teeter alluded to when discussing the rule changes, but there were still five yellows and a green to go along with the red. Louisville picked up three of the yellows, while Denver had the remaining penalties. 

Louisville's win was impressive, and a lot of the credit goes to the defense. Denver outshot Louisville by 16 overall (37-21), but the Cards were strong and forced a ton of uncomfortable shots. In the end, the teams finished with the same number of attempts on goal: 17. Louisville may not have had as many opportunities, but they were clinically efficient. J Pleck started in goal, as the senior inherited the position from the graduating Sara Addeche, and finished with a career high in saves with nine. Pleck also helped hold the Pioneers to 3-10 on free position shots while Louisville matched the goals with three on seven attempts.

In addition to the overall shots battle, Louisville had to weather being disadvantaged in turnovers (18-13) and ground balls (16-5). Denver just had the ball more often, which is why I give so much credit to the defense. The Cards did win the draw control battle 11-10. 

All in all, it was a great start to the season for Louisville. As expected, Teeter was spot on when he name dropped some of his expected standouts, and we'll surely see more from them and others as the season rolls on. Louisville is next in action when they host Cincinnati on Tuesday at 3PM. 

POST GAME SCOTT TEETER AND PLAYERS

Softball Goes 1-1 on Opening Day

Louisville softball one-upped the lacrosse team by playing two games on their opening day. Unfortunately for Holly Aprile's squad, they could only come up with the same number of wins. The Cards opened the evening with an 11-3 stomping of Middle Tennessee (who have officially changed their logo from MTSU to MT) but closed with a 9-4 loss against Liberty. 

Sam Booe got the start in the first game and pitched six strong innings. She struck out seven, walked two, and gave up five hits. Her three earned runs came on a three-run homer in the third inning. Booe was relieved by Brooke Gray in the seventh to keep Gray warm for game two. Gray snagged two ground outs and a strikeout in a quick inning. 

The real show in game one was Louisville's offense. Louisville was the away team in this one, and Easton Lotus (who has moved into the leadoff spot as we welcome the R-Jr back from injury) opened the game with a triple. After Char Lorenz, the R-Fr utility player, coaxed a walk, Lotus stole home to get the Cards on the board. Bri Despines, Louisville's new transfer catcher from Kent State, drew a catcher's interference call (savvy) to put runners on first and second with nobody out. Unfortunately, Louisville could add no more runs as the next three batters went down on a pair of flyouts and a strikeout. 

Louisville got back on the board in the second when a bases loaded error on a Lorenz grounder to short scored Chelsea Mack and Taylor Monroe. Despines scored Lotus on a sac fly to give Louisville a 4-0 lead. In the third, Mack drew a bases loaded walk to score Riley Janda and Lotus hit a productive groundout to score Thatcher. Middle Tennessee would break the shutout in the bottom of the third with the aforementioned homer to make the score 6-3. 

Louisville was held scoreless for the first time in the fourth inning, but they scored one run each in the fifth and sixth. Jordan Williams singled for Thatcher to score her second run of the day and Madison Pickens scored in the sixth on a bases loaded wild pitch. In the seventh, the top of the order got back to work, with Lorenz doubling in Lotus and then scoring herself on an error that saw Despines go from the batter's box to third base. Despines came home for the 11th and final run on a Pickens sac fly.

It was an exciting game for new Cards, as Despines was joined by freshmen Lorenz, Pickens, Janda, Monroe, and Williams in having a hit and/or RBI. It was also a great return to the field for Easton Lotus, who scored all three times she reached base (two hits and a walk) and earned an RBI. 

The second game was much tighter, but ultimately saw the away team take the victory again. Unfortunately, Louisville was the home team in this one. Alyssa Zabala took to the circle for the start of this one and held Liberty scoreless for the first two innings. A freshman connection scored the Cards first run when Taylor Monroe singled in Riley Janda in the second. The Cards lead was short-lived, though, as a two-run homer gave Liberty the lead in the third. Though the homer came with two outs, Zabala wasn't missing many bats in the inning. A double preceded a pair of line drives before the home run and a triple followed. Fortunately a ground out ended the threat. 

Louisville couldn't answer in the bottom half, unfortunately seeing Mack, Lotus, and Lorenz go down in order. Lorenz watched strike three on a full count, so it's hard to blame her but it stings a bit. After a fly out opened the fourth, Liberty put runners on first and second with a walk and a single. Another single scored a runner and advancement saw runners at second and third with one out. Zabala played with fire by giving up three straight foul balls to the next batter, but she ultimately picked up the swinging strikeout. Aprile still decided that it was time to give her a break and Gray came in to take over. A flyout ended the inning. 

The two teams exchanged 1-2-3 innings after that and headed to the bottom of the fifth with the score still 3-1. Katie Thatcher took a plunking to open the inning and we saw Aprile employ some of her traditional small-ball. A pinch runner moved to second on a sacrifice bunt, and Ally Alexander followed with a single. Unfortunately, the single was to left center, meaning Williams couldn't advance and making the prior sacrifice functionally a free out. Aprile put a lot of faith in her contact hitters after that, trusting Chelsea Mack to lay down another sacrifice to bring the top of the order up with runners on second and third and two outs. Lotus delivered with a single to score Williams, and the catcher missed the catch on the throw in, allowing Alexander to come in and tie the game. A pop up ended the inning but Louisville had reset things going into the sixth. 

Liberty responded with small ball of their own. A single and a sac bunt put a runner in scoring position and another single scored the go-ahead run. Unfortunately, Louisville had an error of their own on the throw in, keeping a runner in scoring position. Liberty took advantage, singling for the third time in four batters to make it 5-3. A caught stealing by Despines and a pop up ended the inning. Louisville was unable to answer in the bottom half and the game moved to the final frame with the Cards down two. 

After some shuffling in the bottom of the sixth, Louisville was forced into an interesting substitution pattern in the seventh. Gray gave up a double to open the inning and Katie Thatcher moved into the circle in a change that put Despines back behind the plate and Pickens in right field. Thatcher wasn't listed as a pitcher on last year's roster and I really question the move to test her out in the circle given the situation. Liberty's leadoff runner stole third, and Thatcher threw four straight balls to follow. That runner stole second while Thatcher walked the bases loaded. I'm not sure if either walk was intended to get force outs on base, but a leadoff double while you're down only two is recoverable, so I don't understand what appeared to be giving up defensively. A sac fly scored a runner and a pinch runner stole second to keep runners on second and third with one out. A swinging bunt caught Despines off guard and her errant throw kept runners on second and third and allowed another run. Another walk to load the bases saw freshman Ryann Sanders called into the circle. A single up the middle scored two more before a double play ended the inning. From 5-3 to 9-3 just like that. Gross.

Louisville showed life with a leadoff double of their own in the bottom half. It was followed by a fielder's choice that failed to secure an out and gave Louisville runners on the corners with nobody out and the turn of the order coming up. Unfortunately, Mack, Lotus, and Lorenz weren't quite up to the task this time. Mack popped out, Lotus picked up a consolation RBI on a ground out, and Lorenz lined out to end the game. 9-4 final. 

After the encouraging start to the day and the comeback bid in the second game, I'm still scratching my head about the choices in the end. However, there's a long season ahead and Liberty isn't a bad team. We'll have plenty more chances to see the Cards succeed, starting with two games today against Rutgers (1PM) and Radford (3:30). Both are available (at a cost) on the FastPitch Network. 

Tennis Opens Season 4-1

I wanted to give a shoutout to tennis, who we haven't covered much yet this season, as they're doing well to open the year. Their latest victory was a sweep over Austin Peay. While that may not sound like much, it included a doubles win by Alice Otis and Elisabeth Iila over the 25th-ranked doubles pair in the country. The latest win the Cards' second sweep of the year is added to their victories over UNC Greensboro, UT Chattanooga, and Dayton. Their loss came on the road at Middle Tennessee. Louisville gets a week off before heading to Indiana next week. Conference play begins the week after with a trip to SMU on 2/23. 

Cardinal Couple Radio Hour Podcast

We'll have three on board today as Jared cruises and Daryl tries to fight off illness. There's plenty to cover, to be sure, so be sure to tune in. You can check out the live stream of the show by going to the Cardinal Couple YouTube page and clicking on the live video. Jeff usually creates that about an hour before the show, which officially starts at 11 AM Eastern. If the live time doesn't work for you, there are plenty of playback options, so be sure to check out whichever is best for you!

Cardinal Couple YouTube: Link

Spotify: Link

Apple Podcasts: Link

Google Podcasts: Link

Overcast (free account required): Link

Pocket Casts (free account and app required): Link

RadioPublic: Link

Until next time, Go Cards!

Case

An Interview with Scott Teeter -- SATURDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

Lacrosse Opens Season Next Week

With Louisville lacrosse set to start their season on February 7th at home against Denver, what better time than now to check in with head coach Scott Teeter? Yesterday, Paulie and Jared did just that, heading down to the Planet Fitness Kueber Center for a preseason chat. The guys got Teeter going and turned their conversation into a 20-minute experience. I encourage you to listen to the full interview at the link below, but here are some of my key takeaways.

Here is the listening link:  2025 Season Preview with Scott Teeter

On the Season Opener

Teeter opened with how excited the team is to get going. According to him, they've reached the point in the offseason where they just need to play another team. They're excited to play and practicing hard, but there's only so much you can do when every practice is running offensive sets that the defense already knows are coming. 

Denver graduated a lot of players, much like Louisville. Denver's pride is defense and they lost a number of All-American defenders. 

Denver does well with one year transfers and a number of players will step up, including some Canadians they know quite well. 

With the changes, Louisville still knows they will be quite defensive focused. The scout is very different with a number of new players and a new offensive coordinator from Ohio State.

On This Year's Team

Louisville graduated a ton of minutes from last season, including, per Teeter, over 50% of their scoring offense. They'll look for experienced players to step up and fill the roles left open by Nicole Perroni, Kokoro Nakazawa, Allegra Catalano, and Kylie Dobson, but it will largely be by committee. 

Players he expects to be a big part in stepping up include Lauren Figas, Rian Adkins, Negai Nakazawa, Izzy Seikel, and Maggie McMahon. 

When asked for players that would be names that would grow in Louisville fans' consciousnesses, Teeter went back to the same well: McMahon, Nakazawa, Seikel, Figas, and Adkins.

The freshmen to watch include Ella Berg, who Teeter thinks is a top-ten freshman in the country. Berg scored the most goals for Louisville in fall ball. He also mentioned new attackers in Issy Leech and Kate Daniels. 

Defensively, names that came up as standing out were Ashley Osborne (a 6th year player returning after losing her senior year in 2023 to injury. Osborne was a 4-time team MVP for Ballard and was Miss KY Lacrosse) and senior Ava Coyle. Young defenders may not start but will contribute significant minutes. 

On the Weather

It's been unfortunate to not have the practices outside, with that making them unable to use one of the only dedicated women's lacrosse facilities in the country, but the UofL facilities made it easy to move indoors without missing much of a beat. Teeter chose to take the positives from the experience, noting it helps them with the difference in playing surfaces and should give some of the girls more of an opportunity to get inside playing experience before they go play at Marquette. 

On the ACC

Excited about the new look ACC and playing Stanford and Cal for the first time, with Cal on the road to open the ACC conference season. Working on what the logistics of playing all the way in California will look like. 

The ACC schedule will be difficult with UNC and BC among the top favorites to win the national championship. He also name checked Virginia, Syracuse, and Notre Dame, and believes the ACC is the top conference in the country. 

Happy to see the expansion of lacrosse as more programs like FSU add a team and is looking forward to the return of lacrosse to the Olympics in 2028. 

On Rule Changes

This is largely a non-change year as the rules are on a two-year cycle. One change to note is that midfield charges will now just be a common foul with change of possession rather than a green card penalty. 

It was a three-pronged approach to adjustment last season. Coaches had to change their systematic approach, players had to change the way they play, and officials adjusted the way they called the game.

A Surprise for Paulie

As we look ahead to the new season, Paulie was curious about how Negai is adjusting to life in the US and on the team without Kokoro. Always happy to get one over on Paulie, Teeter was glad to say that they haven't needed to address that as Kokoro hasn't gone anywhere: she's the student assistant for UofL this season. 

Kokoro has largely served as a personal coach for Negai, but is also focused on helping the other attackers. Negai is playing very confidently after the gold medal for Japan and Teeter expects her to fill the role largely left by Kokoro.

Cardinal Couple Radio Hour Podcast

We'll have four on board this week, and gee, I wonder what we'll talk about. We're in the thick of the conference season for basketball, volleyball had major news, and we're less than a week away from the spring sports season. You can check out the live stream of the show by going to the Cardinal Couple YouTube page and clicking on the live video. Jeff usually creates that about an hour before the show, which officially starts at 11 AM Eastern. If the live time doesn't work for you, there are plenty of playback options, so be sure to check out whichever is best for you!

Cardinal Couple YouTube: Link

Spotify: Link

Apple Podcasts: Link

Google Podcasts: Link

Overcast (free account required): Link

Pocket Casts (free account and app required): Link

RadioPublic: Link

Until next time, Go Cards!

Case