Soccer Falls to UNC; Softball Sweeps Bellarmine -- SUNDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

Soccer Sees Undefeated Season Broken

Sunday, Louisville knocked off top-ten Vanderbilt. Emotions were high and the Cards played nearly perfectly for 100 minutes leading to a game winning penalty from Emina Ekic. In the 20th minute last night, it appeared that lightning might just strike again. After a long ball went over the shoulder of Delaney Snyder, it looked like she would be on goal, until she was pulled down from behind by a North Carolina defender. The crowd appealed and the whistle was blown immediately. The referee pointed to the spot and Ekic lined up for the penalty.

To this point in the season, Ekic had not missed a penalty and had hit two game winners already, against Indiana and Vanderbilt. The shot seemed to be in slow motion. It went high, getting past the diving UNC goalkeeper  Josephson, but instead of sliding into the net, it skipped off the bottom of the crossbar and went straight down. After hitting the ground, the ball had enough pace to bounce nearly 15 feet in the air and seemed to float down for an eternity. Ekic waited patiently, but a taller UNC defender was able to get to the ball first and keep it away from the Cards. The threat had ended and Louisville had missed their first penalty of the season, simultaneously missing a huge chance in the game.

In the post game interview, Coach Karen Ferguson-Dayes called soccer a game of moments. The penalty was just the first of the critical moments in last night's game. Just 30 seconds after the penalty miss, the ball fell to Brooklynn Rivers, who fired a shot on goal. Again, it got high past Josephson and, again, it caught the bottom half of the crossbar, bouncing back toward the field of play. The ball was cleared away but only to the feet of Allison Whitfield, who took a shot of her own, only to see it saved. Each of these moments could have tipped the scales of the game. Each moment was a huge opportunity for the Cards, and each was just barely missed.

The next critical moment came just a minute later. This time, the moment belonged to North Carolina. The Tarheels got on a bit of a break, and Brianna Pinto put a through ball right in front of a streaking Alessia Russo. The English national was just onside and broke right in between Niamh Nelson and Sarah Hernandez. As Gabby Kouzelos came off of her line, she appeared to slip as Russo pulled the ball and stepped to the side, leaving Kouzelos on the ground out of the play. Russo slotted a shot that got between Nelson and Hernandez and found the side netting.

After multiple heartbreaks for Louisville, they now trailed 1-0.

After the goal, UNC maintained a significant amount of possession, putting more and more pressure on the Cards. Louisville's only shot in the remaining 24 minutes came on accident as a Nelson free kick leaked too close to the goal and was caught by Josephson. Kouzelos managed to keep the goal clean for the remainder of the half and the teams entered the locker room still at 1-0.

Coach Ferguson-Dayes noted after the game that really the only thing she was disappointed in was Louisville losing its moxie. The 1-0 deficit was the first time Louisville has trailed since the first game of the season against Ohio State.

Louisville was able to recover and went on to win that match 2-1, due to their resilience. Louisville didn't quite show the same resilience against UNC last night. The second half was much of the same as the later portion of the first half. UNC controlled possession and limited Louisville's opportunities. In the 67th minute, Ru Mucherera put a dangerous cross into the six yard box that found Alexis Strickland alone. Strickland calmly put it past Kouzelos, who was unable to get back across the goal in time. UNC led 2-0. 

After the second goal, the game didn't feel over quite yet, as it still seemed that the Cards could find a goal some time in the final 23 minutes and then it would be only a one-goal game in which anything can happen. The game was sealed 13 minutes later when Lois Joel found Russo once more at the top left of the box. Russo put a shot on the ground through traffic that Kouzelos saw just a moment too late. Kouzelos fell to the ground, but the ball slipped straight under her. UNC led 3-0 and that would be the final score. 

Jaz Jones does her best to push the Cards to victory.

This matchup was always set to be a tough one for the Cards. The Tarheels won the match last year 5-1 in Chapel Hill. They were ranked first in the country up until their 2-0 loss to Arkansas on Sunday. UNC is a very good team and they will certainly be in the hunt to hoist a trophy later this season.

This loss should not sit poorly for Louisville at all. While the final score is unfortunate, the Cards played pretty well for a lot of the game. Had one of those critical moments in the three minute stretch gone a different way for Louisville, the entire complexion of the game would be changed and this could be a completely different article. As it is, the Cards head to Syracuse seeking to regain the three league points they lost last night. The Cards will take on the Orange Thursday at 6 P.M.


SHE SAID IT

Coach KFD Post Game

Softball Takes Two Over Bellarmine

In a more enjoyable result, Louisville softball was in action at Ulmer for a bit of Fall Ball. The Cards took on the newly appointed Division 1 Knights of Bellarmine for an afternoon double-header. Bellarmine jumped out to a big lead, stealing four runs off of a freshman pitcher for the Cards before Danielle Watson came in in the fourth inning to steady things for Louisville.

In addition to preventing the Knights from scoring any more runs, Watson smashed a grand slam to tie the game just after coming in to pitch. A couple of batters later, Riley Schindler sent another ball over the wall to score a pair of runs and Louisville led 6-4. The Cards would go on to win the first game 8-4, exorcising the early defensive demons and showing some offense as well.

The second game of the day was all Louisville as the Cards jumped on the Knights early and often. Bellarmine had no offensive answer for Louisville in the second game and the Cards went on to shut out the Knights.

We've got no official stats or scores, so we can't be sure, but Jared reports that the score of the second game was "8 or 9 to 0". Louisville will get a better view of how their team will stack up in competition in the upcoming season next weekend as they head out to Lexington for a Fall Ball double-header against the Wildcats. We'll see if we can't get a report of some kind from that set of games as well.


Cardinal Couple Radio Hour

Paulie, Jeff and Jared were present for our weekly radio show yesterday and reviewed results for UofL women's Golf, Field Hockey, Volleyball and WSOC. They also previewed Saturday's upcoming action .

I was not present, attending to such things as scaffolding and painting. It happens when you're a homeowner.

You can hear the discussion at the link below, as well as see the show on Facebook Live:

THE CARDINAL COUPLE RADIO HOUR

A special thanks to WCHQ 100.9 FM for including us in their Saturday format. We appreciate the chance to discuss UofL women's sports once a week -- even if it's not always about the joy and excitement -- we feel it is a chance for our listeners to "catch up" on what's going on down on Floyd Street and on the road.  

Until next time, Go Cards!

-CH-

Photos from today's article from Jared Anderson. Check out more of his work on Facebook, Twitter, or his website jdaphotos.com.

Softball Rallies Late Twice for Two Wins -- SATURDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

Louisville Wins Twice in Cardinal Classic Double Header

Louisville fell behind in the first inning of action at Ulmer Stadium this season before ultimately scoring 7 unanswered runs to take care of Indiana State 7-1. Sounds pretty simple, right? Not quite. The Cardinals and Sycamores were locked at 1 from the second inning on, and Indiana State threatened to regain the lead multiple times throughout the game. It wasn't until the 6th inning that Louisville scored its next 6 runs and then finished ISU 1-2-3 in the 7th to win the game.

Louisville took advantage of three Indiana State errors, all in the sixth inning, to win the game. Five of Louisville's six runs in the sixth were unearned, the go ahead run being the only earned run of the inning. Despite the significant number of unearned runs, the Cards were still credited with 5 RBIs, with Celene Funke, Megan Hensley, and Cassady Greenwood earning one apiece and Kara Snyder picking up two. Celene Funke led the Cards on offense with 3 hits on 4 at bats. She scored a run, had the aforementioned RBI, left no runners on base and struck out 0 times. 

Because I apparently do not know how softball pitching scoring works, Megan Hensley was credited with the win, despite exiting a tie game in the top of the fifth inning. Louisville would not take the lead with Hensley in the circle, but she moves to 2-1 and Taylor Roby, who pitched the final three innings (including getting the Cards out of an early jam in the fifth) earned the win. Hensley finished with six hits vs six strikeouts. She walked one batter, hit one batter, and allowed one run. Roby had three strikeouts, only one hit, and one wild pitch. Louisville's pitching in this game was a lot better than it has been in terms of control, and that is important as giving opponents free baserunners can lead to losing games. 

There was no rest for the weary after a late win, as the Cards prepared to take on the Missouri Tigers (26th in the latest RPI) just a half hour after their previous game ended. Louisville is currently ranked 45th in the RPI so a win here would show that the Cards have the ability to finish games against stronger competition, something they kind of need to prove after a less than stellar start against quality teams so far this season.

It was a come from behind game again for Louisville as they allowed Mizzou to take a 3-0 lead in the second inning following two hits, two walks, and an error. Fortunately, the Cards were able to clean up the defense and pitching after the second inning, scattering just three more hits, two more walks, and one more error throughout the game. The Cards' bats were quiet for the first half of the game, as their only baserunner came on an error in the first. Louisville's first hit came on a single by Hensley in the fourth inning. She was replaced by Jordyn Wolfe on the basepaths, who scored on a Caitlin Ferguson triple in the next at-bat. After a Rebecca Chung walk, Ferguson was replaced at third by Maddy Newman (who was pinch running for Chung) after a baserunning breakdown. Ferguson out, Newman at third. Taylor Roby singled up the middle and the Cards trailed only 3-2.

Again, in the sixth inning, the Cards made their move. Ferguson and Chung were determined to score on their own, and after Ferguson doubled, Chung sent a home run over the right center wall to give the Cards a 4-3 lead. Louisville dinked and dunked a couple of more hits to bring Kara Snyder in on a Riley Schindler single and the Cardinal lead moved to 5-3, the final score.

The Cards were led on offense by Ferguson and Roby, both going 2-3 with an RBI, and Chung, who was 1-2 with a walk and the go ahead two-run homer. Danielle Watson went the distance in the circle in this one, moving her record to 4-4. She allowed 5 hits, 3 runs (2 earned), and 4 walks. However, she did strikeout five, and as I mentioned before, most of the damage to her line was done in the second inning. She allowed more than one baserunner in only one other inning, and that was an error and a walk. Watson and Hensley are both fighting to be called the "ace" of this team, and the competition is a good thing to have. The two make each other better and it is exciting to see improvement from them. 

Also important for the Cards is that the pitchers and offense are supporting each other. Last season, we saw games where the pitchers would be great, only for the offense to be inept and the Cards lose a low scoring game. In other games, the offense would score ample runs, only for the pitchers to give up even more and the Cards lose a high scoring game. Louisville has been very balanced so far this season and that is the path to success. Hopefully Holly Aprile can keep finding improvement in her team this season and beyond. The Cards are back in action this morning at 10:30 in a rematch game against ISU before a 4:30 (scheduled) game against IUPUI. Both games are available on ACC Network Extra if you cannot make it out to Ulmer.

LINK:

POSTGAME WITH HOLLY APRILE

Cardinal Couple Radio Hour

I'm out of the studio this week as deadlines call me into the office once more, but fear not; the four seats shall be filled. Paulie, Jeff, and Jared are joined this week by Daryl Foust, who is more than thrilled that softball has returned to the Ville. The four will discuss yesterday's softball games, likely while keeping up with the action in the game ongoing during the show, while also giving Louisville women's basketball the attention it deserves. It should be a fantastic hour of sports talk radio, the only one bringing you all of the news and analysis regarding Louisville women's sports. Tune in to WCHQ at 100.9 FM, the WCHQ App, the WCHQ website, or fanfare back on Facebook Live at 11AM.

Until next time, Go Cards!

-CH-

Photos for this article provided by Jared Anderson.