Field Hockey wins -- Volleyball and Soccer fall on Friday -- Saturday Cardinal Couple

STRATTON SENDS THE SOLE GOAL IN 1-0 WIN OVER CAL BEARS.

Senior Vic Stratton sent a penalty corner shot into the goal 10 minutes into the second half to give Field Hockey a 1-0 win against the California Bears yesterday in Davis, CA. 

The Cards outshot Cal 11-4 and held a 7-3 advantage in penalty corners. For UofL goalie Ayeisha "Mac" McFerrin -- her second shut out performance in a row. 

The stick swingers held back into action Sunday when they'll face tournament host UC Davis.

SOCCER FALLS AT UK 1-0

Tough loss for women's soccer at UK in a game that was delayed over an hour by weather conditions. Paige Brown takes the loss in between the pipes...UK scoring in the 58th minute. 

Louisville held a 10-9 shot advantage and 6-3 edge on corners kicks. The Cats improve to 4-1 with the win and Louisville drops to 1-2-1.

MINNESOTA DEFEATS UofL VOLLEYBALL IN FIVE SETS

The Cards falling to the Gophers in the final 13-15 after leading by 4.. 

Cards started well with a 25-23 first game win...only to see the Gophers rock the 14-15 in the second game. Louisville fell in game three as well 20-25 to put them in a do-or die situation in the fourth.

Louisville responded with an exciting 28-26 win and jumped out to a 9-5 leadv in the fifth before the Gophers used size and height to take the match.

Erin Fairs with 22 kills for the Cards who face Wisconsin today. 

paulie

Louisville Field Hockey takes the "D" out vs. Indiana in 3-0 win -- MONDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

BYRNE'S TWO GOALS LEAD UOFL TO WIN

Justine Sowry has gotten a reputation over the last couple of years as a excellent defensive coach in the NCAA Field Hockey world. That recognition was backed up yesterday at Trager Stadium...the Cards winning the "Battle of the Border" 3-0 over the Hoosiers. Louisville has won the last four times they've met 

The "D" belonged to Louisville against "Iniana" Sunday....Louisville giving up just six shots and only three shots on goal for the Hoosier in 70 minutes of play. Ayeisha "Mac" McFerrran also gets the first official shutout in goal in what looks to be a long and successful career ahead between the pipes for the Northern Ireland native.

The Cards, who are now 20-1 at Trager Stadium over the past 21 games, got on the board when senior Victoria Stratton took the ball into the circle and found sophomore Stephanie Byrne waiting to knock it past the defense for the score. 

Byrne would get her second goal of the game and third of the season on a penalty corner at the 19 minute mark of play...following up on Chili Garcia's shot and tipping it past the Hoosiers to make it 2-0.

The Cards would get their third and final score of the contest with about five minutes left in first half action when freshman Tess Hannah corralled a missed (Whole) Lotta Kahlert shot and put it past IU goalie Noelle Rother.


The teams battled through a scoreless second half...Louisville outshooting IU 7-2 and getting a 5-2 edge on corners. The Cardinal defense held strong to push Louisville to a 2-0 regular season record. 

Field Hockey heads to the left coast next where they'll face California on 9/4 and UC Davis on 9/6. Ironically, IU will be out there also...playing Stanford and California...all part of the five-day, six team contingent that will gather for games at the UC Davis Sports Complex. Also coming in are St. Louis and Miami (OH). 

paulie
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Louisville Field Hockey offers talent and youth for 2015 -- Tuesday Cardinal Couple

SEVEN FRESHMEN, FIVE SOPHOMORES ON 2015 FIELD HOCKEY ROSTER.

If UofL Field Hockey head coach Justine Sowry is observed walking around humming the late fifties hit Whatever Happened to That Old Gang Of Mine...one could hardly blame her. 

Gone are six key players from the 2014 squad that defeated Duke and UNC and went to the NCAA Tournament. The efforts of Mallory Mason, Becca Maddock, Sydney King, Paige Monson, Rachel McCarthy and Hannah Boyle will not be soon forgotten in terms of their leadership and play for arguably Coach Sowry's best squad ever at UofL.

Jumping in to potentially fill those shoes are seven freshmen with a wealth of skills of their own. They'll mix with the 14 returnees on the 2015 team to take the Cards into action this Saturday against Iowa in an exhibition at Trager.

Protect Trager.


It could be tougher to do than last season. Scoring threats Elisa "Chile" Garcia, Shannon Sloss, Lotta Kahlert and Nicole Woods return for Louisville and they did account for 23 of Louisville's 58 goals last season. They're the probables to score points for the Cards this season and Sowry will look to returning forwards and midfielders Hailey Netherton and Katherine Gwynee-Wood and several freshmen to augment the balls-in-the-back-of-the net possibilities. 

Defensively is where the Cards may struggle...breaking in a new goal keeper in either Elina Pereira or freshman Ayeisha McFerran from Northern Ireland. McFerran led Ireland to the gold in the World II championships this spring. 

Senior Victoria Stratton will be essential in one of the defensive back slots and Sowry will look to returnees Erin McCrudden, Gianna Perrone, Abby Grimes and freshmen Maria Gomez and Taylor Stone to fill in the other spots. 

It all gets underway this weekend with the opening exhibition against Iowa on Saturday and the Alumni game exhibition Sunday. Start time Saturday is 11:30...so the CARDINAL COUPLE crew will be rolling a bit late after our broadcast ends at noon. 

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A sincere and heartfelt "thanks" from Sonja and I to all who texted, called, e-mailed or had us in their thoughts about our recent family issues with the illness of my mother-in-law. She has been released from the hospital and we'll go from there.

Also thanks to Worldwide, who jumped in and covered the Monday article. Another clutch performance by a guy who excels at them. 

paulie
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Louisville Field Hockey --- IT'S AROUND THE CORNER ! Wednesday CARDINAL COUPLE

LOUISVILLE FIELD HOCKEY -- CAN THE UPSETS CONTINUE?

It was the intention to get down on campus this week and grab a Cardinal Couple preview of Louisville Field Hockey. 

Coach Sowry is on vacation, though. Well deserved, no doubt. She's been busy with summer camps and preparing for the 2015 season. Still about a month before the season. We can wait. We're hearing rumors of a combined preview with FH and WSOC on the same day in mid-August.

So...where would one hold this and who gets to go first? 

We'll offer today an unofficial prognostication on UofL Field Hockey. Subject to correction when I get in to talk to Coach....of course. 

First off, the upsets over Duke and UNC happened here last year. Significantly tougher to do that on their turf in 2015. 

The good news is that there will be 10 home games at Trager this year. Based on a preview of the schedule and Louisville's incredible win percentage at Trager over the last three years  (35 wins in 39 games for 90%)...these could end up 10-0 or 9-1....depending on how well they handle Virginia...who beat them in Charlottesville last year.

Add in a couple of road wins...maybe a sweep in California against
Cal and UC Davis (hint...West Coast Field Hockey hasn't caught up with East Coast yet)...and this could be a 13-14 win team entering the tough-as-nails ACC Tournament.


There are key scorers and defenders back from 2014...and a few names missing. A 2015 roster review shows the DuFour sisters missing.  We'll let Coach go into that when we catch up with her. 

What is impressive is that Chili Garcia, Shannon Sloss, Lotta Kahlert, Nicole Woods and Stephanie Byrne all return to provide Louisville a potent scoring attack. 

The defense returns starters Vic Stratton and Gianna Perrone but goalie Sydney King is graduated...leaving backup Elina Pereira as the only listed "keeper in the net." Only four defensive backs are listed and one is a freshman. 

At first glance, a roster of 18...compared to 24 from last year. 

Another NCAA run? We think so. Success on the road against UNC and Duke? Hopeful. 

Rare photo of a blonde
Justine Sowry

Playing in the "best by far" conference for D1 field hockey and already with the reputation of being a giant-killer...Justine Sowry is in the enviable and potential "mad scientist" role Jeff Walz enjoyed a couple of years ago. 

How well she mixes the test-tubes and applies the experiments remains to be seen... 

I think she'll produce a monster...Tobacco Road should be scared.

paulie
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Friday Cardinal Couple -- A big UofL Sports day today!

FRIDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

- Field Hockey and Soccer with home openers today

SCORE UPDATES: Louisville Field Hockey demolished St. Louis 11-2, Women's Soccer downed Ole Miss 1-0 and men's soccer upset Maryland 1-0. WE'll have more in the Saturday edition of CARDINAL COUPLE and on our radio show Saturday morning at 11 a.m. on Crescent Hill Radio.


What a great day it is to be a University of Louisville sports fan. (Isn't every day?) Three Cardinal Athletic events on campus for Cardinal fans today.


The action gets started at 4 p.m. at Trager Stadium...where Justin Sowry's Field Hockey squad faces St. Louis in Louisville's regular season opener. The Cards last faced the Billikens in 2010 and took a 7-0 victory. St. Louis is under first year coach Hayley Rausch...after going 1-19 in 2013.

Louisville Field Hockey was 10-0 at Trager last year en

route to a 15-5 record. They shared the BIG EAST title in 2013 and return All-West Region and all-conference stars Alyssa Voelmle, Sydney King and Elisa Garcia...as well as 2013 BIG EAST rookie of the year Shannon Sloss. Starters Victoria Stratton and Mallory Mason return for the shut-em-down Cardinal defense.

Louisville's lone exhibition match garnered them a 3-2 advantage in regulation play against Iowa...eventually losing 4-3 after a sudden death shootout add-on.

Admission is free. 

The action moves southbound on Floyd Street to Lynn Stadium for the grand opening of the finest college soccer stadium in the land. Karen Ferguson Dayes' team will host Ole Miss in a 5:30pm start...followed by the men's soccer team facing #2 Maryland around 8 p.m. ESPN 3 will broadcast.

Louisville women's soccer went 1-1 in exhibition play...downing Wright State 2-1 but falling to Illinois 2-0.

Freshman Isabella Habula had the scores in the win and will

be a factor along with Kari Weinland and goalie Paige Brown.

Tickets (while they last) are available for $12 (chairback seats) and $9 for general admission berm and bleacher seats. Tickets are good for both soccer contest tonight.

See ya on campus!!! We'll have a full report on the action in the Saturday edition of Cardinal Couple and on our Saturday morning radio show at crescenthillradio.com 11 a.m.

paulie

Saturday Cardinal Couple -- Field Hockey defeats ODU 3-2 in O.T.

SATURDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

-Field Hockey wins BIG EAST opener 3-2 over ODU

-Women's Golf in 3rd after first round

-CARDINAL COUPLE RADIO HOUR this morning!

-Volleyball with two today in CARDINAL ARENA


In soggy conditions on a "black out" Friday night that also experienced a 45 minute rain delay...Louisville Field Hockey improves to 5-2 with an overtime win over Old Dominion.

After seeing a 2-1 lead disappear in the final 1:44 of regulation, the Cards wasted no time in getting the win...Erin Schneidtmiller banging home a pass from Victoria Stratton just 45 seconds into the extra period for the sudden death win.

Louisville took the early lead in the contest when Stratton took assists from Mallory Mason and Paige Monson to score on a penalty corner sixteen minutes into first half action. ODU countered with a goal from Sarah Breen on a penalty corner five minutes later to tie the contest.

UofL took the lead at 2-1 with 2:26 left in the first half.

Mason corralled down a missed penalty corner attempt and sent it past ODU goalie Megan Hept. The lead held until halftime.

Threatening weather, lightning strikes and a torrential downpour halted action just ten minutes into the final stanza and the teams waited out a 45 minute weather delay with Louisville still leading.

The field had standing water everywhere but drained quickly as the rains subsides and the teams continued. It looked like the one goal Cardinal advantage just might hold...but Breen found the back of the net on a penalty corner attempt with just 104 second left in the game to tie it at 2-2.

Louisville came out on the attack in O.T. and secured the win when Schneidtmiller scored with 14:15 left in the first overtime.

ODU held a shot advantage for most of the game and, although Field Hockey doesn't keep a time possession stat, it seemed the Monarchs had the ball in Louisville's front court trying to score for close to 50 minutes of the 70 minute game. They held a 5-3 shot on goal advantage over the Cards with 7:18 left in regulation...credit the Cards defense and goalie Sydney King for keeping ODU to just two goals. 

After arriving at 6 p.m. and leaving at 9:30 p.m....I didn't stick around in the re-appearing rain to do a Coach Sowry post-game interview. Call me a fair-weather fan...

Louisville (5-2) will play Northeastern Sunday at 1:30 in Trager. In earlier action Friday, Northeastern shut out Michigan State 2-0. The Michigan State v. ODU game faces off at 11 a.m. Sunday.


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( We hope the weather clears up for Courtney Trimble's birdie makers today in Knoxville...as they seek their third straight tournament win in Big Orange country. )

The University of Louisville women’s golf team shot a 283 in the first round of the Mercedes Benz. UCF is sixth with a score of 286.

Collegiate Friday afternoon at the Cherokee Golf Course in Knoxville, Tenn. The Cardinals are currently in third place after one round of play. South Carolina leads the field with a score of 279. Arkansas is in second with a score of 282. Host Tennessee is fourth with a score of 285 while

Junior Katie Petrino shot a collegiate low of 69 in the first round. Petrino is currently tied at third after finishing the day with four birdies. UCF’s Fanny Cnops and South Carolina’s Katelyn Dambaugh currently lead the field after shooting a 68 in the first round.

Louisville sophomore Laura Restrepo finished the day tied at eight. Restrepo finished the day at one under par after finishing the day with five birdies and three bogeys. Junior Emily Haas shot a 72 in the first round. Haas is currently tied at 19^th along with teammate Louise Oxner. Oxner finished the day with three birdies and four bogeys for a score of 72.

Senior Tara Lyons carded an 83 in the first round. Lyons is currently tied at 90^th. The Cardinals will tee off on Saturday at 10:20 a.m. Live scoring for the tournament is available atwww.golfstat.com.



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Why not start your Saturday right by listening to the CARDINAL COUPLE RADIO HOUR from 11 a.m. to noon on Crescent Hill Radio? Paulie, Jenny and Jeff discuss a wide range of Louisville women's sports squads and results. Today's show has a great interview with Field Hockey head coach Justine Sowry, recaps of volleyball, soccer, field hockey and golf action, our weekly quiz and Don Paulie!

Join the knuckleheads for an hour of facts, fun, flubs, forecasting and frivolity at:

www.crescenthillradio.com


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And, if football isn't your thing, why not head over to Cardinal Arena on campus and catch a day's worth of Volleyball?

The WideNet Cards face Rice @ noon and Virginia Tech at 7:30 p.m. I suppose the Owls and Hokies play each other somewhere in between.

It's the Active Ankle Challenge...presented by Marriott Courtyard. You could even get those ankles active and walk down Floyd St. after the football game and see the action in Cardinal Arena.

It does fill up in there rather quickly....so don't stay tailgating too long after Louisville demolishes FIU.

Rice and Hokies...hmmm....sounds like the lunch special at Sal Monella's restaurant. Can I get brown gravy with that?

-Paulie
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Monday Cardinal Couple -- Volleyball sweeps against Big East foes

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MONDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

- Volleyball vs Seton Hall and Rutgers, Texas on deck

- Field Hockey upsets #11 Iowa

- Soccer battles to tie with #11 Georgetown

**BREAKING NEWS**BREAKING NEWS**BREAKING NEWS**

2013 Cardinal WBB prospect Brianna Ruiz announced this afternoon that she's committed to University of Washington and head coach Kevin McGuff. Oh, well...go get the next one Jeff...


VOLLEYBALL ROLLING OVER BIG EAST FOES

Let's talk about Seton Hall and Rutgers now, so we can focus on a big match against Texas on Monday night.

Seton Hall at Cardinal Arena

Floyd Street, on campus, was a busy place Saturday as the Cardinal Volleyball team returned to their old digs in Cardinal Arena for a noon first-serve match, while Softball and Field Hockey were having contests of their own in the same block.

Katie George got things off on the right foot with 2 service aces to start the match, but then things started to get a little rough...fortunately for us, Seton Hall hit the same rough patch.  Our Cards only hit a .104 hitting percentage in the first set...definitely not a number to be proud of...but Seton Hall only managed .047.  Fortunately, the second set looked better...of course the Pirates also seemed to pick it up a bit as well, keeping the game close.  The third set was not nearly as close as the score would suggest. The Cards got out to and early lead and Coach Anne Kordes took the opportunity to get spread some playing time around.

In the 3rd set, we saw Courtney Robison come back and showed no ill effects from her time off with the cast on her hitting hand.  Davionna Holmes came in and showed athleticism, but maybe is still struggling to come up to the playing speed of college ball.  She has a lot of very real potential in the middle and I suspect will be a lot of fun to watch once she gets adjusted to the level of play.

Caitlin Welch...I'm running out of interesting ways to say it...is amazing on defense.  She seems to have developed a sixth sense to know where to be on the court to get digs.

Kaitlynn James continues to play well and really seemed to lift the level of the play of the whole team when she was on the court.

Carly Sahagian did have a higher hitting percentage than James...albeit on fewer attempts...but just doesn't seem to bring as much of the spark with her off the bench.  Good play is very appreciated, to be sure, but it sure is nice when it comes with so much of a lift to the rest of the team.

Rutgers at the KFC

Lola Arslanbekova became the all-time kill leader at the University of Louisville on Sunday, leading the Cards with 20 kills and 14 digs in a straight set sinking of the Scarlet Knights 25-20, 25-13, 25-18.

The Cards used a 7-2 run in the first set to take a 12-7 lead in the first game. Although Rutgers rallied to get within two at 16-14, Louisville allowed them to climb no closer and took the game 25-20.

Louisville continued the hot-hitting and, using a 9-1 run, broke open the contest to go up 19-12. The Cards extended that run to 15-2 in defeating the the Scarlet Knights by eleven in the second game.

The Cards closed out the match by keeping Rutgers at bay and scoring the final four points of the game to win by seven.

Tonight, #9 Texas visits the KFC YUM! Center at 7 p.m.

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FIELD HOCKEY DEFEATS #11 Iowa 2-1

Victoria Stratton picked a great opportunity to score her first career goal, breaking a 1-1 tie in the 56th minute to give the Cards a 2-1 win over the Hawkeyes.

The teams were tied at the half...Louisville getting their score when Elisa Garcia scored on a penalty corner assisted by Paige Monson and Mallory Mason.

The Hawkeyes out-shot Louisville 15-11 in the contest, but strong goal play by Erin Conrad and the Cards defensive backs in the final 14 minutes preserved the win for UofL.

Field Hockey (8-6) travels to Rutgers Friday for a BIG EAST match and finished the weekend in Winston-Salem, NC with an out-of-conference match against Wake Forest.

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SOCCER TIES GEORGETOWN 1-1

Gutsy effort out of the women's soccer Cards yesterday in Cardinal Park, rallying from a 1-0 deficit in the second half to tie #11 Georgetown and keeping them scoreless through two overtimes to get the draw.

Charlyn Corral got an unassisted goal 16 minutes into the second half to knot the contest up and the Louisville defensive unit did an excellent job of containing the Hoyas the rest of the way to preserve the tie. It was the fifth goal of the season and second of the weekend.

Louisville outshot the Hoyas 20-10 in the contest...Chloe Kiefer had four saves for the Cards to help preserve their third place standing in the BIG EAST National Division. The Cards are now 3-2-3 in BIG EAST play and 8-3-3 overall.

Louisville heads to New Jersey for two BIG EAST contests next week, with stops at Rutgers (Friday, 5:30 p.m.) and Seton Hall (Sunday, 1 p.m.)
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Friday Cardinal Couple -- Three women's teams in action this weekend.

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FRIDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

- Volleyball, Soccer and Field Hockey in action this weekend. 

"72 hours, six events, a full tank of gas and I'm not
wearing sunglasses" (Photo by Charlie Springer)

If you're a University of Louisville women's sports fan (and would you be here if you weren't?) you've hit the trifecta this weekend. Volleyball plays three times over Friday and Saturday, field hockey gets in two matches on Friday and Sunday and soccer hosts Purdue Friday night. Any fan who attends all six contests deserves a medal of honor from Julie Hermann...Cardinal Couple will have reports on all six contests...so let's get to the preview essentials! 

(Maybe we should get the medal of honor...)

VOLLEYBALL

The Volley Cards take over the KFC YUM! Center Friday night and all day Saturday with three matches in the Active Ankle Challenge. First up are the WKU Hilltoppers at 7:30 p.m. Friday night. No pushover here, the 'Tops' were 31-4 last year and lost to Marquette in the NCAA Tournament. 

Make sure and go early if you're attending this one. They're will be an All-Sport Pre-Game Autograph Session where various student-athletes will be signing autographs in the Main Concourse of the KFC YUM! Center from 5:30-7:00 p.m. A free autograph poster will be distributed. Your chance to get your favorite UofL athletes on ink. UofL is asking that fans just bring one additional item to be signed. Can't have Jordan Trimble wearing out that rocket arm...

The Cards also face Morehead State Saturday at 11 a.m. and Penn State at 7 p.m. A busy weekend for Anne Kordes' net-blasters! 

FIELD HOCKEY

#23 in the nation Cardinal Field Hockey will open their 2012 season with the Sherrill Brakemeier Classic. The Cards first opponent is #21 Northeastern. A perennial C.A.A. power, the Huskies went 14-8 last season and return an all-conference goalie in Lizzie Priest. 

Louisville looked impressive in an exhibition against IU last weekend...getting a goal from freshmen Kendall Weeding and two from Victoria Stratton. Senior Erin Conrad had seven saves in the 3-0 scrimmage win. 

Game time is 6 p.m. Friday. The Cards will face either Northwestern or Miami (OH) on Sunday. Admission is free for all field hockey contest this weekend. 

SOCCER

#18 Louisville soccer hosts Purdue Friday night at 7 p.m. at Cardinal Park. The Cards enter the match off a 2-0 win at Butler last Friday. Casey Whitfield and Angelika Uremovich scored for the 'Ville" in the win. 

Chloe Kiefer notched her 11th career shutout at goalie for Louisville, aided by the strong Louisville defensive backfield. 

Purdue is 2-0 so far this season...with wins over Toledo and Eastern Illinois. 

Admission is free for the match and the first 200 fans entering the gates get a free Louisville Soccer t-shirt. 

We hope you'll get to at least one or more of the games this weekend on campus or at the YUM! 

CARDINAL COUPLE will have full recaps on the madcap action this weekend and the soccer match will be available on CARDS TV for subscribers....in case you're up in your summer igloo in Nome or basking on the beach in Bimini. Have a great weekend and...

LET'S GO CARDS! 
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