Lacrosse, Kakala, Expansion and Papa....FRIDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

LACROSSE FALLS TO VIRGINIA 13-12 

A heart-breaker last night in Richmond Virginia...Louisville Lacrosse going to sudden victory against the Virginia Cavaliers in the quarterfinals of the ACC Tournament in Richmond, VA. and losing 13-12. 

The Cards came out strong and led 2-0 in the early going. Virginia regrouped, though, and rolled off three straight scores to take the lead. UofL roared back with a 3-0 run their own and led 5-3 after 10 minutes of exciting, bang-bang action on the pitch. 

Louisville led 7-5 with nine minutes remaining in the half but went scoreless the rest of the way and the Wahoos tied it up at 7-7 as the teams took the midway break. The Cards were controlling the draw control 10-5 and Brittany Read was defending the net with all her skills...with eight saves in the first 30 minutes. 

UofL took the early lead in the second half when Meghan Siverson got her third score but Virginia came back with three straight goals to go up 10-8. With 20:22 to play, an unfortunate and controversial second yellow card was awarded to Siverson and the Cards leading scorer for the game and draw control specialist was disqualified from the contest. It gave the Cards something to rally around...and Louisville scored four straight goals to take a 12-10 lead with 9:40 to play. Kellie Young's squad was still up 12-11 with 1:16 to play...but UVA managed the tying goal and held the Cards scoreless over the next 76 seconds to force the extra session. 

Virginia won the overtime draw control and 47 seconds later, Kasey Behr fired a steamer from the left side of the net past Read to give the Wahoos the victory.

Kellie Young: 

"We left our hearts on the field but needed a little more grit to secure the win."  

The Cards now await their fate in the NCAA women's lacrosse selection show Sunday at 9 p.m. Louisville looks to be on the bubble for making the tournament. 26 teams, including 13 conference champions, will take place in a single elimination process...the six top-seeded getting a first round bye. 




RETTA KAKALA NAMED TO CA ALL STATE TEAM

2017 Cardinal signee Loretta Kakala was named to the 2016-17 All - California Girls All State second team. The 6'3" center from Manteca High School comes to Louisville as the #2 ranked post in the nation by ESPNW and has impressed the coaches with her football, rebounding and aggressiveness in the paint. 

On coming to Louisville...Retta K had this to say: 

" I want the Louisville fans to know I am excited about coming there and will work hard to make everyone proud of me and be a part of a great group of teammates." 

She'll get that chance right away, it would appear. She'll be the only center listed on the roster and the second tallest player on the 2017-18 team...only Kylee Shook at 6'5" is taller. With Shook being projected as a possible high post player or wing, the Cards will need someone besides Myisha Hines-Allen to bang the boards. Sam Fuehring and Bionca Dunham round out the projected front line for the squad. 


EXPANSION AND IMPROVEMENTS

UofL plans to construct an $8 million TV projection studio as part of the ACC Network. The new facility will be home to video control rooms, studios and editing rooms. The facility will have the capabilities to host live shows at all venues for games and have access for live player and coaches interviews. 

New balconies and bleachers are scheduled for Cardinal Arena...where Volleyball will play their 2017 home games. The women's basketball team will move to the "Little Yum" and expansion and remodeling is scheduled for that facility. New turf is coming for the Louisville Lacrosse Stadium and the Trager indoor facility. 

A video wall and ribbon board has been approved for Papa John's Cardinal Stadium and a private donation has funded a $9.5 million dollar expansion and renovation at baseball's Jim Patterson Stadium.

Good things on the way. Tom keeps building. 



SOFTBALL STARTS THREE GAME SET WITH VA.

Louisville Softball starts their final home game series today against the Virginia Cavaliers. First pitch for today has been switched from 6 p.m. to 2 p.m...the stated reason was concerns with expected rain this evening. Louisville (26-17, 9-6) 

The Cavs (21-19, 8-13) come in fresh off a win at George Washington and a three game sweep over Notre Dame at South Bend. They are on a seven-game win streak...tops in the ACC right now. 

Louisville is a perfect 6-0 against UVA since joining the ACC. 

Jordan McNary has reached base for Louisville via a walk or hit in 26 or her last 28 games. She is a perfect 12-12 in stolen bases this season. 

Nicole Pufahl leads Louisville in hitting with a .372 average and has reached base safely in her last 17 games. Last year, in Charlottesville, the Cards swept the Wahoos 2-0, 7-2 and 2-1. 
PAPA JOHN LEAVES BOARD

"Papa John" Schnatter has resigned from the University of Louisville's athletic association board . The announcement was made at yesterday's board meeting..where athletic direction Tom Jurich and athletic financial director Kevin Miller outlined what was going on with the athletic department and fielded questions...also with President Greg Postal. 

One thing that wasn't revealed was why Papa decided to withdraw from the board. The resignation comes a couple of weeks after he accused the athletic department of being "invisible" and needed to solve their crisis for the good of the University. 

Papa did not elaborate on what items the athletic department needed to work on or what they needed to do to become more visible. Making a sweeping statement like that and then not explaining it leads to a lot of speculation and media questioning. We won't get into the speculation here...only Papa can explain what he said and that may never happen...but the athletic department has been far from being "invisible" and Jurich showed once again yesterday that he is committed and continuing growth for the programs and facilities at Louisville. Jurich commented: 

"I wouldn't trade my staff for anyone in the world and I most certainly would not replace any of my head coaches for anyone in the world...they're the best in college athletics." 

His viewpoint seems pretty viable and visible to me. Always has. 


paulie
xxxxx 

Softball and Baseball Clinch Weekend Series -- SATURDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

Softball Sweeps Double Header at Virginia Tech

Like the baseball team, the Louisville softball team will avoid playing on Easter Sunday. However, instead of starting their series on Thursday, Louisville and Virginia Tech rolled the ball out twice yesterday for a double header. Louisville left no doubt yesterday, winning the two games with a combined 19-6 score. 

In the first game, Louisville jumped out ahead to a 3-0 lead in the first inning before Virginia Tech had a big inning of their own in the second and took a 4-3 lead themselves. The game of big innings continued as the Cards put up a six spot in the fourth to regain the lead at 9-4. The Hokies never really threatened Louisville's lead for the rest of the game, scoring just two more runs over the next two innings while Louisville scored four more through the rest of the game. VT's last gasp came in the bottom of the seventh when two singles and a walk loaded the bases with one out. VT needed all three of those runs plus four more to extend the game, but back to back infield popups got Louisville out of the jam and gave them a game one win.

The second game was all Louisville as the Cards put up a three spot in the first inning, added runs in the third and sixth for good measure, and Maryssa Becker spun a 7 inning shutout. Becker allowed only 6 hits and 2 walks compared to 4 strikeouts. Both of those walks came in the first inning, and Virginia Tech had only one multi hit inning. It was a great game for the Cards who racked up ten hits of their own and played clean baseball with zero errors.

The weekend double header was supposed to be played today, but the forecast caused scheduling to shift. The Battle of the Birds will wrap up today at 10:30AM and the Cards will look for a big series sweep before hosting Western Kentucky for a midweek game on Wednesday.

Baseball Wins Game Two at Georgia Tech

Like the softball team, the Louisville baseball team is on the road at a engineering school. After Brendan McKay opened the weekend showing why he is considered both the best pitcher and the best position player available for the upcoming MLB draft, Louisville turned to seasoned pitcher in his own right Kade McClure. Kade was the midweek starter last season and finished the regular season 12-0, which is pretty amazing. He hasn't been quite as dominant this year, but he's still done well. Friday's game had a bit of a slower start, with Georgia Tech opening the scoring in the second inning. Louisville trailed 1-0 until some awkward GT defense allowed the Cards to tie it in the fourth inning. Louisville went on to score three more runs in the inning and led 4-1 after 3.5 innings. They didn't look back. Louisville went on to win the game 10-1 to clinch the series. The Cards go for the sweep today at 1PM and then will look to win their eighth straight against Kentucky in the second leg of the Battle of the Bluegrass on Tuesday.

Lacrosse Hits the Road

After a frustrating loss to North Carolina last week, the Lax Cards have had a week to lick their wounds before heading out to take on another top twenty team. Louisville takes on the 15th ranked Virginia Cavaliers in Charlottesville in their last road game of the regular season. The Cards haven't been able to beat Virginia yet in their history, trailing in the series 2-0, but came close last year. Louisville lost the last matchup in Louisville 10-9 and will hope to finish the job with a big late season victory. Louisville has one more game on Thunder against Syracuse before the ACC Championship gets underway in Richmond, Virginia. Today's game gets underway at 1PM and is not listed as being available on ACCNE. Follow along with the women's lacrosse twitter page for updates.

Louisville Football Spring Game Today

I won't devote much time to this here, because there are tons of other sources to get your spring game previews and new player profiles and all sorts of other stuff. I encourage you to look into those sources, because those guys put a lot of effort into those previews and they know a lot more about what they're talking about than I do. I will, however, let you know that the spring game will get underway at 1PM in PJCS and admission is free. I'm out of town, or I'd probably head out there myself. The spring game is a great way to get a look at new faces, especially since Louisville will be implementing its new defensive schemes under new DC Peter Sirmon, and see how your favorite players (including Heisman winner Lamar Jackson) from last season have been developing. It should be a beautiful day so get out and support the Cards!

No broadcast for you! 

Today's Crescent Hill Easter Parade on Frankfort Avenue will be covered live and that bumps us off the air for THE CARDINAL COUPLE RADIO HOUR. We recommend you listen to the parade coverage, it's Tara Bassett at her finest. We'll be back next week and HANDICAPPING HEROES will be on around noon or so.

Here's the link to hear the Parade and Handicapping Heroes:

LINK: www.crescenthilradio.com

Until next time, Go Cards.

-CH-

Softball, Lacrosse fall in ACC play -- Monday Cardinal Couple

SOFTBALL FALLS TO FSU

Louisville softball couldn't continue the mastery it held over FSU batters on Saturday, falling to the Seminoles 9-1 Sunday evening at Ulmer Stadium in a game televised on ESPNU. 

The 'Noles smacked 14 hits against the freshman pitching duo of Shelby McCombs and Madi Norman...after two scoreless innings...FSU opened the floodgates.

Florida State scored twice with two outs in the third and tacked on a run in the fourth. One got the feeling, watching it on TV, that this one had already gotten away from the Cards...starting FSU pitcher Lacey Waldrop was continuing her mastery of the UofL batters from Saturday and McCombs was struggling in the circle. 

A FSU two-run home run in the fifth didn't help the Cards' cause. Although Louisville scored their only run in the bottom of the inning...the 'Noles weren't done...adding two more runs in the sixth and seventh for the final 9-1 win.

The rubber match takes place tonight at 7 p.m. 

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LAX FALLS TO VA 17-9

Louisville Lacrosse drops to 1-4 in ACC play and 9-5 on the year with a eight-goal defeat in Charlottesville Sunday.

Similar to the loss last Saturday to UNC...the Kellie Young led squad hung around early and then went through a scoreless draught that took them out of contention.

The Cards scored early with Hannah Koloski connecting in the first minute and held a 4-3 lead with 11 minutes left in the half after Anna Kopecka found the net. 

Virginia (10-5, 3-3) amped up the offense, though and kept the Cards out of the net the remainder of the half...scoring six straight goals to take a 9-4 halftime lead.


The Hoos started the second half strong...tacking on two goals to Louisville's one to hold a 12-5 advantage with 21 minutes left on the clock.

The Louisville Laxers had one final run left in them...Koloski, Carlisa Corbett, Kopecka and Koloski again scoring to make it 12-9 Virginia. The tide turned again, though, in the contest...

Virginia shut the Cards out from there, though...adding the final five scores of the contest for the 17-9 win

Louisville returns to action with a Thursday, 2 p.m. match against Syracuse at the Louisville Lacrosse Stadium. It'll be the Cards final appearance at home this season. 

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WORLDWIDE WITH CLUTCH PERFORMANCE


Our steamed colleague here at CC, Worldwide Jeff McAdams was busy enough for three people this weekend Serving as the PA announcer at Volleyball Saturday and Sunday, catching both softball games, hitting the Crescent Hill 'Mighty Kindness' Festival on the waterfront and bailing out Paulie by filling in for him on the Sunday Cardinal Couple column.

A laptop crash is not a pretty thing. Especially when it is an actual crash...the dependable, old Sony Vaio tumbling to the floor after being dislodged from a table by clumsy Paulie. 

A cracked screen, broken bezels and non-functionality. Game over for the Paulster. 


As Sonja rationalized...it was time for a new laptop, anyway. The Vaio (nicknamed 'Skip' -- for its penchant of the cursor jumping around to wherever it felt like) was a sturdy ol' warhorse that Paulie picked up used from a buddy who was upgrading.

We're still learning the ropes on the newest edition to the CARDINAL COUPLE family...a spiffy Lenovo that we caught on sale. We did lose a whole passel of photos when Skip passed away, so we'll be dealing with that...but we've gotten up off the field, brushed ourselves off and we're back in the game. 

paulie
xxxxx