Rob Bennett Joins Golf Coaching Staff -- THURSDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

Between the lack of news among UofL sports and my focus and attention having been entirely on the Olympics, today's article will be rather short and sweet.

As we have seen all throughout the first week in the Olympics, Team USA continues to be in contention for the gold medal race and overall medal race, but Japan and China continue to be thorns for the Americans.

The big news in the Olympics continues to be centered on Simone Biles and the Norwegian Beach Handball Team. The two topics are unrelated. I'll save my thoughts for Saturday's radio-podcast, which can be heard live through YouTube, but I do stand in support of both Biles and Norway.

Rob Bennett Joins Golf Coaching Staff

UofL women's golf announced that Rob Bennett will join the team as an assistant coach. Bennett comes to Louisville after spending the last three seasons with Abilene Christian.

"We're excited to welcome Coach Rob Bennett to our coaching staff," said head coach Whitney Young. "His vision, passion, and experience will help us continue taking steps towards future success. We look forward to him making a positive impact on our student-athletes with his dedication, work ethic, and competitive nature."

During his time with Abilene Christian, the Wildcats rose over 60 spots in the national rankings. ACU set school records in scoring average, low single round score, and low tournament score under Bennett's guidance.

UofL women's golf is no stranger to the national rankings and competing in the postseason. Bennett could be the key into helping Coach Young continue to build this program and advance them further.

Daryl is out for our Cardinal Couple Radio Hour Podcast this weekend, but is expected to have tomorrow's write so tune in. Like myself, she has been following all sorts of Olympics happenings when she's not pushing buttons and running the camera crew at Louisville Slugger Field.

Happy Friday and Go Cards!

Jared

Pastor Award -- Golf Transfer -- TUESDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

 Pastor Wins Award

Louisville Field Hockey's Mercedes Pastor is remarkable player and the rest of the country continues to recognize that. The Argentinian was named the NFHCA West Region Player of the Year.

This is her third straight NFHCA All-West Region honors. She was named ACC Player of the Week four times and the NFHCA Player of the Week three times.

The NFHCA Awards Show will be live-streamed on YouTube next week on June 15, 2021. At that time, the All-Americans and the National Player of the Year will be announced. Pastor will join the other Region Players of the Year Erin Matson (UNC, South Region), Jonna Kennedy (Boston College, Northeast Region), Sophie Hamilton (UConn, Mideast Region), and Gianna Glatz (Rutgers, Mid-Atlantic Region) as nominees for National Player of the Year.

Pastor has hopes to return to Louisville for one final season this fall and we all hope that we will see her rep the red and black jersey one more time.

Kendall Griffin Joins Golf

Louisville women's golf signed a transfer with Kendall Griffin coming to Louisville for her final year of eligibility.

Griffin joins the Cards after four years at LSU where she accumulated a 75.28 career stroke average. She had two top-10 and one top-five finish as a senior and finished tied for fifth in the SEC Championship.

"We're so excited to sing Kendall as a graduate student," said Coach Whitney Young. "She has had a very successful career at LSU and we look forward to bringing her energy, experience, and passion to the University of Louisville. She will make an immediate impact on our program and help us in reaching our National Championship aspirations for 2022. The addition of Kendall really caps off what was an already exciting 2021 class."

Adding Griffin will be a huge asset as Lauren Hartladge has concluded her collegiate career. The Cards made the NCAA Regional round this season and hosted their first ever NCAA Regional.

WCWS Set

I opted to watch the new Conjuring movie (did you know there's eight films in the Conjuring Universe now?) over the WCWS. The action, though, was dramatic and surprising for those who did and those who played.

In the first game of the day, James Madison University started the game with a first pitch home run for a quick 1-0 lead. It was all Oklahoma after that as the 1-seed scored seven unanswered to win 7-1. However, the attention was focused on Oddicci Alexander and the career she had with JMU.

The second game saw 10-seed Florida State square off against 3-seed Alabama. The Seminoles started the game with a three-run home run off Montana Fouts, In fact, Fouts got pulled early as FSU held an 8-2 lead after three innings. The Crimson Tide tried to rally but it ultimately was the ACC powerhouse earning the 8-5 win.

Game One of the best-of-three series between Oklahoma and Florida State begins tonight at 7:30 p.m. You can check that game out during commercial breaks of the Lynx vs Mystics and Wings vs Mercury games. Myisha Hines-Allen had an incredible welcome back performance for the Mystics and she will try to help Washington break their losing streak.

Happy Tuesday and Go Cards!

Jared

Hartlage, Restrepo in Colorado Women's Open -- MONDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

HARTLAGE RECORDS 220 IN PRO/AM EVENT

It is traditionally rare for us to have athletic scores and results to report in June here at Cardinal Couple.  That's even more true in our "New World" affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. Today, though, we have scores and results!  We'll talk about Louisville women's golf graduate student Lauren Hartlage playing in the three day CoBank Colorado Women's Golf Open. 

Hartlage, from Elizabethtown, KY, participated as an amateur in the 54-hole event. She finished tied for 34th. place. Out of the amateurs that played in the CoBank, she finished tied for 3rd place, just five strokes behind the best-scoring amateur in the event...Alyaa Abdulghany...an All-American from the USC Trojans. 

Hartlage had an impressive first round with a  -1 under 71 for the opening 18 holes. She was at +4 after the second round and played par golf over the final 18 holes....finihing one shot back of second place. 

Another Cardinal women's golfer, Laura Restrepo, also participated in the event. Restrepo played for the Cards from 2012 to 2016 and hails from Panama City, Panama. She scored a 226 for the 54 holes, highlighted by second round where she shot a -3 under par 69.

Restrepo's rookie season on the tour was 2017. 

She earned $420 as a professional for the event. She accomplished the rare "eagle" (2 under par) on her second day of competition and was in 16th place after two days.

The Cardinal women's golf squad looks very promising for the 2020-21 season. Besides Hartlage, three other top UofL women's golfers return in Hana Ryskova, Mairead Martin and Lauren Thibodeau.

Under the direction of Cardinal coaches Whitney Wade Young and Dori Carter, the Cards ended the 2019-20 campaign playing WKU on a chilly day Feb 29th. in Bowling Green. It was a seven-player match-up against the Toppers that Louisville won with six wins and one tie. They also fared well in the Moon Golf Invitational prior to that in Melbourne, FL -- finishing 3rd, just six strokes back of Ole Miss. 

The fall college golf slate usually begins in September and we'll see if that's still a "go" as the summer progresses. The Cards are scheduled to begin the 2020-21 season at home, at the UofL Golf Club in Simpsonville. 


paulie
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Women's Golf and The Cardinal Couple Radio Hour Podcast -- Sunday Cardinal Couple

A Golf Goodbye?  Not So Much

The past few weeks, I've transcribed (from the graphic format posted on social media) the "Thank Yous" posted by the UofL Women's Basketball Seniors.  I thought that line of items was done, but then I saw a post by UofL Women's Golf with a message from Lauren Hartlage.

It was a pleasant surprise then, when I read it, and it wasn't a message of Thanks and Goodbye, but instead a notice of her intent to return to the links wearing Cardinal red and black.

Golf, despite having a significant official schedule in the fall, is considered a spring sport by the NCAA, and the bulk of the spring portion of the season has been impacted by Covid-19, and as such, Golf seniors, such as Hartlage, are being granted the opportunity to return for another season of play.

Lauren is one of the better players to come through the Louisville program and has prospects of playing on the LPGA tour as a professional, but has decided to return to UofL for another season.

Hartlage's message:

Dear #CardNation

Being a Louisville Cardinal the past four years has been the best experience of my life.  We have made great progress as a team and this year was no different.  As our season came to an abrupt end this spring, I was devastated not to get the chance to finish my senior season.  When the NCAA announced that they would be granting spring seniors and extra year of eligibility, I knew this would be something I would want to consider.  After talking with my parents and coaches, I have decided to return to the University of Louisville for one last year.  I can't wait to tee it up next season and continue to represent the best university in the country!

Thank you CardNation for your support and #GoCards

I'm sure head coach Whitney Young, who will we be starting only her 2nd season as a golfing head coach was thrilled to hear of Hartlage's decision to return to UofL Golf, whenever such a season might occur.  Her return should bolster the prospect of the UofL program.

Cardinal Couple Radio Hour Podcast

A "full house" for the CCRH Podcast yesterday.  Jared got a break from the bank and joined Paulie, Case and myself for the hour.  As always, it's good to have the extra voice, perspective, and insights on the show.

The big topic was the layoffs and furloughs announced in UofL Athletics this week and prospects for playing fall sports.  It was a good discussion, albeit without a great deal of joy and excitement to share, though we did find a few bright spots.


Apologies for the 1:20 of silence at the start of the show. Our producer was asleep at the switch and finally figured out that our talking wasn't getting heard. It takes a village...

It happens every Saturday at 11 a.m.  We go to Skype and spend roughly an hour on UofL women's sports. We hope you enjoy the weekly "discussions". 

Check it out!

Whitney Wade Young and Cindy Lacrosse Interview -- THURSDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

INTERVIEW WITH WHITNEY WADE YOUNG AND CINDY LACROSSE

A trip to the UofL campus (well...slightly north of it on Floyd Street) to interview Louisville women's golf head coach Whitney Wade Young brought a bit of a surprise with it yesterday when I discovered that 2019 Cardinal Hall of Fame inductee Cindy Lacrosse was at the new golf offices and facilities as well. 

The original intent was to review the 2019 fall season for the Cardinal golfers, who won their last tournament of the autumn season at the UofL Golf Club in the Cardinal Cup. That portion of the interview was done admirably well by Coach Young. As a bonus and In addition, I got remarks from Lacrosse as well. 


Lacrosse played at Louisville from 2005-2009, was All-Big East all four years and was UofL's first All-American golfer. She's been on the LPGA Tour for ten years.

Joining Cindy at the Hall of Fame dinner and induction Friday night are Lacy Wood, UofL Softball's first All-American, Francisco Garcia...Louisville basketball great, Angel McCoughtry, WNBA star and the leading all-time scorer for Louisville women's basketball, Cardinal and NFL football center Eric Wood and long-distance runner extraordinaire Wesley Korir.

(An audio link of the interview below): 

LINK:  COACH YOUNG AND CINDY LACROSSE INTERVIEW 10-23-19


WSOC and FIELD HOCKEY TODAY

The Field Hockey Cards step out of conference today with a match at Williamsburg, VA against William and Mary. That one is at 6 p.m. and we're looking for any possible TV or internet coverage. We'll update the article if we find such.  

Starting at 7 p.m. a huge test for Louisville women's soccer at Charlottesville, VA against #1 Virginia. The ACC Network Extra will show that contest.

Best of luck to both squads tonight! 


Have a terrific Thursday! 

Paulie
xxxxx

INTERVIEW WITH WOMEN'S GOLF WHITNEY WADE YOUNG AND LAUREN HARTLAGE -- THURSDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

CARDINAL WOMEN'S GOLF 

I had the great opportunity yesterday morning to have an exclusive interview with both Louisville women's golf head coach Whitney Wade Young and senior student-athlete Lauren Hartlage at the new facilities for Louisville Golf on South Floyd Street. The building is rapidly progressing and features indoor practice facilities and plenty of office space.



Louisville women's golf has both a fall and spring season and the Cards are preparing for their first event of the year on Sept 9-10 at the Minnesota Invitational.  Prestwick Golf Club in Woodbury, Minnesota hosts the annual event. Woodbury is located in southeastern Minnesota, not far from Wisconsin. 

The Cards started the 2018-19 season in this Invitational and finished 6th out of 15 teams, playing against national powerhouse programs San Jose St., East Carolina, Virginia Tech and Kentucky. 

Below is the audio link to our delightful discourse. We covered a lot of topics, including Whitney becoming the head coach, Lauren's spectacular summer, the addition of new assistant coach Dori Carter, the facilities, tips for beginning golfers and the returning team -- which loses only one player from last year (Olivia Cason) to graduation and adds two freshmen. 

LINK:  INTERVIEW WITH WHITNEY WADE YOUNG AND LAUREN HARTLAGE

With a veteran roster, one of the best in DI women's golfers returning in Hartlage and excellent leadership from the coaching staff, I predict great things ahead for the 2019-20 "chip and putt" Cards -- including a return to the NCAA Tournament and a impressive finish in the ACC Tournament. 

Be sure to catch the Friday Cardinal Couple, when we offer another "two-for-one"....Jared Anderson's column and our Cardinal Couple exclusive interview with new assistant women's basketball coach "J.P." -- Jonneshia Pineda  

( A SPECIAL THANKS TO WOMEN'S GOLF S.I.D. BRIAN ALDEN FOR SETTING UP THE MEETING AND TO WHITNEY AND LAUREN FOR A GREAT INTERVIEW !)  


paulie
xxxxx

Louisville Women's Golf -- Chapter 8 in Jared's History of UofL women's sports -- FRIDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

A HISTORY OF LOUISVILLE WOMEN'S GOLF

Happy Friday and welcome to another session of A History of Louisville Women’s Sports. We hit the two-thirds mark as we hit Chapter 8. Today, we look at Women’s Golf. For the rest of the article we will refer to them simply as “Golf”.

When Tom Jurich was first hired as athletic director at UofL in October of 1997,, he soon added three teams. Golf was one of those. Kelley Meyers (later Rothberg) was tabbed the head coach. Their inaugural season was in 2000, where they finished second in Conference USA. Katherine Mowat also won an individual conference championship while Meyers was named Conference USA Coach of the Year. She would lead them to an NCAA Regional the very next year.

In the fall of 2002, Louisville hosted its first Cardinal Cup, a popular tournament still hosted today. They competed at a golf course in Simpsonville, KY, then owned by University Clubs of America.

It wasn’t until 2006 when golf won its first conference championship, claiming the Big East title down in Florida. Adrienne White also won the Cards’ first individual Big East title that year.

Courtney Trimble took over as head coach over the summer of 2012. She held that position through this
most recent, before stepping down to enjoy life. The Cards have several seasons where they were ranked in the Top 25 under Trimble and advanced to the NCAA Championships in the spring of 2018.

Whitney WadeYoung will take over as head coach for the start of next season. She has been an assistant with Louisville since 2017.

The University of Louisville Golf Club has been around longer than many think. It was originally constructed in 2001 by University Clubs of America and Palmer Golf Management operates the facilities.  It was bought by Champions Way LLC in 2003 and they owned the place for about a decade. UofL bought the property in early 2014 and re-branded the facility as the UofL Golf Club. Both the women’s and men’s teams have used the facility since it first opened but have been able to officially call it home since then. The course is open to members and other events when UofL is not using it.

Many excellent golfers have stepped foot on campus over the years. Meghan Little was one of the biggest names early on. Little won several titles early on and competed in the 2005 NCAA Tournament. Adrienne White was teammates with a little for a while and won a conference championship.

Cindy LaCrosse came in a couple years later and won a school record four tournaments in her career. She ended up with many other UofL records during her time. Sara-Maude Juneau and Laura Anderson are both in this decade and made headlines when they played internationally and combined to win four consecutive tournaments in 2009. Emily Haas came in just a few years ago and earned several Big East honors and owns the Cardinal Cup record at 209.

The 2019-20 squad features several golfers quite capable of shooting low scores. Returnees include Margot Bechadergue, Lauren Hartlage, Mairead Martin, Delaney Shah and Lauren Thibodeau. Their season takes place basically all year round and will start on Sept 9th in the Minnesota Invitational.

Hartlage recently qualified for her third straight appearance in the US Women's Amateur. The event takes place August 9-11 at the Old Waverly Golf Club in West Point, Mississippi. Thibodeau is listed as an alternate for the field of 156. 

We rarely get out to the UofL Golf Club to do live in-person coverage events like we do many other sports but the location is a beautiful one to visit. Make sure to head out to Simpsonville to see the Cards in action. Make a pit stop at the outlet mall to go shopping while out there. The adidas store usually has some affordable UofL gear in stock.

RADIO DAYS

Jared's Fan Club watching the show from across the street

You can catch the A-team on air for the second straight week tomorrow on The Cardinal Couple Radio Hour. .

The show starts at 11 a.m. Saturday and can be accessed many different ways.

www.wchqfm.com is the stations website and the show can be accessed there. It is also on Facebook Live. In the Louisville area, we're on FM at 100.9 and you can download the WCHQ app at the site and listen that way.


A bit of warning about our summer feature which you are welcome to participate in. A little bird is whispering in my ear that the Worldwide Cardinal Couple quiz MIGHT BE ABOUT MASCOTS.

Happy Friday and Go Cards

Jar-head

Time for Softball to start a win streak -- Alicja Wolny Named to Great Britian National Team -- THURSDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

CARDS LOOK TO START A WIN STREAK 

Winning games is essential in any sport. Winning games at the end of the season is even more important, because it means your team is still alive and competing for a national championship.

Louisville women's basketball coach Jeff Walz is fond of saying that only one college women's basketball team can produce a six-game win streak at the end of the season. Louisville Softball looks to go on a win streak starting today in Tallahassee when they face North Carolina in game four of the ACC Softball Championships. 

This one won't be easy. UNC came to Louisville to face the Cards in Ulmer Stadium two weeks ago and took two of the three games the squads played.  Tar Heel pitcher Brittany Pickett (19-11) had the Cards number in the first game, tossing a 6-0 shut out. The good news is that Louisville got to her in in the third game of the series, pounding out a 6-1 win. If North Carolina head coach Donna Papa (who has been at UNC 33 years) decides to go in a different direction, she can bring Hannah George (13-4) into the circle

The Cards are the #5 seed in the ACC Tournament, UNC the #4 seed. Both teams come into the championships on losing streaks...the Cards dropped all three in the regular season series final against NC State and the Tar Heels dropped their final game (surprisingly) to NC Central. 

it will be essential for the Cards to find the bats that didn't make much of an appearance in Raleigh, NC. With a hitting core of Celene Funke, Sidney Melton, Taylor Roby, Megan Hensley, Kyra Snyder and Rebecca Chung...Louisville is certainly capable of putting runners on the bases. The key is getting them to home plate. UofL stranded 10 runners in the 2-1 loss in the final game against NC State, and "touching home" has been a bit of a problem all season. 

When it comes to entering the circle, Louisville head coach Holly Aprile has Danielle Watson, Taylor Roby or Megan Hensley to call on. All three have been brilliant at times this season...but, consequently, the trio has also had outings they'd prefer to forget. 

A 1:30 start for this one is scheduled. The skies in Tallahassee are clear, the forecast is for no rain until Sunday, and the temperature expected to hit the high 80's all three days. It'll be shown on the RSN Network, here locally that means Fox Sports South. Yesterday, I had to watch the opening round on my laptop at Fox Sports Go -- since the Spectrum TV version of Fox Sports South chose to show other stuff.  

Speaking of yesterday, in first round action -- #8 seed NC State struck early against #9 seed Syracuse and held on to advance 5-4 and will face #1 seed Virginia Tech today at 11 a.m. #7 seed Georgia Tech had no problems with #10 seed Virginia with a 8-0 win and gets #2 seed Florida State tonight at 7:30 p.m.  

Best of luck to the Cards today! 


ALICJA WOLNY SELECTED FOR GREAT BRITAIN SQUAD

Cardinal Forever and UofL Softball great Alicja Wolny has been named to the 2019 Great Britain National Team. It's the second time Wolny has been selected for the squad, that will compete this summer to try and qualify for the European Cup, World Championships and the Olympics. Her previous honor came in 2013. 

During her four year career as the Cards fist baseman, she gained top five all-time standings in hits, doubles, home runs, RBI's and walks. She was a four-time (2010-13) All-Big East Selection. Seeing Wolny at first base became as common as seeing traffic on I-65 during rush hour. 

Born and raised in El Dorado Hills, CA. (about an hour from Sacramento, CA), Wolny remained in Louisville after her playing days and is part of the staff at fiveOtwo Softball here in town as one of the founders and a hitting instructor. 

She remains on Paulie's "Top Five Cardinal Softball players of All-Time" list and can be seen from time to time at Cardinal softball games...prowling the right-center berm in the outfield with her dog Kona May.  

My favorite Wolny memory is from 2012. The Cards were hosting Valparaiso in the first round of the NCAA Tournament. It looked bad for the Louisville nine going into the bottom of the seventh, trailing 4-3. But, the Cards got two on base and with two outs, Wolny came to bat. She absolutely crushed one to deep right that won the game. I remember watching from the Cardinal press box and wondering if it would hit I-65. That ball was GONE! 

Another side of Alicja that probably a lot of you don't know... 

She was in attendance at the horrific 2017 Las Vegas shooting during the Jason Aldean concert. For a revealing glimpse on what she went through, see the link below: 

Wolny and Roberts Survivors


Best of luck to "the Big Wol" in merry ol' England! We anticipate that there will be a lot of fences in danger at British and European ballparks with her on the scene. 


WOMEN'S GOLF SEASON ENDED

Although the Cards did not qualify for the NCAA Championships, they still had a good third day in East Lansing's Regional to finish 11th of out 18 teams. The top six advanced. 

Louisville shot a 293 for the final 18 holes, after two days of plus 300 scores and Lauren Hartlage led the way with a one-under-par 71. She finished tied for 23rd. place overall. 

Louisville went in as the 11th seed and that's were they ended up. The Cards lose just one senior for next year (Olivia Cason) and have a couple of talented freshmen coming in for the 2019-20 season. They'll lose head coach Courtney Trimble, who is retiring...but the program is in good shape for recently named head coach Whitney Wade Young. 

Have a tremendous Thursday! 

paulie
xxxxx

2018 Grades Continued -- FRIDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

Grading the 2018 Squads -- Part 2

Paulie gave his grade for the 2018 year to the first half of the 12 UofL women's sports yesterday,  Today, we look at the bottom half of that dozen and give them a grade.

SOCCER Coming off their best season since moving into Lynn Stadium, the women's soccer team made it to the ACC Tournament for the first time ever and visited an old friend when they returned to the NCAA Tournament after a long hiatus (2013).

Awards flooded in for sophomore Emina Ekic, including All-American status for the second straight year.  Freshman Maisie Whitsett accompanied her on many of the awards lists.  Defensively, the Cards allowed roughly one goal per game and the offense showed some heavy firepower.

This season was far from perfect but it was a bright spot for a program that has seen fans grow impatient for results.  Next on the agenda is to move into the Top 25 and earn some wins in the postseason.  I'll give them a "B-".

SOFTBALL Trying to look back 9-10 months to remember what happened with the most recent
softball season is hard.  The Cards broke the 30-win mark again with a 33-20 record but finished with a losing record in conference play and no invite to the NCAA Tournament.

Coach Sandy Pearsall retired after building the program from the ground up following the season.  Over 19 years, Pearsall guided UofL to 718 (37.79 wins per season on average).  Holly Aprile was named the new coach, coming from conference rival Pittsburgh.

Fall play showed bright spots for the Cards with a lot of younger class players showing they're ready for a starting role.  The unfortunate season hurt the Cards with their grade, settling in at a "C".  "A" for Coach P's career with Louisville though.

SWIMMING AND DIVING. You can divide this category up into two sections: Kelsi Dahlia (Worrell)/Mallory Comerford and everyone else.  The duo of Dahlia and Comerford seem to highlight the UofL swim news constantly.  Recently, we saw some American records fall and several gold medals at the World Championships with some familiar names on it.  Give the rest of the team credit with rising stars such as Grace Oglesby, Sophie Cattermole, Mariia Astashkina, and Rachel Bradford-Feldman all looking good this fall part of the 2018-19 season.

A Top 25 ranking is all-too familiar for the women's swimming and diving team.  They're currently sixth in the College Swimming and Diving Coaches Association of America (CSCAA) poll.  To close out the 2017-18 season in mid-March, Comerford took home a national championship and the team overall finished fifth, their highest finish in program history.

With all of the success this team has earned themselves a well-deserved "A".

TENNIS The real action for the 2018-19 season kicks off in January after a handful of invitationals filled the fall part of the schedule.  Quite a few players received accolades in the fall.

Rewinding all the way to January the Cards started the season with an impressive 12-1 record.  They then lost 12 of their final 13 matches to close out the season.  

No NCAA Tournament appearance, an ugly exit in the first round of the ACC Tournament, a .500 finish, and no individual awards for any of the players is not the championship-caliber program fans expect at Louisville.  They don't fail, but I can't give the team higher than a "D" grade for the 2018 year overall although I can bump it up to a "C" based off of just the fall of 2018.

TRACK AND FIELD Track and field actually has two separate divisions with indoor and outdoor and the NCAA refers to it as such.  Indoor has seemed to be a little better for Louisville.

They finished this past season ranked 25th and Dorcas Wasike just set a new school record in the 5000m earlier this month.  When I say she set a new school record I really mean she shattered it.  Her time of 15:25.35 was a whopping 59 seconds faster than the record.  In terms of eligibility, Wasike is a sophomore.  She is a junior on the academic side.

On the outdoor side of things the women finished 28th overall at the most recent NCAA Championships.  Bailey Davis, now graduated, finished 24th in her individual performance at the event.

Appearances in the Top 25 for indoors and flirting with it for outdoors is always a nice way to boost your grade.  Having a player like Dorcas Wasike is like putting in a cheat code.  The Cards get a solid "B" here with Wasike an "A" for herself.

VOLLEYBALL This season either met right at expectations or fell a tad short depending on how
you view it.  Louisville finished in the first spot out of the rankings and advanced to the second round of the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2015.

In 2017, Louisville claimed the ACC title with an 18-2 mark in conference play.  They only lost at home once the entire season.  In 2018, the Cards dropped to third in the ACC with a 14-4 record and three games out of first place.  The dropped three games at home this season including a disappointing loss to in-state rival Kentucky.

If this ends up being the 'sophomore slump' for Coach Dani Busboom Kelly then that's a sign for a good career here.  Typically, meeting expectations is considered average, but after advancing to the second round of the NCAA Tournament I bumped the Cards up to a "B-".

COACHING ANNOUNCEMENTS

Less than 48 hours after Christmas ended Vince Tyra announced head coaching decisions for two programs.

Courtney Trimble will be stepping down as women's golf head coach following the 2018-19 season.  A reason was not announced by UofL, although most assume it is to soend more time with husband and family  Assistant coach and Louisville-native Whitney Wade Young will step into the role beginning July 1, 2019.

After the announcement of Ken Lolla leaving the men's soccer program a nationwide search for his successor began.  The journey came full circle when assistant coach John Michael Hayden was announced as the new head coach.  A Kentucky-native, Hayden is married to former UofL women's soccer player Hollie Hayden (Minogue). Minogue played for the Cards from 2002-2005.

I found no need to do a weekend schedule seeing that the only game is the Louisville vs. Kentucky men's basketball game on Saturday.  The ESPN computer has the Cards slightly favored although I believe Vegas might have the Cats as the favorite.  If history serves correct the Cards should win the basketball game solely because Kentucky won the football game this year.

Happy Friday, Happy (almost New Year) and Go Cards!  I'll see ya in 2019!

- Jared -