Thursday Cardinal Couple -- Walton's winning ways will compliment Cards

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THURSDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

-Cortnee Walton ready for Cardinal season

( This is another in a series of articles about the 2012-13 UofL Women's Basketball players. We've reached the freshman class and today's look-in features forward Cortnee Walton.)

When you look up the definition of success in the dictionary, you won't find a picture of Cortnee Walton...but maybe you should. Her basketball career, so far, is a major success story.

The 6'3" forward from St. Mary's High School (Phoenix, AZ). joins the year's Louisville WBB squad after being an integral part of two straight Arizona girls high school basketball state championship teams. In her senior year, team captain Walton led St. Mary's to a 30-0 record and the mythical National Championship for girls high school basketball. 

Walton was also a ACA First team All-American and received honorable mention on the WBCA All-American squad.

What makes her such a powerful and dynamic player? Her versatility is a key factor. She can easily switch from small to power forward and has the shot depth and range to pull off either position quite well. A ferocious rebounder, Walton is also an excellent passer and can take on the opponent's leading scorer defensively and shut them down.

Such skills bode well for Cortnee as she makes her debut as a Lady Card. Joining a team that is deep in perimeter and front line players, Walton's skills will serve Jeff Walz well in his defense-oriented and transition game style of basketball. 

She's also bonded with the other Cards freshman Megan Deines...the two spent part of the summer together and Walton made the trip cross-country to drive to Louisville with Megan from Missouri to the campus when it came time to report for school. 

Blessed with an engaging smile and delightful personality..Walton has a positive style that blends in well with the other outgoing and entertaining Lady Cards. 

Jeff Walz is fortunate to have depth at every position as the season draws near and Walton's ability to do many things well will make her a valuable commodity to Louisville women's basketball this season. With a wealth of talent on this year's squad...we may not see any Cardinal front-liners get more than 20-25 minutes per contest, but we're confident that Walton's minutes on the court will be productive, busy and successful.

She is from Surprise, AZ. and will surprise many Cardinal fans with her immediate contributions to this 2012-13 UofL squad. 

Welcome aboard, Cortnee and best of luck this year!

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We remind you that our second battle in the Sweet Sixteen of your favorite Cardinal womens' athlete is under way on the left side of the site. Erin Bennett and Michelle Molodynia are engaged in a tight battle so far...either could win this one. Be sure to get your pick in early...these first round contests are only up for a couple of days and then it is on to the next one.

You can find a profile of each of these two contestants at the bottom of Jenny's great Wednesday column.
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Wednesday Cardinal Couple -- FEAR THE BUCKET!

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WEDNESDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

(Staff columnist Jenny O'Bryan takes us on a tour of the KFC YUM! Center. FEAR THE BUCKET!)

- CARDINAL HOME UNEQUALED IN NATION

Louisville Women’s basketball is fortunate to call the KFC YUM! Center home.  Along with all the glitz and glamor of a new arena, it boasts a seating capacity of 22,000+.

The women’s basketball team has sold the arena out on two occasions and has come very close to selling out on several more occasions.  The volleyball squad has broken it’s home attendance record twice this season when playing at the YUM Center.  Fans flock to the arena in the thousands to see Louisville Women’s Athletics take to the court.    Whether it be a weekend evening game, a middle of the week evening game, or even like last year, a middle of the day workday game, Louisville fans show up in droves to support their team. 

The upper half of the arena is not always open for women’s games.  When it is not open, black curtains are drawn across the upper half and the bowl (or bucket as some refer to it) has an even more intimate feel.   With 10,000+ fans in the bucket, with every seat a good seat, the home crowd has helped to propel our team to victory on more than one occasion. (We have also been known to make it a little uncomfortable for the refs when we feel a bad call has been made).

The arena is a spectacular environment from this fans perspective and allows one the feeling of being very close and a part of the action.  The place is regularly rocking at near deafening noise levels trying to will our team to victory.   I have even been known to take friends to a game who are not particularly sports minded folks, who have enjoyed themselves so much in the atmosphere that they have come back.

It really is hard to attend a women’s athletic event at the YUM! Center and not enjoy oneself.   

This season offers women’s athletic fans not only regular season opportunities to come support your team, but also post season opportunities.  The Women’s Volleyball Championship will be held at the YUM! Center this year.  Tickets are now on sale to this event.  While it remains to be seen whether or not Louisville Volleyball will be playing during this two day event, Coach Anne Kordes is poised to get her team there, if not this year, then very, very soon.   As Jeff mentioned in a previous entry, depending on how the VolleyCards finish their season, they may be poised to host early round games of the Volleyball tournament.  It is an exciting time to be a VolleyCard fan, and not too late to jump on the train.  Get on now, Cards fans, because we are in for some exciting opportunities with Coach Kordes and her squad.  You can find ticket information to the Volleyball Championship at the following link:

http://www.ncaa.com/championships/volleyball-women/d1#!tickets

While the first few days of practice are just now under the belt of Louisville Women’s Basketball, it is not too soon to be thinking about postseason play for our basketball team, either.  Season ticket holders were treated to pre-sale tickets of first and second round postseason games also held at YUM Center March 24/26 ^th  just last week.    Tickets went on sale to the general public on Monday, October 1.   If you have not already done so, you can purchase your tickets at:  http://www.ncaa.com/news/basketball-women/article/2010-12-19/ticket-information  or call the Louisville Athletic Ticketing Office at (502) 852-5151.

The past two tournaments Louisville basketball has played on the road against the home team.  It will be an incredible opportunity for Louisville Women’s Basketball and their fans (that’s us, folks!) to showcase our team, our fans, and our home court at the YUM! Center.  We have been second in attendance the last two years in basketball, and this is the year we take our spot atop that list as a growing fan base. This is the year that we show the NCAA and the Big East that Louisville supports women’s basketball, can support opening rounds in the Big Dance and also deserves the chance to host the Big East Tournament (though, that is an article for another day). 

Louisville fans, this is our time to shine!   Athletic Director Tom Jurich and all the staff associated with Louisville Women’s Athletics have positioned Louisville as a competitive women’s program across the board.  This year we have at least two opportunities at the YUM Center (maybe more) to show the athletic community, on a national level, that we can and do support our female athletes.  If you have not bought your postseason tickets yet, do it now.  If you have not attended a game of your favorite women’s squad, do it now.  If you are not a women’s basketball season ticket holder yet, do it now!   

I coined a phrase here a few weeks back.  It was after the Louisville vs. Kentucky volleyball match.  It was a spirited, if not rowdy affair.  YUM! Center was rocking as if it were hosting a concert instead of an athletic event.  If you were there, you know what I mean.  If you were not there, or have yet to be at a women’s event at YUM, then get there.  Once you experience it, you will know what I mean: 

Fear the Bucket!

( Thanks to Jenny for today's column on the home of several UofL athletic sporting events! As she says...if you have yet to be at a women's event at the KFC YUM! Center...GET THERE! Also, hats off to Venue Services for the excellent job they do there in providing security, safety and information at events in the YUM! Great folks!)

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OUR NEXT FIRST ROUND matchup in the "Pick your favorite UofL women's athlete" features two highly successful Lady Cards that you may not know a whole lot about.

MICHELLE MOLODYNIA (Niagara Falls, ONT.) is a sophomore on Louisville's women's Cross Country squad. She was the team's #2 finisher in five out of six meets last season. So far this year, she has finished first of all CARDINAL runners in three events and placed second overall in the Evansville Mid-American event. We'll take a guess and figure she'll be an integral part of the UofL women's track team as well as a distance runner.

ERIN BENNETT ( Old Lyme, CT.) is a senior on the UofL Rowing team. She's been selected ALL BIG-EAST the last two seasons and will be a prime factor on the Cards' Varsity Eight boat again this year. She led the Cards to the BIG EAST title in the Championships last year.


You can vote for one of these two Cardinal stars on the left side of the site.

Boats vs. Running, who will advance?

Finally, CONGRATULATIONS to Volleyball's Gwen Rucker...who won a close match against Lacrosse's Nikki Boltja in Sweet Sixteen action. She advances to the Great Eight.
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Tuesday Cardinal Couple -- It's Raining Women's Sport Activites

TUESDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

We have a special treat for you this Tuesday with a "two-fer" on articles. We begin with Sandy's laundry day...and she takes us on a merry ride through the spin cycle with her always informative and comprehensive look at Cardinal Womens' sports and beyond. Following her article is Jeff McAdams article on Volleyball.

It's like being in the same room with Cletus and Co-Co at the same time...OK, maybe not that dramatic...but a good thing..nevertheless!





Today’s Laundry Instructions and Tips from Sandy

	Machine Wash, Normal	Garment may be laundered through the use of hottest available water, detergent or soap, agitation, and a machine designed for this purpose.
	Machine Wash, Cold	Initial water temperature should not exceed 30C or 65 to 85F.
	Machine Wash, Warm	Initial water temperature should not exceed 40C or 105F.
	Machine Wash, Hot	Initial water temperature should not exceed 50C or 120F.
	Machine Wash, Hot	Initial water temperature should not exceed 60C or 140F.
	Machine Wash, Hot	Initial water temperature should not exceed 70C or 160F.
	Machine Wash, Hot	Initial water temperature should not exceed 95C or 200F.

VOLLEYBALL

Congratulations to the 14-2 and  12^th nationally ranked Volleycards whose win against Pitt at Pitt on Sunday was their 6^th sweep (25-18, 25-12, 25-22) of the season.  The win also avenges last year’s loss at home against the Panthers and their first sweep of Pitt since 2008. 

Emily Juhl (formerly of Louisville’s Sacred Heart High School)

 

Emily Juhl



http://www.uoflsports.com/sports/w-volley/mtt/juhl_emily00.html contributed 9 kills and no errors which matched her season’s personal best.  Lola Arslanbekova continued her impressive season her 8^th straight match with 10 or more kills while Brooke Mattingly and former Card basketball player Gwen Rucker each had 7 kills and 7 blocks shared between them.   Caitlin Welch (formerly of Louisville’s Mercy High School) lead all players with 18 digs.

                                     

                                                                                    The win is particularly impressive as Saturday was spent traveling from Tampa after their Friday night 3-1 win over the  University of South Florida Bulls who had won 7 of their last 8 matches.



Caitlin Welch



Their next match is at home on October 6 against Seton Hall and is being played at Cardinal Arena. The match starts at 12:00.  This is followed by  KFC YUM! Center matches on the 7^th and 8^th against Rutgers then Texas.

Yesterday the NCAA released this season's first RPI standings and gave UL a 4^th seed.   The RPI (Ratings Percentage Index) is based on strength of both a team's winning percentage and strength of schedule.   To date Louisville  has 6 WINS over Top 50 RPI teams (6-2): Purdue (10), Kentucky (17), Miami (23), WesternKY (31), Duke (37), Illinois (43).   These rankings are used to determine post season seeding.  With the NCAA semi finals and finals being played in the Louisville YUM! Center we would love to see our team in those games.

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BASKETBALL

Finally!!!  The Season Begins

Monday was the first day of basketball practice.  Let the games begin.
 

Recruiting

The week of September 21 brought the women’s basketball coaching staffs from Tennessee and Louisville to the homes of Mercedes Russell and Emmonnie Henderson.  The seniors are set to make a return trip to both schools this month.  Sydney Brackemyre and others are still in the mix.   The more the merrier, we will happily take them all.

Cardinal Arena Graphics

New 2012-2013 team graphics are up in Cardinal Arena.  Check them out in person at the upcoming volleyball game held at 12:00 this Saturday at the arena but in the meantime take a sneak peak at Coach Sam’s tweet pic.twitter.com/GUAWXIdN .

Angel Update

Last Monday, the WNBA awarded Angel McCoughtry the 2012 WNBA Peak Performer Award for leading the league in scoring at 21.4 points per game. She also led the league in steals this season.

Extra Dirty Laundry Being Aired in the Courts

The associated press reports, as most following the story have expected, Former Tennessee Lady Vols media director (of 35 years) Debby Jennings has filed a lawsuit against the University of Tennessee and athletic director Dave Hart alleging that age and sex discrimination led to her forced retirement.  In May, Mr. Hart had released the statement “I concluded that she was insubordinate, disrespectful and fostered an atmosphere of negativity and division." 

At the moment we have a case of he said, she said which unfortunately will take more than a bottle of bleach to clean up. I don’t think it is possible to regularly cover and comment on any segment of women’s sports without at least acknowledging the ongoing internal battle between these parties as it represents many other such battles which have occurred throughout the history of women’s sports. 

A single hierarchy of administrators for both men’s and women’s college athletics is the norm throughout the nation and I personally believe that the consolidation of Tennessee’s departments would have occurred long ago without Pat Summitt’s undisputed strength and power base within the UT system.  With the combined tragic loss of Pat as the women’s head coach (and after this 1 year contract, the ending of her head coach emeritus position) and the financial difficulties being experienced by the schools athletic department, consolidation was inevitable. Ms. Jennings charges also state that 12 of the 15 employees laid off as part of the consolidation of the men’s and women’s athletic department’s were female and of the current athletic departments 23 executive staff and senior administrative staff level positions, only three of the positions are now staffed with women and none are African American. 

The associated press story can be found at:  http://m.espn.go.com/ncw/story?w=1c6l7&storyId=8432902&disableShare=true&adBlock=block&i=SC&hidePageFooter=true&hidePageHeader=true.  Regardless of the outcome of the litigation (historically these types of fights result in a bit of truth and a bit of exaggeration alleged from both parties with no one really winning), a reading of the 40+ page Complaint includes an interesting history of women’s sports at the University of Tennessee.  A link to the complete complaint can be found at http://www.documentcloud.org/documents/441938-complaint-filed-against-the-university-of.html  or http://www.wbir.com/pdf/jennings_ut_hart.pdf .

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SOCCER

The soccer team traveled to South Florida and came away with the equivalent of kissing your sister. Junior middle fielder Angelika Uremovich’s late penalty kick brought the teams into a 1-1 tie at the end of regulation.  The teams remained tied for the two 10-minute overtime periods and ended as a draw.  In goal for Louisville was senior Chloe Kiefer

(http://www.uoflsports.com/sports/w-soccer/mtt/kiefer_chloe00.html) 

(Divine Saviour HS of Whitefish Bay, Wisconsin) who had four saves.




Chloe Kiefer

 

Next up is Villanova which will be in town this Friday for a 7:00 match. Georgetown is next with a 1:00 start on Sunday at Cardinal Park.

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TENNIS

The Tennis team has been extremely busy.  A review of the news links at http://www.uoflsports.com/sports/w-tennis/spec-rel/lou-w-tennis-spec-rel.html leads you to a history of their activities.  Most recently, Rebecca Shine rose through the singles tournament bracket of the Riviera ITA National Championship where she eventually lost in the semi-finals.  Earlier Gabrielle DiSimone of USC def.  Julia Fellerhoff of Louisville 6-7(4),6-3,6-4.

Julia Fellerhoff and Rebecca Shine combined for doubles play but were downed 9-7 by Florida State's Sargeant/Segarelli, who unfortunately were the tournament’s top-seeded doubles pair.

Julia Fellerhoff

Rebecca Shine

       

                                                     

Pre-qualifying singles and doubles matches were once again hosted by UCLA with the actual tournament held at the Riviera Tennis Club in Pacific Palisades, CA.  Singles semifinalists, doubles finalists and consolation champions will receive automatic entry into the USTA/ITA National Indoor Intercollegiate Championships Nov. 8-11 in Flushing, N.Y.   Next the Cardinals will compete at Winston Salem, N.C. in the Wake Forest Invitational from Oct. 5-Oct. 7.

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TRAVEL

FIELD HOCKEY – VOLLEYBALL - SOCCER

The women’s teams are so busy that they are meeting themselves coming and going.  These teams met up with each other in Chicago on Sunday and pretty much took over the plane coming home.  Perhaps it should have been renamed as a charter flight.   The soccer team also managed a safe flight home from Tampa on Sunday evening.

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SOFTBALL

Last weekend our 2012 Big East Champion Softball Team participated in a Fall tournament with Bellarmine and EKU. The Cardinals defeated Bellarmine 10-0 and Eastern Kentucky 1-0 Friday evening at Ulmer Stadium.

                                                                            

On Sunday the team  defeated Murray State  7-1.   The full story can be read at http://www.uoflsports.com/sports/w-softbl/spec-rel/050812aaa.html. 

Louisville will finish their “Fall Ball” this Saturday against Bellarmine and Tennessee State at Ulmer Stadium.  Saturday’s schedule begins at 12:00 p.m. with Louisville vs. Bellarmine, continues with Louisville vs. Tennessee State at 2:30 and finishes with a final game beginning at 5:00 pm with Bellarmine vs. Tennessee State.

The Cards return seven starters and 12 letter winners from their 55-5 season.  If this fall is any indication of what is to come this spring, it is going to be a great season.

Sandy W.
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Tuesday Cardinal Couple -- Volleyball week wrap-up

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( Welcome to another Tuesday at CARDINAL COUPLE. We have a two-for-Tuesday special with Jeff's article catching us up on Louisville Volleyball today and Sandy's Laundry day!

You have a great chance to see Anne Kordes' exciting team three times beginning Saturday in two different venues. If you haven't caught a UofL Volleyball match this season...you owe it to yourself to see these ladies in action. It'll be your first of many treks to see Lola, Gwen, Emily and the squad do battle! )

This week in Volleyball

Louisville played this weekend in volleyball at South Florida in Tampa, and at Pitt in Pittsburgh...what a road-trip that was...and I didn't make the trip, so I don't have much to offer in match recaps other than what Paul already posted, but I do think its worth it to do a week wrap-up as there is some other news to be shared.

-- UofL Team News

-- Top 25 upsets

-- New, or not so new, rankings

-- First RPI release

UofL Team News

As was mentioned in other articles, Gwen Rucker is back playing full bore, with no apparent lingering effects of her illness.  She had some great stats, particularly against Pitt.

Also racking up some great stats, as was mentioned, was Emily Juhl.  Its great to have so much depth and so many offensive weapons.  Emily seems to be recovering from her off-season surgery well and returning to form.  If you've never heard (yes, I said heard) her serve in Cardinal Arena, you should come to the match Saturday.  Its intimidating!  Its great to have her back and performing well as it gives us yet another great offensive weapon.  Lola may be the star, but with so many options, opponents really can't afford to key on her completely or they'll get beaten up by the likes of Gwen, Emily, and Brooke Mattingly, who continues to play great ball, and others.

Courtney Robison got her cast on her right arm removed this morning and has, apparently, been cleared to play by her doctor.  That gives her most of a week to get back in practice and back into form.  Its great that she didn't have to be in a cast for that long.

Lastly, as an amusing anecdote, on the return trip from Pittsburgh, flying through Chicago, the team was surprised to see, when they got to their gate to board the flight to Louisville, that the Field Hockey team was on the same flight.  I wonder if the ever-personable flight attendants on SouthWest led the passengers in a C-A-R-D-S cheer.

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Top 25 Upsets

Pretty quiet on the upset front for top-25 ranked teams this week.  The only upsets within the Top 25 shows that #5 Washington had a really great weekend, with slight upsets over both #3 USC, and #4 UCLA.  When you're ranked in the single digits, it pretty much takes a team ahead of your losing, in order for you to move up.  Its pretty nice when you get the opportunity to make that happen, not once, but twice, in a single week.

The bigger upset is #11 BYU losing to unranked St. Mary's (Ca.).  St. Mary's (Ca.) also had a good week as they knocked off #18 Pepperdine. Pepperdine had a bad week as they also lost to unranked Santa Clara.

#19 Iowa State lost to unranked-but-getting-votes Kansas, and #25 Tennessee got swept by now-unranked Kentucky, which certainly will help our RPI.

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New, or not so new, rankings

Well, there was some movement in the rankings, just not for us.  I thought that BYU loss might cause them to drop enough to land behind us, but not quite, as they ended up dropping 7 spots to land just in front of us at #16.  We retained our #17 ranking.  Washington's big weekend nets them a tie for 2nd with Oregon.  St. Mary's (Ca.) is now getting votes, but isn't ranked.  Tennessee, unsurprisingly, dropped out, but are, of course, still getting votes.

Western Kentucky is turning out to be quite a bit more of an RPI booster than I think any Louisville folks expected, they keep creeping up the list and have made it to #20 now.  Nothing but love for the Hilltoppers from me.

We play Texas in a week, and they're still hanging out at #9. They play #14 Kansas State on Saturday before coming in to Louisville Monday night.  Someone remind me to throw out some "Hook 'em"'s on Saturday night because I don't want us to have to play them coming off of a loss.

Illinois is at #21, Purdue at #12...so things seem to be settling down in the coaches' polls after some big early season movements.

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First RPI release

The NCAA put out its first RPI (Ratings Percentage Index, in case you care to know what that acronym expands out to) for the Volleyball season.  The RPI tends to get a lot of scrutiny paid to it when it comes tournament selection time, which is why you'll see Anne Kordes pay a lot more attention to it rather than the coaches poll.

Good news!  UofL is ranked 4th in the RPI.  With wins over 6 Top 50 RPI teams...#10 Purdue, #17 Kentucky, #23 Miami (Fl.), #31 WKU, #37 Duke, and #43 Illinois...and only two losses...#1 Penn State, and #50 Notre Dame...we're looking pretty good.

Texas is #15 in the RPI, so a win over the Longhorns in a week would be a nice boost for us as well. The next highest Big East team is Marquette at #42, and then the aforementioned Notre Dame.  We play Marquette, in Milwaukee, on October 21st, and then back here at Cardinal Arena, on November 9th. We do not have another match against Notre Dame in the regular season.

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Next?

This weekend, we welcome Seton Hall to Cardinal Arena (not The KFC Yum! Center for this one) for a noon first serve on Saturday.  Another noon start Sunday against Rutgers...this one is back downtown.  And while technically the volleyball world considers it next week, not this week, I'll go ahead and mention that Monday night brings #9(poll)/#15(RPI) Texas for a 7pm first serve.  This one, too, is downtown at the KFC Yum! Center.  Texas will be the last big RPI match we'll likely play for the season, so bring your friends and neighbors for this one.


( Just a quick reminder that the first round action in picking your favorite UofL women's athlete is underway on the left side of the board and our first match in the first round has become a nail-biter between Gwen Rucker and Nikki Boltja. You have through today to vote and determine who moves on to the "Elite Eight". We'll feature Rowing's Erin Bennett against Cross Country's Michelle Molodynia starting Wednesday...) 
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Volleyball, Softball get Sunday wins

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MONDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

-Volleyball sweeps Panthers in Pittsburgh

-Softball outhits Racers 7-1

-Soccer battles to tie with USF

-Field Hockey falls to Albany

-Atlanta headed to third game in WNBA playoffs

Quite the active day for Cardinal Sports Sunday! Here's a recap of the action...

VolleyCards earn a sweep over Pittsburgh

Pitt focused their concentration on trying to stop Lola Arsanbekova yesterday and they found out that there are plenty of weapons on this Louisville Volleyball squad that can and will defeat you. Emily Juhl provided nine kills and Brooke Mattingly and Gwen Rucker chipped in seven each and combined for seven blocks in the Cardinals' 25-18, 25-12, 25-22 win.

Lola did get 12 kills in the contest, far below her season average, but it was teamwork and a bit of revenge for the Cards...who lost to Pitt last year in the KFC YUM! Center.

UofL and Pitt battled early in the first game, neither squad getting a clear advantage until a 5-0 Cardinal run put some distance between the two teams, thanks to Juhl's six kills.

The Cards jumped out to a 7-1 early lead in the second game, extending that to 13-3 and taking a 13-point victory...thanks to 15 kills between Juhl and Arslanbekova.

After halftime, Pitt refused to cave in...never gaining a lead but never letting UofL pull away. Forcing a 14-14 tie, the Panthers stayed close until kills by Gwen Rucker and Juhl gave the Cards the game and the sweep of the match.

Louisville (14-2, 3-1) returns home for three in a row...facing Seton Hall Saturday at noon in Cardinal Arena, Rutgers Sunday at noon in the KFC YUM! Center and #9 Texas Monday night at 7 p.m. in the YUM!

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Softball mauls Murray State in Fall Scrimmage

Led by sophomore shortstop Whitney Arion's 2 for 2 batting...that produced a home run and four RBI's...Louisville easily downed Murray State yesterday at Ulmer Stadium.

A five-run fourth inning was the deciding blow to the Racers. Leading 2-0 coming into the inning, the Cards posted the runs when Arion's three-run blast scored her, Brittany Sims and Katelyn Mann. Singles from Jennifer Esteban, Jordan Trimble, Katie Keller and Alicja Wolny added two more for the Cards to provide a comfortable lead for Sandy Pearsall's squad.

Junior Rachel LeCoq started in the circle for UofL and got the win with four innings of pitching. Caralisa Connell struck out four in the final three innings for the save.

With Tori Collins graduated, it's time for Sonja to pick a new favorite on Sandy Pearsall's softballers. Arion may be that player...as for me, I'm torn between Taner Fowler and Jordan Trimble. All good picks.

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Women's Soccer forces a 1-1 tie against the Bulls

Louisville capitalized on a late penalty kick from Angelika Uremovich to tie USF with six minutes left in the game. The Cards then battled South Florida for two scoreless overtime periods to create the tie and go to 7-3-2 overall.

"I'm happy with our performance in the second half and both overtimes. Our kids battled to the end and we had our chances. I'm proud of how we responded in the second half. We are a mentally tougher team because of this game" -- Louisville women's soccer head coach Karen Ferguson-Dayes.

The Cards return home to host two BIG EAST contests...Villanova on Friday (7 p.m.) and Georgetown on Sunday (1 p.m.)

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Filed Hocked foiled by Albany 3-1

Despite Amber Thomas's sixth goal of the season, UofL Field Hockey takes their second weekend loss...falling to Albany 3-1. The Cards battled the Great Danes to a scoreless first half tie, but three straight Albany second half goals left Louisville in a hole too deep to climb out of.

Albany out-shot the Cards 22-7. Erin Conrad registered 11 stops for Louisville, who goes to 7-5 and 1-1 on the season.

The schedule doesn't get any easier for Justine Sowry's squad, facing two more top ten opponents next weekend in Trager Stadium. #5 UConn comes in for a noon Saturday tilt and # 10 Iowa visits Sunday at 1 p.m.

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McCoughtry's 22 not enough as Dream fall 103-88

With home court advantage and a 1-0 lead in the playoff series against Indiana, one would have figured the Atlanta Dream would be the prohibitive favorite to pull off the sweep and advance to the WNBA Eastern Division finals.

Indiana disagreed. Breaking open a close first half, the Fever out-pointed Angel and company 31-20 in the third quarter and pushed that lead to 20 in the fourth en route to a 15-point thumping of Atlanta in Philips Arena.

Tamika Catchings produced 18 of her game-high 25 points in the fourth quarter to secure the victory and the two teams will face again Tuesday to see who advances to the division finals against the Connecticut Sun.

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Finally, a reminder that the Choose Your Favorite UofL Womens' Athlete contest has started here at Cardinal Couple. Over on the left side of the site, you'll find first round action in this sweet sixteen. The current match-up pits Volleyball's Gwen Rucker vs. Lacrosse's Nikki Boltja.

Boltja grabbed an early advantage in the duel, but Rucker supporters have pushed her to the lead. Only two more days to vote on this one...who ya got?
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