SMU next stop on Cards road trip. -- WEDNESDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

 CARDS VISIT MUSTANGS IN DALLAS. 

Don't let the SMU 2-7 conference record fool you, SMU women's basketball won't be a one- sided romp for Louisville on Thursday. 

True, the Mustangs have been beat up and bullied by Duke, FSU, NC State and Notre Dame this season..,but they are coming off a close loss at Miami and are 10-11 on the season and 7-4 at home in Moody Coliseum...an arena that eerily looks like Memorial Coliseum in Lexington. 

"See that big city? It's Dallas. our team will play softball there someday"

We all remember what happened to Louisville in Lexington. 

SMU is the squad playing without any pressure. They know they are a longshot to make the NCAA Tournament, but a win against Louisville would go a long way with the selection committee if they were on the bubble. 

And they do have some weapons...

Nya will blow right by ya, if you don't guard her

Nya Robertson joined the Mustangs this season after two years at George Washington,  where she led them in scoring. She now leads the Mustangs in scoring with 19.0 ppg.

Chante Embry is a 6'1" forward who averages 11 points a game and scored 22 against FSU. 

The duo could make things difficult for the Cards. Head coach Toyell Wilson is an experienced coach that is 45-44 at SMU and led the Mustangs through the tough conference battles in the ACC and, as an assistant at Michigan...had success  Remember Naz Hillmon? She was a Wilson disciple and seems to be doing quite well with the Atlanta Dream. 

And, a good guard and forward combo almost wreaked havoc on UofL when they went to Charlottesville and ACC opponents are lined up to defeat a name school like Louisville and get national attention and a great boost to their resume. These Cards may not be Tier One this year yet, but they are a team that is coming together more each time they hit the floor. 

The Cards are nearing a three game stretch that looks pretty scary. Notre Dame, Cal and Stanford...all in the KFC YUM! Center. but, ask Jeff Walz, and he'll tell you he doesn't look past the next game on the schedule...and that's a wise thing to do with the youth on the Cards roster. 

Can Cards corral the Mustangs? 

One game at a time. One win at a time. It's corral the mustangs first, then meet the Irish. And, nine games remain on the regular schedule before the ACC WBB Tournament. Hard to believe, right? Frentic Feburary awaits..are Louisville ready to ride the lightning...or dissolve into a fading front?

Jared will break the Mustangs down in more detail tomorrow. 

paulie

  

And they do have some weapon

Softball Season Swiftly Approaching -- TUESDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

Cards Travel to Florida Next Week

Louisville softball is swiftly approaching the 2025 regular season. Similar to past seasons, the Cards will spend a majority of February in warmer weather, this time playing 16 games in three and a half weeks in Florida. Only six of those opponents made the NCAA Tournament last year and none of them advanced beyond the NCAA Regionals. For a fairly young team, playing lighter competition early can be beneficial, especially due to the caliber the ACC will bring.

Notable returners and upper classmen include junior pitcher Alyssa Zabala, senior infielder Ally Alexander, senior infielder Maddi Grant, and junior outfielder Chelsea Mack. Zabala is in line to be the ace again this season and will have plenty of help from other pitchers such as Sam Booe and Brooke Gray. Alexander suffered a hand injury for part of last season, but has been the utility player for many infield positions over the years. Grant has been an on-off player in terms of starting or playing a reserve role, but her bat picked up quite a bit during the back half of last season. Mack, who transferred in from Kentucky a couple years ago, is expected to take control of center field again and will be a speedy base runner on offense.

Last year’s Louisville team had some offensive woes, scoring three or fewer runs in 22 out of 52 games played. Softball is often a high-scoring game so you want to aim for higher than 0.5 runs per inning each game. The Cards gave up six or more runs (double the three runs previously mentioned) 16 times last season. Some pitching and infielder woes helped contribute to allowing high scores, both things we hope to see cleaned up this season.

In close games where the score differential was two runs or less or went to extra innings, the Cards went 10-14. While they were able to find a way to win in 42% of those games, you want to see that number far higher. It is good to be competing in those games, especially against tough teams such as Duke, Clemson, and Florida State, but the best teams find a way to pull a win out. If the Cards found a way to turn half of those close game losses into wins and went 17-7, their overall record would have been 34-18, a good enough mark to make the NCAA Tournament. Sadly, 27-25 kept the Cards on the outside looking in.

The hype has been pretty high so far this season so we will see what Holly Aprile and her crew are able to do to help propel Louisville back into the postseason.

Happy Tuesday and Go Cards!

Jared

Cards Hang On At Virginia 68-65 -- MONDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

 CARDS WBB BENDS BUT DOESN'T BREAK AGAINST HOOS

It was a fourth quarter that Cards fans would just soon as forget, but UofL went to Charlottesville Sunday afternoon and left with a three-point win. 

Louisville led the Cavaliers 62-45 after 30 minutes of play and were getting great production from Jayda Curry (with five threes), Nyla Harris and had a massive rebounding edge, but then UVA got a rally going that saw them outscore UofL 20-6 in the final quarter and draw within three at 68-65 with 3:30 to play. 

The Cards took control early in the game, and jumped out to a nine-point lead.  But, at the end.., the scoring ended. For both teams. Louisville missed seven shots in those final three minutes and UVA was equally as woeful and missed a three attempt at the buzzer, to preserve the win for UofL..

.A "W" for the Cards that was their eight in the last nine games and improved their overall record to 14-6 and conference record to 7-2. 

In the beginning, a 13-4 UofL lead with 3:35 gone in the first quarter. Louisville led 25-10 with 39 seconds left in the quarter after two Curry free throws. They took a 25-12 lead to the end of the quarter. 

UVA was not giving up the battle, though and cut the Cards advantage to 29-23 with 6:43 until  halftime. It stopped there, though, as Louisville countered with 13-4 run to go up 42-27 with 1:01 until half after a Taj Roberts layup. The squads went to the halftime locker rooms with the Cards comfortably ahead 44-29. 

Both squads were pretty evenly match in the third quarter, UofL winning the 10 minutes 18-16 and getting six straight points from Nyla Harris to go up 60-45.  A layup at the buzzer from Curry was whistled "good" and UofL led 62-45. 

Then, the fourth. The Cards did not score in the first three minutes and saw the lead shrink to 64-55 with 6:25 to play. Two UVA free throws cut it even further making the score 66-63 with 4:21 left in the contest. The Cards final two points came from Ja'Leah Williams free throws with 3:27 to go...and UVA would just score once from then on. 

Road wins are worth their weight in goal in the ACC and the Cards did enough to win the road contest today, although they didn't finish particularly well... they missed nine of their final ten shots. Jeff Walz had plenty of material today to lament about his squad's penchant for allowing the "dribble drive".

Curry had a Louisville career high with her 19 points. Louisville shot a dismal 38.6% from the floor but still left John Paul Jones Arena with a win

(Fred Gwynne aka Herman Munster fits the scary Cards finish today. It was a "W", though)

THE FRED REPORT

FREE THROWS -- Louisville went 8-10 from the line, a marked improvement for the Cards that surpasses our 70% mandate and earns them a capital "F". 

REBOUNDS -- 43-31 in favor of the Cards...Cochran had 11 and Roberts nine. A double-double for "O" today and we see a capital "R". 

EFFORT /EXECUTION -- The 38.6% shooting isn't particularly pretty, and the six fourth quarter points were flat ugly, but the Cards looked pretty sharp before that and 15 turnovers is down from previous games..so we'll award a lower case "e" here. 

DEFENSE -- Louisville had nine steals, but allowed 52 of the Virginia points in the paint and 50.9% shooting for UVA. Still, despite the fade at the end, they held UVA to under 70 points and the defense allowed less points than the Cavaliers did. It's a win, let's go lower case "d" 

FINAL FRED TOTAL:  F-R-e-d

Louisville goes to SMU next for a Thursday 1/30/25 contest in Dallas.

POST GAME JEFF WALZ 1/26/25

paulie

Basketball On The Road - Sunday Cardinal Couple

WBB vs Virginia

A week ago today, the Cards were in Blacksburg, VA, today they're 145 miles away in Charlottesville.  It seems a little crazy that these trips couldn't be combined in to a single weekend, but here we are, subject to the whimsy of ACC scheduling.

Charlottesville, is of course, the home to the University of Virginia who will be the Cards' opponent today at 2pm.  Louisville will be looking to get back into the win column and continue to add to their NCAA tournament resume'.  We still have a lot of season to play, but the team is currently 41st in the NET rankings which doesn't necessarily put them "On The Bubble", but it is uncomfortably close.

Virginia is down around the bottom third of the ACC standings, with a conference record of 3-5 and 11-9 overall.  The only real notable win on their schedule so far was against their neighbors Virginia Tech (73-65).  Losses to Oklahoma, Notre Dame, Duke, are certainly understandable.  Georgia Tech, Boston College, and NC State are a bit tougher to take for the Hoos, but the losses to Wyoming and Washington State would be concerning for fans of the blue and orange.

Only two players score in double digits for UVA, Kymora Johnson and Latisha Latimore, 18.3, and 13.3 points per game respectively, while Olivia McGhee, and Breona Hurd fall just short of the mark at 9.6 and 9.5.  From range, Johnson is the biggest threat, not being afraid of hoisting the 3-ball, and hitting about 41% of them.  McGhee hits about 36%, so she shouldn't be left open on the outside either.

Many of the team stats are close compared to their opponents, though UVA does fall short of their opponents, just slightly, in assists, steals, and turnovers.  On the other hand, they do outblock their opponents, and by a margin of almost 2-1, so careful shot selection will be the order of the day.

Let's give some credit to the UVA fanbase however, for a team that maybe doesn't inspire a huge amount of awe, they average over 4,000 in attendance, which is a nice turnout.  I always think watching a game is more enjoyable when you can hear a crowd getting into it, even if they're cheering for the opposing team.

A 2pm start suggests and TV scheduled game, and that is indeed the case here.  An unusual outlet for it, though with The CW being the network carrying this one.  That is a linear channel, and in the Louisville area it is broadcast channel 58 in some areas and on channel 7on Insight. .  It should be available on all TV providers such as Spectrum, DirecTV, YoutubeTV, and others.

Tennis and Swimming

Tennis bounced back from their "short-handed" loss against Middle Tennessee and were able to win, 5-2 against Tennessee Chattanooga.  The Cards were still missing two player to illness meaning that The Mocs got a point on singles court 6 by default.  Despite defaulting on the 3rd doubles court, Louisville won in tie-breakers on the other two courts to get the doubles point.  Regardless, four wins on singles courts would have been enough to secure the overall victory, but the doubles point gave a bit of insurance.

Swimming had a dual meet against Kentucky, and won both the men's and women's side of the event with solid margins.  The women, ranked 10th, out-paddled the Cats to a 206-94 meet win.

Cardinal Couple Radio Hour Podcast

Daryl, Jared, Paulie, and I carried on without a illness-striken Case in the CCRHP and had a good discussion about Basketball, as is the norm this time of year.  We did spend a few moments towards the end of the show looking at the newly released Softball schedule and examining the plethora of pitching options on the squad.

Check it out at:

https://creators.spotify.com/pod/show/cardinal-couple/episodes/Basketball-Looks-to-Get-Back-to-Winning-e2u0gpa

-- 

JMcA

CARDS WTEN FALLS AT MTSU -- SATURDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

 LOUISVILLE WOMEN'S TENNIS GETS RACK(ET)ED UP IN MURFREESBORO.

(A candid photo of me and Sonya, at football, from Jared) 

Paulie with you today on a Saturday, of all days, to cover the  -- ok, we won't call it "the joy and excitement" of Louisville women's athletic today -- but, instead...filling in on the daily write for a sick Case who is in the bed and the rest of the crew unavailable... involved in their normal Saturday, pre-podcast activities. As for me, I awoke at 9 a.m. to get the gleeful news that Case was out for the article and podcast. It normally takes me an hour to see straight on a weekend morning after rising, so this one may take awhile to write and it'll need a few proofreads.  Coffee, don't fail me now.

Since we have no hoops until tomorrow, at Virginia , for Jeff Walz's crew...I'll leave the preview article for that one in Charlottesville  for our Sunday writer Jeff McAdams. Let's take a look, instead, at the demise of Louisville women' tennis yesterday. A trip to Tennessee, to face mid-major MTSU, and a surprising and head-scratching loss to the Blue Raiders.

4-1 was the final score outcome, in favor of MTSU, and right off the bat, that appears to be a weird score for a college tennis match. We are used to seeing some combination of seven points in a final score...so why didn't we in Murfreesboro on Friday? 

The major reason for the shortened match score was because of illness on the Cardinals' squad. The Cards were down two players due to illness, and tennis isn't one of those collegiate sports where you have a deep bench of players...it's pretty much send out your six singles players, let them play and pick four for two doubles match...usually your best four players. So, a day of six total matches developed...four singles and two doubles match....for five points available. Five, you say? Should it not be six. Paulie? And, the answer is no...they count the two doubles matches as one point.  Confusing, right? 

In any event, the Cards dropped both of their doubles matches...Alice Otis and Elisabeth Iila falling 6-2 and Allie Gretkowski and Alena Noguero going down 6-2. 

The Cards finally got a win on the board when, their only win as it turned out, Allie Gretkowski took her matches 6-3 6-3. They automatically took a loss because of a absent #6 seed. Then, Otis and Noguero played their singles matches and were both defeated. And that was a wrap...the Blue Raiders gathering four points and UofL just one.  

The loss drops the Cards to 1-1 on the young season. They are scheduled to face UT- Chattanooga today on the Blue Raider courts. Just how many will grab the racquets for the Cards will be a match-time decision.  

(Humble Pie, without Frampton...yes, they could rock a bit) 

Conspiratory theorists will gather, i am sure, and discuss the odd phenonium of our writer Case out sick and two Louisville women's tennis players also out with maladies. I have been in contact with Dr. Pepper and basketball great Dr. J. to request a full diagnosis. I've even been texting Case the blues-rock band Humble Pie classic seventies rocker "I don't need no doctor" to help heal him.  I haven't heard back from anyone...which typically is about normal for me. 

So how's your Saturday been? 

I Don't Need No Doctor -- Humble Pie

CARDINAL COUPLE RADIO HOUR PODCAST

We'll have four for the podcast this morning...me, Jeff, Jared and Daryl. You can expect we'll discuss women's hoops and maybe a preview look at Softball and Lacrosse. You just never know what will happen on our Saturday get-togethers, so tune in!  Find us at: 

CARDINAL COUPLE RADIO HOUR PODCAST

PAULIE

 

Louisville 

.

Cardinal News and Notes -- FRIDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

FRIDAYS WITH DARYL 

Hello readers and welcome to the weekend!   

Hard to believe it's the last weekend in the month of January.    

The Softball Cards are about a month out from hosting the home opener vs the neighboring Bellarmine Knights.   They'll be 18 games into the season by then.   

The WBB squad is on a week-long break as they have had some time to reflect and regroup on the loss at Virginia Tech this past weekend.  

They will be back in action when they head to Charlottesville, Virginia for a Sunday, 2pm tilt with the Cavaliers.  This one will be available on the CW channel.  

WGolf 

The WGolf squad was supposed to resume the season with their spring schedule this past week but the schedule has no results or stories from the rounds that included UofL as well as IU and UK.  

The only results from the match that I could find were from IU's student paper that reported  "The Hoosiers took first place with a score of 300 over the University of Louisville and the University of Kentucky in the one-day, 18-hole match".    Both UofL and UK's athletics websites do not have results posted as of 1/22/25 night... which I thought was strange. 

I had assumed the round wasn't played due to the crazy winter storms in the southeastern part of the country.  

ON SCHEDULE

As you can see, Paulie added the 2025 Softball as well as the lacrosse schedule to the right side of the page.  Let's hope a lot of W's will be added in the coming months.  We know he had contacted the SID's who handle softball and lacrosse to see if he can get preseason interviews (that we will run here) but nothing had developed yet . 

As Always,
Go Cards

~Daryl 

Lacrosse, Two Weeks To Go -- THURSDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

Louisville Lacrosse Approaches Regular Season

Photo by GoCards

Louisville lacrosse is quickly approaching the start of the 2025 season. The Cards are two weeks and one day away from their season opener against Denver at the Louisville Lacrosse Stadium.

The expanded ACC this year cuts down on the number of non-conference opponents, but does help maximize the opportunities to get more conference wins. Louisville has never won more than three ACC matches in a season. The Cards will play nine ACC games this year.

Last season, Louisville had its best season of the Scott Teeter era, going 8-11 highlighted by an upset over ranked Clemson. They played eight ranked opponents during the regular season and added another in the ACC Tournament. The Cards also played two of the teams to make the Final Four including eventual national champion Boston College.

Photo by GoCards

The ACC had six teams make the 28-team NCAA Tournament. Add in ACC newcomer Stanford and the ACC has seven teams in the conference this season to make the tournament last year.

Louisville lost its top three scorers to graduation- Kokoro Nakazawa, Nicole Perroni, and Kylea Dobson. The younger Nakazawa sister, Negai, Rian Adkins, Maggie McMahon, Tiffany Natoli, and Izzy Seikel all finished in double figure points (goals and assists combined) and return this season.

Sara Addeche and J Pleck split time in goal with the former seeing a majority of the minutes. Addeche graduated but Pleck returns for her senior season. She is joined by junior Aubrey Bagenstose, sophomore Hanna John, and newcomer Haley Richards. Neither Bagenstose and John played last season.

This year's squad is comprised of 11 freshmen, eight sophomores, eight juniors, eight seniors, and one graduate student. There are two local kids on the squad in graduate student Ashley Osborne (Ballard High School) and freshman Rosie Cobler (Sacred Heart Academy). The most common hometown on the roster is Columbus, Ohio, where three players all played at Upper Arlington High School.

This season features eight home games with all but one set for noon starts. Cardinal Couple plans to have in person coverage at many of the games this year.

Happy Thursday and Go Cards!

Jared

Cards Softball Will Have Plenty Of Pitchers In 2025 -- WEDNESDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

 SEVEN PITCHERS ON CARDS SOFTBALL ROSTER FOR 2025

With Louisville Softball about two weeks away, let's take a look at the pitchers that Holly Aprile will have to choose from in the upcoming season.  The list is as big as I can ever remember seeing for a UofL Softball roster, seven players are listed in the pitcher designation...with a freshman, three sophomores, a junior and two seniors. 

Returning from last season is ace junior Alyssa Zabala. She went 18-16 in the circle for the Cards and had 38 appearances in Louisville's 52 games. No doubt Cards head coach Holly Aprile will lean heavily on her again in the 2025 season. 

Brooke Gray had a promising freshman season for the Cards in the circle,  getting four wins , two of them shutouts, in 23 appearances in the circle. She registered 34 strike outs in 54 innings of work, She came in with high honors as Kentucky's Miss Softball in 2023.

Sam Booe is a senior who totaled three wins and two saves for the Cards as a junior in 22 appearances. She was second high on the roster with strike out last year with 50 in 46 innings of circle time.

Izzy Harrison transferred to Louisville from Kentucky in 2024 and had eight appearances for the Cards.  She had 17 strikeouts in 13.2 innings of work.  

Lindsey Mullen made nine appearances as a freshman for the Cards last season. She got a win in her only start, against Georgetown College.

Katie Thatcher is listed as a sophomore pitcher/outfielder but spent 2024 as an outfielder only. She did go 19-3 in her high school senior season in the circle at Rock Falls, IL H.S.

Ryann Sanders is a freshman on the squad this season and comes in from Bentonville, Arkansas. She was a Max Preps softball All-American. 

It is a solid, veteran staff that recorded 26 of the Cards 27 wins last season. Zabala looks to be the ace of the staff again, but we'll watch with interest the rest of the staff, especially Gray, who was all-everything in Kentucky high school softball in 2023 and has a strong arm. 

The Cards begin the season Feb 7th., in Leesburg, Florida

We'll have more on the team as the season draws nearer. we also hope to bring you an interview with head coach Holly Aprile coming up in the next couple of weeks. 

paulie

 

Tennis Begins Season Perfect -- TUESDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

Cards Sweep UNC Greensboro at Bass-Rudd

Photo by GoCards

The first spring sport to start their season is Louisville women's tennis. The Cards are coming off an abysmal 2024 season, boasting a 4-19 record and going 0-13 in the ACC. They closed out last season on a 17-match losing streak.

Louisville started this season off on a much better note, sweeping UNC Greensboro 7-0. All six singles players won their match-ups and all three doubles match-ups went in favor of the Cards. Only doubles point is award in the overall scoring with the point being awarded to the team in a best-of-three series.

The Cards are relying heavily on the youth on the team as the seven-person roster consists of one senior, one junior, four sophomores, and one freshman. Louisville also is relying on international talents this season. Two players hail from Spain, one from Ukraine, and one from Estonia. Two players come from Mount Pleasant, South Carolina and one comes from College Park, Georgia.

Photo by GoCards

Court 1: Alice Otis won 2-1

Court 2: Lika Peresypkina won 2-0

Court 3: Elena Noguero won 2-0

Court 4: Allie Gretkowski won 2-0

Court 5: Germany Davis won 2-0

Court 6: Berta Miret won 2-0

Louisville heads down to Tennessee next weekend to face Middle Tennessee and Chattanooga.

Happy Tuesday and Go Cards!

Jared

Rally falls short as Cards WBB falls at Virginia Tech 70-65 -- MONDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

 CARDS FALL SHORT DESPITE 4TH QUARTER RALLY

Louisville women's basketball staged a furious fourth quarter rally and almost pulled off the win in Blacksburg Sunday afternoon against Virginia Tech but fell short in a 70-65 loss. 

For three quarters, Louisville was the gang that couldn't shoot straight, trailing 58-45 and allowing VT 24 third quarter points. It certainly looked like the Cards had left their game back in the KFC YUM! Center after 30 minutes, but the Cards found a rally in them and roared back in the final period to get within one at 63-62 with 1:48 to play after an Olivia Cochran put-back.

Virginia Tech did what they had to do, though, sinking eight free throws the rest of the way on nine attempts to keep the Cards at bay and get the win on Liz Kitley Day. The Cards won the fourth quarter convincingly 20-12, but it was not enough to give them the road win. 

Cochran led the Cards with14 points, one of three in double figures for UofL...with Jayda Curry adding 13 points before fouling out and Ja'Leah Williams having a strong fourth quarter and ending with 12 points. 

You can maybe point at Louisville's futile three point shooting as a reason for the loss, the Cards going a woeful 2 for18 from beyond the arc, while the Hokies went 6-16 from three-point range.  

Louisville was whistled for 25 fouls, while the Hokies were just assessed 15, maybe another factor in the contest. 18-25 from the line for the home squad, Louisville going 11-17. 

A contest where Louisville never had a lead, a rarity for the Cards. And, Virginia Tech did not make a basket in the final 4:20...so the chances were there for the Cards, but they couldn't quite pull it off. 

Fred Bird is the St. Louis Cardinals mascot. 

THE FRED REPORT

FREE THROWS --  The Cards went 64.7% from the charity stripe, we demand a 70% or better for a letter, so no letter here. Roberts and Russell were a combined 4-8, 

REBOUNDS -- 39-25 advantage for the Cards in the battle of the boards...Cochran with eight and Harris with seven to lead the way for Louisville. CAPITAL "R"

EFFORT/EXECUTION -- The Cards did win the turnover battle, committing 13 to Tech's 14, and had four steals to VT's three, and ruled in points in the paint 44-26, but 65 points is a bit underwhelming. And, Louisville lost...we cannot award a letter here. The effort was not enough to get the win. No letter

DEFENSE -- Allowing the Hokies 53.5% shooting for the game hindered UofL's effort, and a 20-13 bench scoring edge for VT was beneficial, especially the effort from freshman Kayl Peterson with 12 points as a reserve. No win, no letter for the defense. 

FINAL FRED TALLY: _-R-_-_

The Cards get a week off before their next outing, a trip to Virginia awaits the Cards Sunday. 

POST GAME JEFF WALZ

paulie