Lax Falters in Fourth Quarter -- TUESDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

Happy Tuesday! Jared checking in here following a week out of the country cruising around the Caribbean. Thank you to the rest of the crew at Cardinal Couple for filling in while I was gone. And thank you to Daryl for sending me updates with the results for our various women's teams.

Lax Falls on the Road to Marquette

Photo by Go Cards

Louisville lacrosse battled tight with Marquette for three and a half quarters but a pair of late goals by the Eagles gave Marquette a 13-10 win. The Cards drop to 2-2 following the loss.

Marquette jumped out to an early 3-0 lead but Louisville was able to battle back. The Cards trailed 4-3 at the end of the first quarter and continued their run to take a 5-4 lead a few minutes later. The two teams traded goals before a Marquette goal shortly before halftime gave them a 7-6 lead.

The third quarter was also mostly defense, but the Cards held a 2-1 advantage to even the score 8-8. The Eagles scored the first two goals of the final quarter before a Louisville goal cut the deficit to one. Marquette added to their lead with a pair of late goals to secure the win.

Photo by Go Cards

Newcomer Ella Berg led the Cards with her first career hat trick. She is tied for first on the team with six goals on the year. The other seven goals on the match were scored by seven different Louisville players.

Defensively, Louisville had a strong showing. They allowed three goals in the second quarter and one goal in the third quarter. The defense struggled in the final quarter though, allowing five goals.

The offense had some challenges as the Cards could not score more than three goals in any quarter. Only one player logging multiple goals is something we aren't accustomed to seeing.

Photo by Go Cards

J Pleck saw the entire match in goal and logged 13 saves for a .500 save percentage. Her counterpart across the pitch logged eight saves against 10 goals for .444 save percentage.

The Cards wrap up their road trip at California on Sunday, their first ACC match of the season.

Happy Tuesday and Go Cards!

Jared

Softball Cards split on Sunday -- MONDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

 CARDS DEFEAT F.A.U. BUT GET POUNDED BY PURDUE

A tale of two games on Sunday in 85 degree Boca Raton (doesn't that temperature sound wonderful today, Louisvillians? ) 

The Cards ran into a Purdue squad in the first game of the day...the Boilermakers decided to exercise their bats against Brooke Gray and two other Cards pitchers.  Refusing to pay the ridiculous prices the FloSoftball bandits wanted to see the contests, i followed on StatBroadcast and watched in dismay as the Boilermakers unloaded on the Cards circle starter in the first inning with three runs.

Gray would survive that and get two outs in the second inning before the Cards decided to go with Sam Booe, ...but Purdue scored four more runs and four hits in the the top of the fourth to take a commanding 7-2 lead. 

Louisville's two runs (to that point of the contest) came when Maddi Grant singled home Madison Pickens in the second, and Ally Alexander scored on a sacrifice fly in the third. 

it was the seventh inning before the teams scored again. Purdue put up their final two runs on a passed ball and a single with runners on second and third. Louisville would add just a ru in the bottom of the seventh...Alexander scoring on a wild throw to second after a Bri Despains single. 

In the second game, against host FAU, FAU and tournament organizers decided to open the viewing up where the common fan could watch without having to dig into their pocketbook.

 Alyssa Zabala, the ace on the Louisville pitching staff, took the circle and delivered a shutout...yes, FAU piled up 11 hits, but they did not push a runner across the plate, (and that's pretty much the name of the game...scoring). 

The Cards got their first two runs in the second inning....Pickens scoring on a sacrifice fly and freshman Taylor Monroe came home on a fellow freshman...Jordan Williams.... single. 

Louisville would add a third run in the top of the third when Easton Lotus scored on a sacrifice geound out from DeSpines. 

The Cards final run came in the fifth when Alexander came home on a DeSpines single. 

Louisville faces USF next, in Tampa, on Feb 19th

 

Lacrosse and Softball - Sunday Cardinal Couple

Lacrosse Loses to Ranked OSU

Lacrosse took the trip up I-71 to Columbus, OH to meet Ohio State on their home turf.  The Buckeyes, ranked 24th in the coach's poll, took the win 9-6, though the Cards did compete fairly well with them.

 

Particularly standing out, goalkeeper J Pleck had 12 saves, which went a long way towards preventing this from being a much bigger loss than it was.  The Cards could not generate the offense needed to really counter OSU, however, the the Buckeyes maintain a one or two goal lead through nearly all of play.  It wasn't until the final few minutes of the fourth quarter that they gained a three goal margin.

 

The scoring that Louisville did, however, was spread across much of the team.  Six goals and six scorers; Erin Nicholson, Maggie McMahon, Izzy Seikel, Ella Berg, Reese Whiteman, Negai Nakazawa.  The hope, of course, is that as the season progresses this variety of goal scorers will all become a bit more productive.

 

The Cards will continue on the road for another couple of games, to play Marquette in Milwaukee tomorrow, and Cal in Berkeley on Saturday.

 

Softball Wins an Early Game

Softball wraps up week two of three that start off the season in Florida at the FAU tournament today.  It was a slightly atypical early weekend schedule for the Cards with only a single game yesterday, and an early one, starting at 9am, at that.  They'll make up for it with a pair of games this afternoon.

 

It was a good start to the day for Louisville, knocking off Minnesota (who surely are enjoying the warmer climes) 2-1 before having the rest of the day to themselves.  No word on what the team got up to in the West Palm Beach, Boca Raton, Fort Lauderdale, Miami joint metro area but hopefully, and likely, it involved better weather than what we're experiencing in Louisville this morning.

 

Minnesota got their run on the board relatively early, in the second inning, with the Cards waiting until the sixth inning to get their offense unlimbered.

 

Char Lorenz led off the sixth inning for the Cards with a single and...say it with me...promptly stole second.  Well, it wasn't quite so prompt, another player did strike out before Lorenz got the opportunity, but stole second she did, in any case.  A wild pitch got her to third and a sacrifice groundout gave her the opportunity to cross the plate.

 

The Cards would get their second run in the seventh inning.  Easton Lotus did this one all herself...well, not quite all herself, she had some help from the Gophers to do it.  The hit was very short, being fielded by the catcher, but an error on the throw, combined with Lotus's speedy basepath prowess, let her stretch that all the way back to home.

 

The FAU tournament does continue today and Louisville will play two, the first at 1:15 against Purdue, and the second at 4 against hosting FAU.  Video for the first is only available through the ridiculously expensive for what it is flosports, but the second, with the home team hosting, will be available through their site directly:

https://fausports.com/watch/?Live=2284&type=Live 

Purdue is not much to talk about in Softball, but FAU just stepped up into the rankings, albeit just barely, at 25 this week, so they need to be taken seriously with the only loss out of the 10 games they've played so far coming from Villanova on Friday.  The Owls do tend to score big, scoring in double-digits twice this season (Minnesota and Missouri State), so the Cards defense will need to be sharp, and the Louisville bats need to get in gear to provide some buffer.

 

Cardinal Couple Radio Hour Podcast

Smile like you're about to get a free lunch!

It was a trio for the CCRHP yesterday, with Daryl, Paulie and myself making the connection.  Jared was returning home from Disneying ("fetch" may not happen, but I'm confident "Disneying" will), while Case had house work being done and so spared us the likely considerable background noise.

 

The hour goes quickly when we've got three sports to cover, Basketball, Lacrosse, and Softball get their time in the CCRHP sun.

 

You can find it wherever fine podcast are sold...well, given away...including it's origin at spotify:

https://creators.spotify.com/pod/show/cardinal-couple/episodes/Basketball--Lacrosse--and-Softball-All-In-Action-e2uuo40

 

-- 

JMcA

Softball Sweeps Friday -- SATURDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

Softball Wins Pair of 5-1 Games

Louisville softball is playing in the Joan Joyce Classic this weekend, and they opened the event with a pair of games against Villanova and Minnesota. After dropping their second game last Saturday against Radford, the Cards demolished Cleveland State on Sunday and entered the weekend 3-2. After yesterday's matching 5-1 victories, Louisville moves to 5-2 with their Saturday game underway at 9am and two games tomorrow. 

In the opener, Louisville played host against Villanova and Alyssa Zabala got the start. She walked the third batter she faced, but struck out the fourth to end the inning. Louisville came to the plate and decided to functionally win the game right out of the gate. Easton Lotus walked, stole second, and then took third on a wild pitch. Bri Despines ended up getting three more out of the zone and walked as well. Like Lotus ahead, she also stole second, leaving a pair of runners in scoring position for Char Lorenz to bring them home on a single. 2-0.

Lorenz wasn't able to be the third Cardinal in a row to steal second, as she was thrown out, but Madison Pickens took her spot after a hit by pitch. Maddi Grant doubled to put runners on second and third again, but Katie Thatcher popped out to give the Cards two outs. Taylor Monroe doubled both runners in, and Ally Alexander followed with another double to score Monroe. Chelsea Mack moved Alexander to third with a bunt single, but the inning ended on another caught stealing attempt. That gave Louisville a 5-0 lead on five hits, two walks, a hit by pitch, and no errors. Pretty good. 

Unfortunately, the Cards were only able to pick up one more walk and two more hits through the remaining six innings. The walk and one of the hits were strung together in the third, but nothing came of them and every other inning was fairly sad. Fortunately for Louisville, Zabala was strong in this one, pitching four innings and giving up just the one walk to go along with three hits. One of those hits was a solo home run in the fourth to score Villanova's only run. She struck out four. Sam Booe relieved Zabala in the fifth and pitched two innings with two hits, two walks, and a strikeout. Booe was replaced by Ryann Sanders for the seventh inning, and Sanders went three-up, three-down. 

Game two saw Louisville win with the same final score but in a rather different manner. Like the first game, Louisville functionally won in the first inning, but they didn't expend all of their offensive output in one go. Louisville was the away team and Easton Lotus opened the game with a single. In an effort to play a bit of small ball, Despines laid down a bunt to move her to second, but Minnesota's pitcher was willing to be a little more generous than that. An errant throw saw both runners go 180 feet rather than just 60, and the play ended with Lotus back in the dugout after scoring an unearned run and Despines standing on third. Despines would go on to score on a fielder's choice RBI by Pickens. 

Alyssa Zabala got the start again, though she would only go 2.1 innings in this one. Brooke Gray relieved Zabala after Alyssa gave up six hits and a run with two strikeouts. After Louisville scored a third run in the top of the third inning (Lorenz walked, Pickens walked, Grant productive groundout, wild pitch to score), Minnesota followed a ground out with a double and two straight singles to score their first run of the game. With runners on first and second and one out, Gray was called on to end the threat, which she did with a strike out and a pop out. Gray would go on to give up four hits and one walk and struck out three in her 4.2 innings. Louisville led 3-1 after three. 

Louisville put a runner on base in the fourth on a single and in the fifth on a walk, but they weren't able to bring either batter around. The Cards looked to be in for a big inning in the sixth when Taylor Monroe reached on an error to lead off and Jordan Williams singled to follow. The good vibes ended pretty quickly, though, when Monroe was thrown out trying to stretch the Williams single into two bases. A ground out gave the Cards two quick outs, but a Chelsea Mack single brought in Williams, who had moved to second on the throw out of Monroe. A fly out ended the inning with the Cards up 4-1. 

Louisville scored their final run on a two-out rally in the seventh. Madison Pickens singled to keep Louisville's inning alive and Maddi Grant rewarded her with an RBI triple. Louisville led 5-1 going into the final frame, and Minnesota looked like they'd consider putting up a fight. After a fly out, the Gophers found a gap for a double and followed it with a single to put two runners in scoring position. Gray was able to buckle down, though, and nab a strikeout to mean any out would win the game. A fly out to center did just that. 

All in all, it was a pretty good afternoon for the Cards. If there's one thing to clean up, it would be to not give up so many hits. While they spread just five against Villanova, they gave up ten to Minnesota and were lucky to not give up more runs. Part of that was not luck, as I'd be remiss to not mention a pair of web gems from Ally Alexander at third base. In one game, she had a leaping grab on what looked like a double if it got over her, and in the other she had a diving stop toward short before popping up and firing to first for the out from a knee. Pretty good stuff at the hot corner. 

Louisville is back in action with one game today against Minnesota, which is going on at the time of publication, and they'll play two tomorrow against Purdue (1:15) and host FAU (4). The Owls are ranked 25th in the country. 

Cardinal Couple Radio Hour Podcast

I'm out this week for some home improvement items and Jared remains away. Daryl, Jeff, and Paulie will still bring you plenty of show with an exciting week for WBB and good showings from softball and lacrosse. You can check out the live stream of the show by going to the Cardinal Couple YouTube page and clicking on the live video. Jeff usually creates that about an hour before the show, which officially starts at 11 AM Eastern. If the live time doesn't work for you, there are plenty of playback options, so be sure to check out whichever is best for you!

Cardinal Couple YouTube: Link

Spotify: Link

Apple Podcasts: Link

Google Podcasts: Link

Overcast (free account required): Link

Pocket Casts (free account and app required): Link

RadioPublic: Link

Until next time, Go Cards!

Case

WBB cruises to 83-69 victory over #21 FSU -- Softball at Joan Joyce Classic -- FRIDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

FRIDAYS WITH DARYL


Gooood morning readers and Happy Valentines Day to those who celebrate.  It's my husband's busy season at work so he has been looking forward to the end of it.  We've also been battling the germs going around and trying to get back 100% and looking forward to spring time.   

WBB


The Cardinals get a Quad 1 win for their tournament resume heading into the final stretch of the WBB regular season.   Louisville gets a 83-69 win over #21 Florida State to move to 18-7 and 11-3 and 4th in the ACC.

A big night from Nyla Harris going 6-9 from the field for 11 points and 9 rebounds. Jayda Curry was 3-5 from 3 with 17 points 4 rebounds 6 assists Taj Roberts also had 17 points and 10 rebounds and it felt like Olivia had a better night than the stat sheet shows...with 8 pts and 9 rebounds.

Elif Istanbulluoglu had 7 and hit a 3 while Imari Berry had 11 with 7 rebounds and 4 assists.  It was quite the offensive night for the Louisville Cardinals.  

End of 1Q 25-12 Cards


FG %
10-20 50% Cards
4-16 25% FSU
Reb. 13-9 FSU
3-pt %
3-5 60% Cards
0-7 0% FSU


Two turnovers forced by the Cards in the first minute as the offense heated up quickly for UofL out to a 9-2 lead before FSU pushed back to make it a 3 point game, 9-6.   Jayda Curry went 3-3 to start the game to to make it 16-8.



End of 2Q 19-16 Cards


FG %
8-19 42.1% Cards
7-16 43.8% FSU
Reb. 12 all
3-pt %
0-3 0% Cards
1-6 16.7%  FSU

5 fouls were called on the Cards in the first 2:45 of the 2nd quarter, 4 in the first minute.  UofL converted 13 points off 6 turnovers to put them up 35-19 before the Seminoles went on a run making 4-5 field goals to make it 37-26 and Walz called a timeout after the Cards went on a 0-6 shooting slump.  

Berry got the ball away out of the TO and Randolph made a bucket to put the Cards offensive drought to rest. 

FSU finished 1-13 from 3point range... while the Cards shot 46% from the field.

The Seminoles committed 9 turnovers in the half...which the Cards converted for 17 points. Louisville finished 3-3 on shot attempts with Mac Randolph going 1-2 at the line to finish the final 2 minutes of the half.   Louisville held Latson to 9 points in the half.  



HALF 44-28

End of 3Q 24- 19 FSU

FG %
8-16 50% Cards
6-13 46.2% FSU
Reb. 9-8 FSU
3-pt %
3-6 50% Cards
1-2 50% FSU


Cards shot 50% from the field on 5-10 shooting 2-3 from 3 point land while FSU goes blank the first 6ish minutes. The Seminoles were able to get their points at the free throw line going 7-8 where the Cards had zero chances.

Harris and Ja'Leah Williams both pickedup 4 fouls went to the bench.  Olivia records her 1000th career rebound moving her into an exclusive category.

Cards went up 58-42 before FSU goes on an 8-0 run in a minute to make it 58-50 and Walz called a time out . After a few trips down and back on the court, the Cards Roberts converted underneath to push the lead back to 10 points and she hit a 3 to make it 63-52 at the end of the quarter.

While the Cards shot 50% from the field and 3 point range, the Seminoles were able to win the quarter going 11-15 at the free throw line when the Cards had no chances at the charity stripe.

End of 4Q 20-17 Cards

FG %
8-16 50% Cards
6-16 37.5% FSU
Reb. 14-4 Cards
3-pt %
2-3 66.7% Cards
1-5 20% FSU



Cards pushed the lead out to a 70-52 lead before FSU went on a 7-0 run over 2 minutes to make it 70-59.  Curry ended the scoring drought with a floater with 5 minutes left in the game.

FSU was 3-18 from 3 point range with a little under 5 minutes left in the game.

Harris with the money shot to make it a 76-62 lead and the Cards had made 5 of their previous 7 shots. Roberts hit the 3 pointer to make it  81-64 with 2 minutes left in the game as the Cards find a way to run out the clock and leave Tallahassee with a win.

83-69 Final

UP NEXT

Louisville vs #13 Duke

Next Thursday 2/20

7 p.m. ESPN2

FRED REPORT

Frederick Douglass

FREE THROWS --  Louisville went 7-11 at the free throw line which is good for 63%.   The Seminoles had 15 extra FT attempts in the game.   The Cards were able to make some big buckets while FSU's scoring opportunities were coming at the line.   no letter because it doesn't meet the mandated mark of 70%.

REBOUNDING --  The Cards outrebounded FSU 47-34 getting a huge night from Taj Roberts, Olivia Cochran and Nyla Harris with 10, 9 and 9 respectively.  Imari Berry also pulled down 7 rebounds. CAPITAL R


EFFORT/EXECUTION --  The Cardinals came out swinging and did not relinquish the lead despite a few scoring runs the Seminoles went on.  UofL only lost the 3rd quarter when they still shot 50% from the field and 3 point range.   FSU had 11 points come from the FT line in the quarter.   CAPITAL E 
 
DEFENSE --  UofL held FSU to 15% from 3 point land in the game and the Seminoles leading scorer scoreless from beyond the arc.  As a team, the Cards had 8 steals and 22 points off turnovers.  CAPITAL D

FINAL FRED TALLY:   -_R_E_D

Post game Jeff Walz link:  HERE


SOFTBALL

Photo: Jared Anderson

Louisville enters the FAU tournament with a record of 3-2

The Cards will open the weekend with a double header with Villanova and Minnesota on Friday and Minnesota on Saturday and Purdue and Florida Atlantic on Sunday afternoon.  

Vs Villanova

Louisville leads the series 16-3
Last Meeting: 3/1/24- Villanova won 6-4

Villanova holds a 2-3 record starting its 2025 campaign at the Aggie Classic in College Station, Texas. The Wildcats beat Utah State and Abilene Christian to start the year and lost to Purdue, #19 Baylor, and #8 Texas A&M. 

Lilly St. Jean was dominant in the first three games at FAU with four hits in just six plate appearances on day one. 

Sophomore Maranda Runco led the league in batting average en route to a BIG EAST Player of the Week nod.  Villanova's starting designated player racked up a .583 average with seven hits across five games, 

Dual-threat option Kelsey White, an outfielder/pitcher has been a major contributor both in the circle and at the plate throughout her four-year career. opening weekend with six hits, six runs and eight RBI. The Massachusetts native belted three of VU's four home runs, slugging 1.133 on the weekend and adding two doubles, a single and a pair of walks.

Villanova has been picked to win the Big East this year in the Big East preseason poll. 


Vs Minnesota

Series History: Tied 6-6
Last Meeting: 2/7/15 – Minnesota won 4-2 at the UNLV Sportco Kick-Off Classic Scouting the Golden Gophers: Minnesota began its season at the Kajikawa Classic in Tempe. Arizona where they went 1-3. Minnesota beat Miami (OH) and took two losses against Utah and also fell to California.
Last weekend, Minnesota's Nani Valencia hit .500, slugged .917, and had an OB% of .571. She amassed 6 hits in 12 ABs and scored 6 runs while driving in 2. Freshman Tinley Easton started 2 games over the weekend and hit a Grand Slam in her first collegiate plate appearance. 5 Gophers hit over .300 for the weekend. Presley Hosick led the 'U' in the circle going 1-1 with a 5.14 ERA. Highlighted by a 127 pitch, 9 strikeout complete game in the Gophers' win over Miami(OH). 

The tournament, in Boca Raton, will be on shown on FLO Softball..it is a "pay for" site...

As always

Go Cards!
~Daryl

Lax Stays Undefeated, BBall Heads South - Thursday Cardinal Couple

Lacrosse Stays Undefeated

Well, it's a rare weekday appearance for me, Jeff "JMcA" McAdams here on the pages of Cardinal Couple.  I'm picking up an extra day for the Disneying Jared.  Is Disneying a word?  It is now.  As Calvin of Calvin and Hobbes famously said, "Verbing weirds language."

 

In his absence, the Lacrosse Cards have remained undefeated, though of course, it's still extremely early in the season.  But they do move to 2-0 on a two point victory, 11-9 over the Cincinnati Bearcats.  With the earlier win over Denver also being a two point victory, (10-8), perhaps the number 2 will be an important one for the Cards this year?  I don't really buy into numerology like that, but if they want to continue winning by two points every game, I'm totally ok with it.

 

 The Stick Cards started out strong, shutting out the Bearcats in the first quarter, and heading into the second with the 5-0 lead.  Louisville got scoring from Izzy Seikel, Erin Nicholson, Abby Scully, and a pair, the last as the final second ticked off the clock for the quarter, from Lauren Figas.

 

The second quarter was more balanced between the two squads, both scoring twice, Ella Berg and Maggie McMahon finding the net before half for UofL.  Louisville took the 7-2 lead into the halftime break of what was a miserable weather day for Lacrosse.  The not-quite-freezing cold and rain the continually spotted the ACC Network Extra stream's camera lens wouldn't deter them, however.

 

Cincinnati, however, would not go quietly.  They went on a four goal scoring run in the third quarter to bring the game within one at 7-6, before UofL would answer.  It would be a 3-0 run answer, started by Reese Whiteman, and followed by Negai Nakazawa before the third quarter ended.

 

The fourth quarter saw the third score of that run with Whiteman again finding the net.  The Bearcat would score the next three, again, closing to within one before Nakazawa would get the final score with about a minute and a half left in the game to bring the score to its final 11-9.

 

It was, as mentioned, rather unpleasant weather, rainy and cold, but the Cards got it done.

 

J Pleck was in goal, and had seven saves versus the nine goals against.  Intriguingly, both goalkeepers, Pleck as well as Cincinnati's GK, are credited with playing 59 minutes and 56 seconds of the game, with no notation as to what happened to the other four seconds.

 

Next up for UofL is a tri pup to Columbus OH for Ohio State on Saturday.  A 10am start time for some reason that I can't fathom, and the only video listed is on OSU's site, and it indicates that it will only be on Big10+, which is the Big 10's subscription streaming service.

 

Basketball Heads South

Perhaps they thought Softball had the right idea in heading to Florida in February.  I have to admit the idea does sound quite nice to me as well.

 

We're getting into the final stretch of regular season games for basketball.  Florida State is the opponent tonight.  First tip is at 6pm, on ACC Network Extra streaming.

 

Florida State is low in the rankings, number 21 or 23, depending on which poll you're looking at, but they are ranked, as if we needed any additional warning that we can't take a night off in the ever-competitive ACC.

 

I'm not sure what the deal is with opponents picking their games against Louisville to honor people from their program's past.  Virginia Tech picked the Louisville game to retire Elizabeth Kitley, now FSU is hosting us for "Sue Semrau Night".  All the respect, however, for Coach Semrau and her 24 years leading the Seminoles.

19-5 is the overall record for FSU, 9-3 in conference.  Notable matchups include an early season loss to Illinois, a win over their in-state rival, Florida, and a loss to Tennessee in non-conference play.  In conference, they've lost to Stanford, Cal, and NC State.  They have yet to play the likes of Notre Dame and Duke, games that will finish out their season.

 

A look at the team, Ta'Niya Latson is the big threat for FSU, shooting 41% from three, and 47% overall, averaging 26 points per game.  Three other players reach that double-digit average, Makayla Timpson comes in over 17 points per game, which would be attention grabbing if it weren't for Latson.  O'Mariah Gordon averages 16, and Sydney Bowles sneaks in at 10.3.

 

In other stats, FSU is just about even with their opponents, to a minimal rounding error, in rebounds, fouling, and assists but they do get extra possessions, by more than doubling up their opponents in blocks, and steals, and close to half of their opponents turnovers.

 

Volleyball Assistant Coach

Volunteer no more...Parker is the newest asst. coach for VolleyCards

With promotions in the volleyball program, Dan Meske moving up to Head Coach, and Todd Chamberlain getting a promotion to Associate Head Coach, that leaves an Assistant Coach position still to be filled.

 

Don't worry, CC McGraw isn't going anywhere, with an NCAA rule change a couple of years ago, teams can now how three paid assistant coaches.

 

While there is no official announcement from Louisville's program as of yet, there are a number of reports floating about that Parker Mikesch will fill that role.

 

(Edit: The Louisville volleyball program posted the official announcement early this morning.)

 

If you follow Louisville, or even ACC volleyball closely, that name might be familiar to you.  Mikesch was a volunteer assistant coach for the Cards for the 2022 season (before that rule change), then he landed a paid gig as an assistant coach for UNC.  Mikesch has a great head for the game, a real tactician, and has been described as a younger version of Dan Meske.  He has, as mentioned, worked with the program in the past, was well liked, and now has four years of experience in coaching staffs in the ACC.

UofL LAX faces Cincinnati today at noon -- WEDNESDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

 1-0 CARDS LAX FACE CINCY AT THE L.L.S. TODAY

After their 10-8 victory over #16 Denver to start the 2025 Louisville Lacrosse season, Scott Teeter's squad remains at the Louisville Lacrosse Stadium to host Cincinnati for a noon contest today. This one was originally scheduled forTuesday but weather conditons necessitated the move to Wednesday.

The Cards are now a ranked squad, being elevated to #19 in the USA Today poll. The visiting Bearcats are 0-1 on the season, falling to visiting Vanderbilt 13-8 on Feb. 8th. Today's match  will be televised on the ACC Network. 

In their last meeting , in 2024, the Cards travelled to Nippert Stadium in Cincinnati and came away with a 18-13 win. Cincinnati is in their inaugural season in the Big12, after previously competing in the A.A.C. The Bearcats were picked to finish fourth in the preseason Big 12 Coaches poll.

Last year, UC had a 10-7 record overall and was 2-4 in the A.A.C. 

They are led this season by a trio of standouts. Camryn Callaghan had three goals against Vandy.  The junior attacker is out of Upper Arlington, OH. Lauren Ottensmeyer is a graduate student attacker is a transfer to UC, who spent her first two seasons at Youngstown St.  Alexis Rich has started 51 of her 53 games at UC. .

Lauren Figas leads Louisville this season with three goals.  Negai Nakazawa has two goals as does Rian Adkins

The Cards will embark on a three game road trip after today's game...visiting Ohioi State, Marquette and California. 

Admission is free to all Louisville lacrosse matches.. 

paulie

UofL moves LAX to Wednesday afternoon -- TUESDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

Dear readers,


It's Daryl checking in with you early this week as Jared is currently enjoying a much-deserved vacation. I hope he and Katy are enjoying a nice adult beverage on the beach somewhere.  Here in Louisville, we are expecting another round of inclement weather. 

Photo from The Louisville Cardinal 

LAX

Photo: Jared Anderson 

 UofL has already announced that the Lacrosse match vs Cincinnati originally scheduled for 2/11/25 at 3pm has moved to Wednesday 2/12/25 at noon.    

I'm sure they would rather play it safe than sorry and since the two programs are relatively close in proximity, it was probably better for everyone to adjust.  We will get the match covered in tomorrow's edition.   

Stay safe out there, Louisville!  

As always, 

Go Cards! 

~Daryl 

Cards hang on against Stanford 74-65 -- MONDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

 

CURRY'S BIG FOURTH QUARTER HELPS CARDS BEAT TREES. 

Stop me iff you've heard this one before...Louisville women's basketball went into the final quarter with a seemingly insurmountable lead and watched an opponent make a huge rally that almost got them back in the game. 

And that's an apt description of the game against Stanford on Super Bowl Sunday in the KFC YUM! Center. Louisville led Stanford 52-34 with ten minutes to play, but the visitors mustered 31 fourth quarter points, behind the efforts of Mary Ashley Stevenson and Tess Heal...who had 20 points between them, and The Trees or Cardinal, you choose which nickname you like,  cut the Cards lead to six with about two minutes left in the contest. 

They decided to foul the Cards and send them to the free throw line to try and get even closer, but they probably should have picked someone else to foul besides Jayda Curry.

Jayda came into the game with a 93% from the charity stripe success rate, and showed she hadn't lost her touch by sinking 8 for 9 in the quarter and shutting down the Cardinal rally. Just in case you didn't know, Stanford is the Cardinal and Louisville is the Cardinals. And Curry did what she had to do and probably what Cards head coach Jeff Walz wanted in the late going...take the inbounds pass and dribble until they foul you. Consider that UofL got 11 of their final 22 fourth quarter points from the line and 11 from floor shooting.

The Louisville squad trailed 15-13 after the first quarter. A 9-4 UofL lead halfway thru the quarter dissipated in a 11-2 Stanford run that had the visitors up 15-11. Elif Istanbulluoglu nailed a jumper to get the homestanding Cards within two with16 seconds left in the quarter.

Both offenses weren't really lighting up the score board  Would Louisville be able to pick it up in the second quarter?

The answer was "yes". 

Louisville outscored Stanford 6 2 to begin the second quarter, grabbing a 19-17 lead on a Imari Berry jumper with 6:03 to play in the half. Over the ensuing next two minutes, UofL pushed the lead out to 25-18 on a Nyah Harris jumper. It was 28-23 when Ja'Leah Williams hit a jumper with 31 seconds left in the half and that's how the first half ended, Louisville up 30-23 over Stanford. Harris had eight points for UofL and Williams had seven to lead the way.

Louisville came out on fire in the third quarter and doubled the score in those ten minutes on the visitors from California 22-11.  It was 42-29 halfway through the quarter after Taj Roberts nailed a jumper.  The Cards would stretch the lead out to 52-32 with 2:18 left in the quarter on two Willaims free throws, UofL' largest lead of the game, but only Stanford was able score in those final two minutes to make it 52-34 after three. 

Stanford was not ready to leave the YUM! yet and go to a Super Bowl party yet, though. They steadily chipped away at UofL's lead in the fourth quarter and cut the UofLl advantage to 54-42 with 7:22 left in the game. They had trimmed the UofL advantage to 60-53 with 3:45 to play, but Curry stepped up and nailed a three 18 seconds later to make it a ten-point UofL lead.  .Stanford would get as close as six, at 67-61 with 57 seconds to play, but two Curry free throws made it 67-59 with 1:13 left. Stanford kept fouling Curry and she kept going to the fre throw line and making free throws...she had six of UofL final eight points and her two free throws with13 seconds to play made the final score 74-65 Louisville. The ACC's leading free throw shooter showed the 8261 in attendance why she was the leader.

We talked about how teams were having a hard time agaisnt the Cards three point defense on our Saturday podcast. That as true again Sunday, as Stanford went 2-16 for a pitiful 12.5% 

(Today's Fred..Fred MacMurray was the dad in the series "My Three Sons"

 I doubt all three sons combined could have matched Jayda Curry at the charity stripe today. ) 

THE FRED REPORT

FREE THROWS -- Louisville went 16-21 from the line Sunday, that's 76% and exceeds our mandated 70% for a CAPITAL "F" . Curry was cooking with 10-11 for UofL

REBOUNDING --  UofL won the boards battle 35-28. It was a well-balanced team effort with Harris and Cochran leading the way with six each.  CAPITAL "R" is the call here. 

EFFORT/EXECUTION -- Louisville overcame a poor shooting start to finish 26-56 for 46.4%. 18 turnovers didn't kill them and the three guard combo of Williams. Roberts and Curry had 53 points. .It was a bit scary at the end, though. Stanford winning the final quarter by nine and scoring 31 points,  so I will award just a lower case "e".  

DEFENSE -- Holding Stanford to 65 points was impressive but they ruled Louisville in points in the paint 42-22..Still it was a UofL "W"...so we'll allow a lower case "d" for that

FINAL FRED TALLY: F-R-e-d

The Cards go to Florida St. next on Thursday.

SOFTBALL SLUGS PAST CLEVELAND ST 22-2

We now know the Cards softball squad can unleash a pretty formidable offense onslaught when they are "on" . Louisville plated 15 runs in their first two at bats and added seven in the third inning to run-rule the Vikings. 

The Cards were led in offensive production by Char Lorenz, with four hits, six RBI's and two home runs in four at bats. Lorenz sat out last season for the Cards, with a torn ligament in her right wrist, but is making up time in this her redshirt-freshman season.so far. . 

. 

Louisville used two pitchers in the five innings. Brooke Gray getting the start and picking up the "W" to even her season record at 1-1. She went three innings and Ryann Sanders went two innings in relief...allowing no runs and three hits. 

Louisville goes to 3-2 on the season and comes home for a few days before returning to the road to play on Valentine's Day Feb, 14th against Villanova in Boca Raton on opening day of the FAU Tournament. 

(Basketball photos today courtesy of Mike DeZarn)

And They're Off! - Sunday Cardinal Couple

Spring Sports are Off and Running

OK, the phrase used in the title is usually associated with horse-racing, which isn't really a thing we cover here, even if Paulie has previously done some work in that space, but spring sports have gotten underway, and we here at Cardinal Couple are enthusiastically diving in, particularly in this, the Winter/Spring overlap of seasons.  And we have two sports in action today, representative of that overlap with Basketball and Softball.

 

Basketball Still Looks to the West

Coming off the upset win over Cal, the Cards host the other west coast entry to the ACC with Stanford on the other side of the tip at noon.

 

Stanford has traditionally been thought of as a school that has lots of excellent women's sports programs, and basketball has been a part of that with the long tenure of Tara VanDerveer.

 

VanDerveer retired after last season, however, ceding the head coaching spot to previous associate head coach and Stanford alumna Kate Paye.  Paye has a long association with Stanford, despite stints working with other organizations such as Pepperdine, San Diego State, as well as a professional playing career in the ABL and WNBA.  One could say that Paye's association with Stanford is life-long, having been born at Stanford Hospital.

 

Paye does face some struggles, however.   In this, her first year at the helm, the team is sitting at 11-11 overall, and 3-8 in conference.  The non-conference schedule for the trees is mostly unremarkable, they have wins over Washington State, Gonzaga, UC Davis, and UC San Diego, and losses to Indiana, Ohio State, and LSU.

 

In conference, the Cardinal with no "s" has taken losses to Cal twice, SMU, Clemson (in OT), NC State, Duke, UNC, and Notre Dame, which it has to be said, are all pretty good teams.  It does, however, signal that Stanford really isn't up there with the top echelon teams in the ACC this year.  Wins over Pitt, Wake Forest, and Florida State, are not particularly impressive.

 

Only two players average double-digit scoring, Nunu Agara, and Elena Bosgana, with a couple more, Brooke Demetre, and Chloe Clardy scoring nine points or more per game.

 

Stanford overall loses in the steals, blocks, and turnovers statistical categories to their opponents, but watch for Bogsana and Clardy in the passing lanes.  The Cardinal does share well, and are disciplined, with fewer personal fouls, and more assists than opponents.

 

The Cardinals with the "s" will need to watch out a bit for three point shooting as just about everyone from Palo Alto has pretty decent stats from beyond the arc.  Three point shooting percentage is about 32% or better for just about everyone on the team that gets significant playing time.

 

It's a slightly earlier than usual start today, with a noon tip thanks to TV coverage on ESPN2.

 

Softball

Softball is two days into their season and they have two wins, which sounds great until you also realize that they're two days into their season and they also have two losses.  Well, it's a long season and we're at the very beginning of it.

 

Softball frequently has double headers early in the season, and this weekend is no exception.  Playing five games over the weekend in "THE Spring Games" (their capitalization), the Cards played two yesterday against Rutgers and Radford.

 

Unfortunately due to a reportedly pretty bad quality, and confirmed quite expensive, streaming option for the games, we were not able to get eyes on these.

 

In the 1pm game against Rutgers, the Cards were able to get the offense in gear, and kept the crooked numbers off the board for Rutgers, taking the win 8-2.  In the 3:30pm game against Radford, it was mostly a pitcher's duel, but Radford broke through in the second for three, and the Cards couldn't get any offense at all after a single run in the first inning.

 

Alyssa Zabala gets the win over Rutgers, pitching six innings, helped by Izzy Harrison in relief.  In the second game, Sam Booe takes the loss with all three of the Radford runs in the second inning credited against her.  Lindsey Mullen pitched most of the game with Brooke Gray coming in to finish off the sixth.  As Radford was the home team, they didn't bat in the 7th.

 

Rutgers Scoring

Scoring against Rutgers was started off by Easton Lotus in the first.  She reached on an error, then was able to score after a Mack bunt plus a Rutgers fielding error.  Mack advanced to third on that error and then got home on a wild pitch.  Madison Pickens immediately followed that up with what was essentially an in-the-park homerun, scored as a triple plus a Rutgers error.

 

The Cards added another in the second inning thanks to Katie Thatcher.  She drew a walk, stole second, advanced to third on an Ally Alexander bunt and scored on a passed ball.

 

Things went quiet until fifth inning when the Cards picked up two more.  Easton Lotus singled, stole second, advanced to third on a Chelsea Mack single, where Mack advanced to second on the throw.  Then a Bri Despines triple scored both Mack and Lotus.  Both were marked as unearned, but it's unclear from the scoring as to why.

 

In the bottom of the sixth, Taylor Monroe, and Jordan Williams, both freshmen, hit back to back singles.  Veteran Ally Alexander continued the single streak to advance both the newbies.  Monroe then scored on a passed ball, and Williams scored on a Camryn Lookadoo groundout.  Again, Williams' run was scored as unearned without a clear indication as to why in the stats.

 

Rutgers scored in the top of the 6th and 7th innings, both earned.  So for those not paying close attention, all eight of the Cards runs were scored as unearned, while both of Rutgers were earned.  It is certainly true that a big part of Softball is capitalizing on the mistakes of your opponent.

 

Radford Scoring

A much shorter section, here.  Easton Lotus led off the game with a single, advanced to second on a Despines bunt on the second pitch of her at-bat, else Lotus likely would have stolen second.  A Madison Pickens double then brought Lotus home for the first and only earned Cards run of the day.

 

Unfortunately, that would be it for the Cards, and with Radford's three in the second inning, Louisville would finish the second day of the season again at .500.

 

Cleveland State Today

THE Spring Games aren't over, yet, however.  The Cards will face Cleveland State today at 11am.  The Vikings had a similar outcome as the Cards against Rutgers, Radford, and Liberty, but took a loss to the MTSU team that Louisville beat Friday.

 

Cardinal Couple Radio Hour Podcast

We did get the trio of Case, Paulie, and myself on the call yesterday, though Paulie did suffer some technical difficulties that made him tardy to class.  He did get joined shortly after we got rolling, and we had a great discussion about Basketball, Lacrosse, and Softball as would be expected.

 

The podcast is available, as always, through whatever podcasting directory you wish to use, or directly at Spotify:

https://creators.spotify.com/pod/show/cardinal-couple/episodes/Spring-Sports-are-Here-e2ujlbh 

-- 

JMcA