Sherwood hired as WBB graduate assistant

THURSDAY CARDINAL COUPLE:



Today we talk hoops...





-Liz Sherwood joins Lady Cards coaching staff



-Sara sees Walz today





-Angel & Dream host Seattle


Liz Sherwood has joined the Lady Cards basketball coaching staff as a graduate assistant. Sherwood (pictured above from her playing days at Vandy) has a wealth of basketball experience and will assume her duties immediately.

Louisville head coach Jeff Walz released the following statement about Sherwood:

"We are very excited to have a person of such stature join our program. After having played professionally overseas and competed as a student-athlete in the SEC and BIG EAST, Liz will no doubt bring a wealth of knowledge and perspective when mentoring our elite student-athletes, She has a great pedigree and is hungry to learn."

Sherwood came out of high school in 2003 as a McDonalds High School All-American and spent her first year of college at Connecticut...playing on the NCAA National Championship coached by Geno Auriemma. Liz was selected to the BIG EAST All-Freshman team that year. She transferred to Vanderbilt after that and played three years for the Commodores...graduating in 2008 with a degree in Ecomonics. She is originally from Castle Rock, CO. and should prove to be a valuable asset in working with the Cards front line talent...since she is 6'4" and played center for Melanie Baucom at Vandy.

Welcome to the 'Ville, Liz ! "Sherwood" be great if you can get these talented Lady Card front liners to play as well as you did at Vandy! (Apologies offered for the horrible pun...it's early)





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Jeff Walz heads to Mt. Sterling, KY. today for an in-house visit with senior sensation Sara Hammond (pictured right). The Rockcastle County hoops star has narrowed down her college choices to the "Ville" and UConn. She recently returned from a campus visit to the Storrs, CT. school with her parents...meeting with UConn head coach Geno Auriemma and many of the current UConn players and recruits. The Hammonds also got a little sightseeing in...stopping first in New York, NY.


UConn blogger Jim Fuller reports that "she had a great time and really enjoyed the trip." Hammond also has a Friday in-house visit scheduled with long time UConn associate coach Chris Dailey and has reported that she'll make her choice sometime this weekend. Sara spent Labor Day weekend with the players and staff at Louisville, touring the facilities and taking in the UofL vs. UK football game. According to our sources on campus, Hammond really enjoyed her Louisville visit and had a lot of fun with several of the Cardinals that she previously played AAU ball with. She described the visit as "the best weekend of her life."





WE feel that Hammond will choose UofL over UConn...she's excited about the Walz visit Thursday, according to her Facebook entries, and has bonded with many of the Cardinal women's basketball players already. Walz and UofL has been recruiting Hammond since she was a freshman and she's made several unofficial visits to the campus over the past three years.





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Angel McCoughtry and the Atlanta Dream face a "do or die" scenario tonight when they host the Seattle Storm in game three of the WNBA finals. The Dream lost both games in Seattle and would need to win tonight to stay alive in the best out of five series. Angel had a rough outing in the Tuesday night game, missing her first ten out of eleven shots and if Atlanta has any chance at all of forcing a fourth game...McCoughtry will need to re-discover the form that got her selected to the 2010 WNBA Second team. McCoughtry finished seventh in the voting, narrowly missing the first team, behind Sylvia Fowles and Sue Bird.





The Dream need to prolong their "run and gun" style against Seattle tonight. They roared out to a big lead early in game two by forcing the pace and fast breaking the Storm for easy baskets. Seattle eventually slowed the Dream express down and forced Atlanta to try and beat them from the perimeter. Here's hoping Angel finds her groove tonight and Atlanta gets to host the fourth game with a win.





For Angel and head coach Marynell Meadows, it'll be a quick turnaround after the finals. They're scheduled to join Team USA in the FiBA Championships...where USA will look to recapture the championship title after losing it to Australia last time around. Seattle's Sue Bird will also make the late arrival for USA...and Storm center Lauren Jackson will suit up for the Aussies.

Angel and Dream fall short in Seattle

HAPPY "HUMP" DAY FROM CARDINAL COUPLE !


We cover today...

-Dream goes down to Seattle

-Juneau leads Cards to 4th place finish


Seattle took control of the WNBA Finals with a 87-84 win over the Atlanta Dream last night in Key Arena. The homestanding Storm has won both games so far in the series and travels to Atlanta for Game 3 (and hopefully 4) in the best out of five series.

It was another dose of Lauren Jackson, Swin Cash and Sue Bird for Angel & company...with a little Camille Little and Tanisha Wright added for effect.

The effect was tremendous. The Seattle defenders kept McCoughtry baffled and off balance all evening...limiting her to 21 points on 7 of 23 shooting. Angel, it seems...never plays well against the Storm...and last night was no exception. She began the game 1-11 from the field. It was getting tough to stay with this one...with NCIS-Los Angeles on at the same time...but Atlanta rode Iziane Castro-Marquez and her unique one handed driving distance layup/shot/whatever you want to call it...to rally back and make this one a 49-47 Storm lead at half....after Atlanta was down by as many as eight in the second quarter. "Izzy" finished with 21 points also.

McCoughtry didn't fare much better in the final half. Her only major scoring burst came in the final 30 seconds of the game...with five points to draw the Dream within three. A missed Seattle free throw attempt with three seconds left gave Atlanta a last gap chance to tie...but Coco Miller couldn't get a shot off as time expired.

Lauren Jackson told sideline reporter Heather Cox after the game that she was 'very scared' about having to go play in Atlanta.

News flash. Atlanta should be very scared when Jackson gets off the plane. When she is on her game...she and the Storm are money. The physical Storm gets their licks in. McCoughtry took three stitches in the forehead during Game One of the series and Castro-Marquez spent time last night on the bench with an ice pack attached to her nose following an "errant" Seattle elbow.

The teams face off again Thursday Night. For Atlanta, it's win or the end of the season.

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Speaking of announcers...Finally! An announcing crew worth listening to. Terry Gannon and Doris Burke know their stuff. Adding Cox and my favorite sideline reporter of all time Rebecca Lobo to the mix may be a bit of overkill...but for once I didn't have to hit the remote control mute button while watching the Dream.

(Just kidding about Lobo. She's currently 12th on my list of 12.) Cox...I dig. She does football well, too. Lobo should stick to UConn games...where she's in her comfort zone with Geno.

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McCoughtry selected to the 2nd squad WNBA team? You gotta be kidding...The Atlanta Dream are in the playoffs...hello...and Angel is the main reason they are. I have no problem with Lauren Jackson being MVP. Happy to see Cappie as a first team pick. Taurasi the Turtle and Tamika Catchings...fine, whatever. They're deserving. But leaving Angel off the first squad is like excluding Mick Jagger from a Rolling Stones reunion tour. Big Syl didn't take the Chicago Sky to the playoffs. Yet, she got the 1st team honors, the $10,000 bonus and the Tiffany & Co. trophy.

The 1st team squad:

Lauren Jackson (Seattle Storm)
Tamika Catchings (Indiana Fever)
Cappie Pondexter (New York Liberty)
Diana Taurasi (Phoenix Mercury)
Sylvia Fowles (Chicago Sky)

2nd team:

Sue Bird (Storm)
Angel McCoughtry (Atlanta Dream)
Crystal Langhorne (Washington Mystics)
Tina Charles (Connecticut Sun)
Katie Douglas (Indiana Fever)

Really? On Katie? Gotta chalk that one up to Candace Parker going down early in the season with a year ending injury. Izzy or Swin Cash would have gotten my vote here.

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The University of Louisville women's golf team finished up the final day of action by climbing to a fourth place finish in the Ptarmigan Ram Classic in Fort Collins, Colorado and Sara-Maude Juneau took fifth place individual honors with a closing round 71. Her three day score was 213.


Anna-Karin Ljungstrom fired a 72 to finish 12th overall...totaling out at 216. Candace Wiley duplicated the 72 in round 3 to finish 22nd with a 220. Maria Castellanos finished with a 73 to end up 53rd. at 228. Tara Lyons used a 78 on the final day to finish 76th...carding a three day total of 236. Maike Klein competed as an individual in the event and the freshman took 78 strokes on day three to end up with a 235...good for 72nd.

The Cards tee it up next in the Oct 2nd. W.K. Warren Irish Invitational in South Bend, IN.. Wonder if they'd like to join my amateur Putt-Putt team in the meantime?

Women's Golf in Fifth Place in Colorado

TUESDAY @THE COUPLE


- UofL women's golf starts the season

-Lady Cards exhibition hoops

-Game watch party!

The University of Louisville women's golf team got their 2010-11 season
underway this weekend in the Ptarmigan Ram Fall Classic in Fort Collins, CO. The Cards are tied for fifth after two rounds of play...Sara Maude-Juneau leading the way with a two round score of 75-67 for a 142 total.

Anna-Karin Ljungstrom (pictured right) is at 144. Sophomore Candace Wiley put together a 75-73 two day total and is tied for 31st. Maria Castellanos sits at 155 and freshman Tara Lyons debuts as a Cardinal at 158.

Injured Laura Anderson did not make the trip and Maike Klien fired a 160 as the Cards alternate. The Cards share 5th place with Illinois and Oregon...the host Colorado State leads with a two day total of 578...Louisville scoring 585.

Juneau had three birdies and an eagle in round two to highlight the competing Cards. The teams finish up the three day event today with a 8:30 a.m.shotgun start. (Many is the time I wished I had access to a shotgun on the links...)

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We know now who Jeff Walz's Lady Cards will debut against and it will be in the form of an exhibition game against Indiana Wesleyan on Saturday, Oct. 30th. in the KFC YUM! Center. Game time hasn't been set yet...pending the start time of the Louisville football game against Pitt in Heinz Field that day. Best guess? This BIG EAST matchup isn't one that will be designated as the BIG EAST Game of the Week...too many other and better conference matchups that day...so I predict a 3:30 kickoff and Walz Ball at 7:30 p.m.

Just a guess...knowing the BIG EAST...they'll sell the game to ESPN Ocho Cinco and the gridiron gainers will match up at noon or 7:30 p.m. You just never know about the BIG EAST and their scheduling theories...

Indiana Wesleyan is no hand-picked patsy designed to come in and roll over for the Lady Cards. They went 29-7 last year in the MCC and made it to the semifinals of the NAIA Tournament Championships in March.

The Marion, Indiana school has depth, height and shot well from the perimeter last year. It'll be a good preseason test for the young Lady Cards...with seven new players and only two seniors on the roster this year. OK...it isn't Stanford or Baylor...but the Cards will get tested soon enough...opening the season a few days later against Pat Summit's Tennessee Lady Vols in the downtown Yummy! arena.

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Our pals over at CARDINAL DOMINANCE are inviting all to a UofL football game watch party at TAILGATERS for the Oregon State contest. Louisville travels to Corvallis...by plane, train and automobile I suppose...to face the powerful Beavers. The Dominance guys plan on kicking the festivities off at 4 p.m. and food and drink specials will be available at the establishment next to the Parrish House.

No idea on which channel this one is on as of article time. Shannon, Terry, Bill the Goat and Murray the K invite you to join other Cardinal football fans for a fun and action packed afternoon of football viewing. WE'LL probably load up the chimps and a few interns and attend the event. Read all about it by clicking on the link we have here at CC for CD.

This one could get ugly early if Louisville decides to score in only one quarter...like they did against perennial Ohio Valley Conference FCS power EKU. Just put some hogs on the line and give Abe Froman, the Chicago sausage king, a little time to chuck a few missiles down the field.

You ain't gonna be able to run against these Beavers...Charlie.

Soccer, Field Hockey sweep on Sunday

MONDAY CARDINAL COUPLE PRESENTS:

-Field Hockey blanks the Golden Bears

-Soccer successful at St. Louis

-Angel & Dream drop a close one

-Hammond to decide this weekend?

Two wins for Cardinals on Sunday. Soccer took to the road and scored a 2-0 win at St. Louis. Taylor Vancil (pictured left) netted her fourth shutout of the season and Louisville goes to a record 6-0 on the season. It didn't come easy for the Cards, though. The teams played to a scoreless first half tie...despite Louisville holding an advantage on shots (8-4) and shots on goals (3-2). It took till the 63rd. minute of play before Caitlin Rehder broke thru the stout Billiken defense and took a pass from Julie Casselman to boot one home. The Cards added an insurance goal later when freshman Christine Exeter nailed one home long range past SLU goalie Katie Walsh.

The #18 Cards return home to begin BIG EAST play on Thursday against the Cincinnati Bearcats. Game time is 7 p.m. at Cardinal Park.

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Field Hockey improved to 4-2 Sunday with a 2-0 win over California at Trager Stadium. Erin Conrad, Louisville goalie (pictured top right) got her 2nd shutout of the season and had two big saves in the first half on penalty corners. Louisville broke open a defensive struggle in the 22nd minute when Tuli Lim took a feed from Karah Nall and smacked a drive past the California goalie to put the Cards on the board. Eight minutes later, Erin Schneidtmiller corralled a pass from Nicole Youman and popped one in from the right side of the net for the final score of the game.

Louisville had opportunities to increase the lead in the final half, outshooting the Golden Bears 8-2 but could not get one past the stiff California defense or goalie Haleh Nourani...who had four saves. Conrad played flawless defense at the goal for Louisville and protected the net for #11 Louisville...successfully defending six Golden Bear shots.

Louisville returns to action Friday night in Trager to begin BIG EAST play against Georgetown.

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Angel McCoughtry missed a desperation three pointer as time expired and Atlanta dropped the first game of the WNBA finals to Seattle 79-77 Sunday afternoon. The visiting Dream had tied the contest with a minute to go when Iziane Castro-Marquez nailed a three...but Sue Bird connected on a foul line jumper with three seconds remaining to give the Storm the lead.

Atlanta started slowly...trailing 22-9 in the first quarter...before a Coco Miller led 21-6 run in the second quarter put the Dream ahead 30-28. The teams hit the locker room tied at 39, thanks to a Castro-Marquez three at the buzzer. McCoughtry, whistled for three fouls in the first quarter, watched the second quarter from the Dream bench. Seattle's Lauren Jackson, who finished with a game high 26 points, led a Seattle charge in the third quarter that put them ahead by six at the end of three periods. Camille Little ended up with 18 points for the Storm and Bird contributed 14.

Angel and Iziane led the Dream with 19 points each and Sancho Lyttle ended with 10 points and 14 boards. A good crowd on hand for the one in the Key Arena...15,000 in attendance...impressive when you consider the NFL Seattle Seahawks were playing over at Qwest Field at the same time.

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It's getting close to decision day for Rockcastle County High School girls basketball star Sara Hammond. She's announced that she'll make up her mind between Louisville and Connecticut a couple of days after an in-home visit from UofL head coach Jeff Walz on Thursday. Hammond is considered the front runner for Miss Basketball in Kentucky and is ranked #12 in the nation by ESPN'S HoopGurlz recruiting service.

The downside? She's visited UConn this weekend. According to her, she's just went " to see what they have to say, visit the campus and see what they have to offer." She also commented that during her visit to Louisville over the Labor Day weekend..."It was the greatest weekend of my life. They really made me feel a part of the team. It was nothing but positive the whole time I was there. I was blown away by the arena and just really liked everything about the visit."

Think red, Sara. We have it on good authority you check out this site from time to time and we can only say that at Louisville you'll have a fanatical following, the finest practice and game facilities around and less than a 2 hour drive from home. Remember that you've been at rock star status the past several years here in the state and that honor will only continue to grow if you remain here. There are tons of middle school and grade school girls here in the Louisville and surrounding area that will be "rocking the Hammond jersey" during your four years here and there is a Panera Bread restaurant just 5 minutes from campus.

WE'VE been to the UConn campus and the football and basketball facilities. Nowhere near what the "Ville" offers. Continue creating the legend here...where your friends and parents can be a part of it.

Catching up on the mail and other menusa...

SUNDAY EDITION OF CARDINAL COUPLE:


-WE read your mail.


-Angel and the Dream play today!


-Sonja's take on Saturday on Floyd Street


Cardinal Couple I.T. specialist and mail room supervisor Billy D. Goat (pictured left) smiles after seeing Doug Beaumont score his first touchdown in 4 years at UofL. Bill thinks that if he had been quarterbacking the Cards, Beaumont would be in double digits with TD receptions

Here's what Billy brought us from the mail room and e-mails:

Cardinal Couple:

I enjoy your updates on the women sports at UofL. I am a transplanted Louisvillian that now lives in Worchester, MA. What do you think about the UofL women's basketball chances this year?

-Thomas the Train

Thanks for the e-mail T.T.! We see a vastly improved Lady Cards hoops team this year. Depth and skill at every position, height and improved rebounding ability and a whale of a battle for the guard positions. We've got plans to do a feature with head coach Walz down the road and we'll report on his speaking appearance next month at the Sportsmen's Supper Club.




Hi, CARDINAL COUPLE!

Can you provide any information on a rumor going around about Shoni Schimmel's eligibility?

Thank you,
Jill

We can tell you that both Coach Walz and assistant coach Michelle Clark-Heard have told us personally that there is NO problem there and she is "good to go."

Cardinal Couple,

Does field hockey play the Cats this year? If so, when and where?

-Stan

Nope. They do travel to IU, though on October 5th. Might make for a nice Tuesday up and back road trip...

You can send your questions to cardinalcouple@insightbb.com or mail them to:

Cardinal Couple
P.O. Box 91521
Louisville, KY 40291

Billy D Goat promises to deliver them to the editorial staff promptly and is completely over that messy "eat the evidence" issue he had a few weeks back.

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Angel and the Atlanta Dream in Seattle this afternoon for game one of the WNBA finals. The Dream will have their hands full with Lauren Jackson and Sue Bird..but if they can get that fast break rolling and Angel is "on" like she was in Game 2 against New York...they could spring the upset. National TV on this one...ABC at 3 p.m.

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It was the second tailgate of the football season yesterday and we started the day by arriving at the Parrish House 5 1/2 hours before kickoff. We are always busy helping Al set up and taking care of last minute details and the usual preparation. Paul watches the member's parking lot across the street just about every home game to make sure that no one sneaks in and parks there without a pass. If you've walked down Boxley Avenue on the way to or returning from the stadium, you've probably seen the "big guy" and his mob out there...defending the turf and joking around with the pedestrians.

I walked over to the Green Lot yesterday. We used to park there in the early days of PJCS football. My friend Nancy went with me and we went to visit our friends Tom and Karen who still tailgate there. They have a fun and rowdy bunch with them and Karen makes reaaalllyyy good margaritas! We stayed quite a while before returning to the Parrish House and it was in full swing by the time we got back. The Robbie Bartlett Band plays there outside for each home game and they are unbelievable! Robbie sings every song straight from the heart and she is one fantastic stylist. I just love seeing her up there and we always greet each other with a big hug!


She also lets "the Big Guy" get up there and sing with her and the band and they are hysterical to watch! Paul always sings "Gimme Three Steps" by Lynyrd Skynyrd and they call him Paul "Van Zant" because he prowls the statge and sings exactly like the late, great Ronnie did. He wasn't happy about his performance this last time because "John-John" the guitarist kept messing up the chord sequence...

(These singers are such prima-donnas !)

We also spend time inside the Parrish House, eating delicious food and talking with the other members. We help run the 50/50 raffle with our friends Charlie and Carol and it's always a big payout to one lucky ticket holder. We tear a lot of tickets and Paul and Charlie always make the winning ticket announcement 45 minutes before kickoff. Last week they paid out almost $600 dollars and yesterday was a good payout too...over $300. A Parrish House member won, but the raffle is open to anyone (of legal age). Half the money goes to Al's favorite charity..Cerebral Palsy.

Paul walks the lot quite a bit during tailgaiting and he ran into assistant women's basketball coach Michelle Clark-Heard, Valerie Owens-Combs, Jack Conway and his dad and quite a few other dignitaries that tailgate around the Parrish House. It was also great to see former UofL marketing director Teresa Lowry...the "brocoli lady"!

Finally, it was time to go to the game and we enjoy our group that sits around and with us. We love our seats in the corner of the "Crunch Zone". We're very close to the field and it's fun when a UofL player scores a touchdown right in front of us! Paul and Shane did an absolutely fabulous job of singing the National Anthem and My Old Kentucky Home before the game. They usually get a lot of cheers from our section and today was no exception. The 9/11 tribute pregame was beautiful.


The Cards won. It wasn't by as much as people thought they might, but a win is always good. We ended the evening sitting around outside the Parrish House waiting for traffic die down and watching the kids throw the football. It's a good wind down period and a nice way to end a busy day.

All in all, a beautiful day...no rain at all and lots of fun. (Thanks to Tillie, cardinalsports.com and the Drunken Amish Farm photo
archives for today's pictures)

Volleyball shuts out Wright State in Dayton

IT'S THE WEEKEND @ CARDINAL COUPLE !!

(and probably where you are too...)

-Volleyball win on road against Wright State

-Women's Soccer honorees

-UofL announces the EKU game a sell out

The University of Louisville volleyball team took their show on the road last night and defeated Wright State in straight sets 26-24, 25-21 and 25-20. Stepping up big for the Wide Net Cards was sophomore Lola Arslanbekova (pictured above) who continues her killing spree.

Louisville jumped out to an early lead in the first game but saw Wright State erase a 22-19 lead and tie it at 22-22 and 24-24 before Arslanbekova got a clutch slam and Louisville scored the final two points. Game two saw the Cards jump out early again and withstand a Wright State rally that cut a 4 point UofL advantage to one at 21-20. The Cards finished with a 4-1 run, though to take a 2 game advantage. Wright State jumped out to the early lead in the final game and Louisville had to battle back to tie the contest at 16-16 before Lola got untracked again and led Louisville to a game winning 9-3 run to end the game and match.

Arslanbekova had 14 kills for the Cards and Louisville also got great net play from Gwen Rucker and Anastasia Artemeva to improve their record to 5-2. Caitlin Welch picked up the defense with 15 digs. The Cards return to action next Friday in Cardinal Arena hosting Purdue.

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Christine Exeter and Angelika Uremovich have been named in the top 100 freshmen by Top Drawer Soccer. Exeter was ranked 70th and Uremovich 84th. Uremovich leads the women's soccer team with 4 goals this season. The #18 Cards also got goalie Taylor Vancil listed #12 in the National division of the BIG EAST and Emily Cardell is ranked 20th. Vancil has had three shutouts for Louisville this season. Louisville is 5-0 this year, ranked #18th nationally and heads to St. Louis Sunday for a game against the Billikins.

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UofL has announced the football game against EKU on Saturday is sold out. Charlie's getting them in the seats, let's hope the rain holds off.

Boos to a certain blue kool aid drinking sports host who predicts the Cards only win by 7. This guy would eliminate the color red from the rainbow spectrum if he had any say in the matter. WE here at CARDINAL COUPLE like Louisville by at least 20 points. Sonja says 35-14 Cards and I'll go with a 33-7 win for the Red and Black.

Women's Soccer blanks UK 2-0

YOUR FRIDAY CARDINAL COUPLE PRESENTS:

-Women's soccer wins Battle of the Bluegrass

-Weekend sports for the women

-The "meaning" of CARDS

Before an overflow crowd of 2000+ in Cardinal Park Thursday night, the University of Louisville women's soccer team improved their record to 5-0 with a 2-0 shutout of Kentucky. Taylor Vancil, UofL goalie (pictured left) was spectacular in the win...getting her third shutout of the season and keeping the Cats out of the net.

The rowdy Cardinal crowd in attendance, mostly dressed in red, saw a defensive struggle in the first half. Vancil defensed the Cardinal goal brilliantly in the first half and had two spectacular stops on shots on goal later in action by Wildcats Caitlin Landis and Kelsey Hunyadi. The shot block on Hunyadi's attempt was particularly impressive...Vancil made a diving deflection on a ball seemingly headed to the net.

The Cardinals took the lead in the 69th minute of play when Caitlin Rehder capitalized on a loose ball near the UK goal and booted it past UK goalie Sydney Hiance. UofL added an insurance goal late in the contest when Angelika Uremovich tracked down a deflection by Hiance and tapped it into the net for the final score of the contest. Uremovich leads the Cards in goals scored this season with four.

The game was also televised on the Fox Soccer Channel, so people across the nation got a chance to see the dramatically improved UofL women's soccer team and how well the Cardinal faithful turn out for soccer matches. A great recruiting tool for Coach Karen Ferguson-Dayes.

Louisville hits the road next for a Sunday game at St. Louis.

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Besides soccer Sunday, women's sports at UofL has the Field hockey team hosting California at 1 p.m. in Trager Stadium. TEAM CARDINAL is 3-2 on the year, but has faced 5 top 20 opponents so far in the young season. This is the second of 4 straight home games for Pam Bustin's stick swingers.

Louisville volleyball travels to Wright State for a 7 p.m. matchup tonite in Dayton. OH. The Volley Cards are 4-2 on the season and get a week off after the Wright State game before hosting 4 straight in Cardinal Arena. Purdue is the first invader next Friday and action starts at 7 p.m.

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We all know that CARDS is a word we use to describe our sports teams at the University of Louisville...but here's a different and very appropriate breakdown of the word, offered by UofL head football coach Charlie Strong.

C= Commitment

A=Attitude

R=Respect

D=Discipline

S=Sacrifice

Next time you yell out "Go CARDS!" at your favorite UofL sporting event, remember that for University of Louisville athletes and many fans...the words have a deeper meaning than just a cheer. We applaud Coach Strong on his philosophy of hard word, dedication and player development. Just one example of the commitment that all student athletes at UofL carry with them each day in the classrooms and on the fields.

Field Hockey Falls in Overtime to Ohio State

CARDINAL COUPLE THURSDAY REPORT

Field Hockey defeated by OSU 4-3

Kentucky visits tonight in women's soccer

Cheerleading...as a sport?

The University of Louisville Field Hockey team dropped a double overtime match to #12 Ohio State last night at Trager Stadium 4-3. Louisville started out strong with a ball control, driving goal from Hayley Turner but saw OSU tie the match minutes later when the Buckeyes capitalized on a penalty corner shot by Jena Cacciatore past Cards goalie Erin Conrad.

The team took the 1-1 tie into halftime. Louisville was outshooting the Buckeyes in the first stanza and it seemed only a matter of time before the Cards would break away. OSU, though, drew first blood in early in the second half on another corner score. The Cards got a corner score to tie the match when Nikki Auker smacked a rebound shot off OSU goalie Ally Tunitis halfway thru the second stanza. OSU responded quickly a couple of minutes later to regain the lead with a third penalty corner score and it took a late goal by Tuli Lim to deadlock the match.

Neither team found the net in the first overtime, despite strong offense from the Cards, who had three corner opportunities but couldn't capitalize. OSU was granted a corner attempt with a minute remaining in the first overtime but Conrad successfully stopped a Cacciatore shot to force the second sudden death.

Unfortunately, just a minute into the extra period...Berta Queralt took a midfield pass and smashed a long attempt into the back of the Cardinal net for the win.

UofL (3-2) hosts California next at 1 p.m. on Sunday. A tough loss in front of a good crowd last night for the Cards.

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Another "Battle of the Bluegrass" tonight..this time in women's soccer...when UK visits Cardinal Park to do battle with the Cards. #18 Louisville is 4-0 on the season, coming off a 4-1 win over Toledo last Friday. Kentucky enters the game unranked at 3-1...losing to Wake Forest in their last outing.

The Cats lead the overall series 8-4-1 and took a 1-0 victory over Louisville last year in Lexington. The game will be televised on the Fox Soccer Channel and action begins at 7 p.m. It's a "red out" game...Cardinal fans are asked to wear red (as if we'd wear anything else?) to the nationally televised event.

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WE enjoy watching our Cardinal cheerleaders in action at all sporting events and we're fortunate to have an up close view of them in the CRUNCH ZONE during football games. If USA CHEER has its way...cheerleading will be the next Title IX sport on college campuses. Competitive cheerleading is in their plans..in an effort to get competitions recognized by the NCAA. The sport would be named "stunt" and team acrobatics and tumbling would be part of the competition. They also want to make sure that the activities do not come at the expense of regular cheerleading. UofL's Todd Sharp's cheerleading squads seem to win the non-NCAA sponsored national cheerleading championship competitions every year..maybe it would be nice if they could also claim an NCAA Championship title trophy to stick in the UofL trophy cases.

We just have one question...if cheerleading becomes a sport, who will lead cheers for the cheerleaders? Maybe Coach Dan can get those baseball Cards out there to wave the pom poms...or Vic Anderson, Brandon Heath and the Cards' football guys can build pyramids and grab the megaphones...Personally, we'd pay admission to see Pitino lead Knowles, Siva, Jennings and Kuric in backflips and cartwheels on the sidelines...but we're not so sure we want to see these guys in cheerleading skirts...

McCoughtry's 42 lead Dream to Finals

WEDNESDAY @ CARDINAL COUPLE

-McCoughtry & Dream defeat New York

-Field Hockey Tonight!

-Simmons selected for Big East award

-Recruitng visit "went well" for Walz

She has never won a championship. That might be about to change for Louisville's Angel McCoughtry as her Atlanta Dream WNBA team rolled past the New York Liberty last night in Atlanta to win the Eastern Conference finals and set up a showdown with the Seattle Storm for the WNBA title. McCoughtry was brilliant in the 105-93 win, scoring 42 points and setting a WNBA record for most points scored in a playoff game.

The victory didn't come easy. Atlanta watched a 14 point first half lead disintegrate into a 73-73 tie as action began in the fourth quarter. Aided by reborn Coco Miller, though...Angel and the Dream regained the lead and steadily pulled away from the Liberty in the final 10 minutes to get the win in front of a wild and appreciative crowd in the Phillips Arena.

At times, it seemed Angel was going one on one against a Rutgers All-Star team...with Cappie Pondexter tallying 36 points and former C. Vivian Stringer stars Kia Vaughn and Essence Carson keeping the Liberty close. The Dream, aided by a lineup shuffle that emphasized speed and quickness and brought reserve Coco Miller off the bench to start dominated play early and Atlanta fast broke their way to an early double digit lead that they never surrendered throughout the first 20 minutes.

New York battled back, though...and behind Carson and Pondexter, began the second half with a 14-4 run to cut the Dream advantage to one. Things got messy with 5:53 remaining in the third quarter...a hard foul on Dream post Erika DeSouza got a unfavorable reaction from the Brazilian center and she received a technical foul.

Miller started the fourth quarter for Atlanta by burying a three and the Liberty never fully recovered after that. Atlanta travels to Seattle to begin the best out of five Finals on Sunday. They'll play the first two up there and return to Atlanta for games 3 and 4.

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#11 Louisville Field Hockey hosts #12 Ohio State tonight in stick action at Trager Field. The Cards (3-1) finally return home after sweeping over the weekend in Virginia...downing James Madison and American University by identical scores of 2-1. Nicole Youman leads the way for the Flock with five goals this season. Seven different Cardinals have scored this year in Pam Bustin's balanced attack and Louisville has outscored their opponents 15-5 so far this season.

Ohio State comes into the contest 2-1 with wins over Ohio University and Kent State. The Buckeyes lost to BIG EAST power Syracuse in overtime. Thanks to the tidy goalkeeping of Ally Tunitis, Ohio State has allowed only three goals this season.

Game time is 6 p.m.

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Senior Amanda Simmons has been selected for the BIG EAST Volleyball Honor Roll for the week of Sept. 5th. Amanda recently tied the Louisville record for block assists in a game against Kentucky with 12 and also had 8 kills against the Big Blue. She was named to the All-Tournament Team in the Wildcat Classic in Arizona.

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Jeff Walz and the Lady Cards hosted a very special recruit over the Labor Day weekend on campus. According to reports we are getting...things went "very well" and Louisville is still in the running for her services in 2011. The Cards did recently lose one to UCLA, though...Sheila Boykin, a 6'2" forward out of Long Beach Poly who had Louisville on her short list, recently committed to the Bruins.

Womens' Cross Country and Golf win titles

TUESDAY CARDINAL COUPLE:

-Ex CARDINAL Cindy LaCrosse earns tour card

-Grieshaber win at Evansville

-Angel and Dream play tonight



Former UofL womens' golfer Cindy LaCrosse tied for the title in the Price Chopper Tour Championship with a 72 hole total of 5 under and then won the playoff hole to gain her third Futures tour championship in Albany, NY. By also taking the regular season title, she earned a tour card for the LPGA's 2011 events. Battling windy conditions, LaCrosse fired a 69-70-69 to tie Jennifer Song and force a one hole sudden death playoff which she won with a par on the 18th hole on the Capital Hills golf course. LaCrosse also broke the Futures Tour regular season earnings...winning $94,576 for the year. She finished in the top 10 in 15 tournaments this year. Congratulations, Cindy, on making it to the women's professional circuit!



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Kim Grieshaber won the individual women's title and UofL placed first as a team in the Evansville Mid-America Opener to kick off the Louisville cross country season. The redshirt senior covered the 4K course in 14:20. She was 13 seconds ahead of the second place finisher in the race. Louisville runners also placed third, fourth, seventh and eighth in the five team event.

"I'm very pleased with how the women runners executed the race and that they were able to get the team championship." head cross country coach Brice Allen commented. "Our team ran a tactically smart race and Kim won convincingly with a mile to go."

They return to action Sept 16th. when they take part in the Navy Invitational at Annapolis, MD.

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Angel McCoughtry and the Atlanta Dream try to go 2-0 in the Eastern Conference Finals tonight in New York. They broke away from the Liberty in the final minute on Sunday to win the first game of the playoffs 81-75. If they can defeat the Liberty, they'll move on to the WNBA Finals to face Western Conference champs Seattle who eliminated Phoenix on Sunday...getting a game winning three ball from Sue Bird with 2 seconds left to win by three.