Who's Who and the White What?

WEDNESDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

(Jenny O'Bryan reports on the recent meeting discussing "The White Papers" . No, they aren't about BREAKING BAD villian Walter White...nor highly sought after 2014 WBB recruit Jatarie White.  The papers do have potential to augment and make changes in the womens' game post-season, though...)

Val Ackerman

This past summer a report was given to the NCAA Vice President of Championships (and others) that suggested changes be made to the women’s game.  The report was 52 pages and was full of many suggestions to help increase interest and grow the game of women’s basketball.  This report was submitted by Val Ackerman, former WNBA President/USA Basketball president and current Big East Commissioner, and is known as the Ackerman report or the White Papers.  

There has been much written about the report since it hit the media in June.  Social media basketball guru’s have been tweeting about it, linking articles and opinions of the many ways that these changes, if implemented, can grow the game. 

This past Monday the Who’s Who of the women’s basketball world (Bill the Goat must of eaten my invitation as it arrived at the Cardinal Couple Worldwide Headquarters) gathered in Indianapolis to talk about and hammer out agreements on changes they would like to see implemented.  While this group has no authority to make the changes, they are making recommendations to a women’s basketball committee, my guess is the guest list carries heavy clout. 

Our buddy Dougie was there...

The guest list included 35 people of which Louisville’s own Coach Jeff Walz was a participant.  Coaches Geno Auriemma (UConn), Muffet McGraw (Notre Dame), Tara VanDerveer (Stanford) , Holly Warlick (Tennessee), Jennifer Rizzotti (Hartford),  Doug Bruno (DePaul), Sherry Coale (Oklahoma), Vivian Stringer (Rutgers) and Sue Semrau (Florida State) were the high profile coaches invited, along with conference representatives, athletic administrators, television executives and NCAA committee members.  A lone referee, Dee Kantner was also involved. 

While the original report is extensive (you can read the full report here:

https://www.ncaa.org/wps/wcm/connect/public/ncaa/PDFs/2013/NCAA+Division+I+Womens+Basketball+White+Paper+2013),

Monday’s discussion primarily focused on tournament changes.  

The changes agreed upon would not take effect until the 2014-15 season, and of the tournament changes, there appears to be “tremendous support” for”

<-- Moving the women’s tournament back one weekend, so as not to conflict with the Men’s Final Four (Louisville fans can appreciate this one, as many a people I saw and spoke with in NOLA this past year were driving back and forth between NOLA and Atlanta to be a part of both Final Fours).
 

<-- The Final Four will move from a Sunday/Tuesday lineup to a Friday/Sunday format
T
- -- The top 16 seeds to host opening rounds of the tournament, not predetermined host sites

<-- Super Regionals will consist of 2 sites (not 4) each hosting 8 teams (not 4).
 

<-- 3 venues will host and rotate super regionals and Final Four, for multiple years.  For example:  venues A and B will host super regionals and venue C will host the Final Four.  The following year B and C will host super regionals and A will host Final Four.

Maybe they should have invited Jatarie White to the
White Paper discussion...

I personally like a lot of these proposed changes especially not conflicting with the men’s final four and the Friday/Sunday change.  I love the idea of the 2 super regional sites.  More teams at one site means more basketball to watch.  I would love the opportunity to see more teams in the tournament compete.   I am not sure how I feel about the rotating venues change.  I’ll have to wait and try that one on before I comment on it. 

Some additional items that were discussed favorably were officials receiving more training, professional development of coaches and staff, and at least currently, keeping the scholarship limit at 15. 

In the interest of parity there was some discussion in the original report to limit the number of scholarships to 13 (this is what I believe the men’s side has).  The thinking being with fewer scholarships at schools, athletes would be forced to diversify their choices and so as not to see the top recruits heading to the same school (s) year after year.  I don’t think cutting the total by 2 reduces those chances at all.   Some schools consistently only carry 12-13 kids as it is.  I also think with injuries seemingly rampant every year, a higher roster count minimizes the hurt a team takes when one goes down.  Of course, coaches can choose to use or not use all their scholarships.  I suspect with some coaches it is a personal choice to keep their rosters smaller. 

Nashville skyline

Again, none of the above mentioned changes are new rules, yet.  These are all just recommendations  The rules committee will take these suggestions in to account in their October meetings. 
 

For the time being, you can make your plans for Nashville in 2014 for Sunday and Tuesday to see your beloved Cardinals battling in the Final Four again.  I intend to be there.  How ‘bout you?

( EDITOR NOTE: Bill the Goat denies eating any of Jenny's mail from the NCAA. Those brownies she brought in last Tuesday, though....he's taken an Alford plea on them...)

-Jenny O'Bryan

....

Tuesday Cardinal Couple

TUESDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

( JEFF MCADAMS MOVES TO TUESDAY TO PROVIDE HIS WRAP-UP'S AND ANALYSIS OF CARDINAL WOMEN'S SPORTS. YOU CAN ALSO CATCH HIS WEEKLY COLUMNS ON THURSDAY AT CARDINALSPORTS.COM. HE'S ALSO A REGULAR FIGURE AROUND LOUISVILLE VOLLEYBALL ACTION...WALK UP TO HIM AND ASK HIM TO BLOCK A COUPLE OF KILLS AT THE NET FOR YOU IF YOU SEE HIM)

 

Weekly Honors

Field Hockey

After helping to knock off #20 Old Dominion Friday evening in the rain, Erin Schneidtmiller has
earned the Big East Offensive Player of the Week honor.  Schneidtmiller scored the game winning goal in overtime versus the Big East Conference foe.  Louisville Sophomore goalkeeper Sydney King was named to the weekly Honor Roll for her strong effort between the pipes.  Your author would like to award Sydney an honor for not having a name that requires double and triple checking the spelling when writing an article.

The Cardinals went on to get another W on Sunday in a come from behind victory against NorthEastern.

Volleyball

Maya McClendon picked up her first weekly honor of her career with a Freshman of the Week award from The American conference.  Maya hit a respectable .297 in the epic 5 set win over Virginia Tech Saturday night with 14 kills on 37 attempts with only 3 errors.  Brooke Mattingly, your MVP for the Active Ankle Challenge, was listed on the honor roll for her efforts on the weekend.  Brooke hit an error-free 9 kills on 16 attemps for .562 in the three set match against Rice, and tallied 20 kills on 31 attempts with only 4 errors  for .516 in the nearly two and a half hour long battle against Virginia Tech.

Volleyball Analysis

I'll be honest with you, 4-6 isn't a record that I particularly expected to see from UofL Volleyball this year, and its particularly not a record that I would have expected to find encouraging.  Such is the nature of the nearly-interminable non-conference road-trip that started the UofL schedule this year.  Lets take stock of the competition that we've played, though.  The first seven matches accounted for five of the six losses that The Cards have taken, and four of those teams have made appearances in the Top 25 rankings this season.

We've discussed the difficult non-conference and early season schedule that faced our Volleyball team that Anne Kordes has control of and that has
played this year, and we've talked about how many young players are playing important parts in our lineups.  To be fair, we do have five seniors on the team, four of which see playing time in our regular rotation, which gives us a nice leavening of leadership and consistency, but that regular rotation right now also includes a true freshman, a redshirt freshman, and two sophomores.  There is a lot of talent on this team, but we've seen some of the downsides of the relative youth of the team.  The number one downside is inconsistency.  Our youngsters are really great volleyball players, but there are times that they make bad decisions and just mishandle shots.  That gets solved through learning, and as humans we learn best by making mistakes.  The talent is there, consistency will come.

I'm excited by what I saw in the Virginia Tech match, and here's why.  I saw a team that came out with a good start and played a closely contested first set with solid consistent play which set the overall tone for the night with a 25-23 win.  The Cards really faltered in the second set...really, it was just bad, losing it 25-12.  The third set, though, is where I started to see things in this team that

are really encouraging.  If you didn't read the recap carefully, then you may have missed the score of this set - 36-34, and no that's not a typo, unlike some rec league play, there is no cap on the win-by-2 requirement in NCAA volleyball.  Just looking at the score you can infer that this team didn't give up.  They battled, they fought, and they maintained their composure.  What I think I like most about this set...well, in hindsight anyway...is that we lost it.  Losing a set like that can be a really demoralizing outcome for teams, but this team took that loss, saw that they had been playing consistently well, and because of that were competitive with a good team.  More importantly, though, they really looked like they got comfortable out on the court.  I have had the opportunity to see a few of the road matches leading up to this weekend, and this was the first time I saw this team really look comfortable on the floor playing and that is the most encouraging thing I've seen all season.  The proof is in the outcome, with solid wins, at 25-18 and 15-9, in the last two sets to get the win.

 

This weekend sees the start of The American Conference conference play with The Odd Couple-like

travel partners Memphis and Temple coming to play at the KFC Yum! Center Friday and Sunday.  Neither of these teams look to be very impressive.  Hopefully The VolleyCards have figured out who they are as a team and ready to get some wins under their belt.

I'll be there.  Come join me.

-Jeff McAdams

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Monday Cardinal Couple -- Field Hockey defeats Northeastern....Golf finishes sixth

MONDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

- Louisville Field Hockey downs Northeastern @ Trager

- Golf ends up sixth in Knoxville

Sometimes...good things come to those who wait. The Louisville Field Hockey team found themselves trailing 1-0 to Northeastern with 14 minutes left in the game. The Cards were victims of a relentless Huskies defensive wall that kept Louisville scoreless...despite the Cards regrouping in the second half and actually out-shooting Northeastern 9-1 in the final 45 minutes.

Eventually, something had to find the back of the net for Louisville and after four straight corner attempts...Kelsey Rosenmeier found Erin Schneidtmiller with a pass and Schneidtmiller fired the ball past the Hukies goalie Becky Garner to tie the game.

UofL kept up the offensive pressure and eight minutes later...another penalty corner paid off for the Cards. This time it was Alyssa Voelmle getting her fifth goal of the season...with assists from Schneidtmiller and Paige Monsen to put the Cards ahead to stay.

Justine Sowry was matter-of-fact about the Cards improving to 6-2 on the season:

" We got a win and that's a great thing, but the process leading up to that was disappointing. Credit Northeastern's defense, they knocked us out of our game. We showed horrendous discipline. The first half we did not play anything like we wanted to play...or the way we normally play. We did make some improvement in the second half."

Sydney King had seven stops at goalie for the Cards...who travel to College Park, MD to face Georgetown in a BIG EAST duel on Saturday, Sept 28th. 

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The Louisville women’s golf team shot a 302 in the final round of the Mercedes-Benz Collegiate on Sunday afternoon. The Cardinals finished sixth with a score of 585. Arkansas won the tournament with a score of 563. South Carolina finished second with a score of 571 while Tulane finished third with a score of 579.

Sophomore Laura Restrepo finished tied for eighth with a score of 142. Restrepo shot a 72 in the second round for her third straight Top 10 finish. Arkansas’ Emily Tubert took medalist honors with a score of 137. Five players finished tied for second with a score of 140.

Juniors Emily Haas and Katie Petrino finished tied at 32^nd with a score of 148. Haas shot a 76 in the final round. Petrino fired a 79 in the final round.

Freshman Louise Oxner finished 73^rd with a score of 154. Oxner carded an 82 in the final round. Senior Tara Lyons finished tied for tied for 86^th with a score of 158. Lyons shot a 75 in the final round.

The Cardinals will be back in action on Monday, Sept. 30 at the Windy City Invitational.

 

Paulie

 

...

Sunday Cardinal Couple -- Saturday recaps

SUNDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

CARDINAL COUPLE SCOREBOARD UPDATE:

Louisville has defeated Northeastern 2-1 in Field Hockey Sunday afternoon. We'll have the report in Monday's Cardinal Couple.

Women's golf finished 6th in the Mercedez-Benz Tournament in Knoxville

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

( Staff columnist extraordinaire Jenny O'Bryan takes us on a Sunday spin reviewing the busy Saturday the UofL women's athletic squads had. Although it isn't mentioned here...we'd also like to congratulate UofL football for squeaking by FIU 72-0. ) 


There was a plethora of women’s athletic activities, mostly away from the friendly confines of Louisville Athletics facilities.  Hopefully readers were able to catch some of the action. 

The golf team has been in Knoxville at The Mercedes Benz Championship.  As Paulie reported yesterday the team finished the day on Friday in 3rd place, and they will start the day on Sunday in the same spot.  Heavy rain in Knoxville cancelled the activities for the day and the tournament has been reduced to 36 holes.  The final round of 18 holes will be played on Sunday, weather permitting.

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The rowing team was away from campus in Bloomington with an opening scrimmage against  The varsity only event kicked off the season for the rowers.  Lake Lemon in Bloomington proved to be a sour opener for the Hoosiers.  The Louisville rowers swept the day winning all pieces on the day.   The event was a series of “controlled rate pieces” between 5-8 minutes each.    

Coach Peterson, of the Hoosiers, said that the “Louisville team has more experience and it showed today, and simply “out pulled” the Hoosiers”.  Congrats to the team for winning the day. 
 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

The soccer team travelled to Marquette to face the Golden Eagles and avenge last years 2-0 loss.  The Golden Eagles own a significant advantage in the series, 15-6-1. 

The team took to the field and went in to halftime with goose eggs on the board. 

With just 8 minutes in to the second half Marquette took the lead sending one in to the back of the net.   Five minutes later they found the back of the net again with 32 minutes left, bringing the game to 2-0 in Marquette’s favor.  Not backing down from a challenge, tho, the Cardinals finally got on the board with 10 minutes left in regulation when Corral scored.   Whitfield scored 7 minutes later, 3 minutes left in the game, tying the game. 

 In what is becoming a very familiar scenario for the kickin’ Cards they headed into overtime.  They held each other scoreless for the first 10 minute overtime and headed into their second overtime.   The Cardinals fell short in the second overtime dropping the contest when the Golden Eagles connected on a penalty kick.   

As of this writing (late Saturday night) all my information came from twitter updates from @ulwomenssoccer.  You can check the Louisville Athletic website for a better recap of the game likely as you read this.    It was a great effort for our Soccer Cards and they fell just a bit short. 

The Cardinals take to the field again next Friday, Sept. 27 at home in Cardinal Park  to open conference play against Memphis at 7:00 p.m. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The VolleyCards were the only team in action at home.  In what has been a long time coming, the   
Cards opened for the first time this season at Cardinal Arena in the Active Ankle Challenge.

Looking to get back in the win column, after a brutal road test that had the Cards with a 2-6 record, they did not disappoint.  

The Cardinals started the match in an evenly contested, tight, first set.  The VolleyCards pulled the set out 25-23.  The second set saw the Cardinals in full control, completely keeping the Rice Owls out of system, winning the set 25-15.  The third and final set had the Cardinals close, before an 8-1 run put them up for good.    Rice attempted a comeback and came within 3, before the Cardinals pulled away and finished the match 25-15.    The VolleyCards won in 3!  In what has been a tough early season the win at home has to be a bright spot for the team.    Brooke Mattingly led all players with 9 kills and 4 blocks and was said to be “unstoppable offensively”. 

The Cardinals took to the court again at 7:00 pm to close out the Active Ankle Challenge.  As of this writing they were all knotted up at 2-2, heading into a 5^th and decisive final set.    Look for a complete recap of the event here:

http://www.gocards.com/sports/w-volley/sched/lou-w-volley-sched.html

(my apologies for not being able to give the final score.  A busy  day of working the football game has this writer as one tired puppy!)

EDITOR'S NOTE...LOUISVILLE WON THE MATCH AGAINST VA.TECH in 5 GAMES.

 

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If your looking for some outdoor entertainment today, get out and enjoy the beautiful day by taking in a game at Trager Stadium.  The Field Hockey team takes on Northeastern at 1:30 p.m.  It should be a beautiful day and the team is out to stellar start on the season.    Hope to see you there!

-Jenny O Bryan

Saturday Cardinal Couple -- Field Hockey defeats ODU 3-2 in O.T.

SATURDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

-Field Hockey wins BIG EAST opener 3-2 over ODU

-Women's Golf in 3rd after first round

-CARDINAL COUPLE RADIO HOUR this morning!

-Volleyball with two today in CARDINAL ARENA


In soggy conditions on a "black out" Friday night that also experienced a 45 minute rain delay...Louisville Field Hockey improves to 5-2 with an overtime win over Old Dominion.

After seeing a 2-1 lead disappear in the final 1:44 of regulation, the Cards wasted no time in getting the win...Erin Schneidtmiller banging home a pass from Victoria Stratton just 45 seconds into the extra period for the sudden death win.

Louisville took the early lead in the contest when Stratton took assists from Mallory Mason and Paige Monson to score on a penalty corner sixteen minutes into first half action. ODU countered with a goal from Sarah Breen on a penalty corner five minutes later to tie the contest.

UofL took the lead at 2-1 with 2:26 left in the first half.

Mason corralled down a missed penalty corner attempt and sent it past ODU goalie Megan Hept. The lead held until halftime.

Threatening weather, lightning strikes and a torrential downpour halted action just ten minutes into the final stanza and the teams waited out a 45 minute weather delay with Louisville still leading.

The field had standing water everywhere but drained quickly as the rains subsides and the teams continued. It looked like the one goal Cardinal advantage just might hold...but Breen found the back of the net on a penalty corner attempt with just 104 second left in the game to tie it at 2-2.

Louisville came out on the attack in O.T. and secured the win when Schneidtmiller scored with 14:15 left in the first overtime.

ODU held a shot advantage for most of the game and, although Field Hockey doesn't keep a time possession stat, it seemed the Monarchs had the ball in Louisville's front court trying to score for close to 50 minutes of the 70 minute game. They held a 5-3 shot on goal advantage over the Cards with 7:18 left in regulation...credit the Cards defense and goalie Sydney King for keeping ODU to just two goals. 

After arriving at 6 p.m. and leaving at 9:30 p.m....I didn't stick around in the re-appearing rain to do a Coach Sowry post-game interview. Call me a fair-weather fan...

Louisville (5-2) will play Northeastern Sunday at 1:30 in Trager. In earlier action Friday, Northeastern shut out Michigan State 2-0. The Michigan State v. ODU game faces off at 11 a.m. Sunday.


***************************************************************************

( We hope the weather clears up for Courtney Trimble's birdie makers today in Knoxville...as they seek their third straight tournament win in Big Orange country. )

The University of Louisville women’s golf team shot a 283 in the first round of the Mercedes Benz. UCF is sixth with a score of 286.

Collegiate Friday afternoon at the Cherokee Golf Course in Knoxville, Tenn. The Cardinals are currently in third place after one round of play. South Carolina leads the field with a score of 279. Arkansas is in second with a score of 282. Host Tennessee is fourth with a score of 285 while

Junior Katie Petrino shot a collegiate low of 69 in the first round. Petrino is currently tied at third after finishing the day with four birdies. UCF’s Fanny Cnops and South Carolina’s Katelyn Dambaugh currently lead the field after shooting a 68 in the first round.

Louisville sophomore Laura Restrepo finished the day tied at eight. Restrepo finished the day at one under par after finishing the day with five birdies and three bogeys. Junior Emily Haas shot a 72 in the first round. Haas is currently tied at 19^th along with teammate Louise Oxner. Oxner finished the day with three birdies and four bogeys for a score of 72.

Senior Tara Lyons carded an 83 in the first round. Lyons is currently tied at 90^th. The Cardinals will tee off on Saturday at 10:20 a.m. Live scoring for the tournament is available atwww.golfstat.com.



*********************************************************************************

Why not start your Saturday right by listening to the CARDINAL COUPLE RADIO HOUR from 11 a.m. to noon on Crescent Hill Radio? Paulie, Jenny and Jeff discuss a wide range of Louisville women's sports squads and results. Today's show has a great interview with Field Hockey head coach Justine Sowry, recaps of volleyball, soccer, field hockey and golf action, our weekly quiz and Don Paulie!

Join the knuckleheads for an hour of facts, fun, flubs, forecasting and frivolity at:

www.crescenthillradio.com


**********************************************************

And, if football isn't your thing, why not head over to Cardinal Arena on campus and catch a day's worth of Volleyball?

The WideNet Cards face Rice @ noon and Virginia Tech at 7:30 p.m. I suppose the Owls and Hokies play each other somewhere in between.

It's the Active Ankle Challenge...presented by Marriott Courtyard. You could even get those ankles active and walk down Floyd St. after the football game and see the action in Cardinal Arena.

It does fill up in there rather quickly....so don't stay tailgating too long after Louisville demolishes FIU.

Rice and Hokies...hmmm....sounds like the lunch special at Sal Monella's restaurant. Can I get brown gravy with that?

-Paulie
....

Friday Cardinal Couple -- Field Hockey faces ODU...Rowing goes to IU

FRIDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

- BIG EAST opener for Field Hockey at Trager

- Rowing with an exhibition scrimmage @ Bloomington


This should be a good one.

 #19 Louisville Field Hockey hosts #20 Old Dominion Friday night in Trager Stadium @ 6:30 p.m. It's a "black out" event...so dress accordingly. Admission is free.

CAF members can present their CAF Card to the concession stands during the contest and get a free beer or soft drink. What other reason do you need to attend?

Don't let the 1-5 ODU record fool you. The five losses have come to #6 Penn State, #2 Maryland, #7 Virginia, #1 North Carolina and #9 Duke.

Talk about a brutal pre-conference schedule! They did beat American University.

ODU joins the BIG EAST in Field Hockey this season. The other members this year are Louisville, Providence, Villanova, Georgetown, Connecticut, Rutgers and Temple.

Louisville has outscored their opponents 19-8 in amassing a 4-2 record. Freshman Shannon Sloss and junior Alyssa Voelmle lead the Cards with four goals each.

Sophomore goalie Sydney King was named to the BIG EAST Honor Roll in Field Hockey last week. She's allowing 0.5 goals against average.

Come out and support Justine Sowry's "flock". tonight. The Cards also play Sunday 1 p.m. in Trager against Northeastern.

************************************************************************

Louisville rowing opens the fall with a scrimmage against IU.

It'll take place Saturday in Bloomington. The teams will conduct a variety of eight-minute races in various boats.

New coach Derek Copeland weighs in:

" After using much of last season discovering who were were as a team and as individual rowers, I think the team is well prepared for the upcoming season...They learned that what we're doing works, so this season, they know they have speed and they have confidence in what they saw last year. We believe that will help us raise our performance to another level."

Start of a busy fall for Louisville rowing. After IU, the Cards host the Red and Black Scrimmage on the Ohio on Oct 5th. Then it is off to Indy for an event, and Charlottesville, Va. ,

***********************************************************************

WBB has a new clip out. Not sure if I get the meaning of it but I stopped trying to figure out Coach Walz years ago...

Just stand back and let the gentleman do his thing.

Go Cards!

https://www.facebook.com/#!/photo.php?v=10202050373483780&set=vb.1319945334&type=2&theater

-Paulie

...

Cardinal Couple - Weekly Women's Round-up

THURSDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

(It's the time of the week where Jeff McAdams catches everyone up on the current women's sports squads and their goings on over the past several days...plus a look at their upcoming endeavors. Jeff's weekly column will be moving to Tuesday next week...but he'll still provide a Thursday update at cardinalsports.com as well.)



Its time for another trip around the various results and events in UofL women's athletics of the past week and look ahead to the upcoming competitions.

Field Hockey

Field Hockey is off to one of the best starts the program has had, and, while playing well in general, did stumble slightly this weekend.  After a solid 7-2 win over UC Davis on Friday, Michigan was able to break the four game win streak with a 1-0 win on their home field in Ann Arbor Michigan.

This weekend starts conference play for the Justine Sowry coached Field Hockey squad.  Now, stick with me here, because The American Conference (AAC) doesn't play field hockey.  This means our team is still playing in The Big East this year.  Alas, the confusion grows with UofL's Big East conference opener being against Old Dominion, not a team that is typically thought of when you think Big East.  ODU is currently ranked 20th, compared to our 19th position, with both teams having dropped from last weeks ranking.  ODU only holds a 1-5 record this year, but they have played an absolutely brutal schedule so far, with all of their losses coming at the hands of Top-10 ranked teams at the time they played, with only Penn State having dropped out of the Top-10 since, with a current #12 ranking.  The game against ODU has been designated a black out, and starts at 6:30pm Friday evening at Trager Stadium on Floyd street.

Northeastern is the next visitor for Field Hockey with a game slated for Sunday at 1:30pm

Volleyball

The UofL Volleyball team finally gets to open home court play with two matches Saturday. 

The first match is against Rice at noon.  Of all the reasons why you might not make it to your seats for a Football kick-off on time, being at another UofL sporting event is probably the one that will get you in the least trouble with Head Football Coach Charlie Strong.  The second match of the day is at 7:30 against future conference opponent Virginia Tech.  The Volleyball matches this weekend are part of the Active Ankle challenge and are taking place at Cardinal Arena, just down the street from Papa Johns Cardinal Stadium, so when you're finished celebrating the football victory over FIU, you can easily make it down the street to cheer on the Volleyball squad.

Volleyball has been playing a very tough non-conference early-season schedule, and unfortunately their record is reflecting it.  At 2-6 on the season so far, the team is hoping to start climbing their way back to a winning season.  They've had a tough road, so far all on the road, falling in the past week to then #4 ranked Minnesota and to unranked Pepperdine.  Both matches were in Lexington and followed the tough loss last Tuesday to Kentucky, also at Memorial Coliseum.  Separately in Lexington, Big Blue Nation scored quite an upset with a 5-set victory over Minnesota, which largely accounts for Minnesota's drop to #9 in the most recent poll.

Women's Soccer

Karen Ferguson-Dayes is off to a good start with the Women's Soccer team with a 4-2-1 record.  The team recorded an easy win over Morehead State Friday evening beating them 7-2.  They followed that with a surprisingly difficult win over Texas San-Antonio with the only score of the game coming in the 80th minute with Christine Exeter getting the ball into the back of the net for the game winner.

The Women's Soccer team travels to Milwaukee to play a familiar foe in Marquette, Saturday evening.  Soccer is playing in The American Conference, so this is a non-conference matchup now.  With only a single game this week, the soccer team gets some extra time to get ready before they dive into their conference slate.

Cross Country

Kentucky hosted both the Men's and Women's Cross Country teams at the Bluegrass Cross Country Invitation in Lexington on Saturday.  The women came in second place overall behind Eastern Kentucky and ahead of host Kentucky.

The Women's Cross Country team will not compete this week, but will be preparing for their only home competition which is coming up on October 5th.

Golf

The Women's Golf team is off to a great start, taking the first and third place team finishes in the
Cardinal Cup at the Cardinal Club in Simpsonville, KY.  The Women's Golf team has taken first place in both events that it has participated so far.  The golf season runs all academic year, so they're in it for the long haul.  Unfortunately though, despite the long season, if you missed it Monday and Tuesday, you missed your only chance to see the UofL Women's Golf team play on their home course.

The team hopes to continue its winning ways in Knoxville, Tennessee this weekend on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday at the Mercedes Benz Women's Collegiate.

Rowing

Last, but certainly not least, (seriously, have you seen the length of their roster?) the Rowing team warms up with a scrimmage against IU in Bloomington on Saturday.

Starting to get the word out early, your only chance to see the Rowing team at work here in Louisville will be a Red and Black day at the G. Garvin Brown III Rowing Center on the Ohio River on October 5th.  The Brown Rowing Center is UofL's fantastic boat house just upriver from Tumbleweed.  This, in addition to being the only event the Rowing Team holds in Louisville, is a great opportunity to see the great facilities that the team has to work with as well as providing a chance to mix and mingle with the many members of the Rowing Team.

Jeff McAdams


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Wednesday Cardinal Couple -- W. Golf wins CARDINAL CUP

WEDNESDAY CARDINAL COUPLE - Women's Golf takes top honors in CARDINAL CUP Always good news when a Cardinal athletic squad takes a "W". Louisville women's golf captured a nice one Tuesday...by blowing away the competition to take the CARDINAL CUP for the second year in a row.   (Thanks to Louisville Sports Information for the recap)      SIMPSONVILLE, KY.--- The Louisville women's golf team shot a 292 in the final round of the Cardinal Cup on Tuesday afternoon to win the tournament with a score of 859.  Sophomore Laura Restrepo shot a 75 in the final round to win the tournament with a one stroke lead.   Kansas shot a 300 in the final round to finish second with a score of 881. The Louisville B team shot a 309 in the final round to finish third with a score of 893.  Chattanooga finished fourth with a score of 901 while Middle Tennessee State finished fifth with a score of 905.   Restrepo finished the day with a score of 212, winning her second straight tournament. Junior Emily Haas and Kansas' Yupaporn Kawinpakorn finished one stroke behind in a tie for second place with a score of 213. Haas shot a 72 in the final round. Both Restrepo and Haas led the tournament field with 14 birdies each while Katie Petrino finished with 13 . Louisville had nine players finished in the Top 20 and four players placed in the Top 10. Petrino shot a 71 in the final round to lead the Cardinals with the low score of the day. Petrino finished tied at fourth with a score of 217.   Freshman Louise Oxner shot a 75 in the final round to finish tied at 10th with a score of 222. Senior Tara Lyons carded a 77 in the final round. Lyons finished tied at 12th with a score of 223. Junior Sara Karlsson shot a 78 in the final round for a score of 225. Karlsson finished the tournament tied at 16th for her first Top 20 finish of the season. Three Cardinals finished tied at 19th with a score of 226. Freshman Emily Kurey shot an 83 in the final round to finish tied at 19th. Junior Haley Andreas also finished 19th after shooting a 74 in the final round. Meghan Theiss round also finished 19th after shooting a 79 in the final round. Freshman Shannon Gramley shot a 77 in the final round. Gramley finished tied at 40th with a score of 233. The Cardinals will be back in action on Friday, Sept. 20 as they travel to the Mercedes Benz Collegiate in Knoxville, Tenn. <><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><> Never too early to plan for the weekend. Why not try your hand at watching a little field hockey at Trager Stadium? It's the start of the BIG EAST season for Justine Sowry's squad and "the flock" faces tough competition in Old Dominion at 6:30 p.m. No idea if New Dominion fields a team or is on the schedule... It's a "BLACK OUT" affair...so dress accordingly. The field hockey team is 4-2...they play Northeastern Sunday and if they can take both....a 6-2 start. would rival the 7-3 start the team got off to last season. We have a GREAT interview with Justine Sowry that we'll be playing on the SATURDAY CARDINAL COUPLE RADIO SHOW. Last week's show has been up on the SoundCloud archives for a couple of days now. Give it a listen. Link below: And then there were two... -Paulie ......

Tuesday Cardinal Couple -- Golf leads, Spence suddenly dies

TUESDAY CARDINAL COUPLE  - Women's golf leads Cardinal Cup after Day 1 -  BIG EAST WBB referee dies    ( Thanks to University of Louisville Sports Information for the article information)   The Louisville women's golf team currently leads the Cardinal Cup field after firing a 567 in two rounds at the Cardinal Club on Monday afternoon in Simpsonville, Ky. Sophomore Laura Restrepo also leads the field after shooting a137 in two rounds.   Kansas currently stands in second with a score of 581. The Louisville B team is currently in third place with a score of 584. Chattanooga stands in fourth with a score of 594 while Cincinnati is fifth with a score of 602. Restrepo shot a collegiate low of 67 in the first round. Restrepo finished with six birdies to end the first round in second place. She shot a 70 in the second round to take a three stroke lead into the final round. Junior Emily Haas also shot a collegiate low of 66 in the first round. Haas finished the first round with seven birdies for first place. She shot a 75 in the second round to finish the day in third place with a score of 141. Freshman Emily Kurey shot a 72 in the first round. Kurey followed up with a 71 in the second round. She is currently in fourth place with a score 143.  Junior Katie Petrino shot a 75 in the first round. Petrino took three strokes off her first round score to finish one under par in the second round. She is currently tied for eighth along with teammate Tara Lyons with a score of 146. Lyons also shot a 75 in the first round. She finished the second round with a 71 for a score of 146.   Junior Sara Karlsson carded a 73 in the first round. Karlsson shot a 74 in the second round. She finished with a score of 147 and is currently tied for 11th with teammate Meghan Theiss. The sophomore shot a 75 in the first round and a 72 in the second round. Theiss finished the day with a score of 147. Also tied at 11th is freshman Louise Oxner. Oxner shot a 75 in the first round and a 72 in the second round for a score of 147. Junior Hayley Andreas shot an 80 in the first round. She rebounded in the second round and shot a 72 for a score of 152.  Andreas finished the day tied at 29th. Freshman Shannon Gramley shot a 77 in the first round and a 79 in the second round. She is currently tied at 41st with a score of 156. The Cardinals will wrap up play tomorrow with an 8:40 a.m. shotgun start. Live scoring will be available at www.golfstat.com. ********************************************************************************** Bonita Spence comes over to talk to Paulie during halftime at the Louisville vs. St. John's WBB game. ( A pleasant chat) WE were saddened to here the news yesterday that BIG EAST WBB referee Bonita Spence had passed away. A fixture in UofL games at the KFC YUM! Center, Spence was a dynamic, take charge referee that "called them as she saw them"   This article from a UConn writer...   The women’s basketball world took a big hit on Monday with the death of longtime referee Bonita Spence. Spence worked in both the college and WNBA ranks and was one of the better officials in the game. She was also one of the most notable personalities among referees. She was also one of the few officials willing to joke with students in the crowd, and would often laugh along as fans made teasing comments about calls during timeouts. For that, she was always appreciated. Spence was happy to keep things light-hearted. During this year’s Paradise Jam in the Virgin Islands, she participated in a dance competition at halftime alongside several fans from the crowd. Yes, as much as a crowd could put a smile on her face, she could have the same effect for them — after hearing of her death, many took to Twitter to express their sadness: Paulie .....

Monday Cardinal Couple -- Soccer squeaks out 1-0 win. Golf on Monday and Tuesday

MONDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

- Women's soccer downs UTSA 1-0

- Women's golf hosts Cardinal Cup Mon/Tues

- New rankings for 2014 Cards WBB commits


A "W" is a "W" whether it's 10-0 or 1-0. The Louisville women's soccer team picked up their 4th "W" of the season Sunday in Cardinal Park with a 1-0 win over Texas San Antonio. Christine Exeter kicked in the only score of the game 35 minutes into the second half to give the Cards the only point they needed to improve to 4-2-1.

Louisville dominated the action in the first 45 minutes despite not scoring . The Cards had 14 shots, including 9 on goal, compared to three for the Roadrunners.

The second half brought plenty of opportunites for UofL to pad the lead but it wasn't until the 80th minute of play before the deadlock was broken.

The Cards had a whopping 23-11 shot advantage for the contest. They return to action Saturday, Sept 21st...travelling to Marquette for a 7 p.m. match.

Coach Ferguson-Dayes comments below:

http://www.gocards.com/allaccess/?media=405429

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Courtney Trimble's Louisville women's golf team swings into tournament
action Monday when they host the Cardinal Cup at Cardinal Club in Simpsonville, KY.


A stellar list of opponents travel in to putt and chip. Cincinnati, Ball State, Houston, Kansas, Illinois State, Marshall, Memphis, MTSU, Murray, NKU, USF and UTC will compete in 56 holes of golf...36 on Monday and 18 on Tuesday.

Louisville will field two teams for the event. "A" team will feature Laura Restrepo, Katie Petrino, Emily Haas, Tara Lyons and Haley Andreas. Team "B" consists of Louise Oxner, Emily Kurey, Shannon Gramley, Meagan Theiss and Sara Karlsson.

You can follow the live scoring at www.golfstat.com

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This from regular reader and commenter Kenny S.:

ESPN hoopgurlz moved Sydney and Mariya up in their rankings.They both were rated as 4 star,

now they are both rated as 5 star.So now Sydney,Mariya and Myisha are all 5 star and Ariana is a

4 star.They are all wing player and are ranked in the wing position as follows Myisha #10,Sydney

#11,Mariya #14 and Ariana #22.Not bad ,now we have to wait and see if they live up to their billing.

• GRADEPLAYER INFOSTATUS
• 97
  Myisha Hines-Allen, W
  

  
  

  • POS RANK W #10
  • HT 6-1
  • HS Montclair H.S. (NJ)
  Verbal
• 97
  Sydney Brackemyre, W
  

  
  

  • POS RANK W #11
  • HT 6-0
  • HS Clinton Massie School (OH)
  Verbal
• 96
  Mariya Moore, W
  

  
  

  • POS RANK W #14
  • HT 6-0
  • HS Salesian H.S. (CA)
  Verbal
• 91
  Ariana Freeman, W
  

  
  

  • POS RANK W #22
  • HT 5-11
  • HS Paul VI H.S. (VA)

Note: Freeman is a verbal also. Sometimes the copy and paste doesn't work so well for me...

-Paulie



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