Story, Harrington to leave Lady Cards...Jude Schimmel signs LOI

FRIDAY @ CARDINAL COUPLE



Rachel Story is leaving the Lady Cards, along with Polly Harrington



-Story, Harrington to transfer

-Jude Schimmel signs Uofl letter of intent

-Lacrosse game time changed

-Softball headed to South Bend 

WE hinted at this development for several weeks here at CARDINAL COUPLE and now it has been officially announced.

Harrington drives against UC

Sophomore guard Rachel Story and freshman forward Polly Harrington are leaving the UofL women's basketball roster. No word yet on where either player is transferring to.

Story played in 51 games in her two years at Louisville, as a back up guard. She was the leading scorer for Louisville with 16 points against Rutgers on March 1st, 2010 in a 72-52 loss in Piscataway. Her playing time in the 2009-10 season was boosted by the thin compliment of players available to Jeff Walz during that injury ridden season...she averaged 11.2 minutes a game. When the Cards restocked the lineup and more guards were available to Walz...her playing time diminished to 5.6 minutes a game as a sophomore. Story never started a game during her two years at UofL. She showed promise, at times, of being a capable point guard but with the Cards bringing in at least two additional guards this upcoming season...playing time most likely would have diminished even further. She'll be a good get for a mid-major or DII school out there.

Harrington came to Louisville as an undersized but talented front line prospect. Her time on the court was brief...5.1 minutes a game and she averaged 1.8 ppg and 0.7 rebounds. With front line recruit Sara Hammond on the way, Shawnta Dyer returning from injury and Cierra Robertson-Warren coming off a red-shirt season, that playing time most likely would have become even less.

Can't blame either player for looking for an opportunity to be basketball players elsewhere and getting more minutes on the court. It's tough to come in as a highly ranked prospect and spend the majority of your time watching from the bench. Both Harrington and Story had chances to prove they could be a starter or first off the bench...but better players got those slots. Competition can be cruel sometimes...but WE feel here at CARDINAL COUPLE that both will go on and have successful college careers and find a spot where their on court talents will be needed and used.

Jeff Walz had this to say about the departures:

"I have enjoyed coaching both Rachel and Polly here at Louisville. They are both talented young women that have a lot of great opportunities ahead of them. They will always be part of our basketball family and we wish them nothing but success."

The words by Walz are gracious, politically correct and from the heart. Always best to take the high road when discussing changes in a program. No way he would have taken the bitter,selfish comments approach that George O' Leary spewed when DaMarcus Smith requested out of his letter of intent to play football at UCF. From our vantage view this season covering Lady Cards basketball, our hearts went out to the sad, stoic gaze Story exhibited from the seats at times this season. The Cards relied on a 9-10 player rotation last season. When faced with the prospect of as many as 16 candidates vying for one of those spots in 2011-12, hard realities and past performances speak volumes when it comes to selection and probability.

WE'VE always maintained, here at CARDINAL COUPLE...that Coach Walz will never want to go through the stressful, sad situation that he and the team had to endure in 2009-10...when injuries and lack of players had the Cards competing at drastically low levels. WE figured he'd do whatever he could to bring in the maximum capacity of players possible to avoid such a trauma again. WE applaud the recent efforts. There is strength in numbers...and sometimes players who may have looked to be potential stars in the recruiting process get faced with the reality there are others that are better than them.

With UofL over the last four years, the transfer rate out of the program has averaged 2-3 players a year. Although some may feel this is excessively high...it is a syndrome of women's college basketball. Players come in to compete. Players find that their skills aren't quite there to earn starting or playing roles,. Players leave to seek those goals of playing time. It's happening at other schools, also. The "free up" in scholarships because of departures creates opportunities for others to try and climb the ladder. Consider it a spring cleaning. The summer and fall fashions are on the way.

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Another Lady Cards item of note is that Jude Schimmel has signed and sent her letter of intent to Louisville. This was another one we told you was going to happen for weeks and weeks. We felt it was going to happen even before the Portland Franklin point guard began her senior season of high school ball. We felt that the close bond between the sisters, the attractiveness of the UofL campus, facilities and training areas...coupled with the fact that the Lady Cards were absolutely enamored with both these Schimmel
sisters during Shoni's recruiting process made it almost a foregone conclusion. We value the comittment that the Schimmel sisters have made to UofL here at CARDINAL COUPLE and would remind ours readers that "if you liked Shoni...you're going to LOVE Jude."

Jude averaged 28 points a game her senior year at Franklin and was an unaminous selection to All First Team Oregon 5-A. She is an exceptionally quick and talented point guard that passes extremely well, can drill the three if left unguarded and creates turnovers and gets steals on defense.

It's official now...and Cardinal fans are going to love being Schimmel "squared".

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Because of inclement weather expected for Friday evening, Louisville lacrosse game against Rutgers has been moved to to 4 p.m. It was originally slated to face off at 5 p.m. The Scarlet Knights hit town with a 7-4 record and are 1-2 in BIG EAST play. Louisville enters the contest at 8-4 and is also 1-2 in BIG EAST action.

The CARDS will also play Sunday at the Louisville Lacrosse Stadium with Villanova providing the competition. Game at noon.

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University of Louisville softball heads to South Bend for a three game series against the Notre Dame fighting Irish beginning Saturday. The Cards split a mid-week double header with the Huskies on Wednesday. Louisville has won 12 out of their last 13 games and has only two BIG EAST losses. The bats seemed to dry up Wednesday for the Cards...surprising when you look at how they pounded a better than average Pitt pitching staff last weekend.

In Notre Dame, the Cards face an opponent that is 29-7...5-0 in BIG EAST play and on a 12 game winning streak. The Irish were prognosticated as one of the preseason favorites to capture the BIG EAST regular season title, along with Louisville and De Paul.

Certainly a key and crucial matchup this weekend for the Cards against a top flight opponent. Let's hope the weather in South Bend co-operates and the Cards can bring out the bats to give freshman pitching sensation Caralisa Connell some breathing room.
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