Women Soccer vs. Marquette...Field Hockey at UConn Saturday...Volleyball at DePaul...St. X vs Trinity at PJCS

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WELCOME TO FRIDAY @ CARDINAL COUPLE

-Soccer Cards do battle with #10 Marquette tonite

-Volleyball heads to Chicago for DePaul match

-Field Hockey with a tough test Saturday @ UConn

-The greatest rivalry in high school football...Rocks vs. Tigers

Karen Ferguson-Dayes and the Louisville women's soccer team faces one of their toughest tests of the season with a 7 p.m. match tonight against Marquette at Cardinal Park. The Golden Eagles are 10-2 on the season and come to Louisville buoyed by wins last weekend over DePaul and Notre Dame.

The Cards (4-4-3) come into the contest after a win and tie on the road last week. Louisville downed Providence 1-0 and fought to a tie against UConn. The Cards have seemingly shaken off their slow start to the season and have either won or gained a tie in their last five outings.

Louisville will count on sophomore Christine Exeter to  continue her hot streak on offense. The Pickering, Ontario native has scored in each of the Cards last three games. A big performance between the pipes by senior goalkeeper Chloe Kiefer would benefit Louisville greatly tonight, too.

After tonight's match, USF visits for a Sunday, 1 p.m. showdown.

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Anne Kordes will have the Volleyball Cards ready for action tonight when they battle DePaul in a BIG EAST regular season match. Louisville (10-4) will look to Lola again for a productive night and she's been far from disappointing lately.

Kordes has done a very good job with a veteran Cardinal roster that in very thin on available bodies. With Gwen Rucker on the sideline, Anne only has nine players available for matches.

Emily Juhl and Taylor Brauneis have also been at the top of their games lately and Louisville should handle the Blue Demons (4-11, 1-1) pretty easily.


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Louisville Field Hockey faces a very tough test Saturday when they travel to Storrs, CT. for a face off against the #4 ranked Huskies. Led by Chloe Hunnable and Maria Elena Bolles, UConn has an 8-1 record this year and defeated Massachusetts (Justine Sowry's previous school) 4-1 on Wednesday. Boston College is the only team to hang a "L" on UConn this season.

Louisville will hope senior Hayley Turner can find the back of the net against the talented Husky defense. She faces one of the best in the nation at goal. Sarah Mansfield allows only 0.89 scores per contest. Erin Conrad had allowed only 10 scores this season for the #19 Cards.

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( The obligatory annual column about high school football next...)

Papa John's Cardinal Stadium will be packed and lit up this evening but it won't be Charlie Strong's Cardinals on the Sportsgrass. Instead, the 72nd. matchup between St. Xavier and Trinity will kickoff at 8 p.m. St. X leads the series 36-33-2 but will have their hands full with a Trinity team ranked #3 in the nation. This will be Trinity's (5-0) first game this year against a Kentucky opponent but they haven't been dormant...defeating some of the best from Ohio, Tennessee and Indiana.

St. X (3-3) comes into tonight's game off a 31-30 overtime win over Central. Coach Mike Glazer's Tigers lost both games to the Rocks last year...but anything can happen in this huge rivalry. Last year's attendance of 35,000 should easily be topped in what looks like a perfect night for football.

One to keep an eye on tonight will be Trinity receiver James Quick. The junior is drawing a lot of interest from major colleges already and Louisville and Kentucky are both interested in his services. He's done well in five games this year...over 600 receiving yards and nine touchdown catches.

PAUL'S PICK   Rocks roll....34-10 over St.X.
SONJA SAYS   Time for an upset...St X. 14 - Trinity 7

Over 35,000 for high school football. Not many rivalries can top that.  

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