Sandy's Laundry Day

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TUESDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

-Sandy catches us up on (where do we begin...?) 

(The Tuesday Edition of Cardinal Couple is Sandy's Laundry Day and we get updates on Cardinal Caravan, Angel, Volleyball, women's basketball, field hockey, six geese a 'laying, five golden rings, four calling birds...well, you get the idea. Lotsa good stuff here today!)

Sandy's laundry

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Cardinal Caravan

Don’t forget that July 19 is the Louisville stop for the 11th annual Cardinal Caravan which will be at Captains Quarters starting at 5:30 EDT.  Yes...you will see and hear participants such as Softball Coach Sandy Pearsall, Women’s Basketball Coach Jeff Walz , other UL coaches and athletes which include Victoria Collins (softball), Chinwe Okoro (women’s track and field), Katie Oliverio (lacrosse) and Hayley Turner (field hockey).  Special to this stop also present will be the Cardinal Couple and several of the staff writers.    Please mark this date and time on your calendars and make a point to come over and meet/speak with us,  the caravan coaches and athletes. To do so for this event or to attend any of the stops you must RSVP.   Check out www.uoflalumni.org/caravan2012.  For more information call (502) 852-0721 or visit www.UofLsports.com.

The Cardinal Couple crew will be roaming the grounds or seated at the Al Parrish pavilion.

Complete schedule:

July 17 Frankfort 11:30 a.m.–1:15 p.m. Buffalo Trace Clubhouse
July 17 Northern Kentucky 4:30–6:15 p.m. Newport Aquarium Riverside
July 18 Bowling Green 5:30-7 p.m. (CST) National Corvette Museum
July 19 Owensboro 11:30 a.m.–1 p.m. (CST) River Park Center
July 19 Louisville 5:30–7 p.m. Captain’s Quarters

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Angel Update

Angel McCoughtry prepares for what arguably are the most important games of her career as one of the 12 best women’s basketball players in the world as a member of the USA Olympic team. For two weeks she is participating to play in what she calls “the most important and prestigious sporting event in the world”.   The team opens against Croatia on July 28 in her first Olympic Games.  Jeff Walz has said that her “explosiveness will be invaluable to Team USA this summer”.   

Her all-around strong and versatile game play should make her a major contributing member to a team which features 12 top five WNBA draft picks with including Angel, seven of which were 1^st round picks.  Angel's take is that “We have egos, too, but it's in a different format." and is “glad to not have to play against them for once."

For the complete article or more information see - Steven Petrella spetrella@baltsun.com of The Baltimore Sun article located at http://www.baltimoresun.com/sports/olympics/bs-sp-mccoughtry-olympics-0708-20120707,0,7131844.story

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WNBA – Atlanta Dream News - Olympics

Former Atlanta Dream guard Coco Miller has  now also been released by the Los Angeles Sparks.  Last year Coco played under then Atlanta Dream Assistant Coach Carol Ross who is now in her first season as head coach of the Sparks.

WNBA Eastern Conference Standings

Eastern	W	L	PCT	HOME	ROAD
Connecticut	12	4	.750	6-3	6-1
Indiana	9	6	.600	5-2	4-4
Chicago	8	7	.533	4-4	4-3
Atlanta	8	9	.471	5-4	3-5
New York	6	10	.375	3-5	3-5
Washington	3	12	.200	3-6	0-6

Atlanta was defeated by the Los Angles Sparks Sunday with a final score of 79-63.  The Dream appeared to have the deck stacked against continuing their six game win streak against Los Angles after playing to a double overtime game (100-93) against Phoenix on Saturday then running into an 8-1 Sparks home record.  They were also without the services of Angel McCoughtry, one of 12 US Olympic Team members who is reported to be suffering from a sprained medial collateral ligament.   The next event for the Olympic Team is an Exhibition by the USA National Team vs Brazil on July 16 at the Verizon Center in Washington, DC.

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Volleyball Season Tickets

While we are anxiously waiting the beginning of the women’s 2012-2013 basketball season we need to keep in mind that volleyball is just around the corner.  The Active Ankle Challenge starts the home season on August 24-25 with a August 29 KFC YUM! Center match against Kentucky kicking off regular season play.

This is a reminder to all that the Volleyball team this year will play 15 home matches at the KFC YUM! Center with season tickets now available (see http://www.uoflsports.com/sports/w-volley/spec-rel/062812aab.html for details)  The team already ranks in the top 25 in the nation for attendance but we need to see a rise to at least the top 10 now that instead of standing room only situations there will be great seats for everyone.  Season ticket packages include Reserved Sideline Club seats at $80 each and guarantees ticket holders reserved lower level seats for every match.

Bring not only yours but also your neighbors kids as youth season ticket packages begin at only $25 each and are available in any lower level section. Fans also can purchase a Family Four-Pack that includes two adult and two youth reserved tickets in any available lower level section for $210, which is less than $4 per ticket.

Single tickets sales begin August 6 but season ticket holders receive benefits such as access to the arena clubs, an invitation to the season ticket holder appreciation reception with Coach Kordes during opening weekend and opportunities to win autographed volley ball and official team apparel.

Season tickets are available by calling the Louisville Athletic Ticket Office at (502) 852-5151, online at UofLsports.com or in person at the Student Activities Center ticket office between 9:00 a.m. and 5:00 p.m. Monday through Friday.
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Women’s Basketball Attendance 2011-2012

Women’s NCAA basketball attendance sets all-time high as again the 11 million mark was exceeded with record highs for Divisions I and III were repeated for the 2nd consecutive year.  As expected Division I led the way with > 8.1 million in attendance.  Once again, Louisville was runner up – this year with an average attendance of 10,670 (which we absolutely plan to surpass this year). Thanks to Gary Johnson of NCAA.org http://www.ncaa.org/wps/wcm/connect/public/NCAA/Resources/Latest+News/2012/June/Womens+basketball+attendance+sets+all+time+high.

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Volleyball National Recognition

Coach Anne Kordes had a great first recruiting year.  The 2012 Louisville Volleyball team has been ranked # 30 in the nation by Prepvolleyball.com as 30^th.  “The panel judges each class, using both size and strength of the class and impact on that program not only for the 2012 season, but the next four years.”

New team members are:

Katie George, 5-10 S, Assumption (Louisville, Kentucky);

Davionna Holmes, 6-3 MB, East St. Louis (Illinois);

Janelle Jenkins, 5-10 MB, Carroll (Southlake, Texas);

Jaden McBride, 5-8 DS, Farmington (Missouri);

Allie Miller, 5-4 DS, Concordia Lutheran (Fort Wayne, Indiana);

Haley Pouliezos, 5-7 Libero, Imperial (Windsor, Missouri)

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Gwen Rucker Update

A2 Program Picture  with Gwen Rucker & Volleyball Coach Dani Busboom

Gwen Rucker’s journey continues as a University of Louisville middle blocker and a USA Red team member.    She is competing in the in the U.S. Women's National Volleyball A2 Program.  See http://www.uoflsports.com/sports/w-volley/spec-rel/070212aaa.html.

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Field Hockey

Quick Quiz.   State two facts you know about the University of Louisville Field Hockey Team.  I failed, how about you?

For some of your answers, try this webpage http://www.guide.provations.com/louisville/louisville2011fieldhockey#pg6 where you can get to know head coach Justine Sowry, a Sydney Australia native who’s Alma Mater is South Australia.  Her remarkable background is too impressive to condense onto this page but take the time to check out her link as well as that of the team in their media guide found at http://www.guide.provations.com/louisville/louisville2011fieldhockey#.

The University of Louisville also features a fall Field Hockey schedule which opens with the Sherrill Brakmeier Classic at Trager Stadium which begins on Friday August 24, 2012 against Northeastern at 6:00 p.m.  Play continues on Sunday the 26th at 1 and 1 p.m. with Northwestern/Miami Ohio. Play continues until November 3-4 when the Big East Championship is held at our Trager Stadium facility. The complete schedule is available at http://www.uoflsports.com/sports/w-fieldh/sched/lou-w-fieldh-sched.html.

“Mrs. Brakmeier” was a much loved daily fixture in the UL women’s athletic department and field hockey coach back in the dark ages when I was a student at UL.  She still can be seen at campus events cheering on the student athletes and admirably representing the University's women’s athletic events on a regular basis.  Students of that era know that her 3^rd child was the University of Louisville field hockey. Much can be learned about Mrs. Brakmeier and her history at http://www.uoflsports.com/genrel/071904aag.html.
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Mercedes Russell Quick Facts

Forget about the ball. Look into my
fingers. You are getting sleepy,
very sleepy...

Thanks to Steven Maikoski/USA Basketball we know:

Her favorite food is Fruit or chicken, favorite class is Math and that she writes with her left hand and shoots with her right.

Congratulations to Mercedes and “Team Concept Heat” as the winners of the “End of the Trail” girls elite youth basketball tournament which ended yesterday in Oregon City, Oregon.

(Editor's note -- The talent level at the End of the Trial was off the charts. Not sure how many college coaches were at the event but you probably could have thrown a bucket of water from the top of the seats and drenched a dozen or so. 

The recruitment of Mercedes goes on at breakneck speed. She's become a highly sought-after commodity. For her sake, I hope she gets a few moments of peace away from the fray and gets a chance to enjoy her senior year of high school. )

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Women’s Soccer

Louisville Women’s Athletics fans have no shortage of events to attend on campus this fall.

Not to be forgotten is the UL women’s soccer team whose first exhibition game of the season is August 10 at Cardinal Park which will be played against Ohio State.   The first home game is Friday August 24 against Purdue at 7 pm.   On September 7 & 9 the Cardinals host a tournament which includes Kentucky and Toledo.  Karen Ferguson-Dayes,

 the winningest coach in Cardinal history, enters her 12th season as head coach.  Coach and team history can be found at http://www.uoflsports.com/sports/w-soccer/mtt/fergusondayes_karen00.html.  2012 Women’s Soccer Quick Facts with this year’s schedule is located at http://grfx.cstv.com/photos/schools/lou/sports/w-soccer/auto_pdf/2012-13/quick_facts/quick_facts.pdf.

2012 Roster

 1 Chloe Kiefer GK 5-7 SR Whitefish Bay, Wis./Divine Saviour HS

 2 Courtney Holtz D 5-7 SR Peoria, Ill./Richwoods HS

 3 Angelika Uremovich MF 5-11 JR Oakville, Ont., Canada/St. Ignatius of Loyola

 4 Nicole Mitchell MF 5-3 JR Guelph, Ont., Canada/Bishop Macdonell HS

 5 Aubrey Muench MF 5-9 FR Cold Spring, Ky./Newport Central Catholic HS

 6 Shannon Dennehey F 5-6 FR Medford, N.J./Shawnee HS

 7 Emily Cardell F 5-5 SR Cincinnati, Ohio/Saint Ursula Academy

 8 Jenna Andersen D 5-6 FR Sterling Heights, Mich./Adlai Stevenson HS

 9 Charlyn Corral F 5-3 JR Mexico City, Mexico/Tecnológico de Monterrey

10 Chelsea Hunter D 5-7 JR Novi, Mich./Walled Lake Western HS

11 Andrea Distler MF 5-3 FR Louisville, Ky./Sacred Heart HS

13 Kim Sharo F 5-6 SO New Windsor, N.Y./Cornwall HS

14 Zakiya McIntosh F 5-2 SO Ajax, Ont., Canada/Pickering HS

15 Harlee Leineek GK 5-9 FR Perrineville, N.J./Peddie School

16 Erin Yenney MF 5-7 SO Troy, Ohio/Troy HS

17 Sydney Blomquist MF/F 5-7 SO Bel Air, Md./Fallston HS

18 Nicole Gerber MF 5-5 FR Highland Mills, N.Y./Monroe-Woodbury HS

19 Hannah Konermann D 5-5 FR Louisville, Ky./Mercy Academy

20 Julie Casselman MF 5-5 JR Gatineau, Que., Canada/Des Sources HS

21 Devyn Ciotti D 5-9 SO Liberty, Ohio/Lakota West HS

22 Christine Exeter F 5-8 JR Pickering, Ont., Canada/Pickering HS

23 Casey Whitfi eld F 5-7 SO Louisville, Ky./Manual HS

24 Rachel Melhado D 5-9 JR Brampton, Ont., Canada/Turner Fenton SS

25 Halle Pyle GK 5-9 FR Centerville, Ohio/Centerville HS

27 Katie Walz D 5-9 JR Alexandria, Ky./Bishop Brossart HS

31 Lauren Nash MF 5-5 FR Woodbury, Minn./Woodbury HS

32 Irene Young F 5-8 FR Troy, Mich./Troy HS

33 Lexie Niedoba MF 5-9 FR Essex, Md./Mercy HS

49 Megan Berberich D/F 5-3 JR Fort Wright, Ky./Notre Dame Academy

57 Grace Ayodele F 5-7 FR Champaign, Ill./Centennial HS

Head Coach: Karen Ferguson-Dayes (Connecticut, 1993), 13th season at Louisville

Associate Head Coach: Kyle Singer (Virginia, 2001), 6th season at Louisville

Assistant Coach: Natalie Cocchi (West Virginia, 2008), 4th season at Louisville
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Softball – NCAA vs ISF (International Softball Federation)

With the end of the NCAA Softball Championship elite NCAA players joined forces to play on the US team and participate in the International Softball Federation games (ISF) which is the international governing body for the sport of softball.  Without a current slot in the Olympics, this sport can only hang out in the International Leagues where it is believed that reentry into the Olympics will require a merging of the ISF and the IOC (International Olympic Committee).  For any of you who are lucky enough to see any of these games – there are a few differences between the NCAA and International rules. 

Some of those changes are:

-In the NCAA pitches must stay within pitching lanes, the pivot foot must stay in contact with ground but in ISF the pitches can be outside of the lanes, the pivot foot can come off ground but there must be a 2 second pause. 

-The NCAA run rule is that the game ends when one team has an 8 run lead after 5 innings.  In the ISF it varies as the lead must be 15 runs after 3 innings, 10 runs after 4 innings or 7 runs after 5 innings. 


-In ISF the batter must keep one foot in the batters box between pitches but not in the NCAA. 

 -ISF outfield fence deminsions are a standardized 220’ where in the NCAA the distances can range from 190-230’. 

The most visual difference is that in the NCAA players can wear long pants or shorts but in the ISF only shorts are allowed as they claim they want to differentiate from baseball (which is sort of odd since the IOC approves of the stand long pants but somehow they are not confused for baseball players).   When on base paths they either go to sliding pants or knee pads but I personally saw more head first slides.   Sounds more like a power struggle than a true concern for confusion or for the skin on the player’s legs.
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College Recruitment Expenses

I found a site (http://businessofcollegesports.com/2012/01/20/conference-recruitment-expense-series-wac/) where Alicia Jessop has compiled Recruitment expenses data for all sports, as were available, from the ACC, Big East, Big Ten, Big 12, Conference USA, MAC, Mountain West, Pac-12, SEC and the Sun Belt.  I am not certain as to the group but in a series by BusinessofCollegeSports.com ...men’s and women’s college recruiting budgets were analyzed and posted.   Data from the Department of Education was used where the top 50 recruiting spenders were shown. 

Columns showed total recruitment expense budget, amount spent per team on average and amount spent per player on average. The figures are somewhat suspect, though, as the data doesn’t tell how many student-athletes a school recruited in a given year so the total amount of student-athletes at each school was used.  Nothing I would want to wager upon but at least all were compared using the same formulas:

fhttp://businessofcollegesports.com/2012/01/23/conference-recruiting-expense-series-top-50-spenders/ reports the “top 50” overall spenders with Louisville sitting at a solid 25 sport with a reported total expenditure of $1,128,645 with $342,071 of that indicated as being spent on the womens' teams.
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Lacrosse Update – New Recruit

Today Coach Kellie Young announced the 10^th member of the newly incoming Cardinal 2012 class.  Anna Kopecka who has been named to the Czech Republic national team for the 2013 World Cup will have 2 years of immediate eligibility after transferring in from George Mason. Coach Young said "I am thrilled that Anna will be transferring to Louisville and joining our lacrosse family,"... She is a tremendous addition and we hope will have an immediate impact on our success."

She is the 10th member of the Cardinals class for the 2012-13 season that consists of Blair Bernhardt (Annapolis, Md.), Cortnee Daley (Horsham, Pa.), Courtney Boyd (Bayville, N.Y.), Erika Eipp (Groton, Mass.), Kelli Gerding (Jarrettsville, Md.), Kaylin Morissette (Bowmanville, Ontario), Laura Patterson (Severna Park, Md.), Emily Ryan (Niskayuna, N.Y.) and Kayla Sleece (Chesapeake, Va.).

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