TUESDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

( Staff columnist Sandy Walker opens her weekly can of mixed nuts for us to sample with a look at softball, basketball, volleyball, fiscal cliff solutions, the extinction of dinosaurs, Chef Boyardee selections and the entire catalouge from Harry and David. Put the callers on hold and lock the office door...Sandy reveals all...)




Lots of laundry this week with games, matches and banquets to attend.

SOFTBALL

The league’s 13 head coaches have picked Louisville in a preseason poll to finish third in BIG EAST Softball. USF was the preseason favorite with Notre Dame edging the Cards for second place.  As reported last week, the National Fastpitch Coaches Division I Preseason Poll have ranked our ladies at number 18 in the nation.  It is soon time to show them wrong, starting in Las Vegas with a win against UCF then UNLV on February 8 in the Sportco Kick-Off Classic.  The tournament continues the next day against Minnesota then Texas Tech with Depaul on the 10^th.  It will be a busy 3 days for the Softball Cards but also a great way to begin the season with a 5-0 sweep.
 

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BASKETBALL

REPLAYS

At the YUM center Sunday I found myself wondering and wishing to see replays of exciting plays on a regular basis.   This weekend against St. Johns I believe there were 2-3 replays which found me wishing for more.  The Sugar Bowl was exceptionally great to attend as every play was shown again on the big board – maybe we can soon see replays shown more regularly during basketball as it adds a lot to the in person experience.

 

SOUTH FLORIDA WBB GAME

 

This Wednesday finds our women at South Florida in what should be a particularly tough game.  More info on that tomorrow from Quentin as he scouts the game for us. At the moment all I have found for video of the game is the Bulls all access streaming video broadcast and local radio with Matt and AJ who are suffering on our behalf through the Florida weather.   The site will publish additional means of broadcast as we learn of them.  

( Editor's note. We considered tying a string between two cans and stretching it from Louisville to Tampa. Cletus volunteered to travel to Tampa and give us a verbal account of the action. That's a whole lotta string. We recanted. Listen to A.J. and Matt instead. And sing along each time the Fischer's commercial comes on.)   

VOLLEYBALL

Jeff McAdams wanted to make sure that everyone is aware of this Saturday night's Volleyball Banquet.  Doors open at 5:45 for the 6:30 event which is being held at the PNC Club.  Attendance is $40 a person with a table costing $400.  The banquet is a celebration of the successful season which has resulted in Gwen, Lola and Kaitlynn now occupied with their pro teams.

Contact info for the event is:

Ms. Christy Waltrip

Special Events, Louisville Athletics

Louisville, KY 40292

christy@gocards.com

(502)852-0706

( Editor's comment -- Thanks to Christy for extending two media passes to CARDINAL COUPLE for the banquet! It'll be either Sonja and Paul or Timmy the Intern and Mondo Vendo attending. Attempts to get Charlie Sheen to fly in were unsucessful)

 

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TRACK AND FIELD
 

Last weekend found Margret Harris taking first in the 60 meter semi finals and finals as well as 4^th in the 200 meter.  She ran her personal best in the 60 with a time of 24.27.  The complete meet results can be found at http://www.gocards.com/sports/w-track/recaps/012613aaa.html

Link to http://grfx.cstv.com/photos/schools/lou/sports/w-track/auto_pdf/2012-13/stats/season_stats.pdf to find a copy of the 2013 Women’s indoor performance chart.  In the meantime the team plans to add to these numbers by participating in the Meyo Invitational on the 1^st and 2^nd in South Bend, Indiana prior to the Big East Championships n Geneva, Ohio on the 16^th and 17^th of the month.
 

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SCHOOL SONGS

When Nell on Wheels visited during the UL v UK she decided to have a competition between the fans where the singing our school song was part of the competition.  Sadly, it was obvious that most of the UL crowd did not know their school song(s).  Just in case you are interested:

( Editor's note. Nell also delivered a stirring rendition of Led Zeppelin's "Stairway to Heaven" for the crowd...accompanied by Al Greener on guitar and Sean Moth on wind chimes and tuba.)
 

"All Hail U of L" - by Alan Greener

All hail to thee our U of L
As we stand up for her fame.
All hail to thee our U of L
As we fight to win this game.
Sing praises for a victory,
We wish our heroes well.
All hail the Cardinal Spirit.
All hail our U of L!
GO CARDS!

"Fight! U of L" - by R.B. Griffith

Fight now for victory and show them
How we sure will win this game
Fight on you Card'nals and prove to them ( Card'nals....really?)
That we deserve our fame.
Rah, Rah, Rah!
Roll up the score now and beat the foe
So we can give a yell
With a FIGHT! give them all you've got
For we are with you U of L.

"All Hail U of L" - by Alan Greener

All hail to thee our U of L
As we stand up for her fame.
All hail to thee our U of L
As we fight to win this game.
Sing praises for a victory,
We wish our heroes well.
All hail the Cardinal Spirit.
All hail our U of L!
GO CARDS!
 

The audio files can be found at http://www.gocards.com/trads/lou-trads-songs.html

( Editor's note. Did you know NCAA referees have a spirit song as well? It's true, they do! Google the words to "Three Blind Mice" and sing along! )

 

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LACROSSE

Rules of the Week

Courtesy of US Lacrosse

AND

http://www.gocards.com/sports/w-lacros/spec-rel/081506aab.html

Women's lacrosse is a non-contact game played by 12 players: a goalkeeper, five attackers and six defenders. The object of the game is to shoot the ball into the opponent's goal. The team scoring the most goals wins.

(If the game is non-contact ---- why is protective gear worn during the games?)

 

The collegiate game is 60 minutes long, each half being 30 minutes. The high school girl's game is 50 minutes long, each half being 25 minutes. In both collegiate and high school play, teams are allowed one timeout per half.

 

2013 SEASON

 

This year’s team was picked by the BIG EAST Coaches Preseason poll to finish 6^th in the conference.    Our first chance to see them play this season is on Sunday February 10^th against Canisius.  The match is played at U of L’s Lacrosse Stadium at 12:00.  Gear up for the weather but you are forewarned not to purchase foot warmers from Timmy the Intern as they are rumored to actually be freshly packaged “Bill the Goat” droppings.

Monday head coach Kellie Young announced the signing of seven student-athletes for the 2013 season.  “The 2013 class is comprised of Carolyn Dottino-Buenahora (Huntington, N.Y.), Hannah Koloski (Lakeville, Minn.), Anne L'Heureux (Winter Springs, Fla.), Steph McNamara (Melbourne, Australia), Ashley Peacock (Crofton, Md.), Kaelyn Sclavounos (Ashton, Md.), and Heidi Smith (Ashburn, Va.).

 

Each recruits profiles can be found at  http://www.gocards.com/sports/w-lacros/spec-rel/012813aad.html

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TENNIS
 

The Bass-Rudd Tennis Center was the location of Louisville’s sweep of visiting Miami of Ohio Saturday night.  The 4-0 Cardinals took the doubles point as well as all six singles positions.  Nancy Allison Worley, Associate Director, Sports Information produced the match results article with these results below:
 

Singles competition

1. Julia Fellerhoff (LOU) def. Nimisha Mohan (MIAMIOH) 6-3, 6-4

2. Rebecca Shine (LOU) def. Christinana Raymond (MIAMIOH) 6-0, 6-3

3. Manuela Velasquez (LOU) def. Alix Thurman (MIAMIOH) 6-2, 6-2

4. Stefanie Villajuan (LOU) def. Christine Guerrazzi (MIAMIOH) 5-7, 6-4, 10-6

5. Mandy Brown (LOU) def. Ramona Costea (MIAMIOH) 6-2, 7-5

6. Becky Bodine (LOU) def. Ana Rajkovic (MIAMIOH) 6-2, 6-3

Doubles competition

1. Julia Fellerhoff/Manuela Velasquez (LOU) def. Christine Guerrazzi/Nimisha Mohan (MIAMIOH) 9-7

2. Becky Bodine/Rebecca Shine (LOU) def. Christinana Raymond/Alix Thurman (MIAMIOH) 8-4

3. Mandy Brown/Stefanie Villajuan (LOU) def. Ana Rajkovic/Chloe Heerden (MIAMIOH) 8-2

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SWIMMING / DIVING
 

Men's and Women's Swimming Both Beat Kentucky

 

The University of Louisville men's and women's swimming and diving team beat Kentucky Saturday afternoon at the Lancaster Aquatic Center. The men won 152-148 and the women prevailed 168-132.  Check it out at http://www.gocards.com/sports/c-swim/recaps/012613aaa.html where all of the individual results are shown.

 

Swimming’s season top times can be found at http://grfx.cstv.com/photos/schools/lou/sports/c-swim/auto_pdf/2011-12/misc_non_event/womentoptimes.pdf

 

SENIORS NIGHT

 

Next Friday is seniors night when our men and women meet Indiana in their final home meet.  First race begins at 5:00.  See you at the Ralph Wright Natatorium.

BIG EAST CHAMPIONSHIPS

 

February 27 will find the team in Indianapolis at the Big East Championships.  They run through March 2 are in preparation for the Championship Qualifying Meets then the NCAA tournament.

 

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                                                                    GOLF

The golf team continues to take one for the school by struggling through their preparation for matches in the Florida then Hawaiian weather.  As someone who is preparing for travel to St. Paul, Minnesota – I look forward to hearing of their results in the UCF Challenge beginning February 10 in Sorrento, FL.


( As you can tell from Sandy's report today, it's not just basketball that occupies the sports calender during the month of Feburary on the Belknap Campus. CARDINAL COUPLE also has interviews planned with Jeff Walz, Sandy Pearsall and...hopefully...Kelly Young from Lacrosse in the next couple of weeks. Some coaches and assistant sports information directors are easier to catch up with than others. We're pretty certain Ira Green is just an alias for someone else down at UofL...Ira never returns our e-mails and requests. We also heard that when it was made known to Coach Walz we wanted an interview with him, he specifically requested either Bill the Goat or Timmy the Intern conduct it. Sorry, Coach. They're booked...)

Another day in the life...More pizza, sir! 
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