SUNDAY CARDINAL COUPLE -- WBB faces St. John's in BIG EAST Tournament

SUNDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

( GAME UPDATE -- Louisville wins over St. John's 62-55. Sara Hammond with 22 career-high points in the win. Louisville led big early, trailed at the half but came on strong at the end for the victory.

Bria Smith and Monique Reid finishing well and Louisville awaits the winner of Notre Dame vs. USF. WE'LL have much more on this in the Monday Cardinal Couple edition. Readers, weigh in with your immpresions on the win in the comments section or by e-mail...)

- Louisville starts BIG EAST against the Red Storm

- Softball downs Miami (OH) and Austin Peay

- Lacrosse romps Presbyterian on road

-BIG EAST Tournament Second Round results


Louisville now knows who their opponent will be in the quarterfinals of the BIG EAST Tournament. St. John's held off a pesky Seton Hall squad yesterday in second round action 51-45 to advance to the chance to play Louisville at noon today in Hartford's XL Center.

The Cards (23-7, 11-6) would likely face top-seeded and #2 in the nation Notre Dame on Monday if they win today.

Jeff Walz isn't worried about playing basketball but he is uncertain about what this team can do...and certain that the Cards have to play perfect basketball for three straight days if they have any chance to take the 2013 title.

One-on-one defense and creating turnovers and transition opportunities are keys to the Cards successes from now until Tuesday night.

One could speculate that the Cards, who defeated St John's 57-54 earlier in the regular season in the KFC YUM Center might have an eye-ahead on who they'll face in the first round of the NCAA Tournament, that will be played in the KFC YUM! Center next week. Tickets still are on sale for two possible chances to see Louisville play.

A win over a good St John's squad, though would likely help Louisville's seed in the big dance. Louisville scored eight straight unanswered points to beat the Red Storm at the end of the game to win when the two faced up earlier this year.

Win today. Worry about tomorrow then, Cards.

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Louisville softball can hit. Oh, yeah...they got bats. UofL pounded Miami (OH) 9-1 and then took out Austin Peay 12-0 to sweep both games in the Red and Black Classic yesterday at Ulmer Stadium.

CARDS 9 - MIAMI 1

Louisville wasted no time getting on the board in their first game. Alicja Wolny's two run blast woke up the right field berm dwellers and Kayla Soles sent one onto Cardinal Blvd. behind the left field fence to give the Cards a 3-0 lead after one inning.

It was 5-0 after three innings. Maggie Ruckenbrod hit the Cards third "touch 'em all" off the scoreboard in left after Jordan Trimble doubled.

Make it 8-1 after five innings. Katie Keller doubled and after Wolny got walked...both scored when Soles singled. Soles got to the plate when Hannah Kiyohara singled.

Louisville aded a run in the sixth when Taner Fowler scored on a Brittany Sims single.

Rachel Le Coq (8-1) in the circle for Louisville allowing just four hits for the RedHawks and a run.

CARDS 12 - AP 0

Keller was the bomb in game two, going 4-4 with 5 rbi's and a homer.

The Cards struck early in this one, too. Keller crashing a homer off the scoreboard in the first and Trimble doubling and scoring on a Soles single to make it 2-0 UofL after one inning.

Keller's double scored Katelyn Mann and Jennifer Esteban in the second to make it 4-0 Cards. She drove in Mann in the third inning with a double to increase the UofL lead to 5-0.

Louisville capped the scoring in the fourth with seven runs. Eight hits...keyed by a two-run triple by Mann, doubles from Ruckenbrod, Keller and Wolny and singles from Soles and Esteban.

Caralisa Connell (11-2) and LeCoq combined in the circle
...allowing just one Govs hit in five innings.

Louisville's start time today against Illinois State has been moved up to 2 p.m. because of forecasted rain in the Derby City.

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Louisville Lacrosse travelled to Georgia and blasted Presbyterian 23-1 yesterday. The stick-and-net Cards had a 5-0 lead after three minutes...freshman Erica Eipp getting three assists and two goals in the rapid-fire start.

Louisville was up 10-0 with eighteen minutes left in the first half...Nikki Boltja getting three straight scores...and led at the half 14-0...Emily Kolsevich and Jamie Redding getting on the board with scores.

The Cards continued the onslaught to begin the final half. Boltja, Cortnee Daly and Faye Brust with two scores each.

The Blue Hose didn't score until there was 1:11 remaining in the game the Cards had the backups on the field.

"It was excellent. Again, we had all of our subs in for the last 21 minutes of the contest. To have them do it, who haven't been on the field in these big games we've been playing, shows that they are paying attention in practice, they are working hard and they have put their time in. They represented us today. It's really a proud moment for me as a coach."  --Kellie Young, Louisville head lacrosse coach.

Louisville heads to Detroit next for a 2 p.m. contest on Wednesday.

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No major surprises in Day Two of the BIG EAST WBB Tournament yesterday. St John's, as mentioned above, advances to face Louisville. USF, the #8 seed, defeated Rutgers 42-39 in a defensive struggle that was painful to watch. DePaul got a big effort from Anna Martin in taking Marquette out of the dance with a 77-69 win, Villanova bombed Sugar Rodgers and Georgetown 89-58.

So, Day 3 features the top eight seeds.

The Cards and Red Storm start it off at noon. USF and Notre Dame follow at 2 p.m. DePaul tries Connecticut at 6 and Villanova and Syracuse finish the game at 8.

Multiple entries in the Cardinal Couple Pick 'Em Contest are 7-0. Standings after seven games:

7-0  Quentin V, Jenny O'Bryan, Perry S, K. Starks, PDX Phil, Mike D, Sonja Sykes, Curtis F, Allen H, Nick B, Carol W, Andrea S, Sally K, Micha L, Ben S, Andy L.

6-1  Kenny S, Paulie, Andy L, Matthew Mitchell for Governor, Jimmy S, Carlos A, Gene S, Timmy the Intern

5-2  Jeff McA, Joe T, Doug A, Matt D, Bill the Goat, Blue Lou, Connie E, The Source, Janet M.

4-3  Sandy W, Mike F, David W, Joe H, Mark M, Mark T, Aaron F.

3-4  Milton K, Green and Gold

2-5  Ellen G.

1-6  Coco

0-7  Staff Chimps


Tie-breaker is to the earliest entry we received.

Good luck, we're halfway through...



Paulie

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