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Saturday Cardinal Couple

- Volleyball beats Villanova in a sweep.

- Field Hockey loses a heartbraker.

- Breeders Cup Friday a wagering profit.

Lola and middle blockers shine in Cardinal Arena

The venue may have been smaller but the romp was huge as Louisville Volleyball downs Villanova 25-11, 28-26, 25-13 in on-campus Cardinal Arena Friday night.

Lola Arslanbekova had 11 kills and 11 digs in the win. Anne Kordes was excited about the middle blocking:

"The middle blockers did a phenomenal job and played really tough. That can't happen without the excellent passing of Caitlin Welch, who has just been so solid for us. We really need to iron out our serving game and when we do we will be in a great position. We need to pay attention to our serving, regardless of the score."

The first game provided a bit of over-average serving, as freshman Katie George served for nine straight points...helping Louisville get a 12-1 lead in the first game. Gwen Rucker produced four kills in the 25-11 win.

The Cards led 16-10 in the second game and Kordes emptied the bench to give the second-stringers a bit of court-time experience. Villanova rallied against them and forced Louisville to set point at 27-26 before the Cards capitalized on a 'Nova error to take the game by one.

Service proved to be strong in the final game...with Hannah Kvitle serving seven straight points to give Louisville a 9-2 lead. The Wildcats did rally to get within three at 13-10 but Louisville went on a 12-3 run to take game and match.

Cards get Georgetown next in the KFC YUM! Center on Sunday at 2 p.m. It's on WHAS locally if you can't get there...but we strongly suggest you attend!

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Heartbreaker for Louisville Field Hockey

Cards lose in the semifinals of the BIG EAST Tournament 2-1 to UConn in overtime at Trager last night. A scoreless first half and still knotted at 0-0 late into the second half until UConn gets a score from Vicky Arthur with less tha 10 minutes remaining.

The Cards respond, Amber Thomas corralling a rebound off a penalty corner to tie it with four minutes left.

A goal by UConn's Louisa Boddy gets the Cards a loss in O.T. though.

The Huskies get Syracuse in Trager for the title Sunday. A fair-to-middling season for UofL Field Hockey...they finished third out of six teams in the Big East, they try hard every time out and we hold out hope that they'll get over the hump and become a BIG EAST title contender in the near future.

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Won't go into much detail about Breeder's Cup Friday and our picks...except for the fact that we didn't pick too many winners. Could have turned out to be a horrible day...but we had great success wagering on the live Churchill card and it covered the tricky Santa Anita upsets. 

I hit one exacta in the six Breeders Cup races...a small one in the Juvenile Fillies race. Sonja hit three exactas, scoring in the Juvenile Fillies, Filly and Mare Turf and Ladies Classic. I've said it before and I'll say it again, I spend considerable time handicapping and she briefly glances at a race...but she usually does better than I do. She wagered $36 total on the six races and got back $76.40. My same $36 wagered returned $13.30. Who's the handicapping machine?

Go figure.

Given that, and the conflict with UofL football tomorrow, we've decided to skip our handicapping of the Saturday Breeders Cup races and concentrate on cheering the Charlie Strong Cards onto a 9-0 record against Temple tomorrow.

The real heartbreaker here is that we successfully came up with a winning middle Pick 4 ticket at Churchill and couldn't get the bet placed in time. The payoff was almost $6,000 on a $2 ticket. ARRRRGHHH! Only myself to blame, I should have gone to it wager it earlier.  

So...we're not going to publish or predict any handicapping and selections for Saturday...it's the right thing to do, a lot less labor intensive and way much more fun. After reviewing our woeful performance with the Friday Breeders Cup races at Santa Anita...a wise decision, without a doubt... 

You're on your own today. If you followed our picks for Friday, you're probably OK with that.

I'll give you three horses I like. Do what you will with them. Joha, in the Juvenile Turf. Shackleford, in the Dirt Mile and Flat Out, in the Classic.

Have fun and wager responsibly. Someone has to...
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Field Hockey faces must win at Providence

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FRIDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

-Post-season on the line at Providence for Field Hockey

-Football in a showdown with UC

The University of Louisville Field Hockey team travels to Providence, R.I. for a Saturday noon match that carries serious post-season consequences.

In short, if the Cards win, they're in the BIG EAST Tournament. A loss drops them into a three-way tie potentially with Rutgers and Villanova. The tie-breaker looks to be more complicated than figuring out ObamaCare or Mitt Romney's route to the ocean from Iran.

Louisville (11-7, 2-3) is on a three-game win streak, last defeating #22 Ohio State. They handled the Friars easily last year in Trager Stadium 6-0. The Cards lead the overall series 8-1.

Amber Thomas leads Louisville with nine goals this season and Becca Maddock follows closely with eight scores. Goalkeeper Erin Conrad allows a scant 1.85 goals per game.

Providence is 3-1 in their last four games and sports a record of 9-7 on the season...3-2 in the BIG EAST. They're automatically qualified for the BIG EAST Tournament as a third seed...but a loss to Louisville would drop them to the fourth seed.

Speaking of the BIG EAST Tournament, it will be held here in Louisville at Trager Stadium. Semifinal games are next Friday and the championship will be played Sunday. The other participants in the Big  East Tournament are top seeded UConn and Syracuse...who face off this weekend to determine who will win the regualr season title.

Good luck to Justine Sowry's flock as they fly north to cook the Friars!

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With no women's athletic events scheduled on campus today, we would draw your attention to a big football game being played at Papa John's Cardinal Stadium. The undefeated Louisville Cardinals take on one-loss Cincinnati at 8 p.m. on ESPN.

A contest that has sold out the Pizza Oven. Five things we like about tonight's matchup...

1) UC's quarterback's name. "Munchie" Legaux. Munchie Let-go. Seriously? Got to be one of our favorite opponent names since the days of Baskerville Holmes and Ace Custis...
2) Evening football. Gives one a chance to get stuff done during the day and still get out and tailgate a few hours. Friday is even better, we can now go watch the men's bb scrimmage tomorrow.
3) They play for "The Keg of Nails". That's just a tough-sounding award. Makes me want to grab a ladder and a hammer or something. Ooh-rah!
4) The payback factor. UC beat Louisville last year in Paul Brown Stadium and "Munchie" says he's a better QB than Louisville's Teddy Bridgewater. Harumph!
5) A chance for "two". Louisville Volleyball goes to UC for a Monday match. Chance to beat the Bearcats twice in several days appeals to us! Goooo CARDS!
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Volleyball, Softball get Sunday wins

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MONDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

-Volleyball sweeps Panthers in Pittsburgh

-Softball outhits Racers 7-1

-Soccer battles to tie with USF

-Field Hockey falls to Albany

-Atlanta headed to third game in WNBA playoffs

Quite the active day for Cardinal Sports Sunday! Here's a recap of the action...

VolleyCards earn a sweep over Pittsburgh

Pitt focused their concentration on trying to stop Lola Arsanbekova yesterday and they found out that there are plenty of weapons on this Louisville Volleyball squad that can and will defeat you. Emily Juhl provided nine kills and Brooke Mattingly and Gwen Rucker chipped in seven each and combined for seven blocks in the Cardinals' 25-18, 25-12, 25-22 win.

Lola did get 12 kills in the contest, far below her season average, but it was teamwork and a bit of revenge for the Cards...who lost to Pitt last year in the KFC YUM! Center.

UofL and Pitt battled early in the first game, neither squad getting a clear advantage until a 5-0 Cardinal run put some distance between the two teams, thanks to Juhl's six kills.

The Cards jumped out to a 7-1 early lead in the second game, extending that to 13-3 and taking a 13-point victory...thanks to 15 kills between Juhl and Arslanbekova.

After halftime, Pitt refused to cave in...never gaining a lead but never letting UofL pull away. Forcing a 14-14 tie, the Panthers stayed close until kills by Gwen Rucker and Juhl gave the Cards the game and the sweep of the match.

Louisville (14-2, 3-1) returns home for three in a row...facing Seton Hall Saturday at noon in Cardinal Arena, Rutgers Sunday at noon in the KFC YUM! Center and #9 Texas Monday night at 7 p.m. in the YUM!

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Softball mauls Murray State in Fall Scrimmage

Led by sophomore shortstop Whitney Arion's 2 for 2 batting...that produced a home run and four RBI's...Louisville easily downed Murray State yesterday at Ulmer Stadium.

A five-run fourth inning was the deciding blow to the Racers. Leading 2-0 coming into the inning, the Cards posted the runs when Arion's three-run blast scored her, Brittany Sims and Katelyn Mann. Singles from Jennifer Esteban, Jordan Trimble, Katie Keller and Alicja Wolny added two more for the Cards to provide a comfortable lead for Sandy Pearsall's squad.

Junior Rachel LeCoq started in the circle for UofL and got the win with four innings of pitching. Caralisa Connell struck out four in the final three innings for the save.

With Tori Collins graduated, it's time for Sonja to pick a new favorite on Sandy Pearsall's softballers. Arion may be that player...as for me, I'm torn between Taner Fowler and Jordan Trimble. All good picks.

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Women's Soccer forces a 1-1 tie against the Bulls

Louisville capitalized on a late penalty kick from Angelika Uremovich to tie USF with six minutes left in the game. The Cards then battled South Florida for two scoreless overtime periods to create the tie and go to 7-3-2 overall.

"I'm happy with our performance in the second half and both overtimes. Our kids battled to the end and we had our chances. I'm proud of how we responded in the second half. We are a mentally tougher team because of this game" -- Louisville women's soccer head coach Karen Ferguson-Dayes.

The Cards return home to host two BIG EAST contests...Villanova on Friday (7 p.m.) and Georgetown on Sunday (1 p.m.)

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Filed Hocked foiled by Albany 3-1

Despite Amber Thomas's sixth goal of the season, UofL Field Hockey takes their second weekend loss...falling to Albany 3-1. The Cards battled the Great Danes to a scoreless first half tie, but three straight Albany second half goals left Louisville in a hole too deep to climb out of.

Albany out-shot the Cards 22-7. Erin Conrad registered 11 stops for Louisville, who goes to 7-5 and 1-1 on the season.

The schedule doesn't get any easier for Justine Sowry's squad, facing two more top ten opponents next weekend in Trager Stadium. #5 UConn comes in for a noon Saturday tilt and # 10 Iowa visits Sunday at 1 p.m.

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McCoughtry's 22 not enough as Dream fall 103-88

With home court advantage and a 1-0 lead in the playoff series against Indiana, one would have figured the Atlanta Dream would be the prohibitive favorite to pull off the sweep and advance to the WNBA Eastern Division finals.

Indiana disagreed. Breaking open a close first half, the Fever out-pointed Angel and company 31-20 in the third quarter and pushed that lead to 20 in the fourth en route to a 15-point thumping of Atlanta in Philips Arena.

Tamika Catchings produced 18 of her game-high 25 points in the fourth quarter to secure the victory and the two teams will face again Tuesday to see who advances to the division finals against the Connecticut Sun.

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Finally, a reminder that the Choose Your Favorite UofL Womens' Athlete contest has started here at Cardinal Couple. Over on the left side of the site, you'll find first round action in this sweet sixteen. The current match-up pits Volleyball's Gwen Rucker vs. Lacrosse's Nikki Boltja.

Boltja grabbed an early advantage in the duel, but Rucker supporters have pushed her to the lead. Only two more days to vote on this one...who ya got?
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