Volleyball returning home

.

FRIDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

- Volleyball with homestand

- Field Hockey in BIG EAST TOURNAMENT tonite

- Reynolds to announce Friday

(In response to the e-mails we've had about our wildly popular Breeders Cup picks...we hope to have Friday's selections at the bottom of today's column by 10 a.m. EDT. The chimps are typing as fast as they can.)


( CARDINAL COUPLE Correspondent Jeff McAdams gets us caught up on CARDINAL Volleyball today. Watch the net, practice your set and get ready for the kill! )


Past, Present and Future

Its been a while since Louisville volleyball has played in the friendly confines of either of either of their home floors, but they're about to return for a match this Friday at Cardinal Arena against Villanova, followed by Sunday back downtown against Georgetown.

I figured now was a good time to look back on the past 3 weekends of play, check out current national standings, and look ahead at the rapidly dwindling set of matches still to be played.

St. Johns, Connecticut, Syracuse, Marquette, Cincinnati

The last three weekends have seen the VolleyCards on the road.  My normal dog sitters were on an extended vacation, and I had already been warned that it wasn't wise to let Coco and Timmy dog sit, so I didn't get to make it to any of the matches in the first two weekends.  The last weekend was just a quick jaunt up I-71 which can be done in just a day trip...and my dog sitters were back in any case.

The first trip was a swing through the northeast with visits to St. Johns and Connecticut.  This trip really should've been an easy victory tour, but both St. Johns and UConn gave the Cards some challenges to overcome.  They did prevail, however, and came back with the Ws.

The next weekend brought another of the crazy Big East road trips, with visits to Syracuse and Marquette.  After getting stuck in Detroit overnight on their way back from Pitt when they flew commercial, the Cards decided to charter this one.  This trip included one of the bigger challenges for playing volleyball in the Big East this year, Marquette.

After handling Syracuse without any real discomfort, the Cards really made their presence felt in Milwaukee taking the match 3-1 and playing quite well.  Marquette did stream the match on the Internet, so I did get a bit of a chance to see how this one went.

Finally, the Kordes Krew made their way back into the Ohio Valley with a single match this past weekend at Cincinnati.  Usually Cincinnati is a serious threat in the Big East.  This year...not so much.  They have some good talent on the team, but with a new coach, they just haven't seemed to put it all together.  The Cards got through the sweep pretty quickly and without much drama.  Its good to get the win, but I would've liked to have seen it be a bit more interesting for the ESPNU coverage...though not too interesting, of course.  The outcome was never in much doubt, despite Louisville giving as many points to Cincinnati as they could via service errors.

The Volleyball world, as it currently stands

The top 10 in both the coach's poll and the RPI is graced by the likes of Stanford, Penn State, Nebraska, Texas, and UCLA...no real surprises in any of those.  Some of the others making appearances in one or both are Oregon, Minnesota, Washington, and Hawaii...again, nothing that causes any real jaw drops.

Louisville continues to creep back up the coach's poll, making it up to the number 12 spot in the just released poll.  Some thanks is due to the previous number 11 Florida who dropped their match against previous numer 12 Florida State.  Florida dropped two spots to 13, and FSU joins us in getting bumped up a spot.

In the RPI, we continue to hang on to the number 7 position.  We've been winning consistently, but for the most part, not against any real powerhouse teams, so we haven't been getting much of a bump from the wins.  The win over Marquette probably helped us stay where we are, as well as continued good performance by the likes of Kentucky at 15, Miami(FL) at 16, Purdue at 21, as well as...go Hilltoppers...WKU at 33, and then Illinois at 35.  Marquette checks in at 36.

The RPI, of course, takes into account not only a team's own win-loss record, but the win-loss record of their opponents and even of their opponent's opponents, so our earlier wins over these teams that are all representing well in the RPI, helps out our own ranking.  On the other side of the equation, our only losses are to Penn State, checking in at 2, Texas following closely behind at 4, and lastly Notre Dame, who's coming in at 34, which means that our loses aren't hurting us that much at all.

Let's play "Good news, Bad news, Good news"

For home vs away:

Good news:  The rest of our regular season matches are all at home.

Bad news:  Only one of the matches is at the arena downtown.

Good news:  Cardinal Arena is pretty darn cool, too.

For RPI consideration:

Good news:  There's a pretty good chance we could win out the rest of the regular season.

Bad news:  We won't be playing much of anybody that can help us out much in the RPI.

Good news:  Except Marquette, again.

On TV coverage:

Good news:  We'll be on TV twice.

Bad news:  Versus Georgetown and Cincinnati, neither of which should be terribly competitive.

Good news:  The Cincinnati match is nationally televised (ESPNU) again.

Tournaments

There's a berth already waiting for the Cards in the Big East tournament which will be held at The Al McGuire Center in Milwaukee November 16th through 18th, with Marquette hosting.  Marquette, Notre Dame, and Louisville have already clenched spots in the tournament based on their league records at 10-1.  Louisville currently has the number 1 seed in the tournament based on our overall win-loss percentage due to the Big East tie breaker rules.  Each of those losses in those 10-1 records is against one of the others.  We lost to ND, ND lost to MU, and MU lost to us.  This tie-breaker scenario will change, however, as we play Marquette again, and Marquette also has another match against Notre Dame.  It also would change if any of the three teams lost another conference match.

While its not a tournament, a quirk of volleyball scheduling is that the Cards play another "regular season" match after the Big East tournament, versus whichever team is the champion of the Ohio Valley Conference tournament.  A quick look at OVC standings suggests that we could have a rematch with Morehead State as they are 12-0 in conference play.  Of course, anything can happen tournament time.

And then the big one.  The NCAA tournament selection show will be Sunday November 25th at 4pm ET with the tournament beginning Nov. 29th.  In volleyball, only 16 teams in the tournament of 64 are seeded, with the rest being placed geographically.  The first and second round matches are at non-predetermined sites, almost always at the locations of the 16 seeded teams.  This is why we've played so many of our tournament matches at Purdue in past years.  The 16 seeds typically follow the RPI rankings very closely, so if UofL keeps winning, we'll likely be a host for the first and second rounds of the tournament.  I understand that the athletic department is already making (tentative) plans for the event at The KFC Yum! Center based on the likelihood of UofL being seeded and hosting. 

Third and fourth rounds are at predetermined sites.  This year, the Regionals are at Haas Pavilion in Berkeley, CA;  CenturyLink Center in Omaha, NE;  Gregory Gymnasium in Austin, TX;  and...wait for it...Mackey Arena in West Lafayette, IN.  Geographic principles still apply, so if the Cards advance to Regionals it looks like another road trip to Purdue...I think my Jeep can make the drive on its own, now.

And, of course, we get the honor of hosting the Semifinal matches and the National Championship at the KFC Yum! Center December 13th and 15th...you do have your tickets ordered already, right?

Jeff (white shirt) is also an avid WBB fan!

Incidentally, Kentucky is hosting a Regional in 2013 at Memorial Coliseum, and a 2014 Regional will be back here in the 'ville at The KFC Yum! Center.

This weekend

Villanova and Georgetown come into town to play this weekend.  Villanova is 11-15 (5-6), and Georgetown is 7-17 (1-10).  The GU match is slated to be shown by WHAS.  Realistically, as long as this UofL team doesn't take these matches for granted, neither Villanova nor Georgetown should really pose that much of a threat.  I'll be in my usual seats, come say hi.

( A great article by Jeff today! Go VolleyCards!)


********************************************************

The BIG EAST Field Hockey Championships are at Trager Stadium on campus this weekend also. #25 Louisville faces off against #5 UConn at 7:30 p.m. The action begins at 5 p.m. with Providence and Syracuse taking the field.

GO CARDS!

********************************************************

Jordan Reynolds, another target of Jeff Walz on the 2013 recruiting trail, is scheduled to announce Friday where she'll be attending college.

We want her at Louisville, make no mistake about it. She's a hard-slashing combo guard that played with Alexis Montgomery and Mercedes Russell in Oregon AAU Team Concept ball and made a huge name for herself at Central Catholic...as well as on the West Coast. 

Make it the 'Ville, Jordan! Now that we have Coach Walz firmly entrenched as a coach/referee, you'll get the best calls and plenty of free throw opportunities at Louisville.

&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&

FRIDAY BREEDERS CUP SELECTIONS

( Please remember these are for entertainment purposes only and do not necessarily reflect the views of the CARDINAL COUPLE staff. Bill the Goat thought they were tasty, though...and ate them the minute we got them posted on here. GOOD LUCK! )

JUVENILE SPRINT

PAUL                                                      SONJA
Merit Man                                               Merit Man
South Floyd                                             Super Ninety Nine
Super Ninety Nine                                   Sweet Shirley Mae

MARATHON

PAUL                                                       SONJA
Atigun                                                      Eldaafer
Not Abroad                                              Atigun
Jaycito.                                                     Grassy

JUVENILE FILLIES TURF

PAUL                                                        SONJA
Flashy Ways                                             Watsdachances
Spring Venture                                          Spring Venture
Tara from the Cape                                   Sustained

JUVENILE FILLIES

PAUL                                                         SONJA
Executive Privledge                                   Beholder
Kauai Katie                                                Executve Privledge
Beholder                                                     Dreaming of Julia

FILLY & MARE TURF

PAUL                                                          SONJA
The Fugue                                                   Marketing Mix
Marketing Mix                                            Zagura
In Lingerie                                                  The Fugue

LADIES CLASSIC

PAUL                                                           SONJA
Questing                                                       Awesome Feather
Royal Delta                                                  Royal Delta
Grace Hall                                                    My Miss Aurelia

Our buddy J.J. Hysell has done extensive research on today's card and you can see her well-thought out selections over at IN THE MONEY.  Click the box NOV 1 to see them when you get there.  Link below:

IN THE MONEY


GOOD LUCK AND WAGER RESPONSIBLY!

.
..
...

..
...

Field Hockey faces must win at Providence

.
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!

v^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^v6v^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^

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!
.
....
...
.
..
...

Field Hockey gets win over Nova

.
SUNDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

-Field Hockey defeats Villanova 3-1

-WBB gets a commit from talented juco

-Uremovich named Homecoming Queen

Field Hockey celebrates Senior Day with win

The University of Louisville Field Hockey team closed out the home part of their BIG EAST schedule with a 3-1 win over Villanova Saturday at Trager Stadium. With the win, Louisville goes to 10-7 on the season and 2-3 in league play.

The two teams battled through a scoreless first half, Louisville generating most of the offense but unable to get any points on the scoreboard. Things changed, though, when the teams came out for the second period...the Cards getting a goal from Erin Schneidtmiller just a minute and thirty-nine seconds into action.

Nova tied the contest ten minutes later but the Cards quickly responded when Amber Thomas corralled a missed Paige Monson shot and sent it in the net for a 2-1 Cardinal advantage. Louisville closed out the scoring when Schneidtmiller set up Alyssa Voelmle with a pass six minutes later and Voelmle found the back of the net.

The win keeps the Cards chances alive for making the BIG EAST Tournament, which will be held here at Trager Stadium Nov. 2nd and 4th.

Four seniors were honored before the game: Erin Conrad, Haley Jurich, Natasha Leickly and Amber Thomas.

The Flock will face Ohio State Monday at Trager.

v^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^

Janelle Cannon verbals to Louisville

Jeff Walz has gotten his first verbal commitment for the 2013 class, Janelle Cannon verballing after her visit to campus Saturday. 

The 5'9" point guard is one of the top junior college players and comes from S.W. Illinois College to join the Cards. While there... she averaged 18.6 ppg, 6.5 assists and 4.5 steals per game. She'll sign next month with the Cards and picked Louisville over Washington, DePaul and several other schools.

She was one that suddenly emerged as a prospect for Louisville...virtually flying below the public knowledge level of Louisville's interest in her until quite recently.

She's a very capable point guard that could step in and eventually be the UofL point guard of the future. 

Her path to Louisville was circuitous. Originally headed to Minnesota, she attended summer classes there but left to enroll at Illinois State before leaving there and playing last season at S.W. Illinois. 

v^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^

Angelika Uremovich selected Homecoming Queen

Junior midfielder soccer star Angelika Uremovich was crowned Homecoming Queen at halftime of the UofL football game yesterday against South Florida.

From Oakville, ONT., Uremovich has been a three year starter for the Cards and has nine goals this season for UofL. 

The selection of Uremovich marks the third straight year a Cardinal athlete has been named either Homecoming King or Queen...Peyton Siva was King in 2011 and Kyle Kuric in 2010. Will Stein was nominated for King this year but did not win.

And, the Cards rallied from behind to defeat USF 27-25...getting a touchdown pass from Teddy Bridgewater to Eli Rogers with about a minute and a half to go in the game.

We really can't say enough about Teddy's clutch effort in that final Cardinal drive for the winning touchdown. The man has ice water in his veins. Calm, cool and collected he marched the Cardinal offense down the field with the poise and confidence that winners exhibit. See Charlie's Springer's excellent recap of the game over at CARD GAME. Link below.

Teddy!
..
...

Cards fall short in NCAA Field Hockey bid

Wednesday CARDINAL COUPLE:

-Field Hockey fails to make NCAA Tournament

-Volleyball's Juhl selected BIG EAST Freshman of the Week

-Women's Basketball prepares for Tennessee

-Who's the guy with Jim Kelch?

The selections for the NCAA Field Hockey Tournament were released Tuesday evening and one prominent name was left off the field of sixteen.

The University of Louisville Field Hockey team won't be participating in the event. Finishing with a record of 16-7, TEAM CARDINAL was passed over in the selection process and their season is now over. We at CARDINAL COUPLE felt that the Cards had a good shot at being one of the "at large" picks to make the field but the BIG EAST got only two teams into the field while the BIG TEN is sending four schools to participate. Also faring well is the ACC, with four headed to the Big Dance.

The case for Wake Forest getting in is interesting. They finished 10-9 on the season. The Cards played six of the schools selected for the tournament, splitting two games against Connecticut, defeating American University but falling to Maryland, Ohio State, Syracuse and Princeton.

Louisville's two losses to end the season, a 6-0 defeat to Maryland and a 2-1 loss to Connecticut in the semifinals of the BIG EAST Tournament probably figured heavily in the selection committee's decision.

Still, it was a good season for "The Flock" and Pam Bustin has a solid nucleus of returning players to pick up the sticks and go to the goal for next season. Team leader Nicole Youman and her scoring abilities will be missed, as well as other seniors Tuli Lim, Rachel Hollenbach, Simone Attles, Karah Nall, Nikki Auker and Jenna Ahern. The Cards do have goalie Erin Conrad returning, as well as key players Hayley Turner, Amber Thomas and Haley and Lacey Jurich.

We watched the selection show on line at the NCAA site and wondered what the criteria was for selecting the "host" for the program. It became evident early on that the young lady handling the broadcast duties had very little knowledge of Field Hockey...Kinda like me trying to explain macro-economics. To 3rd graders.

*******************************************************************************************

Emily Juhl has grabbed her second BIG EAST Freshman of the Week honors this season for her outstanding play against Pitt and West Virginia. Juhl had 23 kills in the two matches...along with seven serving aces against the Mountaineers. The Cards are assured a berth in the BIG EAST volleyball tournament in Pittsburgh Nov. 19-21 along with Cincinnati, Notre Dame, Marquette, and Villanova. Eight teams are still in the hunt for the final three spots. The regular season ends this week and the Cards are on the road for games at Marquette and Syracuse.

*****************************************************************************************

Jeff Walz has the Cardinals working hard for the Friday night women's basketball game against Tennessee. 22,000 tickets have been distributed for the contest. There is word on campus that several hundred of these tickets were distributed to UofL students at no charge, plus a $5 food voucher. CARDINAL COUPLE has received several inquiries about the availability of tickets for the game. As far as we know, none are left to sell at the ticket office. The contest will be shown on a delayed basis on CBS College Sports at 9:30 p.m. Friday night.

Walz will have to contend with the defensive minded Vols Friday night. Head Vols coach Pat Summitt was none too happy about the Vols giving up 60+ points in their 50+ point win recently. She has stressed that the defense needs to pick it up and the Cards will need to have their offensive game on early against the full court pressure they'll most likely run into.

Who will start for Louisville? No early starting lineup has been released yet but if WE were to make a guess...look for Shoni Schimmel, Tia Gibbs, Asia Taylor, Sherrone Vails and Keisha Hines to get the nod. It all depends on who works the hardest and does the best in practice...so our prediction here could be way off. Regardless of who is on the court for the opening tip, expect the Cards to throw numerous combinations and players at the #4th. ranked Volunteers.

*********************************************************************************************
Jim Kelch has returned to handle the play-by-play radio duties for Lady Cards basketball again this season. Kelch's call is one of the best out there and he spent the last eight months in the announcer's booth calling Cincinnati Reds' games. With Adrienne Johnson concentrating on marketing duties...who was the guy sitting next to Kelch doing the color commentary for the contest? We saw Adrienne before the Indiana Wesleyan game...but forgot to ask.

It is no other than legendary college coach Paul Sanderford. WE originally reported on this site that it was Charlie Just (information provided to us by someone in the UofL S.I.D. office). It is not Just. It's Walz's ex-coach and one ofthe sharpest minds in women's college basketball.

We'll miss the insightful comments and breakdown of the action that "A.J." provided. Her WNBA experience made her an expert at analyzing the action on the court. Paul has some big shoes to fill and we missed his "on air" debut against Indiana Wesleyan but his knowledge of the game is pretty huge and we're sure he'll do a fine job along with Jim.

University of Louisville women's basketball broadcasts can be heard on WKRD 790 AM/ 101.7 FM.

Exeter named rookie of the year and BREEDERS CUP!

FRIDAY CARDINAL COUPLE:

-Exeter named BIG EAST Soccer Rookie of the Year

-Sara-Maude Juneau named BIG EAST Golfer of the Month

-Field Hockey ready for UConn in BIG EAST Tournament

-OUR BREEDERS CUP picks

Christine Exeter, pictured here, was selected as the rookie of the year in BIG EAST women's soccer at the awards banquet last night held in Somerset, NJ. She also made the All-Rookie BIG EAST Team and fellow Louisville freshman Angelika Uremovich joined her on that squad. Exeter led the Cards with seven goals this year. Both Exeter and Uremovich are from Ontario and were key components in the Cardinal's season.

Uremovich sat out last year with a knee injury but as a redshirt freshman this year she tallied five goals, second best to Exeter, and three assists.

Photo courtesy of UofL Sports.

*******************************************************************************************

Sara-Maude Juneau was named the BIG EAST Golfer of the Month as the fall season comes to an end. She led the team with a 70.7 average. She participated in two tournaments in October with her Cardinal teammates. She finished with a 215 in the William K. Warren event hosted by Notre Dame and she won the individual tournament title. She had a 208 in the Tar Heel Invitational Oct 8-10th.and finished just three strokes off the lead.

Juneau leads a strong group of Cardinal golfers as they prepare for the spring season and is tied for the most wins in school history with current LPGA player Cindy LaCrosse.

********************************************************************************************

Pam Bustin has the UofL Field Hockey team ready to go as the Cards will take place in the BIG EAST Tournament at Connecticut beginning Saturday. Louisville faces UConn in the first round. The Cards defeated the Huskies earlier this year in regular season play at Trager Stadium. As the 2nd seed, Louisville will have to get by the #3 seed Huskies to play either Syracuse or #4 seed for the championship. The match will be available for free on BIG EAST TV Saturday at 1:30 p.m., in case you get tired of watching Charlie Strong's football team beat up on Syracuse. (We hope.)

********************************************************************************************

Six Breeders Cup races will be run today (Friday) as part of the 10 race card at Churchill Downs. Here's who we like. Information here is for entertainment purposes only. We'll probably get a big laugh over our poorly our picks do....

BREEDERS CUP MARATHON

We're big fans of Michelle Nihel's gray ghost PRINCE WILL I AM. The filly ran strong in the stretch to win the Jamaica Handicap at Belmont and Javier Castellano returns as jockey. AWESOME GEM will be roaring at the end of the 1-3/4 mile event and David Flores knows his mount quite well. GIANT OAK and A.U. Miner come out of the Greenwood Cup where they finished 1-2 and cannot be ignored.

BREEDERS CUP JUVENILE FILLIES TURF

WINTER MEMORIES has done nothing wrong in two lifetime starts and won the Miss Grillo Grade 3 race in a romp at Belmont in her last. Jose Lezcano returns as the rider. WYOMIA has won her last two at Woodbine and Rafael Bejarano takes the reigns on this long shot. Irish invader TOGETHER will love the Churchill Turf and is 6 for 7 in the money for cagey trainer Aiden O'Brien. Impressive Keeneland Jessamine Stakes champ KATHMANBLU destroyed the field at a longer distance and the combination of Julian Leparoux and Kenny McPeek on the turf make this runner a very live longshot. Have to also mention another longshot here...ALLURE D' AMORE for Wesley Ward and John Velazquez that the TVG guys are very high on.

BREEDERS CUP FILLY AND MARE SPRINT

INFORMED DECISION is 2 for 2 at Churchill and will appreciate the 7 furlongs with Julian Leparoux aboard. SARA LOUISE will be there to pick up the pieces if Informed Decision falters, SARA is also 2-2 at the Downs. Jamie Theriot gets the ride on DUBAI MAJESTY, a horse that has three wins in six attempts at Churchill. Beware of MY JEN at a huge price..she has 4 wins and a second in six lifetime starts and beat SARA LOUISE at Belmont. RIGHTLY SO will mostly likely be the favorite, will set the pace and they'll have to catch her with Corny Velasquez on board.

BREEDERS CUP JUVENILE FILLES

AZ WARRIOR rolled to the win in the Grade 1 Frizette and Alan Garcia return to ride for Bob Baffert. She'll handle the 1-1/16th distance easily. TELL A KELLY comes in from California for John Sadler and local legend Calvin Borel sits on top for this come from behind stretch runner. Beware of SOUNDWARE at a huge price. Three wins in a row and Robby Albarado, who has been tearing up Churchill so far in the Fall Meet gets the call. R HEAT LIGHTNING finished second to AZ WARRIOR last time out and will set the early fractions. If she gets too far ahead, they may not catch her.

BREEDERS CUP FILLY AND MARE TURF

Wave goodbye to MIDDAY if she gets the lead. The British visitor has won her last three overseas and is at the top of her game. Japanese entry RED DESIRE looked good in narrowly missing here in her first stateside race in the Grade 1 Flower Bowl and Kent Desormeaux returns as the rider. We love the works that longshot FOREVER TOGETHER has had here at Churchill and wouldn't be too surprised if she upsets at a price. Jonathan Sheppard is great at distance turf races. HARMONIOUS blew them out in the Grade 1 Queen Elizabeth at Keeneland and Joel rosario return to guide for John Sherrifs, trainer for ZENYATTA.

BREEDERS CUP LADIES CLASSIC

BLIND LUCK and HAVRE de GRACE have been neck and neck the last two races they faced each other...each winning once...and that shouldn't change today. Todd Pletcher enters LIFE AT TEN and MALIBU PRAYER to try and upset here and longshot UNRIVALED BELLE gets tricky Kent Desormeaux.

Good luck and enjoy the day!

Field Hockey downs Providence 2-1

SUNDAY @ CARDINAL COUPLE:

-Field Hockey prospers over Providence

-Volleyball today in the Arena

-Football cages the Huskies

-About next week...

Erin Conrad, pictured here...had seven saves and allowed only one goal in the Louisville 2-1 win over the Friars.

The first half of this one was a defensive battle. Providence actually outshot the visiting TEAM CARDINAL 9-4 in the first half but neither team could find the back of the net. It was the Friars who ended the deadlock early in the second half off of a penalty corner play.

Louisville wasn't ready to head back to the Holiday Inn Express just yet, though. The Cards capitalized on a penalty corner a few minutes later...Nicole Youman getting the goal on nice setups from Hayley Turner and Tuli Lim. The score remained deadlocked until Lim stuck home the game winner on a pass from Kelsey Rossenmeier with less than nine minutes to go in the game.

With the win, the #10 ranked Cards (12-5, 5-1) end their BIG EAST conference play. They'll take on New Hampshire Sunday and then back to the 'Ville.

********************************************************************************************

Louisville Volleyball takes center stage Sunday with a match in Cardinal Arena against South Florida. This one will be televised on WHAS TV locally if you can't get to the 1 p.m. first serve.

Volleyball is on a roll lately. Seven wins in a row and Lola Arslanbeckova spiking everything in site expect for the sideline Gatorade.

Also, women's soccer remains on the road with a Sunday showdown at Rutgers.

*********************************************************************************************

How about those football Cards? A 26-0 caging of the UConn Huskies yesterday. Charlie Strong has got it going on for the guys in helmets. Louisville (4-3, 1-1) got four field goals from Chris Philpott and an electrifying 74 yd. punt return from Doug Beaumont.

And, Sonja and I decided to climb Mt. Everest at halftime. We left our "crunch zone" seats at the end of the first half and our objective was to walk to the very top of the east side seating area. Accompanied by a couple of friends, we started the journey by going up the steps behind the "crunch zone" to the UPS Observation Deck. Then, it was weeding our way through the packed deck to the ramp that leads up to the new east side addition. We negotiated the ramp and then the never ending steps that lead to the top of PJCS east side.

The view is incredible from up there. Churchill Downs in the distance. The players look so tiny from up there. It took us the entire halftime intermission to get there. We stayed long enough to watch Doug Beaumont run a punt back for a score...then it was back down. We avoided the still crowded deck this time and did the ramp all the way to the bottom of the Pizza Bowl. We were back in our seats with eight minutes to go in the third quarter.

It's a taxing hike to get up there, for sure...but well worth it when you get to the top. Not ready to give up my fifth row seats in the southwest corner of the "crunch zone", though.

********************************************************************************************

Have we got a treat for you! Cardinal Dominance managing editor Shannon Ruffra and UofL Card Game owner Charlie Springer will be supplying the daily topics here at C.C. over the next several days while the staff at CARDINAL COUPLE takes a few days off. You're gonna love both these guys and we encourage you to check their sites daily as well as reading their submissions here this week.

Arslanbeckova, Youman earn BIG EAST honors

TUESDAY CARDINAL COUPLE PRESENTS:

-Nicole Youman named BIG EAST Player of the Week

-Lola Arslanbeckova named BIG EAST Player of the Week

-UofL Women's basketball season ticket plan

Two UofL women's sports athletes have been selected for top honors for their performances last week. Here's the details...

Nicole Youman, senior forward from Black Mountain, Austrailia, has been named the BIG EAST Player of the Week in Field Hockey for her efforts last week in the TEAM CARDINAL wins against Villanova and Iowa. She ended up with eleven points...scoring three times and dishing out five assists in the 6-0 whitewash of Villanova and 4-1 win over Iowa. Youman leads the BIG EAST with 15 goals and 18 assists on the season...good for 48 points.

This is her third BIG EAST Player of the Week honor this season. The Cards (11-5, 4-1) travel to Providence (4-11, 0-4) for a Saturday match against the Lady Friars (sounds strange, right) and a non-conference Sunday tussle with New Hampshire. The Providence game will end the conference schedule for Pam Bustin's squad. They are second in the BIG EAST standings currently.

********************************************************************************************

Lola Arsanbeckova, a sophomore outside hitter for the UofL volleyball team was named BIG EAST player of the week in Volleyball for her fine performance in the upset win over Cincinnati Saturday in Cardinal Arena. It's the first such award for Lola or any of the Volley Cards this season.

Lola was spectacular in the Bearcats vs. Cardinals showdown. She had 24 kills and seven digs in the 3-2 win for Louisville. She hit for an awesome .419 in the match. Currently she is fifth in the conference in hitting percentage and third in kills per set.

Louisville is tied for first place in the BIG EAST with the Bearcats at 6-1. They have the next three games at home, beginning with Lipscomb on Wednesday night. BIG EAST foe Georgetown
visits Friday night and the home stand ends with USF on Sunday afternoon. After that, the next five out of six are on the road and the BIG EAST tournament is in Pittsburgh this year. Louisville is 11-5 on the season and currently riding a five match win streak.

********************************************************************************************

UofL has announced a special women's season ticket basketball package for UofL Alumni and it is quite a deal. This new package includes 4 Women's Basketball season tickets for $160 total. If you purchase the package, you also get 4 additional tickets to the UofL vs. Tennessee game on November 12th. and 4 additional tickets to the UofL vs. UK game on December 5th.

All the UofL women's basketball home games will be played in the state of the art KFC - YUM! Center. The sections available for this special deal are all lower level.

Call Eric Clouse, director of ticket sales, at (502) 852-7254 to get in on the action.

Think about it. 16 home games. 4 tickets each, plus an additional 4 tickets each for two of the biggest games of the year. I didn't major in math but I come up with 72 total tickets here for slightly over $2 a seat. The best entertainment value in town, folks.

Make that call to Eric today and he'll be happy to fill you in on which sections and seats are open. Last I heard, the offer applied to Sections 101-104, 108-114 and 118-120. I've been to the new arena a couple of times now and there are no bad views from anywhere on the lower level.

You might even run into the co-owners of CARDINAL COUPLE during a contest...but don't let that hold you back from getting in the game. WE promise to be nice. Jeff Walz insists. Otherwise we have to run the steps in the arena and try to guard Asia Taylor.

Field Hockey sweeps weekend, tough Soccer loss

MONDAY @ THE COUPLE:

-Field Hockey produces on Senior Day.

-Soccer falls in O.T.

-New Field Hockey blog

Welcome to a new week. An exciting Sunday for UofL women's sports and we have a new entry for the Field Hockey blog. TEAM CARDINAL drove 10 of the orbs pictured here into the cage over the weekend while allowing only one to slip by them. WOOO HOOO! Let's get to the stories:

#10 Louisville Field Hockey sent the seniors off in style by rolling past Iowa 4-1 in Sunday action. The Cards are now 11-5 and assured a berth in the BIG EAST tournament.

The televised match started slowly for UofL. Iowa hit the scoreboard first just a couple of minutes into the game when Kim Scraper snuck one by UofL goalie Erin Conrad for the score. You know what they say about sleeping lions...and the rude awakening only served to fire TEAM CARDINAL up. Defensive pressure got Louisville the ball in good position and Kelsey Rosenmeier took a pass from senior Jenna Ahern to tie the contest 11 minutes into the game. The Cards tallied the second goal off a penalty corner when senior Nicole Youman found Karah Nall near the net and delivered a pass that Nall drove home for a 2-1 advantage. The Cards padded the lead near the end of the first half when Haley Jurich popped a Youman penalty corner past Iowa goalie Kathleen McGraw. The Cards took the 3-1 advantage into the locker room for halftime.

Both teams battled in a strong defensive effort thru the second half until Youman retrieved a Caitlin Collins shot and redirected it into the goal for the final margin. The CARDS out shot Iowa 17-6 in the game and Conrad had three saves.

Louisville takes it to the road for the next two. They'll visit Providence on Saturday, October 23rd. and face New Hampshire on the 24th. Enjoy the spectacular New England fall colors, TEAM CARDINAL and bring two "W"'s home...

*******************************************************************************************

Heartbreak on the road for Louisville women's soccer Sunday afternoon in Milwaukee when the Lady Cards dropped a 4-3 overtime match to Marquette. Louisville (9-7, 3-6) got three scores from sophomore Emily Cardell but dropped to #20 Marquette (12-3-2, 9-0).

The Cards started strong against the Golden Eagles and hit the board first when Cardell was on the receiving end of a Shannon Leamy feed and flew one by Marquette goalie Natalie Kulla. Several minutes later Cardell made it 2-0 when Angelika Uremovich set up a pass that Cardell scored on. The Cards took the 2-0 advantage into halftime.

Marquette got untracked in the second half when they scored in the 57 minute mark and tied it at the 65 minute mark. Louisville regained a brief lead when Cardell scored her final goal of the game but the Golden Eagles came right back and tied it at 3-3 less than a minute later.

The teams took the 3-3 tie into overtime. Marquette secured the victory early in O.T. when Kerry McBride connected after receiving a corner kick. Marquette out shot Louisville 28-5 in the game and Louisville goalie Taylor Vancil had nine saves. The Cards stay on the road trip...appearing at Seton Hall on Friday to end the regular season.

******************************************************************************************

Lacey Jurich catches us up on the great field hockey weekend for TEAM CARDINAL. We will run Lacey's Field Hockey entry on the left side of the site as well until it is updated. Lacey writes:

October 16th.

"We had a huge victory over our competitors in the Big East, the Villanova Wildcats. Going into the game we realized that we have to get another Big East win under our belt to make sure we are still doing well in the conference. Villanova has a good reputation to keep fighting throughout the whole game. Our coaches prepared us all week to play our game and we were definitely prepared. We knew that in order to win this game we need to all play together and play 70 minutes. In the first few minutes, we set the tone. Nicole hit a rocket to Karah as she tipped it into the cage. After this goal we kept up the tempo on the field and also on the sideline. The energy was present throughout the entire game. Villanova stayed true to their reputation and they worked hard the entire game...but we outworked them. At halftime the score was 4-0. We knew that Villanova was a tenacious team and would still continue to work hard in the second half. The Cards came out strong again in the second half and ended up putting two more balls in the cage. Erin Conrad had another shutout game and we ended up winning 6-0. This Big East win is another game that will help us get closer to reach our goals."

October 17th

"Today may have seemed to be close to the end for some of the seniors, but all of TEAM CARDINAL knew that we still have a lot more left in this 2010 season. Today was Senior Day. We honored/celebrated our 7 seniors and our student manager before the big game versus Iowa today. This was the last regular season game that we play at Trager Stadium. TEAM CARDINAL was ready to go! We knew that we had to show all of our fans the things we were capable of. Many families were in town to support the Cardinals this week. With all the hype and distractions of Senior Day, we knew that we wanted to win this game badly! We did a great job of controlling our energy and excitement. This was an emotional day for many but also a thrilling day. In the beginning of the game, Iowa had scored a goal but we never got discouraged. When they scored, we decided that there was no way they will get momentum on OUR field. We fired back with a goal about eleven minutes into the game. Since it was a tied ballgame, we knew that we needed to score a few more goals for a sweet victory. We ended up scoring two more goals off of beautiful corner plays to end the half 3-1. We discussed what we needed to do to make sure we can seal the deal. Iowa is known to be a second half team and we knew that we had to work together. With the energy and focus still present, we scored one more goal and the final was 4-1. The 10th ranked Cards now have a record of 11-5. This victory was earned by everyone on TEAM CARDINAL. No one was out of focus and everyone was alert. This was a very memorable day, not only for the seniors, but to all the teammates and people that they have touched. "

Nice work by Lacey on getting us on the sidelines and in the huddles with TEAM CARDINAL. She and her teammates travel to New England this weekend for two games and we look forward to that report.

Volleyball, Field Hockey, Golf successful on Saturday

SUNDAY @ CARDINAL COUPLE:

-Volleyball snaps Notre Dame win streak

-Field Hockey wins at Rutgers

-Women's Golf second round action

-Soccer today on TV

-How about that Charlie Strong?

A great day for many UofL sports contests yesterday!

Emily Juhl had a career high 16 kills in Louisville's win over Notre Dame 3-1 in CARDINAL ARENA yesterday morning. With the win, the Cards improved to 9-5 on the season and 4-1 in the BIG EAST.

The Cards won the first game behind the strong arm of Juhl and Anastasia Artemeva...overcoming an early Irish lead with a 8-2 run late in the contest to post a 25-21 victory. Notre Dame jumped on Louisville early in the second game, going up 9-4 and although the Cards rallied back to get with two at 22-20 they could get no closer and fell 25-23.

After the intermission, both team battled back and forth in the third game of the match but a key Louisville 7-2 stretch put the Cards ahead 21-15 and went on to score the 25-19 victory. In the final game, the Cards steadily built the lead to hold a 19-11 advantage and finished out to take game and match 25-17.

Volleyball fan Jack Wimsett was in attendance and told CARDINAL COUPLE:

"Juhl was out of this world. She and Anastasia just kept blasting rockets over the net against Notre Dame and Simmons dominated the net with some great blocks. It was a great morning!"

Louisville returns to the court Sunday afternoon to face DePaul. Action begins at 2 p.m.

********************************************************************************************

Field Hockey pitched a shutout in Piscataway, N.J. Saturday afternoon, blanking the Rutgers Scarlet Knights 2-0 in BIG EAST action. Amber Thomas broke open a defensive battle in the first half when she scooped up a Nicole Youman (WOO HOO! for Nicole!) and sent the ball sailing past Rutgers goalie Sarah Stuby for a one point Cardinal lead. TEAM CARDINAL took the advantage into the half-tine break and continued to hold Rutgers scoreless in the final frame. They added a second goal midway thru the second half when Jenna Ahern knocked a missed Youman attempt (WOO HOO! for Nicole! ) past Stuby for the final goal of the match. Did we mention how much we like Nicole Youman?

With the win, Louisville improves to 9-4 and 3-1 in the BIG EAST. Goalie Erin Conrad had five saves in the game and the Cards outshot the Scarlet Knights 15-10. Louisville travels to Princeton next for a Sunday match in the Garden State against the #3 Tigers. Thanks to Louisville assistant S.I.D. for keeping CARDINAL COUPLE in the loop on the womens' East Coast swing.

*******************************************************************************************

Sara-Maude Juneau continues to find the sweet spot in Carolina, firing a 69 in the second round of the Tar Heel Invitational. Her great round moved her up to 5th place after two days and only five shots off the lead as the teams wrap up play on Sunday. Juneau had a 70 yesterday.

Laura Anderson, pictured above, had a 71 Saturday, her best effort of the season so far, and has a two day total of 147. Anna-Karin Ljungstorm carded a 78 in day two and Maria Castellanos toured the 18 in 80 strokes. Sophomore Candice Wiley impressed with a 73 yesterday, seven strokes better than her opening round 80.

Louisville climbed the ranks to 16th. place after second round action with a 592 total. Alabama leads the pack with 551.

*********************************************************************************************

Louisville Women's Soccer will play on local television today with a 1 p.m. game at Cardinal Park against Georgetown. WHAS-11 TV will show the match live. It is Senior Day for the Cards. While we're on the subject of "futbol"...congrats to UofL men's soccer team...still undefeated after yesterday's 2-1 win over host Rutgers. Bad day to be a Rutgers' fan yesterday...

********************************************************************************************

What in the world has gotten into this Charlie Strong football team? Paul and I sat there yesterday in the baking sun and watched touchdown after touchdown and surmised that either Memphis really was that pitiful or Charlie Strong has fined tuned these guys to success. Friday night will be a much more true test of how far Strong has taken these Kragthorpe leftovers when the CardStrong Nation welcomes those dreaded Cincinnati Bearcats to PJCS. The Bearcats did some growling of their own yesterday, smacking around Miami of Ohio 45-3.

The Cards did better with their 56-0 whitewash of the Memphis Kittens. I sure wouldn't wanted to have been in that feline locker room when the sun set to the west of the Pizza Palace.

Field Hockey gains two BIG EAST awards

TUESDAY AT CARDINAL COUPLE:

.

-Field Hockey sweeps BIG EAST weekly awards

.

-Bustin's squad travels to IU

.

-WE read your mail (and then feed it to Bill the Goat)

.

-They're practicing basketball

.

It's a slow day for Cardinal women's sports today, but we've still got plenty to talk about. LALA, (pictured above) our cultural diversity intern at CARDINAL COUPLE is hoping a big senior year on the court will draw the attention of UofL head women's basketball Jeff Walz. She plays for the elite School for Mammals with Opposable Thumbs and averaged 14 points last year at the point guard position. Unfortunately, she fouled out of 26 of the 27 games, drew 22 technicals and left countless banana peels on the court. Coaches are working with her on not hurling the ball into the stands after a made shot or steal. She also needs to "tone it down" a little when addressing the referees after being whistled for a foul. She has great mobility, though and her hang time is out of this world.

.

*******************************************************************************************

.

Cardinal field hockey players Hayley Turner and Karah Nall swept the BIG EAST weekly field hockey honors for the week ending Oct. 3rd. Turner was selected BIG EAST Offensive Player of the Week and Nall garnered the Defensive Player of the Week award.

.

Turner, a junior...scored two goals, including the game winner, against UConn on Saturday. Both came on feeds from fellow Aussie Nicole Youman. She also had two assists in the 7-0 win over St. Louis on Sunday. She is second on the team in scoring. Her stats to date are five goals and five assists.

.

Nall, from Assumption High School here in Louisville, played game saving defense against UConn and did not allow a shot against St. Louis.

.

This is the third offensive honor and first defensive honor for the Cards in the BIG EAST this season. Congrats to these two for helping the Cards sweep the weekend action.

.

**********************************************************************************************

.

Field hockey travels to Indiana Tuesday to face the Hoosiers in a non-conference match up. The Cards (8-3, 2-1) are ranked tenth in the nation. Today's game is the first of three on the road for Pam Bustin's squad. The IU match-up is important even if it isn't a conference match. Regional games play heavy in post-season tournament pairings and seedings and it's always good to beat a regional rival on their field. We'll have a full recap of the action, and hopefully another blog entry from the Field Hockey team for you tomorrow.

.

*********************************************************************************************

.

They're practicing basketball at Cardinal Arena and CARDINAL COUPLE will have an exclusive report on how it's going with Jeff Walz's Lady Cards. Thanks to Kim Pemberton, UofL assistant sports information director and contact for Louisville women's basketball...we plan on getting several interviews out of the Wednesday visit to practice. The b-ball team started official fall practice on Sunday at 6 p.m.

.

They're Playing Basketball is a great site we have linked up on the left side of our site. It's written by Sue Favor and it has lots of women's hoops info every day. She's a West Coast resident, big fan of Tennessee Vols hoops and very skilled writer.

.

*********************************************************************************************

.

From the mailbag:

.

CARDINAL COUPLE:

I always enjoyed seeing former Lady Cards guard Connie Neal play. What's she doing these days and how is her daughter Carsynn doing?

-Olivia D.

.

Last we heard, Connie is still an assistant basketball coach at Louisville Manual High School. Neal, her family and her daughter Carsynn sat in front of us for women's basketball games in Freedom Hall. Carsynn loved the games, wearing her cheerleading outfit and was a bundle of energy during the contests. WE'VE heard that Connie checks CARDINAL COUPLE out occasionally...so maybe she'll send us an update...or one of you readers can fill us in on something additional.

.

PAUL:

We enjoy reading the daily reports on Cardinal Couple and just wondered which articles and teams draw the most viewers on your site?

-Martha and Dave L.

.

We cover several different sports each day but thru site traffic reports and popular subject "click on's" we can tell you that news about women's basketball is the most viewed subject here at CARDINAL COUPLE...followed by volleyball, field hockey, softball and soccer to round out the top five. The verbal announcement by Sara Hammond has received the top two "hits" in site history, followed by the verbal from Shoni Schmmel, then an article we did about Schimmel and an interview with Pam Bustin and several field hockey players came in fifth.

.

Any news about Angel McCoughtry always draws well and we get a lot of hits from the northeastern part of the United States if we mention Connecticut or Geno Auriemma on the site or in our post labels.

.

The middle of the week is usually when the site is most visited and Saturday and Sunday the slowest two days.

.

Hi, Cardinal Couple:

Just wanted to thank you for the coverage of women's field hockey and creating a Field Hockey blog on your site. I'm a big UofL field hockey fan. Also, is CARDINAL COUPLE going to have blogs for other women's sports teams? I'd love to see one of the basketball players and softball have one too.

-Sally H.

.

Thanks for writing, Sally! WE LOVE covering Field Hockey and we were tickled to death when Nicole Youman mentioned the possibility of us doing a player written blog for Field Hockey. With Pam Bustin and Lori Korte's approval, we ran the first issue...an excellent entry by Caitlin Collins and it was well received. We look forward to additional submissions.

.

Whether anyone on the women's basketball or softball squads wishes to do a blog is entirely up to them. We'd love it if both do. The first step is finding a player or several to want to do it. Then, we make sure that it's OK with both the head coach and the assistant sports information director for that sport. In Field Hockey's case, Bustin was fine with the idea and Lori Korte approved it and mentioned to us that the first entry was a great one. Lori handles S.I.D. responsibilities for softball also, and she's easily accessible to us and great to work with. Kim Pemberton is the contact for women's basketball and has always been there for us when we've needed anything.

.

I got a chance to talk to University of Louisville Athletic Director Tom Jurich at the UofL vs. Arkansas State game and he didn't call US out on the carpet about anything...so I guess we're doing OK.

.

We'll see what happens. I'll ask around Wednesday and see if a Lady Card wants to take on the duties and if it is OK with Jeff and Kim.

.

You can send your questions to us at psykesads@aol.com or cardinalcouple@insightbb.com

We will withhold names by request and have the right to edit, select or refuse to print any subjects, requests or comments. We rarely get any negativity, though...unless it's a UConn or UK fan trying to stir up the pot. You can also write to us at: P.O. Box 91521, Louisville, KY 40291.

Spam will be dealt with severely. We have trained chimps, they're schooled in martial arts and for good measure...we'll send Tommy Boy and a few other of the Irish Mafia along... if needed.