Cards denied women's soccer NCAA Tournament bid

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THURSDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

-Four BIG EAST schools receive bids to NCAA Women's Soccer Tournament

-Louisville WBB vs. Texas A&M Friday night.

Someone needs to hand the NCAA a yellow card. Can we send this one up to the instant reply booth? The University of Louisville was not chosen to participate in the 2012 NCAA Women's Soccer Championships and neither was South Florida....who battled Louisville to a 0-0 tie over two overtimes and a shootout in BIG EAST Tournament quarterfinal action. The four teams receiving bids are Marquette, Georgetown, Notre Dame and....Rutgers? 

The first three I've listed above I have no problem with. Marquette won the regular season title, their first BIG EAST Tournament title and finished with a 16-2-2 record and went 9-0-1 in the BIG EAST. They are ranked #13 in the nation. Well done, MU!

Georgetown had a very good season also. 15-3-3 and 8-1-1 in the BIG EAST. Played for the BIG EAST Tournament title for the first time in school history. Ranked #31 by the NCAA. Another school worthy of the bid. 

Notre Dame fared well also on the season. A 13-5-2 record with a 8-1-1 BIG EAST compliation. It's their 20th. straight NCAA Tournament bid. They won the NCAA tournament in 2010. Ranked #21 in the NCAA rankings. Take your seat on the plane, Irish. 

But Rutgers? Someone explain this selection to me like I was a six-year old, please. I just don't get it.

They were 5-5-1 in the BIG EAST. Louisville was 5-3-3 and USF 6-2-2. Overall, the Scarlet Knights were 12-7-1. Louisville was 10-4-3. USF 10-5-4.

Rutgers is #47 in the NCAA rankings. Louisville #45. South Florida #52.

The only possible reason that makes any sense with regards to including Rutgers before Louisville in the tournament selection would be that they defeated the Cards in the regular season.

Obviously, that must mean more than league finishes, overall records, NCAA rankings and common sense. And, if that's the case...why bother with a BIG EAST Tournament?

Louisville got a bad break. To use a more popular term...they got hosed. Something to motivate the Cards for the 2013 season.

OVERALL RECORD       BIG EAST RECORD     RANKING

Louisville 10-4-3                 South Florida 6-2-2             Lou. #45
South Florida 10-5-4           Louisville 5-3-3                  Rutgers #47
Rutgers 12-7-1                    Rutgers 5-5-1             South Florida #52

NCAA SELECTION:  Rutgers

COMMON SENSE SELECTION: Louisville and South Florida

Someone explain it to me.

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The #9 ranked Louisville women's basketball team starts the regular season in large fashion, hosting #12 Texas A&M in the KFC YUM! Center Friday night at 7 p.m. A lot of media types are calling it the best opening regular season game this year.

We can't disagree. A&M comes in with just two starters back from last year, but a highly-ranked and talented freshman class. Louisville loaded with talent...all but Tia Gibbs and Asia Taylor ready to play and looking forward to filling the Arena.

$2 tickets available at the box office with your Kroger Plus card. No home football Saturday, so you have no excuse not to be there.

Who will start for the Cards? We were mildly surprised to see Megan Deines in the starting lineup for Jeff Walz's Cards against Eckerd...but soon found out she was worthy and capable of the nod. Given that A&M center Kelsey Bone (6'4") is likely to cause some worries for the Cards underneath the boards...wouldn't surprise us to see 6'4" Sherrone Vails draw a starting assignment, but the front-line combo of Sara Hammond and Shawnta Dyer didn't look bad against Eckerd. We expect Mo Reid to see 15-20 minutes. Cards will try to counter the Aggies' height with quickness and transition one would assume. We'll throw a lineup out and let us know what you think of it in the comments section or by e-mail.

Shoni Schimmel
Shawnta Dyer
Sara Hammond
Bria Smith
Megan Deines

It's a "Red Out" game, so dress accordingly and show up! The Cardinal fan base can be an intimidating factor to opponents'...so be loud!  Walz wants the place packed, so take advantage of this early-season opportunity to support the Lady Cards!

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Friday Cardinal Couple -- Soccer faces crucial weekend

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FRIDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

-Georgetown, Villanova visit this weekend

A key weekend of soccer matches face the University of Louisville Women's soccer team in Cardinal Park. With just three weeks remaining in the regular season, Louisville is fourth in the BIG EAST National Division and can improve upon their standing with wins over third-place Villanova Friday and league-leading Georgetown on Sunday.

The Friday night 7 p.m. match against the Wildcats is Louisville's "Pink Game" for Breast Cancer Awareness. Louisville will don special pink uniforms and all breast cancer survivors can gain free admission by calling (502) 852-8466 or e-mailing BMUSEL01@louisville.edu

Villanova is 5-6-2 on the season and 3-2-0 in BIG EAST play. They downed Pitt last time out 3-2 and tonight's match will be the eighth all-time meeting between the two schools...Nova holding a 4-3 advantage. The Cards took a 3-2 double overtime win last year on the road against the Wildcats.

Georgetown invades Sunday with a 11-1-1 record and a 5-0-0 BIG EAST record. They also beat Pitt last time out 8-0 last week. This is also the eighth time Louisville and the Hoyas have met, Louisville with a 4-3 edge in games. UofL downed Georgetown 2-1 in double overtime last year in Washington, D.C.

The Cards are 7-3-2 on the season and 2-2-2 in BIG EAST play. They are ranked 46th. in the latest NCAA RPI release. Wins this weekend would propel them into third place in the BIG EAST National Division behind the Hoyas and Notre Dame.

Best of luck to the University of Louisville women's soccer team in these two key matches!

Saturday Cardinal Couple -- Louisville defeats Ohio State 1-0 in Friday scrimmage

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Saturday Cardinal Couple

- Women's soccer downs Buckeyes

We asked the question several times this week about how well the Louisville women's soccer team would handle the early season absence of last year's leading scorer Christine Exeter. Maybe we should have been asking how well the Cardinal defense would step up to neutralize the temporary loss. 

Charlyn Corral with the
only goal of the game

Louisville shut out Ohio State 1-0 Friday night at Cardinal Park. The defense stepping up big time to keep the Buckeyes out of the net and transfer Charlyn Corral scoring the lone goal of the exhibition for the Cardinal win on an assist from Angelika Uremovich.

Chloe Kiefer guarding the net with four saves in the shut-out. 

1-0 didn't have scoring enthusiasts jumping up and down in excitement...obviously, but it showed that the veteran Louisville defensive crew took this game "very personally" and wanted to show Cardinal fans early on the skill and abilities that they plan on exhibiting this fall. 


A win over a BIG TEN school. Yes, we'll accept that.

Shutting out a BIG TEN school. Have some. 

The objective is to outscore the opposition. 1-0 works.

Louisville plays again Sunday against Wright State. 

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USA Olympics Women's Basketball team goes for the gold today against France. Tip off scheduled for 4 p.m. on NBC. 

"Play me, Geno..."

A letdown for the Americans after defeating #2 in the world Australia? Don't count on it. 

Probably the last Olympic go-around for Bird, Taurasi, Catchings and Cash. A team looking to show that the half-time lead by the Aussies in Thursday's semi-final game was a combination of torrid Australia first-half shooting and lackadaisical USA defense. 

Australia scored 25 points in the second quarter. They scored 26 points in the second half. The old adage that offense wins fans but defense wins games never truer than the final 20 minutes of the USA effort against Jackson and Cambage. 30 first-half points for the twin towers, six in the second-half. 

We hope Geno gives Angel a more involved role today. The French aren't going to come in and roll over for USA. Not many expected to see them in the final. Let's send them back home with a 
silver. 
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Thursday Cardinal Couple -- Exeter, Melhado to play for Team Canada U 20

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THURSDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

- Soccer Cards will miss first six games for UofL while at U 20 World Cup.

-Team USA WBB defeats Australia 86-73 to reach finals. 

The University of Louisville women's soccer team will start the 2012 season without two of their top players as junior forward Christine Exeter and junior defender Rachel Melhado will play for Canada at the 2012 FIFA U-20 Women's World Cup in Japan. 

Exeter ( Pickering H.S./Pickering Ont.) and Melhado (Turner Fenlon H.S./Brampton, Ont.) will leave with their teammates Wednesday for the cup battles...which are scheduled Aug. 19-Sept. 8 in five cities across Japan. 

16 teams will vye for the title which will consist of group play before the quarterfinals on Aug 30-31st, semi-finals Sept 4th and gold and bronze matches on Sept. 8th. If they finish in the top four, the duo would miss two exhibition games and five regular season matches...including the UK game on Sept. 7th at Cardinal Park.

Exeter led Louisville last season with 14 goals and was the BIG EAST Offensive Player of the Year. She's also a unanimous pre-season pick for 2012 All-BIG EAST.

Louisville opens the season Friday night with an exhibition game against Ohio State. Other games they could potentially miss are: 

8/12    Wright State (exhibition)
8/17    at Butler
8/24    Purdue
8/31    SEMO @ Lexington, KY
9/02    UNC Greensboro @ Lexington, KY
9/07    Kentucky

'We are absolutely thrilled for Christine and Rachel as they pursue their dreams of winning a youth world championship. Although we will miss their presence in games and training, we understand the privilege that comes with playing for your country. We know they will  represent both UofL and Canada exceptionally well." -- Louisville head coach Karen Ferguson-Dayes.

Imagine Louisville WBB without Shoni and Shawnta Dyer for the first six games. Or Anne Kordes without Lola Arslanbeckova and Gwen Rucker during the early season...if you're looking for comparative player losses. That's a tough road to travel, especially with a young team, as Ferguson-Dayes has.  


For the 2012 season, the Cards have
only three seniors and nine juniors are on the 30-player Louisville roster...six sophomores and twelve freshmen fill out the remaining spots. Louisville could look to Kim Sharo, Angelika Uremovich and newcomer Charlyn Corral to pick up the scoring void for the Cards that the absence of Exeter will create. Emily Cardell, limited to just four games last year because of injuries, could also be a key, early scoring factor for UofL. 

Melhado started all 24 games as a defender for Louisville last year. The Cards do return veterans Courtney Holtz and Chelsea Hunter as defenders and goalie Chloe Kiefer will keep the Cards strong at the net when opponents have the ball.

Louisville begins the eleven-game BIG EAST regular season schedule Sept. 14th at Notre Dame. 

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#8 gets eight minutes against the Aussies

A win today for Olympic USA women's basketball over a tough as advertised Australia squad....86-73 with defense getting the job done in the second half. USA with no answers for Liz Cambage in the first half, 19 points for the 6'8" Tulsa Shock center. USA down 47-43 at the half. 

Tina Charles stepping up, taking it "very personal" and fatigue a factor to holding Cambage scoreless in the second half. USA using a 10-3 late third quarter run to lead 65-59 after three quarters, after trailing 56-55 with 3:55 to go in the quarter. 

Disappointing use of Angel today...eight minutes, four points...sat the bench the entire fourth quarter...Geno preferring to go with Ashia Jones, Maya Moore, Mary Tyler Moore...anyone he could find instead of the leading scorer in the WNBA. Puzzling, for sure. Predictable, yeah. After all, it is Geno. Probably tough for Jeff Walz, who flew over to catch the semis and final. 

"Yeah...Angel's still sitting." 

Diana Taurasi, saddled with foul trouble late, led UConn (oops!) USA with 14, Charles with 14 also and Sue Bird added 13. UConn gets the gold, silver and bronze. 

UConn  USA faces the winner of Russia v. France for the gold on Saturday.

Whoever...the real title was won today, more specifically in the second half of today's game when the 'Dream Team' woke up from their slumber and shut down #2 in the world with defense. 



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Friday Cardinal Couple -- Women's Soccer looks to repeat last year's success

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FRIDAY CARDINAL COUPLE


- Women's soccer geared for another successful season. 


- This, that and the other...

The historic season for University of Louisville women's soccer last year culminated with advancement to the 3rd round of the NCAA tournament with wins over Dayton and Memphis. A close 2-0 loss to Final Four participant Florida State ended the Cards championship season...a season that saw them go 14-7-3 and finish second in the BIG EAST Conference Tournament, losing to champion West Virginia at Morgantown in the Mountaineers' final BIG EAST appearance.


The good news for head coach Karen Ferguson-Dayes is that she has her two leading scorers from last year returning in Christine Exeter and Angelika Uremovich and her starting goalie...Chloe Kiefer. 

The Cards were 8-1-2 in the BIG EAST and forward Exeter was selected to the NSCAA All-American team. She scored 14 goals for Louisville and was also named BIG EAST Offensive Player of the Year.  

She'll have both Uremovich and Kim Sharo back to help her produce points for the Cards and 12 freshmen join the team this season...plus transfer and international sensation Charlyn Corral, who played for Mexico's 2011 FIFA Women's World Cup team. 

The action begins with a pair of exhibition games at Cardinal Park starting next Friday. Louisville will face the Ohio State Buckeyes on Aug. 10th. and Wright State on Sunday, Aug 12th. The regular season kicks off on Friday, August 17th. when Louisville travels to play at Butler. 


The Cards will have ten home games at Cardinal Park, including a Sept. 7th. match against Kentucky. Louisville will be looking for revenge this season...losing to UK 2-0 last year in Lexington. 


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I don't do laundry (Sonja's request) so I can't duplicate Sandy's Laundry Day but here's a few UofL women's sports related tidbits. 


-- China Dow, Christian Academy's stellar point guard has verballed to MTSU (Middle Tenn. State U.). According to her coach, Don Rice...it came down to UK or the Blue Raiders. She's one that has improved greatly over the last year and we'll be watching her career in Murfreesboro. 


-- Melissa Starck Bean has accepted Anne Kordes' offer to be an assistant volleyball coach at UofL. If the name sounds familiar, she played her high school volleyball at Assumption, was an assistant at UofL for Leonid Yelin from 2005-09 and most recently assistant club director at KIVA (Kentucky Indiana Volleyball Academy). Welcome back, Melissa! 


-- Amanda Zahui, the Swedish basketballer who considered Louisville WBB before verballing to Minnesota, will be ineligible this season because of academic certification woes. Sounds like a juco stint to us. 


-- Angel McCoughtry and the USA Olympic Women's Basketball team face the Czech Republic today at 5:15 p.m. You can catch it on the NBC Sports Network. We'll have a recap in Saturday's CARDINAL COUPLE. 


-- Jeff Walz does a Q and A with Jody Demling over at Cardinal Authority. We like the changes that have occurred over at the Scout site since J.D. replaced Mike Hughes and you can access the site over on the left side of our site under Sites We Recommend. 


Have a great Friday and L1C4, baby! 


-Paul

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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...

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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...

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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.

Soccer defeats DePaul 2-1

YOUR SATURDAY CARDINAL COUPLE PRESENTS:

Soccer goes to 2-0 in Big East

Softball opens fall season

Louisville registered two second half goals to overtake DePaul in women's soccer yesterday in Chicago. Although arrangements could not be made to transport Bill the Goat (pictured right) to the contest, the Cards rallied behind freshman Julie Casselman and senior Shannon Leamy to notch their second BIG EAST win. The first half proved to be a defensive struggle and the teams went into the halftime break locked in a scoreless tie.

DePaul found the net first first fifteen minutes into the final half when Arianna Foster kicked one in past Cardinal goalie Taylor Vancil to give the Blue Demons a brief lead. Louisville tied the contest sixteen minutes later when Leamy controlled a missed Cardinal shot and sent the ball to the back of the net past DePaul goalie Claire Hanold.

Louisville wasted no time taking the lead when Cassleman connected on a shot past Hanold. Louisville (8-1) returns home to play #5 Notre Dame on Sunday at 1 p.m.

Fall softball this afternoon for Sandy Pearsall's BatCards. Chelsea Bemis leads Louisville against crosstown opponent Bellarmine for a doubleheader at Ulmer Stadium. CARDINAL COUPLE will provide a full report on the exhibition games tomorrow.

UofL womens' soccer to be on National TV

(In today's edition of CARDINAL COUPLE we cover women's soccer, the ongoing Pitino/Sypher saga and Charlie Strong speaks. Enjoy and tell a friend.)

The annual Battle of the Bluegrass soccer match between UofL and UK will be televised from Cardinal Park on Thursday, Sept, 9th. at 7 p.m. on the Fox Soccer Channel. To be honest with you, I'm not sure if I have this channel or if any local sports pubs will broadcast the event..so I think I'll just go and attend it. It is a great chance for the program to receive national attention and alert any future Cardinal womens' soccer stars out there about what is going on down on the Belknap Campus in regards to soccer. It may not be Mike Tirico, Mia Hamm and Dick Vitale...but it's national TV, and that isn't a bad thing, gang.

The soccer season is only 17 days away. The UofL womens' soccer team will host an exhibition game on August 14th. at 7 p.m. against Tennessee at Cardinal Park. There will be clinics and autograph signings prior to the action. The regular season gets underway Aug. 20th. against Eastern Kentucky at 7 p.m. at Cardinal Park. Looking for a new way to 'get your kicks'? Then, get out and watch and support the Soccer Cards.

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Day 3 of the U.S. vs. Sypher saw Rick Pitino take the stand for nearly four hours. Pitino denied rape charges and said that money was Sypher's goal. Pitino denied that he forced Sypher to have an abortion. Pitino aide Vinny Tatum said he was sitting only 10-15 feet from where Sypher said she was raped but he heard no screams or signs of a struggle. Tatum also acknowledged on cross-examination that he didn't see what happened. Pitino also commented that the whole encounter lasted less than 15 seconds.

I liked the part where Sypher's letter penned by former Sypher attorney Dana Kolter was shown to the journey. Especially the part where Sypher gave Rick a ride home from the alleged rape in mid-summer "because it was snowing."

Really?

There was also discussion about members of Pitino's party "raising her miniskirt and she was giggling." Porcini's restaurant owner left them at the restaurant because he was ready to leave and they were still drinking. Sounds like the days of when my frat brothers would abandon me in the basement of the frat house before the keg was empty. Except there was no raised skirts or 15 second encounters.

The trial drags on again today. Rick will be questioned by Sypher's defense attorney James Earhart. This could be interesting. He won't be lobbing softballs Rick's way.

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Off topic from womens' sports but still a great evening for CARDINAL COUPLE getting a chance to hear UofL head football coach Charlie Strong speak Wednesday evening to the Sportsmen's Supper Club. We've posted a review of coach's words over at:

www.uoflcardgame.com

and www.cardinaldominance.ning.com

Check it out. Strong words, strong beliefs and a strong commitment to Cardinal Football and Cardinal fans. You're gonna love this guy..

Sharo looks to shine at UofL

Cornwell, NY soccer star Kim Sharo has chosen the
University of Louisville as her soccer home for the 2011
season. The senior striker has scored 40 goals and
recorded 44 assists over the last two seasons for
Cornwell (NY).

Thanks to Justin Rodriguez (Times Herald-Record) for
the great article below and Chet Gordon (Times Herald-
Record) for the action shot of Sharo. Also, muchas gracias
to Charlie Springer (UofL Card Game) for the heads up
on the piece.

You can read the entire article at the following link:
www/recordonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=20100711/SPORTS31/7110343

Below are some excerpts from Rodriguez's piece.

CORNWALL SOCCER STAR SHARO HEADED FOR LOUISVILLE.

by Justin Rodriguez

Kim Sharo clicked on the University of Louisville's
women's soccer website every day. She scanned the roster, researching all the players, keeping track of team news, checking out statistics. Almost obsessed, this is where Sharo, a star striker at Cornwall, had to play.

And, she will in the fall of 2011.

Sharo, entering her senior year, has verbally committed to the BIG EAST school. She said she will receive an academic/athletic scholarship which will pay about 1/2 her expenses as a freshman. Louisville costs approximately $40,000 per year to attend.

"I've always wanted to play at a school at this level," said Sharo, who has 40 goals and 44 assists over the last two years at Cornwall. "I'm very happy to be playing in the BIG EAST. I checked out everything about Louisville and really liked it. I'm really excited I don't have to worry about picking a college anymore."

Sharo, who was helped Cornwall to three straight Section 9 Class A titles, was also interested in Seton Hall, UNC-Charlotte and Rider University. However, Louisville became a player when assistant coach Kyle Singer was impressed with Sharo's performance with her club team, Quickstrike FC, at a college showcase at Players Development Academy in Zarephath, N.J. over the Memorial Day weekend.

Singer and Sharo's club coach, Jesse Kolmel, kept in touch after the PDA event. She visited Louisville last week and committed to the Cards on Friday.

"Kim worked hard for this and she deserves it." Cornwall coach Rick Miller said. "She plays year round with her club team, and it has all paid off. It's hard to believe she's a senior. It seems just like yesterday we brought her up. I'm proud of her and, hopefully, she scores some more goals for us this fall before she leaves."

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After minimal deliberation and considering his sorely lacking finances, CARDINAL COUPLE chief writer and co-owner Paul Sykes has decided not to follow LeBron James to the Miami Heat.

"I thought about it for a few minutes...the beach, nice weather and a few hours away from Key West and all...but I am going to remain in Louisville." Sykes commented after cutting the grass Sunday afternoon. " The temptation of being close to Rachel, my brother-in-law Gary and his family...plus Coach Schnellenberger in Boca Raton was pretty tempting but the fans of CARDINAL COUPLE have spoken and I'll be here for the foreseeable future. Besides, I hated Dwayne Wade when he played for Marquette...except when they beat Kentucky. Truth be told, I didn't care much for Steve Novak, Tom Crean..all those guys that were associated with that Marquette team.

I have no idea who Chris Bosh is.

I'm scheduled to be in some fairly interesting cornhole games later this summer...and I definitely don't want to miss the UK vs. UofL football game, or the Lady Cards opening against Tennessee, so I'm passing on this non-existent offer to head to South Beach.

I dig what Pat Riley did with Rupp's Runts and all..and I really like his hairstyle..but they don't have a Mulligan's in Miami and I doubt my van would handle the trip down there to begin with.

If ESPN had offered to do an hour long special about my decision...wow, wouldn't that have been cool!...but they hung up on me when I pitched it. "

Sykes, whose reputed ties with the Louisville Irish Mafia and known village idiot Tommy Boy have never been fully explained or investigated, looks forward to a fall of raking leaves, trimming the hedges and sipping Bud Select at various events.

"I'm a Lakers fan anyway...and there's a few people that still owe me money up here after they spanked the Celtics...plus I know of a couple of really promising two year olds that are on track to debut at Churchill Downs this fall...so, the 'Ville is still where I want to be...unless Sonja sends me packing like she threatened to do after that whole messy 'Pineapple Captain' incident a couple of weeks ago."

John Asher was not contacted concerning this story. But, he did attend Western Kentucky University and is probably closely following the stuff mentioned in the article below.

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According to Eric Crawford, over at the Courier-Journal...Western Kentucky University no longer wants to be referred to as "Western" when it comes to sports athletics. They are now WKU.

We, at CARDINAL COUPLE, can see their argument. Sonja attended Western...oops, WKU... and when she tells people where she attended, sometimes they will ask "Western where?" Usually, it's someone from out-of-state, a foreigner or her forgetful uncle Teddy.

Not that the requested moniker "WKU" is going to clear any of that up. It sounds like a low wattage AM radio station or a governmental agency.

I like a good Western every once in awhile, especially if John Wayne is in it..but that has nothing to do with the university in Bowling Green.

I see a trend surfacing here. What if both Murray State and Morehead State want to be known as "MSU"? Not to mention Michigan State and Mississippi State. Is there a Western Kansas University? Another WKU conflict here? But, since Wood Selig left Bowling Green to pursue other employment opportunities, I like WKU better these days and I'm OK with WKU. Does it count as a word if I play Scrabble?

WKU it is, then. Next, Eastern Kentucky University will clamor for EKU reference status and I can't wait to see what Lindsey Wilson is going to ask for. (The college, not the Iowa State womens' basketball player.)

Probably another Ashley Rainey...