Thursday Cardinal Couple - Is It Sunday Yet? Edition

THURSDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

( Jeff McAdams dashes from Ulmer to the lacrosse fields and from New Orleans to the presentation of the naming of the conference UofL will spend a year in for Thursday's edition of CARDINAL COUPLE. He even made stops to help little old ladies dodge traffic on Cardinal Blvd. and help Mo off the bus at the SAC...that's our guy!)



I hope its not Sunday yet, because that would mean we missed some more good Cardinal Athletics in the meantime.

Softball Swings for State Swagger

While the Louisville Baseball team forced an inning of bonus baseball before falling to our neighbors to the east, Sandy Pearsall's Softball squad had better luck, and continues the great week in Louisville Athletics.

The scoring started in the second, and yes it involved a ball landing on the very crowded outfield berm. Taner Fowler got on base by being hit by a pitch, with Hannah Kiyohara following with a walk.  The setup in place, Kayla "De La" Soles put one over the left field fence to put three on the board.

The Cards put up another couple of runs in the 5th when Jordan Trimble singled to start the inning.  Alicja Wolny followed with a deep shot to right that didn't quite clear the fence, but did drop in and was more the sufficient to get Trimble home.  Wolny made it to 3rd.  Unfortunately, she got caught at home in a fielder's choice by Maggie Ruckenbrod.  The Ruck advanced to second, where she's usually throwing people out from her catcher's position, on a Taner Fowler sacrifice.  Hannah Kiyohara's single got her to 2nd on an overthrow at first and gave Maggie the chance to make it home for the final Card point of the game.

The Kentucky Wildcats picked up their only score in the 6th inning, but otherwise "Good Carl" Caralisa Connell was in control in the circle.

The Softball squad next take a trip to New England for a three game series with St. Johns with a noon and 2pm double-header on Saturday the 6th and a noon followup game on the 7th.  They'll then scoot over to play a noon and 2:30 double-header on Tuesday the 9th with Providence in Rhode Island.  Game times won't conflict with any Final Four basketball games in either bracket, and ESPN3 is apparently streaming the St. Johns games, so this would be a good time to check out the Softball Cards without suffering from a wind chill factor.

All's Quiet on the Western...er...the Lacrosse Front

Kellie Young's Lacrosse squad managed to draw a large media response to the Yum! Center on campus for their practice Wednesday afternoon, though rumor is that there were other goings on in the building...something about a broken leg?

Lacrosse has had a good break between games, giving them a good chance to practice for Notre

Dame's arrival at the UofL Lacrosse Stadium, adjacent to the Yum! Center on campus tomorrow (Friday) at 5pm.  6/7 ranked Notre Dame continues the steady stream of quality opponents that the Louisville Laxers are coming up against.

Marquette comes to join the fun on Sunday for a noon first draw, which leaves plenty of time to check out the Lacrosse game and still get home or wherever you're going, to be glued to a TV at 6:30.

Cardinal Couple Crashes the Crescent City

While much of CardNation is heading to Atlanta, at least a trio of Cardinal Couple writers are travelling to Lou Orleans for the Women's Final Four.  Jenny, Sandy and myself have travel plans in place to be in NOLA Sunday through Tuesday to cover Jeff Walz and the Louisville GiantSlayers as they hope to continue to shock the basketball world. Paulie will man the fort back here in Louisville...feeding the staff chimps and hopefully getting reports from us as time allows.

The fun continues Sunday evening at 6:30pm for the Cardinal Women's Basketball team.  Opinions have certainly turned as I note that all five of the ESPNw analysts have now picked our 5 seed Cardinals to beat the 2 seed Cal Bears.

If you're not making it to Nawlin's, all of the games will be on ESPN.  We're in the first game at 6:30 Eastern Time on Sunday, as mentioned.  The second game, the ever-expected UConn vs Notre Dame matchup should tip around 8:30.  The finals, hopefully an all-Big-East affair, will be Tuesday with an 8:30 Eastern Time tip.

New Conference Name

We've known for a while now that the seven Catholic schools are buying out the Big East name from the current conference.  What wasn't known is what the new name for what remains of the Big East was going to be.  The announcement has occurred, and the result is, "The American Athletic Conference".

The conference administration has already stated that they don't intend to use an acronym, instead referring to it in common usage as "The American".  I'm skeptical that the general public will follow
along and will instead use the acronym AAC, as is common practice with many conferences.

In any case, its only of minimal concern for us in Louisville given our imminent switch to the ACC.  The announcement on the Big East's website makes no mention and doesn't use any of the logos of the departing schools such as Pitt, Syracuse, Notre Dame and Louisville...no surprise, really, and I can't say that I blame them.

( An excellent report...by Jeff today. After an extensive review of the CARDINAL COUPLE Pick 'Em Challenge for the NCAA Women's Basketball Tournament, it seems our intrepid writer is in second place...as well..with a record of 50-10 as the team roll into New Orleans. Keith B. hangs on to a 52-8 mark to lead the way and Steve O. is in line for the show money at 49-11.

Also a great time for Paulie earlier Wednesday at the SAC Building for the greeting of the victorious WBB team. Lots of good interviews for our Saturday Radio Show and I also made it on a video! Several times. See if you can pick me out...link below)

Paulie

LINK:
CARDS RETURN TO LOUISVILLE


FINALLY.....WHAT ARE THE CHANCES OF THIS? CARDINAL COUPLE CO-OWNER SONJA ISN'T IN THE RUNNING TO WIN THE PICK 'EM...HER 43-17 RECORD IS A BIT BEHIND THE LEADERS...BUT HER FINAL FOUR?

UOFL, CAL, NOTRE DAME, UCONN.

SHE LIKES THE CARDS TO WIN IT ALL...

(SHE ALSO HATES THE SINGLE POINT PER WIN SYSTEM WE USE.)

ARE YOU LISTENING, SHONI? SONJA SAYS TITLE 'EM UP!

(PIC OF HER BRACKET)

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Cardinal Couple

THURSDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

( Jeff McAdams catches us up on Lacrosse, Softball, his recruiting efforts and the real MVP of the Purdue game in today's CARDINAL COUPLE edition. Be sure to look for him in the Crescent Hill Easter Parade Saturday on Frankfort Ave...he'll be driving the jeep full of chimps tossing bananas and soft-boiled eggs at the crowd (or to the crowd) lined along the parade route. We're hoping he told parade officials about the entry.) 

Also, today's photo montage is from Austin Lassell's work at The Cardinal -- UofL's student newspaper. We gratefully acknowledge his fine work and thank him and The Cardinal for allowing us to present these action shots of the Purdue game to you! You can discover more of his work at The Cardinal or at his site www.austinlassell.com

 

*** Upcoming Spring Sports Events

*** Good Carl Gets an Honor or Two

*** A Story of a New WBB Season Ticket Holder?

*** Asia Taylor as MVP of the Purdue Game?

Spring Sports Schedule Update

After a multi-game visit to the mid-Atlantic seaboard, tangling with two quality opponents, Lacrosse gets a week break with no games this weekend.  The mid-Atlantic visit included competition with Loyola (Md.) and Georgetown, both ranked teams.  The Cards dropped both games, but both were very hard fought and respectable showings.  With those losses, Louisville Lacrosse has dropped back just out of the rankings once again, but are continuing to receive votes.  The next matchup brings #7 ranked Notre Dame into town for the first Cardinal home Lacrosse game since March 6th.  Almost a month without competing on the UofL Lacrosse Stadium, with the first draw next Friday (not tomorrow), the 5th at 5pm.

Softball, on the other hand, has a busy week ahead of them.  Syracuse comes for a three game visit
starting Friday afternoon with a double-header at 2pm and 4pm, and a followup on Saturday at noon.  Then, Wednesday the 3rd, at 6pm, the Kentucky Wildcats come to play.  With a ranking of 20 or 21, and a first week RPI of 8, our Lexington friends are not a team to be trifled with.  This should be a good game, with Louisville sitting on #11 rankings and a 10th place RPI.  I believe the Kentucky game is a ticketed game, so don't expect to come waltzing into Ulmer like you normally do for a game.

Good Carl Gets an Honor or Two

Caralisa "Carl" Connell has come into some critique from Paulie and I for being hot and cold in her pitching.  Sometimes she's amazing, but sometimes we're glad Rachel Le Coq is around for relief duties.

It seems that we've seen more of "Good Carl" than "Bad Carl" recently, a trend that will get no complaints around these parts, of course.  This week in particular, Caralisa Connell was named to Big East Pitcher of the Week, and has also picked up the CollegeSportsMadness.com National Pitcher of the Week honor.

Here's to hoping we see more of "Good Carl" in the coming weeks.

A Story of a New WBB Season Ticket Holder?

I believe it was at the Women's Basketball Tip-Off luncheon that Jeff Walz encouraged the crowd to bring friends to basketball games, saying that, if we could get people to come to a game, he felt like it would be entertaining enough that people would want to then buy season tickets.  I certainly believe that UofL Women's Basketball is one the best values for entertainment dollars around, and my family has been season tickets holders for a number of years now based on that exact scenario...we decided to go to a UofL vs UConn game back in the days when Katie Olson and Jazz Covington were playing.  We had such a great time that we got season tickets starting the next year.  Despite this experience, I questioned how often that reaction to coming to a game really happened.  I'm more of a believer, now.

I, on Tuesday, was having a water-cooler conversation with a relatively new employee at my place of employment...except we weren't at an actual water-cooler...just having a random conversation in the hallway, so I guess it was a figurative-water-cooler conversation.  Let's, unimaginatively, say this co-worker's name is "Bob".  Another co-worker who's very well known as a UofL fan walked by.  We'll equally unimaginatively call him, "Glenn".  I asked Glenn, as he walked by if he was going to the game, mentioned the $5 endzone ticket promotion they were doing.  Glenn said he wasn't going to be able to make it due to other committments.  Bob, however, perked up his ears at the idea of $5 tickets to the game.  Bob and his wife had already lined someone up to watch the kids and were looking for something interesting, and hopefully not terribly expensive, to do that evening.  $5 tickets to a basketball game at the KFC Yum! Center during tournament time seemed like a great idea.  I filled him in on the details and he said he thought it sounded like a good idea and that he'd suggest it to his wife and that he thought they would probably go.

I made my way by his office yesterday morning (Wednesday) and asked if they had gone to the game.  The response was effusive.  He and his wife and his mother-in-law had gone to the game and had end-zone tickets and they loved it.  They had a wonderful time.  Bob immediately asked about season ticket prices and almost didn't believe me when I told him how little I paid for my season tickets.  He was equally floored when I told him where my tickets were and that other tickets in other sections of seating would be even less expensive.  We then proceeded to talk about the Louisville team, and about how the women's game is a little different from the men's (no 10-second backcourt violation...30 vs 35 second shot clock...generally awful officiating, though not usually as bad as it was for that game...how all of this combined to change the overall feel of the game).  At the end of the conversation, Bob said he thought they would probably get season tickets for next year.

Huh, it really does work.

Asia Taylor as MVP of the Purdue Game?

Maybe the most pivotal moment of the whole contest between Purdue and UofL may have gone largely unnoticed Tuesday night.

Before the game, Asia Taylor was standing near the scorer's table with a couple of the other injured UofL players.  Dee Kantner, the head official for the evening, approached and said something to Asia
that I couldn't hear from my seats.  Asia got a surprised look on her face and made some sort of comment in response.  Dee responded in a way that seemed reassuring.  At that point, Asia picked a couple of basketballs off of the cart of balls used for warm-ups, looked them over, bounced them a couple of times, considered them further, and then handed one of them to Dee.

Dee checked the ball over, bounced it a couple of times, nodded, and promptly went on to use that ball as the game ball.

I think congratulations are owed to Asia Taylor, number 31, who's judicious selection of the game ball, may very well have played a critical role in the advancement of our Louisville Cardinals to the Sweet 16 over Purdue Tuesday night.

Of course, it might have had something to do with Sara Hammond's double-double, but I'd like to think that it wouldn't have been possible without Asia Taylor's critical contribution.

Way to go ATayy, you're tops in my book.

--Jeff McAdams

(Great story on ATayy and the newest Cardinal fans. We're pretty sure...based on the practice reports we're getting...that #31 will be picking up a lot of MVP honors for games in 2013-14 if she can keep up with the progress we're hearing that she's displaying during practice. Good job, Asia and you are still Sonja's favorite Lady Card. And, apparantly the darling of a lot of other fans' out there as well...)

Q reviews WBB -- Softball takes two -- Gadd not bad

SATURDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

-Quentin Voigt recaps WBB regular season

-Louisville Softball downs UNC, EMU

-Gadd takes sixth in 1-meter board

-More FCC sanctions coming...CARDINAL COUPLE on radio today.


(Quentin Voigt returns to the fray after being on the injured reserve list here at CARDINAL COUPLE for a couple of weeks. We're glad to see him back in the lineup and hope you enjoy his report on Louisville WBB!)

MEETING EXPECTATIONS

Muffet McGraw was invited to sing Danny Boy on
the CARDINAL COUPLE Radio show today but
declined the offer.

The University of Louisville Womens' Basketball team is, at best, "meeting expectations" with their performance this year -- to date. While it's true that UofL was picked to finish third in the BIG EAST but actually finished fourth -- the difference is minuscule. The Cards also received a preseason ranking of #9 but have hovered around outside the top 10 for most of the year.

Good things appeared on the horizon for Louisville when, on November 9th., they beat a good Texas A&M team -- who eventually beat Kentucky on the way to a SEC Conference Tournament Championship. A solid win over Gonzaga on November 22nd. got UofL a #7 ranking, their highest of the year.

After leading Kentucky by 11 points with less than 10 minutes remaining, the Cards lost by a point when freshman guard Janee Thompson (who averages 4.2 points a game) hit a three pointer for her 13th point of the contest. UofL had the game won and had a commanding lead that most teams are able to maintain from the free throw line down the stretch -- but the Cards couldn't.

Maybe the residuals from the Kentucky loss led to the less than stellar performance Dec.14th. at Colorado or maybe not. Colorado recently slipped to #19 in the national rankings. They still remain a talented, well-coached team with height and speed.

Following closely on the Colorado loss was the news regarding Shawnta Dyer's injury of her ACL and end of season for her. A major hit to Louisville's prospects for the season, she joined Tia Gibbs, Asia Taylor, Monique Reid and Monny Niamke on the bench as spectators. Dyer started 10 games for Jeff Walz and was the second leading rebounder for the Cards at the time of her departure with 5.5 grabs a game. She was also averaging 7.5 points.

On Jan., 5th., the most perplexing loss of the season occurred -- at DePaul by six points. Lack of focus, no defensive intensity and a late game fold led to a 86-80 defeat.

Bad losses to the two BIG EAST bullies -- Notre Dame and UConn, that -- if nothing else -- showed that not much ground had been gained on the two from the previous year. The inexplicable loss to USF by 11 in the YUM and season-ended surrender to Syracuse finishes up the "low-lights" of the regular season. An encouraging BIG EAST Tournament win over St. John's but a nasty loss to Notre Dame again brings us to a 24-8, 11-5 record for the pride of Derby City.

A #16 ranking and a shot at being a #4 seed in one of the regions for the NCAA WBB Tournament. I call it a record that fans can be proud of -- but one that just barely meets expectations.

A few breaks here and there and the team is 28-4 and a bonafide top ten in the nation. For Walz and players, "meeting expectations" probably wasn't the mission statement they started the season with...but it is where the Cards are as they head into NCAA Tournament play.

-- Quentin Voigt.

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Louisville softball took two in the opening day of the Louisville Classic yesterday in Ulmer Stadium. The Cards are now 23-3 on the season.

LOUISVILLE 4 - NORTH CAROLINA 2

Caralisa Connell drew the start for the Cards in the first game but it was the "bad Carl" version and she found herself in hot water after facing six batters in the first inning. 1-0 Heels...and runners on all three bags when Sandy Pearsall went to the circle and summoned "the Le Gran Coq" to the strip. Rachel got the next two outs and Cards got out of the inning with no further damage.

As Tony Soprano might say..."This girl, what stugots she got!"

The Cards evened it up in the bottom of the first when Katie "Killer" Keller walk and advanced to home eventually due to some general nonsense by the UNC infield.

Louisville took a 2-1 lead in the third when Killer got plunked by the UNC pitcher and dashed home after a single by Cards first basewoman Alicja Wolny. UNC tied it up in the sixth but the Cards, knowing I was frustrated because GAMETRACKER froze up at the end of the sixth inning, got the win in the bottom of the seventh when Wolny singled and danced home when "the Ruck" Maggie Ruckenbrod sent a shot out onto Brandeis Street to end the game with a walk-off homer. 4-2 C-A-R-D-S!

LOUISVILLE 6 - EASTERN MICHIGAN 1

"Good Carl" showed up for the Cards second game...Connell holding the the EMU Eagles hitless for six innings in Louisville's five run margin of victory. The Cards started off in fine fashion...Jordan Trimble sending one onto the outfield berm in the first to make it 1-0 UofL.

Whitney "Arion Nation" singled in the fourth inning and made it to the plate when freshman Jasmine Smithson-Willett singled. Good to see JSM back out there in the lineup! GO JSM! (Paul's new favorite player, sorry Jordan...)

The Cards increased the lead to 3-0 in the fifth when Trimble doubled and travelled home on a Ruckenbrod double. UofL added three runs in sixth...Killer, Arion and JSM all getting hits and receiving greetings at home plate.

Connell (who was voted Favorite Cardinal Womens' Athlete of 2012 by our CARDINAL COUPLE readers) was magnificent...no-hitting the Eagles until the top of the seventh. She finished with ten strikeouts, just one walk and allowed two hits to go to 14-2 on the year.

The Cards take Saturday off and then return Sunday to face Wisconsin at 10 a.m. Pajamas optional.

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Hannah Gadd prepares to dive from...no
wait...that's Hannah Kiyohara. Never mind.

Congratulations to Louisville Womens' Swimming diver Hannah Gadd, who finished sixth in the NCAA Zone C Meet up in West Lafayette, IN on the Purdue campus. She advances to the championship rounds....where participants will try to qualify for the NCAA Championships.

A chance for more for the senior. Once a competitor qualifies for the NCAA Championships in any of the three diving events, she is permitted to compete on all three boards at the NCAAs. However, divers must continue to compete in every event at the Zone meet...even if they qualify for the NCAAs on the first day of the Zones.

Eat your Wheaties, Hannah...

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CARDINAL COUPLE radio rears its' ugly head again this morning at 11 a.m. on Crescent Hill Radio.  We're down a host since Jenny is in Indianapolis on a 10-day contract with the Pacers. Or something like that. Jeff and I will need to step our game up...and since we have no game whatsoever...this could be challenging. When the brains of the bunch is gone....chimps rule!

We'll discuss womens' hoops, softball, lacrosse, swimming and we have an exclusive interview with Cardinal WBB head coach Jeff Walz. Our Jeff McAdams is busily rehearsing the Irish classic Danny Boy with the Dixon brothers and Bill the Goat for a St. Patrick's Day salute of the blarney stone.

Somehow, we'll muddle through. If push comes to shove, the option of taking a microphone out on Frankfort Ave. and doing a few "man on the street" interviews is always a possibility. Maybe the ladies from the hair salon will participate. We could try sumo wrestling on the studio floor. Coward Goatsmell might stop by. Where did I put those pliers? It's gonna be fun, don't miss it.

www.crescenthillradio.com


-Paulie

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Sunday Cardinal Couple - Softball takes two. Lacrosse takes a loss

SUNDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

-Softball downs Longwood, Ga Tech in Citrus.

-Lacrosse falls in Mile High City

-UofL women's swimmer "three peat"

-With a little help, WBB earns double bye


#15 Cardinal softball won both outings Saturday in the Citrus Classic in chilly Orlando...breaking Longwood 9-1 and stinging the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets 6-3 on ESPN 3.

LOUISVILLE 9 - LONGWOOD 1

Six innings was all it took to win the first game on Saturday, Louisville getting a strong pitching performance from Rachel Le Coq and the Cards bats producing 11 hits.

Longwood took the early lead 1-0 after one inning but Louisville responded with two runs in the second frame. Maggie Ruckenbrod singled and scored on Hannah Kiyohara's three-bagger. Kiyohara got greeted at home when Chrisanna Roberts singled. Roberts has been playing center field a lot lately...not sure what's going on with Jordan Trimble, but we do have a call in to Louisville Softball Sports Information.

The Cards made in 6-0 in the fifth. Kayla Soles' double brought home Katie Keller and Jennifer Esteban and Ruckenbrod doubled later in the inning to score Soles and Alicja Wolny.

The Cards added the final three runs in the sixth. Esteban drilled a double that got Kiyohara and Keller back to the dugout and Esteban made it 9-1 when she scored on a Longwood error.

LeCoq gave up just one run on five hits, Caralisa Connell pitched the final 1.2 innings for the Cards allowing just one hit and fanning three.

LOUISVILLE 6 - GEORGIA TECH 3

UofL got a huge performance from Alicja Wolny in the battle against the Yellow Jackets with two home runs and Whitney Arion added a third round-tripper. Carl Connell went the distance in the circle for Sandy Pearsall and the Cards improved to 15-3 on the season with the win over the future ACC opponent.

Louisville used four hits in the first inning to sprint out to a 3-0 advantage. Keller scored after doubling and Esteban reached the plate on a Ruckenbrod single. Soles put the Cards up by three...scoring on an Arion single.

The Cards went up 4-1 when Arion took one out over the right-center field barrier. Wolny increased the Cardinal advantage to 5-1 with her first homer in the top of the fifth to right field and she made it 6-2 in the top of the seventh with her second "touch 'em all"...a massive blast over the center field fence.

Connell (9-2) gave up three runs, on seven hits and stuck out nine G.T. batters.

Louisville ends their stay in Mouseville with a matinee versus LSU today.

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Four goals each from Nikki Boltja and Katie Oliverio went enough Saturday in the Peter Barton Lacrosse Stadium in Denver, Colorado...Louisville Lacrosse losing for the first time this season....as the Denver Pioneers take a 19-13 win.

Defense not as efficient as in the first three games of the year for Coach Young...and the Cards had 13 first half turnovers...trailing 8-5 at the intermission. Denver scored the first three goals of the match and got a score with just 26 seconds remaining to go up by three.

After three straight Pioneer scores to start the final half , the Cards rallied to cut the lead to 11-8, Nikki Boltja leading the charge with two goals. Denver responded with their own run, though, and pushed their advantage to 15-8. Louisville did outscore the Pioneers 5-4 the rest of the way...but it wasn't enough to produce a win.

Lacrosse returns home for a Wednesday, March 6th draw against Vanderbilt. Game time is 1 p.m.

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Congratulations to the Louisville women's swimming and diving squad, who captured their third straight BIG EAST Conference title in Indianapolis yesterday...defeating Notre Dame and the eight other BIG EAST schools involved in the swimming championships.

Coming up big for Louisville was Kelsi Worrell, who won the 100-free...barely defeating teammate Breann McDowell. The Cards also won the 400-free relay with Worrell, McDowell, Krissie Brandenburg and Grite Apanaviciute combining to set a new BIG EAST record in the process.

Hannan Gadd came in second in women's platform diving for Louisville.

Great job, splashers! Best of luck in the NCAA...

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Louisville WBB got some huge help Saturday from Villanova and Seton Hall...the VU Wildcats knocking off Syracuse in three overtimes 77-75 and SHU downing St. John's 61-50.

What it means is that the Cards are assured of a double bye in the BIG EAST Conference, regardless of the outcome Monday night in Syracuse between the Orange and the Ville.

A win against the Quentin Hillsman coached Syracuse team would keep Louisville in third place in the final conference regular season standings. A loss would drop them into a tie with Syracuse for third but they would still own the tie-breaker of St. John, if the Red Storm wins Monday.

A little pressure off now, the Cards can go up to the Dome and take care of business against the tough 'Cuse team. We'll preview it tomorrow here at the 'Couple!

WE discussed how impressed we were with the Seton Hall bunch after their appearance here Wednesday during our CARDINAL COUPLE Radio Show on Saturday. They were probably listening and went out and proved us right yesterday. Pirates rock, anyway and I'm having Jenny and Jeff wear eye-patches and say 'ARRRGGGGHHHH!!!" a lot on this upcoming Saturday's broadcast.
 
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Finally, thanks to Jenny O'Bryan and Jeff McAdams for co-hosting the inaugrual broadcast of The Cardinal Couple Hour on Crescent Hill Radio Saturday with me.

WE had a fun time, didn't mess up too much on 'live radio' and discussed a lot of Louisville women's athletic topics.

Miss it, did you? Not to worry, the broadcast is hanging out up there somewhere on a sound cloud and you can find it at:

http://www.crescenthillradio.com


Just go to the site and click on the ARCHIVES link. We're there waiting for you.

Paulie

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Saturday Cardinal Couple -- Softball goes 1-1 in Orlando

SATURDAY CARDINAL COUPLE


- Softball falls 2-0 to Texas, defeats Temple 8-0

- Lacrosse with a Rocky Mountain "High" in Denver

-Women's swimming/diving #1 after Day 3 of Big East Tournament

-CARDINAL COUPLE on the air.


The softball Cards got the bats rolling against Temple but ran into a strong pitching performance from Texas' Blaire Luna in Day 1 of the 2013 Citrus Classic in Orlando, FL. Friday.

TEXAS 2 - CARDS 0

Scoreless after two innings, the Longhorns strung together three singles in the third to go up 1-0 on Louisville. They added a run in the fifth on a two-out walk and Louisville fielding error.

Luna held the Cards bat at bay...keeping them hitless until seventh inning. Katie Keller smashed a two-out double and Alicja Wolny reached first on a hit-by-pitch to give the Cards a shot in the inning but Luna got her 13th strike out of the day to end the rally and the game.

Caralisa Connell took the loss (8-2) two runs, one earned and seven hits allowed.

CARDS 8 - Temple 0

Louisville struck early in the second game of the day for them with two runs in the first inning. Keller singled and scored on Alicja Wolny's double (she didn't get hit by a pitch!). Wolny made it home on a Hannah Kiyohara single.

The Cards added three more runs in the fourth. Singles by Jennifer Esteban, Keller and Katelyn Mann scored Esteban and a error got Keller to the plate. Taner Fowler's base hit sent Mann home to make it 5-0 UofL.

UofL added three runs in the fifth to end the game. Kiyohara led off with a single, Whitney Arion walked and Chrisanna Roberts got hit by a pitch to load the bases full of Cards. Kiyohara scored when Keller got hit by a pitch (stop the violence!) Mann singled home Arion and a based-loaded walk to Wolny forced home Roberts (although she probably went willingly) to make it 8-0 and end the game.

Rachel LeCoq with the win (5-1) allowing four hits.

Cards get Ga. Tech tomorrow on ESPN3 at 12:15 p.m. Tune it in after listening to CARDINAL COUPLE from 11-noon on CRESCENT HILL RADIO 

It'll be their second game of the day...they start Saturday versus Longwood University.

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Lacrosse is on their first road trip of the season, the LAX crew in Denver to play the Nuggets...oops, scratch that...the Pioneers of the University of Denver. First meeting between the two schools, Denver is 2-1 on the season, Louisville 3-0 and in the top 20 at 20 in the WLA rankings.

Louisville has outscored their opponents by an average of +9.67 a game in their three wins and Nikki Boltja leads the team with 11 goals.

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Louisville women's swimming and diving in first place after Day 3 of the BIG EAST Tournament...a narrow lead over Notre Dame. Cards the defending BIG EAST Tournament champs.

More info at www.gocards.com

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Finally, tomorrow morning is the first broadcast of the Cardinal Couple Radio show...11 a.m. to noon E.S.T. on Crescent Hill Radio.

You can listen on line at www.crescenthillradio.com . Click the link to listen on the left hand side of the site.

We'll cover ladies hoops, softball, lacrosse and have a live human sacrifice at 11:37...just kidding about the sacrifice!

Staff communists columnists Jenny O'Bryan and Jeff McAdams are slated to appear with Paulie and we expect it to be a great time!

Join us, won't you?

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Monday Cardinal Couple -- Louisville teams go undefeated over weekend

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MONDAY CARDINAL COUPLE


SUNDAY GAME REPORTS

-WBB wins over Villanova

-Softball takes two on Sunday...goes 3-0 in Classic

-Lacrosse wins Saturday over ODU 21-3

Louisville women's basketball overcame a 42-40 Villanova lead with 6:15 left to defeat Villanova 55-49 in Philadelphia Sunday afternoon. Bria Smith led the way with 16, Nita Slaughter and Sara Hammond had 10 points and nine rebounds for the 22-6, 10-4 Lady Cards. Sherrone Vails added nine for Louisville...who was without Monique Reid (knee) for the contest and Shoni Schimmel in the second half (coaches decision).  In addition, Jude Schimmel fell to the floor with an injury with less than a minute to go. No word on her condition as we went to press.

Louisville started strong against the Wildcats, taking the lead 6-5 on a Smith layup with 18:07 left in the first half. They increased that to 11-5 after Smith scored again with 16:17 on the clock. The Cards played an excellent first 13 minutes of hoops and actually led 23-11 when Vails hit a free throw with 6:52 to go in the first half.

Nova, though...rallied to outscore the Cards 13-5 the rest of the way...Devon Kane's free throw creating a 28-24 halftime score.

Laura Sweeney tied the contest at 30-30 on a layup with 18:19 on the clock in the second half. Nova still led 42-40 before a Smith jumper....which sparked a 15-7 closing run for UofL over the final six minutes. Smith gave the Cards the lead at 45-43 at the 4:56 mark. Vails scored inside to make it 47-43. After a Laura Sweeney score cut the Louisville lead to two, Vails jumper at 1:33 gave Louisville a 49-45 advantage. Louisville then hit their final six free throws in a row...four by Slaughter and two by Smith to preserve the win.

55-49 CARDS ON THE ROAD!

Jude Schimmel went to the locker room hobbling with assistance with 44 seconds left in the game. Her sister Shoni did not play in the second half...ending up with two points.

Post game comments from Jeff Walz indicated that he challenged the team at halftime and asked Jude, Bria and Shoni if they wanted to play in the second half. Jude and Bria answered yes and Shoni did not reply to the question.

Walz assumed this meant she didn't and did not insert her into the game in the final twenty. Shoni did go to the locker room when her sister was injured.

Walz was uncertain of how long Shoni would remain on the Cards bench...stating that was up to her and her commitment to the team. The extent of Jude's injury was unknown when we went to publish.

Walz also mentioned that Monique Reid was held out because of her knee but would mostly likely play against Seton Hall Wednesday...which is the Cards last home game of the regular season and Senior Night.

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SOFTBALL SWEEPS TWO SUNDAY

Louisville won both games Sunday in the Cardinal Classic at Ulmer Stadium. That gave the Cards a 4-0 weekend...they also defeated Kent State Friday and Buffalo 9-3 on Sunday

Louisville 3 - Kent State 2

In the re-match from Friday's game Rachel LeCoq went 4.2 innings an allowed two runs on seven hits and Caralisa Connell came in for the save for the one-run Louisville win over the Golden Flashes. Louisville defeated KSU for the second time in three days.

The Cards scored twice in the second inning, getting three straight walks for Alicja Wolny, Hannah Kiyohara and Taner Fowler. A Whitney Arion single plated Wolny and Kiyohara.

After two Kent State runs in the fifth that sent Le Coq to the bench and tied the game....Louisville countered with a run in the sixth that proved to be the difference.

Hannah Kiyohara reached on a fielders choice and scored on a Maggie Ruckenbrod single.

Connell gave up just two hits in 2.1 innings pitched for the win.

Louisville 5 - Eastern Illinois 0

Connell was sharp in the shut-out win, going the distance and striking out 10 EIU batters while allowing just one hit in the Sunday nightcap.  

Louisvlle got their first run in the fourth inning when Katie Keller walked and scored on a mishandled- Kiyohara grounder to second.

The Cards tacked on four more in the fifth. Ruckenbrod singled, Mann reached on a bunt that advanced Ruckenbrod and Fowler's double scored both. Jennifer Esteban came in to run for Fowler and scored on a wild pitch. The Cards made it 5-0 when Kayla Soles singled and hit the plate on a Wolny double.

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LACROSSE DOMINATES OLD DOMINION

On Saturday, the Louisville Lacrosse team went to 3-0 with a 21-3 win over Old Dominion. Kaylin Morrissette had five scores for the Cards in the romp.

The Cards had two goals in the first minute and two more in the second minute. After ODU scored, Louisville responded with a 5-0 run....Nikki Boltja getting three of them. Morissette two. The Cards led 14-3 at the half and shut out the Monarchs 7-0 in the final 30 minutes for the easy win.

The eighteen goal margin tied a program record and three goals allowed tied the second best defensive performance in Louisville Lacrosse history.

The squad plays against Denver on the road next on Saturday.

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Saturday Cardinal Couple -- Softball win, Big Sports weekend!

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SATURDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

-Connell blanks Kent State in Cardinal Classic

-Lacrosse hosts Old Dominion today

-Oh, yeah...it's on!


The University of Louisville Softball team is glad to be home and playing softball after two straight weekends on the road playing in tournaments in Las Vegas and Jacksonville. Probably no one more happier than junior pitcher Caralisa Connell...who blanked Kent State Friday in softball action at Ulmer Stadium. "Carl" allowed one hit in the win, picking up her second shutout of the year in a 5-0 win over the Golden Flashes.

How much is enough? Coach Pearsall waxed philosophical about the win:

"Caralisa pitched a very good game. Defensively, I thought we did what we needed to do. Even though we scored five runs, as an offensive coach, I'm always thinking we can improve and make better decisions. Overall, I was pleased with the win."

( Awwww...Coach P, we love ya and don't find anything at all offensive about ya. Unless you let your dogs do their business in the outfield berm..)

Louisville broke open a scoreless battle in the second inning, using hits by Jordy Trimble ( my favorite player!) and Whitney Arion...plus a couple of Kent State defensive errors to go up 2-0. Louisville added three more runs in the fifth, Arion getting a triple and scoring on Katelyn Mann's single and Katie Keller driving home two more.

Connell (2012 CARDINAL COUPLE reader-selected Favorite UofL women's athlete) retired the final 10 batters she faced. What she's doing pitching to people getting ready to retire...we have no clue...but I hope their financially ready for the "golden years".

#18 Louisville (9-2) plays again tomorrow at Ulmer. Get out there and cheer them on. They face Buffalo at 12:30 p.m.

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Lacrosse attempts to go 3-0 against Old Dominion at 1 p.m. in the Lacrosse Stadium today. Been to a lacrosse game yet? It's a shame that softball and lacrosse are within a half-hour of each other...gotta choose Cardinal fans...but Kellie Young has a heckuva team and they are a lot of fun to watch.

Go see one or the other, Cardinal fans. You'll have a big time at either.

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And, yes...it's true! CARDINAL COUPLE will be going on the radio with a weekly show beginning next Saturday (March 2nd.) on Crescent Hill Radio

http://www.crescenthillradio.com

We report on the joy and excitement of UofL women's sports here. It's what we do. We're going to do the same on the air. We've got our favorite Robbie Bartlett for the intro and exit song, the staff chimps have been bathed and dressed for the occasion and Bill the Goat will be out front nibbling on the hedges and chasing people down Frankfort Avenue.

A guaranteed good time for all...




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