Basketball season is here!

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WEDNESDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

( Staff columnist Jenny O'Bryan drains one from long range today in her article on Cardinal WBB. Like all of us at CARDINAL COUPLE, her excitement, anticipation and enthusiasm for the 2012-13 Lady Cards season can't be contained by the press, referees or turnovers. She shoots, she scores with the Wednesday edition of "Da Couple"! )

- Hoops is almost here...are u ready?

- Central Cardinal Couple Holiday boutique a blast!

Basketball Fans!

We are less than a week away from the Women’s Basketball Tip-Off Luncheon.  Limited tickets are available for the event.   If you are a procrastinator, pick up your phone and call the ticketing office now @ 502-852-5151 before time runs out. 

In an email from the Louisville Athletic Ticketing Office I learned that season tickets are going in the mail this week!  Look for your tickets to be showing up in your mailbox shortly.  Parking passes, for those who have purchased them, will be arriving separately. 

A few words from the ticket office:

The exhibition game being held on Wednesday, October 31 @ 7:00 p.m. is FREE!   There will not be a ticket in your season package, it is free and a ticket is not needed to attend.  For all the families out there, take your kiddo out trick or treating early, then head down to the YUM! Center for another treat, the start of Louisville Women’s Basketball!! 

The last announcement from the ticketing office is that there is a time change for the EKU game at YUM! on November 28^th.   The actual time of the game is 7:30 p.m.  Your season tickets are going to say a different time on them.  7:30 p.m. is the changed, correct time of the game.

It was reported here in August that 2014 wing/forward Sydney Brackemyre was on an unofficial visit to the Louisville campus August 26.  It was brought to my attention that she was back on campus (presumably for another unofficial visit) this past weekend.  (Official visits can only happen during one's senior year, are paid for by the college being visited and a prospective student athlete (psa) can only take 5 official visits.  Unofficial visits are on the student/families dime and can be made at any time, and as often as wanted). 

This makes a second visit to Louisville for this rising star in the junior class, in less than two months!   We already know that Louisville is among her final 3 schools of choice (included are Dayton and Michigan) but with a second visit in less than two months WE think bodes well for our beloved Cardinals.    

Perhaps Ms. Brackemyre might just be our first commitment from the class of 2014?   It is a bit premature to speculate, but from where I'm sitting, I like our chances with this young lady.  I believe I attached the following link before, but, it bears another airing to our Cardinal faithful. 

Sydney B.

We are on the cusp of the season!  Next week I will bring you a report from the Tip Off Luncheon.  The week after that I will give you my thoughts/predictions for the out of conference (OOC) slate of the schedule.   

In the meantime we will keep you abreast of any recruiting news as it becomes available. 

A historic weekend for women’s basketball is fast upon us as the #1 recruit in the nation, Mercedes Russell, and #40 recruit Emmonnie Henderson will be on campus for their official visit October 26-28.   The early signing period begins November 14.  Keep it here, Card fans, to learn who will be suiting up as a Cardinal next season!  


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Carol Kidd and Chuck Horell were in attendance

A wonderful time had by all attending the Central Cardinal Club Holiday Boutique and Style Show held yesterday at the PNC Club in Papa John's Cardinal Stadium. Tons of silent auction items, many booths, delicious food and a great afternoon and evening of speakers and enertainment.

Louisville Athletic Director Tom Jurich spoke to the dinner crowd and was excellent as always. Swimming and Diving Coach Arthur Albiero also took the stage to speak to the attendees and Mickey Clark provided the musical entertainment.

Charlie Springer and his lovely wife Barbara

The style and fashion show was great as well, with several coaches, coaches wives and the incomprable Valerie Owens Combs, displaying some great outfits to the delight of the crowd.

Mickey Clark entertained attendees!

Thanks to all who stopped by the CARDINAL COUPLE table and purchased bracelets for the St. Martha Girls Volleyball team! We raised $110.00 for their worthy cause. Also, thanks for registering for the commemorative 1980 UofL Men's Basketball National Championship plaque and talking sports with us! We hope you enjoyed talking Cardinal Sports with Jeff McAdams, Donny Yaste, Sonja and Paulie and encourage you to make CARDINAL COUPLE a part of your daily Internet routine.

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The winning ticket number: 702211
Winner was: Al Parrish
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Thanks to Bill and Barbara Hancock, Chuck Horell, Debbie Zipperle and all the Central Cardinal Club members who made our participation an absolute joy and delight!
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Wins for soccer, field hockey and volleyball

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MONDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

-Volleyball spikes Huskies in four sets

-Women's Soccer shuts out Seton Hall

-Field Hockey downs Demon Deacons

-Contest continues

-Central Cardinal Club TOMORROW!

Poobah waits paitently for his bratwurst

Just as the UofL women's sports teams had an exciting weekend on the road, so did your intrepid CARDINAL COUPLE owners, who got to see first-hand the UofL football teams' victory over Pitt in Heinz Field.

Chef Filet and Tillie the Tour Guide do the Stanky Leg for the crowd

A fun weekend with Poobah's merry band of miscreants from 80 Under 80...taking in the sights of Pittsburgh. Met and greeted the Villanova and Rochester University volleyball teams at our hospitality room and Paul & Sonja won first place in a UofL sports trivia contest on the bus. We even found MArkie MArk's reading glasses, saw the notorious Bon-nay Say-bel "Sweet Caroline" dance and Chef Marquis Filet's "stanky leg". Louisville overcame a 21-17 first half deficit to win 45-35, too...so it was a very successful weekend.

Quite frankly, we're worn out.

BIG EAST Unity as VU Volleyball and Cardinals socailize

But, all good things eventually end...and it's back to the secret lair deep beneath the mean streets of Floyd and Boxley to report on your UofL women's sports teams.

A special thanks to Jenny, Sandy and Donny for keeping the site up and running and Timmy the Intern for remembering to take the trash out.

Three Cards combine for 43 kills against the Huskies

Led by Lola Arslanbekova's 21 kills and 11 digs, Louisville Volleyball prevailed over the Huskies in Storrs on Sunday. Emily Juhl and Gwen Rucker added 11 kills each in the four-game, 21-25, 25-18, 26-24, 25-22 win.

The Cards go to 18-3 overall and 7-1 in BIG EAST play with the triumph.

Louisville went on a 5-0 run to lead 17-12 in the first set. A Husky reorganizational timeout got them back to a 18-17 lead, however...and they out-pointed the Cards 7-4 after a Louisville timeout to take the first game.

The Cards rolled back in the second game to lead 13-8...but Connecticut rallied to make it 17-16 UofL and force a timeout. This time, Kordes' strategies prevailed...Louisville's 8-2 run knotted the match at 1-1

Neither team could gain a clear advantage in the third game until UConn broke away from a 17-17 tie to lead 24-20. The Cards had a great finish, though...taking the final five points behind Rucker and Arslanbekova for a narrow 26-24 victory. 

In the final game, Cardinal leads of 10-7 and 18-12 were eliminated when a 7-1 Husky run tied the contest at 19. A Louisville timeout proved successful, though and the Cards outscored Connecticut 6-3 the rest of the way to take the set and match.

Louisville hits the highway again next weekend, with BIG EAST action at Syracuse and Marquette.

Corral's two goals spur Louisville to a 3-0 women's soccer win.

Junior Charlyn Corral found the net once each half for the Louisville women's soccer team and Casey Whitfield added a goal to lead Louisville to a 3-0 win over the Pirates in South Orange, NJ.

Corral connected with 11 minutes left in the first half and Louisville took that 1-0 advantage into halftime. Whitfield's score came five minutes into the second half and Corral added a goal with a minute left to play in the contest.

Another outstanding effort from the Louisville defenders...Chloe Kiefer getting her 17th. career shutout and notching four saves.

Louisville (9-4-3, 4-3-3) plays their final home game of the regular season Friday against Cincinnati at 7 p.m. The Cards will honor the seniors prior to kickoff.

Field Hockey upsets #22 Wake Forest 2-1

Michelle Amon provided the late game heroics in Winston-Salem, NC. Sunday...getting a tie-breaking goal with eight minutes left in the match to lead Justine Sowry's Field Hockey team to a 2-1 win over #22 Wake Forest.  

Amon chased down a missed shot-on-goal and sent it
past the Wake Forest goalkeeper to give the Cards the go-ahead score.

The teams battled to a 1-1 tie in the first half...Louisville getting a score from Amber Thomas sixteen minutes into the contest.

Erin Conrad with a busy day tending the net, gathering 11 saves, tying her career high. With the win, Louisville goes to 9-7 on the season.


Field Hockey comes home for the final two games of the regular season this weekend...a Saturday noon match versus Villanova kicking off the action 
Seniors Erin Conrad, Haley Jurich, Natasha Leickly and Amber Thomas will be honored before the match.

NEXT in the Choose Your Favorite Louisville Women's Athlete

We have the VolleyCards Lola Arslanbekova up against track and field's Patrice Gates.

Arslanbekova has pretty much been the face of Louisville Volleyball since she arrived here four years ago. The Tashkent, Uzbekistan star leads the Cards in kills this season and was the BIG EAST Pre-Season player of the year. Now married and planning on staying in Louisville after graduation, Lola will go on record after she graduates this year as, perhaps, the best outside hitter in the history of Louisville Volleyball.

Gates leads the Louisville women's track and field throw team her with excellence in weight, shot put and discus throwing. A five-time state high school champion, the junior has qualified for the BIG EAST Indoor and Outdoor Championships The tosser from Villa Rice, GA looks to have an outstanding upcoming season and many first place finishes.

You can vote on the left hand side of the site. 

Congratulations to softball's Caralisa Connell, who won in first round action over soccer's Christine Exeter.

Central Cardinal Club's Holiday Boutique Tuesday

Tomorrow is the day for the annual Central Cardinal Club's Holiday Boutique and Fashion Show at the PNC Club in Papa John's Cardinal Stadium. An excellent chance for you to come out and see the many silent auction items, booths, free wine tasting and other activities and holiday shopping chances in this gala fund-raiser for the club.

CARDINAL COUPLE will have a table set up as well, so stop by and say "Hi!" and let's talk Cardinal Women's Athletics with our writers! Hours are 11 a.m. - 9 p.m.

The PNC Club is on the east side of PJCS, parallel to Floyd Street.
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Cards shorthanded in today's game vs the Aggies

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TUESDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

-Shoni Schimmel, Tia Gibbs, Monique Reid out for A&M game

-Central Cardinal Club Holiday Boutique today at PJCS

Gibbs has shoulder
injury

The University of Louisville women's basketball team has caught the men's teams injury bugaboo and will be missing three of the starters that helped the Cards advance to the Sweet Sixteen last year.

Mo has back and
foot trouble

Monique Reid, all-conference last year and the Cards leading scorer has arch and back injuries and will likely sit against Texas A&M. Reid played in the Missouri State game but went 2-10 in 22 minutes and is slowed by her injuries.

Tia Gibbs fell on the shoulder she injured and had surgery on when she was a Vanderbilt Commodore and will most likely be held out of action as a precaution until a more complete diagnosis can be made on the injury.



Shoni will return after A&M
game.



Shoni Schimmel is serving the second game suspension of her two game sit down because of playing in a non-sanctioned 3on-3 tournament this summer.

The Cards will depend heavily on the three newcomers who sparked the rally against the Bears on Sunday...transfer post Cierra Warren, freshman forward Sara Hammond and lightning quick freshman guard Bria Smith.

"Of course, we wanted to go into this game at full strength, but we're not healthy. That's the way it is. In college sports, sometimes you have to face adversity. Some players that maybe weren't expecting to play 20-25 minutes are going to have to step up and do that for us. It's a good opportunity." -Jeff Walz, UofL head women's basketball coach.

In addition to the three, key reserve Charmaine Tay is sidelined academically and will not dress.

Louisville will run into a A&M team that returns three starters from their 2011 National Championship team. Texas A&M beat Oklahoma City 84-63 in an exhibition game and defeated Lamar on Saturday 83-58 to open the season. Transfer Kelsey Bone has added height and rebounding power to the Aggies and guards Sydney Carter and Tyra White compose one of the best back courts in the nation.

The game will be televised on ESPNU at 4 p.m. The Aggies will also unveil their national championship banner in pre-game ceremonies.

We'll have a full report on the action later tonight.

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Sonja stands by one of the
many silent auction items

The Central Cardinal Club is having their 2011 Holiday Bazaar today at Papa John's Cardinal Stadium in the PNC Club. Lots of great gifts, silent auction, speakers and food. The event begins at 11 a.m. and runs till 8 p.m. They're showing the Louisville vs. A&M game also, in case you want to stop by and watch it with a bunch of die-hard Cardinal fans.

Debbie Zipperle (left) and Barbara Hancock (right) did
a wonderful job helping organize today's event !

The PNC Club adjoins the East Side loge seats and can be accessed off Floyd Street. Elevators are easily accessable to take you to the third floor, where the PNC Club is located. Once there, you'll find a vast array of items to either bid on or purchase.

Shirley Blanton enjoys the delicious lunch and style show

Just back from there and we had a delicious lunch and watched the style show with emcee Susan Sweeney Crum and several Cardinal coaches wives showing some great outfits and accessories. This event has got over 100 silent auction tables and some excellent things to bid on. Get out there tonight..or after work...the event runs until 8 p.m....and speakers this evening are Scotty Davenport, Valerie Owens Combs and Howie Lindsey.
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Denny Crum signs a basketball for Jim Watkins

The Central Cardinal Club holds the annual event to raise money for the non-revenue sports at UofL and the Cardinal Athletic Fund. We saw many priceless items at the silent auction table, including basketballs signed by Rick Pitino, Jeff Walz and footballs from Charlie Strong and from the Orange Bowl.

Plenty of holiday fashions and outfits for your Christmas shopping needs as well are available for purchase, too.

Thanks to Bill and Barbara Hancock and Debbie Zipperle for being gracious hosts and showing us around the gala affair.

Remember, they're open until 8 p.m. tonight, so why not run over there and watch the Lady Cards play A&M or after the game to help support Central Cardinal Club's worthy event?
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