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SATURDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

*******SPECIAL REPORT*******

Louisville defeats Providence 2-1  in Field Hockey. Erin Schneidtmiller scores the difference maker at the 49:12 mark. Goalie Erin Conrad with six saves. Cards are in the BIG EAST Tournament with the win as a #3 seed!

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- Soccer begins BIG EAST Tournament play

- Football wins soggy 34-31 thriller in overtime

Cards begin BIG EAST Tournament quest in Tampa vs Bulls

The University of Louisville women's soccer team faces the South Florida Bulls Sunday at 1 p.m. on their march to take the BIG EAST Tournament. Louisville finished 3rd in the National Division with a 10-4-3 record and 5-3-3 in the BIG EAST. The Cards won their final two regular season games against Seton Hall (3-0) and Cincinnati (2-1)

South Florida is the #2 seed in the American Division and finished with a 10-5-2 record and 6-2-2 in the BIG EAST. They lost their final regular season game to Marquette 4-0.

Louisville is lead by junior Charlyn Corral, who has 23 points on the season (8 goals, 7 assists). Next is Angelika Uremovich with 20 points (9 goals, 2 assists). Goalkeeper Chloe Kiefer has been steady in her duties this season, allowing .95  goals in 17 games.

The winner advances to the semifinals and would play the winner of the Georgetown vs. DePaul game. The semifinals and finals will take place at the Joseph J. Morrone Stadium in Storrs, CT.

Good luck to our women's soccer team! Kick 'em where they ain't!

Football goes to 8-0 and retains the Keg of Nails

I don't believe I've been as wet at a football game since the Florida St. game a decade ago. Still, we made it through the entire contest and Louisville won on a overtime field goal by John Wallace after Terell Floyd intercepted a Munchie Legaux pass intended for the end zone.

Cardinal offense. Wow
Cardinal defense. Ow
Cards 8-0 now

Go CARDS Go!!

It is good to be in dry clothes....

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Women's golf off to impressive start

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THURSDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

-Louisville Women's golf team firing at the flag

-Really, Matthew?

-Next contest: A goalkeeper match

Emily Haas leading Cards in golf this season

Courtney Trimble

The Louisville women's golf team has participated in four events so far this season and fared well in each. With new head coach Courtney Trimble and assistant Mary Bryan on board, the Cards have finished no worse than 11th. in the four matches they have participated in and won the Cardinal Cup event in Simpsonville.

Mary Bryan

They started the season in Ft.Collins, CO in the Ram Classic and finished tied for fifth. After winning the Cardinal Cup, they travelled to Columbia, MO. and ended up 9th. in the Johnie Imes Invitational. In their most recent outing, the Tar Heel Invitational in Chapel Hill, NC., they came in 11th.

Leading the way for the Cards this season is sophomore Emily Haas. She's had two top-10 finishes in the four Cardinal matches this season and has a team best 74.0 strokes per round. Her lowest score for eighteen holes this year is 69.

Right behind her is Tara Lyons. Lyons has recorded one top-20 finish this year and averages 75.4 in her four starts. Her low round is a 71.

Katie Petrino has averaged 75.7 per round for the Cards and also has a top-20 finish this fall. Her lowest round is 71. The sophomore from Fayetteville, AR. is also
Bobby Petrino's youngest daughter...Bobby being an avid golfer as well.

( Just to show you how our fan base here sometimes works...we recently got an e-mail asking us that if Bobby Petrino accepted the UK head football coaching job, would Katie transfer?)

The Cards tee it up next in San Antonio, TX. for three days of swinging in The Alamo Invitational. First round action begins Oct. 28th.

Can't touch this? Don't want to...

Not sure what's in the water in Lexington, but we offer this clip of UK head women's basketball coach Matthew Mitchell at Big Blue Madness. The Michael Jackson one-glove approach should come in real handy when arguing calls with SEC refs... 

Keep dancing, Matty. Maybe you should be introduced before all the UK home games this way...

A battle of shot stoppers.

Next in our first round matches of Your Favorite Louisville Womens Athletes..we have a goalkeeper showdown.

Chloe Kiefer guards the net for the UofL women's soccer team and has done it quite efficiently over the past couple seasons. With seventeen career shutouts, getting the ball past Kiefer is as difficult as getting a can of beer in Pittsburgh's Heinz Stadium for college football. Not gonna happen.

Erin Conrad dons #90 to protect the net for the University of Louisville field hockey team. She's been there a couple of seasons as well. Against the #1 team in the country (Syracuse) she had five second-half saves. Trying to score on Conrad might be as hard as me duplicating Matthew Mitchell's dance. Not bloody likely...

Chloe or Conrad? You can vote on the infamous left side of the site.
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Soccer wins over Wildcats -- Field Hockey and Volleyball today

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SATURDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

-Charlyn "Corrals" Villanova 1-0

-Volleyball hosts Pirates in Cardinal Arena

-Field Hockey takes on #3 UConn today

-Next up in the contest: Katie Keller vs. Rebecca Shine

Second half goal good enough for Louisville women's soccer.

If high scoring matches are your thing, you might have been disappointed in last night's Louisville vs. Villanova women's soccer game at Cardinal Park, but there was no disappointment on the scoreboard at the end of ninety minutes...Louisville 1- Villanova 0

Charlyn Corral worked through Villanova defenders in the 74th minute of action and booted a 22 yd. rocket over the head of 'Nova goalie Jami Kranich for the game's only score. 

Stout defense by the Cardinals kept the Wildcats at bay for the entire contest, allowing only six shots on Louisville goalkeeper Chloe Kiefer...who picked up her 16th career shutout. 

Louisville moved to third place with the win in the BIG EAST National Division and returns to action  Sunday at Cardinal Park for a 1 p.m. match against #11 Georgetown.

"Villanova is a good team and this is a great win for us. We will refocus and get ready for a very good Georgetown team on Sunday" -- Louisville head coach Karen Ferguson-Dayes.

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Seton Hall first of three matches for VolleyCards

Anne Kordes' VolleyCards take to the court for Saturday, Sunday and Monday matches. Seton Hall is the first opponent for UofL...this one in cozy Cardinal Arena today at noon.

The Pirates (15-2, 3-1) are having their best season since 1994 with losses only to Villanova and #19 Ohio
State. Fans who attend the match will notice the Manthorpe twins for Seton Hall. They have a combined 315 kills between them this season and will pose a tough challenge to the Cardinals' blocking game...along with outside hitter Molly Grammer.

We'll have a recap of this one for you tomorrow...and then it's Rutgers (15-4, 1-3) Sunday at noon in the KFC YUM! Center and Texas (11-3) Monday night at 7 p.m. also in the YUM!  

A busy three days for Louisville Volleyball, get out and cheer them on!

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Field Hockey faces tough weekend tests

If the Cardinal Volleyball schedule seems tough over the next couple of days, they'll not get a sympathetic ear from Justine Sowry's stick swingers. #3 UConn and Louisville will do battle today at noon and #11 Iowa squares off against the Cards Sunday at 1 p.m.

Both matches are at Trager Stadium.

A pregame Kids Clinic will be held this morning from 10-11 a.m. on the field. Poster making, face painting, jumping and pizza will be available for the kiddos as well. Maybe they can invite the Huskies out, too, and get them filled up and sleepy....at 12-0, UConn is one of only two undefeated teams in Division I women's college field hockey...Syracuse being the other.

Goalkeeper Sarah Mansfield allows a scant 0.75 goals per game for the Huskies. Louisville goalkeeper Erin Conrad and the defense will have their work cut out for them trying to contain UConn's Chloe Hunnable who is atop the BIG EAST scoring charts with 25 points this year. If she fails, teammate Marie Elena Bolles is second with 24. 

The Cards come into the match at 7-5 and 1-1 in the BIG EAST. 

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Next up in the Cardinal women's sports favorite contest. 


We have a battle lined up between softball's Katie Keller and tennis star Rebecca Shine as the Sweet Sixteen Contest to pick your favorite Cardinal women's sports athlete continues. 

Keller, the hard slugging infielder for Sandy Pearsall's softball team will also be in action today at Ulmer Stadium in exhibition games against Bellarmine and Tennessee State. A junior from Livermore, CA...Keller batted .277 in 60 games last season.

Shine advanced to the semifinals of the ITA Tournament a few days ago and is the #1 singles player for Mark Beckham's women's tennis team. She and Julia Fellerhoff combine as the #1 doubles team for the Cards. She hails from Augusta, GA.

Congratulations to cross country's Michelle Molodynia, who advances to the "Great Eight" by out-distancing rowing's Erin Bennett.

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Saturday Cardinal Couple --Volleyball, Softball register wins

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SATURDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

-Volleyball downs USF 3-1 in Tampa

-Softball sweeps doubleheader

-Soccer falls on road to Marquette

Lola's 26 kills power Volleyball to win over USF

The University of Louisville Volleyball team improved to 13-2 with a hard-fought 20-25, 25-18, 25-21, 25-23 win over the University of South Florida yesterday evening in Tampa. Lola Arslanbekova led the way with 26 kills in the Cardinal victory and outside hitter Tanya Lukyanenko added a career high 14 slams in the 3-1 defeat of USF.

Louisville fell behind early in the first contest 12-7 and could not rally to catch the Bulls...dropping the first game of the match by five. Were the Cards a little nervous and unsure of themselves on the road against a quality opponent? 

If they were, their fears and insecurities soon dissipated...UofL gaining a 10-9 lead on USF in the second game, stretching it out to 22-18 and winning going away by seven. 

After the break, Louisville grabbed an early lead in game three and led 15-10 midway through the contest. USF rallied for five straight points though and made this one interesting until the Cards responded with four straight scores to go up 19-15 and hold that advantage for a four-point third game victory.

In the final game, the Cards led most of the way...with advantages of 13-9 and 20-17 before the Bulls tied the battle at 23-23. A Lukyanenko kill and USF error provided the final points UofL needed to take the game and match.

Softball takes two with wins over Bellarmine and EKU

Sandy Pearsall's softball squad got the fall pre-season off to a huge start by blasting Bellarmine 10-0 at Ulmer Stadium and squeaking out a close 1-0 victory over EKU in the nightcap.

A seven hit, six run  second inning proved to be all Louisville needed to down the Knights. Caralisa Connell pitched three innings to get the win and Rachel Le Coq fired the final three to preserve the shutout.

The nightcap was a pitchers duel until the bottom of the seventh. Maggie Ruckenbrod reached on a single for the Cards and pinch-runner Chrisanna Roberts scored on Whitney Arion's double an out later to give Louisville the victory. Connell got the win with four strong innings and Le Coq pitched the first three of shutout ball for Louisville.

Soccer falls 2-0 to Marquette in Milwaukee

Lack of offensive production spelled defeat for Karen Ferguson-Dayes soccer tribe yesterday in BIG EAST action.

Louisville surrendered two late second half goals in the loss to the Golden Eagles. The Cards fall to 7-3-1 overall and 2-2-1 in conference play.

Chloe Kiefer recorded eight saves in the loss. The Cards travel to Tampa on Sunday to face the USF Bulls.
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Monday Cardinal Couple -- Soccer wins, Field Hockey falls on Sunday

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MONDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

- Soccer defeats DePaul

-Field Hockey loses in East Lansing to MSU

-Who's seeing who? 

Chalk up a win and a loss for UofL women's sports on Sunday...as the soccer team completed their weekend road trip with a 2-0 win at DePaul and field hockey loses in overtime to #19 Michigan State. We'll also look at some WBB visitors in today's edition of CARDINAL COUPLE. 

Holtz, Corral lead women's soccer to shutout

Louisville scored two first half goals against the DePaul Blue Demons and that was all they needed in a 2-0 win in Chicago against the BIG EAST foe on Sunday.

Courtney Holtz got the Cards on the board early in the contest, taking a feed from Charlyn Corral and finding the net just six minutes into the contest. It was her first goal of the season and the team-leading sixth assist of the year for Corral. 

UofL added an insurance goal in the 31st. minute of action when Corral was fed by Erin Yenney and hit paydirt. It was Corral's first score of the regular season and second assist of the year for Yenney. 

Goalkeeper Chloe Kiefer earned her fourth shutout of the season...an easy day for her with no shots-on-goal for the Blue Demons. 

"We played a much more complete game today and it allowed us to get a difficult win on the road. Our backs were much better and were more involved in our attack, which is why Courtney was able to score our first goal." -- Louisville head coach Karen Ferguson-Dayes. 

The Cards improve to 6-2-0 on the season and 1-1-0 in the BIG EAST. They return home for two this weekend...Syracuse on Friday at 7 p.m. and St. John's on Sunday at 1 p.m.

Michigan State pulls out 2-1 win over Field Hockey

Louisville battled the Spartans gallantly for two periods and a sudden death overtime but MSU's Abby Barker scored her second goal of the afternoon with just five minutes remaining to give Michigan State a 2-1 win in the finals of the Auto-Owners Insurance Spartan Invitational Sunday on the MSU campus.

Twenty minutes into the first half before either team scored in this match...Barker getting her first score of the day. The teams went into halftime with MSU holding that 1-0 advantage. 

Louisville tied the contest early in the second half when Haley Jurich provided Alyssa Voelme with a feed and she capitalized to tie the match. 

Senior Erin Conrad had five stops in the loss. Louisvlle drops to 5-3 on the year. 

"We had an opportunity to press Michigan State in overtime when we were a player up but we were unable to recognize and take advantage of the situation. We must now shift our focus to special situations and set plays as we prepare ourselves for our opening BIG EAST game on Friday." -- Louisville head coach Justine Sowry. 

The Cards face Georgetown at 6 p.m. in Trager Stadium on Friday. A great double header for Louisville fans on campus. Field Hockey followed by soccer. 

Visitor, visitor

The University of Louisville women's basketball team getting visits in with some pretty powerful 2013 recruits. Emmonie Henderson, Saniya Chong and Mercedes Russell all being courted by Jeff Walz and the UofL coaches, players and staff on campus or home visits. 

Three girls who will make an impact on any program they decide to align with. Three girls who have pared their lists down to include Louisville. 

Angel McCoughtry was also in Louisville on Saturday. No college eligibility left for the Olympian and WNBA star but a 2nd quarter apperance and introduction at the Louisville football game. Wearing her gold medal. 

She may have got the biggest cheer of the day from the 55,000 appreciative Cardinal fans in attendance. 

Think about that...Emmonie, Saniya and Mercedes. Coming back to Louisville after four fruitful years here.

Maybe with solid gold around your neck. Maybe making headlines in the WNBA. Getting love from 55,000 CARDINAL fans and making an apperance on national television. 

Cardinal fans appreciate, honor and love their women's athletes and Cardinal coaches are among the best, if not the best in college athletics. 

The best college sports town in America. Right here. 
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Saturday Cardinal Couple -- Volleyball downs Purdue, Field Hockey & Soccer fall

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SATURDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

-Volleyball sweeps Purdue in straight sets

-Field Hockey falls to IU in O.T.

-Soccer downed by UK

Volleyball beats Purdue 25-21, 25-17, 25-23.

Led by Lola Arslanbekova's 20 kills, Louisville Volleyball improved to 7-1 with a straight set sweep of #11 Purdue Friday in Cincinnati in the Fifth-Third Arena. 

The Cards benefited from strong serving by Hannah Kvitle in the first game to go up 9-3 early and had Purdue on the ropes late at 21-15 before seeing a late Purdue surge made it 21-19. The Cards took three of the last five points to win by four. 

Game two saw Louisville jump out again with an early lead at 9-4 and led at 20-13 before Purdue rallied late again in the second game with four straight points. Kills by Lola and Gwen Rucker put the Boilermakers at bay, though and the Cards took the second contest 25-17. 

After the break, Purdue made Louisville work for the third win....leading 14-13 and 19-17. The Cards battled back to tie it at 23-23 and two straight kills from Lola gave Louisville a narrow two point win. 

"I am proud of them as a team. They're playing gutsy and playing with the belief that they can win. That's what you coach them up to do and you want them to play with confidence in each other and the coaching staff. Purdue's a great team, with a phenomenal coaching staff. There are times, though, when Lola just picks us up and carries us on her back." -- Louisville head Volleyball coach Anne Kordes.


Field Hockey falls to IU in overtime. 

The Cards lose a heartbreaker to IU in overtime when Morgan Fleetwood scores early in the overtime period to give IU the 3-2 win. 

The teams were tied 1-1 at the half. IU scoring first but Becca Maddock tying the contest on a penalty corner assist from Victoria Stratton. 

Louisville took a 2-1 lead midway through the second half when Erin Schneidtmiller put a missed shot back into the goal. IU rallied a couple of minutes later to tie it, though...and force the extra session. 

Erin Conrad had seven saves in the loss. The Cards go to 3-2 and will play Ohio U. tomorrow at 2 p.m. in Bloomington. 

Soccer falls to UK before record crowd at Cardinal Park. 

Cardinal and Cat fans line the fences at Cardinal Park
Friday night to watch the rivalry match-up

One of the hardest thing to do as a writer and a fan is to report on losses that the team you root for and cover suffers. The excitement and anticipation of marquee matchups....like the UofL vs. UK women's soccer game last night can get you worked up into a frenzy and heightened state of excitement as the event draws near. The deflation after a close loss is a hard feeling to shake...but you carry on, knowing that your team tried the best that they could and there will be reasons to celebrate down the road. 

Louisville played UK to a scoreless first half but surrendered two late goals to the Cats in front of a soccer record crowd of 3,520 Friday night. 

At the 59:21 mark in the second half, Natalie Horner drove a kick past Chloe Kiefer to give the Cats a 1-0  lead. Louisville missed a golden opportunity to tie the game with 11 1/2 minutes left when the Cards were awarded a penalty kick but Charlyn Corral's kick was deflected by UK goalie Kayla King. 

The Wildcats tacked on an insurance goal less than a minute later when Kelli Hubly scored on a pass near the Cardinal goal. 

UK goalie Kayla Price being treated for
collision with Christine Exeter early in the game
(Photo by Jenny O'Bryan)

The Cards with plenty of offense and attacks tonight but just unable to get the ball in the net. 

A festive crowd on hand for the match. Some of the many notables in attendance were Candyce Bingham, Jeff Walz, Cardinal WBB recruits Brianna Ruiz and Imani Wright with their parents and Becky Burke...recently returned from Poland. Seemed like the entire UofL men's basketball team was there as well. Nothing more fun than watching Gorgui Dieng bend over to talk to a 5 yr. old. I wonder if he suffers from vertigo. 

Got to watch the second half with CARDINAL COUPLE columnist Jenny O'Bryan and her friends. Always good to sit with Jenny and discuss sports. 

The contest was delayed for several minutes early in the first half when a collision occurred between Christine Exeter and goalie Kayla Price. Both left the contest, Price suffering a lost tooth. She didn't return. Exeter returned later with her head wrapped in a bandage. 

Louisville falls to 4-1 with the loss. They'll face Toledo Sunday in Cardinal Park. 
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Friday Cardinal Couple -- Three women's teams in action this weekend.

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FRIDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

- Volleyball, Soccer and Field Hockey in action this weekend. 

"72 hours, six events, a full tank of gas and I'm not
wearing sunglasses" (Photo by Charlie Springer)

If you're a University of Louisville women's sports fan (and would you be here if you weren't?) you've hit the trifecta this weekend. Volleyball plays three times over Friday and Saturday, field hockey gets in two matches on Friday and Sunday and soccer hosts Purdue Friday night. Any fan who attends all six contests deserves a medal of honor from Julie Hermann...Cardinal Couple will have reports on all six contests...so let's get to the preview essentials! 

(Maybe we should get the medal of honor...)

VOLLEYBALL

The Volley Cards take over the KFC YUM! Center Friday night and all day Saturday with three matches in the Active Ankle Challenge. First up are the WKU Hilltoppers at 7:30 p.m. Friday night. No pushover here, the 'Tops' were 31-4 last year and lost to Marquette in the NCAA Tournament. 

Make sure and go early if you're attending this one. They're will be an All-Sport Pre-Game Autograph Session where various student-athletes will be signing autographs in the Main Concourse of the KFC YUM! Center from 5:30-7:00 p.m. A free autograph poster will be distributed. Your chance to get your favorite UofL athletes on ink. UofL is asking that fans just bring one additional item to be signed. Can't have Jordan Trimble wearing out that rocket arm...

The Cards also face Morehead State Saturday at 11 a.m. and Penn State at 7 p.m. A busy weekend for Anne Kordes' net-blasters! 

FIELD HOCKEY

#23 in the nation Cardinal Field Hockey will open their 2012 season with the Sherrill Brakemeier Classic. The Cards first opponent is #21 Northeastern. A perennial C.A.A. power, the Huskies went 14-8 last season and return an all-conference goalie in Lizzie Priest. 

Louisville looked impressive in an exhibition against IU last weekend...getting a goal from freshmen Kendall Weeding and two from Victoria Stratton. Senior Erin Conrad had seven saves in the 3-0 scrimmage win. 

Game time is 6 p.m. Friday. The Cards will face either Northwestern or Miami (OH) on Sunday. Admission is free for all field hockey contest this weekend. 

SOCCER

#18 Louisville soccer hosts Purdue Friday night at 7 p.m. at Cardinal Park. The Cards enter the match off a 2-0 win at Butler last Friday. Casey Whitfield and Angelika Uremovich scored for the 'Ville" in the win. 

Chloe Kiefer notched her 11th career shutout at goalie for Louisville, aided by the strong Louisville defensive backfield. 

Purdue is 2-0 so far this season...with wins over Toledo and Eastern Illinois. 

Admission is free for the match and the first 200 fans entering the gates get a free Louisville Soccer t-shirt. 

We hope you'll get to at least one or more of the games this weekend on campus or at the YUM! 

CARDINAL COUPLE will have full recaps on the madcap action this weekend and the soccer match will be available on CARDS TV for subscribers....in case you're up in your summer igloo in Nome or basking on the beach in Bimini. Have a great weekend and...

LET'S GO CARDS! 
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Saturday Cardinal Couple -- Cards win 2-0 vs. Butler

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SATURDAY CARDINAL COUPLE


-Women's Soccer defeats Butler 2-0

-Field Hockey wins scrimmage over IU

-Volleyball Saturday! 

-A wonderful "Journey"

A great way for the fall women's sports at UofL to kickoff Friday...two wins in two games. Here's the scoop.

Louisville women's soccer traveled to Indianapolis to face Butler University and was victorious 2-0 over the Bulldogs. After a scoreless first half, Casey Whitfield got the Cards on the scoreboard in the 54th. minute of play...finding the net on a pass from transfer Charlyn Corral. Minutes later, Angelika Uremovich made it 2-0 Louisville, connecting on a free kick from 35 yards out. 

The Louisville defense was solid in shutting out Butler...Chloe Kiefer with three saves for her 11th. lifetime shutout. Credit goes to the defensive backs for UofL as well, turning away Butler advances time and time again. 

The Soccer Cards return to action Friday Aug. 24th against Purdue.

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Louisville Field Hockey had a successful opening exhibition Friday...downing I.U. at Trager Stadium.

Louisville won the regular scrimmage session 3-0. They also bested the Hoosiers in a 7-on-7 set 1-0 and topped the afternoon off with a 3-1 win in a shootout match.

Freshman Victoria Stratton had two goals in the scrimmage and goalie Erin Conrad provided four first half saves for the Cards. 

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Volleyball scrimmage tomorrow at Cardinal Arena. It the annual alumnae match and takes place at 6 p.m.

Louisville was picked to finish first in the BIG EAST in a preseason coaches poll, garnering 12 of the 14 first place votes. 

Lola Arslanbeckova selected pre-season BIG EAST Player of the Year. 

Great things ahead for the 2012 Volleyball squad! Season tickets still on sale...why not head out to the Volleyball scrimmage tomorrow and get your seats for the upcoming, exciting action? 

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It's very rare we do a concert review here at Cardinal Couple...this is our first as best we can remember...but Journey visited Freedom Hall last night with Pat Benetar and Loverboy...and the show was a great one. 

The Eighties returned to Louisville last night and it was four hours of non-stop hits from the three acts. 

Journey, with most of the original lineup except lead singer, was in great form and had the 18,000 in Freedom Hall rocking for two hours. Arnel Pineda manning the microphone since 2007, sounded just like Steve Perry. Neal Schon can still rock a six-string. 

Kinda weird to be back in the Hall last night...with BIG EAST banner still hanging from the rafters...and memories of Angel, Pervis, Griff and the McCray brothers flashing back to me. The music made it a fun return, though. 

Don't stop believing, Cardinal fans.

Journey is all over the nation the next couple of months. If they hit your area, go. They're worth seeing. 

Journey info and tour dates
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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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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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Women's Soccer downs Dayton 2-0...Swimming splashes past Notre Dame...Football falls to Pitt.

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SUNDAY CARDINAL COUPLE PRESENTS:

-Women's Soccer shuts out Dayton

-Swimming wins over Notre Dame

-Football loses to Pitt 21-14

-Women's hoops play today @ Missouri State.

The University of Louisville's women's soccer team won their first ever NCAA Tournament game in a windy Cardinal Park last night over Dayton 2-0. The Cards got a goal from Kaitie McDonald in the first half and Angelika Uremovich in the second half to advance in the tournament. Louisville will face Memphis next, who was a 7-0 winner over Tennessee-Martin.

"First and foremost, I want to say congratulations to Dayton because through our preparation, we knew they were a fantastic team and today they made us earn this one. We knew we had to raise our level of play and battle the way we did tonight. I'm incredibly proud of our team because I thought the difference tonight was that we did battle. At times it wasn't always pretty soccer, but we had to win this one physically and we did that."  -Karen Ferguson-Dayes, UofL head women's soccer coach.

Chloe notches another
shut-out in goal.

The Cards had the wind at their back in the first half and scored in the 35th. minute when McDonald knocked in into the net with a head shot past UD goalie Jordin Melchert. It appeared that the Cards had just scored seconds before that when Jennifer Jones fired a kick that looked to be deflected in the goal, but the ball was stopped and found its way to McDonald who headed it back in.

Louisville added an insurance goal in the 76th. minute of play when Uremovich took a pass for Casey Whitfield and knocked it in from about 20 yards out into the left corner of the goal.

Kiefer had six saves in goal for Louisville while in the process of getting her eight whitewash of the season. Dayton had a 18-16 advantage in shots over Louisville and a 7-6 edge on shots on goal.

The Cards will travel to Memphis for round two NCAA action on Friday for a 8:30 p.m. game against the Tigers. The Cards were the second of four BIG EAST teams to record wins in the tournament...Marquette advanced with a 1-0 win over Toledo, but West Virginia lost to Virginia Tech 1-0. Notre Dame plays at Illinois today.

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Louisville Swimming and Diving took a 188-112 win over Notre Dame in the Ralph Wright Natatorium yesterday. The men won, too. Winners for the women:

Gadd an excellent
diver for the Cards.

-Eszter Povazsay (100 and 200 backstroke)
-Hannah Gadd (1 and 3 meter diving)
-Victoria Mitchell (1000 freestyle)
-Abby Chin (500 freestyle)
-Krissie Brandenburg, Lindsey Rogers, Raine Thompson and Aileen Cole (200 medley relay)
-Tanja Kylliainen (200 fly)
-Dani Barbiea (50 free)
-Raine Thompson (100 fly)

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Tough loss in Papa John's Cardinal Stadium yesterday for Cardinal football, falling to the Pitt Panthers 21-14. The Cards were ineffective in the first half and trailed 7-0 after Pitt scored on both their first drives of the first and second half and with less than two minutes to go in the game. Louisville got a touchdown in the third quarter from a Vic Anderson run and with 12 seconds left in the game on a Teddy Bridgewater pass to Scott Radcliff.

Near kickoff at the Louisville vs. Pitt game

Louisville drops to 5-5 on the season and 3-2 in the BIG EAST, same record Pitt has in both.

We made a bold prediction over at http://www.uoflcardgame.com/ that the Cards would win yesterday but the Cards couldn't continue the offensive successes that they had demonstrated in the previous three games against a better than average Pitt defense.

Wouldn't wanted to have been around the Cardinal locker room yesterday afternoon after this one...

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Lady Cards are in Springfield, MO. today to face Missouri State. 3 p.m. tip off.

Are the Cards in MO without Sho? Internet rumors and scuttlebutt are circulating that the sophomore guard for Louisville could possibly be facing some sort of NCAA rules infraction because of playing in a 3-on-3 tournament this summer.

We know nothing, just reporting what we've seen on Twitter and from Cardinal Couple reader e-mails to us. UofL has said nothing about it...so it could all be a bunch of unfounded rumors and reports.  

We'll wait and see who's on the court for Louisville against the Bears today. We don't normally report or write on these kind of things...but chatter has been heavy and from some sources that have been pretty reliable in the past.

It's not like Louisville would miss her. They've got more capable and qualified guards on the roster than Burger King has ways to make a Whopper.

Missouri State defeated La. Tech 78-65 Friday night in Ruston, LA. to open the regular season. They've also won all three exhibition games this year.

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