Sunday with Sonja

.
SUNDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

**********From the scoreboard*********

- LOUISVILLE Volleyball defeats Cincy in straight sets 25-21, 25-13, 25-21.

- LOUISVILLE and USF tied 0-0 in women's soccer at end of regulation and two overtimes. USF wins 3rd overtime in a shootout 4-3. (More on these Monday...)

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


-Field Hockey defeats Providence 2-1 to make BIG EAST Tournament

-Jenny's observations on WBB Scrimmage

-Russell to announce decision Tuesday

-Cards #9 in ESPN Preseason Poll

-Volleyball on ESPNU today


Cards come through in final regular-season game with win.

Knowing that the surest way to qualify for the upcoming BIG EAST Tournament was beating Providence, the University of Louisville Field Hockey team delivered...knocking off the Friars 2-1 yesterday at Providence.

The Cards (12-7, 3-3) clinched the #3 seed and will face #2 UConn Friday night in Trager Stadium at 7:30 p.m. Syracuse and Providence will match up in the first game Friday.

"We are just so proud of our team with the way we have applied ourselves in recent weeks. We knew what was on the line and we continued to stay focused on the process. We are absolutely thrilled that we have made it back to the BIG EAST Tournament and we are playing at home. To have this opportunity is fabulous and much deserved for this team." -- Justine Sowry, Louisville head coach.

The Cards opened the scoring with just 17 seconds left in the first half. Alyssa Voelmle got an unassisted score to give UofL the advantage after a half of solid defense by both teams.

Conrad comes through!

After the break, Providence tied the match seven minutes into the action. Louisville took the lead seven minutes later when the Cards capitalized on a Providence passing error near their net and Becca Maddock found Erin Scheidtmiller with a pass that Scheidtmiller converted into the final score of the game.

Erin Conrad stepped up in a huge way for the Cards with six saves. Providence outshot Louisville 11-9 in the contest.

Tickets for the BIG EAST Tournament are available through the UofL Athletic Office at 502-852-5151. Cost is $5 for adults, $3 for seniors/youth and college students get in free with a valid student ID.

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

CARDINAL COUPLE staff columnist JENNY O'BRYAN attended the Saturday UofL men's scrimmage that featured the WBB squad opening the event with a mini-scrimmage. Here are her observations:

The women's team spent 10 minutes before the men's game scrimmaging/playing/practicing against their men's practice players. The women "won" 21-12.

All players played for a few minutes except Tia Gibbs, Asia Taylor and Cortnee Walton. Of the three, Tia hobbled on to the court and looked like she was in pain. Asia and Cortnee "presented" fine...although Asia looked like she was dog tired.

Coach talked for most of the time with P.A. announcer Sean Moth while the team was playing.

Megan Deines came down the court and nailed a three-pointer for the first shot of the scrimmage. She took a second shot a few minutes from beyond the arc and drained it also. She looked quick and agile. Coach Walz joked that those were the first two shots that she had made in a month.

The next three-point Cardinal specialist?

Sara Hammond looked lean and more toned than last year. She had a confidence about her that I did not always see last year. She looked solid and I expect her to have a break out season. Walz stated that she has been putting in a lot of work in the off-season and is looking great.

Shawnta Dyer looked good and showed a lot of strength in the paint.

Mo Reid was only in for a few minutes but was very impressive. Nice score in the paint and great rebounding. I have so missed watching Mo play. Walz stated that Mo is still recovering from her knee surgery and will play the minutes she can play. He expects her to be at full speed by conference play.

- Jenny O'Bryan

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

Thanks for the great recap of the Cards 10 minutes, Jenny! In other WBB news, highly sought-after and #1 ranked in the 2013 Class recruit Mercedes Russell was in attendance and her high school coach announced that she will announce her decision Tuesday afternoon at a press conference at her high school. 2:30 p.m. Pacific time.
The date and time were apparently set before her visit to Louisville this weekend.  

Louisville also has a media day planned at the KFC YUM! Center that day. Coach Walz is scheduled to talk to the media at noon and players will be made available at 12:30. This raises some speculation. Will Walz fly to Oregon for Mercedes' announcement and should we read anything into whether he is at the scheduled media address at the YUM! or not? Has the 6'5" center already decided? Will it be a last-minute decision? 
Are we over-thinking things here?

Big things developing for Tuesday. And, the Cards open the season Wednesday with an exhibition game against Eckerd College. Free admission for all at the KFC YUM! Center.

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

ESPN has released their 2013 Women's College Basketball Rankings and Polls for Week 1 and the Cards are positioned at #9. They received 657 points. Baylor heads the poll and got 1000 points.

Other BIG EAST schools in the top 25 are Connecticut at #2, Notre Dame at #5, St. John's at #14 and DePaul at #25.

Kentucky is #6 and Tennessee #20. Link below.

ESPN WBB Rankings - Week 1

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

See Lola jump, see Lola swing, see Lola kill...

Just a reminder that you can catch Louisville Volleyball today on ESPNU against Cincinnati. First serve is at 1 p.m.

Have a great Sunday everybody and GO CARDS in the BIG EAST SOCCER Tournament against USF today!
.
..
...

Friday Cardinal Couple --Women's Soccer hosts UK...Field Hockey and Volleyball on the road

.
FRIDAY CARDINAL COUPLE


-Soccer Cards hosts the Cats in Cardinal Park

-VolleyCards travel to Cincy for BIG EAST/Big Ten Challenge

-Field Hockey in Bloomington for Hoosier match

Barack Obama shows how Gwen Rucker blocks shots at
the net at the Democratic National Convention. Michelle
applauds the women's soccer teams undefeated season.
(I'm pretty sure that's what they're doing...but it was late.)

Another busy, busy weekend for UofL women's sports! The action will be heated and intense as Karen Ferguson-Dayes undefeated soccer ladies take on also undefeated UK. Anne Kordes has her net prowlers in Cincinnati for two tough contests and Justine Sowry and the field hockey squad travel to IU for two this weekend. Put on the shin guards, knee pads and cletes...we're gonna kick up, set up and slap shot you today's trifecta version of CARDINAL COUPLE! 

Soccer Cards look to remain undefeated.

UK again. In Louisville again. The Cats surely must be tired of driving across I-64 to our fair city and getting beat in athletics...but they return today to face #12 Louisville women's soccer in a 7:30 p.m. match-up at Cardinal Park. 

It's the Courtyard Marriott Classic and the Cards kick it off against a UK team that is also undefeated (4-0) and who played the same two opponents Louisville did this last weekend up in Lexington. 

Louisville with many offensive weapons in Erin Yenney, Angelika Uremovich, Irene Young, Katie Walz, Charlyn Corral and...oh, yeah...the Cards leading scorer from last year Christine Exeter. Good time for her to gather her first (and hopefully more) scores of the season. Chloe Kiefer has three shutouts at golakeeper this season. She'll have her work cut out for her tonight.

Cards also looking for a little payback from last year when the Cats took a 2-0 victory in Lexington. UK leads the series 9-5-1 lifetime. 

It's a "red-out" in Cardinal Park and the match will televised on WHAS-TV. 11.2, Insight 432 and Comcast 207. You can also catch the action on CARDS TV. This one is worth the trip, though...hope to see you in the stands in Cardinal Park tonight! If you go, you just might see a couple of UofL WBB recruits in attendance as well. Stay away, rain!

Volleyball to face Purdue in Cincinnati Friday.

The #24 VolleyCards face another tough early pre-conference tilt this afternoon when they face off against #11 Purdue at 4:30 p.m. on the U.C. campus. 

Louisville looking for revenge against the Boilermakers...who put the Cards out of the NCAA Tournament last year. Purdue (5-1) returns ferocious outside hitter Ariel Turner, the pre-season Big 10 player of the year. She'll get a lot of help from Val Nichol and Annie Drews at the net. 

Louisville will look for big performances from Lola Arslanbekova, who leads the Cards in kills and is the pre-season BIG EAST player of the year...and her net-mates Gwen Rucker, Kaitlynn James, Emily Juhl, Brooke Mattingly and Tanya Lukyanenko. 

CARDINAL COUPLE'S Jeff McAdams will be in the Fifth-Third Arena and giving us a full report on the Purdue and Illinois games there this weekend. 

Field Hockey faces IU in Bloomington

A mid-afternoon face-off for Justine Sowry's field hockey Cards against the IU Hoosiers today. A re-match of sorts from the earlier exhibition match these two had in Trager back in mid-August that Louisville won 3-0. 

Cards (3-1) getting good scoring out of Becca Maddock, Mallory Mason and Erin Schneidtmiller so far this season and the defense has rallied around goalkeeper Erin Conrad, who is allowing a scant 1.5 goals per game and has a shutout as well. 

IU on the improve since their loss to the Cards a month ago. The Hoosiers (3-0) have downed Vermont, Missouri State and Kent State.

Louisville leads the lifetime series 8-6 and also won last year 1-0 at Trager Stadium on Senior Day. 

(Good luck to all three UofL women's sports teams today and if you can't make the drive to Bloomington or Cincy, join us at Cardinal Park tonight. The only thing better than beating UK twice is...beating them three times. See you there!) 
.
..
...

Monday Cardinal Couple -- Dyer aspires higher for Cards this year...Field Hockey gets first win.

.
MONDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

-Epps commits to UK

-Shawnta Dyer looks to build on freshman debut

-Field Hockey bests Miami (OH) 3-1

CARDINAL COUPLE SPECIAL REPORT

It looks like Makayla Epps has committed to UK following her visit to the campus today. Epps is considered the best point guard in the 2013 Class in Kentucky and had previously verballed to Louisville. 

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

( We've been previewing the UofL WBB squad the last couple of months and we've reached the sophomore class. First up for us, red-shirt sophomore forward Shawnta Dyer.) 

For Shawnta Dyer ( to borrow a line from Tom Petty) the waiting had to be the hardest part. Part of the heralded class of 2010, Dyer looked to be a freshman that could impact the Cardinal front line right off the bat and had a successful debut in the 2010 exhibition game against Indiana Wesleyan. 

Then, a fractured heel beset the Marion, OH star and brought an end to the season. A season of analyzing and critiquing certain areas of the game. Cheering from the sidelines as the Cards marched to the Sweet Sixteen. 

After a season of rehab and waiting, she returned to the 2011-12 Cardinal contingent and became the leading rebounder for UofL. An inside force that got plenty of chances to impact the Cardinal scoring and rebounding game inside with Monique Reid on the shelf for a year. 

Improvements for 2012-13? Dyer will tell you that she wants to become a better student of the game. That basketball isn't simply putting the ball in the basket, but strategizing and coming up with a game plan to outsmart the opponent. 

She's been busy over the summer working on her individual skills. Ball handling, jump shots, free throws. As part of a deep and experienced Cardinal squad, Dyer will be counted on to continue her inside scoring abilities and rebounding prowess on both ends of the court. 

Ask Shawnta about the team and you'll get this reply:

"We've been working hard this summer on our individual skills, taking classes and building on our team chemistry every chance we get. We are making improvements in the off season, not only to become better basketball players...but also to become better people." 

The 2012-13 season looks to be one where the Cards will make a huge run to dispose Notre Dame and Connecticut as front runners in the BIG EAST. Shawnta Dyer will be one of the prime components in an essential area...rebounding and inside scoring. 

Hoping to become an elementary teacher after her days as a Cardinal are finished, Dyer will be "schooling" opponents this season on the boards and in the paint. We think she'll continue to be at the head of the class. 

Dyer numbers

     Games played  Games Started Min. Rebs. Pts. PPG
2011-12    33              4               17.8  165  242   7.3

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

Louisville Field Hockey captured their first win of the season Sunday with a 3-1 win over Miami (OH) in the consolation game of the Sherrill Brakemeier Classic at Trager Stadium. 

The Cards showed improvement in their passing, transferring and offensive attack...according to head coach Justine Sowry. 

UofL (1-1) opened the scoring in the first half when Erin Schneidtmiller netted her first goal of the season at the 9:22 mark. Louisville dominated the first half with a 12-0 advantage in shots. 

70 seconds into the second half, the Cards increased to lead to 2-0 when Becca Madock sent one past Miami goalie Sarah Mueller. Miami managed to cut the Cardinal lead in half a few minutes later, but Haley Jurich notched the Cards' third goal when she corralled a rebound from her first shot on goal and found success the second time around. 

Goalie Erin Conrad had two saves and Louisville outshot the RedHawks 20-6. 

The Cards take to the Trager Stadium turf again on Saturday when they host Davidson. They'll also face off against Ball State on Labor Day. Both are 2 p.m. starts.
.
..
...