Thursday Cardinal Couple -- Exeter, Melhado to play for Team Canada U 20

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THURSDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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


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

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

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

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#8 gets eight minutes against the Aussies

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

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

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

"Yeah...Angel's still sitting." 

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

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

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



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

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FRIDAY CARDINAL COUPLE


- Women's soccer geared for another successful season. 


- This, that and the other...

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


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

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

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

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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


Have a great Friday and L1C4, baby! 


-Paul

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Sharo looks to shine at UofL

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

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

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

Below are some excerpts from Rodriguez's piece.

CORNWALL SOCCER STAR SHARO HEADED FOR LOUISVILLE.

by Justin Rodriguez

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

And, she will in the fall of 2011.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

I have no idea who Chris Bosh is.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Probably another Ashley Rainey...