WNBA Finals: The atomic bond of Angel McCoughtry

Angel and Lindsey Harding enjoy a light moment while practicing for the WNBA Finals against
Minnesota. Even though the Dream lost in three games to the Lynx, they reached the finals for
the second straight year in a row and look to be just as strong for next year. Enjoy!

(Thanks to Mark S. for the find!)

TUESDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

-Lola named BIG EAST Player of the week in Volleyball

-Christine Exeter named BIG EAST Player of the week in Soccer

-Shoni nominated for Wooden Award.


For the fourth time this season and three straight week in a row, Lola Arslanbekova has received the BIG EAST Player of the Week award. The

Cards went 2-0 last week to improve to 14-4 and 6-0 in the BIG EAST.

Lola averaged 20 kills per game in the contests and did it without either Gwen Rucker or Emily Juhl...who are injured and did not play. The Cards volley back into action Friday with a match against conference powerhouse
Cincinnati at Cardinal Arena.

Louisville head coach Anne Kordes has done a remarkable job with a razor thin complement of players available and we only hope she can keep the remaining eight players that can play healthy as the Cards continue down the path to the BIG EAST Tournament.

Almost reminds us of the old Boston Braves war cry from 1948 in baseball...when a depleted pitching staff had the team down to two effective hurlers. Maybe "Spahn and Sain and pray for rain." can be altered in this case to read "Lola and Caitlin and a few days off then."

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Louisville women's Soccer also took honors when sophomore forward Christine Exeter took BIG EAST Player of the Week honors.

She had four goals in the Cards two wins last week and has nine goals on this season...tying her for the most in a Cardinal season. The soccer Cards are "on the pitch" (thanks Garret Wall for the descriptive metaphor) this weekend against Rutgers on Friday and Seton Hall Sunday at Cardinal Park.

Louisville leads the National Division of the BIG EAST with a 5-1-2 conference
record....good for 17 points and a two point lead in the National. Scoring scenario is that you get three points for a win (15 for Louisville) and a point for a tie (2 for Louisville) in conference match ups. Georgetown in second with 15. Seton Hall has 12 points and Rutgers 8.

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Louisville women's basketball star Shoni Schimmel has been nominated
for hoops' Wooden Award. She's one of nine BIG EAST players on the list.
No mention of Monique Reid, Louisville' leading scorer from last year. UConn

Only 1/2 of the Sho and Mo show
nominated for Wooden Award.
Fire the judges!!!

and Notre Dame have three players each on the list. A little lack of love for the Lady Cards?

NOTRE DAME

Skylar Diggins
Natalie Novosel
Deveraux Peters

UCONN

Stefanie Dolson
Bria Hartley
Tiffany Hayes

DEPAUL

Keisha Hampton

GEORGETOWN

Sugar Rodgers

The Cards will face two other nominees on their schedule as well...Florida State's Cierra Bravard and Texas A&M's Tyra White.

This list will be chock-full of Cardinals in the upcoming years...
..

Sara-Maude Juneau All-American golfer, Dream looks to defend title, Catching up with Candyce

TUESDAY TOPICS at CARDINAL COUPLE:

Sara-Maude Juneau graduates as one of
the best UofL women's golfers of all time.

-Sara-Maude Juneau selected as NGCA Honorable
Mention All-America golfer.

-Atlanta Dream looks for repeat.

-Catching up with Candyce Bingham

Louisville senior golfer Sara-Maude Juneau has been selected as a honorable mention All-American by the NGCA. This is the second straight year she has been honored with this award. Juneau, who was also selected BIG EAST golfer of the year two time in a row, led the team and the BIG EAST with a 73.2 scoring average. She finished in the top 20 in all of her matches this season and was in the top five finishers five times this year. She recently finished 20th in the NCAA East Regional.

Juneau won the William K. Warren Irish Invitational earlier this season and finished sixth in the BIG EAST Gold Tournament.

Congratulations to Sara and all of her UofL women's golf teammates for an outstanding season. Sad that the season has to end just when it's getting to be great golf season around the Louisville area...but we know Sara will be out there chipping for birdies and sinking long putts as a UofL graduate somewhere...who knows, maybe on the LPGA?

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Harding was the #1 pick in the WNBA draft in 2007
and is considered one of the top defensive guards
in the WNBA, She's a Dream now.

The Atlanta Dream goes in search of back-to-back Eastern Division titles this WNBA season...but will spend a little time in England before the league begins. Angel and crew are headed over to Manchester, England to face the British National team. It will be the first time that an WNBA team has gone over there for competition and it will be the only preseason game the Dream plays before the regular season begins. (Are you listening NFL?).

To enhance their chances of scoring a repeat, the Dream has signed former Duke and Washington Mystics guard Lindsey Harding to the roster.

Harding lands with the Dream in exchange for guard Kelly Miller and Dream draft pick Ta'Shia Phillips from Xavier. She is a speedy guard that can fill up the hoop...averaging
12.1 for the Mystics last season. She'll fit in well with the Dream's frantic up-and-down-the court, fast break style of play. Her steady point guard play will give the Dream a dimension they were missing at times last year and along with Iziane Castro Marquez in the back court...the Dream will have one of the best guard combos in the league.

This hasn't gone unnoticed by Dream superstar Angel McCoughtry. When asked about the addition of Harding to the roster and her transition from being a Mystic to a Dream, McCoughtry was frank and to the point:

"Transition was easy for her. She's already done that." McCoughtry replied.

Both Harding and McCoughtry are among the group of players being considered for the U.S. Olympic team.

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Candyce Bingham plays professional
basketball in Europe

CARDINAL COUPLE ran into former UofL great Candyce Bingham at the recent NCAA Softball Louisville Regional over last weekend. Bingham, who recently finished a season of European basketball in Luxembourg, plans on going back to the continent later this year and playing again. She'll be a fixture around campus until then and when asked about future WNBA possibilities, she just smiled and said:

"Maybe next year."

Bingham averaged 29.2 ppg for Amicale, second highest player point total in the league. No one could find her way to the basket for the close-in scores and put-backs like C.B. at UofL and, apparently in Europe as well....

Bingham is one of several former UofL players that toil in the European leagues...Angel McCoughtry and Jazz Covington also travel overseas to hoop it up for several months each year. Bingham, McCoughtry and Covington....sounds like a pretty solid front line to us....the three never played on the court at the same time, though...as Cardinals. Covington played two years with Angel, McCoughtry and Bingham were both on the court together for two years...but Covington had already graduated when Bingham arrived as a transfer from Xavier.
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