Three lacrosse players in All-Star game, NCAA Softball and The Preakness

WELCOME TO THURSDAY CARDINAL COUPLE:

-Foley, Dashiell and Lovejoy in North-South Senior All Star Game

-NCAA Softball kicks off in Louisville tomorrow

Can Animal Kingdom go back to back?

-The Preakness: Who's running and who we like.

Three senior University of Louisville lacrosse players have been selected to play in the 2011 IWLCA/Under Armour Division I North-South Senior All-Star game on June 11th. at the United Sports Training Center in Downington, PA.

Bergan Foley, Emily Dashiell and Liz Lovejoy are the trio of Cardinals selected for the prestigious honor...and three of only five Cardinals ever selected for the game.

Foley finished her four years at Louisville as the school's offensive leader in seven different categories. She led the nation in goals twice and is fourth all-time in career goals in NCAA Division I history. At Louisville, she played 65 games and found the back of the net 265 times. Foley is from Huntingdon Valley, PA. and will be missed as the Cards "go to" scorer.

Bergan Foley is the all-time leading scorer
in Louisville Lacrosse history.

Emily Dashiell led the Cards with 247 draw controls and ended up with 149 goals. She is listed as eighth all-time in the NCAA in career draw controls. The Salisbury, MD native also holds the Louisville all-time records for caused turnovers, ground balls and career draw controls.

Lovejoy had an outstanding senior season for Louisville with 57 goals and 11 assists. She is the all-time leader in game winning goals for Louisville and amassed 174 career goals during her four years at UofL. She played in 67 games at Louisville and is second all-time in four offensive categories

These three will be very hard to replace on the 2011-12 Louisville Lacrosse team, not only for their scoring and offensive prowess...but for the guidance and leadership they exhibited during their four years at Louisville. All four were fierce competitors and for all three to be selected to the All-Star game is quite an accomplishment and feather in the Louisville lacrosse program's hat.

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Senior Chelsea Bemis is a long ball threat for the Cards.
Clear the fence, CB!!

Softball Cards will take the field 7:30 p.m. Friday night against Illinois-Chicago in the second game of first day action in the Louisville regional . Louisville (36-18) and UIC (25-22) have met twice before in softball...Louisville winning the last meeting 6-3 in Ulmer Stadium back on March 15, 2009. For Louisville, it is their eight consecutive NCAA appearance and second time they've hosted a regional . The Cards got to the "big dance" by finishing second in the BIG EAST tournament and knocked off #1 seed Notre Dame in the semifinals.

Illinois-Chicago earned their berth in the regional by defeating Butler 5-3 to take the Horizon League title on
Sunday. It's their ninth appearance in the NCAA tournament and they are 12-15 all-time in NCAA Softball Tournament action. They are led at the plate by Carly DeMarco (.358) and Coryn Schmitt who has 10 home runs and 32 RBI's. Devin Miller (17-17) is the girl in the circle for the Flames and has a 2.47 ERA and 222 strikeouts in 235.1 innings.

California (39-10) plays Jacksonville State (39-19) in the 5 p.m opener

Looks like a great weekend for softball, get out and support your Lady Cards!

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The field and post positions have been set for the 136th. running of the Preakness. The second jewel in racing's triple crown for three year olds will take place this Saturday at Pimilco Race Track in Baltimore, MD. The runners, post positions, trainers, jockeys and morning line odds below:

1. ASTROLOGY.  Steve Assmussen trains and Mike Smith gets the ride  15-1
2. NORMAN ASBJORNSON.  Trained by Christopher Grove and Julian Pimental on board. 30-1
3. KING CONGIE. Tom Albertrani handles and Robby Albarado is the jockey.  20-1
4. FLASHPOINT. Churchill favorite Wesley Ward is the trainer, Cornelio Velazquez in the saddle. 20-1
5. SHACKLEFORD. Dale Romans in the paddock and Jesus Castanon pilots.  12-1
6. SWAY AWAY. Young gun Jeff Bonde trains and veteran Garrett Gomez has the reigns.  15-1
7. MIDNIGHT INTERLUDE. Bob Baffert saddles this one and California Martin Garcia rides.  15-1
8. DANCE CITY. Hall of fame Todd Pletcher in the suit and Ramon Dominguez in the silks.  12-1
9. MUCHO MACHO MAN. Kathy Ritvo gives instructions...Rajiv Maragh carries them out.  6-1
10. DIALED IN. Nick Zito gets this one ready and Julian Leparoux returns as rider.  9-2
11. ANIMAL KINGDOM. H.Graham Motion looks for back to back wins with John Velazquez. 2-1
12. ISN'T HE PERFECT. Nigerian Doodnauth Shivmangal picks Edgar Prado to ride.  30-1
13. CONCEALED IDENTITY. Eddie Gaudet has Pimlico favorite jockey Sheldon Russell up.  30-1
14. MR COMMONS. Big race specialist John Shirreffs tries for the upset with Victor Espinoza  20-1

SELECTIONS AND COMMENTARY

PAUL: I'm looking at four horses in the Preakness and NONE of them are ANIMAL KINGDOM. I think DIALED IN handles this smaller field and shorter distance quite fine and is the top choice here. I'll go with KING CONGIE, MUCHO MACHO MAN and SHACKELFORD in exacta and trifecta boxes and wheels. I've been wrong before, but I'm speculating that DIALED IN tunes in, takes off and romps.

SONJA: I'm taking ANIMAL KINGDOM and DIALED IN as my top two choices to get the Black-Eyed Susan blanket. I'll take each across the board. After that, let's go with DANCE CITY, ASTROLOGY and SWAY AWAY in the exacta and trifectas underneath the top two and boxed also.
I'll also be wary of Bob Baffert and MIDNIGHT INTERLUDE and will include him in some other wagers.

David Watson knows
absolutely nothing about
horse racing...

DAVID WATSON: Let's "go for broke" here and pick KING CONGIE as my top choice. I'll expect ANIMAL KINGDOM, DIALED IN and MIDNIGHT INTERLUDE to chase him home. My longshot has to be NORMAN ASBJORNSON. What a name! I think he runs the shoe repair shop down the street from me...

Good luck Saturday and if you wager, do so responsibly. Selections, picks and commentary seen here are for entertainment purposes only and based on our Derby picks...should be ignored completely...except for Paul touting NEHRO. Showoff....
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Softball splits in South Bend...Lacrosse wins...Women's golf in third

MONDAY CARDINAL COUPLE:

Anna-Karin Lljungstrom shot a
76 in the first round of the
BIG EAST Championships.

-Cards split with Irish in Softball

-Lacrosse dominates Villanova

-Golf 3rd in BIG EAST Tournament

UofL softball split with Notre Dame yesterday in a doubleheader in South Bend. The Cards narrowly dropped the first contest 4-3 and won the second 9-6.

Notre Dame 4 - Louisville 3

The Cards jumped out to an early 1-0 lead in the first when Chelsea Bemis doubled home Katie Keller. Notre Dame rallied in the second inning to go up 2-1 but the Cards regained the lead in the top of the third when Keller blasted a two run base clearer with Hannah Kiyohara on base...freshman power again...Louisville held the 3-2 advantage. After the Irish tied it in the bottom of the third...a solo home run off of Caralisa Connell...they tacked on the winning run in the fourth. Louisville had two base runners in the fifth and seventh innings...but could not push across the tying run.

Connell took the loss, going to 18-6. She allowed all four runs on six hits and fanned two in 5.1 innings. Tori Collins came in to finish...striking out one and allowing a hit in 1.2 innings of relief.

Louisville 9 - Notre Dame 6

Louisville fell behind early in the nightcap...a solo homer in the first gave the Irish a 1-0 advantage over starter Tori Collins. Katie Petrino relieved her in the circle and allowed two more Notre Dame runs in the third. She lasted until the sixth inning, when the Irish sent three more base runners across the plate and built a 6-0 advantage,

Chelsea Bemis hit a three run
homer against Notre Dame on
Sunday. Bye, bye Mr. Spalding!

The Cards had not conceded defeat, though.

In the top of the sixth, A Chelsea Bemis three run homer scored Kiyohara and Keller. Colby Wherry followed with a single run blast. Alicja Wolny and Maggie Ruckenbrod reached on base hits and Kristin Austin drove home Wolny to make it 6-5. Kiyohara batted for the second time in the inning and drove in Ruckenbrod and Austin to make it 7-6 Cards. Keller smashed a two run fence clearer to increase it to 9-6.

Collins re-entered the game as pitcher in the bottom of the sixth and shut out the Irish in two innings of relief. For Petrino, it was her first win as a Cardinal. She allowed five runs on seven hits...with one strike out. Collins got the save, her third of the season, allowing one run on two hits.

Louisville travels to Lexington next for a Wednesday night game vs. Kentucky.

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Bergan Foley scored four goals
against Villanova

Louisville lacrosse took a win yesterday at the Louisville Lacrosse Stadium over Villanova 16-4 Sunday. The Cards outscored the Wildcats 9-1 in the first half...putting eight straight goals in the net to break an early 1-1 tie. They also scored the first two goals in the second half. During the 10-0 run, Bergan Foley and Liz Lovejoy each had three scores. Katie Oliverio found the net twice and Nikki Boltja and Lianne Bobal added a goal each. 

The Cards outscored the Wildcats 7-3 in the second stanza. Louisville shot an impressive 16 for 26 on goals attempted and forced the Wildcats into 26 turnovers. 

Foley and Lovejoy each finished with four goals in the game. The Cards (10-4, 2-2) improved to a tie for fourth place in BIG EAST conference standings and take to the road for their next two...a Thursday contest at Syracuse and a Saturday face-off in Connecticut against the Huskies. 

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Sara-Maude Juneau shot an opening round 75 and the Louisville women's golf team finds themselves in third place in the BIG EAST Championships...13 strokes behind Notre Dame. The Cards are are one stroke behind Georgetown. Anna-Karin Lljungstrom carded a 76 for 18 holes and Laura Anderson finished the first round with a 77... good for 12th place. Tara Lyons' 80 and Maria Castellanos' 82 were the other Cardinal efforts on the first day. 

The Cards tee it up again today, beginning at 9:40 a.m. Becca Huffer, of Notre Dame, leads all participants with her 72...even par. Straight and long down the fairways, ladies and chip and putt!

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Caldwell an interesting sidebar to the Bria Smith story . Foley, Cards in lacrosse.

WEDNESDAY @ C.C.

-Caldwell to Virginia?

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-Foley, Cards vs. Vanderbilt

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-Getting to Know: Bergan Foley

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-NCAA Women's Final Four set.
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-Lockhart gathers BIG EAST honors. 
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-Hammond, Smith and Goss in McDonald's Girls All-American game tonight
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Interesting sidebar in the decommitment of Bria Smith from Virginia with the announcement that UCLA coach Nikki Caldwell is talking with the Cavaliers about the job opening. Caldwell took the Bruins to the second round of the NCAA Women's Basketball Tournament this year before losing to Gonzaga. It's been said that her Bruins practice harder than any team out there in College WBB.
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First, why the move from the West Coast to Virginia? Remember that Caldwell was born in Oak Ridge, TN. and played for Pat Summitt at Tennessee. Virginia is a lot closer to home than Los Angeles is and the ACC is probably the second or third toughest conference in WBB. Can't be much fun having to bump heads with PAC-10 giant Stanford twice a year...and although the Bruins have improved each of the five years Caldwell has been there...having to recruit against Vanderveer each year for California and West Coast talent can't be much fun.

That leads us to Bria Smith, who recently decommitted from Virginia after head coach Debbie Ryan stepped down. Louisville and Georgia were in Smith's final list of potential colleges...and the Cardinal camp is confident that they can woo her to the Ville. If the dynamic Caldwell decides to head to Virginia, though...you can be assured one of her first priorities will be trying to gather Smith back into the Cavalier fold.

It'll be interesting to see how this one unfolds. Will Caldwell unceremoniously dump a program she resurrected from the depths of the PAC 10? Will Smith reconsider her interest in the Ryan-less Cavs? Will the magic of Jeff Walz and the large Louisville fan base be enough to draw Smith to the 'Ville? And, does ancient Andy Landers down at Georgia have any shot at all in putting a collar on Smith and making her a Bulldog?
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#18 Louisville lacrosse faces Vanderbilt today in lacrosse action. The Cards are 7-1 on the season, losing only to Stanford. The Commodores will be a tough test for Bergan Foley and her teammates, though. The #15 ranked 'Dores recently defeated Stanford 15-10. The teams square off at the Louisville Lacrosse Stadium at 3 p.m.
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Senior Bergan Foley spearheads the Louisville attack offense and has been an essential and integral part of the Cards since arriving here as a freshman. She led the nation in 2008 in goals per game (4.07) scoring 61 in 15 games. As a sophomore, she was selected to second team BIG EAST honors and duplicated her feat from her first year...with 61 goals in 16 games. She set a career and school record with eight goals against UC Davis and was named to the BIG EAST Weekly Honor Roll three times. As a junior, she was picked for the first team BIG EAST squad and second team all-West honors. She led the nation with 78 goals in 17 games. She scored seven goals on four different occasions and led the nation for the second time in three years in goals per game (4.59).
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This year, she leads the Cards again with 34 goals in eight games. She is the focus of opposing teams' defenses and leads a potent Cardinal offense along with Liz Lovejoy, Katie Oliverio and Lianne Bobal.
She hails from Huntingdon Valley, PA. and played her high school lacrosse at Gwynedd Mercy Academy. She is majoring  in business management at UofL. Athletics runs in the Foley family...her father played semi-pro football, her grandfather ran track at St.Joseph's and her uncle played hoops at Notre Dame.
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Foley and her teammates will be in action today at the Louisville Lacrosse Stadium against #15 Vanderbilt. Game time is 3 p.m.
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We know now the Final Four contestants headed to Indy and there are a couple of minor surprises in the group. Connecticut we expected to advance and after a close first half last night, the Huskies dispatched of Duke quite handily. Talk all you want about Courtney Vandersloot...Maya Moore is the best player in the nation, hands down. With the rapid in-season improvement of freshman center Stefanie Dolson, the Huskies look very invincible as they head to Indy. Texas A&M pulled the upset off against Baylor last night...going to war against Brittany Griner and holding her and her teammates at bay after jumping out to a early 22-11 lead. The Aggies had lost the previous three games to the Bears this season. Greeting last night's winners are Notre Dame and Stanford. We figured the Trees would get past the Fighting Vandersloot's of Gonzaga but the Irish sending Pat back to Tennessee was a bit of a surprise...not because they won...but by the margin and seemingly easy nature of the victory.
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Sonya sees the Huskies taking the title again this year. Paul is taking the senior laden Irish to pull off the upset. We asked regular CARDINAL COUPLE reader Tom Cahill his pick and he recommended the 7 horse in the 5th at Gulfstream. That's our boy... Should be fun and two BIG EAST schools in the Final Four. Not bad...
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Congratulations to Louisville long jumper Charachesicia Lockhart for her recent BIG EAST Women's Field Athlete of the Week award. Lockhart recently won the long jump in the Alabama Relays and her jump of 6.29m is best in the BIG EAST this year, a personal record for her and 2nd. in the nation. she also finished fifth in the triple jump there.

She'll compete in the Mile Poehlein Invitational at Purdue this weekend. Louisville's throwing squad is headed to Gainesville to take part in the Pepsi Florida Relays. WE doubt they attempt any relays...but they should score well in the weight, shot put, hammer and discus events.
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Rockcastle County's Sara Hammond will be participating in the McDonald's Girls All-American game tonight...televised on ESPN U at 6:30 p.m. For Hammond, it's all about representing Rockcastle County, the commonwealth of Kentucky and her future team...the University of Louisville. Hammonnd, the Miss Kentucky Basketball award winner, will be on the court with Bria Smith, who recently de-commited from Virginia and is being re-recruited by Louisville. The flashy New York guard and Hammond will also be joined by Indiana All-Star Bria Goss, who recently committed to UK.
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Hammond, a CARDINAL COUPLE reader, led Rockcastle County to the Kentucky Girls Basketball State Championship in March and will enroll at Louisville this summer to take classes and meet her future teammates. Her ability to play several different positions and all-court versitality will fit in well with the Jeff Walz style of hoops and WE expect she'll be a valuable contributor to the 2011-12 Lady Cards...
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Ljungstrom named BIG EAST Golfer of the Week

HAPPY ST. PATRICK'S DAY!

-Anna Karin Ljungstrom takes honors.

-Softball at San Diego Classic.

-Gadd qualifies for NCAA Championships.

-Lacrosse to face Sacred Heart.

-Men's hoops tips it off today.

Erin Go Bragh AND MAY THE LUCK of the Irish be with you and all Cardinal sports programs as they head into a busy weekend.

Anna Karin Ljungstrom has been named Big East Golfer of the Week after a huge performance at the LSU Gold Classic. The sophomore tied for first place but lost in a playoff to #3 ranked Lindy Duncan from Duke at the University Club Golf Course in Baton Rouge on the third hole. Ljungstrom had a third day round of 69 to tie for the lead. The Cardinals finished 1oth as a team in the event...which featured 20 other of the top golf teams in the nation.

Ljungstrom is a red shirt sophomore from Skovde, Sweden and played her high school golf at Vasterjojdsgymnasiet (try getting that on a golf shirt!). She participated in all the Cardinal golf matches last year and this year and is undecided on a major yet.

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Louisville Softball heads to San Diego for weekend softball action in the San Diego Classic II. The Cards will get five games in during the three day event...starting with CS Northridge and San Diego on Friday. Louisville (14-8) has two pitchers that are holding opponents to less than three runs a game in Tori Collins and Carlisa Connell. The Cardinal offensive attack is spearheaded by Chelsea Bemis, who is hitting .407 for the year. The All-American has 10 doubles, four home runs and 23 runs batted in in 22 games, despite a slow start. Alicja Wolny has a .406 average and freshman Katie Keller leads six other Cards that are hitting over .300 for the year. Louisville lost additional firepower when Jordan Trimble's season ended with a broken ankle.

Louisville is getting outstanding play from several of the newer additions to the roster. Freshman Maggie Ruckenbrod has assumed catching duties this year and handled them well, in addition to batting .335. Katie Keller and Taner Fowler, both freshmen, have played well and see the field for Sandy Pearsall's squad on a regular starting basis. Sophomores Alicja Wolny and Jennifer Esteban are also contributing heavily...as was Trimble...before the broken ankle.

The Cards and Kentucky Wildcats will take the diamond at Ulmer Stadium on Weds. March 23rd. Game time is 6 p.m. They're charging $5 for this one and if you want advance tickets...call the UofL Ticket Office at (502) 852-5151.

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Hannah Gadd is the first diver in Cardinal women's history to advance to the NCAA Swimming and Diving Championships. Her fourth place finish in the qualifier got her the berth and she'll head to the University of Texas Swimming Center to compete beginning today (Thursday). Gadd is a sophomore out of Fort Thomas, KY. Make a big splash, Hannah!

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Louisville Lacrosse travels to Sacred Heart for a road game . The 5-0 Cards have been getting spectacular play from Bergan Foley, who is one of the leading scorers in the nation and Liz Lovejoy, who was recently named BIG EAST Lacrosse Offensive Player of the Week. Lovejoy (pictured here) scored five goals in a 15-3 upset of Oregon last week. The Greenwich, CT. senior has netted five or more five times in her career. Foley is a constant scoring threat and when the Ducks keyed on stopping her...Lovejoy took the job. Also hot right now for Louisville is freshman goalie Ashley Herbst. She stepped up big in the Cards 17-7 win against Jacksonville with 10 stops.

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Today is the first day of the men's NCAA Basketball Tournament and Louisville faces Morehead State today around 1:30 p.m. The games are not on ESPN this year...Louisville's contest will be shown on TBS. That's channel 27 on Insight. This first round of tournament action is always a fun time for Paul here at CARDINAL COUPLE. He'll take a half day at work today and tomorrow (believe it or not...he actually has a full time job) and gather with buddies to watch the game at a secretly guarded location. Then, it's off to Cincinnati for Sunday Lady Cards basketball against Vandy. WE think both Cardinal hoops teams will prosper this weekend and advance to the Sweet Sixteen.

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The road for the Lady Cards will be tough...#10 Vandy is ridiculously under seeded and one of those teams you hate seeing in the first round. If the Cards get by them, it's #2 seed Xavier, on Xavier's floor. The Cards lost a 71-59 decision to the Musketeers early this season at Xavier...but it was a Cardinal team still trying to work in plenty of freshmen and find an identity. Identity crises had been solved and if Louisville can run the court against both opponents...they'll 'take two' and head to Seattle for regional action. GO CARDS GO!

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WE love this edition of Pitino's hoopsters and think they'll go far in the NCAA Tournament. You just never know which Card is going to beat you and that makes it awfully hard for opposing coaches to get ready for Louisville. Preston Knowles is on a mission right now and let's hope 'Kuric Corner' is open and doing a brisk business. Paul is picking the Cards to take the entire thing (he usually does each year) and Sonja has them advancing to the Final Four.

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1st round Girls Sweet Sixteen, Softball today

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CARDINAL COUPLE : The Thursday Report


-Ist round Kentucky Girls Sweet Sixteen


-Softball at the Ulmer today


-Lovejoy selected BIG EAST Player of Week


-The Sideline Reporter Sweet Sixteen Continues.


-Pitino's Cards go tonight...referees blow it last night.
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-Where did WE fail?


Makayla Epps (pictured above) joined teammates Bre Edler and Kyvin Goodin-Rogers with 14 points each in a 55-41 win over Montgomery County in the Kentucky Girls Sweet Sixteen Basketball Tournament in Bowling Green, KY. yesterday. The Knights jumped out early on Montgomery Co. and led 32-20 at the half. They withstood an early second half run that cut it to 32-26 and led 47-31 after three quarters.
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Louisville Butler snuck by Perry County Central 42-40. The Bearettes trailed PCC late 40-39 after having a 10 point lead in the third quarter. PCC had a chance to beat or tie Butler with 7 seconds remaining but missed two shots in the paint.
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Louisville Manual blew Crittenden County out of the gym 78-40. This one was never close...the Crimsons led 22-8 after one and 57-25 after three quarters. Manual forced Crittenden into 12 first half turnovers...and played their bench most of the second half in the lopsided win.
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Bowling Green had an easy time with Walton-Verona...breezing to a 58-32 victory in the first game of the day. This one was still close at halftime...BG up 25-21...but Walton-Verona could only manage two 3rd quarter points and trailed 41-23 after three quarters.
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Four first round games scheduled today, including Rockcastle County and UofL signee Sara Hammond.
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UofL Softball plays Morehead State today at 4 p.m. over at Ulmer Stadium. The Cards will have the elements to contend with...mid 40's and a chance of rain...after two days of steady rain already. Would be a good day for the retractable dome that Sandy Pearsall teases about wanting for Softball. Dome closed today, of course.
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Liz Lovejoy has been selected BIG EAST Offensive Player of the Week in lacrosse. She drove home five goals against Oregon and one against Old Dominion last week.
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Lovejoy, Emily Dashiell and Bergan Foley are three prolific scorers for Louisville Lacrosse and the Cards are undefeated this year in three games. The Cards travel to Georgia to play against Jacksonville next.
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Heather Cox survived a late charge from Shelly Smith and advances to the next round in CARDINAL COUPLE'S Sweet Sixteen Sideline Announcers Tournament. The willowly Cox will face odds on favorite Erin Andrews next.


The GOOSE. We think that he played football just as well as he handles sideline duties. We're pretty sure that he handles media buffets better than most. He goes up against the wily and sassy Kolber, who also trolls the football sidelines and may be best known for denying the advances of a drunk Joe Namath during a broadcast a couple of years ago. Kolber's reports always seem to have a cocky, self assured nature to them. Siragusa rambles on about anything that happens to cross his mind. It'll be interesting to see how this guy versus gal contest goes. One thing is for certain...you'd want Siragusa walking down a dangerous. dark alley with you and Kolber sidled up next to you while doing shots at your local tavern. You can vote in the comments section of today's edition or send your vote to cardinalcouple@insightbb.com

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Pitino's Cardinals get things underway tonight in the quarterfinals of the BIG EAST men's tournament. The foe is Marquette, who beat WVU last night 67-61. The Golden Eagles trailed the Mountaineers by ten in the second half before staging the rally. WE think both Marquette and Bob Huggins' WVU squad are in the BIG DANCE. WE also think that the Cards will have their hands full with Marquette. Louisville was one and done in Madison Square Garden last year, losing to upstart Cincinnati and the Cards never seem to play all that great in New York, NY. Here's hoping they can plant Marquette in the Garden tonight. Game time is 9 p.m.
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How about that major screw up by the officials last night in the St. John's vs Rutgers game? The Johnnies clinging to a 2 point lead...get the ball back with a couple of seconds to go...and then Brownlee travels and steps out of bounds with time left on the clock. Then Brownlee the hurls the ball into the stands with time left on the clock. Three refs miss all three violations and allow the game clock to run out with no call. Really? If I were a Rutgers fan, and I kinda am...at least of the Lady Scarlet Knights, I'd be incensed. The sequence wasn't reviewable, either, according to NCAA Rules, because no violation was called to review. Deplorable.

(Update @ 11:49 A.M. The three referees involved in the snafu have voluntarily pulled out of any futher BIG EAST Tournament games. LOL. Means they'll send them to another conference...probably.)
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My personal "no call" best memory. Was playing in a JV game years ago when our guy is trying to inbounds a pass under our basket and gets frustrated and hurls the ball overhanded directly into the "midsection" of the guy defending him. Technical foul, right? Nope...our guy steps in bounds, picks the ball up, steps over the defender...who is now laying on the court...groaning and holding his "midsection"...and calmly takes and sinks a jumper. The other eight of us on the court are just standing there in bewilderment or double over in laughter. He then turns to run down court and steps directly on the guy's "midsection" again. No call, but they did have to stop the game, get the guy off the court and clean up a rather nasty puddle of vomit the dude produced. I still cringe when I think of that image...guy with his hands up trying to guard against an inbounds pass and gets a basketball hurled full force right directly in the "ol jewels". Ugh...
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An apology to our FaceBook friends...they are not currently accepting our link hookup articles and commentary lately under CARDINAL COUPLE or Paul's accounts. We're going to try under Sonja's. Not sure what we did wrong. Probably because we ignore all Farmville or Friend requests from bots and people we haven't heard of.


Update...LOL...and it worked. We'll post CARDINAL COUPLE articles under Sonja's facebook account until they block that one. Then...we'll create accounts for Bill the Goat, Co-Co and the staff Chimps if we have to.
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Cardinal Couple 1 - Facebook 0. Sonja gets the shutout win. Leggggoooooo!!!
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Lacrosse rocks Rutgers 14-9

Louisville broke loose from a 5-5 halftime tie to take down the home standing Scarlet Knights yesterday. Liz Lovejoy aided the Cards with 4 scores.

#19 Rutgers needed a win to stay elgible for Big East tournament inclusion. Since the tournament is being played at Rutgers, the Scarlet Knights came out ready to roll and actually scored on the Cards with only a few second elapsed in the game. Louisville countered with two Emily Dashiell scores and the teams went back and forth in a tough defensive battle that left them even halfway through the contest.


Liz Lovejoy caught on fire in the second half, scoring all her points after the break and Katie Oliverio finished with four goals also and three assists. The Cards jumped out early and led 9-5 and Rutgers got no closer than 2 goals the rest of the way.

The lacrosse team ends the regular season Sunday at Villanova.

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We gave you BLIND LUCK in the Oaks yesterday and she did not disappoint...winning by a narrow nose over EVENING JEWEL in the feature race of the day at Churchill. Unforunately, my exacta and trifectas didn't work out as planned...but Paul continued his hot hand out at Churchill...using BLIND LUCK on top, EVENING JEWEL in second place with a couple of other horses and putting the entire field to come in third for his trifecta. He got paid well for his efforts and also hit (2) pick threes on the day plus the late daily double. As for me, BLIND LUCK saved what had been a trying day of handicapping and close but no cigar selections.

After a wonderful sun filled, fun filled day in the infield...we met up with old friends for a leisurely dinner and I was asleep by 10 p.m.

It's rainy...thunder and lightning awoke me early and more is on the way as I write this Derby morning. Have a great day and good luck to the Lady Cards softball team, that starts a three game series against USF today. Keep swinging, Chelsea!

HAPPY DERBY DAY ALL!

Wriiten by Sonja
5/1/10

Cardinal lacrosse downs Connecticut 15-8

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Katie Oliverio is third in the nation in assists. She had four in the Friday win over the Huskies.

The Cards came out knowing that any chance of getting to the Big East tournament would only be possible if they won against UConn. They did not disappoint, rallying from a 4-4 halftime tie to put the Huskies away. Bergan Foley led the attack with 6 goals for Louisville (9-5, 2-3) and Liz Lovejoy added 4.

Foley is the all-time leading scorer in Louisville lacrosse and has already set a new season record for goals this year with one game to go. The Cards return to action on Sunday for their final regular season game, hosting Syracuse. If they beat the Orange, they are in the Big East tournament.

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Much has been made about the sudden decision of high school basketball star Marquis Teague to go to UK in 2011 when it appeared Louisville was the front runner for his services. CARDINAL COUPLE doesn't usually do a lot of coverage on men's basketball but there are a lot of eyebrows being raised about the 180 Teague pulled. Always hate to lose a good one and it is only a verbal. We'll see what uniform he's wearing in 2011.

Written by Paul
4/24/10