Friday Cardinal Couple -- More Bears

FRIDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

-Just another bunch of Bears.

-Lacrosse today!

Just when the Lady Cards thought it was safe to continue up the trail to the NCAA Women's Basketball Tournament title, another bunch of Bears are in the path. This group is of west coast variety...Cal Bears...and, while not as tall or widely known as their Texas counterparts...still just as dangerous and appear to be fully out of hibernation.

Coached by relatively unknown (but hugely successful) Lindsay Gottlieb, Cal has put up a 32-3 record on the season...losing only to Duke in early December, Stanford on

January 8th. and UCLA in their second game of the PAC-12 Tournament.

In the NCAA Tournament, they thumped Fresno State 90-76 and squeaked by South Florida in overtime 82-78 in Lubbock. USF came from 10 points down late to force the extra five minutes.

Moving to Spokane for the regional, UC sent LSU home with a 73-63 defeat and eliminated underdog Georgia 65-62 in overtime. They were the #2 seed in the Spokane regional and avoided a third game with #1 seed Stanford in the regional finals after Georgia pulled the upset.

"It's hard to argue that Louisville is the hottest team in the country right now. They're clearly an exciting offensive team. They put a lot of fine players on the court at one time and we're going to have a challenge to slow them down." -- Lindsay Gottlieb

(We should also note we contacted Ms. Gottlieb about an e-mail interview several days ago. One of her administrative interns sent a response e-mail that Lindsay would be glad to answer the questions we sent later that evening. That was two days ago. It is the left coast, however. Or maybe we just got 'catfished'...)

It's California's first trip to the Final Four and Lindsay's as well. She was Joanne Boyle's assistant at UC before taking the UCSB head coaching job a few years ago. When Boyle departed, Gottlieb was offered and accepted the job last season.

So which Bear will try and keep Shoni contained? We expect

Cal sophomore Brittany Boyd will draw that unenviable assignment. Boyd is also the second leading scorer for UC with 12.6 ppg a game. Top honors go to Layshia Clarendon with 16.4 points a contest. The Bears average 72.8 points a game while allowing just 58.3...and outrebounded their foes prior to Louisville by 11.3 a game.

Throw all that out the window and give it a David Akers kick as well. Statistics have meant nothing to the Lady Cards over the last three games.

Purdue...rough, tough and BIG 10 Tournament champs. Currently back in West Lafayette or on Spring Break. A #4 see that played like a #14.

Baylor. Oh, yes...Baylor. #1 seed, #1 in the nation and #1 in most fans hearts and minds. A 28-point favorite in Vegas to be UofL. Someone forgot to tell Shoni, Nita and Mo. Mulkey getting some early, unexpected flower-planting and mulching time in currently...when she's not whining on podcasts or TV about the horrific abuse that her precious darlings received from those mean-spirited Cardinal girls...and the unjust, horrific referees who conspired to turn a women's basketball game into a MMA event.

Tennessee. Came out bewildered, baffled and blown away by Louisville's defense and audacity to challenge them on the boards. Holly Warlick did a fine job in her first year as the head Volunteer. Maybe she needed a few more hours of community service or a book on the Schimmel sisters. She's back in "Orangeville"...probably hoping Mercedes Russell missed viewing the game.

Win or lose Sunday, it's been one heck of a fun and wild ride for Louisville WBB. The team that so many turned their back on after the loss to Kentucky. A guard that people said weighed too much, shot too often and never played defense. A coach who couldn't prevent opponent runs, didn't play the right combinations and wasn't kind and gentle enough with his players. A collection of not-ready-for prime time underachievers and timid prima donnas...according to some. Or thugs and villains, according to others.

A team in the Final Four.

They may be ugly ducklings and party crashers...but they are OUR quackers and interlopers...and we couldn't be prouder, happier or anymore in love with them.

They've been through the season from hell, as far as injuries go...but still smile like heavenly angels and play like possessed demons.

And all you can do is just smile. Hollywood couldn't have written a better script or plot line. Just one question, if it were to go to film...

Who would play the evil Waco witch Kim?  

-Paulie

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Lacrosse returns home today after a month on the road to play rival Notre Dame. Got two great interviews with Cortnee Daley and Kay Morissette Wednesday on campus while waiting for the WBB bus to pull up at the SAC...but you'll have to listen to the CARDINAL COUPLE RADIO SHOW Saturday to hear them. All I can say is...if I liked lacrosse before, I'm absolutely enamored with it now. Two very nice, polite and exuberant young women, those two.

We think you should go to the Lacrosse game today. Starts at 5 p.m. You're gonna have a good time and you may even see a couple of CARDINAL COUPLE staffers out there as well. Or chimps. We never really know for sure...

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Thursday Cardinal Couple - Is It Sunday Yet? Edition

THURSDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

( Jeff McAdams dashes from Ulmer to the lacrosse fields and from New Orleans to the presentation of the naming of the conference UofL will spend a year in for Thursday's edition of CARDINAL COUPLE. He even made stops to help little old ladies dodge traffic on Cardinal Blvd. and help Mo off the bus at the SAC...that's our guy!)



I hope its not Sunday yet, because that would mean we missed some more good Cardinal Athletics in the meantime.

Softball Swings for State Swagger

While the Louisville Baseball team forced an inning of bonus baseball before falling to our neighbors to the east, Sandy Pearsall's Softball squad had better luck, and continues the great week in Louisville Athletics.

The scoring started in the second, and yes it involved a ball landing on the very crowded outfield berm. Taner Fowler got on base by being hit by a pitch, with Hannah Kiyohara following with a walk.  The setup in place, Kayla "De La" Soles put one over the left field fence to put three on the board.

The Cards put up another couple of runs in the 5th when Jordan Trimble singled to start the inning.  Alicja Wolny followed with a deep shot to right that didn't quite clear the fence, but did drop in and was more the sufficient to get Trimble home.  Wolny made it to 3rd.  Unfortunately, she got caught at home in a fielder's choice by Maggie Ruckenbrod.  The Ruck advanced to second, where she's usually throwing people out from her catcher's position, on a Taner Fowler sacrifice.  Hannah Kiyohara's single got her to 2nd on an overthrow at first and gave Maggie the chance to make it home for the final Card point of the game.

The Kentucky Wildcats picked up their only score in the 6th inning, but otherwise "Good Carl" Caralisa Connell was in control in the circle.

The Softball squad next take a trip to New England for a three game series with St. Johns with a noon and 2pm double-header on Saturday the 6th and a noon followup game on the 7th.  They'll then scoot over to play a noon and 2:30 double-header on Tuesday the 9th with Providence in Rhode Island.  Game times won't conflict with any Final Four basketball games in either bracket, and ESPN3 is apparently streaming the St. Johns games, so this would be a good time to check out the Softball Cards without suffering from a wind chill factor.

All's Quiet on the Western...er...the Lacrosse Front

Kellie Young's Lacrosse squad managed to draw a large media response to the Yum! Center on campus for their practice Wednesday afternoon, though rumor is that there were other goings on in the building...something about a broken leg?

Lacrosse has had a good break between games, giving them a good chance to practice for Notre

Dame's arrival at the UofL Lacrosse Stadium, adjacent to the Yum! Center on campus tomorrow (Friday) at 5pm.  6/7 ranked Notre Dame continues the steady stream of quality opponents that the Louisville Laxers are coming up against.

Marquette comes to join the fun on Sunday for a noon first draw, which leaves plenty of time to check out the Lacrosse game and still get home or wherever you're going, to be glued to a TV at 6:30.

Cardinal Couple Crashes the Crescent City

While much of CardNation is heading to Atlanta, at least a trio of Cardinal Couple writers are travelling to Lou Orleans for the Women's Final Four.  Jenny, Sandy and myself have travel plans in place to be in NOLA Sunday through Tuesday to cover Jeff Walz and the Louisville GiantSlayers as they hope to continue to shock the basketball world. Paulie will man the fort back here in Louisville...feeding the staff chimps and hopefully getting reports from us as time allows.

The fun continues Sunday evening at 6:30pm for the Cardinal Women's Basketball team.  Opinions have certainly turned as I note that all five of the ESPNw analysts have now picked our 5 seed Cardinals to beat the 2 seed Cal Bears.

If you're not making it to Nawlin's, all of the games will be on ESPN.  We're in the first game at 6:30 Eastern Time on Sunday, as mentioned.  The second game, the ever-expected UConn vs Notre Dame matchup should tip around 8:30.  The finals, hopefully an all-Big-East affair, will be Tuesday with an 8:30 Eastern Time tip.

New Conference Name

We've known for a while now that the seven Catholic schools are buying out the Big East name from the current conference.  What wasn't known is what the new name for what remains of the Big East was going to be.  The announcement has occurred, and the result is, "The American Athletic Conference".

The conference administration has already stated that they don't intend to use an acronym, instead referring to it in common usage as "The American".  I'm skeptical that the general public will follow
along and will instead use the acronym AAC, as is common practice with many conferences.

In any case, its only of minimal concern for us in Louisville given our imminent switch to the ACC.  The announcement on the Big East's website makes no mention and doesn't use any of the logos of the departing schools such as Pitt, Syracuse, Notre Dame and Louisville...no surprise, really, and I can't say that I blame them.

( An excellent report...by Jeff today. After an extensive review of the CARDINAL COUPLE Pick 'Em Challenge for the NCAA Women's Basketball Tournament, it seems our intrepid writer is in second place...as well..with a record of 50-10 as the team roll into New Orleans. Keith B. hangs on to a 52-8 mark to lead the way and Steve O. is in line for the show money at 49-11.

Also a great time for Paulie earlier Wednesday at the SAC Building for the greeting of the victorious WBB team. Lots of good interviews for our Saturday Radio Show and I also made it on a video! Several times. See if you can pick me out...link below)

Paulie

LINK:
CARDS RETURN TO LOUISVILLE


FINALLY.....WHAT ARE THE CHANCES OF THIS? CARDINAL COUPLE CO-OWNER SONJA ISN'T IN THE RUNNING TO WIN THE PICK 'EM...HER 43-17 RECORD IS A BIT BEHIND THE LEADERS...BUT HER FINAL FOUR?

UOFL, CAL, NOTRE DAME, UCONN.

SHE LIKES THE CARDS TO WIN IT ALL...

(SHE ALSO HATES THE SINGLE POINT PER WIN SYSTEM WE USE.)

ARE YOU LISTENING, SHONI? SONJA SAYS TITLE 'EM UP!

(PIC OF HER BRACKET)

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Cardinal Couple

THURSDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

( Jeff McAdams catches us up on Lacrosse, Softball, his recruiting efforts and the real MVP of the Purdue game in today's CARDINAL COUPLE edition. Be sure to look for him in the Crescent Hill Easter Parade Saturday on Frankfort Ave...he'll be driving the jeep full of chimps tossing bananas and soft-boiled eggs at the crowd (or to the crowd) lined along the parade route. We're hoping he told parade officials about the entry.) 

Also, today's photo montage is from Austin Lassell's work at The Cardinal -- UofL's student newspaper. We gratefully acknowledge his fine work and thank him and The Cardinal for allowing us to present these action shots of the Purdue game to you! You can discover more of his work at The Cardinal or at his site www.austinlassell.com

 

*** Upcoming Spring Sports Events

*** Good Carl Gets an Honor or Two

*** A Story of a New WBB Season Ticket Holder?

*** Asia Taylor as MVP of the Purdue Game?

Spring Sports Schedule Update

After a multi-game visit to the mid-Atlantic seaboard, tangling with two quality opponents, Lacrosse gets a week break with no games this weekend.  The mid-Atlantic visit included competition with Loyola (Md.) and Georgetown, both ranked teams.  The Cards dropped both games, but both were very hard fought and respectable showings.  With those losses, Louisville Lacrosse has dropped back just out of the rankings once again, but are continuing to receive votes.  The next matchup brings #7 ranked Notre Dame into town for the first Cardinal home Lacrosse game since March 6th.  Almost a month without competing on the UofL Lacrosse Stadium, with the first draw next Friday (not tomorrow), the 5th at 5pm.

Softball, on the other hand, has a busy week ahead of them.  Syracuse comes for a three game visit
starting Friday afternoon with a double-header at 2pm and 4pm, and a followup on Saturday at noon.  Then, Wednesday the 3rd, at 6pm, the Kentucky Wildcats come to play.  With a ranking of 20 or 21, and a first week RPI of 8, our Lexington friends are not a team to be trifled with.  This should be a good game, with Louisville sitting on #11 rankings and a 10th place RPI.  I believe the Kentucky game is a ticketed game, so don't expect to come waltzing into Ulmer like you normally do for a game.

Good Carl Gets an Honor or Two

Caralisa "Carl" Connell has come into some critique from Paulie and I for being hot and cold in her pitching.  Sometimes she's amazing, but sometimes we're glad Rachel Le Coq is around for relief duties.

It seems that we've seen more of "Good Carl" than "Bad Carl" recently, a trend that will get no complaints around these parts, of course.  This week in particular, Caralisa Connell was named to Big East Pitcher of the Week, and has also picked up the CollegeSportsMadness.com National Pitcher of the Week honor.

Here's to hoping we see more of "Good Carl" in the coming weeks.

A Story of a New WBB Season Ticket Holder?

I believe it was at the Women's Basketball Tip-Off luncheon that Jeff Walz encouraged the crowd to bring friends to basketball games, saying that, if we could get people to come to a game, he felt like it would be entertaining enough that people would want to then buy season tickets.  I certainly believe that UofL Women's Basketball is one the best values for entertainment dollars around, and my family has been season tickets holders for a number of years now based on that exact scenario...we decided to go to a UofL vs UConn game back in the days when Katie Olson and Jazz Covington were playing.  We had such a great time that we got season tickets starting the next year.  Despite this experience, I questioned how often that reaction to coming to a game really happened.  I'm more of a believer, now.

I, on Tuesday, was having a water-cooler conversation with a relatively new employee at my place of employment...except we weren't at an actual water-cooler...just having a random conversation in the hallway, so I guess it was a figurative-water-cooler conversation.  Let's, unimaginatively, say this co-worker's name is "Bob".  Another co-worker who's very well known as a UofL fan walked by.  We'll equally unimaginatively call him, "Glenn".  I asked Glenn, as he walked by if he was going to the game, mentioned the $5 endzone ticket promotion they were doing.  Glenn said he wasn't going to be able to make it due to other committments.  Bob, however, perked up his ears at the idea of $5 tickets to the game.  Bob and his wife had already lined someone up to watch the kids and were looking for something interesting, and hopefully not terribly expensive, to do that evening.  $5 tickets to a basketball game at the KFC Yum! Center during tournament time seemed like a great idea.  I filled him in on the details and he said he thought it sounded like a good idea and that he'd suggest it to his wife and that he thought they would probably go.

I made my way by his office yesterday morning (Wednesday) and asked if they had gone to the game.  The response was effusive.  He and his wife and his mother-in-law had gone to the game and had end-zone tickets and they loved it.  They had a wonderful time.  Bob immediately asked about season ticket prices and almost didn't believe me when I told him how little I paid for my season tickets.  He was equally floored when I told him where my tickets were and that other tickets in other sections of seating would be even less expensive.  We then proceeded to talk about the Louisville team, and about how the women's game is a little different from the men's (no 10-second backcourt violation...30 vs 35 second shot clock...generally awful officiating, though not usually as bad as it was for that game...how all of this combined to change the overall feel of the game).  At the end of the conversation, Bob said he thought they would probably get season tickets for next year.

Huh, it really does work.

Asia Taylor as MVP of the Purdue Game?

Maybe the most pivotal moment of the whole contest between Purdue and UofL may have gone largely unnoticed Tuesday night.

Before the game, Asia Taylor was standing near the scorer's table with a couple of the other injured UofL players.  Dee Kantner, the head official for the evening, approached and said something to Asia
that I couldn't hear from my seats.  Asia got a surprised look on her face and made some sort of comment in response.  Dee responded in a way that seemed reassuring.  At that point, Asia picked a couple of basketballs off of the cart of balls used for warm-ups, looked them over, bounced them a couple of times, considered them further, and then handed one of them to Dee.

Dee checked the ball over, bounced it a couple of times, nodded, and promptly went on to use that ball as the game ball.

I think congratulations are owed to Asia Taylor, number 31, who's judicious selection of the game ball, may very well have played a critical role in the advancement of our Louisville Cardinals to the Sweet 16 over Purdue Tuesday night.

Of course, it might have had something to do with Sara Hammond's double-double, but I'd like to think that it wouldn't have been possible without Asia Taylor's critical contribution.

Way to go ATayy, you're tops in my book.

--Jeff McAdams

(Great story on ATayy and the newest Cardinal fans. We're pretty sure...based on the practice reports we're getting...that #31 will be picking up a lot of MVP honors for games in 2013-14 if she can keep up with the progress we're hearing that she's displaying during practice. Good job, Asia and you are still Sonja's favorite Lady Card. And, apparantly the darling of a lot of other fans' out there as well...)

Saturday Cardinal Couple -- Lacrosse falls at Loyola

SATURDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

-Lacrosse loses at Loyola

-Rowing ranked #18

-Worrell, Kylliainen with top 10 finishes in NCAA

-Softball heads to Oklahoma

-CARDINAL COUPLE RADIO

Louisville Lacrosse registered a strong first half against Loyola (MD) Friday night but took the loss 11-6 in BIG EAST Lacrosse
action. The Cards fall to 7-2, 0-1 and Loyola improves to 3-5, 1-0.

Louisville started strong...Erica Eipp scoring just 33 seconds into the contest and Eipp added a second score at the 23:43 mark. UofL increased the margin to 3-0 after Katie Oliverio found the back of the net just a minute and 12 seconds later.

Loyola responded with two straight scores, though, and the Cards didn't find the net again until Cardinal leading scorer Nikki Boltja connected to make it 4-2 with 6:11 left in the first half. Boltja would close out the Cards scoring with her second goal 3:41 before halftime. UofL took a 5-3 lead into the locker room after 30 minutes.

The Greyhounds began the second half strong and ran off six straight goals on UofL to lead 8-5 with 17:42 to play. Cortnee Daley got the Cards within two at 8-6 with eight minutes to play...but Loyola registered the final three goals of the contest to down the Cards by five in the BIG EAST opener for both teams.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

The Louisville rowing squad has broken into the top 20 in the nation, getting a #18 ranking by the CRCA/USRowing Coaches Poll. It's the third highest ranking in Cardinal Rowing history.

The Cards competed well in the the Oak Ridge Cardinal Invitational...winning four races overall and challenging #1 Virginia and #14 Notre Dame in Varsity Four and Varsity Eight contests last weekend.

The Row-Cards return to action on the road (or water, I guess)against Tennessee on March 30th.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Louisville women's swimming with a strong showing in the NCAA Championships in Day Two of action in Indianapolis.

Freshman Kelsi Worrell finished fourth in the 100-fly and Tanja Kylliainen recorded a 10th place time in the 400-IM. She was matched against an NCAA champion and two swimmers from the 2012 Olympics.

The 800-free relay team of Breann McDowell, Lindsay La Porte, Krissie Brandenburg and Abigail Chin narrowed missed setting a school record in the event with a great time of 7:18:33.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Softball heads to #1 in the nation Oklahoma (27-1) for a three game series this weekend. Against always-tough BIG 12 competition, the Cards will play a doubleheader against the Sooners on Saturday beginning at 3 p.m. and a single game Sunday.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Saturday CARDINAL COUPLE Radio Hour will take a look at the NCAA Women's Tournament that begins Saturday morning and have recaps on lacrosse, softball and also interviews from the Monday Selection Show at the KFC YUM! Center. It'll be a busy Saturday...Paulie will be headed down to the KFC YUM! Center after the show to try and get a few interviews at the shoot-arounds for all four teams in Louisville for the Sunday and Tuesday games.

Unfortunately, the practice sessions are not open to the fans like they are in the NCAA Men's Tournament. WE think this is a silly and stupid rule. Why not let the fans in to observe? Even with a ticket, if nothing else. We hope the NCAA Women's Committee will change this archaic rule next year.

And, you still have time to get your tickets for the LADY CARDS game against MTSU on Sunday at 2:30 p.m. Why not head down to the KFC YUM! Center Ticket Office and secure your seats today? Last report was that about 6000 seats had been sold. Let's fill that lower bowl in red, Cardinal fans!

You also have time to get your entry in for the CARDINAL COUPLE NCAA Women's Basketball Pick 'Em Contest. First game is 11 a.m. EDT. Leave your picks in the comments section or e-mail them to:

cardinalcouple@insightbb.com

WE had a question from a reader who entered but does not have a Chili's nearby. (We ARE giving a $25 Chili's Gift Card to the winner.) They wanted to know what they could have instead. We came up with several options. Here's the top ten alternatives.

1) A signed copy of Jeff McAdams singing "Danny Boy" with the Dixon Brothers Merl and Daryl and Bill The Goat.
2) Two tickets to Paradise, compliments of Eddie Money
3) A couple of plastic ducks that Sonja brought home from a recent wedding reception.
4) $25 worth of script...good at the CARDINAL COUPLE store
5) A $25 gift card to Panera. I'll talk Bread Boy into one.
6) An hour-long rebroadcast of CARDINAL COUPLE Radio (in Latin).
7. Timmy the Intern washes your car.
8. A $25 gift card to BP.
9. MArkie MArk spends an hour with you discussing hair grooming and economic indicators for 2013-14.
10. Unlimited use of one of the "bouncies" at the next UofL fan event.

NO REASON TO DELAY! Get that entry in pronto!

Paulie


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Thursday Cardinal Couple

Thursday Cardinal Couple - The Its-Supposed-to-be-Spring-Now Edition

( Jeff McAdams has the Thursday CARDINAL COUPLE report on UofL women's sports. He likes to "get in the mood" for each segment...so he started by typing with a lacrosse stick, went outside Shoni's dorm and added the second part...then ran over to Ulmer Stadium for his softball recap and finally ended up sitting in the dark, cold Trager Field Hockey Stadium with his laptop...juggling field hockey balls. That's dedication! Campus security finally stopped following him when he hopped into the Jeep and drove to the Holy Grale. )

On deck today

***Lacrosse

***Shoni

***Softball

***Field Hockey

Lacrosse

After solid wins...let's call them what they really were...beatdowns...of Presbyterian College and Detroit, and an eeked-out, come-back win against a good Drexel team, Louisville Lacrosse has made an appearance in the national rankings again.  Sneaking in the last position on both polls, this ties the highest Louisville has ever appeared in the rankings with their appearance at 20th a few weeks ago.

After appearing in the rankings previously, the Louisville Lacrosse squad headed out west and lost a tight game against Denver, who is receiving votes, but not ranked, in both polls.  Drexel is also receiving votes in the deBeer Women's Media Poll.

The road ahead is a lot harder for the Lacrosse crew as the only opponents on the rest of the schedule that aren't at least receiving votes in the polls are Cincinnati, Villanova, and Marquette.  That leaves, on the Cards schedule either ranked or getting votes...#16 Loyola (MD), #8 Georgetown, #7 Notre Dame, #5 Syracuse, with Connecticut and Rutgers getting votes.  I'm looking at the ILWCA poll here, the deBeers numbers are a little different...Rutgers is #19 in that one, for example.  Regardless, the takeaway here, is that Big East play is tough in Lacrosse.  Looking forward, it gets no easier in the ACC as Notre Dame and Syracuse will be waiting there for us, and we'll also have to contend with Duke, North Carolina, and Virginia who are all ranked...and well ranked, at that.

Back to the present though, Lacrosse is over the hump on their road trip with three games gone and all chalked up in the victory column.  Loyola (Md.) is up next in Baltimore, MD on Friday at 6pm.

Shoni

Shoni Schimmel collected another honor today, in the form of an All-Region 1 nominee to the WBCA Coaches All-America team.  The WBCA Coaches All-America Team is a ten member selection, picked from the 52 candidates picked from the eight regions.  The announcement of the final team will be made during the Final Four celebration, April 6th in New Orleans.

Softball

Whitney "Arion Nation"
put two outta there Weds.

Kudos to Sandy Pearsall's Softball squad for tangling with the IU Hoosiers...and the cold...and coming out victorious against both.

You can credit much of this one to Whitney Arion, who accounted for all 4 RBIs in the 4-1 victory...and, oh yeah, two of those Runs that she Batted In were herself.  Arion started it off for the Cards with a lead-off shot over the right field fence in the 3rd to bring the Cards back to all-square with the Hoosiers who put one over the left field fence in the first frame for their only score of the game.  She followed it up in the 4th, by following Kayla "de la" Soles and Taner "her mother thinks I look like Zach Galifianakis" Fowler who each had one-out singles to get on base.  Arion put this one over the right field fence to bring everyone home.

Hot and cold Caralisa "Carl" Connell was hot in the cold tonight as she went the distance with 9 Ks and only allowing three hits.

The Softball Cards hit the road again this weekend with a three game series at Oklahoma.  Those festivities start Saturday with two games, and the third on Sunday.  If you're going to be at the KFC Yum! Center cheering on the Women's Basketball Team...and really, what possible excuse could you possibly have for not being there...we'll have to make due on our own for getting softball news.  Sean Moth with be announcing the games Sunday, but as its an NCAA event, he has to be neutral, which presumably means there won't be announcements about other UofL team scores.

Field Hockey

For the first time in weeks, I've got nothing about Field Hockey to talk about.  I may be going through withdrawal symptoms later, but I'll stay strong.  You can check us out again Saturday at 11am on the Crescent Hill Radio - Cardinal Couple Radio Hour and see how I'm doing kicking this Field Hockey signing announcement habit.

Jeff McAdams

(Nice work today, Jeff! We'll do all we can to help you go "cold turkey" on field hockey on Saturday's show by having you recap ALL the current and upcoming games in Saturday NCAA women's basketball action. In Cantonese...)

WE'D ALSO LIKE TO REMIND YOU THAT THE CARDINAL COUPLE WOMEN'S NCAA TOURNAMENT ENTRIES NEED TO BE IN BY SATURDAY 11 AM. TURN THEM IN AT 10:55 and then listen to the CARDINAL COUPLE RADIO HOUR on CRESCENT HILL RADIO.

ENTRIES CAN BE SENT TO cardinalcouple@insightbb.com  or entered in the comments section of today's article. You can hear us babble live or in the archives of www.crescenthillradio.com

BE THE ENVY OF ALL THE KIDS ON THE BLOCK. Enter today!

Paulie

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Monday Cardinal Couple -- Lacrosse wins at Drexel

MONDAY CARDINAL COUPLE


 TOURNAMENT NEWS:  Louisville WBB is a #5 seed in the NCAA Women's Basketball Tournament and will face #12 seed Middle Tennessee on Sunday at 2:30 p.m. in the KFC YUM! Center. The other teams headed to Louisville are #4 seed Purdue and #13 seed Liberty. Jenny O'Bryan will have much more on this in the TUESDAY Edition of CARDINAL COUPLE. Get your tickets!


-Lacrosse goes to 7-1 with 9-8 win at Drexel

-Rowing gets four wins at Oak Ridge Cardinal Invitational

-Soggy softball stats

-Selection show tonight at KFC YUM! Center for Lady Cards

The University of Louisville lacrosse team once again overcame the elements and a worthy opponent with a 9-8 win over Drexel in Philadelphia Sunday.

The Cards started strong with freshman Kay Morissette scoring the first three goals of the game in the first eight minutes of play...a "hat trick" in hockey terms...to give the Cards a nice early advantage. The Dragons were not going to let Louisville dominate them on their home turf, however, and responded with three straight scores to knot the contest.

Monica Negron and Katie Oliverio returned the favor for UofL to give the Cards a 5-3 advantage with ten minutes left in the first half. Drexel roared back with three in a row to take a 6-5 advantage into the end of the first half.

Morissette found the back of the net six minutes into the second half to tie the contest and just 34 seconds later...fellow freshman Erica Eipp connected to give Louisville a 7-6 lead. Drexel countered with a score to tie it at the 22:18 mark.

Morissette had four goals for the Cards in the win.

Eipp broke free to regain the lead for Louisville and Colleen O' Malley added a goal with 10:39 left that had Louisville leading 9-7. The Dragons scored their final goal to draw within one with 7:10 showing on the clock. Solid ball control by the Cards prevented any Drexel scoring opportunities the rest of the way.

Freshmen Eipp and Morissette accounted for seven of the nine Louisville scores. The Cards held a 23-12 advantage on shots.

At 7-1, this is the best start in Louisville Lacrosse history and ties the best eight game stretch in Cardinal history also. The 2011 squad had a 7-1 stretch also.

Louisville returns to the road for a BIG EAST conference match for a 6 p.m. tussle against #11 Loyola (MD) on Friday, March 22nd. 

( Jeff McAdams has written a moving article about the tragic Seton Hill lacrosse deaths and posted a link to it in our Sunday comments sections. Please take the time to read it. Our hearts go out to the Seton Hill Lacrosse community and fans over this tragic and saddening loss of three lives.)

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Louisville rowing has started the spring season and kicked it off with the Oak Ridge Cardinal Invitational on Melton Hill Lake in Oak Ridge, TN. The two day event capped a week long spring-training for the team and saw Louisville compete against Virginia and West Virginia on Saturday morning, Duke and Eastern Michigan Saturday afternoon and Notre Dame, Kansas, Buffalo and Miami (FL) on Sunday.

Virginia is the 2012 NCAA Champs and Notre Dame won the BIG EAST championships in 2012.

The Cards won four races in the Saturday afternoon sessions. Duke won the other two. 

Louisville had five seconds in six events Saturday morning. Although the Cards did not beat Virginia in any of the morning events, they did beat West Virginia in all six.

On Sunday, the girls had four runner-up finishes in six events. Notre Dame won four events and Kansas the other two.

The Cards will return to Melton Hill on Saturday, March 30th to face Tennessee.

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Even though Louisville Softball got rained out Sunday and it's not looking promising for today...we managed to get some statistics for you on the Cardinals season so far. Louisville is 23-3 on the season and 11-0 in Ulmer Stadium.

BATTING

Batting Average                Hits                 RBI's

1. Katie Keller .476       1. Keller 35         1. Keller 27
2. Alicja Wolny . 444     2. Wolny 32         2. Ruckenbrod 25
3. Maggie R. .408          3. Maggie R. 31    3. Wolny 21


Runs Scored                      Home Runs       Walks

1. Keller 35                   1. Keller 7           1. Wolny 19
2. Wolny 22                   2. Wolny 6           2. Keller 16
3. Jordan Trimble 20     3. Maggie R. 4      3. (four with 8)


PITCHING

                        ERA    W/L   Games   Starts   BB   Strikeouts

Rachel LeCoq     1.07   9-1        16        11       11      42
Caralisa Connell 2.02   14-2      20        15       46     101
Smithson-Willet 99.00  0-0         1          0        0        0

Louisville is batting .344 on the season while holding opponents to .216 and has hit 24 home runs.

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Join Cardinal fans and the team tonight at the KFC YUM! Center for the NCAA Selection Show Viewing party. Doors open at 6 p.m. and the show begins at 7 p.m. Bouncies for the kids and face painting also!

Coach Jeff Walz will do his weekly radio show with Matt Andrews there as well...beginning at 7 p.m.

Should be a fun family-oriented event tonight. Several CARDINAL COUPLE columnists will be there as well and Jenny O'Bryan...back in Louisville after failing to make the Indiana Fever WNBA team...will have coverage in the Tuesday edition of CARDINAL COUPLE. 

Jeff and Jenny will attempt to keep track of Paulie
as he roams the KFC YUM! Center with a recording devicei...
the odds are he gives them the slip and ends up in trouble.

We'll also be roaming the stands and court to get fan and (hopefully) player and coaching reactions that we'll play on the Saturday radio show.  

This event has come a long way from the days when it took place in the Parrish House. Where will Louisville be seeded and who will be the opponents headed to Louisville for the 1st and 2nd rounds of action?

If you can't attend, the Selection Show will be on ESPN at 7 p.m. this evening.

Also, congrats to the UofL men's basketball team...a #1 seed, headed to Lexington for Thursday opening NCAA Action and the #1 see out of all 68 teams! Way to go, guys!

Paulie

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Sunday Cardinal Couple -- Softball, Lacrosse in action today

SUNDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

-Softball (hopefully) against Wisconsin this morning

-Lacrosse travels to Drexel for Sunday match

-Way to go, guys!

-Cardinal Couple Radio recap

*****************************EDITOR NOTE*******************

SOFTBALL TODAY AT ULMER STADIUM HAS BEEN CANCELLED DUE TO INCLEMENT WEATHER IN LOUISVILLE

NO SOFTBALL TODAY!


Weather permitting, the University of Louisville softball team will kick off Day 3 of the Louisville Softball Classic against Wisconsin at 10 a.m. this morning. Rain is forecasted for the Louisville area Sunday and, indeed, it was raining early this morning when Paulie padded out to get the morning paper.

Louisville (23-3) took the day off Saturday after two wins on Friday. The Cards extended their win streak at Ulmer Stadium to 11-0 with a exciting 4-2 win over UNC and then blasted EMU 6-1 in the second game.

Louisville will close out the Classic on Monday against Iowa at 1:30 and also will face Indiana Wednesday at Ulmer with a 6 p.m. game.

Iowa, Indiana, Wisconsin...didn't Sandy get the memo that Louisville is headed to the ACC instead of the Big 10? Oh well, domination of one conference at a time...

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Louisville Lacrosse is 6-1 on the season and faces another 6-1 squad today at 1 p.m in Philly against the Drexel Dragons.

Drexel is 1-1 in their last two, falling to Maryland-Baltimore County and then downing Colgate 12-7. Our guess is that if Rachel LeCoq "Le Gran Le Coq" was still at Colgate...the teeth-cleaners would have won.

The Cards have won their last two...both on the road...romping Presbyterian in Georgia and demolishing Detroit Wednesday 19-2.

Louisville is ranked #5 nationally in scoring offense and scoring margin. The Dragons are #14 in the nation in scoring defense.

Drexel was a pre-season pick to finish third in the Colonial Athletic Conference. Kelli Joran leads the Dragons with 19 goals on the season. Goalie Teresha Bradley is allowing just 7.36 goals allowed in seven games.

Our thoughts are with the team, staff and students of Seton Hill University...who lost their lacrosse coach, unborn son and bus driver in a crash yesterday while on the road.

http://www.cnn.com/2013/03/16/us/pennsylvania-bus-crash/index.html



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We'd be remiss if we didn't extend our hearty congratulations to the Louisville men's basketball team who won the BIG EAST Tournament last night in New York's Madison Square Garden with 78-61 win of Syracuse.

Back-to-back titles for Pitino's players and back-to-back MVP Tournament awards to Peyton Siva.

After a rough start that had Louisville down 35-23 at the half, the Cards dominated the final 15 minutes of the second half, going on a 24-3 run that was incredible to watch and led 56-48 with 8:51 to play. Louisville would continue to increase that margin and was up 73-55 with two minutes left.

How about freshman Montrezl Harrell with 20 points? The Cards have won their last 10 in a row and if they're not a #1 seed in the NCAA Tournament, maybe the top seed of ALL the teams playing...somebody has some explaining to do.

Great job...Peyton, Russ, Montrezl, Gorgui, Luke and crew!

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We found parking on Frankfort Avenue and stumbled in for another Cardinal Couple Radio show yesterday and had a lively time discussing Louisville women's basketball, softball, lacrosse, swimming, the Selection Show Party and first and second NCAA Women's Basketball Tournament at the KFC YUM! Center.

Down one co-host...(Jenny was in Indianapolis trying out for the WNBA Indiana Fever squad)...we still managed to make it through the broadcast in one piece. Thanks to the brilliant Jeff McAdams and also to Coach Walz for the segment. And, Monkberry Moon Delight...in the control booth keeping us on the air and inserting the taped clips.

Did ya miss the live feed? Not to worry, it's available on the Crescent Hill Radio Soundcloud.

www.crescenthillradio.com

Paulie

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Cardinal Couple Thursday

Thursday Cardinal Couple

( Jeff McAdams...with the Thursday edition of CARDINAL COUPLE ...continues his fascination with sports that sticks are used in by catching us up on Field Hockey signings and Lacrosse's dominating win over Detroit. BE sure to catch his sparkling commentary and witty quips on the weekly broadcasts of CARDINAL COUPLE...when he joins Jenny O'Bryan and myself Saturday 11 a.m. for our pre-St. Patrick's Day hour-long celebration of Cardinal athletic events that have taken place in Ireland. It could be a short segement. We've got a backup plan, though...Jeff's busily rehearsing the lyrics to "Danny Boy" and will sing the song on the air with Bill the Goat and THE WALKING DEAD actors Merl and Daryl. You won't want to miss it!)

Field Hockey Signing Day Update

We've reached the finish line of the Field Hockey signing updates with the sixth and final announcement of signed recruits.  This weeks recruit comes to us from Putnam Valley, NY.  I don't think it would be fair to call Putnam Valley a suburb of New York City, but at only about an hour's car drive north of midtown Manhattan, I suspect it still falls under the sphere of influence of the Big Apple quite a bit.

Erin McCrudden will be joining us in the fall with a string of accolades and honors, including four years worth of experience in the USA Field Hockey program on the Futures and Futures Elite teams.

 Erin was a three sport athlete at Putnam Valley High School, playing Field Hockey in the fall, Basketball over the winter, and Lacrosse in the spring.  Clearly we're getting a great all-around athlete in Erin.  Hopefully I'll have the opportunity to find out whether that "u" in her last name is a long "u" sound, or a short one.

To wrap up, the 6 member signing class for Field Hockey consists of;
 

from Eastern Regional High School in Voorheers, NJ - Gianna Perrone, and Stephanie Byrne

from Assumption High School here in Louisville - Hailey Netherton

from Penn Manor High School in Pequea, PA - Shannon Sloss

from Shawnee High School in Medford, NJ - Elina Pereira

from Putnam Valley High School in Putnam Valley, NY - Erin McCrudden

Lacrosse Beats Up On Another Team, and Mother Nature

28 degrees and snow didn't slow down the UofL Lacrosse attack against Detroit yesterday.  Only allowing 9 shots by Detroit, Louisville won by a resounding 17 point margin, 19-2.

The Cards shut out Detroit in the first half while scoring nine.  Here's a name you're probably getting used to hearing...Nikki Boltja scored three, with two contributions each from Erika Eipp and Courtnee Daley.  The nine in the first half were rounded out by Jamie Redding and Colleen O'Malley.

Three of these goals were scored within a two and a half minute span.

Katie Oliverio and Kaylin Morrisette got into the action in the second half with two shots finding the back of the net, while Nikki Boltja picked up another pair.  Colleen O'Malley struck again in the second half.

A little extra recognition for Carissa Corbett who got on the board for the first two scores of her sophomore campaign, and Kelli Gerding, who claims her first mark in collegiate play.

Kellie Young's team continues their epic road trip with a visit to Philadelphia to play Drexel with the start set for Sunday at 1pm.

YOUR ATTENTION. PLEASE!

Jeff Walz and the University of Louisville Women's basketball team cordially invite you to join them Monday night at the KFC YUM! Center beginning at 6 p.m. for a selection show watch for the NCAA Women's Basketball Tournament drawings. Fun for all ages and we're trying to get permission to allow the S.E.P. Lady Chimps basketball team to scrimmage the Lady Cards after the show ends. Funny, but Jurich and Walz won't return our calls on this matter. Must be busy...

Have you purchased your 1st and 2nd Round NCAA Tickets yet? The event is being held at the KFC YUM! Center, you know...and Louisville will play on Sunday March 24th and probably Tuesday March 26th as well if they win their opening game.

The Cards are being projected as a 4th or 5th seed, depending which prognsticator you check out. Come enjoy the thrill and excitement of women's college basketball with your Lady Cards!

Tickets are available at www.ncaa.com , the KFC YUM! Center ticket office and more information is available at www.gocards.com . Be sure to catch our exclusive interview with Coach Walz Saturday morning on our radio show on Crescent Hill Radio!

www.crescenthillradio.com

Having a large, Cardinal-friendly crowd to see our seniors in their final apperances in the KFC YUM! Center is important in many ways and the type of turnout that Louisville can get for this huge event could have a HUGE impact of what other NCAA Women's basketball events Louisville is awarded down the road. The tickets cost a little extra, sure...but are your Lady Cards worth it? WE definitely think so and urge you to "tell a buddy and take a friend" to see UofL quest for the national championship.

Paulie

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