Wednesday Cardinal Couple -- Softball tops 'Toppers 7-2

WEDNESDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

-Ruckenbrod, Keller, Kiyohara key Cardinal 7-2 win

-Lacrosse heads to the Motor City for Detroit match

- Notre Dame 61 - UConn 59 BIG EAST FINAL.

-Whatever happened to ????


Louisville Softball improved their season record to 21-3 Tuesday with a 7-2 win over Western Kentucky Tuesday at Ulmer Stadium. Stepping up with key performances for the Cards were Maggie Ruckenbrod (three hits and one of them a home run), Hannah Kiyohara (three hits and two RBI's) and Katie Keller (homer and triple).

Louisville got on the board in the bottom of the first with Keller's blast over the left field fence, her seventh of the year. Alicja Wolny singled and scored on a Kiyohara single to lead 2-0.

The Cards increased the advantage to 4-0 in the third. Ruckenbrod drew a walk and scored on a Kiyohara double. Jennifer Esteban singled with two outs to score Kiyohara.

Make it 5-0 Cards after the fourth. Keller's triple off the right field fence started the inning and Jordan Trimble hit a fly to center to score KK.

After a two-run top of the fifth for the Toppers, Louisville finished the scoring when Wolny reached on a fielder's choice and Ruckenbrod pounded her second base-clearer of the year over the left field fence. 7-2. Cards win! Cards win!

Caralisa Connell went seven innings for her 13th win of the year...striking out five and allowing just three hits.

The Cards return to action Friday in the Louisville Softball Classic. Two games Friday, one on Sunday and one on Monday.

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Lacrosse searches for their sixth win of the season today when they engage Detroit at 2 p.m. Louisville is coming off a 23-1 victory over Presbyterian Saturday. The Titans (1-5) lost to Niagara in overtime last Thursday.

Louisville has the leading goals-per-game performer in the BIG EAST with Nikki Boltja (4.0). The cross and net Cards are fifth in the nation in scoring, scoring margin and seventh in draw controls. 

Looks like an easy afternoon for Kellie Young and the crew against the Atlantic Sun opponent. Detroit head coach Laura Maness was selected National Lacrosse Conference Coach of the Year in 2011.

It's 2013. Cards win by as many as they want with Young getting the backups some valuable game experience in the second half...

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MArkie MArk, a huge UConn fan, is sad that the Huskies
fell in the tournament. Cheer up, bro! U still headed to
the Dance!

A very exciting finish in the BIG EAST Championship game Tuesday night! Skylar Diggins stole an errant Kaleena Mosqueda-Lewis pass, drove the length of the court and found Natalie Achonwa under the basket and for a score with a second to go...giving ND the 61-59 win over Geno's Huskies.

Beating a quality opponent three times in one season no small feat. Hats off to the Irish and let the pre-St. Patrick's Day Party commence.

Hats off, also, to CURTIS FRANKLIN, who was one of three Cardinal Couple Pick 'Em contestants to get all 14 games correct. His entry preceded CARDINAL COUPLE'S Sonja's picks by eight hours and 24 hours before also-undefeated Nick B....so he wins the $25 Chili's gift card.

Billy Ray dances to the new that Curtis has
won the CARDINAL COUPLE Pick 'Em!

Curtis, a regular reader and commenter here at the COUPLE, lives in Southern Indiana and works for a grocery store...in case you're looking for a free meal. He's a huge Cardinal sports fan in general and also roots for Floyd Central High School and the Atlanta Dream. Angel is his favorite all-time Lady Cards WBB player and his current favorite Card is Bria Smith...

Congrats, Curtis! I'll have the loaded potato soup and a burger!

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The Horizon League has announced their All-Horizon League honors and junior RACHEL STORY, of the UIC Flames, has made the All-Newcomer team.

Asia, Shoni and LaToya Johnson were all teammates
of Rachel's at UofL.

Remember Rachel? She was a Card for two years from 2009-11 before transferring to University of Illinois-Chicago and sitting out a season.

She averaged 15.6 ppg and was sixth overall in the league. She had eleven 20 point performances...getting six of them in the Flames last nine games. Her 451 points so far this year and 168 made field goals rank 11th on UIC's single season leaderboard.

Glad to see the ex-Card doing so well. The guard who came out of Milwaukee is playing a little closer to home now and doing well.  

(Thanks to reader Kenny S. for the find on Rachel Story.)


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Also, the Kentucky High School Girls Sweet Sixteen Tournament starts today in Bowling Green. Good luck to all the contestants. Marion County goes in undefeated and the odds on favorite to win the events.

GET YOUR TICKETS!

Paulie

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Volleyball downs Ohio...Field Hockey shuts out Missouri State...Women's Soccer falls to UK

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CARDINAL COUPLE SATURDAY

-Volley Cards take 3-1 win over Ohio.

-Field Hockey tames the Bears 4-0

-Cats blank women's Soccer Cards 2-0

-Latest news on Rachel Story

Even though they lost the first game Friday against Ohio, the University of Louisville Volleyball team didn't give up the fight and swept the final three games against the Bobcats to take the match by scores of 23-25, 25-15, 25-22 and 25-19.

Lola Arslanbekova rebounded from her poor effort at Kentucky with 18 kills and Taylor "Brown Eyes" Brauneis contributed 26 assists and 12 digs. Kaitlynn James had a big night as well, with five blocks.

The Cards led early in the first game at 6-3..but Ohio rallied to tie the contest 9-9 and then took a lead they'd never relinquish. Louisville had no such problems with the lead evaporating in the second game, leading by as many as 11 before taking the contest 25-15. Game three saw the Cards fall behind early but fight back to tie the contest at 18-18 and going on a 7-4 run to win the game.
Louisville roared out to a 14-8 lead in the final game and held off a late Ohio rally by taking five of the game's seven points.

The Cards play two Saturday, Marshall at 11 a.m. and a very good Virginia team at 7:30 p.m.

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Four different players scored in the Louisville Field Hockey 4-0 win over the Missouri State Bears yesterday in Trager Stadium. Caitlin Collins struck first

with a penalty shot just four minutes into the game. Freshman Mallory Mason was next on the board with her first career goal and the Cards took a 2-0 lead into the halftime break.

The Cards continued the offensive domination in the second half when Hayley Turner fired one into the net from the top of the circle off a pass from Kelsey Rosenmeier for her team leading fifth goal of the year. The Cards closed out the scoring when Jacque Gerrick took a Turner pass and slid one past the Bears goalkeeper to make it 4-0.

Erin Conrad got her first shutout of the season at goalkeeper and the Cards outshot the Bears 18-3.

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Karen Ferguson-Dayes women's soccer team put up a good fight but once again couldn't find the net in a 2-0 loss to UK in Lexington. The Cats scored a goal in each half and out shot Louisville 18-12.

"It was a tough loss tonight because we continue to grow as a team in many ways, but we're not taking care of the little details that make the difference between winning and losing." Ferguson-Dayes commented after the loss.

Little details...like scoring. The Cards (1-4-1) have managed only two goals in their last five games and have been shutout in their last three contest. Hopefully, redemption comes Sunday against Butler in their final game in the Tropical Smoothie Invitational at the UK Soccer Complex.

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Finally, news reaches us that Rachel Story, a reserve guard for the University of Louisville women's basketball team who left the squad at the end of last year, has resurfaced at University of Illinois at Chicago. She'll sit a year at UIC and have two years of eligibility after that. 

The Milwaukee, WI point guard got buried last year with the depth of the Cardinal guards and we hope she's landed at a place where she can get some playing time. From the BIG EAST to the Horizon league...not exactly an upgrade but her on court appearances should increase dramatically if she can weather the transfer year of inactivity.

(Thanks to Kenny for the scoop!)

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Story, Harrington to leave Lady Cards...Jude Schimmel signs LOI

FRIDAY @ CARDINAL COUPLE



Rachel Story is leaving the Lady Cards, along with Polly Harrington



-Story, Harrington to transfer

-Jude Schimmel signs Uofl letter of intent

-Lacrosse game time changed

-Softball headed to South Bend 

WE hinted at this development for several weeks here at CARDINAL COUPLE and now it has been officially announced.

Harrington drives against UC

Sophomore guard Rachel Story and freshman forward Polly Harrington are leaving the UofL women's basketball roster. No word yet on where either player is transferring to.

Story played in 51 games in her two years at Louisville, as a back up guard. She was the leading scorer for Louisville with 16 points against Rutgers on March 1st, 2010 in a 72-52 loss in Piscataway. Her playing time in the 2009-10 season was boosted by the thin compliment of players available to Jeff Walz during that injury ridden season...she averaged 11.2 minutes a game. When the Cards restocked the lineup and more guards were available to Walz...her playing time diminished to 5.6 minutes a game as a sophomore. Story never started a game during her two years at UofL. She showed promise, at times, of being a capable point guard but with the Cards bringing in at least two additional guards this upcoming season...playing time most likely would have diminished even further. She'll be a good get for a mid-major or DII school out there.

Harrington came to Louisville as an undersized but talented front line prospect. Her time on the court was brief...5.1 minutes a game and she averaged 1.8 ppg and 0.7 rebounds. With front line recruit Sara Hammond on the way, Shawnta Dyer returning from injury and Cierra Robertson-Warren coming off a red-shirt season, that playing time most likely would have become even less.

Can't blame either player for looking for an opportunity to be basketball players elsewhere and getting more minutes on the court. It's tough to come in as a highly ranked prospect and spend the majority of your time watching from the bench. Both Harrington and Story had chances to prove they could be a starter or first off the bench...but better players got those slots. Competition can be cruel sometimes...but WE feel here at CARDINAL COUPLE that both will go on and have successful college careers and find a spot where their on court talents will be needed and used.

Jeff Walz had this to say about the departures:

"I have enjoyed coaching both Rachel and Polly here at Louisville. They are both talented young women that have a lot of great opportunities ahead of them. They will always be part of our basketball family and we wish them nothing but success."

The words by Walz are gracious, politically correct and from the heart. Always best to take the high road when discussing changes in a program. No way he would have taken the bitter,selfish comments approach that George O' Leary spewed when DaMarcus Smith requested out of his letter of intent to play football at UCF. From our vantage view this season covering Lady Cards basketball, our hearts went out to the sad, stoic gaze Story exhibited from the seats at times this season. The Cards relied on a 9-10 player rotation last season. When faced with the prospect of as many as 16 candidates vying for one of those spots in 2011-12, hard realities and past performances speak volumes when it comes to selection and probability.

WE'VE always maintained, here at CARDINAL COUPLE...that Coach Walz will never want to go through the stressful, sad situation that he and the team had to endure in 2009-10...when injuries and lack of players had the Cards competing at drastically low levels. WE figured he'd do whatever he could to bring in the maximum capacity of players possible to avoid such a trauma again. WE applaud the recent efforts. There is strength in numbers...and sometimes players who may have looked to be potential stars in the recruiting process get faced with the reality there are others that are better than them.

With UofL over the last four years, the transfer rate out of the program has averaged 2-3 players a year. Although some may feel this is excessively high...it is a syndrome of women's college basketball. Players come in to compete. Players find that their skills aren't quite there to earn starting or playing roles,. Players leave to seek those goals of playing time. It's happening at other schools, also. The "free up" in scholarships because of departures creates opportunities for others to try and climb the ladder. Consider it a spring cleaning. The summer and fall fashions are on the way.

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Another Lady Cards item of note is that Jude Schimmel has signed and sent her letter of intent to Louisville. This was another one we told you was going to happen for weeks and weeks. We felt it was going to happen even before the Portland Franklin point guard began her senior season of high school ball. We felt that the close bond between the sisters, the attractiveness of the UofL campus, facilities and training areas...coupled with the fact that the Lady Cards were absolutely enamored with both these Schimmel
sisters during Shoni's recruiting process made it almost a foregone conclusion. We value the comittment that the Schimmel sisters have made to UofL here at CARDINAL COUPLE and would remind ours readers that "if you liked Shoni...you're going to LOVE Jude."

Jude averaged 28 points a game her senior year at Franklin and was an unaminous selection to All First Team Oregon 5-A. She is an exceptionally quick and talented point guard that passes extremely well, can drill the three if left unguarded and creates turnovers and gets steals on defense.

It's official now...and Cardinal fans are going to love being Schimmel "squared".

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Because of inclement weather expected for Friday evening, Louisville lacrosse game against Rutgers has been moved to to 4 p.m. It was originally slated to face off at 5 p.m. The Scarlet Knights hit town with a 7-4 record and are 1-2 in BIG EAST play. Louisville enters the contest at 8-4 and is also 1-2 in BIG EAST action.

The CARDS will also play Sunday at the Louisville Lacrosse Stadium with Villanova providing the competition. Game at noon.

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University of Louisville softball heads to South Bend for a three game series against the Notre Dame fighting Irish beginning Saturday. The Cards split a mid-week double header with the Huskies on Wednesday. Louisville has won 12 out of their last 13 games and has only two BIG EAST losses. The bats seemed to dry up Wednesday for the Cards...surprising when you look at how they pounded a better than average Pitt pitching staff last weekend.

In Notre Dame, the Cards face an opponent that is 29-7...5-0 in BIG EAST play and on a 12 game winning streak. The Irish were prognosticated as one of the preseason favorites to capture the BIG EAST regular season title, along with Louisville and De Paul.

Certainly a key and crucial matchup this weekend for the Cards against a top flight opponent. Let's hope the weather in South Bend co-operates and the Cards can bring out the bats to give freshman pitching sensation Caralisa Connell some breathing room.
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For Rachel Story...the best is yet to come

IN SATURDAY'S CARDINAL COUPLE:

- Rachel Story looks to the future
-Fern Creek Softball advances in World Series
-Dream drops a close one
-ZENYATTA returns to the track

For Rachel Story, hope begins anew. Last year, the freshman from Milwaukee played in 28 of Louisville's 32 games...all coming off the bench. She was part of a 4 guard Cardinal rotation but didn't see the minutes of the other three in the back court. We didn't really see the best of the Story until the end of the season...when she started to see more than the 3-5 minutes of court time Walz was giving her. She responded to the increased playing time and despite the Cards less than stellar season, observers were mentioning that she could be a key factor in the Lady Cards 2010-11 season.

Sometimes, it takes awhile for players to develop into what the team's needs are. Such looks to be the case with Story. She can run the offense from the point and isn't afraid to pull up and take the mid range jumper. Like most freshmen, her defense was a liability for Louisville last year, but she possesses the quickness and knowledge of the game to improve dramatically in this aspect of roundball.

Story averaged 2.4 points a game for Louisville in a reserve role. She'll be part of a nine player guard compliment that Walz will have to choose from when the Cards take to the court this fall. How high she'll rank in the mix will depend on how well she performs in practice...but reports from campus this summer indicate that she has been working hard with her teammates and her game 'has improved 100%' according to a Cardinal insider.

In what appears to be a wide open, free for all for the guard positions on this 2010-11 Louisville team, we look forward to "getting the full Story" as the season progresses.

PROGNOSIS:

Story has one year's experience and that will give her a slight advantage over some of the newer players Jeff Walz has available. We'd like to see her develop an accurate three point shot and pick up her defensive skills. She can be a valuable asset to the Cards with her ability to be a combo guard and she'll most likely see valuable court time minutes coming off the bench for the Lady Cards.

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The Fern Creek 16 and under women's softball team advanced in their first game of the Babe Ruth World Series...knocking off Pittsfield, MA 6-0.

Kelci Flener got the win for Fern Creek...allowing only three hits in seven innings of work. Fern Creek rocked Pittsfield for seven hits, including a double by Morgan Foley and triples by Alex Ginter and Caroline Peck. The Creekers scored one run in the fifth, two run in the sixth and three in the seventh to secure the victory.

They move on to play Lodi, CA this morning at 11 a.m. and North Olympic, WA at 3 p.m. and will wrap up National Division pool play with a game against host Varina, VA.

The team, coached by Tim McGinty, is made up of local high school softball players from Fern Creek, Mercy, Male and other area schools.

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Tough beat for Angel and the Atlanta Dream last night, falling to the Indiana Fever 95-93 in Indianapolis. The two teams are now tied for first place in the WNBA's Eastern Conference.

Atlanta (18-11) roared out to an early 10 point lead in the first quarter against the Fever but fell behind in the second quarter and trailed 45-39 at the half. Indiana led by ten midway thru the third quarter but saw Atlanta fight back several times and the Dream used a 8-0 run in the 4th quarter to gain a 82-80 lead. The team traded leads and possessions the remainder of the game.

Atlanta went up 93-92 after two Alison Bales free throws but the Fever got a free throw from Ebony Hoffman and two from Tamika Catchings to tie it with 3.5 seconds left. Alison Bales was fouled by Indy as the clock expired, but missed both of her free throw attempts...giving Indiana the win.

Angel McCoughtry was spectacular in defeat with 31 points and Iziane Castro Marquez added 28 for Atlanta. Tamika Catchings led the Fever with 30 points.

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ZENYATTA returns to racing today in the $300,000 Clement L. Hirsch Stakes for 3yr. old and up fillies and mares at Del Mar Racetrack in California, She'll face 5 competitors going a mile and one sixteenth and will mostly likely be a 1/5 or better favorite against weak competition.

Have to wonder why trainer John Sheriffs continues to keep the superstar on the West Coast and on the artifical polytrack surface when there is much more money out there for her across the nation. For example, she could be in the $750,000 Whitney Handicap today at Saratoga and face two of the best horses in the nation in QUALITY ROAD and BLAME.

If ZENYATTA is headed to Churchill Downs this fall to run in the Breeders Cup, wouldn't it be wise to get her a race on the dirt instead of the polytrack? She could even have been entered in the $750,000 West Virginia Derby today at Mountaineer Race Track in Chester, WV....where nine lesser 3 yr. olds will compete over the 1 1/8 mile dirt. A $ 750,000 race in West Virginia? OH, YEAH...we definitely need casino gambling at the Kentucky tracks. Mountaineer isn't exactly one of the top tracks in the nation...but increased purses fueled by casino money have made the venue popular for trainers and owners looking to increase their cash flow.

Time to quit hiding, John. Get the big girl a little road experience and let's see how she handles either the dirt or grass. You've been beating up on a bunch of has beens. Time to prove ZENYATTA has game. Put her up against the cream of the crop.