TUESDAY @ CARDINAL COUPLE:
-Field Hockey 2011 schedule
- Big East gets one in Final Four
-Mail Bag
-Don't mind us...we won't be a minute
-Should I stay or should I go?
The University of Louisville Field Hockey team, under the direction of first year head coach Justine Sowry, has announced their slate of game for the 2011 season. The list looks to be impressive and nine of the eighteen contests will be held at the TRAGER Stadium on the UofL campus. After an exhibition game at Iowa, the Cards open the regular season hosting California and Michigan State. The non-conference schedule also features home games with Missouri State, Appalachain State, New Hampshire and Indiana. The Cards will visit non-BIG EAST opponents Davisdon, Wake Forest, American, Ohio State, Drexel and Northwestern. In conference, Louisville brings in Syracuse, Rutgers and Providence. Louisville will travel to BIG EAST foes Georgetown, Connecticut and Villanova. The BIG EAST Tournament this year will be held at Syracuse November 4-6.
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The Cards have 17 players, four of them starters, returning for 2011 action. Louisville went 13-7 last year...5-1 in the BIG EAST...and finished #14 in the final rankings. The NCAA Division 1 Field Hockey Championships will be held at TRAGER stadium Novenber 18-20...the fourth time Louisville has hosted the championships.
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Sowry replaced former Louisville head coach Pam Bustin, who took the head coaching job at Duke following the Cards 2010 season. She takes over a young team that has only three seniors in Hayley Turner, Caitlin Collins and Heather Stevens. Erin Conrad returns at goalkeeper and the Jurich twins Haley and Lacey along with Amber Thomas will be looked to for leadership.
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Congratulations to BIG EAST member Notre Dame on advancing to the NCAA Women's Basketball Final Four with a convincing 73-59 win over #1 seed Tennessee last night. The Irish did it with team play, as they have all season long...Becca the Bruiser and Skylar Diggins having huge outings against Pat's bunch. Can't help but think that if N.D. forward Dev Peters would drop the dramatics and concentrate on basketball more, she'd be even better than she is. Also, poor sportsmanship at the end by the beaten Vols with the shoves and thumps at the end of the game when the contest had been decided. Seems to us that Pat rarely coaches anymore, delegating those duties to her assistants...while she stands there on the court scowling and yelling at players after miscues. We have no doubt she's still one of the finest to ever have the title of head coach...but she just stood there, almost as if she was in "time out" or sulking or something as her assistants barked out the switches and plays as the Vols went down to defeat.
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Stanford ended the home reign of the Fighting Vandersloots of Gonzaga last night with a 83-60 drubbing of the WCC champs. The Cardinal took control of this one early and despite another fantastic performance from Vandersloot, the Bulldogs were never in it. That didn't slow the Gonzaga fans down much...but Stanford was unfazed by the hysterics and acted like they'd been there before (which they have numerous times). Head Cardinal coach Tara Vanderveer is one of the best in college basketball at getting a team ready to face the competition...and it showed last night.
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UConn looks to dispose of Duke tonight...they beat them by three time zones in an earlier meeting this year and we get a replay of the BIG 12 finals as Baylor laces up to beat Texas A&M for the fourth time this season. Mulkey the monkey vs. Geno ?? It could happen...
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Had to share one from the e-mail bag with you. It was anonymous and arrived at 3:35 a.m. a couple of days ago...
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Cardinal Couple,
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So the mighty UofSmell has been taken down by who? Gonzaga? That is way too funny and maybe they never should have gone in the first place. They were so lucky to beat Xavier and had the refs in their back pocket with all those fouls at the end of the game. The Cardinals are nothing more than a middle of the pack Big Least wannabe and them and their psycho coach Walz were lucky to get as far as they did. Good luck with little Indian squaw Bony Schimmel next year and maybe she will learn how to shoot better than 1-13 in the biggest game of her life. Maybe Walz will kick her next.
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It happens. We occasionally get idiot dribble that spills onto our screen. We share this with you because it only goes to show how highly Louisville has climbed on the national awareness level in women's college basketball since Jeff Walz arrived on campus. Use this blog for example. Our "hit" level for the site went through the roof during the Lady Cards march through the BIG EAST, BIG EAST Tournament and NCAA Tournament. Naturally, with such recognition and attention, some of it is going to be negative. We'd print all the POSTITIVE e-mails comments we've received about Walz, Schimmel and the Lady Cards...but you'd be reading this column for several hours if we did.
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WE pledge to you, our readers...that we'll continue to be the fan voice for ALL UofL women's athletics. WE know that basketball is a favorite of our readership and we try to bring you as much as we can about the team, the program and the venue. WE hope you'll stay along for the ride as we bring you softball, soccer, rowing, golf and the other sports that make up women's athletics at the University of Louisville.
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Hey, it doesn't cost you anything and we're here daily. Thanks for making us a part of your day. Pass the creamer and pop a bagel in the toaster for us. A PANERA bagel, of course....
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WE'RE experimenting with some different colors and backgrounds here at CARDINAL COUPLE so don't mind us if the font color or title header color suddenly changes on you. Just testing...no one is trying to take control of your laptop of P.C.. Just us and the chimps, playing around....
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5:45 p.m.
Well....the saga of DaMarcus Smith, former Louisville Seneca High School quarterback has gotten interesting again. Someone cue up The Clash and let's have a little Should I stay or should I go. Just to
review the previous innings of this donnybrook...Smith was all UofL until shortly before National Signing Day. Then, Louisville added another quarterback recruit to the mix, heraled Miami, FL. thrower Teddy Bridgewater. Smith said that didn't bother him...but eventually visited and signed a letter of intent with Central Florida. He claimed it wasn't because of Bridgewater becoming a Card. Then, rumors started floating that maybe DaMarcus didn't want to head to Orlando. Didn't want to play for George O'Leary (the head coach at UCF) or UCF. Or go to Disney World or take in any Orlando Magic games...
It came out yesterday (some of us knew earlier) that DaMarcus had asked to be released from his Letter of Intent (LOI) Actually, it was his Mom who made the phone call to George O'Leary. O'Leary declined to release him. Says he never has and never will release a college student from a LOI.
We saw Smith play a lot of football at Seneca. Championed him here and at CARDINAL DOMINANCE as a "can't miss" prospect wherever he ended up. It looks, though, as if Mom is calling the snaps here lately. Funny, we never saw her behind center or tossing bombs down the field while DaMarcus played at SHS.
If O'Leary continues the embargo, Smith has to sit a year before he can play at UofL and would have four years to complete three seasons on the field. Or he could go to UCF, play a year...then transfer and sit out a year and go to Louisville. Or juco it. Maybe he could learn to fly a plane and go to work for UPS. Whatever. Looks like O'Leary isn't budging and DaMarcus isn't goin' south. For now. Stay tuned, This race has had a lot of lead changes and jockeying...
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