Saturday Cardinal Couple

SATURDAY CARDINAL COUPLE


-E-Po headed to Olympics


-that's our boy...


-Goodbye ESPN, hello Fox? 

Walz campers chasing after Erin Andrews
to the Fox Sports Network. (Photo by Jenny O Bryan)

UNIVERSITY OF LOUISVILLE swimmer Eszter Povazsay (whom we will refer to as E-Po for the rest of her time at UofL) has been name to the Hungary Olympic swimming team. 


This is huge. 


Competing in a once every four year worldwide sporting conclave. Going against the very best, with a chance to stand on the platform, have a medal hug around your shoulders and hear your national anthem if you have the gold around your neck. 

Think about that. How would you react? Tears? A big, goofy grin? Or head bowed and fist in the air like the sprinters did in 1968 in Mexico City?


She's one of four Cards from the swimming teams that is going to be in the summer games...Joao De Luca, Carlos Almeida and Pedro Oliveira from the men's team also swimming in London. 


She won the BIG EAST Championship this year in the 100-backstroke. 

How great would it be to see a UofL Cardinal standing on the winners stand? Get 'em  E-Po. Bring the gold back to the Ville. Or Hungary.


Have any UofL athletes ever won a gold medal? If so, who were they an what event was it in? 


Think you know the answer? Leave it in the comments section or e-mail it to us at:


 cardinalcouple@insightbb.com




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If we've told you once, we've told you 1000 times...Brian Hernandez, Jr. is the most underrated, best performing jockey at Churchill Downs over the last several years.


We went to night racing Friday, a scorcher of a late afternoon still at 5:30 p.m. when we arrived. Fortunately, there are areas at Churchill where the air is cold, the seats are comfy and we headed there immediately. With us was Tommy Boy, our Director of Wagering and Nonsense at CARDINAL COUPLE. 

Talking nonsense with Tommy Boy

Churchill Downs had 11 races last night. Brian rode in nine of them. He won three of them and came in second five times. If you had put $2 across the board (win, place and show) on Brian in each race he rode in, your total outlay would have been $54 dollars. Your return on investment would have been $196.


I got a little more heavily invested in him than $6 per race. Thank you, Brian.


Not bad, eh?


Two days to go before the live meet ends. Both post times are 6:30 p.m. 

Dave, Dan, Sonja and Tommy Boy

The "What was I thinking?" award of the meet has to go to jockey Shane Sellers for his performance in the ninth race last night. Ahead by five lengths in the stretch and looking seemingly uncatchable...Sellers decides to go with a right handed whip. The horse responds by crashing thru the temporary rail on the turf course and did not finish the race. 


Wouldn't want to have explained that brilliant strategic
move to the owners and trainer. He gets a "Gibbs slap" to the back of the head from all of us. 


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Erin Andrews has left ESPN. The word is that Fox Sports is after her. 


ESPN, you blew this one. They claim they made " an
aggressive offer" to keep her. They should have offered to rename the network "Erin Sports Predominantly Network". 



Things change. WE realize that. But letting the "face" of sideline reporters get away from you and most likely end up at your rival...well, it's like giving Mickey Mantle an automatic walk so you can pitch to Roger Maris. 


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Catching up...on swimming, lacrosse, volleyball, tennis and softball

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FRIDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

-Swimmers lead in BIG EAST Championships

-Volleyball's Katie George gets national honor

-Lacrosse ready for 2012 season

-Softball to travel to East Carolina for Pirate Clash.

-Tennis heads to Akron, Bowling Green

Time to play a little "catch up" with UofL women's sports. Jump in, buckle up and hang on...we're off!


Louisville's men's and women's swimming teams are competing in the BIG EAST Championships in Pittsburgh, PA. on the University of Pittsburgh campus. The women's team  qualified swimmers for four different finals events that took place Thursday night.

--Lindsay LaPorte battled in the 500 freestyle. She finished eighth amongst the finalist. 

--Tanja Kyllianen (2nd) and Stephanie Juncker (7th) went for placing in the finals of the 200-yard individual medley. Tanja's time of 1:59.21 was the fastest in preliminaries. 

--Four Lady Cards made it to the finals of the 50-yard freestyle. Aileen Cole (t-3rd) Krissie Brandenburg (6th) Lacey Bobo (7th) and Danielle Barbiea (t-3rd) consisted of half the field. 

--The same four that competed in the 50-yard freestyle above won the 200-yard relay.

Louisville's women lead the championships with 309 points. Notre Dame is in second at 212. The Lady Cards won the BIG EAST Championships in 2011and look to be in great shape to repeat.  


Also, kudos to the swim team for showing up to watch the WBB team play Pitt Tuesday night. Walz made mention of his appreciation and you could hear cheering for Louisville in the background of the radio broadcast

And we figured it was just disgruntled Duquense fans booing the Panthers....

No word whether the WBB team made it over to the pool to cheer on the Lady Cards swimmers in the pre-lims. Or if Shoni, Becky, Asia and Shelby jumped in the water to help out in a relay medley or play defense against the opposing swimmers... 



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Louisville Volleyball signee Katie George, from Louisville Assumption High School has been named National Volleyball Player of the Year. Her team was the #3 ranked high school squad nationally, with a record of 43-1.  

"She was the cement, the driver of our bus. I don't think people realize how important a kid like that is. She has everyone's respect. There were times I turned the huddle over to her. You'd see it in the kids eyes when she talked. They believed in her" --Ron Kordes, Assumption head volleyball coach.  


Katie was also Kentucky 2011 Miss Volleyball and Gatorade Player of the Year. She'll be in good hands for four years under Ron's daughter, Anne, the Louisville head volleyball coach. Keepin' it in the family...

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Louisville women's lacrosse is preparing for the 2012 opener Feb. 19th. at Ohio State. Captains for this year's team are Katie Oliverio, Monica Negron and Janaye Dzikewich.

-Oliverio has been a top scorer and assist leader for Kellie Young's team the past three years. She was second team All-BIG EAST last season and had 94 assists and 146 points during her career.

Negron bolsters the "D"

-Negron is a defensive stopper who stepped up big as a freshman last season. She received IWLCA All-Region honors -- the first Cardinal in history to get the honor as a freshman -- and caused 23 turnovers in 17 games.

-Dzikewich,  a redshirt senior, missed most of last year with an injury but has been a competitive defender for three year before that for the Cards.

The Cards were picked to finish seventh in the BIG EAST. A heavy senior class graduation has left Kellie Young with a rebuilding year and the roster has a lot of freshmen and sophomores that will compete for playing time. A team that could use your support during the home games. Try lacrosse, you'll like it.

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Sandy Pearsall takes the 5-0 Louisville softball team to Greenville, NC for the East Carolina hosted Pirate Clash this weekend.

Arrrghhhh, matey!

The Cards are going without two of their best, though. Injuries to Alicja Wolny and Maggie Ruckenbrod during the FIU Combat Clash have Pearsall scrambling a bit to re-format the starting lineup.


Can Taner catch and play
first for UofL this weekend?



We wondered what was up when we didn't see Maggie's name in the box score against UMass. Turns out she's got a broken bone in her hand that may sideline her several weeks. Wolny is doubtful for the ECU Clash but expected back after that. Hurts to have two of your best out -- getting them back for BIG EAST play is of prime importance, though and it'll give Pearsall a chance to test some of her freshmen and reserves against some very good competiton.

Expect Taner Fowler to fill in at the catcher spot for the slugger Ruckenbrod. Who's on first for Wolny? Seems like she's been manning the bag for 10 years for the Cards. Our guess is freshman Trista Cox covers the "putout" bag.

One thing Pearsall won't lose any sleep over is the strong pitching that the Softball Cards are taking to Pirate country. Tori Collins, Caralisa Connell and Chelsea Leonard combined to allow just 10 runs in five games in Florida.

The Cards will face Virginia at 11 a.m. Friday and ECU at 1 p.m. Saturday the Cards draw against Hofstra and 9 a.m. and UNC-Greensboro at 11 a.m. Sunday concludes the clash with a 9 a.m. tilt against Fordham.

As Milt Wagner would have said...a lot of academic schools to play.

Let's hope the weather is better than here in Louisville for Pearsall's players.

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Julia Fellerhoff won in singles
and doubles.

Women's tennis drilled Furman 7-0 in tennis last match out and heads to Ohio this weekend for matches against Akron tomorrow and Bowling Green Saturday.

Is it proper to use the term "drilled" in tennis?

Julia Fellerhoff, Rebecca Shine, Mandy Brown, Manuela Velaquez, Sarah Miller and Amelia Harris won in singles and Harris/Velaquez, Fellerhoff/Shine and Miller/Brown took doubles matches.

I know. That adds up to nine wins. It's on my bucket list to learn about tennis scoring.

Coach Mark Beckham was pleased. He talks about the win below.

"Furman has been ranked but that is irrelevant because just the fact that we beat a high quality team and beat them convincingly can do nothing but help everyone's individual confidence."

Yep. 7-0 will do that for you. Or 9-0. Either way, it's a "W". Go get 14 or 18 more this weekend, Mark! 
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Lady Cards WBB at WVU...Swimming splashes by UK...Knight, Kendall win in track

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SATURDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

-Louisville looks for a road win in Morgantown

-Louisville swimming beats UK at Ralph Wright Natorium

-Knight, Kendall win in different venues for women's track.

The Lady Cards test West Virginia this afternoon in women's basketball. A tough test, for sure...after a slow start to the season, West Virginia has been playing very good basketball lately and is in a five-way tie for third place in the BIG EAST...along with Louisville.

The Lady Mountaineers are 11-2 at home and only Georgetown has won there for visiting BIG EAST teams.

Game time is 4 p.m. We'll have a full recap of it for you later this afternoon. Due to the men's game today, the radio broadcast will be on 1080 AM. Puggles and Snuggles with the call. 

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Louisville swimming swept UK 183-107 yesterday. We may not be able to get them in hoops, but toss a Cat in water and you know what happens...Winners for the UofL ladies:

--Fanny Lillestrom (100-breast, 200 breast)

--Tanja Killianen ( 200-fly, 200-back)

--Victoria Mitchell (200 back, 500 free)

Raine Thompson had multiple
wins against UK

--Raine Thompson (200 medley relay, 100 fly)

--Abby Chin (1000 free)

--Eszter Povazsay (200 free)

Mary Mittel won
on relays and
solo events.

--Mary Mittel (100 back)

--Hannah Gadd (1 meter diving)

A nice tuneup for the Cards swimming team before they compete in the BIG EAST Championships that begin in Pittsburgh 2/15.

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Holly Knight set a Cardinal record in the 5000 meter at South Bend and Amashi Kendall won the weight throw at the VT Elite Meet in Blacksburg, VA...as the UofL track teams competed at two different venues.

Knight covered the distance in 16:24...beating a Lady Cards record in the event that had stood since 1995. She finished second in the race.

Kendall tossed for 20.83m. to win at Virginia Tech. Teammate Patrice Gates finished third. Kendall's throw ranks in the top five nationally this season.

Charachesicia Lockhart and Margret Harris took second and third in long jump.

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IT'S NOT TOO LATE TO GET $2 TICKETS FOR THE UofL WBB game against UConn Tuesday Night. UofL ticket office, selected Kroger outlets and from that shady guy who's always standing on the corner of Bardstown and Taylorsville Roads (j/k).

The BIG EAST has thrown the Lady Cards a curve ball by scheduling this one and the upcoming Notre Dame game during the week. Let's show them that CARDINAL WBB Fans represent no matter when they make us play.
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Eszter Povazsay to swim at World University games

SATURDAY CARDINAL COUPLE:

-UofL sophomore to swim in China

-Love it...

University of Louisville sophomore Eszter Povazsay will get a trip to the 2011 World University games in Shenzhan, China this August...taking part in the swimming events
form August 12-23. 

Known for her skills as a sprinter and backstroke specialist, she was named All-BIG EAST
this past season and helped the Cards to a second place finish in the 200 medley relay.

She is from Dunakeszi, Hungary and swam for the Hungarian National Team in the 2007 and 2009 World Championships and 2008 Summer Olympics.

She is currently the Hungarian National Champion in the 50 and 100 meter backstroke.

Quite a honor for the sophomore, who will also join UofL men's swimming team star Pedro Oliveria in China.



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We like to read Eric Crawford's blog...the Courier-Journal sports columnist comes up with some good ones from time to time. When referring to the recent reprimand of Jeff Walz, he quipped that the University had handled the matter internally...making Walz wash his mouth out with soap...Lifebuoy being the chosen disciplinary tool.

This, of course, from the classic movie A Christmas Story and Ralphie.

We also like the idea CARDINAL COUPLE reader Curt B. came up with. He suggested that Coach spend an afternoon of community service over at the Fairdale Furniture Repair and Renovation Shop.

No word on what the folks at Baylor did to Kim "Monkey" Mulkey...but we wouldn't be surprised if the Lone Star State Waconians told her she couldn't have any slaw or pudding with her barbecue at the coaches' cookout.

It's said to be a penalty worse than death in Texas...

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Softball sweeps on West coast

SATURDAY with your friends at CARDINAL COUPLE:

-Softball takes two in San Diego

-Bergstrom in NCAA Swimming

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-Watson previews the Lady Cards v. Vandy

Louisville Softball won twice on the opening day of the San Diego Classic II, downing Cal-State Northridge 4-1 and blanking San Diego State 7-0.

The Cards (16-8) got off to a great start against CS-Northridge by tallying two runs in the first inning. Katie Keller doubled to start the game, Jennifer Esteban singled to put runners on the corners and Chelsea Bemis delivered a base clearing, two RBI double.

The Matadors got a run back in the third and the teams remained scoreless until Louisville tacked on a couple scores in the top of the seventh. Bemis walked, sprinter Tesha Payton came in to run for her and scored when Alicja Wolny smashed a double. Colby Wherry followed with another double to make it 4-1 and complete the game's scoring.

Carlisa Connell (6-2) got the start and the win for Louisville. The freshman gave up one run, two hits and KO'ed four in five innings. Tori Collins had two strong innings of relief to secure the winning...allowing no hits and fanning three batters.

In the San Diego State contest, Louisville continued the hot hitting with a run in the top of the second. Maggie Ruckenbrod and Taner Fowler provided singles and Kristin Austin reached on a fielders choice to load the bags. Hannah Kiyohara grounded out, scoring Ruckenbrod...but the Cards could not produce any additional runs in the inning.

They made up for it in the top of the third. Bemis and Wherry singled and Fowler belted a three run homer to deep left to make it 4-0. Louisville added three in the sixth. Austin drew a walk and scored on a Kiyohara double. Bemis beat out a ground and she and Kiyohara scored on a long double by Wolny....making it 7-0.

Collins went the distance for Louisville, allowing only three hits and fanning seven. It was her fifth shutout of the season. The Cards have three more games to play over Saturday and Sunday.

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Therese Bergstrom finished 13th. in the 100 meter breaststroke in the NCAA Championships at the University of Texas yesterday. Bergstrom, the BIG EAST 100-Breaststroke champion, posted a time of 1:00:70 against the nation's best. She competes in the 200 meter breaststroke on Saturday.

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David Watson, special correspondent to CARDINAL COUPLE, will be in the stands for the LADY CARDS basketball game against Vanderbilt on Sunday. WE'LL wave to him from media row. Here are some Watson thoughts on the game, and hoops in general:

It's not often that I get to spend the greater part of four days watching college basketball. My wife is glad that this is not a monthly occurrence. She's been a trooper, though, as we have reached the halfway point of this dribble, drive, shoot and score marathon. Dutifully bringing snacks and suggestions to the basement "man cave" where me, the kids, my father-in-law and assorted friends and friends of friends file in and out to participate in this roundball holiday. We've got the pizza guy on speed dial and the cans and bottles are routinely hauled out to the recycling bin by my son. It's the most wonderful time of the year.

The Watson Invitational, where we fill out the brackets and clutch our rosary beads hasn't gone as well for me. I'm tied for second to last out of the 17 participants. The madness will continue for one more day here at Hoops Central under my direction, then it's off to Cincinnati to watch the University of Louisville women's basketball team. My father-in-law Gussie, assisted by my son, will assume the duties of making sure all four TV's are working correctly and that no one overflows the basement toilet. Me and my oldest daughter will make the trek to Xavier. Wouldn't be surprised if my wife and youngest daughter escape to the malls after Sunday Mass and run up the Visa card. It's give and take this time of year. The family pooch, Wilson, has had constant indigestion the last two days from a variety of sources. All well meaning, but offering a vast array of delights and treats that differ greatly from his regimented Alpo diet. I may need to send him to a fat farm for the month of April. I may tag along.

How will these Cardinals do? I expect a hard fought victory out of Jeff Walz and his troops. Walz has had a ton of time to diagnose, review and scout the Commodores. He's usually pretty awesome when given 5 or so days to prepare for an opponent. We'll look for Louisville to use their quickness and the inside scoring punch of Monique Reid to take the fight to a well balanced Vandy squad. If Louisville can manage to grab a few boards, stay out of serious foul trouble and hit a few threes, all the better. People speak of Louisville's youth and inexperience but there are no freshmen this late in the season. Plus, you have Keisha Hines, Monique Reid and Becky Burke on board. They road the rails to the Final Four two years ago. Their leadership and experience will be counted on.

Will the Cards conquer on Tuesday night against (most likely) Xavier? An early season loss to the giant Muskies should give Walz a road map on what to do to beat them. Don't be surprised if this one is closer than expected and Louisville is in a position to win at the end. Let's not put the cart before the horse, though. Beat Vandy first. Survive and advance. It's the call of duty this time of year. Now, where did I put that bottle of Febreeze and who's been sticking chicken wing bones under the slip covers?

DAVID WATSON refuses to reveal how he got four TV's hooked up in his basement to cable. We're thinking he's got an "in" with an installer in Central Indiana somewhere. Sometimes, it's just best not to know...

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CARDINAL COUPLE will have reports from the Cintas Center on Sunday. GO CARDS!

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Pitino's Cards fall, Lacrosse wins

FRIDAY at CARDINAL COUPLE:

-Harper harpoons Cards 62-61

-Lacrosse 5-0 after Sacred Heart win

-Gadd, Bergstrom in NCAA Swimming

-Lady Cards prepare for Vandy

-So...how's your bracket doing?

The picture speaks a 1000 words as Louisville bows out of the NCAA Tournament to #13 seed Morehead 62-61. Demonte Harper drills a three at the top of the circle with 4 seconds to go for the win and Kenneth Faried blocks a Mike Marra three as time expires to give the Eagles the win.

Louisville had their chances. Slow and disorganized early, the Cards came back to tie it at the half. They had a 48-41 lead until a spirited 16-4 run late in the second half put the Eagles in front 57-52. Louisville led 61-59 with seconds to go, though...until the Harper dagger.

Rick Pitino has referred to this season as a "bridge year" for Louisville basketball. That bridge is closed now until November. Preston Knowles leaving in the second half with a foot injury certainly didn't help the Cards chances.

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Guard the shooter next time. Morehead did...and Marra's chance to become a hero got swatted away, just like the Cards tournament run.

Heard some grumbling that Pitino needs to be fired after the game. Hogwash. Those of like opinion need to take a few days to cool out and calm down. Louisville lost a great opportunity to win this game when Preston Knowles hopped to the sideline with an injured foot. Rcik didn't cause that and his accomplishments here at Louisville far outweigh an NCAA tournament loss.

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Louisville Lacrosse goes to 5-0 with a 19-8 win over Sacred Heart in Fairfield, CT. yesterday. The Cards got seven goals from Bergan Foley and used a late 12-2 run to raid the win from the Pioneers. Liz Lovejoy got Louisville off to a quick start by scoring Louisville's first 3 goals, her first one less than a minute into the game and Louisville led early 4-0 after Lianne Bobal scored. The Cards saw Sacred Heart roll back and tie the contest 6-6 before Louisville dominated the rest of the way.

Freshman goalie Ashley Herbst had four saves and the Pioneers only got 17 shots off in the Louisville rout. Louisville attempted 49 shots in the contest, a Cardinal record. Katie Oliverio had six assists for the Cards, also a school record.

The Cards head next to Manhattan for a Saturday match.

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Hannah Gadd finished 25th in the 1 meter diving in the NCAA Championships at the University of Texas yesterday. Gadd, the BIG EAST diver of the year is a sophomore and is the first Cardinal to ever compete in the NCAA diving championship. Senior Therese Bergstrom will represent the Cards in the breaststroke today and Saturday.

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The Lady Cards basketball team will face Vanderbilt Sunday in Cincinnati, OH. for their first round game in the NCAA Tournament. For Keisha Hines, it's a final chance to go for the title. Hines was instrumental in the 2009 Cards run...having huge games against Maryland and Oklahoma to help guide Louisville to the final game. She is one of several Cards left from that team...Monique Reid and Becky Burke were also players who contributed to that thrilling Louisville run in the post season.

The remainder of Louisville's roster will be getting their first taste of the Big Dance and nerves and butterflies hopefully won't be a problem for Jeff Walz's crew. Louisville's Shoni Schimmel and Reid will be key elements if the Cards are advance to a Tuesday match up against either Xavier or South Dakota State. Louisville's nightly wars in the tough BIG EAST conference should have them well prepared to face a Vanderbilt team that went 10-6 in the SEC.

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Vandy hasn't seen the quickness and transition based hoops that Louisville has to offer very often this season and if the Cards can get "the survivor" Hines to have a big game on the boards...Louisville should do well in this first round matchup. Hines is the only Cardinal so far who has played four years for Jeff Walz and her leadership, skills and paint prescence will be a "must have" Sunday at noon. WE expect the Cards to win a close one against the Commodores and hope that South Dakota State can come in and pull the upset over Xavier in the Cintas Center.

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So, how does your bracket look after the first day of the NCAA Men's Tournament? I never should have let the CARDINAL COUPLE intern chimps get ahold of mine...going a woeful 9-7 after the first day of action. Sonja, on the other hand, had a very successful first sixteen games and torched the stats with a 14-2 beginning. Like the majority of us, she had Louisville beating Morehead and she also wrote in St. John's...who stumbled against Gonzaga. The rest of her picks were spot on perfect. I fully expected this, she dominates me every time we do one of these things and I'm quite used to residing in the basement of "bracket house" Tomorrow brings another day, though and I'll see if I can do a little better with bold picks like Oakland, Florida State and Marquette.

No need to quit my day job and become a high stakes gambler on college basketball. I'd be broke and standing in line at the soup kitchen faster than Shelby Harper can advance a basketball into the front court.

The Louisville loss was the major upset of the first "real" day of action. I'm not a fan of this 68 team stuff and don't see any advantage to it...except pouring more money into the NCAA coffers. We almost saw a couple of more huge upsets, though...Kentucky needing a final seconds score to squeak by Princeton and Michigan State giving UCLA all they wanted before falling to the Bruins. Games on, Friday! I'll be watching and drawing lines through my many probable losers.

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Softball blanks Tulsa 5-0, Hoops vs. WVU tonight.

SUNDAY @ C.C.

-Softball advances to championship

-LADY CARDS B.B. vs WVU tonight.

-Track results from Saturday

-Gadd in BIG EAST DIVING splashes.


Bill the Goat can't wait for the 5 p.m. tipoff between Louisville and West Virginia tonight in the KFC YUM Center. We'll break it down for you here and give you post game coverage.

The Louisville softball team, under the direction of Sandy Pearsall, got a 5-0 win over Tulsa in the semi finals yesterday in Austin, TX. A big effort from sophomore pitcher Tori Collins...allowing just one hit.

Louisville jumped out to a two run advantage in the second inning when Jordan Trimble almost went 'fence' and ended up with a double. She scored when Chelsea Bemis reached on a Golden Hurricane fielding error. Kristin Austin's sacrifice bunt moved her to second and Austin scored when Colby Wherry singled.

The Cards pushed it to 4-0 when Katie Keller opened the inning with a base on balls and Alicja Wolny cracked her first home run of the season. The Cards were not done...Trimble singled, Bemis singled and Trimble scored on a grounder by Taner Fowler to make it 5-0.

Collins was superb on the mound, getting four strikeouts and allowing only two Tulsa base runners. She had a no hitter in place until the top of the seventh...when Jill Barrett barely beat out a infield hit.

Louisville plays Texas today for the Championship in a rematch of Thursday's battle. The Longhorns took down NIU 8-4 to reach the 1 p.m. game.

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It's Mountaineer time and the KFC YUM Center will be loud, proud and rowdy today at 5 p.m. as Mike Carey's womens basketball team visits for a BIG EAST matchup that will be televised on ESPN 2. WVU started the season with a bang...but have recently dropped a few BIG EAST games and sit at 6-5 in the BIG EAST and 20-5 overall. Ranked at #17 in the polls, the Mountaineers lost a close out to UConn last time out by only five...holding the Huskies to under sixty points the first time this season. Liz Repella leads the WVU squad...she can beat you from anywhere on the court and is a rebounding threat as well. Madina Ali shoots for over 50% for the season and Brooke Hampton is tops in the league when you look at assist to turnover ratios. Sarah Miles is a ball hawking defender for WVU and they rank just behind Louisville in steals per game.

Mike Carey is in his 24th season as a head coach and is 80-77 after ten years in the BIG EAST. His teams are known for aggressive defense, a three point specialist or two and strong board play. We'll have a full post game report tonight...including post game comments...for you later.

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Hannah Gadd won the 1 meter diving event in the BIG EAST championships at The Ralph Wright Natorium in Louisville Saturday, finished second in the 3 meters Friday and has been named BIG EAST Diver of the Year. Her diving coach, Mike Zehnder was selected Diving Coach of the Year.

"I couldn't have done it without my whole team being here to support me. I am happy to help the women's swimmers." Gadd said.

The swimming events begin Wednesday. Gadd's score of 329.95 yesterday in the 1 meter set a new conference record...beating 3 meter champ Jennifer Chang of Notre Dame by almost 30 points.

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OK, so it's officially known as the Randal Tyson Track Center in Fayetteville, AR. Louisville's women's athletes participated there last night and Megan Schubert finished 6th in the high jump. Michelle Theopille ended up tenth.

In Akron, the women got a seventh place finish in the pole vault and Andrea Sabbitine ended up 10th. Chinwe Okoro threw for seventh in the shot put, Kim Carderio 11th in the long jump and Maggie Gilbertson grabbed 4th in the high jump.

The BIG EAST Indoor championships will be held in Akron next weekend as well.

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Got a new poll posted on the left side beginning today. What is your favorite women's sport at UofL. Can't decide? It's OK...you can select multiple ones.

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Cards sink Bearcats in Ralph Wright Natatorium

SUNDAY CARDINAL COUPLE:

Swimming/Diving sweeps UC.

Track/Field scores at UK.

Breaking Down the UConn numbers.

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Good job, guys!

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Lindsey LaPorte, pictured here, had two wins in the dual meet against Cincinnati yesterday in the Ralph Wright Natatorium. She was one of many Cards taking at least two events in the win. Louisville won every event...the men scoring 214-69 and the ladies 211-83. LaPorte was successful in the 1650 meter free style and 800 free relay.

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Pedro Oliveria and Raine Thompson had four wins on the day. Following with two were Hannah Gadd, Cameron Dehn, Fanny Lillestrom, Therese Bergstrom, Aileen Cole, Matt Schlytter, Grite Apanaviciute, Alex Burtch and Breann McDowell.

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Both Louisville teams are 3-0 in BIG EAST competition this season.

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The Lady Cards track and field team had a big day Saturday in the Kentucky Invitational at the Nutter Field House in Lexington. Charachesica Lockhart took the long jump, and Khadija Abdullah won the shot put. Rachel Gehret finished first in the high jump. Other Cardinal scoring well:

-Chinwe Okoro...4th shot put

-D'Ana McCarty...5th shot put

-Megan Schubert..2nd high jump.

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Louisville managed to force Connecticut into 18 turnovers yesterday in a 78-55 loss in the XL Center in Hartford, CT., but returned the favor with 18 of their own. Freshman guard Shoni Schimmel had seven of the miscues...no other Cardinal had more than two. The Cards won the steals category 12-9 (Tia Gibbs 4, Charmaine Tay 3) but UConn took assists 17-12 (Schimmel 6, Monique Reid 4). Louisville committed 16 fouls (Keisha Hines 5, Gibbs 4, Sherrone Vails 3) compared to the Huskies' 14.

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UConn went 30-56 (53.6%) from the field...Louisville 20-63 (31.7%). The Huskies also won the 3-point battle with 6-15 shooting (40%) while Louisville went 7-21 (33%). For the Lady Cards, Schimmel was 3-12 from behind the arc, Gibbs 3-5, Becky Burke 1-3 and Reid 0-1. Bria Hartley led all trifecta attempters..going 4-8.

Free throws went in UConn's favor also, the Huskies going 12-16 (75%) from the stripe. Louisville (8-12, 66%) was led by Asia Taylor's 3 out of 4. The Cards did go 6-7 from the line in the second half.

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Jeff Walz played 10 Cardinals in the game...Schimmel getting 38 minutes. Gibbs had 31, Reid 30, Burke 23, Keisha Hines 20 and both Sherrone Vails and Charmaine Tay logging 19 each. Taylor had 14 minutes...Antonita Slaughter and Rachel Story added 3 each. The Cards lost the rebounding battle to the Huskies 43-30...Hines grabbing five for Louisville.

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Louisville's freshmen accounted for 23 Cardinal points and 10 turnovers. Last year's participants against the Huskies were good for 23 points and Gibbs added 9.

The freshmen were 9-27 from the floor, the rest of the Cards 11-36. Louisville's two leading scorers on the season, Schimmel and Reid...went a combined 7 for 31 from the field.

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Three stats that tell the story of this game are the decided rebounding advantage for the Huskies, the pitiful shooting of Reid and Schimmel and the second half point differential. UConn outscored Louisville by 18 (47-29) in the second half...creating that advantage in the last fifteen minutes of the game. As Coach Walz always says, you gotta play 40 minutes of good basketball to win...

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A great comeback yesterday for Rick Pitino's guys in the KFC YUM Center. Down by 18 with less than six minutes to go, the Cards staged a furious rally and took the lead at 71-70 when Preston Knowles found "the King" Kyle Kuric underneath the basket for a goal with four second to go. It was one of the best games (at least the end) WE'VE seen in a long time...and congrats to the guys for never giving up.

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Volleyball advances to the BIG EAST Championship game

SUNDAY AT CARDINAL COUPLE:



-Lola leads Cards to finals



-Swimming in 1st place



-Breaking down the SEMO stats

-Close but no cigar for Cards football

Sophomore outside hitter Lola Arslanbeckova (pictured above) created 15 kills and the Cards sent Marquette home with a 3-1 come from behind win yesterday in the Fitzgerald Fieldhouse at Pittsburgh. Louisville will face Cincinnati today at 3:30 in the championship match.

To get there, the Cards had to deal with the Marquette Golden Eagles first. At first, it looked like the Cards journey might end in the semifinals...losing 25-15 in the first game of the match. Marquette pieced together a 6-0 run midway thru the game to lead 21-12 and increased that margin to win by ten. The Cards were shaken, but not stirred by the loss and regrouped with the philosophy that they had to play their game and quit worrying about the Golden Eagles game.

It worked. Louisville refocused and battled to a hard fought 15-11 lead in the second game. Marquette would not go away, though and rallied to take a 22-21 lead. The Cards regained the momentum, though and a game winning kill by Emily Juhl won this one 25-23 for Louisville.

Louisville dominated the action in the third game and roared out to a 9-5 lead. That margin increased to 15-10 and then 23-14. The Cards won going away...25-15. In the final game, it was all Louisville....jumping out to an early five point advantage and leading 17-5 before coasting in with a 25-14 victory.

The championship game will be televised today on ESPNU.

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The waters in West Lafayette, IN are just fine for the UofL swimming and diving squad. After two days of competition, The Lady Cards lead the way and the men are in third place. Louisville leads Arkansas by 29.5 points going into the final day. Louisville's women won the 200 medley relay and swept the 100 breaststroke. Krissie Brandenburg captured the 100 backstroke and diver Hannah Gadd was second on the 1 meter board.

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Close but no cigar for Charlie Strong's football squad yesterday in Papa John's Cardinal Stadium...losing to WVU 17-10 in font of 51,000+. Paul rants about the narrow loss over on our friend Shannon Ruffra's site Cardinal Dominance. Check it out at: http://www.cardinaldominance.net/

At least Rick Pitino's guys salvaged the evening with a win ove Jackson State down at the YUM. CARDINAL COUPLE watched it on television and thought this one was a bit sloppy. Any landing you walk away from is a good one, though and the guys will try again Monday vs. Chattanooga in the jewel by the Ohio River.

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Looking at the stats from Friday night's Lady Cards win over Southeastern Missouri State indicates that this group of ballers are a pretty decent shooting bunch. 57.6% in the first half, 54.5% in the final half and 56.4% for the game. The starters went 19-32 from the floor and the reserves a very credible 12-23. Take out Shelby Harper's near misses from long range (0-3) and the subs shoot 60%.



Free throw shooting is on the uptick as well...28-38 with Keisha Hines going 9-11. She took 2 more free throws than the entire SEMO squad. Only 19 turnovers for Walz's bunch...Becky Burke leading the way with four. The Cards passed the ball well Friday with 21 assists. Five players had three assists each.



Asia Taylor, Keisha Hines and Antonita Slaughter continue to dominate the boards, combining for 26 of the 48 Louisville rebounds. They'll need that effort plus some Tuesday when they travel to Cincinnati to face a huge Xavier front line. Ta'shia Phillips and Amber Harris are both 6'6" and Xavier has been out rebounding opponents by five per game in their first two contests. The Muskies (2-0) have defeated South Carolina 84-65 and Michigan 85-76. Both games on the road. No cream puffs early for the Atlantic Ten terrors.



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Soccer action tonight in Cardinal Park as Louisville continues their quest to win the NCAA Championships. Their second round opponent is College of Charleston and the action begins at 7 p.m.

Ken Lolla's team is undefeated...why not have an early dinner and head on down to the Belknap Campus and root them on?

Can Zenyatta go 20 for 20?

SATURDAY AT C.C. :

-The "Big Girl" goes for No. 20

-Youman named BIG EAST Offensive Player of the Year.

-Swimming downs WVU

-Football faces Syracuse

Zenyatta, pictured here, faces the boys today in the Breeders Cup Classic. She's going for her 20th. win in 20 starts. WE think she'll get it today. More on the 'Cup at the end of today's articles. Photo copyrighted by Charles Pravata and a beauty of the "Big Girl"

Nicole Youman has been selected as the BIG EAST Field Hockey Offensive Player of the Year. The senior forward has 17 goals and 19 assists so far this season. that's good for top honors in the BIG EAST and sixth in the nation. Nicole was also selected to the all-conference first team, along with Cardinal teammates Hayley Turner and Rachel Hollenbach. Goalie Erin Conrad got second team honors.

The Cards begin BIG EAST play today...facing #3 UConn. Game is at 1:30 p.m. and can be seen on BIG EAST TV.

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The UofL swimming teams splashed past visitor West Virginia in a dual meet yesterday. For the ladies, the Cards swept the 200-medley relay and 100 yard backstroke early en route to a 186-105 victory over the 'Eers. Therese Bergstrom won the 100 breaststroke, Aileen Cole took the 50 and 100 free and Eszter Povazsay took the 200 backstroke. Louisville dives back into the Ralph Wright Natatorium again today against Pitt.

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Charlie Strong's 4-4 football Cards head to Syracuse without leading rusher Bilal Powell or starting QB Adam Froman in the lineup because of injuries. The 6-2 Orange have won their last two...over WVU and Cincy. Game time is noon.

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Yesterday's Breeders Cup was just plain cold and brutal yesterday if you happened to be outside. If you put $2 across the board on all our picks yesterday, you basically broke even. We did a little better than that, hitting a couple of exactas and a huge late Daily Double that paid $371.00 for a $1 wager. We spent considerably more that that to hit it...but the "all" with 1,4,5,10,11,12 $66 wager gave us a $305 profit and ended the day in a very nice way. Today's picks follow:

BREEDERS CUP JUVENILE TURF

MASTER OF HOUNDS looked great in 5 European races and gets Lasix for the first time today. AIR SUPPORT took to the turf quite well in the Grade 3 Pilgrim and Rajiv Maragh returns to ride for Shug McGaughey. MADMAN DIARIES will set the early pace and if Jeffrey Sanchez gets her too far ahead, they'll have a hard time catching the gelding. BANNED has two straight wins and will appreciate the early pace. He could sweep them all in the stretch.

BREEDERS CUP SPRINT

GIROLAMO will try to go wire to wire like he did in the Vosburgh win and Alan Garcia is one of the best sprint jockeys out there. BIG DRAMA stumbled last time out or he would be 3 for 3 and will fight for the early lead. The rail helps here. SMILING TIGER is another one that will contest for the early lead and Russell Baze has won on him 3 times. ATTA BOY ROY returns to the dirt where he has 3 wins and 2 close seconds. Having Calvin Borel on top doesn't hurt this closer's chances.

BREEDERS CUP TURF SPRINT

SILVER TIMBER roared past them in the Woodford and Julian Leparoux will try to do the same today. BRIDGETOWN comes out of the strong Kenny McPeek barn and will be flying late. STRADIVINSKY will try to take them wire to wire with Johnny Velazquez in the irons and CENTRAL CITY will go to the lead with him. Robby Albarado loves the Ronny Werner trained colts chances.

BREEDERS CUP JUVENILE

UNCLE MO is our best bet of the day. Velazquez has a monster under him and they won't catch him today. BOYS AT TOSCONOVA ran second here to start her career in the Ky Juvenile Cup and will make a race of it. BIONDETTI has won all three of his English races and will draw a huge price. Beware. STAY THIRSTY tries a mile and sixteenth for the first time but should love the extra distance.

BREEDERS CUP MILE

GOLDIKOVA will try to win this race for the third year in a row and she is in great form right now. Make it so. GIO PONTI is a dangerous foe and will be flying late under Ramon Dominguez. COURT VISION will be another late flyer and the colt seems to respond well when Albarado is on board. SIDNEY'S CANDY will be on or close to the lead and could last if the closers don't respond. Also, GET STORMY will want the lead here and is another that has wire to wire speed.

BREEDERS CUP DIRT MILE

COOL COAL MAN is my longshot special here. Leparoux has this horse's attention. Look out late. MORNING LINE will vie for the lead and has new jockey Javier Castellano excited about his chances. TIZWAY will track the pace and will be the probable favorite. MINE THAT BIRD returns to the track where he won the Kentucky Derby...Borel's off but Mike Smith will provide a good ride. This one could be a "all" button to start the late Pick 3...

BREEDERS CUP TURF

WORKFORCE has dominated the European circuit and will romp these if the turf is to his liking. DANGEROUS MIDGE is another European that can get out and go. He may get the lead and refuse to surrender it. BEHKABAD chased WORKFORCE in the Arc and will do the same today. AL KHALI is dangerous at a huge price and gets turf specialist Leparoux's services today. Honestly, if WORKFORCE doesn't go..it's wide open.

BREEDERS CUP CLASSIC

ZENYATTA will make her usual huge charge from way back in the stretch and pass them all again today for Mike Smith and John Shireffs. BLAME has won five of his last six, had three wins here at Churchill and will challenge. FIRST DUDE is poised to run a huge one for Dale Romans and Robby Albarado. If anyone can keep up witn Zenyatta in the stretch, it's "the Dude".

LOOKIN AT LUCKY has three wins in a row and is getting along well with rider Martin Garcia. Another stretch flyer than ZENYATTA will have to contend with.

Good luck to all and dress warmly if you go today

Volleyball defeats Villanova

SATURDAY @ CARDINAL COUPLE

-We're Back!

-Volleyball rallies to down the Wildcats

-Women's swimming at SMU Classic

-WBB Today in the YUM!

Welcome to the Saturday edition of CARDINAL COUPLE. Yes, Sonja and Paul are back from their vacation in the Gatlinburg/Smokies area...well rested and ready to go. The photo above is from a hike we took to Henwallow Falls in the Great Smokies. Sonja and Anne encountered a bear during the hike...we'll share that story down the road on a slow women's sports day.

A great time, plenty of hiking and scenic trips in and around the area. The weather was ideal each day and we actually met a guy from UofL football kicker Chris Philpott's hometown, who had watched him play every game in high school and was on the way to Pittsburgh for the Saturday game.

A very special thank you to : Shannon Ruffra, the owner of CARDINAL DOMINANCE...Charlie "the observer" Springer, the owner of UofL Card Game and special correspondent David Watson for their excellent contributions to CARDINAL COUPLE while Sonja and I were away playing in the woods. The CARDINAL COUPLE site count actually went up per day during our absence...so maybe the readers would rather you guys do the articles...

WE really appreciate the efforts and topics that you provided the CARDINAL COUPLE readers and you guys are the best!

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The University of Louisville Volleyball team roared back from a 2-0 game deficit to defeat Villanova 3-2 in a sold out Cardinal Arena on Friday night. The Cards pulled out the win 15-13 in the fifth game, after starting out 22-25, 16-25, 25-23 and 25-22.

Louisville actually led in the first game 7-3 and was getting good play from Lola Arslanbeckova up front but the Wildcats took four out of the final five points in the game for their first win. Louisville started slowly in game two and could never seem to get in sync, actually trailing 19-7 before falling by 9 points to 'Nova. The Cards went into the halftime break looking for answers and needing the front line to step it up.

They narrowly took the third game in an exciting back and forth contest that had Louisville up 13-9, then tied at 13 and leading 24-21. Villanova climbed back to a 24-23 deficit before Amanda Simmons got a block at the net to give UofL game three. Game four was another nail biter...Louisville hustling to a 11-10 lead after kills from Anastasia Artemeva and then seeing 'Nova go up 19-18. At 23-22 Louisville, it was Lola to the rescue at the end with two kills in a row to get the Cards to the 25 point mark and the three point game victory.

The fifth game saw the teams battle back and forth, tied at four and the Wildcats actually grabbing a 8-5 lead before the Cards slammed home seven of the next eleven points to take command at 12-9. 'Nova was not done, though..and tied it at 13. The Cards got the final two scores of the game to win it, though...on a Arslanbeckova kill and Simmons block.

Louisville goes to 15-6, 9-1 on the season and Villanova to 19-5, 7-2. The Cards get eight days off before their next, at Pitt, on Saturday, November 6th.

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Louisville's women's swimming and diving team is 4th after the first day of the SMU Classic. The Cards got big efforts from Therese Bergstrom, who finished 2nd in the 100-breast and Fanny Lillestrom's 2nd in the breast and third in the 400-IM. Nicole Landisch took third in the 50-free and 1oo-fly.

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Jeff Walz will guide the Lady Cards onto the KFC YUM Center today at 4:30 for an exhibition game against Indiana Wesleyan. He'll have the benefit of a full roster of 14 players and I fully expect that he'll use them all and often in a multitude of combinations. What Walz is most likely looking for today is to see who works well together and who is ready defensively and on the transition game. Cards fans should get a treat from the multiple and versatile efforts of Shoni Schimmel and we expect Monique Reid is ready to pick up the scoring lead from where she left off last year.

Don't read too much into the starting lineups and rotations today. It will be 13 days after this one before the Cards do battle again and today's exhibition is pretty much just a tuneup to give Jeff and the coaches a look at their squad against someone else besides themselves and the practice boys.

Tickets are available. I have good seats behind the UofL bench that I'm trying to distribute for friends that are at the Pittsburgh football game and unable to use them. Call me at (502) 291-3651 if you want them...

Softball splits in Charleston

The University of Louisville softball team went 1-1 in Saturday action in Charleston. A big effort by freshman pitcher Chelsea Leonard in the first game, tying a UofL record with 16 strikouts in Louisville's 7-4 win over Youngstown State.

The Cards jumped out to a 4-0 first inning lead, keyed by Vanessa James (pictured above) who banged a two run double. The Penguins tallied a run in the bottom of the first but Louisville came back with two runs in the second to put the game out of reach. A leadoff triple by Melissa Roth began the attack and the Cards tacked on an insurance run in the third inning. Youngstown State got their final three runs in the sixth inning from a three run home run blast by Autumn Grove.

Leonard ties the Cardinal strikeout record with her complete game...a record set last year by Kristin Wadwell against Eastern Michigan. She allowed four earned runs on four hits.

In the second game, Louisville once again jumped out to an early lead after a two run single by Roth had the Cards up 3-0 after the top of the fourth inning. Charleston Southern rallied against Cards starting pitcher Wadwell for a run in the bottom of the fourth and then seven runs in the botton of the fifth, including a grand slam homer off Wadwell by CSU's Jessica Peters-Brock. The Cards got one back in the top of the sixth with a Roth double but a solo home run in the bottom of the sixth by CSU closed out the scoring...as the Cards fall 9-4.

On the last day of the tournament, Louisville will play two Sunday, starting with Akron and the final against the University of Charleston.

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Congratulations to the University of Louisville swimming teams in the Big East Tournament which ended Saturday in Pittsburgh. The men's team took the title and the women came in second behind Notre Dame, after leading for two of the four days.

Written by Sonja
2/21/10

Halftime brings out the best of Louisville women's sports.

Halftime of the Louisville-UConn game Sunday featured a presentation of the past and present in women's sports at the University of Louisville. The parade of athletes old and new was impressive. The growth of Louisville women's athletics since Tom Jurich and Julie Herrmann arrived at Louisville amazing.

Back when I attended college, about the only women's sport that ever drew any attention or much of a crowd was women's basketball. The university I attended had a pretty decent women's basketball team at the time and sometimes several thousand would show up for a game. The other women's sports...nowhere near that kind of crowd. Field Hockey was lucky if we had 50 on the sidelines. And that included the teams. We literally played in front of coaches, referees and other players.

The University of Louisville is blessed with conference champions and NCAA powehouses in several women's sports beside basketball in case you haven't noticed.
The volleyball team won the Big East this past season and went to the NCAA tournament. Women's softball hosted the Big East tournament and also got a bid to the NCAA tournament. Field Hockey has hosted the NCAA Final Four a couple of times, the Big East tournament and the Field Hockey Cards are a Big East power and NCAA tournament team. Fans fill Cardinal Arena to watch volleyball, the Trager Center for field hockey and Ulmer Stadium for softball.

Women's swimming is top 15 nationally ranked. The rowing team and lacrosse teams have become nationally recognized and respected since the sports were introduced to colelge competition. Soccer is a Big East contender each year and track and field is favored to win the Big East tournamnt later this month. Tennis with Mark Beckham continues to improve.

We've come a long way, baby.

There is still much to do, though. Fan support is so important. Not just for the women's basketball team and volleyball. Women's softball plays in the best ballpark in Big East softball. Trager is a state of the art field hockey facility.

The busy spring sports season is just around the corner. The women athletes at the University of Louisville would love for you to attend their games. And, you just might have an excellent time.

If Rick Pitino can find time to attend a Louisville women's swimming meet...I bet you can squeeze in a couple of hours to watch the exciting sport of women's lacrosse. See you out there.

Written by Sonja

Getting there half the battle for Chinwe

Junior shot putter Chinwe Okoro participated in the Rod McCravy track and field invitation in Lexington Saturday, braving the icy and cold conditions to make the trek to Lexington. The trip was well worth her while...as she placed 4th out of 30 participants in the shot put event. Her best throw of 15.45m was good enough to secure an NCAA provisional qualifying distance.

It was her first competition of the season. Recovering from an injury, she just began her training this week for the Meyo Invitational in South Bend next weekend.

The Cards will participate in the Big East Tournament at the end of Feb. in New York. They expect to take a full roster to the event and are one of the favorites to win the womens competition.

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The Louisville swim teams split with nationally ranked Indiana Friday at Ralph Wright Natatorium. The men's team pulled off the win, while the women narrowly lost to the Hoosiers. The Lady Cards swept the 50 freestyle and Big East swimmer of the week Leslie Van Winkle set 3 pool records for the 13th ranked Cards. UofL freshman diver Hannah Gadd also won for the Cards. Louisville and Notre Dame are the favorites to win the Big East Tournament Feb. 17-20 in Pittsburgh. The Cards close out the regular season with the UofL Open on Feb. 6th.

Written by Paul 1/31/10

Cardinal women's swimming making a big splash

Don't look now, but the University of Louisville women's swimming team is ranked #14th in the country. The pool Cards are coming off a win on the road (water?) at Notre Dame, who is traditionally the best in the Big East in this sport. Louisville is the highest ranked of all the Big East women's swimming teams and 14th is the highest ranking to date for them.


They have also defeated Tennessee, WVU, Pitt and Miami in meets this year. They finished second to Florida in the SMU Invitational and swam to a second place finish in the Purdue Invitaational.

Head coach Arthur Albiero, who coaches both the men and women's teams noted the ranking as proof ofthe hard work and dedication put forth by the squad. The men's swimming team is currently ranked 16th in the polls.

The Ralph Wright Natatorium on campus is a state of the art facility constructed in 2003. In addition to all University of Louisville swim meets, the pool is used for many KHSAA swimming events. Another example of Tom Jurich and the University providing the best available to Cardinal athletes.

Guess they probably wouldn't let me in with my inner tube, floating cooler, snorkel and floatation tube...

Best of luck to another Cardinal team proving that they have what it takes to be "the beast of the Big East".


Written by Sonja 1/21/10