Soccer headlines a full weekend of UofL women's sports

FRIDAY CARDINAL COUPLE COVERS :

-Soccer vs. Villanova and Georgetown

-Softball ends fall season against Morehead State

-The Irish and DePaul come to volley vs. Cards

-Field Hockey hits the East Coast

-Keeneland opens today

-Football in PJCS vs. Memphis

A full weekend of Cardinal athletics on tap. Chelsea Bemis, pictured here, might describe it as a "grand slam" of activity surrounding Floyd Street. Grab your mitts, sticks, shoes and some Gatorade...it's game time!

Women's soccer has their final home schedule games, starting with a match vs. Villanova (6-7, 1-4) on Friday night, 7 p.m. in Cardinal Park and Georgetown (9-4, 3-2) on Sunday, 1 p.m. The Georgetown match will be televised locally on WHAS-TV. The Cards (8-4, 2-3) are looking to end a two game losing streak against the Wildcats...who are also on a two game skid. 'Nova leads the all-time series against the "Ville" 4-1 and defeated the Cards in their last meeting 2-0 in Philadelphia.

Georgetown went 1-1 last week and trails in the all-time series with Louisville 2-3. They beat Louisville last year 2-1 in our nation's capitol. The Cards head out of town next weekend for matches at USF on Friday and Marquette Sunday.

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Field Hockey travels this weekend for a couple of Garden State games...Rutgers on Saturday and #3 Princeton on Sunday. The #8 Cards are coming off a heartbreaking loss to IU 3-2 on Tuesday and will find tough competition against both opponents. Pam Bustin's squad seems to force overtime just about every time they take the turf and it would be nice to see them sweep the Jersey jaunt without having to go to the extra 15 minute sessions.

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Volleyball welcomes Notre Dame and DePaul this weekend to Cardinal Arena. The Saturday game against the Irish is an early one...first volley scheduled for 10 a.m....to avoid a conflict with the 2 p.m. football game against Memphis. It's also a "Dig for the Cure" event...both teams will wear specially designed pink uniforms in this event designed to support the fight against breast cancer. The Cards ride a two game winning streak into the Notre Dame match...but it won't be easy for Leonid Yelin's spikers. Notre Dame has won their last three meetings vs. the Cards in the regular season...but Louisville succeeded in knocking them out of the BIG EAST Tournament last year. Freshman Sam Brown is the leading kill artist for the Irish. This one is a huge rivalry, get there if you can...plenty of time to football tailgate after this one.

DePaul takes to the Cardinal Arena court on Sunday...looking for their first BIG EAST win. Louisville has a 20-2 record vs. the Blue Demons and will try to shut down senior Kate Letcher who has 146 killls on the season. Game time is 2 p.m.

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Softball ends the short fall season with a game Friday Night 7 p.m. in Ulmer Stadium against Morehead. The Cards have had a successful "fall training" so far...sweeping Bellarmine 4-0, 1-0 and recently knocking off WKU 3-1 and Lindsey Wilson 5-0 in the Lady Topper Fall Classic in Bowling Green. The Cards still have eight starters on board from last years 41-18 squad...including sluggers Chelsea Bemis, Kristin Austin, Colby Wherry, and Alicja Wolny. Tori Collins looks to be the pitching ace for Sandy Pearsall's squad and a total of 14 letterwinners will return for the spring softball season.

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Keeneland opens their fall meet Friday at the historic Lexington track and the several weeks of racing will feature some of the finest horses, trainers and jockeys in the nation. There are multiple stakes races lined up for each weekend and several "Football and horses" Saturdays ahead. I'm still not convinced that the polytrack artificial surface installed there is the wave of the future...I prefer the dirt...but the scenic beauty of Keeneland and the challenging fields are
reason enough to make the short drive from Louisville and spend a fun afternoon watching the nation's most talented run for the wire.

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Oh, yeah. they're playing football Saturday in Papa John's. Seems like forever since Charlie Strong has had a home game...there are three of them in a row coming up, though...and Memphis kicks off the homestand. The Tigers are 1-4 so far this season and haven't exactly been a team to strike fear in an opponent's heart. Tigers? Hardly....more like kittens. The Cards should roll past the boys from Elvis's town and go to 3-2.

USF clips Cards 63-60 with late three.

Speed kills.

Everyone expected overtime in Freedom Hall Saturday. Everyone except USF guard Allyson Speed, that is. With four seconds remaining in regulation, she demanded the ball from the top of the key and calmly released what would be her 8th 3-point connection of the game to put Louisville away.

As it had been thruout the game, when the Cards left Speed open...she made them pay. Her 24 points came from beyond the arc. Walz used everyone but P.A. announcer Sean Moth to try and stop the hot shooting guard.

Far from fitting and eerily ironic that the guard with the nickname "Cat" sinks the Lady Cards in the Freedom Hall farewell. Speed was expected to add valuable depth and three point prowess for Jose Fernandez's Lady Bulls squad this year. The senior guard lived up to her byline yesterday...rolling off picks to launch three point bombs against a step slow Cardinal defense.

Questionable strategy for the final sequence by the Cards skipper Jeff Walz, who removed Rachel Story from the game. Story had been the sole Card able to contain Speed...but Walz went with a taller lineup and no point guard in the final 30. Charlie Springer, over at UofL Card Game offers a nice video of the final sequence and winning shot. Not sure what happened at the end of the video...but Charlie got a great shot of the littered floor in the stands at Freedom Hall.

Such as been the tale of the Lady Cards this season. Close but no cigar. Rallies that fall just short. Outstanding individual efforts (witness Monique Reid's 32 points yesterday) and players who disappear at crucial times. A lack of cohesion, especially on defense and a frustrating and trying season for us in the seats...who continue to cheer loud and proud for our Cardinals.

Hats off to Keisha Hines with 11 hard earned points and 12 boards against the taller, more physical Bulls front line. Reid was magnificent in defeat...11 rebounds to go with her career high in points. Monique going in the paint with Angel skills and seemingly scoring at will inside on USF. Questions about Becky Burke...two points in 31 minutes with 1-8 shooting. A nice final appearance in the Hall for Brandie Radde, nailing a late, key three and finishing with eight points. Rachel Story, to use a horse term... seems to be a stretch runner..going nowhere early in the season and having her best back to back games as the season ends.

The regular season ends for the Lady Cards with a Monday trip to Rutgers. Not the star studded, All-American teams of the past for C. Vivian Stringer...but a solid team with a shot at NCAA postseason play and one that will be very difficult to beat in the RAC. Brittany Ray is a next level player...and they even have a Sykes on the team (no relation).

Next year looks promising. As far as this year...the Walz post game words sum it up very well.

"The whole season has been full of a lot of frustration and heartbreak. Look at our bench. There were no other players to put it. Dez, Nikki, Chauntise unable to play. That's where the frustration sets in. I'm not saying we'd be a 20 win team with them..but we certainly wouldn't be 13-15."

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A tip of the hat to horse trainer Jeffrey Sheets who scored a win in the first race at Turfway on Friday with Steve's Revenge. Off at 6-1, Steve benefitted from a breakneck early pace and swept down the stretch passing the other horses to win going away. Two in a row for Steve's Revenge now and a pat on the back for our favorite trainer. Jeff does not run a lot of them but puts quality ones out there when he does.

Those stable fees and transportation costs seem a little less worrisome today.

Written by Sonja
2/28/10