Lady Cards face Old Dominion Friday Night

FRIDAY AT CARDINAL COUPLE:

-Lady Cards play the Monarchs

-Final regular season football game today

-Thankful...

Jeff Walz's Lady Cards return to the road tonight to face Old Dominion. Actually, the team is already there and had a wonderful Thanksgiving together in Virginia...where they dined together as a "second family."

The Cards will need an effort from the entire extended kin today if they are to beat the Monarchs. ODU (2-1) narrowly lost to a very good N.C. State team in their last game 62-60.

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They are led by senior Jasmine Parker (15.7 ppg.) and Alena Voronina (11.7 ppg. / 5.7 reb.)

Louisville (3-2) comes into the game after a poor second half at Xavier. The Cards, despite Monique Reid's 19 second half points, relinquished a 3 point halftime lead. Unforced turnovers, hurried shots and pourous defense contributed to the 12 point defeat in Cincinnati.

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It should be noted, though...that Louisville's two losses have come against the #4th and #5th ranked teams in women's college baasketball. Neither were blowouts.

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The Cards will need to revive the transition game andtry to keep Monique Reid on the court without foul problems. The junior sat the final 12:48 of the first half against Xavier because of whistles.

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Louisville defeated ODU last year in the Cancun Classic 82-75. No TV for this one, but Kelch and Sanderford will have the call on CARDS Radio. Tip is 7 p.m.

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Final regular season game today for Charlie Strong's football team. Whether they play in a post season bowl game or not depends on if they can beat the Rutgers Scarlet Knights in Piscataway, N.J. this morning at the ungodly game time of 11 a.m.

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Rutgers has been in a tailspin during the last several games. Whether Louisville can wake up the anemic offense enough to outscore the Scarlet Knights remains to be seen...WE'RE thinking the Cards prevail in one that may not see a lot of points by either team.

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It could have been a lot worse. WE were sitting at a stop light yesterday on the way home after a hug Thanksgiving meal when all of a sudden, Sonja and I are violently thrown forward and the sickening thud of metal on metal greets our ears. Car behind us couldn't stop in time...rear ended us and basically caved in the back end of our van.

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WE are OK. So was driver of other car. It could have been a lot worse if the vehicle behind us had been going faster. Fortunately, there was no one in front of us.

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I drive around with the figurine of St. Paul hanging off my rear view mirror. He is the patron Saint of journalists and publicists. I like his name, too. I gave him a special thanks last night...so grateful that WE are able to produce this column this morning instead of laying in a hospital bed.

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Slow down on wet roads, folks....

PACK THE PARK THIS SUNDAY!

We wish the best of luck to Ken Lolla's crew and urge you to get out and support Men's Soccer.

PACK THE PARK CARDINAL FANS!

Happy Thanksgiving

THURSDAY at CARDINAL COUPLE

From all of us at C.C.:

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

Lady Cards fall to Xavier 71-59

WEDNESDAY @ CARDINAL COUPLE:


-Despite Reid's 19 second half points, Cards collapse in final twenty to take the defeat.


A THANKSGIVING story and wishes...






For 20 minutes in the Tuesday night contest in Cincinnati, Louisville had the Xavier Musketeers number. With Monique Reid (pictured here) on the bench for the final 12:47 of the first half due to foul trouble, Louisville still managed to lead by as many as 11 points in the first half and take a 31-28 lead to the locker room.



College basketball consists of two halves, however...and the Muskies came out hot in the second half and used a 12-2 run to begin the final twenty minutes to build a lead Louisville could not overcome.


Louisville started the contest jumping out to an early 11-6 lead in the game, thanks to a couple of three's by Shoni Schimmel and Antonita Slaughter and increased the margin to 11 after another Schimmel trifecta to go up 23-12 with around nine minutes remaining in the first half.

With Reid on the bench saddled with 2 fouls...freshmen Schimmel, Slaughter and Sherrone Vails took control of the Cardinal offense and despite Amber Harris's 13 first half points...led by seven with 3 minutes to go and withstood a late Muskie 4-0 run to go in up by three.


Xavier got 2 three's from guard Special Jennings and and continued strong play from Harris to start the second half and erased the Cardinal margin quickly. The Muskies scored twelve of the first 14 points to open the half and controlled the boards.


With 16:00 to go in the game, Xavier had a 36-33 lead and built that with an opening second half 22-5 run to lead 50-36 halfway through the final stanza. The Cards would manage to cut the deficit to nine at 62-53 late in the game but get no closer in the final five minutes. Despite Reid's heroics in the final twenty minutes...Louisville could not stop Harris inside or keep her off the boards.

Harris had a monster game against the Cards with 28 points and 18 rebounds. Jennings finished with 13 for Xavier. Reid paced the Cards with 20 points in 25 minutes and Schimmel totaled 16 for Louisville. Vails ended up with nine for the Cards..fouling out with 4 minutes to go.


The #5 Muskies (3-0) out rebounded Louisville 40-34 and forced the Cards into 24 turnovers. Louisville seemed out of sync in the second half...rushing shots and failing to slow down the Xavier transition game for much of the final half. Reid, Vails and Schimmel scored 27 of Louisville's 28 second half points...Asia Taylor getting the other on a free throw. The Cards made only two threes in the second half after popping in five in the first half.


Tia Gibbs did not score in the game but grabbed 10 rebounds for Louisville. Xavier shot 64% in the second half...mostly on layups, Harris in the paint and held Louisville to 38.9% from the field for the game after the Cards shot almost 50% in the first half.



Louisville (3-2) returns to the road for a Friday evening match up at Old Dominion next.


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WE here at CARDINAL COUPLE would like to thank our readers as Thanksgiving Day draws upon us. Thanks to you...our readership has grown dramatically this year and WE appreciate the loyalty and interest that you have shown in our "little blog" that is all grown up now.
WE also ask of you to give a little of yourself this holiday season. WE were touched by this story we ran across several years ago in a collection of short, anonymously written stories.



Read it and ask yourself...'Can I do more?"





It was Thanksgiving Day many years ago, and there was the usual assortment of friends and relatives at Grandma's house. Midway thru the day, Grandma came to me with a look of concern in her eyes.


"No one brought any egg nog this year. You know how your Uncle Nick likes his egg nog after the meal."she worriedly whispered.


I knew that look. Although the Thanksgiving Day football game I was watching with the rest of the men was just beginning to get interesting, I volunteered to head out and pick up a couple of jugs. My doting niece Sandra requested to go along, bored with the football and 'women' talk. We headed off and pulled into the gas and grocery near Grandma's house.


As we entered, the cashier was having an animated discussion with a young boy at the register. The boy left the counter. His depression and sadness was easy to see. We gathered up the egg nog and went to check out. Curious over the discussion I saw earlier, I inquired about discussion. The clerk shrugged his shoulders.


"Not enough money to buy what he wanted."


We completed our purchase and headed back to the car. Sandra saw the young boy walking down the road away from us.


"Can't we do something?" she asked. I pulled the car to the side of the road where he was walking and rolled down the window. His coat was insufficient for the brisk weather and he carried a small bag with a couple of cans of tomato soup inside. His name was Jefferey and he explained to me that his mother had sent him to the store to buy bread, bologna and soup for dinner for him and his little brother but she hadn't given him enough money. I asked him to get in the car and we drove back to the store. I handed him a $20 and told him to go get what he needed and I would wait for him and drive him home. His eyes lit up and in a few minutes he came out of the store with several bags. He handed me several dollars back in change and I told him to keep it. We drove him to his residence, an older apartment complex where the impoverished lived. He thanked us and entered one of the doors.


It was after our meal when Sandra came up to me.


"We should have done more." she commented, tears welling in her eyes. "He looked to be about my age. I keep thinking, what if that was me?"


Her words hit home. I spent the next 20 minutes busily working in the kitchen with Sandra and Grandma, who we filled in on the story. Out to the car we went and minutes later, pulled up in front of the battered apartment complex. We knocked on the door, and a tired-looking, middle aged women opened.


"We have Jefferey's order here." I pleasantly informed her. Bewildered, she opened the door and we walked in. Jefferey sat in the kitchen and his eyes lit up when he saw us. We started unloading the bags of turkey, mashed potatoes, gravy, green bean casserole, rolls, cranberry sauce and pumpkin pie. "Just heat it up and your ready to go." Grandma instructed the now crying mother and she gave her a hug.


."I have no money to pay you." she stammered. Grandma looked at her and with tears rolling down her eyes, replied.


"There is no money due. It's Thanksgiving. We're grateful that you have your family here with you, just as I am grateful that my family is here with me"


At Christmas time, Jefferey and his family received another order...this time it was winter coats and warm clothing. I kept track of Jefferey, his brother Ronnie and their mom for several years until they moved away when their mom got offered a better paying job out of state.


I got a letter in the mail today. In it was a newspaper clipping. The article listed graduates of a certain high school. I scanned the article and saw Jefferey's name listed. The envelope also contained a $20 bill. A small note was attached, reading...'This is for the next kid you find who can only afford tomato soup. Jefferey."


THIS THANKSGIVING... ASK YOURSELF..."CAN I DO A LITTLE MORE?"


MAY THE JOY AND THE GOODWILL OF THE SEASON BE WITH YOU...


-the staff and owners of CARDINAL COUPLE

Lady Cards travel to Xavier to face #5 Muskies

TUESDAY @ CARDINAL COUPLE

-Lady Cards meet the monster Muskies

-Youman picks up another award

-Men's basketball romps Chattanooga

Asia Taylor, pictured right, and her front line teammates for the

University of Louisville women's basketball team will have their work

cut out for them tonight in the Cintas Center, Cincinnati, OH. when

they face the #5 Xavier Musketeers at 7 p.m.

XAVIER (2-0) features the all-world front line duo of 6'6" bangers Ta'Shia Phillips and Amber Harris. The pair are averaging 18.5 ppg. each this season and part of four Muskies in double figures. Guard Speical Jennings also returns from the 2008-09 team that lost to Louisville 66-55 in the last meeting...a game where Candyce Bingham went off for 23 points and 10 boards in the road win for Louisville. Angel McCoughtry added 16 points and 11 boards.

The Cards are 6-2 lifetime against Xavier. In the 2008 meeting, head coach Jeff Walz told the team that someone else besides Atlantic 10 Conference 1st teamer Phillips would have to beat Louisville, if the Cards were going to lose. Louisville did an effective job with employing a double team on Phillips...holding her to five points in the Xavier loss.

For Louisville (3-1) to pull the upset this year in the Queen City, the Cards will have to do an effective job on Phillips again this year and also deal with Harris in the paint. Between Keisha Hines, Asia Taylor, Antonita Slaughter and Sherrone Vails...the Cards have shown improved ability to go to the boards but they will need their finest effort of the season to combat the towers that Xavier has at the ready.

The Cards have been effective in the fast break, transition game and if they can get this aspect of their offense in gear tonight, it will benefit greatly if Louisville is to win. If Xavier packs back in a zone, outside shooting specialists Becky Burke, Tia Gibbs, Antonita Slaughter, Shoni Schimmel and LaToya Johnson will need to be on the mark.

This is the first of three road games for Louisville and not too bad a trip for the zealous Cardinal fan. Cintas Center is a little over two hours from Louisville and the Muskie fans are pretty enthusiastic about their team, so any "Red" in the seats would be a boost to Walz's crew.

No TV for this one, but the broadcast can be heard on WKRD 790 AM/101.7 FM and at http://www.uoflsports.com/ . Jim Kelch and Paul Sanderford handle the call.

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Field Hockey's Nicole Youman has added another honor to her career here at UofL by being named to the NFHCA All-American second team. Youman was the 2010 BIG EAST Offensive Player of the Year. The Black Mountain, Australia native was a four year All-BIG EAST selection during her playing days for Pam Bustin and shares the school record for most goals in a game with five against Central Michigan.

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Nice performance last night by Pitino's Cards in the 106-65 romp over Chattanooga. The more WE see sophomore Steven Van Treese play...the more we are impressed about how much better he has gotten this season. Louisville has demonstrated a powerful and deep front line this year with VanTreese, Rakeem Buckles, Terrence Jennings, George Goode and Gorgui Dieng. Depth during the brutal BIG EAST schedule that awaits the Cards is essential and it looks like the Cards have five guys who are pretty much interchangeable and still effective.

CARDS WIN BIG EAST VOLLEYBALL TOURNAMENT

LOUISVILLE WINS BIG EAST VOLLEYBALL TOURNAMENT

-#2 seed Louisville sweeps #1 Cincinnati in 3 sets.

-Men's soccer advances in NCAA

-Swimming results from Purdue

-Angel update in Hungary



The University of Louisville Volleyball team won the BIG EAST Tournament for the third straight year in a row Sunday afternoon...taking down top seed Cincinnati 25-20, 25-20, 25-15 in Pittsburgh. (Photo courtesy of http://www.bigeast.org/ )

Louisville freshman Emily Juhl was named the MVP of the tournament, nailing a team high 13 kills in the final match. The Cards jumped out early in the first game and led 14-10 before Cincy rallied to tie it at 15. The match stayed close until Louisville, up 22-20, scored the final three points to win game one.

The Bearcats roared back in game two and led Louisville 10-6 behind some strong kills by Stephanie Niemer and Becca Refenes. But the Cards took off on a 7-0 run to regain the lead at 13-10 and although UC would climb within one point, the Cards never trailed again and won by five. Juhl had five kills in the game and two service aces late that put Louisville ahead 20-14.

Louisville went to the attack early in game three and ripped out to a 12-4 lead. Louisville, thanks to Lola Arslanbeckova's four kills, never relinquished the advantage and won going away 25-15. It is the first time since 2007 that the championship game has not gone to five sets.
Joining Juhl on the All-Tournament team were Louisville teammates Arslanbeckova and blocker Gwen Rucker. The Cards win the automatic berth to the NCAA Tournament with the conference championship and will know their fate on November 28th...when the selection show will air on ESPNews.

It's been an incredible season so far for Louisville...a team that started off slowly to begin the year and dropped matches to Kentucky, Arizona, Purdue and Illinois before entering BIG EAST Conference play. After dropping a 3-2 match to Seton Hall in Cardinal Arena, the young team began to mature and jell. They went on a eight game winning streak before falling to Tennessee in Knoxville but swept four out of their final five to gain the #2 seed in the tourney.

Led by kill specialists Arslanbeckova, Juhl, Anastasia Artemeva...and the strong blocking skills of Rucker, Taylor Brauneis and Amanda Simmons...the Cards are playing their best volleyball of the season right now and should fare well in the upcoming NCAA Tournament. All but Simmons return next year for the Cards.

Cincinnati's Niemer and Jordanne Scott were also selected to the all-tournament team along with Notre Dame's Kristen Dealy, and Marquette's Nikki Klingsporn.

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Before a record attendance for a soccer match in the state of Kentucky, Louisville advances in the NCAA Tournament with a 3-1 win over College of Charleston on Sunday night. The Cards improve to 17-0-3 in front of 5.197 in Cardinal Park with two late goals to secure the lead and seal the victory.

After a 1-1 first half, Louisvlle got a goal from Colin Rolfe to tale a 2-1 lead in the 84th. minute of action. Five minutes later, the Cards tacked on a 3rd goal from Charlie Campbell.

The Cards play Ohio State next...Sunday, Nov. 28th at 7 p.m. back at Cardinal Park.

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Louisville's women's swimming and diving finished 2nd in the Purdue Invitational in the final day of competition after leading at the end of Day 2. Krissie Brandenburg took the 200 backstroke and Therese Bergstrom captured the 200 breaststroke...setting a school record in the process. The University of Arkansas's women took the title.

The UofL men finished 3rd in the event. Wins for Pedro Oliveria, Carlos Almeida and Charlie Bolgan.

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After a brief stateside visit to see her jersey hung in the KFC YUM! Center before the Tennessee game, Angel McCoughtry has returned to Hungary to play for MKB Euroleasing Sopron in the EuroLeagues and is averaging 17 points and 7 rebounds. Teamed with former Middle Tennessee State and WNBA star Amber Holt, MKB is 10-1 this season.

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?