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Grading the Fall Sports

Two of the big three fall women's sports have concluded for UofL with the third having just a few weeks remaining.  At this point we can give grades for these, although volleyball's could still change based upon how they finish the year.

So, Professor Jared adjusts his glasses, sharpens his pencils and turns his reading lamp on high to look at Cardinal Field Hockey, women's Soccer and Volleyball today. 

Field Hockey

Of all the sports I was disappointed with field hockey the most.  Their exclusion from the NCAA Tournament is debatable but they shot themselves in the foot and can't complain too much without looking back at how they closed he year.

The Cards went 13-6 and finished ACC regular season play 3-3 for a third place finish.  Before the selection show Louisville was ranked 12th.

The first loss was the home opener against Ohio State, where the Cards were up 2-0 at halftime and lost 3-2.  It was an ugly collapse where the defense fell apart.  Their 4-2 loss on the road at Wake Forest was one of the worst losses on the season according to Coach Sowry.  Their chance to avenge that loss in the first round of the ACC Tournament went south fast after leading 2-1 and losing 3-2.  

Louisville outscored their opponents 41-26.  However, those numbers are skewed when you take away five wins by two or more goals.  Those 26 goals averaged 1.37 per game- an outstanding figure for Ayeisha Mcferran.  She has her hands full from an under-performing defense.

Offensively, the Cards often relied on one player to get hot at the right time including Bethany Russ' streak of game-winners or Erica Cooper's four-goal performance.  The offense lacked consistency.

Compared to expectations the final results weren't as great.  Event the high ranking and the third place finish in the conference still wasn't anything other than slightly above average.  The Stick Girls get a C+.

Women's Soccer

Women's soccer did something they hadn't done in half a decade by making the NCAA Tournament.

They also made their first ACC Tournament appearance.

Louisville ended the year 12-7 with a 6-4 conference record.  It was their best results since they moved into Lynn Stadium.

The Cards nearly doubled up opponents in scoring, 37-20.  Only 15 of those came against ACC opponents, the 10 regular season games and sole conference tournament games.  That leaves 22 goals for the eight games including an 8-1 victory to open the season.  Conference play continues to be an uphill battle.

Louisville's defense, led by keeper Gabby Kouzelos, allowed roughly one goal per match.  When you look at how dangerous opponents in the ACC can be and you take away the five-goal performance for UNC that is a good figure to have.

A three-game losing streak to close the year and losing four of the final five turned what could've have been a stellar season into just a great season.
Let's remember that there are a lot of freshmen and sophomores on this squad and the Cards lose just two seniors. The future is bright
 Women's soccer gets a B+.

Volleyball

With two regular season games left and a potential NCAA Tournament berth remaining
volleyball can't quite get a final grade quite yet.

Louisville is 20-7 on the year and 13-3 in conference play as of right now and are currently just outside the Top 25.

This season has been up-and-down and has been plagued by injuries.  Alexis Hamilton went down before the season, Kelly O'Neil went out for the year early on, Jasmine Bennett spent much of the year injured, Melanie McHenry is now suffering an injury, and Emily Scott just went out for the year.

Some early season road and neutral site losses to ranked opponents weren't bad.  The first ugly loss was being swept at home by Kentucky.  They went quite some time without another loss until they went on the road to an undefeated Pittsburgh team and fell.  Home losses to Syracuse and Florida State recently knocked Louisville out of the rankings and also were just poor performances all around.

Service errors have been a catastrophe this year.  Louisville has almost twice as many service errors as aces, 269-141.  The high-risk, high-reward servers have been up-and-down but the errors have also come from the team as a whole.

Bright spots in the game have included Claire Chaussee stepping up recently to prove to be one of the best freshmen in the ACC, Amanda Green's all-around play, Wilma Rivera's consistency, and being able to lean onto Molly Sauer on the back row.  Players have stepped up when called upon.

The .261 attack percentage is well above opponents' .183, but could still be better.  If you take away the 526 attack errors that percentage goes up to .415 for the Cards.  Most of the errors have appeared to be mental mistakes rather than mishits or slip-ups.

If Louisville cleans up their errors all-around and can win their final two regular season games they'll be back in the rankings and will solidify a spot in the NCAA tournament. The ACC doesn't host a conference Volleyball Tournament and that's been a subject of debate on The Cardinal Couple Radio Hour. I can see both sides of that fact.

 Although this team doesn't appear to be set to advance past the Sweet 16 at best, there is still a chance they could make a Cinderella run.  Right now, volleyball sits at a B

OKC Challenge

One thing Louisville softball is known for is their Oklahoma City Challenge (OKC Challenge).  Similar to the baseball College World Series in Omaha, softball holds their College World Series in Oklahoma City. Holly Aprile has kept this tradition and I'm thinking the players are glad she did. 

Their fall challenge consists of a Red team vs a Black team.  The groups compete in physical activities ranging from running stairs at the football stadium to a dodge-ball challenge and everything in between.  Part of the goal is to build up physical strength and stamina while the other part is team bonding.

The team captains are Danielle Watson (Black) and Sidney Melton (Red).  However, come regular season time I would expect to see Megan Hensley and Celene Funke take more of team captain roles.

Donation Month

Thank you to everyone who has donated so far!  If you have not had the opportunity to give yet
there's still plenty of time.

Donation month is closing in on the halfway mark.  Whether you can give a dollar or a hundred dollars we will graciously accept anything you have to offer.  Cardinal Couple currently accepts cash, checks (payable to "Cardinal Couple"), or PayPal.

Cash and checks can be mailed to

CARDINAL COUPLE
P.O. BOX 91521
LOUISVILLE, KY 40291

Happy Wednesday and Go Cards!

- Jared -

from Cardinal Couple https://ift.tt/2B6JTux
Breaking News: Grading Fall Sports -- OKC Challenge -- WEDNESDAY CARDINAL COUPLE - News Paper