By Aj Pfeiffer
While you were at home over the winter break, building snowmen and catching up on reruns of Jerry Springer, athletes from several of the University of Louisville’s winter sports teams were keeping up with business as usual. So here is a recap of all the Cardinal sports action that took place while class was on hiatus.
The break began with an exciting run for the NCAA Championship by the men’s soccer team, led by head coach Ken Lolla. On Dec. 10, junior forward Colin Rolfe and redshirt junior midfielder Austin Berry were named All-Americans by the National Soccer Coaches Association of America. That same day the Cards faced the University of North Carolina in the Final Four. The Cards won the match 2-1, carrying the team into their first ever appearance in the National Championship. Two days later, the men took the field to face the Zips from the University of Akron, Lolla’s former team and a group that was no stranger to playing in the big game. In the end though, Akron proved too much for the undefeated and heroic Cardinals, as Akron defeated the Cardinals 1-0 in a hard fought battle for the championship. While the loss was a hard pill to swallow, the efforts of the men’s soccer team and their historic 20-1-3 season brought joy and magic to Cardinal fans and set the bar for what we hope to see in seasons to come.
Basketball was in full swing over the break and saw a great deal of success for both the men’s and women’s teams. For the women, the beginning of Big East play saw a blowout win on the road at the University of Cincinnati, 78-40. From there, the women traveled to Las Vegas, where they won one of three, losing to Marist College and the University of Houston before rebounding with a victory over the University of Nebraska – Lincoln. As the team returned home, they continued the winning streak with three in a row at the KFC Yum! Center, and closed out the break with two strong conference wins against St. John’s University and the University of Pittsburgh.
The break also provided the men’s basketball team with plenty of excitement, as well as sorrow. The Cards’ first loss of the season came on Dec. 14 to Drexel University at home. Drexel’s out-rebounding of the Cardinals proved to be a learning experience. The other loss dealt to the team came from the University of Kentucky on New Year’s Eve at home, 78-63. There were also a great deal of explosive wins for head coach Rick Pitino and the Cards, including a beat down of nationally ranked University of Nevada, Las Vegas; a statement of the team’s power at Western Kentucky University, 114-82 on Dec. 22; and a 2-0 start to conference play against Seton Hall University and the University of South Florida.
Perhaps the team with the most to celebrate about is head coach Charlie Strong and the Cardinal football team. Strong and his team took home the hardware at the Dec. 20 Beef ‘O’ Brady’s Bowl in St. Petersburg, Fla. Strong’s triumphant return to the Sunshine State brought home U of L’s first bowl win since the 2004 Orange Bowl. The game was a fierce test of both offensive efficiency and defensive fortitude, resulting in a 3-point victory over the University of Southern Mississippi, 31-28. This victory was a stellar finish to Strong’s inaugural season as head coach here at U of L.
So now everyone is caught up on what happened in the world of Cardinal sports during winter break. Overall, the winning records speak for themselves and what they do not say, the ecstatic Cardinal fans make up for.
