TicketsSept. 17, 2006
CINCINNATI, Ohio - Freshman Erin MacDonald scored the first two goals of her career to lead Cincinnati to a dominating, 3-0, win over Cleveland State on Sunday afternoon at Gettler Stadium.
The Bearcats set season-highs for goals, shots (29) and shots on goal (14) as they improved to 4-3-1 on the season and 3-0-1 at home. The Vikings fell to 1-7-0 and were shutout for the fifth-straight match.
"I thought we came ready to play," said head coach Meridy Glenn. "We had a great mentality. As coaches, we asked the team to score three goals today and they did it."
Senior Becky Imhoff came off the bench 18 minutes into the match and immediately upped the pressure on CSU. She had a number of good chances and finally capitalized in the 41st minute.
Sophomore Kristin May served a corner to the far corner of the box that Kim Sykes headed on net. Erin Withrow made the save but Imhoff was right there for the rebound and punched it in for her second goal of the season.
CSU earned their best chance of the first half in the 36th minute as Natalie Wilson got open in front of the net, but her shot was saved off the line by the Bearcats.
UC owned a 17-6 edge in shots in the first 45 minutes and forced Withrow to make eight saves. Andrea Kaminski had three saves in the half for Cincinnati.
The Bearcats continued to press in the second half and pushed the lead to 2-0 at 56:25. Fellow freshman Melissa Bigg placed a through ball down the middle of the field that MacDonald corralled right on front of the net and had an easy finish for her first goal.
MacDonald notched her second marker just five minutes later as she took a Lindsey Noteboom pass at top of the box and made the quick turn and shot to beat Withrow.
"It was a wonderful feeling," said MacDonald. "I've been working so hard and to do this for the team was great."
"It was awesome that Erin opened up today," said Glenn. "She's very determined and very dangerous on the middle."
This match closed the non-conference portion of the Bearcats' schedule. UC is off until Friday when No. 1-ranked Notre Dame will come to Cincinnati for a 7 p.m. match at Gettler Stadium.