TicketsSept. 22, 2006
CINCINNATI, Ohio - What was shaping up as an entertaining match between Cincinnati and the No. 1 ranked Fighting Irish ended in frustration as the game was cancelled due to heavy rains and lightning in the Cincinnati area after a 3 hour, 27 minute delay.
It has not been decided whether the match will be replayed or not. If it is, the match will start over. The stats from what was played tonight will not count.
The Irish held a 1-0 lead with 40:59 left to play at 8:07 p.m. when the lightning started. The teams waited until 11:34 p.m. but the weather did not improve.
The Bearcats came out fired up and kept with the Irish at the start. UC surprised Notre Dame with a pair of excellent chances. Six minutes in Becky Imhoff ripped a shot from 20 yards out that forced UND keeper Lauren Karas to punch the ball over the crossbar.
Ninety seconds later Erin MacDonald got her head on a Lindsey Noteboom free kick, but her bid went just wide.
This seemed to wake up the Irish, as they became more aggressive and did not allow another Bearcat shot all half.
Notre Dame, who totaled 10 shots in the first half, finally broke through at the 23:28 mark as freshman Michele Weissenhofer collected a free ball at the top of the box and drove a shot past Andrea Kaminski into the lower corner of the net. It was the sixth marker of the year for Weissenhofer, who was second in the country in points entering the match.
The Bearcats withstood the UND pressure for the rest of the half and entered the lockerroom trailing, 1-0. Kaminski made a pair of saves for UC.
Notre Dame continued to press in the second half, with Kerri Hanks bouncing a shot of the post in the 47th minute.
Then Mother Nature put the game on hold as a lightning delay halted play four minutes into the second half.
The Bearcats will travel to Chicago next to face DePaul on Sunday, Sept. 24 at 2 p.m.