TicketsAug. 10, 2008
CINCINNATI - The University of Cincinnati women's soccer team begins the 2008 season with an exhibition match, traveling to Western Carolina to take on the Catamounts on Monday, August 11 at 5:30 p.m. The exhibition is one of two during preseason matches as the Bearcats will open the 2008 regular season on Friday, August 22 at Gettler Stadium, taking on Bowling Green at 7 p.m.
UC returns nine starters from a 2007 squad that finished with a 6-10-2 overall record and a 7th place finish in BIG EAST National division. The Bearcats take the field led by first-year head coach Michelle Salmon and have nine newcomers on the roster.
Salmon takes over at UC after guiding the Ball State soccer program to unprecedented heights in her two seasons at the helm of the Cardinals. She led the team to its first-ever Mid-American Conference regular-season championship in 2006 and wasted no time capturing the program's second title in 2007. The two-time MAC Coach of the Year held a 26-9-5 record, including a 17-3-2 mark in league play, while at BSU.
UC's captains, seniors Kim Sykes, Lindsey Noteboom, and junior Andrea Kaminski provide leadership as the Bearcats take on a Western Carolina squad that returns three of its top five point producers from the 2007 season.
Sykes, a defender, is a third-year captain who has started all 54 matches of her UC career and played over 95 percent of the team's minutes. A two-time CoSIDA Academic All-District honoree, Sykes has one goal and two assists to her credit. Noteboom, a three-year starter in the midfield, has scored four goals and added seven assists for 15 career points. Kaminski, a 5-8 goalkeeper, has started all 36 matches of her career at UC. She has posted seven shutouts in two years and led the BIG EAST with 110 saves in 2007. Kaminski earned BIG EAST Goalkeeper of the Week along with a spot on the SoccerBuzz Magazine Elite Team of the Week on Oct. 22 after making 26 saves in a 1-0-1 BIG EAST weekend for the Bearcats.
Also returning for UC is junior forward Erin MacDonald, the top point-producer for the Bearcats in 2007. MacDonald started 17-of-18 games and finished the year with 21 points (seven goals, seven assists) and finished among the top ten in the conference in points, goals and assists. MacDonald was tabbed to the BIG EAST's Second-Team, a first for any Bearcat since joining the league in 2005.
Western Carolina, located in Cullowhee, N.C., finished 2007 with a 9-8-3 overall record. The Catamounts are members of the Southern Conference.