TicketsNov. 2, 2008
NOTRE DAME, Ind. - The University of Cincinnati women's soccer team fell, 5-0, at host No. 1/1 Notre Dame on Sunday in the Quarterfinals of the BIG EAST Championship. Cincinnati (10-7-3) ended its 2008 season while Notre Dame remained undefeated (19-0-0) and advanced to the Semifinals of the BIG EAST Championship.
"Any time you walk off the field in defeat its heartbreaking," said first-year head coach Michelle Salmon. "But at the same time, I'm really proud of how far we've come as a program and the direction that we're heading. We've made some huge strides over the last 10 months and we'll continue to make them. I couldn't be more pleased with the senior class that led this group."
Notre Dame scored just one minute into the game after a flip throw-in by Michele Weissenhofer went in front of the goal and UC's attempt to protect the front of the goal resulted in an own goal. It was the first own goal for Cincinnati this season.
The Irish scored its second goal when Elise Weber took a feed from Weissenhofer in the 12th minute. Weber moved past Jenn Johannigman (Cincinnati, Ohio/Seton) just inside the box on the left side, teed off and hit top right corner of the goal.
Notre Dame scored its third goal off a corner kick served up by Kerri Hanks in the 15th minute. Hanks lofted a corner kick from the far side in front of the goal where Weissenhofer bobbled it off the top of the post and into the foot of Courtney Rosen who flicked it into the goal.
In the 34th minute Taylor Knaack dribbled up field and took a shot from 30-yards out on the left side and tucked it into the top left corner of the goal.
In the second half Notre Dame put its fifth goal on the scoreboard after a Weissenhofer flip throw-in resulted in another own goal by the Bearcats in the 61st minute.
UC managed only 4 shots to Notre Dame's 30, three of Cincinnati's coming from freshman Julie Morrissey (Abington, Mass./Tabor Academy). Andrea Kaminski (Noblesville, Ind./Noblesville) finished the match with 11 saves in goal for UC. Five yellow cards were issued in the match, three of them going to UC players and Notre Dame took eight corner kicks to UC's zero.
Cincinnati finished the season with its best record in BIG EAST Conference play and had its first winning season since 2002.
"Any time you walk off the field you hope it is in victory, but at the same time I couldn't be more proud of the way we came out in the second half and the fight and the battle that we had. At the end of the day though, Notre Dame is a great team." said Salmon.